Come on 2017, bring whatever you got

It has reached that time of year again - the end of it. Is 2016 finally coming to an end? It's almost a bit hard to believe. I honestly can't believe tomorrow is January 1, and yet, I'm also super excited and eager for 2017 to come. Before I'm going to let that happen though, it's time for my usual year-end review post!

Arashi - Are You Happy [review]

It's that time of year again! The leaves are changing, the weather is getting cold, and what is this? A new Arashi album being released? Unfortunately I am not in Japan anymore to bask in the amazingness that is this album (and if I was, I would've picked up this album instantly). But, thanks to the internet, I've still got a copy of the songs and now it's time to give my review. And if you haven't noticed... for once I'm not starting off sounding like a total downer!

Arashi - Don't You Get It PV + Making

I don't think I can say enough about Don't You Get It. As a song it's not the best thing in the world - I like it, but it's no Fukkatsu Love or Ai no Collection, but it's pretty good. No - for Don't You Get It, it's not the song that is the part I love - it's everything that has come with the song. The performance, the PV, the making - all of these things that Arashi appear in are the reason I fell in love with Arashi. All these things are exactly what I feel Arashi is.

Concert Reports: Japonism dome + arena

Hi,

For the people who have come to my blog but don't know my tumblr... I actually went to Arashi's Japonism concert last year in November, and earlier this year in July and I wrote reports for both occasions. Again, you may have seen these on tumblr already, but cross-referencing them here anyway.

Feel free to check out the reports. The reason I'm posting them now? Because... I forgot to do it earlier. Also, the Japonism DVD came out and I'm still debating if I should "review" it considering I've already reviewed the concert in my report. Well, I guess if you see a "Japonism DVD review"  you'll know my answer to that question. Anyway, enough rambling.

Japonism @ Nagoya - 2015.11.07

Part 1 - Part 2

Japonism in Arena @ Shizuoka - 2016.07.24 (Noon showing)

Full Report

Enjoy :)

My Dark Souls playthrough

Dark Souls is an interesting game, as I'm sure anyone who has played any of the Souls games (or Bloodborne) already know, but this is my first time playing.

Usually I don't blog about games to note my progress - mostly because it's not necessary. Most RPGs are fairly linear and even if they do provide some amount of choice (such as Mass Effect) there aren't a lot of room for actual mistakes and failures and huge fuck ups. Dark Souls does have room for all this stuff though, and somehow this makes all the achievements I do get that much more awesome.

Dark Souls is the only game where every boss battle I go in to, I get a huge adrenaline rush and I realize after I win (or die) that my heart rate is usually through the roof. It's the only game where I would rather slowly sneak my way through an area holding my shield up in fear than just blindly run through and hack and slash my way through crap. Hell. It's the only game where I've even thought about using a shield to parry and have actually had to time my dodge rolls to a precise second. Seriously. This game was a huge learning curve for me, but I am learning.

And to track all the learning I've done - this is where this post comes in to play!

Currently: GAME COMPLETED WHAAAAAT

Arashi - I seek / Daylight [review]

Here we are, Arashi's 49th single and their first double A-side in 4 years? 5 years? I don't remember, but it's been a while. Not surprising to anyone, these two songs are the themes to two Arashi dramas, Sekai Ichi Muzukashii Koi and 99.9. I am watching both so I've heard both songs.

Truthfully, I didn't really have an opinion of either song before the singles came out. From what I could from the dramas, I liked I Seek a lot more than Daylight... but now that the single has come out? I am really confused with how I feel about it.

You can read my review and see what I mean when I say, I am seriously confused at how I feel about this single:

My thoughts on subbing 99.9

...I am never subbing a drama again.

Thank you - seriously - thank you to everyone who commented on my subs, who downloaded them, who has used them and kept up with me the whole ten episodes. I loved the drama, every inch of it. 99.9 is my most favourite Jun drama ever besides Hana Yori Dango. But the only reason I manage to create subtitles for all ten episodes was because of you guys in the comments.

I'll put it bluntly - I don't think I did a good job in translating the drama, nor did I do a good job in making the subtitles. I really, really, encourage those who have access to the other subs to check them out.

Translating a drama is very different from translating a variety show, or translating a magazine article, a novel, an essay etc. All of these things I have experience in -- dramas? Nothing. You might be wondering what makes a drama so different than a variety show--it's still TV, and that's because in a way, a drama is halfway in between a variety show and a novel. I'm translating a script, and the language required for script writing, is very different than the language required in something as casual as a game show, or as literary as a full blown Japanese novel. I couldn't be too casual, but I also couldn't be too formal with my language. The middle ground? I still haven't found it.

It didn't help that this drama was about lawyers, which meant a ton of specialized vocabulary and phrases that I had to look up and research, on top of all the god damned puns (which I loved hearing, did not love translating).

But... all of these reasons was actually why I decided to sub the drama. Because, I never would have known this if I hadn't tried.

Also, I got to learn a bit more about how subs are made. Usually I just send my translations in to whatever sub group I'm helping out and I've never bothered to watch the finished product. So after I translate, I literally have no idea what happens to my translations, but now I kind of do? And let me tell you... wow. I do not like making subtitles. At all. Timing is so boring and I'm not good at remembering the codes and stuff for typesetting. Also, figuring out what to do when lines overlap? Yeah--if you haven't noticed, I still haven't really figured out how to deal with that and I'm sorry. I looked through all the anime I have subbed, dramas, and... I just couldn't figure out how to do it nicely.

Also, not having someone to check over my translation was terrible. You guys actually have no idea how many times I've updated the subtitles because I've found so many typos. I've found small errors. I've changed up lines for sounding awkward. I try so hard every week to go over my translation with a fine comb -- as if I was proofreading a final essay for one of my university courses and I still miss typos. I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

All in all though. I just want to say thank you, again. Thank you. I can't say that enough.

This project was a huge learning experience for me and... well, I didn't have a ton of fun doing it, but I'm glad I did it and I'm super happy I was able to finish it.

Again, are these subtitles top quality? No. No, they really aren't, and I'll probably keep going back to them and fixing them for the better part of the summer (even though no one will care by then), but I tried. :D

...and I will end by saying that if they do release an SP episode later in the year...... I'll think about whether I'll release subtitles for it. For now, most of me is saying "no", but I'm a completionist at heart, and I'd feel bad subbing the drama and leaving the SP out. So. When (because I firmly believe it's a when) the time comes, we'll see.