#Gaku would be Ted...he so would

[takeonmesumino]

Wait...wait wait idea time!!

Hundred Line....but it's The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals.

It's literally so perfect, Takumi is literally just like Paul in the Comedy Route.

Like it fits....if you think about the implications.

[yaotomejr]

i don’t post here much bc i pretty much live in twitter now but while i’m feeling it i might as well ask you guys to do me a solid and do this for me

W A T C H   I D O L i S H 7

no seriously

i know yes it’s an idol anime adaptation about idol boys based off a idol mobile game about idol boys and there are people who are getting tired of these idol franchises but seriously, trust me on this, give this anime a chance, it saddens me that people ignore it when they look at the genre because IT’S SO GOOD

it’s less of an anime featuring The Boy of the Week and their character arc and more of a cohesive story with these idol boys as they try to make themselves heard in the industry, make big mistakes, grow from their mistakes together and try to get more attention, make more mistakes and grow from there, and so on. it’s a natural progression that these boys gradually develop from their (maybe traumatic) pasts in a nuanced way and the writers don’t go “oh we spent one episode on his problem, he’s magically a better person now so it’s time to never talk about it again!”

we say this a lot but idolish7 is a sports anime and the sports featured is idols

idolish7′s worldbuilding is absolutely stellar since it doesn’t just focus on the Boy of the Week, but also broadens its horizons to show us the idol managers, the production offices backing these idols, the staff members working with them, and especially at the fans who love, hate or worship them, because the idol industry isn’t built up by just a few idol groups. the boys’ backstories are quite naturally welded together with meaning and with association to this world they live in, and its a blast seeing character stories unfold due to what Character A does, or what Character B says. it’s a pretty realistic depiction of the entertainment industry, all things considered

i’ve been with this franchise almost since launch and it’s been the wildest ride of my life. idolish7′s excellent foreshadowing game has caused it to hint at character backstories and identities WAY BEFORE they actually reveal it. you want to scream at this certain character for hiding their backstory for ALMOST TWO WHOLE PARTS but you also understand fully that it will take them a lot of time and trust levels before they are finally willing to spill the beans

i have cried at the anime a few times, not just at sad scenes but also at happy touching scenes, these boys make you want to root for them and they are such well-written GOOD BOYS

also the number theming of idolish7 is ON POINT. the anime specifically has seventeen episodes because it’s 17 and i7 is short for idolish7, THIS ISN’T EVEN THE END OF THE FRANCHISE’S FRUSTRATING FIXATION ON NUMERICAL SYMBOLISM

also i have been using the yaotomejr url for more than two years and i haven’t changed my url because Yaotome Gaku, #1 Most Desired Embrace is a Goddamn Stud and i will never stop voicing my [redacted] for him. he’s the kind of guy who’s genuinely confident in himself without coming off as callous or egotistic; with his confidence gaku is able to do and say some of the most corny shit with a straight face and make himself look COOL doing or saying it because he is a COOL ADULT who has learnt to not give a shit about other people’s opinions. he believes in himself and believes that he’s good at what he does. as my friend would say, gaku is SELF-CONFIDENCE GOALS and i will DIE FOR HIM

HE’S ALSO REALLY HOT I HAVE NEVER FELT SO THREATENED BY AN ANIME MAN FOR THIS LONG

i haven’t even talked about tsunashi “sexy in the big screen, mom friend in Literally Everywhere Else” ryuunosuke or izumi “tsundere done RIGHT” iori, but i want you guys to explore the anime (and the rest of the franchise) for yourselves, and who knows, you may find the character for you

if you want to read a more coherent, well-written and well-organized essay about how good idolish7 is you can head right here, and if you’re interested enough by my rambling to tune in you can hop right over to crunchyroll, there’s 15 episodes and the final two are coming in during may and i want y’all to be there with me crying at the finale

you can even play the mobile game despite its language barrier because very nice people have translated a LOT of the things in the game, including the amazing story (part 3 just finished and we are all SCREAMING)

anyway thank you for coming to my ted talk and please watch idolish7

[dtphan824]

What happen with @stickydiljoe‘s The Chronicles Tokyo Night Meet Akihabara UDX?  What is Daikoku PA and how do you get there?  Part 5 will be about Joey Lee’s Chronicles Tokyo Night Meet and Daikoku PA. 

@yutaakaishi and @stickydiljoe figuring out what to do at Akihabara UDX Meet.

So what happen with Joey Lee’s The Chronicles Akihabara UDX Meet?  If you haven’t been following @stickydiljoe’s blogs, shame on you, but what had happened was… the meet was shut down before it even started.  The Chronicles has a huge following in Japan so if there was a meet, you needed to be there early…  The Akihabara UDX meet was set from 10PM to midnight on Saturday 1/14/17 and it didn’t help that the Super Street Fresh Tokyo Meet was on the local Tokyo news a few days before… (blaming Sam Du for this).  I did happen to get a few photos from Akihabara UDX…

The LEVEL one guys have some of the cleanest and lowest rides I’ve seen like this Mazda RX7 FC3S…

Joey, Yuta (back), and Abbitt at Akihabara UDX Meet.  Joey actually vlogged about what happen so check it out HERE

A wild Royal Origin Minh appears… 

I think this is the same ND Miata from the Super Street from Part 3….

If you’ve never been to Akihabara UDX parking garage, it’s known as the parking garage for Itasha or ‘anime-decaled’ cars…

Check out this AE86 Panda Trueno… exactly like the one from the Initial D…

You don’t ever see an Mitsubishi EVO V(?) in the states…

Joseph aka @shihtake finally meeting up @gaku_370z… 

Looks like a Datsun Sunny truck but different front… 

Gaku and Joseph still catching up next to Gaku’s 370Z

They would have the same NMD’s as well…

White R34 GTR at Akihabara UDX…

I really would’ve liked to stay a bit longer at Akihabara UDX, but Evan, Enrique, and Joseph were waiting outside parked on the street trying to get into the garage.   The garage had closed by 8:30 PM and the street had a bunch of cars parked to the side waiting to see where to go next.  The police had actually started telling these parked cars to move and that’s when Evan drove us to Daikoku Futo…

Even though I’ve been to Japan a few times, I’ve never been able to hit up Daikoku PA because I didn’t really know anyone with a car or didn’t want to bother anyone…

The drive to the Daikoku PA is pretty cool if you’re a fan of Wangan Midnight… Check out a clip of the arcade game HERE…

To get to Daikoku Futo, you need to a.) drive there yourself  b.) take a cab and risk getting stuck there c.) get a ride from someone in Tokyo.  Personally, I would recommend getting a ride. 

Luckily, Evan aka @wandering_texan was kind enough to take Enrique, Joseph, and I to Daikoku PA…  

We finally arrived to Daikoku PA (Parking Area) and it was unusually packed, more than usual according to Evan…

Evan and his RB powered Stagea Wagon… 

Daikoku PA is really dark, but you can get by with a fast prime lens.  I’m using a 35mm f1.4 lens and it barely passes good image quality because of the high ISO I’m at.  I’d recommend a camera and tripod setup but I like to shoot quick and travel light…

Maybe it’s the red color but this MK IV Supra JZA80 with Ridox kit on 20” Advan GT wheels caught my eye…

This JZA80 build is actually by Auto Garage HKY in Kanagawa Prefecture…

The problem with shooting shallow depth of field in low light is focusing… looks like my lens backfocused a bit here… 

A rear 3/4 view of the Ridox JZA80 Supra MKIV at Daikoku PA…

If you want to beat the terrible AF system on shallow DOF lenses, you can use any available light to focus on the subject like this R34 Sedan lowered on TE37’s…

Walking around you would see all types of stuff out of the norm… I honestly have no idea what this is but it looked like a sedan for important people… 

GTR R32 on BBS LM’s… 

R34 with Ted on top… 

Ted hanging on…

More R34’s rolling in… 

Just like car clubs or groups in the states, they have them in Japan too.  I found the 86/FRS/BRZ group… 

Another R34 GTR…

Of course I had to show even Itasha cars showed up at Daikoku PA… 

If there’s one place you have to go, I’d really recommend going to Daikoku PA in the evening… I mean check out all those subs.  They were playing some rad music at one point… 

Then I found these guys with the LED strips… 

Even though it was 30F or -1C ,  the atmosphere was really energetic thanks to the dancers, music, and lights…

Light show at Daikoku PA…

No words can describe…

I have no words to describe the set up of this car… 

Cars like this R34 GTR still rolling in… 

Definitely needs a few more screens… 

Joseph got thirsty while taking in the Daikoku PA experience…

Imagine all these vans and kei cars in a row blasting with 10+ subs each… my ears were done…

I mean Daikoku PA can be a romantic place to go to, right? 

Eventually, the patrol came by and asked for people to leave.  This was around 11PM and it seemed any and all car related meet spots were shut down as well… 

Evan dropped us off for the night in Odaiba where we barely made the last few trains back to our Airbnb…  Thanks for the ride bro!

Summary for car meets in Tokyo, I’d recommend for you to go to:

1.  RWB Meeting in Roppongi (Usually night before Tokyo Auto Salon) 2.  Super Street x Hardcore Japan Fresh Tokyo Meet (Usually announced when staff is in Japan) 3.  Joey Lee / Stickydiljoe’s The Chronicles meet (Randomly announced when he’s in Japan) 4.  Akihabara UDX parking garage (Itasha and other nice random cars) 5.  Daikoku PA / Umihotaru PA / Tatsumi PA (you will need rides to get here and there isn’t always a big turnout, but something interesting is always there)

Of course, there could be other meeting spots, but these are the biggest meet spots I’ve attended.  As always thanks for reading or skimming through.  If you have any questions, just hit me up.

http://www.danhphan.com http://www.danhphanphoto.wordpress.com http://www.instagram.com/dtphan

Gear: Nikon D750 Sigma 35mm f1.4

Journey to Tokyo: Part 5 – The Chronicles Tokyo Night Meet Akihabara UDX and Daikoku PA What happen with @stickydiljoe's The Chronicles Tokyo Night Meet Akihabara UDX?  What is Daikoku PA…