#I compared mei to natsu so much

[pencilofawesomeness]

Woohoo, we're good to go. Action pose D with Erza!

I have no idea what the context of this would be, but man I had fun. Threw Gray and Natsu in there because I wanted one of the Samadhi Fire Incident poses to have that same dramatic flair of crap hitting the fan.

It is very red. Scarlet, some my say~ >:)

(Action Pose Challenge)

[ayamisc]

SUMMER 2010 J-dorama watchlist!

(c) Hiura Satoru, NTV

After that uneventful Spring 2010 j-dorama season (where only ONE series "passed" my criteria….)

I'm so HAPPY to know there are a lot of shows worth watching this season! :)

I've only been following 3 so far, and am about to watch the 4th one to see if it is "worth it" HAHAHA :P

Those 3 (and the reasons why I've decided to watch them) are:

Hotaru no Hikari 2

I've seen the first season of this romantic comedy. And comparing the korean to the japanese romcoms… I think this is the one that can be classified as closest to being Korean. This series is HILARIOUS. Starring Fujiki Naohito and Ayase Haruka… well. I just LOVE their chemistry on screen. Also, both are talented actors.. specially Fujiki Naohito (who I've seen play MANY roles..yet.. this one is DEFINITELY the MOST hilarious one!)

Aside from the continuation of the 1st series, the reason I've decided to watch this is because the "other" guy will be played by none other than Mukai Osamu… and he's portraying the role that REALLY suits him (kinda same role as the one in Atashinchi no Danshi and Bambino! ..though of course I don't mind him playing the bad/serious guy.. but still, this kind of role suits him BETTER).

I think I like season 2 better than season 1.. at least based on the first few episodes anyway. :) I'm not a fan of romcoms (that are not the shoujo manga type) much but.. I suppose this is an exception.

Moyashimon

THOSE MICROBES ARE SO CUTE! Hahaha.. I just fell in love with them that I even decided to watch the anime version (after YEARS of anime fandom hiatus). I'm also planning to read the manga chapters when I find time..

Anyhow, aside from the microbes… the series is just ridiculous. I hate to say it, but that's how I see it. It is.. OUTRAGEOUS… kinda in the same "feel" to it as Yukan Club, Mei-chan no Shitsuji, and Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge.

I'm not a fan of random storylines so maybe that's why I don't like this one as much. But the microbes are really oh so cute. >.>

HAMMER SESSION! You know how sometimes you get exposed to artists and you don't end up liking them right away? ..But in the end.. you DO (after months and years) ..kinda like saying "That artist grew up on me"

WELL. This happened. AGAIN. (The first occurence was.. my ichiban.. who I kinda ignored in Gokusen 3.. but anyway. back to the topic)

For the second time, it has happened. With Hayami Mokomichi. DUE TO THIS SERIES! LOL.

-Hammer Session is like……. Gokusen, Dragon Zakura, and Kurosagi COMBINED.

DO YOU KNOW HOW AWESOME THAT IS!!!!!! LOL.

-aside from Mokomichi Hayami (who I also kinda ignored in Gokusen 2 [I swear, Gokusen.. the starting point of all ikemen leading men]). Shida Mirai also stars in this series.

She's definitely grown. In a positive way. I'd like to see her become kinda like Toda Erika. XD

Higa Manami is also a part of this, and having seen her in Code Blue, Code Blue 2, and Majo Saiban.. I'm confident she'll bring a different flavor into the mix that is HAMMER SESSION. :D :D :D

As for the others I have YET to check out, here are a few info on them (also I'll only include the artists I've encountered before):

Unubore Deka - detective story, comedy starring Nagase Tomoya of TOKIO, Ikuta Toma, Kaname Jun, and Nakashima Mika

Tetsu no Hone - moral dilemma story starring Koike Teppei (aaaw.. he's starting to go for mature roles..)

JOKER Yurusarezaru Sosakan - hero by day, fugitive by night kind of story (Anne and Nishikido Ryo are co-starring too)

Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku - romance.. Matsujun stars (well, Matsujun and romance.. not his fan but.. Matsujun and romance? All too good to pass up)

Gakeppuchi no Eri - self-determination story starring Yamada Yu (probably won't watch this, but we'll see)

Already 3 episodes a week, and 5 other tentative follows.

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gonna enjoy this season!!!! YEAH!! :]

PS. This blog was originally posted on LiveJournal.

[toloveawarlord]

Day 13: Winter Kiss! Natsu x Iri

You can find all my other works here!

A quick note: This is two of my OC’s from The Art of Love and War. Natsu is Nobunaga’s son, and Iri is Ieyasu’s daughter. This takes place 3 years before the Art of Love and War begins. Enjoy!

              The great hall was filled with loud conversation and lively activities. The formal dinner had ended, and the festivities began. Mai and Mei had teamed up to tease Hikaru as he continued to lose a game of cards against Mari, the reigning champion. She peaked at him from over her cards, trying to hide the massive grin on her face. She had already won.

              Nadia and Minori were chatting away with some young soldiers. My sister could charm anyone around her, even without her status as the princess of Azuchi. I trusted Minori to keep her out of harms way. Besides that, Father had his watchful eye on her. These celebrations lasted hours with drinking and games of every sort.

              Scanning the room once more, I failed to find the last of us. She could be incredibly invisible when she wanted to be. Setting my cup of half-finished sake down, I went in search of her. The hallways of the castle were incredibly empty. My instincts told me where to find her.

              Out in the cold night air, I entered the large garden. The stone path led me right to her. Iri stood on the bridge across the koi pond. Her gaze lifted up to watch the stars. The moon illuminated her profile, strikingly beautiful against her pale skin. Her breaths were visible, calm as always.

              The picturesque view nearly sent me to my knees. It was as if a painting had been brought to life right before my eyes. Her radiance masterfully displayed a goddess brought down from the heavens. A soft smile spread across her lips as she cupped her hands in front of her. Snow had begun to pepper down from the sky. The gentle breeze tousled the golden strands of her hair, rocking the silk bow that tied it up.

              As if the wind had whispered my presence to her, Iri’s dazzling green eyes fell upon me. Her smile captivating my heart once again. “Natsu,” she said, my name falling off her lips so sweetly, like an invitation. “Weren’t you enjoying the party?

              Regaining what little composure I could, I swallowed down the lump in my throat. This side of her was rare. The brave face she put on in front of the others had melted away into the Iri who could be completely herself. The one that she only showed to me. “What is a party worth when you aren’t there?” I asked, unable to tear my eyes away from her.

              Iri blew on her hands, trying to warm them. “It’s been hours. Long enough that no one would notice my absence.” She openly disliked large gatherings, finding them to be too much trouble. “Well, everyone except for you.”

              “I know you much too well,” I answered, resting my chin on my palm. Her nose and cheeks were stained pink from the chilly air.

              Another brilliant smile graced her lips, and her gaze returned to me. “We have spent many years together, haven’t we? In this spot, even.” Her head tilted up, eyes sparkling with delight. “The moon and stars seem so brilliantly bright and lovely from here, and the way they reflect across the water of the pond as if you could reach out and grab them…”

              “It’s beautiful,” I finished her thought after she trailed off. My view and hers were quite different. There would never be anything as lovely as the woman standing right beside me. Nothing could ever compare.

              “Yes, it is,” she agreed.

              Without a second more of thought, I slipped an arm around her waist, and pulled her close. My desire for the taste of her lips growing out of my control. “You’re beautiful,” I corrected my earlier statement. Brushing a stray strand of hair back, I leaned down to gently kiss her. Her tense shoulders began to relax.

              This would be the first of many, I hoped. This was a moment that I wanted to last for a lifetime. Her response to my touch had my heart pounding in rapid beats. It would be some time until the two of us grew this close to one another again. The life of a warlord’s child was drenched in heartache and battles. This one piece of our story had sparked the love that took years to unfold. My goddess and I were destined by the fates to be together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Natsu and Iri are literally my favorite couple to write. I hope you enjoyed this little piece of their story!

[itshanni3]

2017 Kenshuusei Test Reactions

Hi guys~! As you probably know, I’m a big fan of Hello Project’s kenshuusei and have followed them very closely since becoming a fan. Every year, I like to listen to their annual recital/test to hear how they are all doing on an individual level with vocals.

This comes with absolutely no bias for most everyone but probably Momohime. I generally forget who I’m listening to, outside of Momohime, so I feel like they’re pretty unbiased and just my opinion of the singing I’m hearing.

I tend to be overly critical a lot, so keep that in mind. I will also mention, if I do know/am remembering who’s singing, improvement or maybe disappointments in something that was good in previous years. :)

These are in order of their performance! ^_^ Ishiguri Kanami - Only You (Morning Musume) Unstable at the very beginning, but then had extremely good breath support considering the song and dance. The head voice parts weren't perfect, but really enjoyable and there's a lot of talent here. Yamazaki Mei - Chu! Natsu Party (3-nin Matsuri) Stupid stable at the beginning and brought personality into her performance. Perfect performance from what we have to hear. Shimakura Rika - Be Alive (Morning Musume) Definitely had some nervous shakes in her voice on some of the longer notes. Very pleasant voice to listen to. Hit every note strongly and caught all the little bits MM did when performing--lacked emotion in her performance/voice. Sounds a lot like Risako on her belty notes. Hibi Marina - Glass no Pumps (Goto Maki) Very shaky voice and lacks strength, but has a very unique tone. Still really not unpleasant to hear. Sounds terrified but really has the vocals for this song if she can gain the confidance. Pretty sure even the person that judged her said she sounded scared LOL Kawamura Ayano - Mugen Climax (C-ute) Very stable performer--higher pitched Karin voice and I didn't expect that. Kudou Yume - Chotto Guchoku ni! Chototsu Moushin (Kobushi Factory) Odd song choice but starts off strong with hitting the cute and strong bits. Gets slightly off beat but still sings the song better than some of Kobushi. Slurs her words a lot so should work on that for sure. Running out of breath--again, odd song choice for a solo. Kitagawa Ryou - Dance de Bakoon! (C-ute) Keeps running out of breath and could enunciate more! I'm curious to see her expression because she sounds bored some times and I know her default expression is ._. The high parts are definitely too high for her but not everyone has to be that "main vocal" in groups. Matsunaga Riai - SONGS (Morning Musume) Lacks vocal stability but has so much potential--hit a lot of belt notes dead on and perfectly. I think she needs to work on breath control and she'll be fantastic. Her singing voice is a total 180 from her speaking voice--reminds me a lot of Rikako. Eguchi Saya - What is LOVE? (Morning Musume) Sounds like Masaki when she joined but in a good way (I'm not a fan of Masaki's voice). Her squeaks actually worked in this and I think, if she can improve her breath support just a pinch, she'll be an incredibly strong vocalist. This dance is difficult to do while singing so I'm a bit impressed. Doi Rena - Ima Sugu Tobikomu Yuuki (Morning Musume) Higher notes were great but seemed maybe nervous, as was shaky and went off pitch a bit. Yamazaki Yuhane - Magic of Love (Juice=Juice 2015 vrs.) Perfect. This performance may have pushed her to my favorite kenshuusei after Momohime. Crap. You can really feel her passion and feeling in this performance, on top of the perfectly solid vocals. I wouldn't even know what to tell her to improve on but she deserved best performance unless her dance was totally horrible (which I doubt, as we know she's a solid performer overall). Inoue Hikaru - My alright sky (Buono!/Suzuki Airi) Her runs were pretty sloppy for someone who has this many years of experience now. She was honestly a bit unstable, but she's improved a lot from when she joined. I hope she works on carrying her "ii" sounds outside of her nose--that killed the end of the performance for me. That said, she's improved IMMENSENLY since she joined so I'm still happy with this. I disagree with the judges giving her an award for it, but if it's based on her improvements, I'm cool with it. (Not like I get a say any ways and I'm not WATCHING it in the moment so I'm sure it's different. :)) Yonemura Kirara - Tokaikko Junjou (C-ute) So much improvement from last year--get it girl. Still could use help with breath support--she lost a lot of what she had when she had no time for a proper breath--could be song choice too. But she sounded like she gave it her all. I think she did well! Nishida Shiori - Take off is now! (Morning Musume) Such a husky voice! I loved that I could understand every single thing she said and she punched every note perfectly until the very last note (which she did all the last part in one breath so completely understandable). Yamada Ichigo - MY BOY (Buono!) For someone with idol experience performing before this, she was missing a lot of notes. She seems to struggle with breath support so I'd really like to see how hard she danced. I definitely think it's the breath support, as she got to a part where there's way less movement and nailed the notes there. Her dance was said to be surprising so I look forward to maybe getting a clip of it! Maeda Kokoro - Suki Sugite Baka Mitai (DEF.DIVA) VERY shocking performance for me--she's improved a lot. Couldn't quite get to the high notes but still stable outside of those--will continue to improve each year I think. Kodama Sakiko - Rottara Rottara (Buono!) This song choice was one I saw and went D: y. She is slightly off key at the beginning but picks it up, then gets off again. She definitely needs more time but you can tell she's having fun and is trying to get the audience into it. Just like Hikaru, needs to learn to carry her vowels outside of her noise.Sato Hikari Definitely singing for the sake of singing but has a strong base as a vocalist. This song choice was another odd one for me, personally. It doesn't suit a soloist very well, but, considering that, she did pretty darn good. Needs to work on feeling the song! I think one of the judges may have just said that, but I'm not 100% paying attention to the judges. Kanatsu Mizuki - Are Kore Shitai! (Juice=Juice) A lot of the audience seems excited about her--I'm surprised. She seemed really unpopular to me (I always thought she was cute!). Was she inspired by Juice=Juice in this? She seems to be mimicking their "isms" in this song a lot. But holy crap has she improved since last year! Needs better support on the higher notes, but I think she did extremely well compared to the past. She lost breath support at the end, but that was her biggest struggle I could find before so go her for doing well up until that point! I'm super proud of her! Kiyono Momohime - Mr. Moonlight (Morning Musume) Personality and strong vocals--just as expected from Momohime! She ran out of breath a few times but remained strong throughout. Not the best song for a solo but she did well. Kawano Minori - Oh my wish! (Morning Musume) Very strong performance--sounds a lot like Miki. Lost some of the higher belt notes but very strong voice. Takase Kurumi - Baby! Koi ni Knockout (Pucchi Moni) I expected a little more from her. She was a bit unstable but I'm wondering if she's losing air. Her performance was still great but not as good as it has been in the past! Horie Kizuki - Waserete Ageru (ANGERME) I forgot I was listening to the kenshuusei when this one came on--I thought I was listening to a MM concert and someone's solo. She did really fantastic! I look forward to clips of her dancing (hopefully we get some!). Ono Kotomi - Akai Nikkichou (Akagumi 4) So much improvement since last year! How is this the same girl from last year's test?! She did really fantastic until it got to the higher part. Hashisako Rin - Massara Blue Jeans (C-ute) I think we found the weakest singer in the bunch so far--but she almost nailed the belting parts. Her range just seems a little small for this song. Her personality seems really fantastic, though. The way she talks and answers questions almost reminds me of Taguchin. (That's a good thing.) I could see this girl doing Minimoni Telephone ga Rin Rin Rin for LOLs. Okamura Minami - Tropical Koi Shiteru (Matsuura Aya) I'm normally not a fan of "cuter/higher" voices, but hers really draws me in. She did a really great job and you can tell she had fun singing it as well. Nakayami Natsume - Aisuru Hito no Namae wo Nikki ni (Berryz Koubou) I definitely expected more out of her but, with this song choice, there's not much that can be done. She did alright--it was sadly just a boring choice, but I think she still did just fine. Noguchi Kurumi - Take off is now! (Morning Musume) I liked the energy she brought to this song versus the other one. Her pitch was as stable but she almost had a bit of "sexiness" and "fierce" feeling in some of her lines. If she can get pitch down 100%, I think her vocals will be stellar. I'm interested to see her expressions because her voice spoke a lot. I'd like to see it reflected in her expressions as well. Oota Haruka - Chokotto Love! (Pucchi Moni) I lied, I think this is currently the worst singer in the bunch, which is really saying something because she wasn't horrible. I love Kanatsu Mizuki but, when she first joined, she was worse than this. The standards for the kenshuusei must be super high now. This was a bit painful at times at how off key she was but she did throw a lot of personality in, which will get her far. Her expressions are really good, I know, so I think she'll be fine if she just keeps working at pitch. Ichioka Reina - Hitorijime Shitakatta Dake Nano ni (C-ute) I'll never forget the first time we heard her and her singing was just...not there. LOL It just wasn't. She's improved leaps and bounds and, while I think most of her popularity comes from her being a kenshuusei for a long time, she deserves to debut. That said, I'd 100% have swapped she and Kaedy. I may eat my words when we find out what she's actually doing. Her idol appearance has really improved, as has her stage presense. I think she can stand to work on feeling what she's singing but she's still doing better than a lot of her juniors--Ruru, for example, could learn a lot from her. She SHOULD be doing better than her juniors, but a lot of these girls below her have experience, too. Danbara Ruru - Give me love (Morning Musume) Oh sweet jesus. What's wrong with her in this performance? I know she normally just sings to sing without emotion, but she's pushing WAY too hard. This isn't that kind of song. Sorry--tangent over. I don't like what she's doing with her belts now. She's also a lot less stable than she has been in the past. Her runs were very nice, at least. I wonder if she's sick or something because of this was just...not up to par for her.