#akiko yamashita

[clemsfilmdiary]

Jigoku (1960, Nobuo Nakagawa)

Also known as: The Sinners of Hell

地獄　（中川信夫）

10/2/22

[gachael]

Linda Carriere (2024 Blu-spec CD2)

Love Celebration

[stuff-diary]

Eye Love You

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2024

Eye Love You (2024, Japan)

Directors: Shingo Okamoto, Ryosuke Fukuda & Akiko Kato

Writers: Kisa Miura & Subaru Yamashita

Mini-review:

This drama is quite silly, but also very fun and cute. It clearly sets out to entertain viewers, and it absolutely delivers on that regard. I really vibed with its goofy sense of humor and, as a fan of stories with lots of misunderstandings, I think the writers made a pretty fun use of that trope. But the drama's biggest strength is obviously the main couple. I know from experience that Fumi Nikaido is an infallible actress with an insane range (just compare her performance here with the one in the recently finished Shōgun), and Chae Jong Hyeop is the epitome of fluffiness and charm (plus he looks cute AF throughout the drama). On top of that, their chemistry is just fantastic. Oh, and I also loved the second couple; they had such a hilarious dynamic. So, did Eye Love You change my life? Definitely not. But did it make me laugh out loud and keep me thoroughly entertained? The answer is a resounding yes.

[rabidline]

2023 Japan Nationals - December 22, 2023 Mako Yamashita → She is Like The Swallow by Lucia Micarelli and Leigh Neah, choreographed by Akiko Suzuki

[cherrylng]

100 Albums to understand Muse - Part 1 [STYLE Series #004 - Muse (August 2010)]

The members of Muse started as a band in the heyday of Britpop, but their strongest influences were the US alternative scene, as well as the Grebo music scene such as Ned's Atomic Dustbin. Their musical interests broadened, especially Matthew's, as he travelled and met people in different countries, and he dabbled in tango, flamenco and even Italian folk music. Muse were, of course, greatly influenced by the greats of the rock world, including Queen, but they also greedily embraced classical music such as Chopin and Rachmaninoff. Here we introduce some of their influences and the artists they were involved with. These are 100 discs for a deeper enjoyment of Muse's world, and you'd be remiss if you didn't listen to them!

Text by Sumi Imai (I), Masataka Oguchi (K), Junya Shimofusa (J), Akiko Mima (M/board selection), Hisashi Murakami (H), Tomoo Yamaguchi (T), Shiho Yamashita (S)

AC/DC Back In Black (1980) The sixth album from Australia's greatest treasure, AC/DC. The riff of the classic ‘Back in Black’ on this album is one of the first phrases that every boy who picks up a guitar learns. A great rock basic, so to speak. Of course, the [guitar] prince is no exception [to this]. He performed a cover of the song here and there at the Australian festival Big Day Out. -J

ADAM LAMBERT For Your Entertainment (2009) Adam Lambert was born and raised in the US, and his dramatic vocals are a feature of his US TV show ‘American Idol’. His major-label debut featured songwriting contributions from Lady Gaga, Pink, Weezer's Reeves, Darkness' Justin and many other well-known names. Matthew also contributed a song called ‘Soaked’ to the album. -H

ANDRÉS SEGOVIA The Art Of Segovia (2002) Matthew once travelled to Spain to study flamenco guitar, but it was Francisco Talega of ‘Memories of the Alhambra’ fame, born in Spain, who laid the foundations for classical guitar in the 20th century. This is a collection of masterpieces by Andrés Segovia, the master who took up many of Talega's works and popularised the classical guitar. -S

AKSAK MABOUL Un Peu De L'âme Des Bandits (1980) Belgian avant-garde progressive band. The band's diverse style is characterised by the use of piano and strings in tangos, contemporary-style suites and fast-moving punk, all of which make full use of the high skills of the band members. The band's wonderfully chaotic sound, where materialism and realism collide, is too good to be described as ‘only known to those in the know’. -M

Translator's Note: I'll be putting whole albums of the selected albums listed on this article. I'm of the belief that the best way to enjoy an album is to listen to it from start to end, so that we can understand the influences far better. Also, I'm doing this because I want to mess with YouTube's algorithm and leave it very confused on what it's supposed to recommend to me in the near future.

[444lpblue]

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End #6 - The Hero of the Village

Screenplay: Tomohiro Suzuki Storyboard/Episode Director: Tooru Iwazawa Chief Animation Director: Reiko Nagasawa Animation Directors: Keisuke Hiroe, Akiko Takase Key Animation: Mayuko Kandori, Ayaka Satou, Airi Takahashi, Dana Akahara, Hidekazu Ebina, Toshiya Kouno, Kohaku (Yutaka Nakamura), Kai Shibata, Hironori Tanaka, TOMATO, Keisuke Namioka, Ruoyu Wen, Tsutomu Miyazawa, Yukiko Busa, Eiji Yamamori, Rai, Keiichirou Watanabe, Hiroyuki Kobashi, Toshiyuki Satou, Yoshiko Matsumura, Shun Enokido, Chris (Yen bm), Mark Kenta Corcoran, Takahito Sakazume, Mami Takaishi, Youko Tsukada, Hiroo Nagano, HAHI, Houjicha, Saho Miyano, Shingo Yamashita, Tatsuya Yoshihara, Ruochen Liang

IT WAS SO GOOD, IT WAS SO GOOD..Uhh mhmm.

This week's Frieren episode was a showcase of the animators that the show continues to hold, top-tier level animators who you would typically see creating "sakuga" moments for just a few moments in a show. However, they are constant animators throughout the entirety of Frieren. And while you should have already been impressed, the Stark fight scene against the dragon truly showcased their talents.

An underrated role that people don't typically mention is the animation producer, who is mostly responsible for gathering the animators for a show. In this case, it's Yuuichirou Fukushi, who has been the animation producer for Sonny Boy, takt op.Destiny, One Punch Man, and more. The staff he assembles for his shows is simply top-notch almost every time, and I felt like I needed to mention that, especially when he is now responsible for two of my personal top shows, Frieren and Sonny Boy. Takashi Nakame is also listed as an animation producer for the show, but I don't know as much about him. Nevertheless, he should also be mentioned. In the Stark fight scene alone, you have Hironori Tanaka, Keiichirou Watanabe, Shingo Yamashita, Tatsuya Yoshihara, Chris (Yen bm), and Yutaka Nakamura. That's a team of multiple superstar animators that you wish one of them would be in your own show, but Frieren has all of them together, and the result is something you just have to see for yourself.

While I never really read Frieren's manga for its fight scenes, I was excited to see the action scenes in the animation. We did see it in the four-episode debut, but that was a more stationary wizard magic battle (which was still very cool). However, Stark vs. the dragon feels greatly enhanced compared to the manga. Just from the moment Stark runs to engage, the camera naturally follows him as he charges in, continuing to track him as if it were a boss fight in a video game. The fluidity and character acting amidst all of this action are phenomenal and it's all done in completely 2D including the backgrounds and dragons which is rarer nowadays.

The decision for a closer, more dynamic adaptation of the fight scene can be credited to Tooru Iwazawa, who is the action director for this episode. He also storyboarded and directed the entire episode.

Setting the action aside, I loved the episode as always. The attention to detail in translating the characters' expressions from the manga to the anime never ceases to amaze me. As someone who used to collect Fern's funny faces in the manga, I'm delighted to see all of them in their full glory. It's also heartwarming to witness the budding relationship between Fern and Stark in this episode.

[moonlightdestruction]

❛  hi, my name is Akiko. it’s nice meeting you. and apparently we’re going to be working on this together now.  ❜ /thorneprincess to suzuran. couldn't so i just combined them lol.

" A pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Suzuran Yamashita of the Gobantai. I look forward to working on this mission with you" Her face barely budged, regarding the other woman. But those whom knew Suzuran... It was just her 'work' face. To other's she's as cold and quick as any blade. But they would know of her efficiency to get any task they throw at her done. @thorneprincess

[byneddiedingo]

Shigeru Amachi in Jigoku (Nobuo Nakagawa, 1960)

Cast: Shigeru Amachi, Utako Mitsuya, Yoichi Numata, Hiroshi Hayashi, Jun Otomo, Akiko Yamashita, Kiyoko Tsuji, Fumiko Miyata, Akira Nakamura, Kimie Tokudaiji, Akiko Ono, Hiroshi Izumida. Screenplay: Nobuo Nakagawa, Ichiro Miyagawa. Cinematography: Mamoru Morita. Production design: Shosuke Sasane, Haruyasu Kurosawa. Film editing: Toshio Goto. Music: Michiaki Watanabe.

I know what hell is: listening to elevator music interrupted by assurances that "your call is important to us" while on infinite hold. Which is not the idea that director Nobuo Nakagawa and co-screenwriter Ichiro Miyagawa present. It's pretty much the traditional one of fire and torture. Jigoku is a cult film, as many of the better (or at least more arty) horror films become, and while I'm not a member of the cult I can appreciate the skill with which Nakagawa presents his vision. It's a movie that ranges from deeply somber to extraordinarily lurid. The protagonist, Shiro (Shigeru Amachi), is a student who, after celebrating his engagement to Yukiko (Utako Mitsuya), gets into a car driven by his sardonic friend Tamura (Yoichi Numata). On a dark road, Tamura runs down and kills a gangster, Kyoichi (Hiroshi Izumida), whose mother (Kiyoko Tsuji) witnesses the accident. Shiro wants to stop, but Tamura keeps driving. Since her son was a gangster, she doesn't report the hit-and-run to the police but, along with Kyoichi's girlfriend, Yoko (Akiko Ono), vows to hunt down Tamura and Shiro and kill them. After pleading with Tamura, Shiro decides to go to the police himself, but on the way the taxi driver -- whom Shiro briefly hallucinates as Tamura -- runs into a tree and Yukiko, who has reluctantly accompanied Shiro, is killed. Shiro's road to hell is certainly paved with good intentions, and after his death he winds up there. He has received a telegram that his mother is critically ill, so he goes to see her at the home for the elderly that his father runs in the country. She's not as ill as he feared -- the telegram was actually sent by Kyoichi's mother and girlfriend to lure him into their trap. He discovers that the old folks' home his father owns is actually run on the cheap, with a doctor who skimps on medicine and food. He also encounters Sachiko, a young woman who looks exactly like his fiancée, Yukiko, down to the pink parasol she carries. She turns out to be the sister Shiro didn't know he had, but by this time revelations are coming hard and fast: Tamura -- who appears more and more demonic -- turns up too, as do the potential assassins, and in an elaborate concoction of circumstances, everybody dies, including Shiro. And everybody goes to hell, which is a fantasia crafted out of depictions from old Buddhist paintings and traditional cinematic imaginings of the underworld. Shiro learns there that the taxi accident killed not only Yukiko but also their unborn child, and he spends much of his time trying to rescue the infant from the torments of the afterlife. The film ends, after much exploration of the more gruesome torments of hell, with Shiro's vision of the twinned Yukiko and Sachiko, both with pink parasols, but although it suggests Faust being redeemed by Gretchen, there's nothing to indicate that this is any kind of redemption for Shiro. In short, Jigoku is complicated, contrived, confusing, sometimes a little cheesy and more than a little morally questionable -- does Shiro really deserve to go through all this? -- but also thoroughly fascinating.

[imclab]

TELESTRON from GMUNK on Vimeo.

Telestron is a recreation of one of the ancient world’s most sought-after immersive experiences, invoking a ritual that harnessed the spiritual forces of nature to create a transformative experience. This ritual was housed in a darkened chamber called the Telestron (an adaptation of the original Telesterion), deployed cutting-edge robotic and light projection technology to bring the audience into an experience of the diurnal cycle (sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight). In other words – a complete Day for Night.

The goal was to create a theatrical piece that felt immersive and all-encompassing – a total takeover of the senses. The team knew the massive scale of the robots paired with the sophistication of the Day for Night crowd and an epic Sound System could render a sensory explosion for the audience.

The core concept of Telestron, developed and written by Stephen Marshall, was that it was recreating one of the ancient world’s most sought-after immersive experiences – essentially all the attendees were taking part in a sacred ritual. This ritual was housed in a darkened chamber that was, in the ancient Greek festival at Eleusis, was called the Telesterion, which they adapted to Telestron. This ritual intended to “harness the spiritual forces of nature to create a transformative experience.”

The team then got specific about what forces of nature they wanted to portray – and chose the Diurnal Cycle as the informing palette. They loved the poetic symmetry of the cycle being a Day for Night progression, and also how it influences the seasons and the positioning of the sun, which was assigned as the primary light source. They then designed each season of the cycle, which focuses on the time of year, the position of the sun, and how that affects the symbolism and character of the light. All of which were controlled by the ‘lantern bearers’ which were the robotic conductors, and were imbued specific personalities and behaviors to accurately represent the character of the light.

Once they went through the four seasons as their own acts, they then made a chaotic and emotionally charged fifth act to render an artistic interpretation of the current state of the natural cycle – one with the warming planet has become much more turbulent and chaotic; and as a result felt an obligation to communicate that visually and sonically.

It was all quite abstract, but gave the team so much structure to work with – sometimes with these massive and complex projects there’s a major need for a conceptual framework to work within. Establishing the concept early and sticking with it really helped guide the process and kept the team focused on the high-level vision of the installation throughout the production cycle.

Telestron Credits

Production Design: VT Pro Design Creative Direction: Michael Fullman, Bradley G Munkowitz Concept Writer: Stephen Marshall Touch Designer Programming: Matt Wachter Lighting Design: Gabe Fraboni Technical Design: Harry Souders, Jack Gilmore Production Management: Hayk Khanjian, Nico Yernazian Robot Animation & Previs: Jordan Ariel, Akiko Yamashita Design Assistant: David Gao Cinematographers: Andrew Curtis, Aaron Marcellino Editor: Jordan Ariel Colorist: Billy Hobson Composer: SoundsRED

[davidosu87]

[rabidline]

2023 Japan Nationals - December 22, 2023 Mako Yamashita → She is Like The Swallow by Lucia Micarelli and Leigh Neah, choreographed by Akiko Suzuki

[illustratedmusicalencyclopedia]

[theartofmany]

City pop is taking its place as one of the internet’s favorites like no other From Youtube channel Nar Music: This is a 1980's Japanese Mixtape, The 4th one Enjoy...  (Tracklist in the description of the video)

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have The Forest 2016

[sailorzakuro]

Venus Edits - First Stage

Cos I know Tumblr won’t let me put them all on at once XD

Anyway got to doing more of these and wanted to do Venus next cos I love Venus and most of the actresses that played her XD

[yaoi-reading]

manga that caught my attention 2021

1. Ashita Niji ga denakute mo by Kihara Noriko

2. Bokura no Tsuzuki by  Amamiya

3. Chicken Heart Serenade by Ooshima Kamome

4. 17 by Kinoshita Keiko

5. One Room Angel by Harada

6. Wadatsumi no Yometori by Monzen Yayohi

7. Sukebe no Seishun by Hata Takashi

8. Indigo no Kibun by  Marukido Maki (reread first volume and finished whole series)

9. Sonna ni Iu nara Daiteyaru by Niyama

10. Ingasei no Baiser by Aniya Yuiji

11. Shinonome Tantei Ibunroku by Tarasumi John

12. Je t'aime, café noir by Yamashita Tomoko

13. Tantei Jimusho no Kainushi-sama by noji

14. Kimi ni Ienai Koto ga Aru by Mofumofu Edako

15. Sore wa Haru no Owari ni by Nojiro Guri

16. Bakeneko Katatte Sourou  by Hayane Dentou

Honorable mention Yuuutsu na Asa by Hidaka Shoko.

In 2021 I planned to read more non-bl manga, I wasn’t very successful with this resolution, but I managed to read several non-bl manga which I’ve enjoyed: Muchuu sa, Kimi ni by Wayama Yama, Watashi no Shounen by Takano Hitomi and Toukyou Tarareba Musume by Higashimura Akiko.