JamieJakov Blog

Happy 10th Birthday Miku!

August 31st, 2017

31st of August 2007 brought you into our world, and since then you have continuously blessed us with your beautiful voice and gorgeous looks. I can’t believe that I have listened to 10 years of your songs, it feels like only yesterday I became aware of your existence and instantly fell in love. Since then I’ve bought numerous goods and CDs, and even came to see you live in Osaka in 2014.

Lets look back at all the amazing songs you’ve brought to us – the creators using Miku and other Vocaloids to entertain and empower fans all over the world!

And if you are curious to where the cover photo is from, its from a song I’m obsessed about right now, called 大江戸ジュリアナイト (Ohedo Julia-Night)

SMASH! 2017

August 25th, 2017

Every year I go to SMASH! and every year I cosplay. This year instead of the usual “dress up as the character you like”, I did something different. I actually brought the anime character into the real world! I brought Inferno Cop to life.

It is impossible to describe what Inferno Cop is about. Its just a lot of random stuff happening for no reason, but god is it amazing. Studio Trigger was responsible for this masterpiece, and they have announced Season 2 a few months ago at a US anime convention. So what better time to show off my love for Trigger and Inferno Cop than at SMASH.

In order to understand why I did what I did, I have to explain that in the whole anime Inferno Cops limbs do not move. Thats right, he is not animated, when he moves its just a bounce, to turn around, they reflect the artwork. That is a low budget anime, and I made a low budget cosplay out of it.

It took me quite some time to make him. First I had to get a large enough image of him to print. As the anime isn’t even released in BluRay, that proved rather challenging. I had to take a screenshot and vector every element on it to make him look just like in the anime, but also be scalable to 2 meters. Then I printed 20 A3 sized pieces of paper, cut them all up, stuck them to a piece of cardboard (which I took from work), cut out the cardboard, attached handles and a rope, and finally was able to wear him on my back.
If I had to do all this by myself, I probably wouldn’t have finished in time, but thankfully I had my good friend Cody and my girlfriend (at the time) Leah help me out with a lot of the cutting and gluing.

This was a great cosplay idea, an I might reuse him when season 2 actually comes out, or just as a prop for something somewhere at an AnimeSydney event.

This is not the first time I’ve cosplayed and definitely not the last. You can see all my previous cosplays here.

Taigagatari

January 19th, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQQLOJhGUYY

For Shafts 40th anniversary they made a special promotion called Madogatari, where they crossed Madoka and Monogatari. Which spawned some truly amazing art and merch. I wish I was in Japan to experience it, but alas.

However I have found something of equal beauty! A cross between Toradora and Monogatari. My two favorite shows together in one; can you imagine?! And what makes it even better, its Kugimiya Rie (Taiga’s voice actor) singing.

The song is Renai Cerculation, with my Taiga. Prepare for cuteness overload.

Eiga Dorobou Cosplay

October 7th, 2015

I’d say this was one of my most successful cosplays, if not THE. I have cosplayed a number of different characters in the past, as outlines in this post about cosplay. But our joint NO MORE Eiga Dorobou (NO MORE映画泥棒) with Amy definitely tops the list.

SMASH! 2015 was held on the 8th and 9th of August 2015 (yes its been 2 months, but they just posted up the photos) and so we decided that I would go as the camera guy for both days, and Amy as Madoka during the first day, and the policeman for the second. I can say for a fact, that the people loved us. We had probably over 100 photos of us taken in those 2 days. People were excited to see us, even though a lot of them had no idea what we were, or where we are from. Thanks to the Gintama Movie some people knew the cameraman from that, but only a handful actually recognised us as the characters from the stop movie piracy ad, played in Japan before every movie. It was a very fun experience, now lets think of what we can cosplay as next!

Here are some more photos: 1, 2, 3.

Anime Day 19

October 4th, 2015

Day 19 – Best anime villain

Who is the best villain? Well to answer this question, we must first identify who is a villain? Does he have to be human? How bad are his deeds supposed to be for us to decide wether he is a “bad guy” or a “good guy”? These questions are rather hard to answer on the spot, but I can definitely say that for me a villain is a character that acts against social norms, but not just for the sake of it, but because they have a good reason behind it. For example Lelouch is a great villain, because he has seen the world, wanted to change in, and accomplished his mission, even though he kinda screwed everyone over in the process. I like characters like that, as they have a good motive for their actions, and ultimately want change. *SPOILERS AHEAD*

Anime Day 18

October 3rd, 2015

Day 18 – Favorite shone anime

Shounen eh… Thats a genre of anime that I rarely watch. I haven’t seen any of the big 3 (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece) and have ignored most of the shounen stuff that would come out in every season (with the exception of Haikyuu of course). Thats is why picking a favourite would be most challenging, if it were not for Shaman King. This was one of my first anime, actually before my first first anime, because I watched it in Russian/English dub.

Why is it great? Well simply because it has loveable characters, none of that fan service stuff, none of that filler episode crap, a clear set plot, and a lot of funny scenes. That is what makes a shounen anime great, it shows us that even a teenage boy can become the Shaman King, but as long as what he believes is right, has a clear goal, and he has fun along the way. Even though the anime is old, I would still recommend people watch it, alongside with Law of Ueki, as they are very similar (Shaman King still better though).

Anime Day 17

October 2nd, 2015

tsundere

Day 17 – Favorite tsundere

Ah “tsunderes” (or as autocorrect always tries to correct me: thunders), this personality trope exists in pretty much every anime out there. And my 19 year old self was completely in love with them. Why? Because they abused the main character all the time, but deep down they actually loved them. I found that sweet (or maybe I am just an M, who knows).

My pick for this day though is Kurisu from Steins;Gate. Kurisu is a scientist, so she is smart and she is also very curious to the concepts and theories that science has yet to prove, and a tsundere. I think to my now 22 year old, Kurisu is the only tsundere that is actually loveable. She is mature and actually accepts her feelings, while still someone acting tsun to the MC. Also she is very strong as a character, which makes me very fond of her, but more importantly, the tsundere trait isn’t the defining thing about her. I guess this just goes to show that tastes change over time, and maybe in a few years, I won’t like tsuneres at all, and only look at mature and relatable characters… who knows.

Anime Day 16

October 1st, 2015

Day 16 – Favorite anime ending theme song

This is tough one! Ending themes are usually not as flashy and in your face, so they might not be as memorable. The most memorable for me would be the first FMA 2003 ED, I loved it so much when I was just getting into anime. But Clara already talked about it, in her post, so thats out of the question. Then I thought about looking at my iTunes play count, and see what ED I have listened to the most: that would be ED 4 from S2 of Nyaruko. I just like the melody and beat, plus Kuuko is just sah kawaii. Not far behind is LOVE & ROLL by YanagiNagi, the ED for Cencorol, but that doesn’t have any animation, just the music. So in the end I decided to go with the ED for one of the most underrated anime of the past generation: Shinsekai Yori (From a New World).

The song Wareta Ringo (Split Apple) was played throughout the first part of the series as the OP and ED of the show. It doesn’t have an OP, so when we first heard the ED it took the place of both. The music is actually takes a rather unique approach to the lyrics as half way through, it splits into 2 vocals and they go consecutively, but the meaning behind the lyrics only makes sense if you listen to them separately. You’ll see what I mean if you listen to the song with subs (if you don’t know Japanese).

After this I feel like doing a Music Monday again… I should ask the anime@UTS webmaster about that.

Anime Day 15

September 30th, 2015

Day 15 – Mandatory swimsuit post

I love swimming! I have been swimming since I was 11 months old. And to this day I visit the pool at minimum one a week. To me swimsuits are a representation of ones desire to embrace the refreshing pool/ocean water, and enjoy the freedom of the infinite depths. Thats is why, what better anime to represent freedom, then FREE!

Enjoy the pretty swimming boys and their original animation.

Anime Day 14

September 28th, 2015

ouran

Day 14 – Anime you’ve rewatched the most

I dont re-watch anime . I think it is a waste of time to sit there are watch the same thing over again, when you have seen it once already. I might re-watch a particular screen, or at max an episode, but not the whole series. Or maybe if a friend really wants to watch something together I might sit with them though a few eps.

So the only show that I have truly re-watched on my own will, was Ouran High School Host Club. I originally watched it on YouTube with English dub, but then at like ep 20, they stopped, and I had to finish it in Japanese with subs. That was in like 2008. Then, when I got to Sydney and had a lot of free time on my hands, I decided that it was time to re-watch this great show. So I did. Nothing will even beat the original voice acting.