氷菓 Soundtrack

 

 氷菓 Hyouka

At first, I didn't care much for the series. I kept watching mainly for the great animation and Chitanda (girl in the picture). The story is alright but a bit boring at times... I mean, you start to wonder why they turn so many small things into big mysteries. But recently I started liking it more; I like the characters and the overall laidback, realistic atmosphere. I'm rewatching old episodes, paying more attention this time around. I find myself sympathizing with the main character and I look forward to seeing how he changes throughout the series.

But that's not really the point of this post. Hyouka's soundtrack is lovely. Well, I only know 4 of the bgm songs, and I don't care about the OP or ED songs, so I guess you could say I'm basing my opinion of the OST on very little information. Also, they're all classical pieces from way back when, so I may well just be listing a bunch of famous classic songs. Either way, listen to these, assuming they aren't removed due to copyright by the time you click them.

 Hyouka OST Cello Suite

Hyouka OST Door to the Rose-colored World

Hyouka OST Sicilienne In G Minor

Hyouka OST Air Suite no. 3

天才バカボン

Known mainly to the older generations, 天才バカボン Tensai Bakabon (the Genius Bakabon) is a famous manga written by 赤塚不二夫 (Akatsuka Fujio) that began as early as 1967. I was introduced to Tensai Bakabon at an exhibit in a museum's classic manga event. I had never really had an interest in gag manga before reading this, but it's so silly and over-the-top that you gotta love it. Puns and slapstick humor are at the heart of this comedy.

I read the first volume and loved it so much I wanted to try other gag manga. The first one that caught my eye is the surprisingly obscure Super Mario-kun. Bluntly, it's a gag manga about Super Mario. People who've played the games would enjoy the references and randomness, and those who haven't played (who really should) will find the slapstick funny nonetheless! 

("I'll finish all you guys off with my chain jump!" to translate liberally)

エルシィ、髪おろし Elsie, Hair Down

Seemingly out of the blue, but on my mind every time I'm reading 神のみぞ知る世界 Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai, is the fact that every once in a while we get a glimpse of Elsie with her hair down. I just wanna dedicate a post to this, because it always gets me. I wouldn't like it to be down all the time, though, because then it would fade in cuteness. I like that it's a short treat every so often. lol Sorry for this weird post, but I'm a sucker for moe, so expect to see more random posts like this.

広島弁 Hiroshima-ben and the Like

Speaking in different dialects is fun, especially in Japanese.

Well, in my case, it simply involves using typically obscure special phrases that are more limited in use outside certain areas (or flat-out not used at all). Hiroshima has many phrases of its own, and I don't claim to be an expert but I do want to mention a few.

Let's start with ぶち buchi, which is like "very". It not only sounds funny, but is versatile. Next is たいぎい taigii, which means something between "boring" and "tedious". So when you're loaded with homework because you seriously procrastinated, while doing it you can go, "ぶっちたいぎい！" Bucchi taigii!
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Last note: there are some phrases that were originally region-specific but have gained popularity and spread across the country. The best example I can think of is the famous なんでやねん nandeyanen! Everyone in Japan knows of and/or uses this phrase. This one comes from Osaka, but is heard just about anywhere else as well. It's common practice to spout なんでやねん (and follow with a whack on the head) when someone says something silly (puns especially). However, I've learned that Osakans use this phrase liberally, adding it to the end of sentences without any nonsense or silly instigation. Cool!

日本ノベル - Biblia Koshodou

Front/Back Cover of Vol. 1

A book I recently got into (but haven't finished yet... I've been getting lazy as of late) is called ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖 Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou, which translates to The Case Records of the Biblia Secondhand Bookstore. It's not quite what I was expecting, but it's a rather realistic mystery story with 3 volumes (so far).

I'll be honest, the feature that drew me into buying the book was the cover girl, 栞子, Shioriko, whose literary-girl introverted demeanor I find attractive. At least within the anime world lol. If you can read Japanese, or are stubborn enough to juggle a novel and 2 dictionaries at once, then I'd suggest this to just about anybody with a taste for mystery or crime investigation. It's a work-related story unlike those rather outlandish (cough:kamisamanomemochou:cough) novels out now.

東方曲集 Touhou Music Compilation

The playlist that really got me hooked on Touhou 東方 music arrangements (as well as the original songs) was this playlist right here:                                 my gurl ~>
                                                                                       
Epic Music For The Ultimate Touhou Fan
(clickable...)

Touhou has been around for a while, but I was introduced to it around the time the fighting game spinoff, UNL (Unthinkable Natural Law), came out. Many people prefer it to be called by its Japanese title, 非想天則 Hisoutensoku, but it doesn't hurt to be aware of its other title. While Touhou games are mainly vertical-scrolling shooting games, I preferred the fighting game the most (btw, it's the sequel to 緋想天 Scarlet Weather Rhapsody).

I almost feel that Touhou needs no introduction, but there's always that one guy that asks on youtube, "What anime is this from?" and everybody else groans.

Odd curriculum...

Where were you after dinner last night? It's so specific lol I don't think I've ever had to ask this phrase in my life. Just for kicks, really; please forgive the cell phone photo quality. (¬з¬)

さんかれあ Sankarea

Just amazing, this anime is. They just don't hold anything back. And it strikes a perfect balance between comedy and drama. What's not to love? Well, aside from that bastard of a father.

When I saw the cover of the manga a while back (before watching the anime) and I thought it was another mindless yonkoma. Never been more glad to be wrong! I'm eagerly looking forward to episode 4!
(｀∇´ゞ

Maggie-sensei's lessons

Today I remembered randomly the site run by Maggie Sensei, a great place to learn different cultural and social aspects of daily life in Japan. There's also quite a bit of useful slang there, too.

I happened upon a song by  植村花菜, Kana Uemura, called トイレの神様 Toire no Kamisama, Goddess in the Toilet (title is a clickable link to Maggie Sensei's entry). As usual, she goes in-depth and I love that. If you're stuck looking for slang translations, Maggie Sensei may be your ticket.

If your Japanese is good enough, you can also check out 日本語俗語辞書 at http://zokugo-dict.com/ for explanations (in Japanese) of various common slang words (aka, zokugo). I learned about "KY" from it lol.