Midaregami

Sometimes conversations take on a life of their own. Jake, Julia, and I were having one such conversation recently, and here is the result. I give you: The Japan Hierarchy.

Ever wonder where you stack up in the viciously stratified legion of Japan People? Wonder no further.

This was created using a trial version of OmniGraffle, which I now love as though it were my own child. For diagramming in OS X, it’s almost too good.

This of course owes its inspiration to The Brunching Shuttlecock’s Geek Hierarchy. I am open to suggestions for version 2—in particular, there is no military hierarchy in the current version, which is a serious omission. Enjoy!

This past weekend saw Collage (the band with Gregory, Grayson, and me) head to Ikuno for a multi-band gig at that town’s hall.

I’m coming to realize that this will be a risk for as long as I play live music, but one can’t help being nervous when one doesn’t know who else is playing. There are essentially two possibilities: that they’ll be better than you, or worse.

A few days ago, Final Fantasy X-2 International went on sale, so I picked it up. I was hoping that like its prequel’s International variant it would have an option for English subtitles and menus, but it doesn’t.

But the game dialogue is spoken in English, so that’s one big hurdle out of the way. The fast and furious nature of the timed combat is problematic when I’m trying to read the kanji for “Vicious Flaming Pistolwhip” or whatever, because sometimes a creature will get an extra hit in while I’m trying to pick the precise type of violence to serve up, extra crispy. I guess it’s good for reading practice.

This particular Final Fantasy game features three female characters, sort of a cross between the Powerpuff Girls, Josie and the Pussycats, and Charlie’s Angels. It’s the Triple Goddess gone deeply awry. It’s… pretty compelling, actually. The ability to change character classifications mid-battle is an interesting twist, even if it is accompanied by Magical Girl-type transformation sequences.

Still, this is a game where the term “disasterific” and the line “I just can’t stop dancing!” occurred in the first half-hour of gameplay. That’s as elegant a summary of the game as any I could come up with.

It came with a trailer for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which looks increasingly like a computer-animated movie of FFVII itself. Only, you know, more amazing. I don’t want to blow my wad of superlatives all at once here, but lordy, this one’s going to be big. Wait ‘til the cosplayers get ahold of it.

This Saturday we got up early to take the train to Himeji. We met Maeva en route. After exchanging congratulations (Maeva also passed the Nikyuu) we settled into a fun sort of haze of fandom, centered mostly around Lord of the Rings, with some discussion of various Japanese rock bands thrown in for good measure.

I read the news today, oh boy…

合格(Passed)

Because you need to know, here are some of the songs I frequently sing when I go to karaoke.

• “Syuunikiss,” Malice Mizer. This one’s awesome. It’s operatic, dramatic, and ridiculously catchy. It’s Malice Mizer’s best song. And as a bonus, it’s in my perfect belting-out range. Favorite part of the song: The line “Aa, boku no negai wo kanaete” (Oh lord, grant this my one wish) is incredibly cathartic to sing with an imploring hand raised to the heavens. In that moment, I’m not in a smelly Karaoke box, I’m in the desert of the ages, bargaining with eldritch, nameless powers for unspeakable boons. In Japanese.

• “Cutey Honey,” Go!Go!7188. This isn’t the original, but Go!Go!’s cover. I love it. It’s got a great melody, and because I am a weirdo, I find the lyrics very sexy. Favorite part of the song: Singing “Iya yo, iya no, iya yo, mitsumecha iya…” (Oh god no, oh god no, oh god no don’t look at me now…) Bear in mind that Cutey Honey is naked while she transforms from one form to another. Why am I so weird?

• “Koi no Dorei,” Go!Go!7188. I discovered this one at our last karaoke section. If I change “onna” to “otoko” and “kawaii” to “kakkoii,” it inverts all the interesting meanings of a song. I wonder how many guys there are out there who are slaves to love, like this? Flipping the lyrics around like this, it goes from an enka paean to a Tanizaki-esque whinefest with alarming ease. Favorite part of the song: “Anatagonomi no, anatagonomi no, otoko ni naritai.” (I want to be, I want to be, your kind of man.) With a little effort, I can really put that enka twist on the intonation, and it’s way too much fun.

• “Creep,” Radiohead. Classic. Great for feeling that isolated-in-Japan angst. Favorite part: “What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here.” Pretty much.

• “No Surprises,” Radiohead. Lately this has replaced Creep as my “serious” Karaoke song, if there can be such a thing. Favorite part: “I’ll take the quiet life, a handshake of carbon monoxide.” Something about the way Thom sings makes him really easy for me to imitate, convincingly. With pathos. Or maybe I’m just allowed to sing badly because it’s Alternative. Either way.

• “Viva la Revolution,” Dragon Ash. I own this song. I used it way back when to practice Japanese pronounciation, reasoning that if I could keep a good accent through rapid-fire Japanese rap, I could do anything. Again, it’s right in my range, and it shows off my awesome perapera skills. Favorite line: “Dakara boku wa jibun no ishi de aruku, fushigi to ima wa tomadou koto naku.” (So now I’ll walk of my own will, and strangely I don’t feel confused at all.) Know why I’m not confused? Because I mastered a Japanese rap song. Yeah, I said it. What?

• “Itoshii Hito no Tami ni,” Fushigi Yuugi. Oh lord, save me from my fandom indulgence. Maeva and I do these ridiculous duets of anime theme songs, and this is our favorite. I get incredibly nostalgic when I sing this one, and while I should feel a deep sense of shame for being such a nerd, I don’t. Favorite part: Not a lyric particuarly, but rather during the guitar solo, I drop into my best Deep Bishounen Voice and call out, “Miaka!” Maeva answers in her best Anime Heroine Whine with “Tamahome!” I think in Yemen they stone people for stuff like this.

• “Egao ni Aitai,” Marmalade Boy. Right, so if you thought the “Cutey Honey” theme cast my sexuality in a dubious light, wait until you hear me sing this one. It’s from the notoriously-flakey girl’s cartoon “Marmalade Boy,” which is like 90210, but with more sugar frosting. Favorite line: “Aa, kamisama, jikan wo tomete yo, kyoukasho, seifuku, mada kami kawakanai, aa, tasukete, ribon ga kimaranai!” (Oh god, stop time! My textbooks, my uniform… my hair isn’t dry yet! Help, my ribon won’t tie right!) Yeah, this one’s for those days when I’m feeling extra-gay. Japanese schoolgirl gay.

• “Omae ya nai to akan nen,” Yuuichiro Sakuraba. I sang this one in front of the entire faculty and staff of my school. Why? Because they expected me to sing the goddamn Beatles. Not on my watch, you scurvy dogs. Favorite part: “Nebosuke de ee nen, ryouri heta no mo omae ya nen, tsuite koi!” (Yeah, you sleep all the damn time, and your cooking’s terrible, but I love you, so get over here.) And it’s in Kansai-ben. That means “awesome” in Japanese.

That is all.

This power trio is rocketing up the charts of my music industry in my head. I bought a concert video of theirs yesterday, and it’s excellent. Their brand of surf-informed grooves combine seamlessly with their edgy, post-Judy and Mary sensibility. I love the trio sound, always have. I may makes some MP3s available, but AACs are more likely.

Sorry.

Anyway, Go is now firmly ensconced in my A-List, a collection of musicians whose work I will pay full new price for, no questions asked. I tried to actually write the list down, but found myself waffling on some groups. Would I really plunk down 30 bucks for another Kahimi Karie album? I’m honestly not sure. I’m pretty sure I would for, say, MC Solaar. Definitely P’ez. But it’s not as simple as that.

Take Spitz. They’re an A-List band if such a thing exists at all, yet I’ve resisted purchasing much of their significant back catalogue, simply because I’m holding out, trying to find used copies. I’ll pay full price for their new album when it comes out, but I can’t see doing the same thing for a 1997 release, even though the songs are equally new to me.

Cheap used CDs and easy access to rentals have ravaged my ability to pay a lot of money for something I might find cheaper elsewhere. I want to give my favorite artists money, but they ask for so goddamned much of it.

Who’s on your A-List?

I’ve now discovered how to look at my referrer logs, to see from where visiters to this site are coming, and what search terms led them here. The results are mostly boring, but occasionally something interesting will show up.

Recently, somebody hit my music page after searching for “jonathon codini,” the name of SOWN’s old guitarist. I wonder who was checking up on ol’ Jon?

What’s more generally interesting is that people that I don’t know do, in fact, hit and read this site occasionally. I wonder if it’s interesting.