Oricon Top 30 J-pop Charts Countdown!

Oricon Top 30 Charts!

Deretsun, your song is number 11! That's been on the charts forever now!

And XXX is at number 1! It looks cool, weird, cool so many girls, and no Hyde is not one of the girls.

The East vs. West Difference: Boy Bands

Take Off by 2PM


VS.

Bye Bye Bye by Backstreet Boys


What do you think is the difference between the themes of these videos?

As we all know Japanese and most Asian music videos for that matter don't have opposite sex characters in their music videos. American bands always try to have opposite sex characters, especially if the song deals with romance. That's because American bands want to emphasize an overt romantic connection between the song lyrics and romance. In other words, showing romantic scenes.

Asian boy bands and girl bands emphasize a different theme in their videos. Rather than showing romantic scenes, Asian bands are more about emphasizing the "burning youth" of the band members. This connects the song lyrics, even if they're about romance, to being young and having youth.

Neither style is wrong. Though in America there is a connotation that romance and love shows that a person is "grown up" and that youth is over. Being in love, in Japan, at least is connotated with burning youth and the feeling of youth. You can be young at heart, and in love. This is another reason why aging J-rock and J-pop stars still look young. They have to. (lol)

JPOP Video of the Night!

Gyappu ni Yarareta by BoA
"I was born by that gap! Love~
It's a plus and minus,
When we met by chance that day we were like magnets"

Check it out!

In 2002, The Backstreet Boys, had their song featured as an opening for a Japanese anime show, Hanada Shounen-shi! I clarify, this was not an English re-do for American audiences but a show aired in Japan.

I was wondering, do you think some famous singer of 2011 might get their song on an anime in Japan???
Y'know no specific names because the internet is a meme-fest...

Jpop Video of the Night!!!

After Dark by Asian Kung Fu Generation

»English Translation«

Translation After Dark

I try to escape before my shadow is fully cast Flying away,not bothering to notice my wings have fallen off A sweet scent from far,far away drifts across the street corner And I hear a familair voice crying out! How much farther can we make it Won't it reach to anywhere? The worlds shudders like it wants to stop us Taking everything away I’m not dreaming any more And we haven’t done anything yet, but we’ll keep going! As if breaking off my midday laziness, I float upon my attitude And fly as I try to look down upon newly formed cloud There's the preferred smell of blood far off in the distant street corner And I seem to hear a crying voice coming from everywhere The deep redness flows thickly And the moon appears to be on the verge of falling down I want to get rid of these senseless days So that I can continue with an innocent look How much farther can we make it Won't it reach to anywhere? The worlds shudders like it wants to stop us Taking everything away I’m not dreaming any more And we haven’t done anything yet, but we’ll keep going! Last edit by damnsmile on Tuesday 10 Nov, 2009 at 13:50 -89.9% This lyric was added by: Eternal Melody

Check out this week's charts in Japan!

Pretty cool!

Brought to you by Digiguy89 on youtube (SUBSCRIBE!!)

J-pop Something Different

Superfly - Tamashii Revolution


Her sound is alot different from what I usually listen to... But I like this song! If I was writing an anime I would use this song for an opening or ending!

Oricon Charts, Momusu & AAA

Hi everyone! Today I bring to you my contribution in the J-Pop section.

はじめましょう！　^^

First off is the Oricon Charts. The Oricon Charts give to you the top ranking music videos for Japanese Pop (J-Pop) and Korean Pop (K-Pop). Here you'll find the top 30 J-Pop videos as well as the best of J-Pop, J-Rap, J-Rock, and even Anime songs!

A really cool thing about the site is that most of the videos if not all of them have subtitles right next to the videos with scrolling options so you can sing along or figure out what they're saying!

They update it by the week so you can stay up-to-date and check out what's hot in Japan.

On this website is where I learned of the most famous all-girls music group in Japan! Morning Musume! What's cool about this group is that most of them are runners up of famous Japanese version of American-Idol called Asayan. They have many videos that can appeal to different people ranging from sweet melodic and calming videos:



to dark dancing videos!



So that's Morning Musume, or "Momusu" for short.

Another artist I found interesting on the Oricon Charts is a group called AAA. I found them interesting because they use a lot of cool visual effects and it's very entertaining to watch. Coming up high in the Oricon Charts for both of these videos:

Dream After Dream - AAA
Visit here for the video on the Oricon charts for subtitles on the side!



Makenai Kokoro (Current Number 23 on Oricon Charts) - AAA
Visit here for the video on the Oricon charts for subtitles on the side!



So if you get a chance, check out the Oricon charts and find videos that you might like! Or you can feel free to check out more of Morning Musume and AAA!

That's all for today, thanks for reading! ^^
:::Deretsun:::

Americans and J-pop/music

This is an interesting segment of Cool Japan where they interviewed Americans who like Jpop.

J-Music artists VS. A-Music artists

There are a few things I noticed when thinking about the difference between Japanese music and American music.

American music artists tend to be younger and retire earlier than Japanese artists.

Hyde is in his forties, he doesn't look it right? And he's still revered by the industry.


Suneohair is thirty-nine.

But that is changing with America, especially in hip-hop where major names are getting older and still rhyming...

Japanese music artists have more imaginative and original music videos than American ones.


I don't know but some American videos are just a stage performance with visual effects or a club party if it's rap... Or hiring Megan Fox to act out most of the video...

That brings me to my next point, Japanese music is less stupid than American music. That video I mentioned was for a stupid American song about loving that someone else treats them like crap.

Now if you ever had a tough time that's what you should listen to...


Japanese music artists are less about looks and trends, and dare I say, raw sex appeal i.e. skin.
 
You might say, but hey why'd you post that as your argument. But do you really want me to post an American rappers view of a beach party? I'll do it!

Don't tell them I did it though, because I only did it to show you NOT to start the next EAST VS WEST beef hahaha.

Male Japanese music artists can don gender-bending fashion styles while you could say that it's the female American music artists that don more gender-bending styles (clothing).

T.M Revolution rocks the skirt like no American male would ever dare to, which shows that they are comfortable enough to do it. I'll leave you with that.

RPGHero's Super Animazement Summary!!!

Hi everyone! My partner in crime, Chansu, has been posting ardently and passionately over the past few days. I have been having so much fun at the convention that I have either been sleeping or doing convention. Right now I'm going to give my summary and views on the convention, be on the lookout though for Chansu's next post which is gonna be BIG!

I can honestly say that I learned so much about anime and manga and Japanese culture within the past few days that I probably doubled my knowledge in the culture.

I'll start off by saying that the spirit of convention goers is white hot and kind at the same time. As a cosplayer of Usopp there were many people who complimented my costume and asked for my picture. I couldn't believe someone would want to take a picture of my rendition of Usopp! This one guy even asked me as Usopp to sign his shirt, I was so honored and taken back that I forgot to write "Captain Usopp!!" instead of 'Usopp'.

Well there were some people who made fun of my costume but they were much less than the positive people. Most of them were either not in cosplay or in a bad cosplay themselves so it wasn't that bad at all.

Rest assured Chansu or I will post the pictures for the world to see!! Please bear with us!

I also learned about new cultural topics like Kabuki theatre. Kabuki theatre is very symbolic and very meaningful to Japanese culture. Only men can act in it and they usually portray geisha or meiko. Check out a video that was shown to us at the con below!

If you want to see the rest just go to related videos and check them out!

That made me think... How are Japanese people mostly so optimistic as a whole if their religion involves alot of things like demons and rooms in the underworld (not to mention buddhist influence and all the positives that go with it)?? And Americans are pessimistic so much at certain times and places if their most popular religion boosts a ticket to heaven just by believing in the messiah? Well I know there's exceptions to what I just said but if you think about the apologetic, curteous manner of the Japanese and the street behavior in NYC thats what I'm going by. Especially when you bump into someone...

I learned about alot of other things there and saw alot of famous people.

As Usopp I had Kappei Yamaguchi sign my nose! It took alot of courage!


The guy that signed my nose!

I got a Naruto poster autographed by Kazuhiko Inoue, or Kakashi!

I asked Richard Ian Cox a question about Inuyasha!

I saw Toshi Nakamura and other famous Directors and artists!

Pictures and videos will be on the way!!!

There was a dance on both Friday and Saturday. I think Friday's dance was more fun because they played J-pop and J-hip hop along with anime themes as dance versions! Saturday's dance was more like a rave party complete with techno and hardcore moshing! Both dances were crazy fun!

Overall I think Animazement is a great convention and I had alot of great experiences. I recommend signing up for next year's Animazement as the number of goers keep increasing and the greatness of the special guests keeps getting more momentous! They even said you can get the whole weekend next year this time for $35 now as opposed to $50 or $60 dollars later on!

Thank you all for reading!!
-RPGHero

Vocaloid track of the Whenever I Feel Like It 3

Hey folks, here with another Vocaloid track for you guys to enjoy! This one is not a Hatsune Miku song, but instead styled by the duo of Rin and Len Kagamine! This song, called "Gemini," is about fated love in pairs (or something). The lyrics are pretty deep again. Plus you even get a little bit of Len spitting a verse near the end!

Gemini - Rin and Len Kagamine

I did not subtitle or create this video or the music. I don't own it. Don't kill me, copyright people.

-chansu

Vocaloid track of the Whenever I Feel Like It 2

Hey guys I'm back! Guess what, I feel like posting a Vocaloid song! This one's called "Just be Friends" by the not-as-popular-but-amazing Megurine Luka. This song, despite it's catchy fluff-techno sound, is surprisingly powerful. A love that wants to endure hardship but cannot stand itself... pretty cool if you ask me. What's even more interesting is that Luka is singing the guy's thoughts...

Well, here's the video!

Just be Friends - Megurine Luka



I did not subtitle or create this video or the music. I don't own it. Don't kill me, copyright people.

-chansu

Vocaloid track of the Whenever I Feel Like It

Yet another pointless post series by chansu? You bet! If you have read my post on Vocaloid (which you can find quite quickly here), you know I'm a big fan of Vocaloid music. I think it has a place in our technological future and will play an important role once it rises to mass popularity. I like to shamelessly promote things I like a lot, but if you're also a Vocaloid fan then maybe you'll enjoy what I have to post?

Welcome to the first post of "Vocaloid track of the Whenever I Feel Like It"! Today's song is one of my favorites by Hatsune Miku: Chain Girl. From what I can collect, this song is about the longing and whatnot, chaining one person to another. Quite a contrast to the cliche "red thread of fate," don't you think?

Well, here's the video!

Chain Girl - Hatsune Miku

I did not subtitle or create this video or the music. I don't own it. Don't kill me, copyright people.

-chansu

J-pop Video of the Day

M-flo loves Crystal Kay - Love Don't Cry