[Japan]: Dragonball Kai, Evolution, rainbows and other stuff

[chochajin]

Hey again,

I still haven't had time to format my laptop, so ...... uhm, yes.
Still quite busy, but it's slowly getting better :)

The next photo post will come soon, I promise. Today will be another random entry. Sorry 'bout that

Today is a national holiday in Japan. I had to work, though (as always). Next week is finally Golden Week, but I'm one of the few people in Japan (?! XD) that has to work nevertheless. I think it's not too bad, though. I had my spring vacation. I prefer travelling when I have more than a few days off and travelling during Golden Week might be horrible, so it's okay. I probably don't have to work 8 hours during Golden Week either :)
Looking for a new teacher is still going on, although it's fun, it's difficult as hell. We'll see what happens in the end.



That photo was taken a few days ago. My first time seeing a rainbow here in Japan. I was close to believe they wouldn't exist here XD
At home I saw them quite often :)

Teaching today was fun for the most part. End of the month we always have special events and no regular classes. No Japanese teachers are at school, only us "native teachers".
One of my students (she's a first grader in junior high school) is sooo cute! She likes studying English a lot, but her mother (like too many Japanese parents) puts too much pressure on her!!!!! Before she came to us today, she went to a juku (Japanese cram school) for FIVE hours (5!!!!!), studying different subjects such as Math, Science, Japanese etc. ------- and then 2 more hours at our place. WOAH!!! And that on a national holiday!!!! Poor thing! She will start to hate English (she already hates most of the other subjects). Sometimes I really want to slap some of the Japanese parents! Even our youngest students have quite a full schedule! Piano lessons, sport, English lessons etc. HORRIBLE!!!! Are Japanese people so much smarter than other people after all that crap???? NO, definitely not!!!!
I'm sooooooooooo happy that I'm NOT a Japanese kid and that I didn't grew up here!!! *nods nods*
Anyway that girl and me had a lot of fun today and I tried to make the 2 hours as much fun as possible and she enjoyed it A LOT :) I hope she'll continue (lately so many students quit x___X ....)
When I asked her what she's doing after class, she said: WATCHING NARUTO!! (hehe ^^ - good idea, I thought, I have to catch up with the newest episodes as well XD)

We have another student who is a little bit strange, very super-genki and squirrelly as hell. I taught him last time. It was tiring just to watch him as he can't sit still for a second (although he's like what? 14-ish?!).
But that's not the problem. When the class was over - instead of saying goodbye and leaving he came over to me and HUGGED ME!!!!!!11111 I was so startled that I didn't know what to do. He's a customer so I couldn't just push him away or kick him or shout at him, so I didn't say anything, but said goodbye one more time while shaking his hand to show him that THAT'S an acceptable way of saying goodbye to your teacher!!! JESUS!! I mean I do have a problem with strangers hugging me (who doesn't?!), but Japanese people are considered to be especially shy about these things PLUS he is a STUDENT!!!
I requested that my male coworker teaches him today. I heard from a female Japanese coworker that she had similar problems with him. I'm pretty sure he's not really concious about that. He's a nice boy and all, but I just think it's safer if a male teacher teaches him whenever possible :)





That's that. On a more random note: I finally watched DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION a few weeks ago. Of course I didn't go to a cinema for that. After I read so many bad things about it, I thought it's not worth spending money for it and supporting that crap with my money!
I'm sure everyone has already read bad stuff about it or even watched it. It was especially funny to read on mixi.jp what Japanese people think about the movie XD
Anyway .... I have to admit that it was NOT as BAD as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it was good! Not even close! But I managed to watch the whole movie without any headdesks and my brain was working fine after it, too XDDDDD
Maybe (or rather I'm pretty sure) it's because I watched that OLD CHINESE Dragonball movie a long time ago which was by FAR THE WORST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!!! Well, I didn't even WATCH it completely (reason: braindead).
You can read all about it in a previous entry.
Goku was okay. Not good, not bad, I'd say. Chichi was quite good, just not Chichi-like at all. (actually I hate Chichi, but I couldn't hate her in that movie, she was not CHICHI at all XDDDD). Bulma was okay, too, just waaaaaay too old (looks and behaviour). Yamucha was a complete failure!!!! Absolutely horrible! As a former Yamucha fan I was disappointed (.___.) .... Muten Roshi was okay, too, although I wonder why Yun-Fat Chow agreed to play in SUCH a ...... movie :D ....



Piccolo .... let's NOT talk about Piccolo, please. I guess almost all of you are James Marsters fans (if you know him that is) and I thought he would fit Piccolo's charater, but actually we didn't see much of him at all. (Funny story, though: the German voice actor of James in Buffy is also the voice actor of Piccolo XDDDDDDDDDDD so when I heard that James would be Piccolo I was like: WTF!! That's too funny!!!!! XD). That strange bitch at Piccolo's side: horrible and unnecessary *shakes head*
The story .... what story? Well, .................. could have been worse I guess. The last 15-ish minutes were crap, though.
People should realize that it's just not POSSIBLE to make a good live action out of series like DRAGONBALL!!! Just leave it! PLEASE!!!! (x___X'')


On a happier note: Dragonball Kai is out!



WOAH!!! WHAT? A NEW DRAGONBALL SERIES??? Yay!!! .... Uhm, no, sorry, that's not it ^^;
Yes, we do have a new opening and ending (new animation and new songs), but it's still the good old Dragonball Z as we know it.
Just a new edition with less fillers and some cuts.

Caps from the new opening:







The story is still pretty much the same. Just this time it starts with Bardok vs. Freeza (which only appeared in the Bardock special so far, I think) and then a flashback.



God, how I miss Dragonball (I mean the first few episodes ^^)



Then we're back to the original story as we know it from the "original Dragonball Z episode 1" ^^;



And these are caps from the new ending.


Hm. I won't watch all the episodes again, but I THINK I can't resist the Sayajin saga (*__________*) I'm still in love with Bejita's voice actor and probably will always be.
For me it has been almost 10 years now, but Dragonball has actually it's 20th anniversary, that's why they released Dragonball Kai :)
If you want to download either the RAW version or the SUBBED version, you can do so HERE at sharpie's journal.



I still haven't resumed my Japanese studies ;____; .... I'm not finished with my "to-do"-list anyway (although I managed to sort and delete things from my computer).
I still have to get a bed/mattress, office chair and maybe a sofa or something like that.
The wife of my boss wasn't really happy when I told her that I want to get my own bed and remove their bed (which means they have to take it back and store it in their second house which is just a storage for old furniture anyway). She asked me if I can't just buy a mattress, but honestly I'm not sure if that helps that much, the tatami mat floor will still be in my bed (plus it will be difficult to find a mattress that fits exactly into that bed (I'd prefer a bed that's a little bit longer - gaijin-size XD .....).
I don't really have space for a sofa, but I need something REALLY comfortable when watching stuff on my laptop. Sitting in the office chair the whole time, won't do.
This looks really nice and (although still big) might fit into my small room somehow (but expensive and I have NO idea if it's comfortable or not and if it'll be good for my back or not). I can't get a normal sofa, though. No space.
Any recommendations????!! Most of you have seen photos of my (small) room, so maybe you have some suggestions?!

As soon as I've settled that, I can finally resume my studies (at least I hope so):



Nice :)
Although that's only for being able to write those kanji, knowing their meaning and the on-yomi (that list doesn't contain any kun-yomi yet) x___X *headdesk*
*still unsure if she should take 2kyuu in December or not*


Alright, enough randomness for today.

Bye~buu (^-^)/

Comments

[samispo0n.livejournal.com]

Aww that poor girl! I heard because of this pressure some children grow grey hair really early from stress! :O

Perhaps you can find the sofa but smaller? Like a chair?
If I see anything suitable I will let you know! :D

Well done on the JLPT progress! I wish I knew that many Kanji! XD

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm a sofa/couch person! Definitely. I prefer to have a lot of space, so a sofa chair would be too small, I guess XDDDD

Like I said, I don't know all of the kanji completely yet (kun-yomi is still missing x_X) ...

[gintoki-sama.livejournal.com]

Whoa.. geez yeah in a way I am glad that I wasn't born a japanese kid, with all that studying which I never did. LOL I had the same problem with having a boy hugging me. Though I was in grade eight and he was in grade three. He didn't listen to anyone but me. So most of the teachers came to me and get him to listen, which he did lol. He had a HUGE crush on me. Hmmm.. I wonder what happend after I graduated? So maybe the little boy has a crush on you? or any female teacher?

I still haven't watched the DBZ movie, I'm a little scared lmao. I think I'll stick with the anime series ^^

I'm sure you've heard about that nasty flu going around, so be careful when travelling ♥

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

*lol* Cute story ^^
I think he doesn't have a crush on me. I guess that's just his general behaviour. He seems to have a psychological behavior problem, he's so squirrelly, too. Unusual for boys his age, so ... I don't know :)

I know! It's really scary isn't it? ;o;
Thanks, you too! *hugs*

[shunluv.livejournal.com]

wow new Dragonball series^^
is really miss DB...one of my most fav anime/manga ever^^
lol the Hollywood version look nothing like DB^^;
nothing could ever top the anime and manga lol..

lol your student pretty weird...it would be much weirder if he also hug the male teacher as well XD

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Did you read my entry? It's actually not a new series, just a remake ^^;
No new animation, no new voice actors, nothing (only a new op/ed and some parts are cut, some fillers deleted etc.)

^^;

[koyachii.livejournal.com]

Haha man...been wanting to get your take on all the mess that was going on.

I have not seen the movie and I don't intend to ever see it at all (movie ticket, movie rental, or computer download...it's not worth my time) I'm going to be pissed if they do a sequel and Vegeta has been messed with. (Seriously, I'll go on hunger strike or something xD)

But I'm so glad that you weren't one of the people who paid money to see. I've been asking people to not give money to see it (even if they just HAD to do it.) What I don't get is DB fans saying that actually LIKED it...because it was NEW and ORIGINAL and DIFFERENT from what we already know. I say they were just waiting for a fanfiction type thing (come on...Goku and Chichi..don't make me vomit.)

Anyway sorry for the ranty-ranty

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean and I would be the same, seriously!!!! x___X
I'm so happy that Vegeta wasn't in the movie! XDDDDD

Thanks for your comment ^^

[kami-angel.livejournal.com]

haha you make me glad I didnt waste money watching Dragonball. I am disappointed cause I love Emmy Rossum and Bulma is one of my fav characters - hot and smart girls FTW!

And I saw some clips of it on youtube and it seemed okay, but I guess compacted into a movie with no plot would make any movie suck. The thing is they could have made it work but Fox just sucks at these types of movies.

On a side note I am looking forward to Transformers 2 XD

[http://users.livejournal.com/__manga__/]

well i don't like the movies from hollywood and less the remake or adaptatios from there XD


MI SEÑOR PIKORO T_______________T why ....that things does'nt looks like sr pikoro TvT

anyway about kai , who is the seiyuu of tenshi han? TvT


take care and big hugs fot you :3

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Kai is not a new DB series, it's just a remake. Only the op/ed is new. Everything else is the old DBZ, just rearranged a little bit, fillers cut etc.
So the voice actors are the same, of course ^^

Thanks! You, too! *hugs*

[yukikyo.livejournal.com]

seem's like some series are getting remade. First FMA, now DBZ.

Yeh..DBZ movie... horrible. haha.

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Is FMA really a remake? As far as I know it's a brandnew series (haven't actually started to watch it yet, though).

XD

[shiinait.livejournal.com]

Poor little girl!
Many times parents are horrible... Forcing children to study always!...

Here in Italy people speak badly of Dragonball Evolution. I think that I see it on DVD!

[aishiteruyuto.livejournal.com]

aaaaaaa! that poor girl. if i were her parent, i wouldn't PUT too much pressure on her. and she's still a kid, too...i can't do that if she were SO CUTE as well! i'd be too busy thinking of pinching her cheeks...0_0

[calpis37.livejournal.com]

Awww...poor girl!T_T Ich bin meinem Vater so dankbar, dass er meine Mutter überreden konnte in die Schweiz zu ziehen, allenfalls hätte ich nämlich genauso einen schrecklichen Tagesablauf gehabt!o.O

Oh wow, wusste gar nicht dass es ein 'neues' DB gibt! Die Quali scheint ja echt gut zu sein...schadet ja nicht die Serie nochmals zu schauen!:)

Und nochmals wow..du beherrscht schon so viele Kanjis?*____* Ich bin gerade mal bei 55..XDD

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Ja, da hast du echt Glück gehabt, würd ich sagen ^^

Naja, die Qualität ist die alte, nur das Op/Ed ist neu :)

Nein, ich beherrsche sie nicht, weil ich wie gesagt noch nicht die kun-yomi dieser Kanji beherrsche ^^;
Ich hab 1998 zum 1. Mal ein wenig Japanisch gelernt und dann 2002 so richtig an der Uni damit angefangen (nur ein Sprachkurs allerdings) ..... das sind jetzt bald 10 Jahre ... und was kann ich vorweisen??? Miene 3-jährigen Schüler sprechen besser Japanisch als ich!!!! *headdesk* ;____; .....

[urasora.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you can pass 2kyuu, you work so hard!! Good luck!! :D

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I can't, so the question is if I should try nevertheless ^^;

Thanks so much *hugs*

[redundergarment.livejournal.com]

aw the rainbow is so pretty!!! It's so awesome that you took such a nice shot of it!

[electragretchen.livejournal.com]

Usually, in dub business, they have a specific voice actor to a specific movie/television actor.

Random note:
Here in my country, fans were so upset that they requested/forced to the the dub studio to hire Piccolo's and Goku's voice actors that worked in the original latinoamerican dubbing version.

About the students part O _ o The only result I see in all that pressure is that kids will grow up stressed and also forgetting about relationship matters, I mean, parents are taking away their childhood with studies. That's unfair!

[bluemchenblatt.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, woher hast du die JLPT Progress Tabelle her? :O
Das Sofa erinnert mich von der Farbe an unsers hier. :O

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Ist ein plugin in meinem SRS (ich benutz Anki) :)

[gabenut.livejournal.com]

Aww, poor little girl! There's a difference between getting a kid to live up to their potential and stealing their childhood by making them study so hard! :(

Ah Dragonball Fail Evolution. I'll never watch it. DB should never be made into a movie, it's too fantastic for live action. But from the looks of it, they didn't even try to keep any part of Dragonball that made it so special. For something to be a good live action adaptation, you've got to have a good understanding and respect of the source material. *sigh* I'll stop ranting now, haha!

Congrats, those are some good scores! :D

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean x___X
But sometimes Japanese live action movies are not really any better. I was really disappointed with the Nana movies (esp. the actress of Nana Komatsu in Nana2), so it's not like only Hollywood produces crap XD .... and some series just are not MEANT to be turned into a live action anyway XD

These are not scores, but only statistics, but thanks ^^

*icon love squee* <3

[meghsta.livejournal.com]

That strange bitch at Piccolo's side
This made me laugh. I like to refer to her as That Token/Random "Sexy" Asian Chick Who Is Just There to be Eye Candy.... Having her be "Mai" was probably just a way for the producers to keep it slightly within the DB realm.

*sigh* Random.

I also did not like Chi Chi. She was kind of skanky in a very non-Chi Chi-ish way.

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Haha, but she was not eye candy at all, was she? XDDDDD

*nods*
I just hope there won't be a part2!! -___-;

[kare-chan.livejournal.com]

Die Synchronstimme von Spike - und damit auch von Picollo - ist übrigens auch die von Johnny Depp. ;P

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nathan

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Und damit die von Jack Sparrow. Die Welt ist klein XD

[leviosa8.livejournal.com]

You hadn't seen a rainbow over there until then? Wow.

I won't dare touch that DB movie... Nor the new series. I am allergic to remakes. Really. ^^''
Dragon Ball is such a classic... But I have the feeling it has never stopped!

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Maybe I just never realized it XD
I almost missed that one, too! XD

Well, it's not really a remake! Just the opening and ending are new. The rest ist still the old Dragonball. The old animation, no new animation (probably would have been too expensive anyway), but they cut out some stuff and rearranged the story a little bit, that's all :)

[xx-sora-xx.livejournal.com]

Bah. I really do feel for the Jap kids after hearing how much they do in a day and all that study!

And I have a similar problem where I am training as an early childhood teacher, I'll need to try and stop the kids from getting too attached, as I am only there for a month and all.

Mm, moar DBZ games. ♥ Saiyan saga.

[hesaki.livejournal.com]

es gibt doch diese tollen Sitzsäcke. Da kann man sich richtig einkuscheln und so drücken wie man es braucht. die brauchen auch nicht viel platz.

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Hast du mir davon mal ein Bild oder gar einen Amazonlink? Das wäre toll :)
Dann kann ich mal zusehen, ob ich das hier auch in Japan finde :)

[lunatic-shadow.livejournal.com]

haven't seen the dragonball movie yet, but I probably will, at a later date.

have a great holiday, hope you don't have to work so much!

[nekoyousei.livejournal.com]

Aw, I hope that girl gets to go back to you! :) She sounds sooo sweet!
I don't get why parents put so much on their kids. In Japan it's pretty crazy, but even here in the US...My mom's co-worker has two young children and their schedules are ALWAYS packed! Do they have any time for FUN?!? (=3=)

Ah...DragonBall....I am SO curious, but not curious enough to pay $9+ to go the theater. :P I'll wait until it's at the $1 theater or on DVD. :P

I think that's really neat about DragonBall Kai. I really hope they do something similar for Sailor Moon in a few years. I desperately wish Sailor Moon was licensed in the States. I want actual commercial DVDs with pretty, pretty artwork! ;_;

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Yah, I don't get it. They want their kids to be the BEST!!! That's very important here. I'm so glad my parents weren't like that at all.
Yeah, where's the fun? I mean if she decides by herself that she wants to study so much, then it's okay, but here the kids usually don't have a choice at all. That's why they ALL go wild once in university (then they don't have to study anymore at all ..... no idea how that works, though XD)

Haha^^

[chibi-bijutsu.livejournal.com]

Hope you have lots of fun during your golden week~!
I heard all the places are JAM PACKED from the hotels and what not.

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Well, as I have to work, I don't care XD
And thanks XD

[amvn.livejournal.com]

Wow your JLPT is going great ^___^ wish I had such progress but there is just so much to to now that exams are approaching. Thankfully I get some help from my nintendo DS and my kanji-game^^ Japanese kids sure suffer a lot of pressure when it comes to studying, personally I think we sluggish Norwegians can learn something from them as we definitely need more dicipline in our schools, but there should be a firm balance between fun and work, otherwise one get to hate it. I really like your approach to teaching :) I'm sure your students will as well. And I would not expect Japanese to be so forward and hug someone, let alone a stranger, so impulsively! I can see why you got surprised LOL XDDD Hehe he's probably just a "free-spirit" XD

Gorgeous photo btw I loooove rainbows <3<3<3 ^_^ And thanks for the thoughts on DBE, I must admit both me and my sister pulled a huge frown when we heard of it being "Americanized", like swearing in church (look what they did to "Ringu"...) But who knows maybe we'll give it a chance? For sure it can never be the same as the anime ;)

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm still not very confident, though. Plus I had quite a long study break now and it's so hard to get back on track x____X
Free spirit? *lol* XD

^-^;

[meister-quitte.livejournal.com]

OK, wir haben letztens im Kino das Plakat für den Dragonball Film gesehen.... hätte nie erwartet das er hier in Deutschland laufen wird ^^; Die Mädels hätte ich gar nicht wiedererkannt und Piccolo sieht aus wie der grüne Kobold von Spiderman.. >.>

Schon unglaublich was man alles bei amazon kaufen kann...