Peter's Japan blog

After seeing the first episode of Macross Frontier at the end of last year, I was very impressed both by the visuals and by the music. Since about 2 months now the series has kicked off and I must say the visuals keep me amazed. I love the way the concerts and music of Sheryl are combined with the life & death fights that Alto is facing in space. Combining this with a love triangle between Alto, Sheryl and Ranka. And btw, I think Ranka's cell phone is awesome, you'll have to see it for yourself ;p

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I was in Orlando on my last trip to America and was looking to buy some anime-related things. I did a google search to find some shops and found a forum where they talked about a shop near Florida Mall called Bad Apple Comics. It's actually an American comics shop but also carried some manga. So I went to check it out and actually found out they had practically nothing: no manga, just a few figures in a corner. Bad luck... but we were going to Florida Mall on the other side of the road anyway and there I found much more. There is a music/dvd shop there called F.Y.E., it's a big chain. It's a big store and at the back of the store there is quite a large section of anime dvd, even manga, some t-shirts and even some Japanese candy ;p. Bought my last 2 dvd boxes I needed to complete my Haruhi dvds. (will make post later of the contents of the limited editions)

There was also another interesting shop in Florida Mall called Japan HQ. It's full of Japanese stuff like Hello Kitty, other cute stuff, figures and even gunpla kits. Not really anime dvds, but it's a nice shop. They also have a website which tells that they are a Florida based company with one other shop in the Orlando area.

So if you have some anime or japan needs in Orlando, these shops are what you need.

Added a new category "Real-life locations" under the Anime category. On my last 2 trips to Japan I went to check out quite a few real-life locations from anime series, so I decided to make it more accessible by making a separate category. By doing this I noticed I haven't even updated the post from last year when I went to check out the locations from Onegai Teacher/Onegai Twins ;p.
I guess I'll work on that later today. I have to sort out the pictures from this year as well anyway. I have also decided to make English guides for other people as most (read: all) guides are in Japanese.

Seems like Dreamworks is going to produce a 3D Live Action movie of Ghost In The Shell. Several companies were bidding for the rights but because Steven Spielberg really wanted to produce, it became Dreamworks. Spielberg says it's one of his favorite movies and that it's a genre that it is here now.

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Today I went to check out some anime locations again, this time from Suzumiya Haruhi. It is highly based on a wonderful guide made by some japanese guys (the guide is in japanese, but it has maps and lots of pictures on it). I may want to make my own guide (in english) later on in the same style with some reference pics.

Went to Umeda Station (right next to Osaka station) and took the Hanshin Main line to Koroen station. Not far from here I found the library where Nagato goes with Kyon. Then I went back from where I came from and went further north and passed by the other train station (Shukugawa from JR). From there one, beside the tracks is a long stretch of park with a small river going through it. Because there were many sakura trees in this park and it is now hanami season it was swarming with people who also wanted to take pictures, so I didn't stand out taking many pictures myself. Sakura blossoms can be very beautiful. This is the park where Kyon and Mikuru walk through looking for "weird" things but end up doing a kind of date and this is also where Mikuru tells about her true nature.

At the end of the park, I follow the railroad further up north. Here we come by the railroad crossing where Haruhi talks to Kyon about her past. I follow the railroad further up north until I reached the terminal station. Here are also a few locations to be found which you will see in the pictures. Here at the end station we can make a choice, go right, to go to the pond scene location, or go left to the road to the school. I wanted to do both so I went to the pond first. It's quite a long way to go and I actually end up way too far. I actually ended up at 2 other locations that I didn't plan on doing because they were so far away ;p The baseball playground and a Volks restaurant where SOS dan meets up. Going back I find the pond where some of the movie scenes were shot. Like the attack of the zombies where Mikuru falls into the water. Now all the way back to the station (getting almost lost), I went to the road to the school. This has quite a few stops with elements that appear in the anime like the stairs, the bench on the stairs, an arc bridge, a gas station and finally the school. In the anime, Kyon complains about the road to the school being so steep, and I must concur, it is very steep and exhausting. Whoever had the idea to build a school there, must have thought of the saying by the greek: a healthy mind in a healthy body. It certainly gets you into shape if you do this every day. After I got to the school, went back down the other way, but by doing that, I got quite lost (again) and asked some police man for directions to the station. I didn't end up at the station I started but at the one before that. So I walked quite a way. I'm going to find out just how much I walked later one ;p

So I took the train to Shukugawa station and from there the train to Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi station. Here are also some locations of the SOS dan meeting in front of the station and where they meet for drinks. After this, I went back to Osaka to eat some ramen and then back to the hotel. I was quite exhausted...

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The second part of my visit to Kyoto was a side trip to Kyoto Animation studios like the main characters did in the Lucky Star anime (which is also from KyoAni). For those who don't know, Kyoto Animation did the (very good) animation work for some quite famous recent animes like Air, Fullmetal Panic Fumoffu, Fullmetal Panic The Second Raid, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, Lucky Star, Clannad and most likely also the second season of Suzumiya Haruhi.

I did quite some research to find the location and which train station it was. Using the only pictures that I had found on the internet and Google Earth, I was able to pinpoint with some precision where it was.

So for others who would like to do this "pilgrimage", here's a little guide.
When you arrive in Kyoto by train, you will most likely arrive at JR Kyoto Station, which is good because that's where you need to take you next train. Take the Nara local line to Nara, and get off at Kohata Station.

When I got off at Kohata, my first thing to find was the yellow main building of KyoAni, of which I didn't know the exact location. When I walked outside the station and walked to the right, I realized I was in the right street that I thought it was and turned back and there it was right in front of me!

So when you get out of Kohata Station, look left, and you will see the yellow building right in front of you ^^ You can't miss it. This is the main office of Kyoto Animation, and it has a nice sign on the outside of the building. It says there's a shop inside, but I didn't see it, or I didn't look very good.

Up next, was the second studio which is a few blocks away. Got off in the wrong direction at first, but came back. When you came out of Kohata Station, go right and then go left at the big road. A few blocks further, you come by the other Kohata station (from another railway), cross that and you will find a building on the left side, which has a quite particular winding stairs on the front side of the building. On the third/top floor is where the second studio of Kyoto Animation is.

I will get some more reference pictures (like maps) later.

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Just got back from the first public day and I'm exhausted and my back hurts from all the free bags & goodies ^^; Got about 6 bags and loads of pamphlets. I actually missed one other bag that I really wanted but seemed to be out of stock ;( Now I got only one problem to solve, that is how to get the bags in my suitcase... It will be a puzzle ;p

Ok, I must say it was awesome, seeing all this anime in one big hall. Many of the booths had cosplayers handing out stuff. Even though it said on the website that pictures are not allowed unless otherwise shown at the booth, you could actually take a lot of pictures on, most of the no-photographs signs where next to tv screens. And thank the nice folks at Good Smile for letting us take pictures of (most of) all the nice figures ;p
Saw many booth with previews of new shows to come. I'm especially looking forward to Tetsuwan Birdy - DECODE, since I liked the original OVA very much. And the updated Birdy looks good as well ;p Also looking forward to To Love-ru, Druaga no To: the Aegis of Uruk and Kurogane no Linebarrels. GONZO is up to some nice stuff.

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There's a new set of nendoroid petit from Lucky Star. It now also features other secondary characters like Kuroi-sensei, Yutaka, Minami & Hiyori.