Peter's Japan blog

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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Got my very first nendoroid figure of Suzumiya Haruhi this week and I just had to do a quick photo shoot. I'll give you a few pictures of this first shoot. Don't mind the background ;p. I will do a more decent one later, but I'm not sure if I'll have time to do it before my trip to Japan, so it'll be after that. But, Haruhi will join me to Japan, and will be featured in some picture there ^^;

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The Haruhi PS2 game that just came out, was released with this 3D version of the Hare Hare Yukai dance. It was only available as a pre-order special.

I must say it's very well done, exact to the inch. Also very good animation and cloth simulation, especially noticeable with Itsuki (the guy on the right). I'm guessing this is motion capture animation though, but still, the face are very well done. The created a special face rendering system for the game, to make the faces animated and look the same as in an anime series.

So here's the video, enjoy ^^;

Original story from DannyChoo.com

During their latest news video from ANN TV, AnimeNewsNetwork showed an subtitled interview with the main "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu" cast: Hirano Aya, Yuko Goko and Chihara Minoru. The interview was done the day after their live performance at the Anime Expo in Los Angeles.

I must say, they looked very good and very kawaii as always. I like how they liked the American fans and I hope they will be invited to some anime convention in Europe as well. Would love to see them as well.

There seems to be something weird going on with the second season of Suzumiya Haruhi.
It seems that the previous "second season" is cancelled and a new "second season" is being created. Probably due to creative differences with the production team & director.
Kyoto Animation will still be animating the second season. The director will be Yasuhiro Takemoto, who also did "Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid", "Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu", "Lucky Star".

As in the previous anime project, the fictional "leader" of the new anime project is the character Suzumiya Haruhi herself. The "disappearance" of the official website was on December 18 at 4:00 a.m. (Japan Standard Time) and is a reference to the pivotal date in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the fourth volume in the light novel series. This might be an indication of which novel the second will be about.

Source: ANN

Saw this Japanese school movie about a group of 4 girls who form a band and practice some songs for their schools cultural festival and the girls need to overcome problems like the time limit and personal problems. It's a fun movie to watch and I like the main song very much which is a cover of the famous Japanese punk band The Blue Hearts. Some elements of this movie were used in "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu" in the episode (12) that had the legendary performance of ENOZ with God Knows and Lost My Music.

Watch a clip here of their performance of Linda Linda at the end of the movie: YouTube.
Link to IMDB: Linda Linda Linda (2005)
Link to Amazon: Linda Linda Linda

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Yatta! A second season to "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu" is coming!
Or at least, it's going to be announced in the next issue of NewType, but it is still a rumor.
But let's hope it will be :)

source: AnimeNewsNetwork

My figure got delayed. Was supposed to be released on June 30th, but it is now delayed by 1 month until July 31st :(
Here's a preview of the figure: