one of a kind, two of a kind, three...

'tis absolutely OK when two things are similar. 'tis normal that people have something in common. 'tis natural when different bands belong to the same style and thus their songs make the same impression

is it only my problem that I almost cannot distinguish between bands like ONE OK ROCK, Uverworld and now - my new discovery - SPYAIR?

my humble opinion on 'Rurouni Kenshin' the movie ~ if you want to have a good laugh

no I have not watched it yet. I only wanted to check the quality of the file I downloaded and since I love the original work a lot I could not stop and watched a few moments. they were enough for me, as I have a special 'talent' to be able to judge about anything with only a few hints or small pieces of information

laughable, really. actors, acting, setting, story... well, what is to expect? RuroKen is a brand, no longer a good old story. the last OVA and the movie reveal a completely different RuroKen than 'twas in '95, which would be ok if they omitted the unnecessary and payed attention to what was the heart of the story. OVA and movie are completely different from each other, too, but both of them failed to cope with the task of keeping the original spirit of RK

15 years ago drama was drama, funny lines were funny, cool frames were cool, touching moments were touching, beautiful pictures were beautiful

what surprised me most is that I do not dislike anything in particular. Sato-kun is better than I predicted playing Kenshin, Kaoru is cute, Sano is strong, Yahiko is pert, Megumi is beautiful, fights with special effects and tricks are probable just as they would look like if we film what is shown in manga. the problem is that all of this put together does not create the RuroKen I love

oh, now I see. this is my distorted way of seeing things. I have a special image of RK because of my own circumstances. modern Japanese boys and girls do not have the same image. I doubt they even know the original. and I am sure they have never heard of Suzukaze-sama and the other seiyuus. the movie is for them, for the new generation of spectators, not for me, the old version fan

no, really, I like some of ONE OK ROCK's songs, I do. they are strong and have good melodies, lyrics, composition, arrangement, performance and vocals. yes, I admit. but none of them made me cry the same as...

JRock, farewell

somehow this seems to be a new fashion to me...

there were cases when random English words were inserted into Japanese lyrics to make an emphasis on something, sometimes loan words, sometimes not yet, and they were pronounced not simply with Japanese accent, but as if written in katakana - take Shiina Hekiru-san's 'black hole'

there were random English sentenced and phrases inserted with the same purpose but sung with a proper pronunciation or at least an attempt to do it - 'my broken wings' in Tane Tomoko-san's 'broken wings'

there were English words that almost became Japanese because used so frequently - like 'mirakuru na chansu' in Okui Masami-san's 'climax'

and there were songs in Japlish, so as to say, songs in English sung by Japanese who were not very fluent in English, or even were, but still sounded Japanese - like a lot of songs by Tsuchiya Anna or Kawase Tomoko (tommyfebruary6 and tommyheavenly6, if you wonder who it is)

and now there is the new generation. there are artists, performers, bands, with good English. I mean, with good English language. but also with good English style. no, not English purely - western. European and American. or something like this

they are fluent in English and they have proper pronunciation. they are good in composing and singing. and... they are no more JRock or Jpop. they are completely western. completely like thousands of other bands and performers in the West. they have quality in music and lyrics, they sing and jump with guitars, and they hold microphones, and they scream and shout and cry and convey their feelings - just exactly like Western bands have been doing quite for a while

who made me think like this are ONE OK ROCK. however I noticed a lot of other artists who do the same. I have forgotten most of them, and I can only name Kylee whom I discovered today - and after listening to 2 songs of hers I simply rejected the idea to download her discography

well, it's great when Japanese performers' works are of high quality. but I prefer J-something, even if its quality may seem low