ssjup81

Howdy. So lighthearted or silly? How about the series Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai or any of the Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nocchi Guu series? They're lighthearted and silly and not action heavy. If you like spoofy stuff, then Abenobashi should be okay for you. Edit: Never mind. You said "new". Sorry, can't help there. Um....if you like monster anime stuff okay, the kids always talk about Youkai Watch, although I've never seen it myself, or for shoujo, maybe the most recent Precure series.

*raises hand* Yup. My first time riding on the Shinkansen, I also had my DS. So I was playing Pokemon Heart Gold and there's the train you take from Johto to Kanto, which is based on the Shinkansen, so I fangirled over that silliness. lol That aside, yeah, riding on the Shinkansen is pretty expensive. I have most of my experience riding Japan East, not west though as I live in the north and head south. I usually don't buy food on the Shinkansen and bring my own stuff or pick up something right before getting on the train. I like being in a car with outlets so I can always have my mp3 player or iPad or whatever charged and it's a good place for a nap. Very relaxing. I also use the nonreserved car and try to be first in line so I can have first dibs on seats, even if I'm hauling around luggage. I always go for the seats closest to the doors where I can put my luggage directly behind me. Oh, and to my knowledge, I think that rail passes are only for visitors, not those living here. T_T

Takoyaki with whipped cream? I just couldn't imagine that combination. lol Edit: Taiyaki! My mistake, I misread Taiyaki as Takoyaki. The curse of being too lazy to clean my glasses. lol Okay, never mind all that. I've had Taiyaki before...forgot what the filling was for it. I know it wasn't azuki or whatever. Too sweet for me. Maybe it was custard or something. It was good, though. Hm, some Japanese foods I really like are: Sukiyaki Imoni (this is a regional dish, though, for the area I live in) Natto Miso Ramen Chashu Miso Ramen Miso Ramen in general (lol) Okonomiyaki Shabushabu Sushi Hayashi Rice Japanese-style curry And some others...but for absolute favorite...probably Sukiyaki.

Nah. I'm not very proficient at all. lol I have trouble expressing my thoughts in Japanese and I usually get "gist" not 100% understanding if someone speaks to me. Since I've lived where I am currently, the most I've used Japanese was when I was in the hospital. Recently, I had to do a nearly 7 week hospital stay. The end of August to early October. >< It actually was a good thing for Japanese because I had to use it everyday. Oh I see. In August, during Obon this year, I finally visited Kyoto amongst other places. I'd actually had never visited anyplace south of Yokohama. lol About time I finally visited the two old capitals (Kyoto/Nara). Hm, questions to ask...I'm assuming maybe like, 'How much is it?" and things like that? Oh I try to avoid Google Translate. I have a dictionary/translator app on my smartphone. Yeah, this is why it's important to at least learn Hiragana and Katakana. That'll make getting around a little easier. As for restaurants....to be honest, I don't go out to them much. Like a traditional Japanese restaurant, I know there'll probably be a lot of Kanji I can't figure out, so I only go if I have someone with me. Now stuff like ramen shops or yakitori shops or soba shops, etc., for instance, are easier to get. What kind of restaurants did you go to? Well, probably online in this day and age. Like I said, maybe that website I linked earlier, www.tanoshiijapanese.com would be good. I feel that it's also good for catching pronunciation too. Yeah, this would definitely be best. Maybe you could hang out after work or something like that. Glad to help in some way. lol ^^;

I own (or have owned)... Commodore 64 (I think....very vague memories of a game system that used the keyboard...sometime in the mid to late 80s) Super Nintendo Super Famicom Portable Super Famicom (sucks it broke on me...yesterday T_T) Sega Gamegear Wonderswan Color Nintendo 64 Gameboy Color Nintendo Gamecube Nintendo DS Japanese Nintendo 3DS Playstaion 2 Japanese PSP Nintendo Wii I still want an original Famicom just so I can play the original Japanese version of the Legend of Zelda on it since they system had that mic function, which our NES didn't. I never had an NES or a Genesis as a kid because my cousins had them. I had the SNES, our other cousin had the NES, and the other one had the Genesis, so we'd just go to each others' houses and play. Same later on. I had the N64, our other cousin had the PSX and the Genesis cousin had the Dreamcast. I've also never had an original Gameboy. I was approached by my parents about which sounded cooler, the Gameboy or the Gamegear. I said the Gamegear and I was surprised to see it that Christmas. lol I played it (GB) as others had it, so yeah. lol

I have to really be into a series to marathon anything. lol I did marathon one night last week what was available of Sailor Moon Crystal. 11 episodes. Also, at least once a year, I get the urge to watch Gundam Wing (and marathon this) and Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (aka Ronin Warriors). I haven't in a good long while, but I'd set aside a day and just start watching. As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago I was in my YST mood. Always once or twice a year. lol

This is an interesting topic. For me, regardless of the language its in, I want to hear the original audio, not dubbed audio. This goes for animated programs and live- action ones. For example, if I'm watching a show from say....Spain, I want to hear Spanish coming out of the speakers' mouths, not English. I have no problem with subtitles (having grown up with closed captioning from like the age of 11 due to my grandmother being hearing impaired). Even when I actually turn on the television here, I want to hear Japanese for a Japanese show and English for an English show. So yeah....I'm a bit of a purist, but it's not limited to just Japanese stuff.

Thanks a lot. I hope I can contribute to the forums in some way given my lack of watching stuff...unless it's an older series. It's a rarity with me. So far this week, I still haven't started watching anything yet that I wanted to catch up on or finish. Some of those series have been on the backburner for years. I actually went back to Dragon Ball, because I was in a nostalgic mood. lol I have the game. I loved it! Unfortunately, I lost the second disc, so even if I wanted to just sit down and play again, I won't be able to complete it. All of my game consoles are back stateside anyway. Too bad the anime didn't do it as much justice as it potentially could have. I prefer its manga to the anime. Howdy! Howdy and thanks. Actually, my Japanese isn't very good at all and I partially blame my current job for that. My first time here, I was surrounded by more Japanese and actually had to use it on a daily basis to communicate with my non-fluent coworkers. So yeah, it was easier to use it. I went home after that earthquake/tsunami hit and came back the next year for another job. Thought it was ideal, but for that one, I was always surrounded by English. The job was also highly stressful for me. I then finished that job, relocated and started a newer job last year which I still have now....but same problem. I'm surrounded by too much English and don't have a Japanese outlet so my ability has dropped considerably since my first time here. With my current workplace, all of my coworkers are fluent in English or native English speakers. All of the native English speakers are also dating/married to someone Japanese, so they get to use it a lot. For me, I go to work, and come home. But, to start off, I feel it's best to start learning the Japanese alphabet. HIragana, Katakana, and Kanji. If not Kanji right off, at least Hiragana and Katakana which is super easy to get, imo. Kanji is difficult since you just have to memorize it. Kanji can be easily misread. Try not to get stuck in romaji mode as that hinders as opposed to help as that won't be seen very much within the country itself. Flashcards with characters on them (for either) are good to use, especially for Kanji or just writing the characters over and over again until you get it burned into memory. Despite years ago being decent with this, I've become rusty. I suck at writing now. I blame work for that too. The schedule isn't consistent, which is mainly why I'm looking for another job with hours similar to the first one I had here in Japan. It was like a 9:00 - 5:00 type (okay more like 8:30 - 4:30), but I still had the evenings free and I had more energy to study. Next, I'd suggest just picking up a textbook to learn the basic grammar style. Japanese grammar, imo, is actually pretty straightforward and easy. It doesn't really contradict itself the way English does at times. Next, I would suggest listening activities to see what you catch and maybe repeating what you hear or either writing what you hear. Maybe for this type of exercise, since it's for speed, romaji would be okay. Lastly, I would recommend finding someone you can verbally communicate with in Japanese to help build those skills. Oh! There's a site I came across a few weeks ago that may be helpful with reading/writing.... www.tanoshiijapanese.com You can study up on Kanji and such here. I've gone back to the beginning. My problem with Kanji is that for some of them, I may know what it is separate, but not sure how to read it when combined with another Kanji character. For example.... 手話: This is combining the characters for "hand" and "language". I had no idea how to read this, but understood its meaning. When I first saw this, I thought it was "tego"...but it's read as "shuwa". I thought it was "tego" because of how with languages they tack "go" at the end of it. So I figured, "Hand Language" or "Sign Language". English 英語 (Eigo)、 Spanish スペイン語 (Spaingo)、Japanese 日本語 (Nihongo), etc. 火山: This is another I didn't know the reading of, but figured out the meaning. Fire + Mountain. Volcano. So yeah, this is the Kanji issue that's a bit tough for most learners. Sorry for the long explanation. I tend to have a bad habit of over explaining stuff. ^^

That's pretty cool. Also, since the announcement of the series coming back next year, they've been airing Digimon Adventure on Animax I think...sucks I'm usually at work when it's on. ><

Hello. I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I'm finally on vacation from work! Whee! My name is Wendy. I'm from Central Virginia, but currently residing in Tendo, Yamagata, Japan. Not sure how much longer I'll be here in Japan, though, since I'm not planning on renewing my work contract, which ends in late March. I'm job hunting now hoping to relocate. We'll see what happens. ^^ I've lived in Japan on and off since 2010. That aside, I don't know what I can say. lol I don't watch anime as much as I used to. Newer series I can't really get into much...then again, with work I don't watch much of anything in a general sense. ^^ During this week vacation, I would like to finally finish some series I've put on hold for years now, like Blue Seed, Utawareumono, or give other series another go, like Ragnarok, for example. Um, I've written some fics...but I think they suck. lol Um, other than that, I don't know what to say...so please ask me questions. I've always been bad at doing introduction posts. ^^ Oh! I do have a myanimelist. I can share that here, although it's not fully up-to-date, I'd say. http://myanimelist.net/animelist/ssjup81 http://myanimelist.net/mangalist/ssjup81

I didn't watch this series, especially given the time it used to originally air here at the time (Tuesday evenings), so usually I was at work or preparing dinner. I'm surprised there hasn't been a movie. The other series did.

Oh, I'm sorry. I still confuse the dub titles. ^^

What's Digimon Fusion again? Is that Savers?

No problem, and to add on, junior high school kids don't have to test into the schools, unless it's a private school, hence how I knew Jou was in a private school for 02. You only test into high schools and universities in Japan because neither are mandatory to attend. After junior high school, you can quit. It's not very common, but it's still a possibility. Oh yeah, there is also the possibility that the private school Jou attended in 02 is the same school he's in for this upcoming series. His school jacket is blue, as was his jacket for 02. He could be in one of those rank up type schools. One that holds junior and senior high and has a connection to a university. If that's the case, then he wouldn't have had to worry about high-school entrance exams for 02 because he'd automatically go to the next year and enter the school's high-school section. I was thinking about it and seems if "real life" stuff gets in the way, the characters that would be most busy with school-related stuff would be, probably (and if the 02 kids are shown)... Takeru/Ken/Daisuke Miyako Koushirou/Mimi Jou In Japan it's mandatory for junior-high-school kids to join a school club. Sports clubs are the most time-consuming. Takeru likes basketball, Daisuke was already in a soccer club in elementary school, and I could see Ken also being in a soccer club. This also explains why in 02 we saw Koushirou more than Taichi and Yamato more than Sora. Koushirou and Yamato didn't have sports clubs (computer/music). Taichi and Sora had soccer and tennis. Koushirou and Yamato would've had a lot more free time in comparison. Miyako would be in her last year of junior high school so she'd be preparing for the entrance exams at some point. Koushirou and Mimi would be first years, so a lot of testing. Jou would be preparing for university. I'd be glad if they brought back an older villain. I really really would love some kind of story pertaining to Demon. For 02, I was highly interested in the character since he seemed to do his own thing. That would be nice, eh? Koumi is my OTP period of any "ship" that I like of any fandom. Seriously! I just super love it to death! Okay, death is extreme, but I am a huge fan of it. I even found a Japanese doujinshi comic book of it, but I had it imported when living stateside so...it's there someplace. Friendship or potential pairing of them, I love. I still like Adventure ep 10 (the labyrinth one). I really liked that episode because it did something that has never been done with the other characters. Koushirou was paired with Palmon and Mimi with Tentomon and both were trying to get each child to understand the other. I just found that ironic that this was even done. I'm also a huge fan because of the loveletter drama that was put out during Adventure that took place in the Digital World. Koushirou writing a loveletter, getting caught, trying to get out of saying who the letter is for, trying to run away, the other kids tying him up while discussing it and deducing, and everyone (minus Hikari) thinking the letter was for Mimi and Mimi not minding this. Too bad we never found out who it was for. He did tell Tentomon, but his laptop beeped when he said it, so it was like, "beeep"-san. It's an ambiguous answer, given that he uses the "san" honorific with all the Adventure girls (Sora, Mimi, Hikari). In 02, he used "kun" with Miyako. The interesting thing about this drama is that this was done because of fan requests from the Japanese fans at the time. They wanted a drama about these two and "maybe Hikari"...so yeah, Mimi/Koushirou/Hikari love triangle. Also, out of the Adventure/02 pairings, this is the only one done, to my knowledge, just from fan reuqests. Okay, I'm rambling on way too much. Sorry. ^^; I just LOVE Koumi. I still say the 02 epilogue, Koushirou and Mimi looked like an actual family together with their kids. I know it's not canon, but still can't help but wonder if that was intentional.

That could be the case because of the newer art style or because the kids themselves are older for this iteration.

Nah, it confirms that he's a high-school student attending a different high school from Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Koushirou, and Mimi just like he attended a different junior high school from Taichi, Yamato, Sora, and Koushirou in 02. That aside, this series should be interesting. I hope that he next information that's revealed deal with a hint at the plot.

Finally, a place to discuss this upcoming series. Man, I'm so looking forward to it! I'm glad Mimi's backj to. She originally had to move because of her father's temporary transfer. I figured they wouldn't keep her there for a long time as it was only just a job transfer. I hope that they do something with Demon this series or maybe the Dark World or Dagomon. I'm also looking forward to some Koushirou and Mimi interaction. ^^; Actually, Jou would be a high school student, not a university student. In 02, he was in his last year of junior high school, but he went to a private school. He was taking the entrance exam, if I recall correctly, for it in movie 2 and that's the reason why, in Adventure, he went to cram school/juku. He was a very serious student. Taichi, Sora, Yamato, and Koushirou went to Odaiba Junior High, which was a public school. It wouldn't surprise me if for the upcoming series, he's attending a high-ranking private school again given his future ambitions of becoming a doctor and the fact that his family is decent financially. Anyway, for the 03 set up, the kids would be... Hikari/Takeru: 14 (second year of junior high school) Koushirou/Mimi: 16 (first year of high school) Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 17 (second year of high school) Jou: 18 (third/final year of high school) University students generally don't wear uniforms. Uniforms are only mandatory in Japan for junior high and senior high school students. As for elementary school kids, only private or high-ranking schools have uniforms (hence Ken in 02).