j-mAdness - sheet musics from anime, dorama, games, and Japanese movies!

Tsukihana ~from Jigoku Shoujo Mitsugane~

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:40:00 +0000

iViolinSousha T-shirt ads by Bijin Store

A request from long time ago :D sorry it took a loooong time to transcribe. I don't have specific comment on this sheet. I avoid to transcribe the interlude parts because it might confusing the melody part, unless I put two separated bars for melody and interlude. Again, it will be waste of papers. So I keep it clean and simple.

In my opinion, you can do your own arrangement for the interludes. Play freely there and see what comes out.

Other than that, I wish you E N J O Y to play or.. singing!

--------------
DOWNLOAD
Download page: here
Direct download: here

SOURCE
Tsukihana lyric and translation: here

News from Bijin Store

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:36:00 +0000

Well, just some news. Mostly because they update the collection, for sure.

violin rocks by ibijin violin rocks by ibijin

shinigami kanji red shinigami black kanji skateboard shinigami 2

Renton Thurston's quote lelouch lamperouge's quote

Bijin Store also sells exclusively in Indonesia with cheaper prices, but T-shirt styles are limited. Get the information from j-madness.com's Facebook page!

Happy shopping!

日本人！　色々　Ｔ-Shirt　は　日本語　の　Ｂｉｊｉｎ　Ｓｔｏｒｅから　見て　と　買って　下さい！　\(^o^) /

Classic sheets of Nodame Cantabile

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:45:00 +0000

Actually, I found the site by accident. I was researching about music period due to my writing project and while surfing, I dropped to this site. The good thing is.. the site provides you with the sheet music for free. As long as you have Acrobat Reader, then you can save the file. Even better, that some of files are original writing of the composer. Some other are transcribed version from Symphony to - for example - piano. Hm, I found out that Liszt did a lot of transcribes. *thumbs up*

So, I know some of you had watched Nodame Cantabile to the latest season (both anime and j-dorama). In any case you want to play some title, these are the links:

Pablo de Sarasate:

Carmen's Fantasy Op. 25; my recommendation is to take the violin & piano duet/solo part

Zigeunerweisen Op. 20; you can take either the violin solo part, full score, or even piano solo version

Beethoven:

List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven, by opus number --> easier to track the title

Piano Sonata no 8 in C minor "Pathetique", Op. 13; even this score is for piano, cellist can play as there is a transcribe for duet piano and cello

Violin Sonata no 5, Op. 24; hehe, remember how Mine played this composition with rock style? You can get the original first publication, the complete score, and separated piano & violin parts

Symphony no 7, Op. 92; again, you can see the first edition, along with complete score and separated papers for each instruments. Transcription for piano (solo, 2 hands, 4 hands) are also provided. Also a version for cello & piano

Symphony no. 9, Op. 125; the first manuscript along with the modern printout (separated into 4 parts) are provided. Transcription for piano (solo or duet) and singer are also there.

Mozart:

First page of Mozart --> have better links to the score download based on alphabets, most recommended

List of compositions by Mozart, by genre --> for easier way to track the title but this place is lack of links.

Sonata for 2 pianos, K.448; this is - if you remember the score that Nodame & Chiaki played during their university day and later -- on Paris life, they play again (ups, spoiler..?)

Piano Sonata no. 11, K.331; get the complete score or the transcription for 2 violins!

Gershwin:

Rhapsody in Blue; I must say that if I don't put this on list, the list is not complete. Nodame Cantabile without Rhapsody in Blue is... impossible :D The score here is only for piano. Sadly, no transcription for orchestra.

Rachmaninov:

Piano Concerto no 2, Op. 18; one of my favorite. You get the complete score, the separated instrument parts, and even the 2 pianos that was transcribed by Rachmaninov himself

To be honest, now I understand why Chiaki or Nodame can play the score because there were transcripted version. Thanks to Liszt and other transcribers out there! :D

Happy download, happy playing. I hope these links will motivate you to get in love with music. My best wish for you, God be with you!

Manga List July 2010

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:49:00 +0000

1. Naruto, Vol. 49 (Naruto (Graphic Novels)) by Masashi Kishimoto

2. Bleach, Vol. 32 (Bleach (Graphic Novels)) by Tite Kubo

3. Spice and Wolf, Vol. 3 (manga) (Spice and Wolf (manga)) by Isuna

4. Vampire Knight Official Fanbook by Matsuri Hino

5. Yotsuba&!, Vol. 9

6. Pokemon Adventures, Vol. 8 (Pokémon Adventures) by Hidenori

7. One Piece, Vol. 55 by Eiichiro Oda

8. Cactus's Secret, Vol. 3 by Nana Haruta

9. Negima! 27 by Ken Akamatsu

10. Black Bird, Vol. 5 by Kanoko Sakurakoji

Black-White-oneTone

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:02:00 +0000

So I come with the gallery again and this time I am in the mood of black and white. I consider a one tone color background as black and white. To make it fair and equal, I input 3 males and 3 females pictures with different style of drawing. So without wasting words, let me link their names:

Basara: Yukimura Dono

by sienhedge

Dr. Pepper me

by haysey14

Blood Dupre

by Atropaia

Blue Sky of Summer

by lime-desu

Eh?

by Zwtchy

Random random OC Sketch

by Hoshino-Tsuki

Click on the title if you want to see the page where you can see the picture in its original size. If you're a deviantart user, spread your fav/collection if you like it.

Otherwise, E N J O Y!

create & buy custom products at Zazzle

Puppy of Rain ~from Suppli~

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:43:00 +0000

Thank you for being *cough* patient. I now deliver my promise to you to update the blog and this time with music! Hehe, it's been a long time, eh?

Ok, let's just talk about the score I picked up months ago. Suppli is a drama that focused on advertising world. This score was part of an 'advertising' that was played in the first episode. I could not remember what product in that drama talked about, but I do remember until now that the advertisement took a story of a dog which wandering alone in the streets, a lonely dog (and cute!), both in sunny and rainy days. The focus was on the dog, so we couldn't see human in complete but their feet. What the sad part was.. none of the human ever stopped for the dog. That was all that I could remember.

The music was totally touching my heart and it was very beautiful, it had the sadness, but I felt it also gave some strength to my heart. Kanno Yugo, as composer, had done a very good job here.

Overall, the composition was not too hard. The form was quite easy but the chords may be problem for beginners, especially for pianist. For violinist, the difficulty may happened for the B2 part which is played an octave higher (and means you have to change 'position'). If beginners feels hard, just simplify it. Don't play in higher octave. Give a try, ok!

Enjoy!

------------------------
DOWNLOAD

Download page: here
Direct download: here

日本人！　色々　Ｔ-Shirt　は　日本語　の　Ｂｉｊｉｎ　Ｓｔｏｒｅから　見て　と　買って　下さい！　\(^o^) /

Zazzle でオリジナルギフトをデザインする。

j-madness.com has t-shirt!

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Buy it, people! :D

It is a special design for you. j-madness and Bijin store had tied up to support one each other. Bijin store - even though was coming from the same roof to j-madness, will only work on graphic design for selling. This is also an introduction for you about some changes that we - slowly - made. For a year j-madness.com had no logo and at last we made it! I love the red cat at the logo and wish he cheers up the site! ;)

j-madness.com Classic T Shirts from Zazzle.com

Anyway, if you guys check our latest tweets, I mention about some turbulance on j-madness.com because we try to fix our website's backbone. A friend of mine is now working on it and I assure you that the work will not disturb the pages here. However, in case you have difficulty, use this to access: mitayashi.blogspot.com and if you have question or request (or complain....), don't hesitate to send an e-mail to request@j-madness.com

make custom gifts at Zazzle

Goemon: the review

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:58:00 +0000

Prologue: last May, I and my fellow students had fun watching Goemon, a movie that directed by Kazuaki Kiriya. As returned, I asked them (they are junior high school students) to make a small review. I compiled our writing here. My students' writing gave more consideration to the synopsis along with their general comments of the technical issues like music and graphic. My role for their writing was to edit and combine their works to avoid you reading the same thing. I also decided to separate my part which was more to specific to historical and other issues. E n j o y!

+++

Goemon: between beauty and madness

PART I

by Ansor & Yunabi

Once upon a time, there was a man named Ishikawa Goemon, whom known as a great thief. One day, on a festival day, he went to a lord's house to steal gold to be given to the poor people. When he was in the room, while gathering the gold, he found a blue box. He ran out before the guards found him. He hid himself and saw his map from Sarutobi Sasuke but the map was confusing. The guards kept looking for him and he ran outside until he reached a roof where under it, people were gathered for the festival. He spread the gold and the people cheered for him, "That's Goemon!". Goemon satisfied to empty his gold pocket and took the box. He opened it. It was empty. Goemon threw it and a boy got it. But the guards now reached the roof and Goemon, using his rope, jumped away and screamed, "The number one thief......!"

By the morning Sasuke came to Goemon. Sasuke told him about a box that was looked by an officer and caused the family that was suspected on hiding it to be executed. The story intrigued Goemon to find the boy who got it. The boy, Koheita, lived in a slum with his mother. Goemon found him there, but he was late. Koheita’s mother had been killed because of the blue box. So what was the secret of that blue box?

The graphic was very dramatic. It was an absurdity of computer graphic that placed into the movie. The sound effect was good; though there were moments where the background sound was too loud that I (Yunabi) could not concentrate on the story. This movie might even better if it had a 3D version. The music worked well and fit the movie. It gave you the calm, peaceful, yet a thrilling sound.

I (Ansor) like the movie. It had a nice, sad, and interesting part that I admired. This movie, in Yunabi’s opinion, had a feeling of RPG with the touch of comedy. Overall, Yunabi gave 3.5 over 4 stars.

Oh, for a moral message, Yunabi thought that if you want to “steal”, take a safe stuff, because you never know that the thing you take may driven you into an un-expected situation. :D But anyway, if you really steal something, you already choose to risk your life!

PART II

By Mitayashi

NOTE: The article below contains of spoiler as this is for advance reader or those who already watching Goemon. Most of the topics here are comparing the story from Kiriya’s view and its differences toward the real history. However, I put specific note to tell the reader where the spoiler is started.

It was interesting for me to watch this movie. Kiriya Kazuaki was well known for his ‘Casshern’ and I could not resist myself not to compare his movies. Casshern, though a very intriguing from moral side, was a slow story telling. It took too much on panorama and emphasis the graphic design. But in Goemon, Kiriya was proven more mature. He created a tight story, a tight screenplay; and for sure, no more wasting scenes.

Historically, Goemon was a Robin Hood in Japan in Toyotomi regime. There was no clear information about him, as long as I researched in the Internet. It was said that he and his entire family were boiled after he failed to assassin Toyotomi. And that was the Goemon-buro (Goemon bath) term came from. The movie took Goemon, along with true historical names and events but Kiriya mixed into an ‘alternate history of Japan’. Based on Kiriya’s version, Goemon’s act would lead Japan into The Battle of Sekigahara. This event was one of the most ‘spectacular’ moment where thousands men, separated into 2 groups, battling in SekigaharaKiriya was quite nice not to let non-Japanese trapped in confusion about history as you could enjoy it with only focus on the story. However, it will be good for you to understand the historical events because it could enrich your imagination and knowledge.

As a key to watch Goemon, you must understand that this movie took place at the end of Sengoku Period (Warring States Period). Like The Romance of Three Kingdoms from China, Japan was divided into states before Oda Nobunaga had risen for power. Both Oda, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu were the most important people that changed the fate of Japan. Oda died on 1582, killed by Akechi Mitsuhide. As his best vassal, Hashiba Hideyoshi replaced Oda. Under Toyotomi, Japan was closed to foreign. This was the period where Christian was banned. His ambition was to conquer China through Korea. It was failed in the end, and Toyotomi died in Korea on 1598. Tokugawa raised his power, opposing with Ishida Mitsunari – a man from Toyotomi’s side. There was a political situation to question whether Tokugawa Ieyasu could be relied on as a supporter of the Toyotomi government, whose nominal lord was the child Toyotomi Hideyori. Rumors started to spread stating that Ieyasu, at that point the only surviving ally of Oda Nobunaga, would take over Hideyoshi's legacy just as Nobunaga's was taken. Both parties later looked for allies and final battle was took place at Sekigahara. This was an event to clean path for Tokugawa to become shogun.

As additional knowledge, when Toyotomi got his power, he became a protector to Chacha. Chacha was a niece to Oda. Her mother was a sister of Oda and later married to Azai Nagamasa. Chacha, later became concubine and second wife to Toyotomi. She was the mother of Hideyori. After Toyotomi Hedeyoshi’s death, Chacha and Hideyori moved to Osaka Castle and plotted to get back Toyotomi’s power. In 1614 and 1615, Tokugawa attacked Osaka Castle. Chacha and Hideyori committed suicide and this ended the Tokugawa clan.

Note: This is where the true spoiler starts…

If you already watched Goemon, you could see where Kiriya put his twist on Chacha’s role. Against the actual history, here, Chacha had connection to Goemon. Yes, she was forced to be Toyotomi’s concubine (I do not know whether in actual history she was forced or not), but behind that, she was allied with Ieyasu to kill him. In this alternate history, Chacha did not give a birth to Hideyori and the battle of Sekigahara was pure rivalry between Ieyasu and Ishida.

Kirigakure Saizou was the second character that also gave the twist. He and Sarutobi Sasuke existence were questioned. According to the legend, both Saizou and Sasuke served Sanada Yukimura as Sanada Ten Braves – a group of ninja who guarded Sanada. Interestingly, Kiriya put both of them as no connection to Sanada.

In the movie, Saizou served Ishida as his ninja. He never mentioned Sanada. Instead, he was a student to Hattori Hanzo. Hattori was an actual person in history and he was a ninja who served Tokugawa. I had no idea why Kiriya put him totally opposite to history, unless this was a freedom for him to play with the history.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was placed as a mere peasant who previously chasing Goemon but ended up serving him. His only connection to Sanada was his monolog when he walked with Koheita and mentioned his dream to be a samurai like Sanada. In the true history, it was said that Sanada served Ieyasu at the beginning of Sekigahara Battle, but later he served Toyotomi. If we followed this theory, then it was logic to see Sasuke was wearing Ieyasu troop’s uniform in the movie. It was possible that he was placed under Sanada’s troop and this might be the only direct connection between Sanada and Sasuke.

Talking about Ishida Mitsunari, I saw his role in this movie quite epic. I did not really sure that in reality Ishida was a real antagonist. He was rigid, according to history. His loyalty to Toyotomi was not questioned. After losing the Sekigahara Battle, he fled and later was executed. Again, Kiriya flipped the history. His version of Ishida and how he died were totally opposite.

EPILOGUE

Kiriya’s version of Japan history was a twist of each event in the last stage of Sengoku Period. He left only little part of originality, probably because he respected the original characters: Oda – the charismatic person, Toyotomi – the monkey (and we still see his dramatic playful character), and Tokugawa – the calm and tactical person. Other than these 3 persons, Kiriya flipped everything and gave us a new point of view, a fresh panorama of Japanese history.

However, even though he looked very wild on giving this alternate history, Kiriya stayed with the values of humanity. The war was only bringing disaster. Friendship might end with sacrifice. A leader might become greedy. Politic just brought misery for peasant. I am agree with my student; at the end, we must sit and think of our action because whatever we decide, it will create history..

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As a tribute to this movie, I also work on its music score but... it will take times because the music is highly hard to transcribe :D Seriously, it's hard...

Get the picture/article/wallpaper above at:

here (direct download)

here (download page)

Spring has coming, Sakura is blooming

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:49:00 +0000

Above every post that I ever made, this post surely has nothing to do with games, anime, movies, nor j-drama. But let me enjoy this post as a tribute to how Japanese celebrate sakura as the most waited scene in a year. For someone who lives in Equator like me, the beauty of spring may sound as 'naive' (read: unaware), since, almost a year, every scent of flower can be tasted. I even prefer to enjoy snow. My own experience about spring in Japan was also very limited because I came on the end of spring. But again, Sakura and Japan is identical and though it may be late, let us see how people enjoy sakura in different way.

I think, the folk song 'Sakura' is one of the most popular song and notable from Japan. And because it is a folk song, it is easier to accept and interesting to re-interpret. So I'm giving you some orchestras - which is mostly played by schools around the world. Do not see on the player's skill first because some of them are pretty young and orchestra is a hard work of teamwork. I respect all players there and for me, all of them has successfully performed.

What makes me interest is how the arranger put Sakura into a compact harmony and interpretation. I think, most schools that I put here are Westerner but it is interesting to see how they put or combine Asian and western tradition into a solid piece of song. From 5 orchestras that I choose, each of them shows its power of interpretation. You will feel different nuances.

No more to say but,... enjoy!

Discovery Middle School

MacArthur Middle School Orchestra

7th Grade Orchestra Ellis Middle School

Harpool Middle School Band

Pioneet Middle School, Plymouth

Anime List, April 2010

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 03:17:00 +0000

Been long time I'm off. I just return for a while. I will have exam for my study so,.. yeah.. quite busy for months.
So, this is the anime list you can peek and buy from the store. You can do a pre-order. (You better order something.. coz I really need some cash to pay my school now >:D )

Naruto Shippuden: Box Set 2
Buy new: $30.49
Not yet released

Bleach, Vol. 27
Buy new: $18.99
Not yet released

Bleach Uncut Box Set: Season 5 - The Assault
Buy new: $36.49
Not yet released

Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Season 2, Part 1 (Special Edition)
Buy new: $36.49
Not yet released

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Part 1
Buy new: $36.99
Not yet released

Digimon Data Squad Collection Two (3pc)
Buy new: $17.49
Not yet released

Darker Than Black: Complete Series Set
Buy new: $51.99
Not yet released

Nana Uncut Box Set 4 (3pc) (Full Dub Sub Dig)
Buy new: $42.49
Not yet released

Le Portrait De Petite Cossette: Complete Collect
Buy new: $14.99
Not yet released

Code Geass Leouch of the Rebellion: R2, Part 4 (Limited Edition)
Buy new: $36.49
Not yet released

Fureau Kokoro ~from Black Cat~

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:06:00 +0000

So I'm back with a sheet music - a request from a friend in deviantart which was being held for *cough* pretty long time.

Originally played with acoustic guitar with a little touch from strings, Fureau Kokoro is totally a calm and earthy music. Though the sound is minimalist, it gives the proper impact of beauty and calmness.

Overall I don't think this song is hard. Especially those who work with piano, I'm sure you won't encounter difficulty. For guitarist, well,.. if any of you once try, let me know whether it's hard or easy for you :)

ENJOY!

-----------------
DOWNLOAD

Download page: here
Direct download: here

Up Coming Games List January 2010

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:26:00 +0000

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce
From KOEI Corp

Yakuza 3
From Sega Of America, Inc.

Final Fantasy XIII
From Square Enix

Gran Turismo 5
From Sony Computer Entertainment

Super Street Fighter IV
From Capcom

God of War III
From Sony Computer Entertainment

*) note: I did not search for date release. FF XIII was the only one that I'd ever know about the release. Refer yourself to games page. Buy through my link if any suits your taste. You can do it by pre-order.

d.m.c ~from Devil May Cry~

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:21:00 +0000

O'riiiighttt!

I'm still in high spirit since it's still new year scent ;) So I bring you a pretty quick score, a full spirit one from Devil May Cry. I hope, this song will bring you luck as it has fast tempo and full energy.

I'm not an expert on electric guitar so I will not say anything about it. The score is actually a combination of rock band and orchestra so you can hear a lot of 'noise' and distortion. But that makes the entire score interesting. If you don't like the philharmonic version, buy the original OST so you can hear the d.m.c band version only.

The tune is not hard if you play with piano. However, for strings part may give you problem. Most of it at least plays at 5th position. This is more suitable for students on middle to expert level. But if you, beginner violinist wants to try, just lower the tunes one octave. In this case, it is more sounded like viola but it is still worth to try. (Note: I haven't try by myself)

So, ENJOY and have fun!

-------------------------
DOWNLOAD

Download info page: here
Direct download: here

Happy New Year from artists

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:43:00 +0000

I believe that the 'smell' of New Year is not yet away. So, I'll show you some nice works from artists in deviantart. I pick based on creativity, meaning, and drawing technique as well. Please access their page to see the larger and original size, also to show that you support them. Here they are:

1. Happy -late- New Year by Tar-kun

(access to the page: here)

I love the natural color and at first, I was 'fooled' to think that this work was done with real marker :D

2. Celebrate The New Year by doggerland

(access to the page: here)

The hand sign, the smile... are just fit it, right? ;)

3. Sakura - Happy New Year by Illusoryimpurity

(access to the page: here)

I think, the anatomy of the girl is too catchy to resist. And oh... does her hand flame with fireworks? o_O

4. Let's Rock 2010 by Antikku

(access to the page: here)

Yeah, let's rock in 2010! Sweet rock, maybe?

5. Happy 2010 by kazenokibou

(access to the page: here)

Very detail and wise in composition.

And the last one will be special! The owner let you to color it. Read the term first at the artist's page, ok! It is a nice outline so I'm sure you will able to color it especially if you're doing it in digital.

6. Sayonara Twenty-o-9 by ctchrysler

(access to the page: here)

Nodame Cantabile in j-mAdness booklet!

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 07:39:00 +0000

YEAH! I finished it! So yeah, this is the end year gift from me to you:

a digital book consists of 25 musics that I had done plus a new one. Yes, it is from Nodame Cantabile!

The Gift

Let's talk about the book first. The book is quite thick but at least you have the most notable work from j-mAdness from 2008 to 2009. Please do not think that next year I will do the same, make a compilation for the projects I have done before December 2010! I (will) keep changing the gift.

Nodame's Effect

Now, about the bonus 'track'. Its title is Eien ni Tsuzuku Kono Machi ni. It is an original score from Nodame Cantabile. Nodame had a significant influence to me. I decided to learn violin because of it. If I never watched Nodame, I will never learned violin. If I never learned violin (though I'm quite good with piano), the idea to make this website will be zero, too. Aside from Nodame, La Corda D'Oro seriously gave an impact to me as well as Nodame.

The score - Eien ni Tsuzuku Kono Machi ni - itself was special. I played the song (mp3) during my computer class. My students that are mostly lower level children -- amazed by the beauty of this song.

I really hope that you, beginners of any instruments, would try to play this beautiful piece. Note that the mp3 can be downloaded separately since the book is quite heavy size. The book also has 2 links of download. If one doesn't work, you can go to the other one.

Happy playing, Happy New Year! Wish you all the best. See you soon in 2010! \(^o^)v

P.S: thanks to Eloni who let me use her work (back cover)! ^_^
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DOWNLOAD INFO

Download page in deviantart: here
Direct download pdf via deviantart: here
Direct download pdf via sendspace: here
Download mp3: here

Late?!

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:39:00 +0000

Whoa!

I'm pretty late to post here but sadly, I have the reason. :D I was so busy since last week for PTC and later on Wednesday I started to organize my works and anything that had been being pending for very long time. So, yes, I was totally working for school and it was nice since nobody around anymore.

Lucky, we have long weekend here. I can take a rest which I really longed to for 2 months. Somehow, it brings back my energy and my strength to work up for this website. I just finished (still RAW) working on 4 transcribes from at least 12 that I planned and it will be posted by 2010.

Year 2010 will be colored with many types of music. Some of video games are on my list and I'm still researching other songs, and for sure, more j-dorama sounds are coming up. So, if you plan to abandon j-mAdness, you better not :D *evil smirk*

Back to year 2009. As a way to thanking you for keep coming and checking this site, I'm going to give you a surprise gift. Ahem, especially if you like a manga/anime/j-dorama with title begins with N. That's all for the clue *evil laugh*. The gift will be out before 31st December. So, keep checking here.

Before I close, I want to say happy holidays for students around the world and enjoy your 'idle' moment of learning at school. ^_^

Anime Release: December 2009

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:45:00 +0000

Ok, these are my list based on my research on Amazon. See if any fits you and shop from us, ok? ;) Note that the status are mostly 'Not Yet Released' by the time we post it for the first time. Mostly by a month, you can directly buy. However, we suggest you to do a pre-order if you don't want to lose it.

Happy browsing, ENJOY!

1. Baccano! The Complete Series Box Set

2. Bleach Uncut Box Set: Season 4, Part 2

3. Bleach, Vol. 23

4. Claymore: Complete Series Box Set [Blu-ray]

5. Code Geass Leouch of the Rebellion: R2, Part 3 (Limited Edition)

6. D. Gray-man: Season Two, Part Two

7. Glass Mask: Collection 1

8. Heroic Age: Complete Series [Blu-ray]

9. Linebarrels of Iron (2pc)

10. One Piece: Season Two, Fourth Voyage

11. Naruto: Shippuden - Box Set 1

Hair drawing

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:46:00 +0000

Are you struggling to draw hair?

Admit it, most (beginner) artists would take 50% of their time to fix the hair of their drawing. It happened with me, and happened to almost students in my class during my college. It still happened to me until now when I even only take a coloring project.

So, is drawing hair really difficult? Well, actually not. But most of us are loving details and want it look perfect. Actually, as long as you know how it works - I mean - the trick to draw hair, you wouldn't occupy most of your time with hair.

The followings are drawing and coloring hair tutorial. Especially for coloring, either you work traditionally or digitally, the principles are same: you will always start with the softest color of the hair, and later choose areas for darken and darkest.

Hope that the tutorials here can help you! One more time I take Red Priest Usada's work. And for the first time from Teagan White -- deviantart's artists. Also, visit their page to see their latest work!

ENJOY!

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DOWNLOAD*

Drawing hair tutorial page: here
Coloring hair tutorial page: here

*) When you want to download at Deviantart page, look at the left side and find 'Download' link. There, click it to get the file. Or.. use right click and 'Save as'.

Sakasama no Chou ~Jigoku Shoujo~

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Before I get stuck with office work which will be hectic from this week to the mid of December; I must post this request first. I had done it for quite long time but I need time to transfer and edit the layout. This is the first time that I really have to use CorelDraw to edit the lyric page.

I won't waste your time. So, this is what I can tell you about Sakasama no Chou. The song's tempo is moderate. I don't think it will be hard for you to play. Just carefully 'be alert' of the modulation part (page 3, bar 69). Since it's a rock song, there is no complicated chords that you're going to encounter. So, relax! :D However, for you who's going to sing rather than playing the song, be alert at the bridge (Part D). It really needs your breath and stamina. There are also accents.

I'm totally suggesting you to play acoustically for musician if you're looking for a new style. Acoustic guitars with cello may give you a total different feeling. If not, then stick yourself with the original sounds.

So, have fun and ENJOY!

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DOWNLOAD

Download page: here
Direct download: here

Samurai Warriors 3, Know 3 Characters!

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:29:00 +0000

Ok, I'm pretty excited with the upcoming game from KOEI though sadly I don't have wii.. (yet). So as by accident I found the trailer (just because I saw someone's page in MySpace who is a fan of GACKT), this is I can share to you:

Samurai Warriors 3 will be released on 2010 (but according to Wikipedia, it will be released on Dec. 2009). Sadly, I haven't yet get the price from Amazon. When I get it, I will post it ASAP.

According to some source, there will be 4 new characters. I compare the pictures at neoseeker.com. with the trailer in youtube, and obviously Kaihime is one of the new character that was previewed in neoseeker.com. The dress was totally looked alike. However, animemangamania had listed 5 new characters. So I did comparing the pictures and I find out that KOEI made some slight changes to the character's dress. That was why I failed to identify them by clothes except Kaihime. And anyway, I rarely have time to play Sengoku series.. :D More interesting fact is that Wikipedia listed 6 new characters. Now, I hope somebody can really confirm the true numbers of new characters. Maybe a real fan/player can tell me about this?

So, back to neoseeker's version.. There are 4 pictures (please click the link. The version on the left of my page is for your comparison) in that website: 2 on the first row with female and male. They are Kaihime and Katou Kiyomasa. After I compare the pictures of Katou, the only clear sign of this character was the big circle of his left cloth. On the second row, right part is Tachibana Muneshige. The only thing that I can make sure of him was his sword. Both earlier and final product had same design. Only one picture that I cannot identify at all. My best guess is that KOEI totally change both his physical appearance and cloth.

So then, let's wait for its launch! ^_^

--------------------------------
SOURCES and COMPARISON:

4 New Characters: Samurai Warrior Teaser Trailer (Youtube) and picture version (Neoseeker Forum)
KOEI Warriors Media (Youtube)
Animemangamani Youtube
Wikipedia
Samurai Warriors 3 (deviantart, free gift)

Cleaning Line Art in Digital Art Work

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Well, though today I'm totally down because I'm exhausted, I think this is the only chance I can update the site.

So, I found a very interesting work of Red Priest Usada from deviantart. She is very talented and she released several tutorial and.... she permitted me directly to link her tutorial to this site. That's good, right?!

So, I found that cleaning traditional line-art might hard to do by beginners and her tutorial, hopefully, can help you. She gave a clear instruction and description; I am sure you will understand it in instant.

Have fun, enjoy!

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DOWNLOAD

Go to the page: here
To download, click Download at the left side of the page.

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P.S: Thanks, Red Priest Usada! ^_^

Hashima Island - the deserted island

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:35:00 +0000

I never heard anything about Hashima until I watched Life After People in History Channel. It was inspired me to write a novel again though of course I would not said it was set up in Hashima.

I made a small research about Hashima and found some interesting facts about it. WAIT! CHOTTO MATTE! What was the connection of Hashima and anime/manga/video game/dorama/movie? Oh, it had the connection, indeed. Let me reveal some of them.

According to Wikipedia, Hashima was several time used for filming, including Battle Royale II: Requiem. A video game called Killer7 took it as final stage. Two mangas referred Hashima in their story: Midori no Hibi and Get Backers. Air Gears manga set a race in that island.

So, if you go to Japan, do you plan to see it?

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Reference:

Wikipedia: Hashima Island
History Channel: Life After People
Boing Boing.net: Deserted Japanese Island Photo Gallery

Manga to Release -November 2009-

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:37:00 +0000

These are my list for November. Note that my list is not based on best selling but only based on what's ready to release to market from Amazon. You can pre-order at my store as linked. However, I compare to what's on best selling in Japan itself, based on MyAnimeList . All manga are already translated into English.

1. Bleach, Vol. 29 (Bleach (Graphic Novels)) by Tite Kubo

2. Bleach, Vol. 30 (Bleach (Graphic Novels)) by Tite Kubo

3. Skip Beat!, Vol. 20 (Skip Beat (Graphic Novels)) by Yoshiki Nakamura

4. Gantz Volume 8 by Hiroya Oku

5. Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 13 by Kenjiro Hata

6. Nana, Vol. 20 by Ai Yazawa

7. Vampire Knight, Vol. 9 by Matsuri Hino

8. Code Geass: Lelouch Of The Rebellion Volume 6 by Majiko

9. Maria Holic Volume 2 by Minari Endou

10. Tegami Bachi, Vol. 2: Letter Bee/The Letter to Jiggy Pepper by hiroyuki Asada

Kenji Kawai in Apocalypse The Second World War & Top Games

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:02:00 +0000

wuiiiiihhhhh
I was shocked when I watched National Geographic Channel program called Apocalypse: The Second World War. I found out that Kenji Kawai worked on the original score! Whoa! The music just fit the documenter and if you watch it, you'll be excited to see the videos in colors. I was a bit tricked about that. I thought it was reconstruction/with actors for some videos. But no, it was real. So, if you live around Asia (especially), you can watch the complete show. Just check at your TV cable/satelite. If not, then check here!

Another release time is officially declare by Kenji Kawai official site: by November 28, East of Eden The movie 1 will be released and on January 2010 for movie 2. So watch out! Complete info: here!

Improving j-mAdness store
Ok, now let's go to the store. I have improved the links there so you can access more and more soundtracks and novels from Japan. It is now automatically updated by Amazon. So I don't have to put manually anymore. (fiuhhh...).

If you also pay attention to the game part, Naruto seems shining with 4 stars given by players.

Naruto Ultimate Ninja: Storm (PS3)

Anyway, this is the next Naruto games, awaited by player:
Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution III (wii)
This game is not yet release but you can make a pre-order.

Please buy those product through j-mAdness. Ok? ^_^

Happy watching, happy playing!

Will You Color Me...?

noreply@blogger.com (mitayashi) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:14:00 +0000

For you, who wants to become a mangaka or illustrator, I think you had seen some of recommendation article from me -- from how to draw a face to make a digital coloring.

But sometimes we lost our precious time for work and you must sacrifice a little of your time for your hobby. It happened to me. Recently, I only could coloring. So, crazily, I looked through deviantart, any artist whom kindly let us coloring their line art. Lucky, I found many of them. Even a club! (for detail, check my dA account)

So, these are the sample of work and artists who let their work to be used for coloring. Note that some of them, and even most of them are asking for their name to be credited if you finish it. I think it's a good deal. Some are asking to link back to them. These artists will feature your coloring version to their account. So they can track how many and how different each artist worked on that line art. My advise if you're looking in deviantart, you better make an account so you can easily track the line art and confirm to the artist that you use their work.

So, these are the artists:

tamsytiggy

This is a cute work and I love the clean lines. If you're a beginner, this picture suits you the most.

Either you work traditionally or digitally, I believe the result will be superb. So just go on.

Go to download this picture: here

meago
The lines are clear and I think you will need a lot of time to finish it. Well, don't drop your spirit. This is a training of becoming patient. The good thing is -- for digital artist -- the download file format is psd (photoshop). I think you can work on it easier. For traditional artist, I believe you will enjoy to color on such detail.

Go to download this picture: here

skyzen
The picture is quite complicated but you will enjoy to color it since the lines are very clear. Not only this picture, skyzen lets visitors to color his works as long as you agree to link back and credit him. I discussed about coloring with him personally and he is willing to give you advise if you ask.

Go to download this picture: here

My version of coloring (left)

and my favorite style by nener:

So, happy coloring!