While looking through the Aerostich catalog I noticed they were selling an anime named “Kino’s Journey”. I checked for it on Netflix and saw that the 15 episode series was available so I put it in my queue. The story is about a traveler, Kino, and her talking motorcycle, Hermes. They travel the semi-fictitious world, stopping and visiting many different countries. These countries vary in size, technology, and culture. Each episode is a small self-contained story and usually has some insight into human behavior. I found the series to be pretty interesting, sometimes shocking, sometimes funny. But most of all, I enjoyed the motorcycle footage. It looked like a cool “motorrad”. The opening and closing theme songs are really good too. When I was riding my motorcycle last week, I couldn’t get the opening song out of my head!

I love this song from Lupin III. When I played the remixed version, Mariko knew exactly where it was from. Remix version below.

This is the best Pokemon theme song. Right Mikey? I like the season 4 version of the same tune too:

The theme song from Magerarenai Onna. I’m becoming a big fan of Aiko.

Mariko’s mom sent over a couple bottles of rayu (ラー油) which is really popular in Japan now. This one is not the original one that became popular, but is a competitor’s brand. I wasn’t really impressed. It looks really hot, but in actuality I found it to have no heat at all. It seemed to me to have a bit of garlic flavor though. We added some scotch-bonnet flakes to it, and now it is very karai (辛い).

I’ve been watching a few older doramas starring Kanno Miho lately, and have also been following her show that has just concluded. Magerarenai Onna is the story of an idealistic woman who is in her 10th year of trying to pass the bar exam to become a lawyer. With that underlying plot, the story unfolds with her finding a couple friends, having troubles with her boyfriend, the resolution of her relationship with her mother, and ultimately her taking the bar exam. Kanno Miho is a pretty good actress, and the supporting cast do a good job as well. There isn’t a whole lot of character development in the main character, but all the supporting cast are affected by her idealism in one way or another, and their lives change dramatically. This dorama has a lot of funny scenes, and is pretty lighthearted, so if you are looking for something realistic and serious, look elsewhere. However, Magerarenai Onna kept me interested the whole way through, and the conclusion was satisfying and fun. While not an excellent dorama, I’d still recommend it.

Show info at D-Addicts Wiki
Official Site

I love this song by Suneohair. Ending theme from Honey and Clover

Lyrics can be found here.

I’m not sure how I missed this dorama when it first aired, but I’m happy to have found it and watched the whole series in a couple days. (A couple long nights, actually) I’m a fan of Miho Kanno and thought she did a great job as Kiina, a detective who handles the odd cases that the regular detectives find either too goofy to take. Each episode is about a single case, usually involving some kind of supernatural angle, but ultimately is solved by some kind of scientific explanation. It’s pretty easy to figure out who the culprit is but the interesting part is how they explain how the crime was done. What makes Kiina (the character) special is that she has a photographic memory, and picks up on obscure clues throughout the investigation. She’s also very idealistic, and her partner serves as a counterbalance to her personality. It’s a pretty good dorama, and I recommend watching it. My only complaint was that the subplot involving the chief wasn’t very interesting, or the resolution of that subplot wasn’t as fulfilling as it could have been. But still, each episode is pretty fun to watch. Also, each episode features a different guest star who will be familiar to regular dorama viewers.

Listening to Capsule a lot these days! Love them.