I fear this may be a monster of a post. First of all, I went to Jump Festa a few weeks ago. I arrived quite late and so headed to the second Tenimyu stage of the day almost immediately. The set up was a little bit different from last year as we had to queue up to get into the booth area, which had a large barrier around it. It was bigger than previous years, but only because they had set more realistic boundaries this time.

Anyway, I always enjoy the Tenimyu stages more than I expect, since I'm more a fan of the musicals than the actors. They opened by singing an abridged version of "On My Way" and ended with "F.G.K.S.", which was surprisingly good. I mean, they were really singing it and I could hear how it fitted together. In between, the boys played up the fanservice and joked around. Obviously Kamakari Kenta came across as the most confident (and also seemed the most popular), but [fifth generation Ryouma] Takahashi Ryuuki was having fun too, telling us how much he loved his sempai.

From there, I ran across to the Jump Square Stage where Fukuyama Jun and others were doing a dramatic reading of a manga (Tegami-bachi, or "Letter Bee"). He was fantastic the way he could vary his voice like that. But what I really remember is his hat, which was black, multi-layered, and seemed to take over the space above his head.

Afterwards, I wandered round and met the chap in the photo above, who was advertising Cardass. When my friends looked at it, they instantly said, 'Oh, that's Naruto.' Which doesn't really explain anything as far as I'm concerned.

One more picture of Jump Fest: Banner outside

Afterwards, I went out with some friends to the Pepa Cafe -- Adriane, Eda, Erin and Sarah.

Photos: Awesome people // Near a temple, next to the lake // Autumn leaves

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The next week, I went to the "CHARMING SISTERS, KISS ME DEADLY!!" night at URGA. There were a number of bands playing, but all of them were good, even the very first one. That was Razic (my photo), who had obviously seen enough livehouses to know what worked well. They were visual in their approach and one of the guitarists ran about the stage with a sickle, bashing it against a special stand he had for rhythm. I talked to the other guitarist later to ask if they had a CD, but they didn't -- it was their very first gig! I thought the vocalist was clearly inspired by the Joker and Frank'nfurter, but kuroe said it must be from J-horror. I guess it depends how funny you found it.

Second was Gregor Samsa (my photo), who is not to be mistaken for any of the other bands with the same name out there! He's a lone vocalist who specialises in 80's goth. Love his songs, but visually unexciting.

Third was the guy in the main picture, who was part of Duct Projects. He was pretty cool and I bought one of his band's CDs later. I may have been the only person who did so, since the person selling seemed overly grateful. I feel kind of sorry for her, since they were good.

Fourth were "THE LECHERY FROM MARS" (my photo). Let's face it, there's no way a band with a name like that is ever going to be bad. Of course they were amazing. I actually met the guitarist a few months ago at an after-party. We got talking because we were comparing waistcoats. I have their CD too, of course.

Fifth, Psydoll, of course (my photo). I don't know if you can see them clearly in the photo, but Nekoi is wearing special Scottish socks. :)

Finally, Re:Del (my photo) were the last band on.

(On the way there, we saw this strange scene in the train station. A group of bell-ringing Santas, who were performing Christmas songs and also 'Kawa no Nagare no You ni'.)

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As I mentioned in a previous post, I also had my work bounenkai (end-of-year party) and we went to a nice restaurant in Saitama.

Photos: Food 1 // Food 2

In the second picture, the meat and vegetables are being cooked in giant leaves over a small stove on our table.

kuroe and I also went out to Christmas dinner at Roti, where we got an authentic (American!) Christmas dinner... I'm actually wearing something normal in the photo, for once. :)

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I loved my Yuletide stories. Yes, I got more than one, possibly pinch-hits (not that you could tell). I was worried about my own because I didn't get many comments at first -- but a couple of people commented and said they liked it, so I'm relieved, although it's clearly not as good as the others.

Here are the stories written for me:

Incalzando // Holmes/Watson
A Most Dreadful Christmas Eve // Holmes/Watson

And, as just about everyone on my flist has mentioned, Ai no Kusabi will become a thirteen episode OAV. Since it won't be broadcast on TV, I'm assuming it will be more explicit than the original. But I loved the original and I still think it has huge emotional impact. Yes, really. Two of the greatest voice actors (Shiozawa Kaneto and Seki Toshihiko), BL or otherwise, gave amazing performances and it's impossible to hear that ever again. It won't be as good. It can't be.

I want almost everything from this page, but particularly the Mad Scientist Jacket, the Victorian Royal Military Tail Jacket and the Gothic Aristocrat Military Shirt. Maybe next year...

Finally, scientists build miniature sun.