Puzzle パズル (2008)

I recently finished watching Puzzle [ パズル ], a J-Drama from 2008. The genre of this drama are mystery, and comedy. This drama have 10 episodes.

The synopsis of the drama was about a woman in her 30s named Misako Ayukawa who was an English teacher who teaches at a Private All-Boys School in Japan. Even through she is an English teacher, she has ironically poor English skills. Throughout the series, you can see that Ayukawa values: herself > students and money > love. In front of her students, she displays arrogance, but acts pleasantly around everyone else. All of the people would says, "You all are so lucky to have such a dedicated, wonderful teacher" to Ayukawa's 3 students. Ayukawa also have some nice points, she possesses a brilliant mind for solving puzzles. Whenever the possibility of rewards and treasure was involved, she gets motivated and ends up tackling various cases on the weekends along with 3 of her top students.

It's such a funny series. My favorite character from the series is the sensei, Ayukawa Misako (played by Ishihara Satomi). Ayukawa top 3 students are: Imamura Shinichi (played by Yamamoto Yusuke), Kanzaki Akira (played by Kimura Ryo), and Tsukamoto Yoshio (played by Nagayama Kento).

I would fully recommend this drama. Not only it's very funny, but interesting as well.

Random

During my spare time, I like to read manga, and watch anime. Sometimes, I would watch dramas, or TV shows. The movies/dramas/TV shows that I usually watch are either in Cantonese, and Japanese. I do watch some Korean movies, but not that much. I watch Cantonese movies/dramas the most, since I can understand the language fluently. I like watching Japanese movies/dramas because I like their language. It sounds so beautiful and...oh well, I just like their language and how they said it.

The Story of Saiunkoku - Vol. 1

Saiunkoku Monogatari can be sound in light novels, manga, and the anime, the story that is. Right now, I'm posting the summary of Saiunkoku Monogatari Volume 1.

For those people who have seen the anime, the first volume is basically similar, except: the sword fighting contest, where Ryuki Shi (the emperor) was trying to impress Shurei Kou (Hong) by winning it hoping to give her the prize money, but somehow in the end, Shuei Ran won the contest. But, the reunion conversation between Ryuki and Seiran Si which placed after the contest was still there. In this novel, it mentioned that the Sa clan wants to participated in the civil war even through this is against Sa Enjun's wishes, who controls the Sa clan. During that time, the Kou (Hong) and Ran clans stayed out of the conflict. The elders of the Ran clan wants to find the Prince Seien, Ryuki's second-eldest brother and was the top candidate to become the emperor until he was exiled with his mother, Lady Suzuran. The current heads of the Ran clan opposed the idea. Why was Prince Seien's exiled? It all begins when Prince Seien was still a prince who's has the greatest chance to get the throne to become the next Emperor. Due to the superiority of Prince Seien's physical and intellectual's levels, many or you can say all of his brothers and sisters, except Ryuki was jealous of him and would plan schemes to get his seat thrown away. The only family member who showed kindness to Ryuki was Prince Seien, this even excludes Ryuki's birth mother. Since Prince Seien's has the greatest chance to get the throne, Seien's maternal relatives plots a conspiracy to make him the next Emperor, but it failed which caused Prince Seien and his mother, Lady Suzuran, to be exiled. After they left palace on the order of the exile, they were chased by assassins (It was hinted that it was sent by Seien's brothers and sisters who wants to get rid of their "troublesome" brother).

Saiunkoku Monogatari...

Provinces and Ruling Clans
The land Saiunkoku was divided into eight distinct provinces which is named after the colors of the rainbows. The royal family who rule over each of the provinces was named after the color of their province; commoners were forbidden to use the same family names as nobles. The eight colors comes from the legend of when Saiunkoku was once infested by demands who threw the country into chaos until one day there's a brave young warrior who came to drove the demons away by gathered the Eight Enlightened Sages of Color. The young warrior, Sō Gen, united the nation and became the first emperor of Saiunkoku. To respect the sages, the Emperor divided the provinces into eight and named it after the eight Sages of Color.

Each of the eight provinces in Saiunkoku is named for a color and is ruled by a noble clan of the same name:
Shi 紫 Meaning - Purple.
They are the Imperial family.

Ran 藍 Meaning - Blue.
The Ran clan is the most powerful clan in Saiunkoku. They are known as the "highest of nobility". They plays an inactive role in national politics.

Hong (Kō) 紅 Meaning - Crimson.
The Hong Clan has an equal power as the Ran clan. In the Japanese version, the name of this clan is pronounced as Kō. Later, Geneon changed this name to "Hong" to diminish confusion with the other "Ko" name (the Yellow clan).

Heki 碧 Meaning - Green.

Ko (Kō/Ki) 黄 Meaning - Yellow.
Even though this clan name is pronounced as the same as the 'Crimson' (紅) clan in the original Japanese, but the meaning is difference since this clan name "Ko" (黄) means 'yellow'.

Haku 白 Meaning - White.

Koku 黒 Meaning - Black.

Sa 茶 Meaning - Brown.

Works Cited: The Story of Saiunkoku. Wikipedia. March 3, 2009.

Hajimari no Kaze

Another of my favorite songs. Somehow, I think the lyrics of this song is so meaningful. The first part that is separate by the three dashes are hiragana (Japanese syllabary) and the second part which is below the dashes are the English translation. The translation of "Hajimari no Kaze" was "Wind of Beginnings." It's the opening song for Saiunkoku Monogatari.

Hajimari no Kaze
Wind of Beginnings
Artist : Ayaka Hirahara

hajimari no kaze yo todoke MESSE-JI (MESSAGE)
"itsu demo anata wo shinjite iru kara"
---
Wind of beginnings, deliver this message
Because I will always believe in you"

ano toki yume ni mite ita sekai ni tatte iru noni
miwatasu keshiki ni ashi wo sukoshi sukumase
dakedo ushiro furimukanaide aruite yuku koto kimeta kara
miageta sora nanairo no niji anata mo mite'masu ka?
---
That time I was standing in a world I saw in my dream
Surveying the landscape, my legs tremble slightly
But I won't look back, because I've decided to walk forward
Looking up at the seven-colored rainbow in the sky, do you see it too?

hajimari no kaze yo todoke MESSE-JI (MESSAGE)
yume ni kakedashita senaka mimamoru kara
maiagaru kaze yo omoi wo tsutaete
"itsu demo anata wo shinjite iru kara"
habatake mirai e
---
Wind of beginnings, deliver this message
Because I will watch your back as you run towards your dream
Soaring wind, deliver this thought
Because I will always believe in you"
Fluttering towards the future

tatoeba, taisetsu na hito wo mune ni omou toki wa
daremo ga kitto yasashii kao wo shiteru hazu
michi wa toki ni hateshinakutemo akiramezu ni yuku yo
---
For example, when a person thinks about the one important to them
Surely they have a kind look on their face
The road through time is endless, move forward and don't give up

hajimari no kaze yo todoke MESSE-JI (MESSAGE)
haruka na tabiji no sono saki de matteru
maiagaru kaze yo unmei mo koete
negai wa todoku to shinjirareru kara
itsuka mata aeta nara ano egao misete
---
Wind of beginnings, deliver this message
At the end of your faraway journey, I will wait for you
Soaring wind, exceed your destiny
Because I believe my wish will be delivered
If I meet you again someday, show me your smile

hajimari no kaze yo todoke MESSE-JI (MESSAGE)
haruka na tabiji no sono saki de matteru
maiagaru kaze yo unmei mo koete
negai wa todoku to shinjirareru kara
osoreru mono nado nai "anata ga iru kara"
---
Wind of beginnings, deliver this message
At the end of your faraway journey, I will wait for you
Soaring wind, exceed your destiny
Because I believe my wish will be delivered
There is nothing to be afraid of, "because you exist"

Works Cited: Hajimari no Kaze. Anime Lyrics. http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/smonogatari/hajimarinokaz.htm

Daily Update...

Recently, I have found a new MMORPG to play. It's still in Closed Beta Phrase I and the name of the game was "12 Sky 2." I got pick to become one of the testers of the game. I only play the game once last week, but I start to get tired of it. It's not as interesting as it seems from the trailer, but somehow I will go back to the game, again. Since it's still in Closed Beta, then there's still room for improvement. One of the improvement that I think the game company should change was the moving of the screen. It's hard to move the screen by left clicking the mouse. I think it would have been better if we could use the roller on the mouse and the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the screen rather than use the left click on the mouse. I was thinking about reporting my opinion about the game to the game creator company, but I don't know where to report to.

Synchronicity...

A continuation of the previous "Daily Update" post. Here's the lyrics and (pronouncation) of the song which inspire me to write this blog.

synchronicity
Vocals: Makino Yui
Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement: Kajiura Yuki

Kono nukumori wa doko e yuku no
Ashita ni nareba kiete shimau no
Mune no kodou o awaseta naraba
Onaji fukami e orite yukeru no
---
Where is this warmth going?
When it’s tomorrow, it’ll vanish
If I synchronized the heartbeats of our chests
Would I be able to fall to the same depth as you?

Itsumo itsumo soba ni iru yo
Donna tooku kimi no kokoro ga mayotte mo
---
I’m always, always by your side
No matter how far your heart strays

Kurayami no naka ni futari de tadayoinagara
Mujaki na kotori no you ni tsubasa o yosete ita
Sabishii toki ni wa egao ni kakureru kimi wa
Tokenai koori no yaiba
Kono mune o sarashite
Dakishimeru
Zutto...
---
While we drift inside the darkness
Like innocent little birds, we huddled our wings together
You, who hide behind your smile when you’re lonely
Are a blade of unmelting ice
I bare my heart
And embrace you
Forever...

Kimi wa hitori de doko e yuku no
Furikaeru no ga kowai dake na no
Mune no katachi mo kanashii iro mo
Hontou wa kitto yoku niteru no ni
---
Where are you going alone?
I’m just scared of looking back
The figure in my chest and the sad color
Even though I’m sure that they’re actually very similar

Itsuka kitto kaeru basho o
Futari onaji hakanasa de mitsumete iru
---
With the same evanescence, we are gazing
At the place that we’ll surely return to someday

Kono yami no naka de donna ni hanarete ite mo
Kokoro wa nani yori tsuyoi kizuna de yobiatte
Sabishii toki ni wa waratte ite mo wakaru yo
Tsumetai yubi o namida de
Atatamete agetai
Soba ni iru...
---
No matter how we’re separated inside this darkness
Our hearts call for each other with a bond stronger than anything
Even if you’re laughing when you’re lonely, I know it
I want to warm
Your cold fingers with my tears
I’m by your side...

Kurayami no naka ni futari de tadayoinagara
Mujaki na kotori no you ni tsubasa o yosete ita
Sabishii toki ni wa egao ni kakureru kimi wa
Tokenai koori no yaibaKono mune o sarashite dakishimeru
Soba ni iru
Zutto...
---
While we drift inside the darkness
Like innocent little birds, we huddled our wings together
You, who hide behind your smile when you’re lonely
Are a blade of unmelting ice
I’m by your side
Forever...