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The Archdjinn of the Rings, Hoopa
February 25th, 2015

Dogasu @ 23:38 JST -- This update's a few weeks late but anyway here's everything we know about this summer's movie, The Archdjinn of the Rings, Hoopa and Pikachu and the Pokemon Band.


For first of all, the title.  The original Japanese title (光輪の超魔神フーパ) contains two made-up words, something for which the movie titles in this franchise are well-known.  光輪, which is being read as リング, is an example of jukujikun, the practice of assigning a word with a pronunciation related more to the meaning than the sounds of each individual kanji.  超魔神 is also a made-up word; the kanji by themselves mean "super," "magic," and "deity" but together they create a new word.  There was a Yu-Gi-Oh! card 超魔神イド that was officially translated as "Ido the Supreme Magical Force" but other than that I couldn't find any examples of 超魔神 being given any sort of official translation.  Other Pokemon fansites decided to go with "Archdjinn" and it fits well enough, I suppose, so that's the translation I'll settle on as well.

As for the movie itself, I've posted my translation of the synopsis posted on the movie's official site. 

There's also a Pikachu short, "Pikachu and the Pokemon Band," but all we know about it so far is that Sonansu's still around so obviously it's not actually leaving in the XY episode that airs next week.  It's also depressing when you realize that a short in which music is going to play a big role is probably going to be completely rescored for the English dub.


I've also added a page for the various pre-order bonuses.  It's crazy to think that the advanced tickets go on sale next week (pre-order tickets for the Diancie movie didn't go on sale until April last year) but I guess they think giving fans an extra month to buy their tickets will increase ticket sales?  Arceus can be downloaded over Wi-fi while the other legendary pokemon will actually require you to physically go to one of the stores that sells advanced tickets to claim your prize, so there's that.

Finally, Hoopa's also been added to the Character Bios page.


Spinning Discs
February 22nd, 2015

Dogasu @ 21:40 JST -- Tonight I play catch up on all the CD / DVD releases that have come out / are set to come out soon.


First, I've added information on the four CDs that have been released in 2015 so far - the Smash Bros soundtrack and the three releases for Nakagawa Shouko's DreaDrea.  The latter is particularly evil because the DVDs on both the Pokemon Version and the Limited Edition + DVD Version have different videos, meaning you'll have to double dip in order to get everything you might want.  It's the 2010 release of Saikou Everyday all over again. 

You might also notice that I've changed the way I'm presenting the information about each CD.  What do you guys think?  Any feedback would be welcome.


In DVD news, I've added a listing for the new Adventures in the Orange Islands "Complete Collection" DVD box set.  I'm assuming that this "Complete Collection" will remove the other two blackface Jynx episodes left - "Stage Fight!" and "The Mandarin Island Miss-Match" - though we won't actually know for sure until after the set's released.  I also noticed that this new DVD boxset is titled "Adventures in the Orange Islands" as opposed to "Adventures on the Orange Islands," for what that's worth.

I've also added a listing for the Pokémon BW Adventures in Unova and Beyond DVD box set.

Finally, I've added a listing for the Region 1 Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction DVD that only just came out this past week.  A review over on Amazon states that the DVD actually isn't uncut and that it's the same chopped-up version that aired on Cartoon Network back in November but other reports online indicate that this isn't the case.  Can anyone confirm this one way or the other?


JAGMO ~ The Legend of RPG Collection ~
February 8th, 2015

Dogasu @ 23:55 JST -- I just got back from a video game music concert held here in Tokyo over the weekend called JAGMO ~ The Legend of RPG Collection ~


JAGMO - the Japan Game Music Orchestra - holds a concert several times a year where they play arrangements of music from various role-playing video games.  I had wanted to go to the concert last year but wasn't able to attend so when I found out that they were doing it again this month I made sure to get tickets.  The concert I went to today, which took place at the U-Port Hall in the Gotanda area of Tokyo, featured music from Pocket Monsters, Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts II, Romancing Saga 3, and Final Fantasy.  The Pocket Monsters section of the concert, which was actually quite long, featured these songs:

Pocket Monsters Red & Green Adventure Song Medley "Opening" "Masara Town Theme," "The Road to Tokiwa ~ from Masara" "Cycling," "The St. Anne" "Tamamushi City Theme," "Casino" "The Rocket-Dan's Hideout," "Gym Leader Battle" "The Final Road," "Last Battle Against Your Rival" Pocket Monsters Series Medley "Zekrom and Reshiram Battle!" (Pocket Monsters Black & White) "Plasma-Dan Battle!" (Pocket Monsters Black & White) "Champion Battle!" (Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl) "Aqua-Dan & Magma-Dan Battle!" (Pocket Monsters Ruby & Sapphire) "Friend Battle!" (Pocket Monsters X & Y) "Champion Battle!" (Pocket Monsters Gold & Silver)

It's no Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions (something that has not made its way to Japan, by the way) but it's not too bad, either.

The special guest at today's show was Masuda Junichi.  He got up on stage during the intermission to talk a little bit about what it was like to work on the music in the first generation games and how the Game Boy's limitations affected the way they had to approach the music.  He talked about how they only made about 30 or so original pokemon cries in the first generation games and that they created the rest by taking those 30 cries and playing around with the pitch and / or speed.  He told the audience that this was something that they're revealing there for the first time but when I got home I was able to find that same information on Bulbapedia so I guess the story's not all that exclusive after all.  Mr. Masuda also talked about how they tried to be conscious of what the player would do in certain situations and used the Title Screen as an example.  He realized that most players would just press the Start button as soon as they saw the Title Screen so they decided to have the pokemon cry play when the button's pressed rather than have it play at a pre-determined time.  He only spoke for about five minutes before the orchestra returned to do their Final Fantasy medley but it was still really cool.

At the end of the show the orchestra was called back out to do an encore so they ended up playing "Opening" from Pocket Monsters Red & Green one more time. 

It was a fun event and I really had a good time.  Hopefully something like this will make it outside Japan before too long...?


Dogasu's Backpack 15th Anniversary
February 1st, 2015

Dogasu @ 13:49 JST -- Fifteen years, y'all!  Holy crap.  I've finished my write-up celebrating this insane milestone and wanted to share it with you guys.



(Also, yes, I am absolutely using the loophole that it's still technically January 31st in the country where this website first started)