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So!

Waaaay back in 2006, while I was still living in Yokohama, I convinced my then housemate that she needed to call in sick one Sunday so that we could go to Harajuku and the Tokyo Anime Fair. Which we did.

We got up pretty late though and only managed to get to Harajuku at about 1pm. Did our thing (I think L may have bought some GothLoli stuff) and then we tried to navigate our way from Harajuku on the west side of the Yamanote Circle to Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba. Which is an impressive piece of architecture but bloody annoying to get to.

I think that the commute took us about an hour, but I thought we’d be okay since we left Harajuku at 3.30pm and closing time at TAF was 6pm.

Or so I thought.

We arrived at Tokyo Big Sight where there were surprisingly few people around…suspicious. Walking to the entrance took another 15 odd minutes from the station. We eventually arrived at the gates to the fair and said “Two, please”

“Ahh! Ehhh….no”

“Huh?”

“etou…No more”

“Ehhhhhhh?! It’s sold out? Closed? But it’s supposed to close at 6! It’s only 4.30pm!”

But we weren’t allowed in. I was hella annoyed. I had my Urahara hat on and a wallet full of yen and I wanted to get inside to spend it, dammit! L was distressed too. She told the guy at the gates - and I’ll never forget how she said it - “But we’re from England!”

Wrong, but it seemed to work! The guy at the gate shoo-ed us inside. Then L said in an outraged voice: “He smacked my ass as we went past!”

Bwaaaahahahaha! I told her that she took one for the team, now let’s get shopping!

The place was empty. We were wandering up and down empty aisles - which in a way, was kinda cool, since we didn’t have to fight against crowds of people. Plus we had gotten in for free!

But nothing was happening, the screens were all being turned off, the displays were being dismantled. Only one stall still had merchandise for sale but they were in the process of packing up so I only managed to snatch a few Fullmetal Alchemist items before they too closed.

Why the hell is it closing so soon? Eventually we were told that because it was the last day of the fair, they closed earlier than usual to get a start on dismantling everything.

Admittedly they had a lot to dismantle. I managed to get some nice shots of a huge-ass Ichigo and life-sized Ed, Al and Naruto statues.

A booth babe handed us the last of the showbags and there wasn’t much left to do but leave. I think we were inside the fair for about 15 minutes. Maybe 20. I was kinda pissed about it. We got up too late and spent too long in Harajuku. But then again, it was my fault for not clarifying the closing time.

L and I promised each other that we’d fly back to Tokyo to attend next year’s Tokyo Anime Fair. Heh, that never happened, did it L?

Anyway, that was a fucking long prelude.

One of the showbags we managed to get our hands on had this printed on the side:

Le Chevalier d’Eon

I remember thinking: I’ve never heard of this anime before, but simply based on this one image - I wanna see it!

I still have that showbag too.

Anyway, on Monday I finished the second of my exams. Decided that I’d go home, bloody clean the place and make my housemate some dinner since I’ve been ignoring both her and the house while I’ve been studying. Finally, at around 9pm, I collapsed in front of the pay TV that I hadn’t really used even though I’ve been living here for nearly 3 months.

Hooray for the Cartoon Network and Madman Entertainment, that’s all I can say!

Adult Swim had Le Chevalier d’Eon on that night! Over a year since I’d heard of it an now I could watch it! And luckily it was also the premiere! I could start watching the series at episode one!

Admittedly, episode one in English….but even though I’m a subs-over-dubs anime fan, I could tolerate this dub. Dubs often work well if you know that there’s a particular accent needed, like French. Having Japanese actors speak Japanese in French accent would probably be amusing but it’s not what I’d want to listen to.

Not many characters had French accents in this dub but thankfully they didn’t sound painfully American. They did have some painful timing problems, as is often the case with English dubs, but I was just so keen to see this series that I was going to put up with it this time.

My rant about why Foxtel Digital doesn’t offer multiple audio stream will have to wait for another day!

So! A review of Le Chevalier d’Eon. Or at least, a Chidade-style review. Which basically means, focus on one obscure thing and don’t give any hints about the rest (see my review of Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest for another example)…

…anyway.

The series did start pretty well. I like historical novels and movies so I liked the genre already. It was definitely an adult anime with no dodgy censoring for the kiddies whose parents can’t cope with animated blood. It was going really well for the first 20 minutes. I had it pinned as an action (swordfighting/fencing), crime and espionage, political and historical drama about the times of Louis XV - maybe even something I could recommend to my Dad, coz I’m sure he could enjoy an anime or two if I could just convince him to sit down and watch it!

Then, in the last five minutes of the show, Le Chevalier d’Eon proved that on top of being an action, crime and espionage, political and historical drama - it was above all else, a Japanese animation.

…(spoilers ahead)….

A zombie appeared out of nowhere and the main character passed out and turned into a woman.

Go figure!

Honestly! It’s such an anime thing to do! It can’t be a proper anime or manga unless there’s some kind of monster, or robot, or something weird happening with people’s genitals!

Haha, I love it :D

It’s like that Rodriguez movie - From Dusk Til Dawn. For the first three quarters of the movie, it’s a Tarantino-esque, violent crime movie. Then, suddenly, there’s a bunch of vampires everywhere! Still an awesome movie though, heh.

I’m still liking Le Chevalier d’Eon, despite the obvious genre change. I probably won’t be recommending it to my Dad, though.

Also, I did a bit of research. The anime was originally a manga (common enough) but the manga was actually based on a novel. And the character of d’Eon was actually based on a real historical figure - Chevalier d’Eon who claimed to be born a woman and actually spent the second half of his life living as one!

Truth is stranger than fiction, people. Despite how hard manga and anime try, hehe. I learnt my lesson.

Still, I highly doubt than Hollywood would ever try anything like this. Maybe Rodriguez and Tarantino would - it seems up their alley. But they’ve long said how they appreciate anime and Japanese filmmaking.

This is why I love anime. It’s gives something new and different.

Le Chevalier d’Eon: 7/10

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Oh man, I was looking forward to today.

Woke up late after last night’s Kamiooka shenanigans. Was told that I snore “cutely”, whatever that means. Finally managed to get out and on the train to Harajuku at about 2pm. Quite late, most of the fun would have just finished peaking about now. Still! I’m going to Harajuku dammit!

Pull into the station, tadaima, man I’ve missed you, Harajuku. Make a beeline for the bridge on Omotesando, notice that the construction work they were doing for much of last year is finally finished. Not too many people here, and sadly, they all seem to be visual-kei cosplayers. That style doesn’t really impress me. The outfits are impressive but they the designs were invented by someone else, the band’s stylists. They’re just copying them. And the same bands too, again and again. Visually quite interesting but only if you like repeatedly looking at gothic styles and if you have no idea who they’re copying. Me, I prefer small doses of goth. And I definitely much prefer the highly individual and unique outfits that these kids can make themselves.

The other thing that annoys be about the goth style here, even if it isn’t a visual-kei cosplay, is that you can buy complete outfits at the shops in Takeshita-dori for under ¥6000. That….doesn’t fit in with what I originally loved about Harajuku fashion - that they tried to buck the trends given to them by shops and tried to create something new. Sure, brand names get a look in (Vivian Westwood is a favourite) but rarely ever as you’d see them paraded on catwalks. But when it comes to goth in Harajuku, you can let the shop decide exactly what you’re going to wear, right down to the accessories, and buy it all in one set.

And sadly, it seemed like there were only goths or visual-kei cosplayers on Omotesando today. There was also a large number of foreigners getting dressed up in goth clothing - which kinda…irks me more, even though secretly I want to get dressed up and parade down Omotesando myself. I did notice a pair of decorers, which was a relief, and they happily posed for a photo, but I felt somehow disappointed with Omotesando. I thought I’d better make a push for Takeshita-dori to find the good stuff.

Before I left the bridge though, I found something I was going to look for in Harajuku - two girls bearing a “FREE HUGS” sign. Yay! Free hugs! They thanked me as well, maybe they haven’t been getting many hugs that day.

Anyway, Takeshita-dori.

Some of the more interesting costumes I see on people are while they’re walking down Takeshita, which is a bit irritating because it means that I can’t take photos, unless I manage to flick the camera open and focus and click like a ninja, heh. On the other hand, fair enough. If they’re standing on the bridge at Omotesando, then they’d be willing to have a photo taken of them. If they’re walking down Takeshita-dori, then they’re just trying to get on with their Sunday’s window shopping and don’t want to be harassed by foreigners with cameras.

There were more visual kei cosplayers, including this one all in red which looked stunning. Many, many more foreigners. Here and there a decorer. I reached Bodyline, which I always visited whenever I walked past. L bought her maid outfit from this shop, and I wanted to see if I could get a dress myself.

But…oh my gods, how Bodyline has changed. It used to have an air of an exclusive boutique with only a small collection of outfits available, sometimes spread out on a table. There used to be a changing area with huge red velvet curtains and a massive gilded mirror - it looked like you were in old Victorian England, like many of the outfits they sold.

Now, there are about three times as many racks as there used to be, the changing rooms are gone and have been replaced with yet more racks, the styles of clothes have changed drastically (there were even everyday sweaters being sold now) and have dropped from an average price of ¥25,000 to an average price of ¥5000. The shoe section was now almost non-existent, the music was now blaring Avril Lavigne at top volume and the accessories were mainly made of plastic or cheap metal.

What happened, Bodyline?! Are you going out of business? Perhaps your old model wasn’t the most financially feasible, with a shop in a prime position on Takeshita - but this new model makes you exactly the same as every other shop. There is nothing of interest to me in there anymore.

Stumble out onto the balcony, stare at the masses of people in the street below.

What the hell happened to Harajuku in the space of a year? The individuals and the extremely creative and those with an eye for detail have all but gone. There are only foreigner tourists and goth wannabes left. Even Bodyline has succumbed, no longer a top-of-the-line exclusive boutique for fashion with a Victorian flair. There are prepared goth sets for sale everywhere, every second shop is mainly filled with black fabric. This isn’t the Harajuku I remember.

Maybe it’s because it’s summer and people are on holidays? That would explain th large number of foreigner tourists and the smaller number of locals? Maybe it’s because it’s tsuyu and the Harajuku kids don’t want to put up with the humidity and rain? Maybe I really missed the peak time for people watching because I left Kamiooka so late?

Walking up Takeshita again, feeling moody. What the hell. My overnight bag is getting in the way - I’d forgotten about getting a coin locker - and my feet were beginning to ache. This Sunday…Harajuku day…is beginning to suck.

Suddenly out of the corner of my eyes I see something and spin around: two Japanese girls - probably in high school, grinning and chatting with colourfully dyed hair, plenty of unconventional accessories and wearing what appear to be their pyjamas and tabi boots….

Heh.

<3 Harajuku

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Went to Harajuku today, with H, L and her sister. L finally got dressed up in her GothLoli gear, and she said she felt incredibly uncomfortable afterwards. Heh. I guess she’s not really GothLoli material. Not enough exhibitionism in her.

She got a few people asking her to pose, including - as expected - some perverted old oyaji making kissy faces at her. Poor girl. But still, she looked good and it was a highly successful day. I took lots of photos and the weather was great. We also went to Akiba later where I finally found volume two of the Ragnarok Online figurines.

The kids on Omotesando were really friendly today. Very willing to have photos taken, unlike a few times in the past when I was just ignored or told ‘no’. Which is fair enough, I’d be annoyed at people wanting to take my photo all day too. But it was a relief to have them willing and ready to pose. I think it was the good weather. Everyone was genki. Takeshita-dori was absolutely packed. L bought another pair of shoes in another Lolita shop that we found.

H, the native, had no idea that this was the kinda thing that happened every Sunday in Harajuku. I think she had fun there. She was probably more bored in Akihabara, when L, her sister and I went into otaku mode.

Akihabara on a Sunday was interesting too. The main street was shut off to cars, so there were a few maids posing for photos and handing out flyers with HUGE crowds around them. One of them was practically in her underwear, so I’m not surprised in the least.

Then, to Shibuya for dinner. Mexican, numnumnum. Expensive but hella satisfying.

A purikura session to record the day together, then home to Yokohama.

“Oh wait, we need to get the shinkansen tickets for Kyoto tomorrow”
“Ah, yeah”
*gets a quote for tickets……jaw drops….*
“Um…maybe we’ll go to Nikko instead?”

Ha, that ¥50,000 I had L hold onto for Kyoto wasn’t needed after all. Excellent, more spending money! To Tower Records!

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