Sunday, January 27, 2013

Who is the Great King?! – The Great Seer

I am watching a Korean TV drama currently on the Astro S One Channel (channel 393) and I would like to recommend it to you all. The title is called “The Great Seer”. It is a historical television series, starring Ji Sung, Ji Jin-hee and Song Chang-eui. Set during the turbulent decline of Goryeo, it is about practicers of divination and the power that they hold over the fate of the country. It is aired on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 36 episodes.
The story of “The Great Seer” is set in the late Goryeo Dynasty in which a group of Feng Shui advisors to the government authorities help the hero Lee Sung Gye become the first king of the Joseon Dynasty.
 
Title         : The Great Seer  / 大风水
Genre      : Historical, Politic, Action, Romance
Episodes : 36
Story     :
The Great Seer begins during the reign of King Gongmin (Ryu Tae-joon). But despite being about seers, geomancers, divinators and the like, this drama is less about the fantasy and more about the political movers and shakers — people who had the power to advise, and therefore control, kings. Ji Jin-hee plays Yi Seong-gye, the general who led the overthrow of Goryeo and established the Joseon Dynasty, becoming its first king.
Mok Ji-sang (Ji Sung) is a gifted seer/geomancer, born with the ability to see into people’s pasts and futures. There are those who believe falsely that he has dark supernatural powers, thinking him possessed by ghosts. When he comes of age in the late Goryeo era, he becomes a scholar of divination, and a reader of geography, faces, and the like to tell fortunes — an area with much influence at the time. He eventually becomes a "king-maker," who holds the key to a major political shift in the overthrow of Goryeo and the rise of Joseon when he backs General Yi and effectively shapes the future of Korea as we know it.
Kim So-yeon plays a healer whose destiny is tied to General Yi, but she falls in love with the seer. And Song Chang-eui plays the rival advisor. Lee Yoon-ji joins the cast as Ban-ya, a woman who was sold off as a gisaeng at a young age, but becomes a concubine to King Gongmin’s advisor, and bears a son. King Gongmin takes in that son as his, and the boy becomes King U of Goryeo — the king that General Yi dethrones in a coup d’état.
 
Cast
Ji Sung as Ji Sang
Lee David as young Ji Sang
Song Chang Ui as Lee Jung Geun
No Young Hak as young Jung Geun
Ji Jin Hee as Lee Sung Gye
Kim So Yun as Hae In
Son Na Eun as young Hae In
Lee Yoon Ji as Ban Ya
Park Min Ji as young Ban Ya
Jo Min Ki as Lee In Im
Oh Hyun Kyung as Soo Ryun Gae
Lee Seung Yun as Young Ji
Lee Jin as young Young Ji




 
I like 2 actors in “The Great Seer”. They are Ji Jin Hee and Ji Sung. I like the actor Jin Jin Hee since the TV series “The Jewel of Palace”, and then followed by “ Yes, Captain!”  I think he is a very good and cool actor. As for Ji Sung, he acts very good in this drama, I think. He is a smart person in the series. Let us take a preview of “The Great Seer” below.









 















 

Frankly speaking, I am really enjoying watching “The Great Seer” as the story is interesting and quite exciting. Moreover, you able to know some knowledge about the Feng Shui. I did not know that Korean so believe in Feng Shui besides Chinese. Haha! :P

“The Great Seer” has also won an award in Year 2012 SBS Drama Awards: It is the Special Acting Award for Drama Special, Actress (Lee Jin).

If you are interested to catch this exciting series, please click into “The Great Seer” to join the Feng Shui world.

Enjoy watching! J

Friday, January 25, 2013

Inu × Boku SS Manga Enters Final Arc

Cocoa Fujiwara's romantic comedy manga inspired 2012 anime

The official website for Square Enix's Gangan Joker magazine revealed on Tuesday that Cocoa Fujiwara's (dear, Watashi no Ookami-san) Inu × Boku SS manga has entered its final arc with the magazine's February issue. The manga began its serialization in 2009, and Square Enix released the 8th volume last November. The romantic comedy follows a mistress and her "servant" (bodyguard) in Maison de Ayakashi, a high-class building better known by the name "Demon House (Ayakashi-kan)." Rumors about it abound, ranging from "nothing but weirdos live there," to "It's a haunted house inside," but the truth is that the people who live in this mysterious building are all descendants of demons. Ririchiyo Shirakiin is troubled by her inability to interact with people, and comes to the building in order to change herself. There she meets Soushi Miketsukami, one of the Secret Service bodyguards assigned to each tenant, and he tells her, "Please make me your dog!"
David Production's television anime adaptation of the manga aired last year. Sentai Filmworks is releasing the anime in North America, and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyō Comedy Novels Get Anime

Shunsuke Sarai's story of boy resurrected as dachshund & sadistic girl with scissors

Advertising for the sixth volume of Shunsuke Sarai's Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyō comedy light novel series has revealed this month that an anime adaptation has been green-lit. The absurd mystery comedy centers around Kazuhito Harumi, a high school boy who is obsessed with reading books. One day, he is killed in the middle of a robbery — and resurrected as a dachshund dog. Unable to read in his new form, the hapless Kazuhito now belongs to Kirihime Natsuno, a sadistic novelist who uses scissors on Kazuhito to abuse him. Sarai launched the novel series with illustrations by Tetsuhiro Nabeshima in 2011, and Enterbrain's Famitsu Bunko imprint will publish the sixth volume on January 30. Along with a short story volume, the novel series will have 300,000 copies in print.
The story earned an honor in the Entame Taishō awards' novel category. The story already inspired a drama CD last year, and Kamon Ōniwa launched a manga adaptation in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Shōnen Ace magazine last May.

Monday, January 14, 2013

AKB48, Bakemonogatari, Persona 4 Win Gold Disc Awards

AKB48 takes Artist of the Year, Bakemonogatari wins Animation Album of the Year

The Japanese Gold Disc Awards announced the latest round of annual winners on Monday. The Record Association of Japan evaluates musical artists and works in Japan every year, and choose a few to recognize for their effect on the record business. Finalists are chosen by how much they have sold of a music video or CD, as well as by digital sales. Once this data is verified by a certified public accountant, finalists are chosen. The time period for the 27th annual contest ran from November 1, 2011 until October 31, 2012. For the Japanese music category, AKB48 took the award of Artist of the Year, with the idol group selling 1,315,929 albums, 8,192,364 singles, and 699,740 music videos. Additionally, their songs were purchased for download 6,847,861 times. The Artist of the Year award for foreign music went to Australian artist Che'Nelle, who sold 512,210 albums, 18,201 singles, and 3,401,912 digital downloads. Her album “Believe” also won the Album of the Year category.The Bakemonogatari Complete Music Collection won the Animation Album of the Year award, while Persona 4 The Golden's original soundtrack won the Soundtrack Album of the Year award.
Other winners include Nogizaka46 and One Direction winning the New Artist of the Year award, Alexandra Stan and Hot Chelle Rae winning the Best 3 New Artists award, and KARA winning Best Asian Artist.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

No Anime Nominated for Oscars

Ghibli's From Up On Poppy Hill, Katsuhiro Otomo's "Combustible" were submitted

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 85th Academy Awards on Thursday. No Japanese-animated titles were nominated, although Goro Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's From Up On Poppy Hill and Isamu Imakake's The Mystical Laws were submitted for the Animated Feature Film category. Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Steamboy, Memories) and Sunrise's "Combustible" ("Hi no Yōjin") short was also submitted for consideration in the Short Film (Animated) category. There were no Japanese nominees in the Foreign Language Film category.The Animated Feature Film category has five nominees:
  • Brave Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
  • Frankenweenie Tim Burton
  • ParaNorman Sam Fell and Chris Butler
  • The Pirates! Band of Misfits Peter Lord
  • Wreck-It Ralph Rich Moore
The Short Film (Animated) category also has five nominees:
  • "Adam and Dog" Minkyu Lee
  • "Fresh Guacamole" PES
  • "Head over Heels" Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
  • "Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"" David Silverman
  • "Paperman" John Kahrs
Miyazaki's Spirited Away became the only Japanese animated feature to win an Oscar in 2002. Kunio Katō's "La Maison en Petits Cubes" won in the Best Animated Short Film category at the 81st Annual Academy Awards in 2009. Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's Ponyo qualified for a nomination in the feature film category in the 82nd Academy Awards, but did not receive one. Similarly, Mamoru Oshii and Production I.G's The Sky Crawlers and Masahiro Ando and BONES' Sword of the Stranger were among the 14 films submitted for the same category for the 81st Academy Awards; both were eventually accepted in the category but were not nominated.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Hataraku Maou-sama! Fantasy Comedy Slated for April

The official website for the Hataraku Maou-sama! fantasy comedy television anime was revamped on Saturday with the announcement that the anime will premiere in April.
 
In Satoshi Wagahara's original fantasy light novel series, a demon lord named Satan is one step away from conquering his alternate world when he is transported to Tokyo of our world. He ends up having to work part-time at a fast food restaurant to make ends meet. In order to conquer Japan, he (under the Earth name Sadao Maō) has to first move up from a freelancer to an actual employee. Meanwhile, the heroine Emilia has arrived in Japan also, in pursuit of Satan.
 
Naoto Hosoda is directing the anime at WHITE FOX, and Atsushi Ikariya is adapting original novel illustrator 029's characters for anime. Masahiro Yokotani is in charge of the series scripts. The cast is as follows:
 
 
           Ryota Ohsaka as Sadao Maō/Demon Lord Satan