Google+ Going Away....

So I've just learned that Google Plus is closing shop and that my Plus account will "go away" in April! Well.....not like much was ever going on at that site of mine anyway....

Funny how so many blogging platforms have shuttered  in the last few years...is blogging becoming obsolete? You would have thought that there would be hundreds of burgeoning places for people to post their interests and hobbies, but no?
I've already had to deal with Vox closing down and importing my entire blog over here once...hope this isn't a sign that blogger might go bye-bye as well some day....

JDramaCity Calls It Quits

On November 2nd, J-drama fans from all over the world were dealt a bitter blow when awesome torrent site Jdramacity decided to shutter their doors amidst fears of legal action.

I and most other fans got our shows from this amazing site, and its' disappearance has already affected many fansubbers work as even they used JDramacity as the place to get their RAWs from!

It wasn't even just that I got my drama torrents from there, it was also a hub where I could go to see what new shows were out each month and get information about them, as well as helpful links to forums and pages where one could find subbers translating the shows.

Now it's all hit and miss, and it is mostly luck when I find a team who has decided to subtitle a show I'm interested in. I fear that at this rate I will probably be watching less and less shows as the sources become more and more hard to obtain. Right now, only two dramas I'm watching are being subtitled, (Chinmoku Hotei and Okusama wa, Tori Atsukai Chui),  and when they are done, who knows which (if any) shows I will be able to get access to from then on. I'm predicting a lot more sporadic posts regarding dramas here. 
All I can do is cross my fingers and keep my eyes open!

FNS Kayosai 2015!

2015 FNS Kayosai

Haven’t caught the FNS Kayosai in a while but wanted to see what Chisato Moritaka was going to be offering us this year~ Since she was co-host I thought they’d showcase a few of her songs, and made a point to grab the special when it came up! Chisato's stage ended up being a tofubeats remix of her 1995 song “LaLa Sunshine” ...I was disappointed that she didn't do another medley like before, but still, she looked and sounded as terrific as she always did!

Chisato Moritaka: LaLa Sunshine with tofubeats

Woooot! Gal still GOT IT!

 The FNS Kayosai is pretty famous for bringing back old nostalgic guests, and they did it again this year, surprising me with the return of My Little Lover! Boy, I really liked this act back in the day and it was great seeing them again, performing their classic “Hello Again”! Mmm, Akko-chan has aged gracefully!

My Little Lover Akko

"Hello Again" My Little Lover

It was Johnny’s groupV6’s 20th Anniversary, so they opened the show with a medley of their past hits sung with other johnnys groups like NEWS, Sexy Zone, Tackey and Tusbasa and the like- When they got around to singing “Honey Beat”, it really took me back! Too bad they didn’t do “Over”, my all-time favorite song from them…

V6 20th Anniversary Medley!

And on the Johnny’s front, this is the first time I’ve seen KAT-TUN since they because a foursome (yes, their name should be a proper KTUN right now) and it looks and sounds like they’re doing just fine without Tanaka and Akanishi! And taking a look at NEWS, it looks like quite a FEW Johnnys groups are now down to 4 members, ne?

KAT-TUN

NEWS

Once again the Year End specials were a big GIRL GROUPS thing, with acts like the E-Girls Super Team, Momoiro Clover-Z and the AKB48 troupes out in full force! Morning Musume’15 did a rousing perf of “Love Machine”, making me realize just how long it has been since Momusu were the “new” gals on the block!

Hello Project and AKB48 "Love Machine"

Hello Project and AKB48

E-Girls

Dream

Flower

Happiness

 Whoa, and check out HAPPINESS! Seems like only yesterday they were a cute little group singing catchy little tunes (I just loved their single Happy Talk), now they've all grown up into these cool and sultry groovin'  ladies!

Happiness

AKB48 and Momoiro Clover Z

The Cute, The Zany: Momoiro Clover Z

And speaking of Girl groups, on the SKE48 front,  just before their stage singing “Okey-Dokey”, Team Leader Miyazawa Sae announced her graduation! An emotional performance for the girls!

SKE48

Pretty Sae Miyazawa Announces Graduation

  One complaint I had about this year’s broadcast was the AWFUL sound! Oh, the VOCAL track was fine, but all the other music:  Guitars, Bass, Drums, Keyboards, etc, were mixed down SO low that you just couldn’t really get into the songs… this is the FNS, folks, Get yo STUFF TOGETHER!!!
   Not that any mixed-down backing music stopped Kiyoe Yoshioka from making the most of HER peformance- She and Ikimonogakari were, in my opinion, one of the best performances this year, so cute, so fun, and she was so over-the-top GENKI! Oh, if ONLY the music was a bit LOUDER!

Ikimonogakari

Kiyoe Launches into the Stratosphere!

Well, that's the report for THIS year's offering! See Ya All NEXT year!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

NEWS News

I'd been recently listening to a few of Johnny's group NEWS' older singles, and had JUST mentioned to Car that I thought that they were one of the few JE groups that consistently released singles that I really. really dug, and here it is, not even a week later and I'm finding out that both Yamapi and Nishikido are leaving the group! WTH!


NEWS as a four-piece?  Gah, I'd JUST been telling her how much I liked the "structure" of the group's singing arrangement and their singing style which PERFECTLY matched the kind of tunes they were singing...MAN, I hope they still manage to retain the sound I've come to love!

NEWS' "Be Funky" at LAST!

It's been a few MONTHS since Shigeaki Kato's TROUBLEMAN ended, and during that whole time I hve been DYING to get my hands on a copy of that AWESOME ending song "Be Funky!" and FINALLY after a LONG wait, i've finally gotten it!


Funny, the whole time I was waiting for the song to be released as a single, but somehow it ended up being nothing more than another track on NEWS' new CD "Live" (which isn't live, so...WTF?), but whatevers, I've got it now, and it is kick-ass! A song to be played on full volume, for sure!