Shooting Star Dreamer

Hello everyone! I've recently purchased a very fun manga-maker known as Comipo. The software is designed for people who may not be able to draw or those who don't have the time to make manga. For me, it's opened a whole bunch of opportunities. One, I can create a character exactly how I want them without any gimmicks or catches. Two, I can teach you guys Japanese and Culture. So here's the quick rundown. Every so often, I intend to post a new manga page regarding something to do with Japanese language or culture. While the manga is created by me, I will not be the focus. Instead, Ayaka-sensei will be giving you the information and the teaching you are looking for. Today there won't be any form of lesson, but just an intro. I would also like to give you all the opportunity to offer any suggestions or parts of Japanese that you want to learn about. I haven't learned a vast amount of Japanese yet, but I would love to share what I do know with you all. So if ...

Apologies my readers for the lack of posts recently. I've been running a very hectic schedule so it's been hard for me to write a solid article. I could post literally everyday, but there's no guarantee it'd be a nice one, so hopefully you all will understand. The topic for today is beginnings . Beginnings of what you ask? Well, basically anything. Be it the first episodes of anime, the starting chapters of manga, or the few words in a novels prologue, the writers do what they can to catch you in the beginning. Some people are hooked while others aren't. When it comes to things like this, I've started to notice a pattern. Even though I'm hooked in the beginning of the story, the quality seems to decrease as the series goes on. This isn't true for a few older anime, such as Naruto or even a few newer ones like Cardfight Vanguard. I've watched them since the beginning and still love them just as much. However, there's a negative pattern...

Despite the type of blogger you are, there comes a time when you ask the question if a schedule is necessary. If you look at many successful blogs and websites, they tend to provide articles and posts for their viewers consistently. Readers know when to visit and can expect something on a daily or weekly basis. While this is something that seems simple, it's a great way to build a loyal viewership. The only thing is, every blogger is different, and every blog is different. The blog itself is an extension of the blogger, a representation of their thoughts and feelings in the form of text. So like people, one method may not work well for everyone. It depends on the person and the blog. So when it comes to this blog, Shooting Star Dreamer, I don't think a schedule works. Yes, I made a post before about creating a schedule and limiting myself to those posting times and dates, but the longer I tried to pull this off the worst it became. I started rushing my writing and f...

There are many different ways a person can work. Some people tend to not do their best when it comes to working, but others do. Some people work a lot, and others barely work at all. Despite this, no matter how much or how little someone works, there's different ways to approaching the act of working.  If you haven't been keeping of with me, I've been having a little trouble with Japanese lately. I started Japanese III this semester, and while it hasn't been crazy hard, I don't feel like I'm really progressing in terms of fluency. So while Japanese I and II seemed like a great learning experience for me, everything has turned stagnant.  I began to examine my study habits and my work with Japanese. I was doing everything great in class, passing with flying colors, and enjoying my learning. Still, it didn't seem satisfactory in a way.  During the Summer semester, our school did not offer part three of Japanese. For that time being I had to do se...

Hello everyone! I understand it's been a while since I posted, but I've been very busy with college. Still, I don't want to abandon you guys, so here's a new post! If you missed my first example of a Japanese Speech, please check out my old post which can be found here . You can find all the important information there as well. I hope to continue to focus on things like this so my readers can learn Japanese. I feel that by being attached to anime, manga, and Japan itself, we should attempt to learn the language. It shocks me when I hear that people have lived in Japan or are living in Japan when they don't even understand Japanese. So I'll share my learning here as I progress in Japanese. Hopefully you all enjoy and please continue to follow my explorations of the Japanese language. On to the speech! _________________________________________________________________________________ 私の好きな音楽はボーカロイドです。ボーカロイドの音楽は日本語やえいごです。たくさん歌手がいます。歌手は歌って, おどります。しかし、歌手はあに...

Have you ever wondered how different forms of media draw in different kind of people? I've always noticed that people who like similar things act in a similar fashion, and the same goes for people from similar regions. With regions, maybe its the fact that we are mostly separate from others for so long, which helps create this specific divide in terms of behavior and culture. However, can the same be said for gamers? Even though we are divided into numerous groups and cliches, there comes a time when everyone has to interact with each other; we're not separated from other types of gamers on a daily basis. What causes that specific distinction of one gaming community have certain traits and another having different traits? I'm not sure of the answer, but these questions came to me when visiting a special spot on campus. At my university, we have a section specifically built for gamers. It's a room with many television sets, the proper connections needed, and futur...

Hello everyone! I have a question for you all today, it's pretty simple and straightforward. How do you function in your daily lives? Does your mind and intellect rule your decisions, or do you listen to your heart? Maybe a little bit of both? Well despite your answer, I had the urge to share a Vocaloid song since I haven't done anything dealing with Let's Share in a while. So I picked another one of my favorites No Logic.  For a little bit of information on the song, it's composed by JimmyThumb-P, and sung by Megurine Luka. For more information on the composer, click here . This song stands out to me for many reasons. One, because it's a way of thinking that I constantly base my actions on. For example, this phrase from the song reminds me a lot of myself...  "Itsudatte shizen tai de itai'n desu..." "Ima wa mada konna kimochi de ki mama ni aruiteitatte, ii yo ne" "Always living for the moment, that's what I want t...

All of us who grew up and lived in the era of Pokémon know his name. That's right, Ash Ketchum. The main character, the young ten year old boy with Pikachu by his side. We've followed his adventures for many years now, despite Ash remaining young. As a young boy, I never thought of Ash in a negative way, but as I grew older, Ash's character changed the longer the series went on, and I felt like he wasn't Ash anymore. He wasn't focused on beating others and only winning battles, but he became interested in friendship and helping his Pokémon out. He kept this mentality even if it meant letting go of some of his strongest Pokémon. So some people might think that Ash has softened up, but does this really mean he's become a failure? Is he just a mere protagonist that follows in Red's shadow? No, I don't mean Red from the manga. I'm talking about the Red we know from the many Pokémon games, the silent protagonist that became a Pokémon master. W...

It's been a while, but I'm here with a new post! This time a different topic, video games. We may all be anime fans, but we love video games too right? It may not be true for you all, but it's definitely true for me. So aside from the hype that's running behind Smash Brothers, how about we look at a few new games for a couple of systems? Just a quick disclaimer, most of these suggestions are based on my own interests and opinions, but I try to provide a variety of games instead of ones from a single company. The format will be similar to what I've posted below. To prevent excessive text and to make this post easier on the eyes, I'll limit myself to one key game per company. Name (Game Name Here) Release Date (Date Here) Thoughts and Why Buy It? (My Thoughts) (Reasons Here) Nintendo Hyrule Warriors ~ Wii U Release Dates JPN (August 14, 2014) EU (September 19, 2014) AUS (September 20, 2014) NA (September 26, 2014) So we...

Hello everyone! I have a lot to say this time around. If you've been following me on my social networks, then you're probably already informed of the things I'm announcing. If not, keep reading, there's a lot to say. First of all, I've started college again. No, I'm not sad or depressed that I'm in school, but instead I'm pretty happy. I get to continue with my college studies. More importantly, I get to learn more Japanese. So I might try to work some Japanese into my posts, and even teach my readers a bit. Aside from that, I get the chance to interact with tons of people who have similar interests, which is pretty great for sparking new post ideas. For bloggers who are having trouble finding ideas; watch people and how they act, get out and be active in the world! Another new thing is that I've created a Google Plus for myself and my blog. I know Google Plus isn't popular around certain parts of the web, but I'm loving it so far....

The otaku, the anime fans, and avid followers of any obsession, are the ones who continuously indulge in new media. We spend many hours watching, playing, and reading. We spend mass amounts of money on the products. However, why do we just settle to buying or collecting things that have been made by others? Why not take things into our hands and create our own? The problem is, many people don't think this way. In fact, very few people think about the things they do on a daily basis. We're conditioned to act mindlessly without thinking about whats going on. So how about today, we take a small amount of time and think? In my country, America, many of the products we use on a daily basis aren't even produced here. Flip over any old appliance indoors, and you'll see a "Made in (Insert Country Here)" label. Out of all the things you own, how many things are made in your country? If you live here, not many. So first of all, the things that we love aren...

Hello everyone! In Japanese class, things have started getting serious. We're now doing speeches in front of the class, every Monday. So this gave me an idea, why not post my speeches here to show my continuing progress in Japanese? However, if you remember, blogging isn't only for me. I know we hear casual speech in anime all the time, but how about something like a speech? I think this will be a great learning experience for novice Japanese speakers and fans who just want some insight. So here's my speech! (No worries, I'll post an English version as well!) 私の好きな食べ物はらーめんです! 私の好きな食べ物はらーめんです。私はベジタリアンだから、らーめんの中ににくがありません。たとえば、私はスーパーにらーめんを買いにいきます。そのらーめんはベジタリアンです。そして、二百円です。とてもおいしいです。  しかし、日本のらーめんを食べたことがありません。でも、日本のが食べたいです。 みなさん、ベジタリアンのらーめんを食べてみてください！ The Food I Like is Ramen! The food I like the most is ramen. I eat ramen with no meat, because I am vegetarian. I go to the supermarket in order to buy ramen. The ramen is vegetarian, and it only cos...

So I haven't done one of these in a long time. That's right, it's time for a good old music spotlight. I'll be sharing music with you guys which I think is interesting to say the least. This time, the spotlight is a song called Never Change by SHUN. For those Naruto fans out there, yes, it's the most recent ending. Like the usual, I've attached song to this post. So please check it out! As a little side note , I wanted to say how inspirational the songs are when it comes to Naruto openings and endings. When I was younger, I can say that I didn't understand even a bit of Japanese. Now being older and more educated, I can understand quite a bit and pick up the English lyrics online if I'm ever having trouble. It just came to my realization that sometimes we don't pay much attention to the media we intake. We're listening to music from a country we may have never been to, in a language we may or may not know. Yet, sometimes we never ta...

There's so many wonderful series out there for us to watch and enjoy. We have multiple genres, ranging from romance and comedy to action packed adventures. Even though there's so many things out there for us and we can try them all, there's only a few that we'll truly like. I mentioned in my last post that Hanayamata just jumped out at me. Literally, if any of you know Crunchyroll, it's like a total galore of anime. So to have one stand out among many, is really something special. I'm still watching it right now and it's not finished yet, but I've already enjoyed it much more than most series. (On Episode 4 right now!) Hana has quickly become a favorite of mine! Also, I wanted to bring up Hanayamata because of a saying I related to immensely. Hana states that people should be allowed to do what they want. She says that we only have a short time on earth, so she only does the things she likes to do. Why waste her time doing things that do...

It's another slice of life anime! This time, we're delving into the world of dancing. Not just any style, but yosakoi dancing. What's yosakoi you say? Well keep reading and you'll find out more! Hanayamata or HaNaYaMaTa, features an all-female cast with the focus of yosakoi dancing. While it's slice of life, the anime doesn't center mainly on school days, but mostly the interactions of the protagonist, Naru and a foreign student by the name of Hana, who has a love for yosakoi. The two come together and participate in their love of dancing. Shortly after, other characters are worked into the story. So What is Yosakoi? If you have no clue what yosakoi means, then here's a quick explanation. Basically, yosakoi dancing originated in Japan towards the mid 1900s. The focus of the dance is energetic and graceful movements. Also, the dancers tend to dress in colorful costumes that help accent their moves. Its basically a perfect mix of traditional and...