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Mary J. Blige Feat. Drake - The One

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:44:00 +0000

"The One" is the first single from Mary J. Blige's upcoming ablum Stronger. The producer of the song is Rodney Jerkins aka Darkchild and the writers are Mary J. Blige and Canadian rapper Drake, who is also featured on it.

Information

Blige told Angie Martinez on her New York radio show that this song introduces the world to "Crazy Mary." Blige uses Auto-Tune on this song. She explained why to Martinez: "It was for effect. I wanted 'Crazy Mary' to get her shine on. She couldn't get her shine with my regular voice. I used the effect. I used it as a telephone effect or reverb." Mary announced on June 27 that the official release for the single would not be until August 4. Despite her comments, the song was released on iTunes on July 21 for download. Mary later stated on July 24 that July 21 was the official release date for the single.

The featured artist and Canadian rapper Drake still appeared on the set for the music video, despite reinjuring his ACL on stage during the America's Most Wanted tour just days before.

Promotion

Blige recently performed this song at Hot 97's Summer Jam 2009.

Chart performance

This song marks Blige's 57th entry on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Blige's sum extends her lead for most charted titles among women in the '90s and '00s. The single debuted at number 63 on Billboard Hot 100, despite speculation that it would debut in the Top 40.

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Canadian Hot 100	83
U.S. Airplay Top 200	190
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	63
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	49

^{You Can Download "Mary J. Blige Feat. Drake - The One.mp3" Here:}

Colbie Caillat - Fallin For You

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:17:00 +0000

"'Fallin' For You" is a song by the American pop singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat from her upcoming sophomore album "Breakthrough" set for August 25 release. The song was released in June 29, 2009 in the United States.

The song is a pop-ballad and was written by Caillat and Rick Nowels, and was produced by Nowels, John Shanks, and Ken Caillat.

Caillat explained to Elle that the song is “about falling for a guy I was friends with. We went out on a date and I realized that there was no one else in the room. The room was silent, and I was on this high from it the next day and wrote this song.”

Chart performance

The song debuted at #12 and was Caillat's highest debut ever on the Billboard Hot 100, the hot shot debut of the week and her best song on the U.S. charts since her debut single Bubbly. With 118,000 first-week downloads, it's also her first top 10 on the Hot Digital Songs chart since debut single "Bubbly" peaked at No. 4 in November 2007. However, it fell to #35 in its second week. On the Canadian Hot 100, the song was the hot shot of the week, debuting at #55.

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	12
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks	19
Canadian Hot 100	55
New Zealand Singles Chart	37

^{You can download "Colbie Caillat - Fallin For you.mp3" Here :}

Shakira - She Wolf

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:06:00 +0000

"She Wolf" is Shakira's first single taken from her third English studio album, She Wolf The song has a Spanish version ("Loba") that is being used to promote the English album in Spanish-speaking countries."Loba" premiered on June 29, 2009 and was played on various radio stations. Shakia premiered "She Wolf" on Z100 and KIIS-FM on July 13, 2009. On July 14, 2009 "She Wolf" and "Loba" became available to download from iTunes. "She Wolf" was sent to U.S. radio on July 21, 2009. Shakira wrote and produced the track with John Hill, and Sam Endicott (Lead Singer and Songwriter of The Bravery).

Background

Shakira talked to Rolling Stone about the song: " ‘She Wolf’ came to me very mysteriously, I was in the studio in a bad mood that day, then I got inspired and went to a corner and I wrote the lyrics and the melody in 10 minutes. The image of the she wolf just came to my head, and when I least expected it I was howling and panting". Shakira talked further about the song to Access Hollywood: "I think ‘She Wolf’ has a lot to do with the moment in which I feel I am. I feel much freer now as a woman, a little more in touch with my own desires, and I tend to listen to myself a little more. ‘What does Shakira want?’. Not what everybody else wants, but what do I really want? And I think that the song deep inside is about that. [It’s] like a more animalistic side of you, a more primitive side … an animal person in a way, So when you understand these things you forgive yourself every time you screw up, you say, It wasn’t me, that was the she wolf … that was the animal in me, that wasn’t me, I have nothing to do with that".

Critical reception

The song has been lauded by critics. On June 16, 2009, Popjustice got an advanced listen of the track, describing it as "literally very good". "It doesn't sound like anything Shakira has done before - it's a bit dancey and a bit electronic with a quite organic disco feel - but even as an instrumental there would still be a feeling that this is very much a Shakira-sounding track....it's a new sound for Shakira but only Shakira could make a song like this and get away with it... 'She Wolf' represents a brilliantly tight bond between art and artist. It's fun and deranged, too, like pop music at its best sometimes needs to be". The following day, Digital Spy also had an advance listen of the track; the review said that the song "sounds like nothing else in the charts at the moment... This is the sort of track that will sound terrific on the radio, terrific on the dancefloor and especially terrific as you strut into work with your iPod cranked up to full whack on a hot summer's morning. In short, it's an absolute smash". Rolling Stone said the song is a "fierce piece of electro-pop". The Guardian said it is Shakira's "most powerful song yet". Billboard reviewed 'Loba': "Though the song's wolf cries and panting noises are a little goofy, it's sure to get the Colombian singer's die-hard fans howling right along on the dancefloor. Its infectious groove rides a funk bassline, pulsates like a wild animal's heartbeat and plays perfectly to Shakira's ability to sing fast, crowded phrases in a way that forces the listener to pay attention. It's an unselfconsciously sexy, stylish ode to a woman on the prowl". James Montgomery for MTV gave the song a positive review calling it "the most insanely brilliant (or brilliantly insane) song you'll hear in 2009" and highlighting "the fact that Shakira uses the term "lycanthropy" and, seconds later, compares herself to a coffee machine (both of which are surely firsts in the history of pop music)."

^{Music Video}

The music video was directed by Jake Nava. It was shot from June 9 to June 12 in Los Angeles, CA. It premiered on MTV on July 30th at 8pm and and features a live wolf. A video for the Spanish version was also released. Shakira's official website described the video as "An inventively sexy video directed by Jake Nava and featuring the metamorphosis of a woman told through her unique dance techniques". The video premiered as expected to positive reviews by MTV. James Montgomery for MTV praised Shakira's dancing skills stating "Shakira has taken the art of body-contorting to new (somewhat unsettling) highs in "She Wolf." She herks and jerks, folds herself in half, torques vertebrae, lifts legs over her head, pops her shoulders in and out of their sockets, hangs upside down, nearly topples over ... the list goes on and on. She out-dances everyone in the business, and even manages to out-Beyoncé". It got it's UK TV premiere August 2nd 2009 on 4Music.

Chart performance

The song made its official debut on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs at number twenty-three, becoming Shakira's best debut on this chart since her 2007 collaboration with Alejandro Sanz, "Te Lo Agradezco, Pero No". It has since peaked at #4, becoming Shakira's fourteenth top ten single on the chart and making her the fifth female artist with most top ten hits on the chart tying with Selena and just behind Gloria Estefan, Ana Gabriel, Rocío Dúrcal, and Ednita Nazario.

After its digital release, "She Wolf" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number thirty-four on the issue date August 1, 2009, making it Shakira's best debut ever on the Hot 100 and her sixth top 40 hit. On the same week, it also debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 at #60. The song debuted at #4 in Greece.

On the issue dated July 27, 2009, the song debuted at number 68 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart.

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	68
Canadian Hot 100	54
Greek Singles Chart	4
Italian Singles Chart	6
Spanish Singles Chart	10
Swedish Singles Chart	60
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	34
U.S. Billboard Pop Songs	25
U.S. Billboard Hot Latin Tracks	4
U.S. Billboard Latin Pop Songs	2

Release history

Region	Date	Format
"Loba"
Latin America	June 29, 2009 (2009-06-29)	Airplay
Chile	July 6, 2009 (2009-07-06)	Digital download
Spain	July 14, 2009 (2009-07-14)	Digital download
"She Wolf"
Chile	July 13, 2009 (2009-07-13)	digital download
United States	July 14, 2009 (2009-07-14)	digital download
United States	July 21, 2009 (2009-07-21)	airplay
Australia	July 14, 2009 (2009-07-14)	digital download
Australia	August 22, 2009 (2009-08-22)	CD single
United Kingdom	September 14, 2009 (2009-09-14)	digital download
United Kingdom	September 21, 2009 (2009-09-21)	CD single

^{You Can Download "Shakira - She Wolf.mp3" Here :}

The Ting Tings - Thats Not My Name

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:21:00 +0000

"That’s Not My Name" is the second single by British duo The Ting Tings from their debut studio album We Started Nothing. Vocalist Katie White states that the song was written "with me ranting about my frustrations with the record industry." The song was originally released as a double A-side with "Great DJ" by independent record label Switchflicker on 28 May 2007. After heavy promotion and support from BBC Radio 1 and the NME, the single was re-released individually on 12 May 2008 on Columbia Records.

"That's Not My Name" went to number one in the UK Singles Chart on 18 May 2008, seeing off competition from well-established acts like Rihanna, Madonna and will.i.am. The following week, however, the single was replaced by Rihanna's single "Take a Bow" at number one. The song was a sleeper hit in North America for about five months before finally becoming a Top 40 hit on the charts. The single has sold over a million digital copies.

Critical reception

The single received favourable reviews from critics upon re-release, with the NME describing it as "no-flab electro-pop nugget", while Q Magazine described it as "a snatch of Hey Mickey-style handclaps and a gobbily staccato vocal, stitched together to fashion a groove that’s as instant and familiar". Digital Spy compared the single to a "well-shaken can of cola", and added "[the track is] brimming with sticky, yummy, fizzy goodness".

Music videos

The song has three music videos. The first features the Ting Tings on a white background performing the song on a set, with interferring scenes of Katie with blue and pink backgrounds. This version of the video was used to promote the song and album upon its 2007 release. This video is visually similar to the video for Toni Basil's "Mickey," in keeping with the audio similarities. This video was directed by Sophie Muller.

Columbia produced a 2008 video for the US release, with them performing again on a different set, with more equipment and flashing lights in the background. The video premiered on mtvU.com on January 26 2009. Another video was made for the acoustic version. All videos are live action. The third music video features the Ting Tings in a park, where some people costumed by skeletons start to show themselves, with some words of the lyrics of That's Not My Name.

Covers

Dizzee Rascal performed a version of this song in the Live Lounge on BBC Radio 1, changing the chorus to: "They call me 'blood'/ They call me 'rude boy'/They call me oi/They call me mate/ ...They use the 'N-word' like it's a game/ That's not my name..."

Chart performance

The single entered the UK Singles Chart at number one on 18 May 2008, ending Madonna and Justin Timberlake's four-week reign at the top with "4 Minutes". The following week, however, it slipped to number two after Rihanna's "Take a Bow" climbed to number one. In Ireland, it peaked at number two for five consecutive weeks.

In Australia, after week after week of slow rising, it eventually peaked inside the top 10, and was certified Gold on November 3. On the Australian Physical Singles Chart, it peaked at 20, and on the Australian Digital track chart at number eight. In the United States, "That's Not My Name" has peaked at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving the band their first top 40 there. The song was certified Gold on April 2, 2009, selling over 500,000 copies.

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak Position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	8
Austrian Singles Chart	39
Canadian Hot 100	57
Croatian Top 20 Chart (International Singles)	10
Czech Airplay Chart	7
Danish Singles Charts	10
Eurochart Hot 100	7
New Zealand Singles Chart	8
Swedish Singles Chart	23
Turkey Top 20 Chart (Billboard)	12
UK Singles Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	39

Certifications

Country	Certification	Sales
Australia	Gold	35,000+
New Zealand	Gold	7,500+
United Kingdom	Gold	300,000+
United States	Platinum	1,141,280+

End Of Year Charts

Country	Chart	Ranking
Australia	ARIA End of Year Singles	#48
New Zealand	RIANZ End of Year Singles	#50
United Kingdom	UK Year-end Singles Chart 2008	#22

Preceded by "4 Minutes" by Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland	UK Singles Chart number-one single 18 May 2008 – 24 May 2008	Succeeded by "Take a Bow" by Rihanna

Use in advertising

The instrumental of the track was used in a UK cinema advert for BBC Radio 1 during the summer of 2008. A remixed version of the song was also used as the music for the PINK segment of the 2008 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (remixed by Cho Dongho). The song is also used in Slovenian mobile operator Mobitel's commercial for their new subscription package, Itak Džabest. This song is used in the trailer for the 2009 summer movie Post Grad, with Alexis Bledel, and on the shows 90210 on The CW, Brothers & Sisters on ABC, Taking the Stage, and The City on MTV, and in the movie Fired Up.

You Can download "The Ting Tings - Thats Not My Name.mp3" Here :

Lady Gaga - Paparazzi

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:03:00 +0000

"Paparazzi" is a song by American pop recording artist, Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame. Written by Rob Fusari and Gaga, the song served as the album's third single in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy, the fourth single in North America and fifth single in Australia. It was released on July 6, 2009 in the United Kingdom, and on July 10, 2009 in Australia. Initially, "LoveGame" had been planned to be released as the third single in the United Kingdom, but it was decided that "Paparazzi" would be released instead because of the potentially controversial lyrics and video of "LoveGame". The song was written by Gaga to portray her struggles and her love for fame. A mid-tempo dance song, the lyrics of "Paparazzi" depict the idea of a stalker following somebody to grab attention and fame.

"Paparazzi" has been critically acclaimed for its fun-filled, club-friendly nature and is deemed the most memorable and telling song from the album. The accompanying music video for the song is a mini-movie starring Gaga as a doomed starlet who is hounded by the photographers and in the process is almost killed by her boyfriend. The video shows how she survives and makes a comeback while taking revenge on her boyfriend. It portrays the situations that a person goes through in order to be famous. The song has charted in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, becoming a top five single in their charts. Gaga performed the song in a number of live appearances including her first headlining Fame Ball tour where she performed it as the opening number of the show, wearing a geometric patterned shaped black dress.

Writing and inspiration

In an interview with About.com, Gaga was told that there were different interpretations of the single. She responded by stating:

Well I'm so glad there are a few different interpretations, that was the idea. The song is about a few different things – it's about my struggles, do I want fame or do I want love? It's also about wooing the paparazzi to fall in love with me. It's about the media whoring, if you will, watching ersatzes make fools of themselves to their station. It's a love song for the cameras, but it's also a love song about fame or love – can you have both, or can you only have one?

With the Melbourne Herald Sun, Gaga further elaborated that the song was also about struggling to balance success and love.

^{Music And Lyrics}

"Paparazzi" has a similar up-tempo composition like previous singles "Just Dance and "Poker Face" and carries a sultry beat. The song has a moderate electro-synth groove and it is composed in the key of C minor with a tempo of 116 beats per minute. The song is set in common time, and Gaga's vocal range spans from G₃ to Eb₅. The song has the following chord progression, Cm—Ab—Cm—Ab—Cm—Ab—Eb—Fm–Db.

Lyrically "Paparazzi" deals with stalking and refers to the trappings of "Fame". The dictionary meaning of "Paparazzi" refers to them as a freelance photographer, especially one who takes candid pictures of celebrities for publication. But the lyrics of "Paparazzi" portray a different meaning especially the lines "I'm your biggest fan/I'll follow you until you love me/Papa-paparazzi/Baby there's no other superstar/You know that I'll be your/Papa-paparazzi." The idea portrayed is that of a stalker who is following somebody being his/her biggest fan. The lyrics also portray the desire of capturing the attention of the camera as well as achieving fame, with those lines.

Critical Reception

Jill Menze of Billboard, while reviewing The Fame Ball Tour complimented Gaga's vocals on the song by saying "... the fame-obsessed ballad 'Paparazzi' showed how adept she can be with her range." Alex Petridis of The Guardian said that "You may quickly tire of hearing the album's theme constantly reiterated, but the tune of Paparazzi takes up residence in your brain and refuses to budge." Matthew Chisling of Allmusic called the song as desirous and said that it "salt[s] and pepper[s] the album with a nasty, club-friendly feeling of fun and feistiness that an excellent, well-produced dance album should have." Ben Norman of About.com said "My favourite tracks on the album are 'Paparazzi,' 'Paper Gangsta,' and 'Brown Eyes.'" He also went on to define the term Paparazzi and its significance claiming it to be about stalking. He went on to comment that the song was amazing. Priya Elan of The Times felt that "even the trio of songs that provides the core of the album's celebrity theme ('Paparazzi', 'Beautiful Dirty Rich' and the title track) don't ruminate on the addictive inanity of fame, choosing instead to observe passively."

Evan Sawdey of PopMatters.com said that both "Paparazzi" and previous single "Poker Face" are comparable with the musical styles of first single "Just Dance" but went on to add that "never once does it feel like Gaga is deliberately repeating herself; instead, her faults only come from covering territory that she’s obviously not prepared for." Freedom du Lac of The Washington Post said that even though Gaga turns somewhat serious while singing disapprovingly "Paparazzi", the song comes across as flat and faceless as well as vapid. Erika Howard of the New Times Broward-Palm Beach called it the most telling track from the album. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times said that "'Paparazzi' is a love letter from camera to subject but stops short of admitting that the affection runs both ways. Any notion that Lady Gaga is sketching an elaborate stunt is stopped cold at the lyric sheet, a perverse flaunting of simplicity that betrays no cynicism whatsoever."

Chart performance

"Paparazzi" debuted on the official Australian Singles Chart at number seventy-three on the issue dated June 1, 2009 based solely on downloads and leaped to twenty-seven the next week. The song has so far peaked at number two, giving Gaga her fourth top five single in Australia and her third top two single. On the issue dated July 26, 2009, the song was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for sales of 35,000 copies. On the issue dated for June 20, 2009, Paparazzi also made its debut on the Canadian Hot 100 at number ninety-two and moved up to fifty seven the following week becoming the weeks greatest digital gainer. The song has reached a peak of four.

The song made its debut on the UK Singles Chart at number ninety-nine in February 2009 due to digital downloads after the release of The Fame. The song reached number thirteen for the issue dated June 21, 2009 after jumping from forty-three to this position from the last week. The next week the song further climbed to eight and has peaked at four. The song has also debuted at number thirty-eight on the Irish Singles Chart for the issue dated May 14, 2009 and has so far peaked at number four. In New Zealand, "Paparazzi" debuted at number twenty-three on the issue of June 22, 2009 and has reached a peak of seven. The song also debuted on the Dutch Top 40 at number twenty-seven on the issue dated July 18, 2009. It has so far peaked at number seven on its third week on the chart.

^{Music Video}

The music video was directed by Swedish director, Jonas Åkerlund, who has previously directed music videos for artists like the Smashing Pumpkins, Madonna, Moby and U2. His wife B. Åkerlund was hired as Gaga's stylist for the video. Gaga told MTV that she had finished shooting "[..] my video for 'Paparazzi,' which I really am very pleased with the way that turned out. It's like a short film." In an interview with The Canadian Press on May 26, 2009, Gaga cited her video as "the most amazing creative work that [she's] put together so far." She went on to describe the idea behind the video and the message it gives. She said,

"It has a real, genuine, powerful message about fame-whoring and death and the demise of the celebrity, and what that does to young people.[...] The video explores ideas about "sort of hyperbolic situations" that people will go to in order to be famous. Most specifically, pornography and murder. These are some of the major themes in the video.

The video premiered on June 4, 2009 in the United Kingdom and Ireland broadcast on Channel 4, where the "explicit late night version" of the video was aired. However, while touring in Australia, Gaga posted a message on her Twitter account on May 28, 2009 saying "Stop leaking my mother[fuck]ing videos", which referred to the video being released without the singer's consent.

The music video is an eight minute mini-movie starring Gaga and Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård as her boyfriend. It features a murderous plot line involving a doomed starlet who is constantly followed by photographers. The video opens up with the camera focusing on what appears to be an elegant seaside estate surrounded by roses and Greek statues. Seagulls cry in the background amid tinkling piano notes. Gaga and her boyfriend are shown lying on a bed whispering love talk in Swedish. Also shown are hundred dollar bills with Gaga's face on it. She and her boyfriend start making out and eventually move out in the balcony. As they kiss passionately, a photographer takes pictures of them kissing while remaining hidden. Gaga realizes that her boyfriend has set the paparazzi to photograph her and tries to stop him. However, when it becomes futile, she smashes his face with a champagne bottle. The enraged boyfriend tosses her over the balcony, leaving her in a crumpled heap on the ground below as the paparazzis take pictures of her bloody body and tabloid headlines proclaim that her career is over. According to Rolling Stone this scene is a homage to Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo.

Next she is shown getting down from a limousine, being carried by male dancers to an enhanced wheelchair with jazz hands. Gaga wears a bejeweled neck brace and a side halo on her hair in this sequence. As the dancers gyrate around her, she takes off her black body suit and starts walking down the carpet with the help of a pair of crutches while wearing a metallic bustier and a matching helmet. According to Entertainment Weekly this cyborg like leotard is similar to an outfit in George Michael's "Too Funky" music video. These scenes are interspersed with scenes of dead models including one whose face is wrapped in plastic, one who is hanging from a noose and one who appears to be oozing gold colored blood from her mouth. Alternate scenes of Gaga on a golden couch are also shown where she makes out with a trio of hair metal rockers during the line "Loving you is cherry pie". The trio, known as Snake of Eden, are from reality television dating program Daisy of Love. According to MTV this scene is a reference to the song "Cherry Pie" by American glam band Warrant. This sequence was dedicated to Gaga's initial days as a dancer at rock clubs. The second chorus features Gaga dancing in a parlor, wearing a white jumpsuit with blue extensions resembling a deconstructed flamenco dress. The video continues through the intermediate bridge with Gaga wearing a dress made up of film strips and a towering feathered Mohawk headdress.. Her trademark dogs, two harlequin Great Danes, are also shown during this scene.

In the next scene, Gaga and her eye-patch wearing boyfriend are reading magazines on a sofa in a quaint tea room. Gaga wears a flamboyant outfit of yellow jumpsuit with circular glasses and circular shoulder pads. The Guardian compared this look with that of Minnie Mouse. She finally takes her revenge on her boyfriend by discreetly poisoning his drink with white powder concealed in her ring. As he falls dead she calls 911 and declares that she just killed her boyfriend. The police comes and she gets arrested for the murder. Gaga, wearing a tall, blond, corkscrew wig, walks to the police car as the paparazzi surround her once again. Images flash by with newspapers proclaiming her innocence and that Gaga is back in the spotlight and has regained her fame. The video ends with Gaga posing for mug shots like a fashion model while wearing a tulip shaped metallic dress similar to the single cover. The Daily Mail compared this dress with a similar outfit worn by singer Beyoncé Knowles on her I Am... Tour.

Rolling Stone writer Daniel Kreps compared the video with "November Rain" and the scenes of the dead models as stomach turning while complimented the video for "brimming with cinematic style [so]that it’s hard to take your eyes off it, though it will likely be labeled as a little self-indulgent." He also commented on the leaking of the video saying that it "warranted more than just a simple leak; it deserved a red carpet." Anna Pickard from The Guardian complimented the video saying that "quite a lot of work has gone into it". However, she opined that the length of the video was too long.

^{Live Performance}

Gaga performed "Paparazzi" live on the UK programme, The Album Chart Show on February 14, 2009 as promotion for The Fame. On March 20, 2009, the song was also performed live at the AOL Sessions along with Gaga's other singles such as "Just Dance", "LoveGame", "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" and an acoustic version of "Poker Face". The song was performed at Capital Radio 95.8 FM in an acoustic piano version on May 1, 2009. On June 26, 2009, Gaga performed the song at the Glastonbury Festival emerging from a silver case on stage which was subsequently opened up by dancers to reveal her sporting a silver, robot-style sparkly dress. She played an enormous keytar to end the song while standing on a revolving platform that span round to reveal her buttocks to the crowd.

The song was a major part of Gaga’s performance in her first headlining Fame Ball tour as the opening number of the setlist. The show started with a video intro called "The Heart" where Gaga played an alternate persona called Candy Warhol. As the video got over, a countdown from ten to one happens and the screen drops to reveal Gaga emerging from the middle of the stage holding her hands upward. She wore a silver and black short skirt like a tutu and shaped like peplum on both sides with a triangular piece set on her right breast and high heeled, ultra spike, toeless shoes. Gaga's hair was made an austere blond bob and she wore black sunglasses. She was surrounded by her dancers holding plates which were encrusted with crystals and completely hid them. The plates were angled similar to the dress she wore. As the music started, the plates opened up and Gaga started singing the song while standing on the platform. The stage was surrounded by mechanical fog and heavy lighting was being emitted from the background. The song progressed with Gaga moving her hands in choreographed moves, with her dancers moving the plates in the same rhythm. Pre-recorded music and mixing were provided in the background by DJ Space Cowboy. The performance ended with Gaga bringing out her disco-stick for the performance of next song "LoveGame." The performance was acclaimed for being a strong beginning for the show and the clarity of Gaga's voice.

Track listing

UK & Australian CD single

"Paparazzi" (Album version) — 3:29
"Paparazzi" (Filthy Dukes remix) — 5:23

iTunes remix EP

"Paparazzi" (Stuart Price remix) — 3:19
"Paparazzi" (Moto Blanco remix) [radio version] — 4:05
"Paparazzi" (Filthy Dukes remix) — 5:21
"Paparazzi" (James Camareta remix version) — 4:27

Paparazzi EP

"Paparazzi" - 3:27
"Paparazzi" (Filthy Dukes remix) — 5:21
"Paparazzi" (Moto Blanco remix) [radio version] — 4:05
"Paparazzi" (Stuart Price remix) — 3:19
"Paparazzi" (Yuksek remix version) — 4:47

Charts and sales

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	2
Canadian Hot 100	4
Dutch Top 40	7
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	12
Irish Singles Chart	4
New Zealand Singles Chart	7
UK Singles Chart	4

Sales and certifications

Country	Provider	Certification	Sales
Australia	ARIA	Platinum	70,000+

YOu Can Download "Lady Gaga - Paparazzi.mp3" Here :

Fullmetal Alchemist

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 10:16:00 +0000

Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, lit. "Alchemist of Steel"), is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is styled after the European Industrial Revolution. Set in a fictional universe in which alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques known to man, the story follows the brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric, who want to restore their bodies after a disastrous failed attempt to bring their mother back to life through alchemy.

The manga is serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan magazine (starting August 2001) and currently has 22 tankōbon volumes. It was adapted into an animated television series of 51 episodes by Bones from October 4, 2003 to October 2, 2004, later followed by a film sequel that concluded the story of the anime. Fullmetal Alchemist would later spawn a second series called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which first premiered in Japan on April 5, 2009. A multitude of spin-off novels, original video animations (OVAs), drama CDs, soundtracks, and video games have been adapted from the series. A collectible card game, multiple supplementary books, and a variety of action figures and other merchandise based on the characters of the series have also been released.

The manga has been licensed by Viz Media for publication in the United States, with eighteen bound volumes released currently. Although there are no major differences with the Japanese version, some pages have been edited to avoid minor references to western theology. Funimation has dubbed the anime episodes in the United States and Canada, and has also released them in all English-speaking DVD regions. The English version of the film premiered in a limited number of U.S. theaters on August 25, 2006 and was later released on DVD. Funimation and Destineer have also been releasing the video games from the series.

The franchise has seen high popularity in both Japan and North America. As of March 2008, the Fullmetal Alchemist manga has sold over 30 million volumes in Japan. The English release of the manga's first volume was the top-selling graphic novel during the year 2005. In two TV Asahi web polls, the anime was voted #1 most popular anime of all time in Japan. It was nominated in six of the eight categories for which it was eligible at the American Anime Awards in February 2007, winning awards in five of them. Reviewers from several media have noted the characters' complex personalities and original designs.

Plot

Edward and Alphonse Elric are two alchemist brothers searching for the legendary Philosopher's Stone, a powerful object which would allow them to recover their bodies (which were lost in an attempt to bring their mother back to life through alchemy). Born in the village of Resembool from the country of Amestris (Amesutorisu), the two brothers live there with their parents. Their father, Hohenheim, leaves home for unknown reasons and years later, their mother, Trisha Elric, dies of a terminal illness leaving the Elric brothers alone. After their mother's death, Edward becomes determined to bring her back through the use of alchemy, an advanced science in which objects can be created from raw materials. They research Human Transmutation, a forbidden art in which one attempts to create or modify a human being. However, this attempt fails, ultimately resulting in the loss of Edward's left leg and Alphonse's entire body. In a desperate effort to save his brother, Edward sacrifices his right arm to affix Alphonse's soul to a suit of armor. Some days later, an alchemist named Roy Mustang visits the Elric brothers, and he tells Edward to become a member of the State Military of the country to find a way to recover their bodies. After that, Edward's left leg and right arm are replaced with automail, a type of advanced prosthetic limb, created for him by his close family friends Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako.

Edward sets out to become a State Alchemist (Kokka Renkinjutsushi), an alchemist employed by the State Military of Amestris, which infamously annihilated much of the neighboring country of Ishbal's population in the past decade. Becoming a State Alchemist enables Edward to use the extensive resources available to State Alchemists, but it also turns him into what they call a "dog of the military". His more friendly relationship with Roy Mustang however, whom he reports to and who recruited him, allows the brothers freedom to search for the Philosopher's Stone as part of Edward's research, as each State Alchemist is expected to independently research new things which may be of a use to the State Military of Amestris. The brothers set off in search of the Philosopher's Stone as a means to restore their bodies. Throughout their journey, they meet many antagonists, including those who are willing to do anything to obtain the Philosopher's Stone; Scar, one of the few surviving Ishbalans, who seeks vengeance on the State Alchemists for the destruction of his race; and the homunculi, a group of human-like creatures who carry pieces of the Philosopher's Stone inside themselves, and from it derive the ability to survive almost any harm.

As the story progresses, Edward and Alphonse discover the vast expansion of Amestris was the result of the homunculi, who created and secretly control the State Military. The homunculi and much of the high-ranking military officers are commanded from behind the curtains by the creator of the homunculi, a man simply known as "Father" who gained immortality by using a copy of Hohenheim as his new body centuries before the series' timeline. He plans to use Amestris as a gigantic transmutation circle, possibly to transmute the entire country into the Philosopher's Stone. When Edward and Alphonse discover Father's plans, they set out to defeat him along with other members of the State Military.

Differences In The Anime Adaptation

The first half of the anime's plot basically follows that of the manga, but the plots severely diverges near the middle of the story; when Ed and Al reunite with their teacher. A former lover of Hohenheim, their teachers teacher, Dante, acts as the series' main antagonist, appearing only in the anime. Centuries ago, the two perfected methods for making the Philosopher's Stone, achieving a sort of immortality by transferring their soul and intellect into others' bodies as they age. Hohenheim was eventually overcome by the guilt of sacrificing lives to make the Stone and left Dante. Although Dante is still able to jump from body to body to cheat death over the centuries, she is able to spend less time in each body as it decays faster with each jump. She uses the Homunculi to spur Edward and Alphonse, along with other Alchemists equally desperate, into creating another complete Philosopher's Stone for her.

When Scar tries to create the Philosopher's Stone, the stone is infused into Alphonse's metal body, making him the main focus of Dante's efforts leading to him being kidnapped.When Edward goes to rescue him, he is killed by the homunculus Envy. Alphonse uses the Philosopher's Stone to revive his brother but disappears in the process. Dante tries to escape, but she is killed when the homunculus Gluttony, whose mind Dante had earlier destroyed, fails to recognize his master and devours her. After being revived, Edward risks his life to bring back his brother in exchange. As a result, Edward ends up in a parallel world, while Alphonse recovers his original body. Determined to return with Alphonse, Edward becomes involved in rocketry research, with the intention to use that technology to try to get back to his home world.

The story is followed in Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa situated two years after the end of the anime. While Edward is working in Germany to find a way to return to Amestris, Dietlinde Eckhart, a member from the Thule Society, discovers the existence of Ed's world and starts giving him hints to open a portal to Amestris. Alphonse, having been looking for his brother after two years, also discovers the portal and opens it at the same time as his father Hohenheim opens the one from Germany, allowing Dietlinde to enter Amestris and try to conquer it. Edward reunites with his brother and they join forces to defeat Dietlinde. Knowing the danger that both worlds are now connected through the portal, Edward returns to Germany to destroy that side of the portal, knowing that he would be trapped there forever. Alphonse secretly follows him, having decided to stay with Edward.

Production

After reading about the Philosopher's stone, the author Arakawa said that she became attracted to the idea of using alchemy in the manga. She liked it so much that she started reading books relating to alchemy, which she found very complicated due to the fact that some books contradicted others. Arakawa was attracted more by the philosophical aspects than the practical aspects. For the Equivalent Exchange concept, she was inspired by the work of her parents who had a farm in Hokkaidō and always had to give all their effort in order to earn the money to eat.

Arakawa wanted to integrate social problems into the story. She gathered information watching news programs and talking to people, such as refugees, war veterans and former yakuza. Several plot elements expand on these themes, such as Pinako Rockbell caring for the Elric brothers after the death of their mother, and the brothers helping people all over the country, to gain an understanding of the meaning of family. When creating the fictional world of Fullmetal Alchemist, Arakawa was inspired after reading about Europe during the Industrial Revolution period; she was amazed by how different the people from different countries were, in terms of their culture, architecture and clothes. She was especially interested in England during this period and "added to it her own original flavor to turn it into a fantasy world".

When the manga began serialization, Arakawa had in mind how the story would end. As the plot continued, however, she felt some characters were maturing and decided to change some scenes, resulting in some sketches of the faces of the characters being improvised. In creating the characters' designs, she comments that the manga authors Suihō Tagawa and Hiroyuki Eto are her main inspirations, and describes her artwork is a mix of both of them. The easiest of the series characters for her to draw was Alex Louis Armstrong, as well as little animals. Due to the fact she likes dogs, Arakawa added several of them in the story.Arakawa made comedy central in the manga because she thinks it is intended for entertainment, and tried to minimalize focus on sad scenes.

During the development of the anime, Arakawa allowed the anime staff to work independently from her, and requested having a different ending from the one in the manga. She said that she would not like to repeat the same ending in both media, as well as to make the manga longer to work more in the development of the characters. When watching the ending of the anime, she was amazed about how different the homunculi creatures were from the manga and enjoyed how the staff speculated about the origins of the villains.

Media

Manga

Written and drawn by Hiromu Arakawa, the Fullmetal Alchemist manga series is serialized in Square Enix's monthly manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan. It has been serialized since Monthly Shōnen Gangan's August 2001 issue (published on July 12, 2001) and it is still ongoing. with a new chapter in every issue. Square Enix is collecting the chapters in tankōbon format. The first volume was released on January 2002, and as of April 11, 2009, 22 volumes have been released.A few chapters have been rereleased in Japan in two "Extra number" magazines and Fullmetal Alchemist, The First Attack, which features the first nine chapters of the manga as well as other side stories. Viz Media is releasing the manga in North America. The first volume was released on May 3, 2005, and the latest volume they have released is volume 19 on July 21, 2009.

The content of the manga released by Viz in the United States were mostly consistent with the original material. As of August 2007, the only edits that have been made were to a set of twelve panels from volume 8, depicting the Homunculus Greed tied to a cross-shaped stone slab in crucifixion style. In the U.S. version the stone was redesigned to become round in each panel, as commented by Viz to avoid references to Christianity. This change in the manga was made with the approval of Arakawa.

In Singapore, the manga is being published by Chuang Yi. Publishing in both English and Simplified Chinese, nineteen volumes have been released in English, while twenty-one volumes have been released in Simplified Chinese. In Poland, Japonica Polonica Fantastica is publishing the manga- as of July 2009, sixteen volumes have been released. In France, the manga is being released by Kurokawa. Volume eight, released in September 2006, was available also in a collector's edition, which consisted of the book packed with the original comedic novel Flame Alchemist, focusing on Roy Mustang's schedule. Prior to this, this novel was only available with the limited edition of volume six in Japan. In Brazil, Editora JBC is publishing the manga with forty-two volumes equivalent to the first original twenty-one volumes having been released currently.In Italy the manga is published by Panini Comics using the label "Planet Manga".

Anime Series

Fullmetal Alcheist

The animation studio Bones adapted the manga into a 51-episode anime series. It was directed by Seiji Mizushima, written by Shō Aikawa and co-produced by Bones, Mainichi Broadcasting System and Aniplex. Character designs were handled by Yoshiyuki Itō. The anime was broadcast on Mainichi Broadcasting System, TBS, and Animax in Japan from October 4, 2003 to October 2, 2004,with a 6.8 percent television viewership rating. The English dubbed version of the anime was produced by Funimation and debuted on the Adult Swim block of the United States cable channel Cartoon Network on November 6, 2004. A year and a half later, Canada's YTV began airing it on March 3, 2006. The anime's later story and conclusion by Bones is different from the manga (which is still ongoing) due to a request by Arakawa. During the making of the anime, Arakawa was present in meetings to give the staff insight in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist, though she did not actively take part in any writing for the TV series.

The series has been released in a series of thirteen DVDs from December 17, 2003 to January 26, 2005 in Japan. Funimation also released the same series of DVDs from February 8, 2005 to September 12, 2006 in the United States. MVM had released the first eight volumes in the United Kingdom; however, Funimation gave the rights over to Revelation Films.

A film sequel, Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa, was made by the same studio, and premiered in Japanese theaters on July 23, 2005. A series of five original video animations (OVAs) were also released. The majority of these OVAs are side stories and do not expand on the plot. These OVAs also include a live action segment with Alphonse Elric travelling around a city. In March 2006 a DVD featuring these OVAs was released in Japan with the name of Fullmetal Alchemist: Premium Collection.[28] Funimation acquired and dubbed Premium Collection during the end of 2008 for English release.The DVD will be released in English on August 4, 2009. During January from 2009, Bones released a "DVD box archives" of the anime. It will include the first anime of 51 episodes, the film, the CD soundtracks, and guidebooks from the series.

Fullmetal ALchemist : Brotherhood

In the 20th volume of the manga, creator Arakawa announced that a second Fullmetal Alchemist anime series was being produced. Bones produces the new series with Yasuhiro Irie as director and Hiroshi Ōnogi as writer. The series premiered on April 5, 2009 on MBS-TBS' Sunday 5:00 pm JST anime timeblock, replacing Mobile Suit Gundam 00, and that voice actors Romi Park and Rie Kugimiya reprised their roles as main characters Edward and Alphonse Elric respectively.On March 20, 2009, it was announced that the English title of the series was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and that it would receive its English language premiere on Animax Asia, with Japanese audio and English subtitles, from April 10, 2009 at 8:30 p.m, five days after its Japanese premiere. On April 3, 2009, Funimation announced they would stream English subtitled episodes 4 days after they air in Japan. Madman Entertainment will also stream it "within days" of the episodes airing in Japan Funimation later suspended the release of new episodes of the series for a few weeks due to a hacking incident involving an episode of One Piece being downloaded before it had aired in Japan. However, the episodes are now back on the Funimation website as well as on the official funimation channel on youtube. Aniplex will release the first DVD and Blu-Ray from the series on August 26, 2009. It will contain the first two episodes from the series as well as a new OVA.

Light Novel

A series of six Fullmetal Alchemist Japanese light novels, written by Makoto Inoue, have been published by Square Enix. The novels are licensed for an English-language release by Viz Media in North America, with translations by Alexander O. Smith. Although Arakawa did not write the novels, she did illustrations for them, including covers and frontispieces. The novels are spin-offs of the manga series and follow the Elric brothers on their continued quest for the Philosopher's Stone. The first novel, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Land of Sand, was animated as the episodes eleven and twelve of the anime series. The fourth novel also contains an extra story about the military called "Roy's Holiday". Novelizations of three of the PlayStation 2 games, Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel, Curse of the Crimson Elixir, and The Girl Who Surpasses God—have also been written. The first was authored by Makoto Inoue and the rest by Jun Eishima. None of these have been translated for distribution outside Japan.

Drama CDs

There have been two series of Fullmetal Alchemist audio dramas. The first volume of the first series, Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 1: The Land of Sand (Sareki no Daichi), was released before the anime and tells a story similar to the first novel. The Tringham brothers reprised their roles in the anime.fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 2: False Light, Truth's Shadow (Itsuwari no Hikari, Shinjitsu no Kage? and Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 3: Criminals' Scar (Togabitotachi no Kizuato) are stories based on different manga chapters with the addition of other characters from the State Military from the series.

The second series of audio dramas, available only with purchases of Shōnen Gangan, consists of short stories. There are two stories in this series, each with two parts. The first, Fullmetal Alchemist: Ogutāre of the Fog (Kiri no Ogutāre), was included in Shōnen Gangan's April and May 2004 issues, while the second story, Fullmetal Alchemist: Crown of Heaven (Tenjō no Hōkan), was found in the November and December issues.

CDs

The music for Fullmetal Alchemist was composed and arranged by Michiru Oshima, who won the 5th Tokyo Anime Award in the category "Best Music" for Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa. TV Animation Fullmetal Alchemist Original Soundtrack 1 was released on March 24, 2004 in Japan and contained thirty-three tracks, including several of the background sounds used during key points in the main series and the first opening and ending theme songs.Although never released officially, a version of the Russian track "Brothers" (Russian: Братья, Bratja; Japanese: Burācha) from this CD has been recorded in English by Vic Mignogna, the voice actor who played Edward Elric in the series. TV Animation Fullmetal Alchemist Original Soundtrack 2 was released on December 15, 2004 and contained thirty tracks. TV Animation Fullmetal Alchemist Original Soundtrack 3, released on May 18, 2005 contained twenty-seven tracks.

Fullmetal Alchemist - Complete Best and Fullmetal Alchemist Hagaren Song File -Best Compilation- are compilations of the soundtracks that were released in Japan on October 14, 2004 and December 21, 2005, respectively. A bonus DVD, exclusive to the U.S. release, contains a music video for Nana Kitade's "Indelible Sin". Fullmetal Alchemist The Movie Conqueror Of Shamballa OST, which contained forty-six tracks, was released on December 21, 2005. All are tracks used in the featured film Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa. During December 2004, a concert titled "Tales of Another Festival" was staged in Tokyo and Osaka. It featured performances by several of the musical artists from the television series as well as narrations by the voice actors and actresses. A DVD of the concert entitled Fullmetal Alchemist Festival - Tales of Another was released in Japan on April 27, 2005.

Video Games

Video games based on Fullmetal Alchemist have also been released. The storylines of the games often diverge from those of the anime and manga and feature new characters. Square Enix has released three role-playing games (RPG)—Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel, Curse of the Crimson Elixir, and The Girl Who Surpasses God—and one fighting game, Dream Carnival, for the PlayStation 2. Bandai has released two RPG titles, Fullmetal Alchemist: Stray Rondo (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Meisō no Rondo) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Sonata of Memory (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Omoide no Sonata?), for the Game Boy Advance and one, Dual Sympathy, for the Nintendo DS. Destineer released a game based on the trading card game in North America for the Nintendo DS. Of the seven games made in Japan, Broken Angel, Dream Carnival, Curse of the Crimson Elixir, and Dual Sympathy have seen international release; the others have not been released internationally. For the Wii, a Fullmetal Alchemist game will be released on August 13, 2009.

Funimation licensed the franchise to create a new series of Fullmetal Alchemist related video games to be published by Destineer Publishing Corporation in the United States. Destineer released its first Fullmetal Alchemist game for the Nintendo DS, a translation of Bandai's Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy, on December 15, 2006, and has commented that this will be the first of many titles that they plan to release.On February 19, 2007, Destineer announced the second game in its Fullmetal Alchemist series, the Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game. This title was released October 15, 2007.

For the RPG games, Arakawa oversaw the story and designed its characters, while Bones, the studio which would be responsible for the anime series, produced several animation sequences. The developers looked at other titles for inspiration, particularly Square's action role-playing game Kingdom Hearts, in addition to other games based on manga series, such as Dragon Ball, Naruto or One Piece games. The biggest challenge they had to overcome was to try to make the title a "full-fledged" game rather than a simple "character-based" game. Tomoya Asano, the assistant producer for the games, noted that development spanned more than a year, unlike most character-based games.

Art And Guidebook

The Fullmetal Alchemist franchise has several artbooks for the manga and the anime; two manga artbooks called The Art of Fullmetal Alchemist (FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, Irasuto Shū Fullmetal Alchemist) were released by Square Enix and later by Viz Media.[63] The first contains illustrations made between May 2001 to April 2003, spanning the first six manga volumes, while the second has illustrations from September 2003 to October 2005, spanning the next six.[64] For the anime, three artbooks with the name of The Art of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Anime (TV ART BOOK, TV Animēshon Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Artbook? were released in Japan, while only the first was released by Viz Media.

The manga also has three guidebooks; each of them contain timelines, guides to the Elric brothers' journey, and gaiden chapters that were never released in a manga volume. Only the first guidebook has been released by Viz Media, under the name of Fullmetal Alchemist Profiles. An anime character guide book called Fullmetal Alchemist Anime Profiles (TV Animation Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Kyarakore) was released Japan as well in the United States. A series of five fanbooks have also been released with the name of TV Anime Fullmetal Alchemist Official Fanbooks (TV Anime Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Ofisharu Fan Bukku) containing each one information of the anime as well as several interviews with the staff of the series.

Other Marchendise

Action figures, busts, and statues from the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga have been created by leading toy companies; primarily Medicom and Southern Island. Medicom has created high end deluxe vinyl figures of the characters from the anime. These figures are exclusively distributed in the United States and UK by Southern Island. Southern Island has also released their own action figures in 2007 of the main characters. These figures and a 12" statue were scheduled to release in 2007. Southern Island has since gone bankrupt, putting the figures on permanent hiatus. A trading card game was first published in 2005 in the United States by Joyride Entertainment. Since then, six expansions have been released. The physical game was retired on July 11, 2007. Destineer released a Nintendo DS adaptation of the game on October 15, 2007.

Reception

The series has been highly popular in both Japan and the United States. In March 2007, the manga has sold over 27 million volumes in Japan, while as of March 2008, the number increased to more than 30 million. Along with Yakitate!! Japan, the series won the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen in 2004. During 2008, volume 19 sold 1,081,575 copies, ranking as the 10th best seller comic from Japan. Volume 20 ranked 11, having sold 1,032,637 copies. In the first half from 2009, it ranked as the 7th best-seller from Japan, having sold 3,044,439 copies. Volume 21 ranked 4th, having sold 1,170,718 copies, while volume 22 ranked 6th with 1,068,430 copies. The series is also one of Viz Media's best sellers, appearing in "BookScan's Top 20 Graphic Novels" and the "USA Today Booklist". The English release of the manga's first volume was the top-selling graphic novel during the year 2005. In a survey from Oricon in 2009, Fullmetal Alchemist ranked ninth as the manga that fans wanted to be turned into a live-action film.

Fullmetal Alchemist has generally been well received by critics. Though the initial volumes were felt to be formulaic, critics noted that the series grows in complexity as it progresses. Arakawa was praised for being able to keep all of her character designs unique and distinguishable, despite many of them wearing the same basic uniforms. The characterization of the protagonist Edward balances between being a "typical clever kid" and "a stubborn kid", successfully allowing him to float between the series more comical moments and its underlying drama without seeming false. Reviewers celebrated the development of the characters in the manga, with their beliefs actively changing during the story forcing them to grow in maturity.

The anime premiered in Japan with a 6.8 percent television viewership rating. In 2005, Japanese television network TV Asahi conducted a "Top 100" online web poll and nation-wide survey; the Fullmetal Alchemist anime adaptation placed first in the online poll and twentieth in the survey. In 2006, TV Asahi conducted another online poll for the top one hundred anime, and Fullmetal Alchemist placed first again. Fullmetal Alchemist was also a winner in the American Anime Awards in several categories. These include "Long Series", "Best Cast", "Best DVD Package Design", "Best Anime Theme Song" ("Rewrite," by Asian Kung-Fu Generation), and "Best Actor" (Vic Mignogna, Edward Elric's English voice actor). It was also nominated in the category of "Best Anime Feature" for Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa. The series also won most of the Twenty-sixth Annual Animage Readers' Polls. The series was the winner in the "Favorite Anime Series", "Favorite Episode" (episode seven), "Favorite Male Character" (Edward Elric), "Favorite Female Character" (Riza Hawkeye), "Favorite Theme Song" ("Melissa", by Porno Graffitti), and "Favorite Seiyū" (Romi Park, Edward's Japanese voice actor). In the "Tokyo Anime Fair", the series also won in the categories "Animation Of The Year" (Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala), "Best original story" (Hiromu Arakawa) and "Best music" (Michiru Oshima). In About.com 2006 American Awards, Fullmetal Alchemist was the winner in the categories "Best New Anime Series" and "Best Animation".

The series has become one of the top properties of Square Enix along with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. It was named the 95th best animated series by IGN. They commented that although it's mostly upbeat with amazing action scenes, it also touches on the human condition. They described it as "more than a mere anime, it was a powerful weekly drama." The designs of the characters have been praised remarking they are different from each other. Flashbacks have been criticized to be annoying as they are repeated several times. Other reviewers compared the series with an Odyssey as part tragic, part coming of age story. The plot and the music have been celebrated to be very entertaining. The anime has also been praised for having a good balance between action, comedy and deep moments and remarked the emotional core of the development of the two main characters. Criticism towards the anime focused on the large number of sentimental scenes in the series abused to evoke kneejerk emotional responses from the viewers. The ending also had a negative review noting that the Edward's beliefs did not change at all as he tried once again to bring somebody back to life. Soundtracks received praise for its varying styles of music as well as a large number of artists that make every song enjoyable. The music of the backgrounds has been noted to never distract to it from the story and to always be pleasant to hear. DVDvisionjapan.com considered the first opening theme and the first ending theme as the best tracks of the series remarking that they made a good combination of anime and song.

The first Fullmetal Alchemist novel, The Land of the Sand was well received by Jarred Pine of Mania.com as a self-contained novelization that remained true to the characterizations from the manga series. He notes that while the lack of backstory makes it geared more towards fans of the franchise than new readers, it was an impressive debut piece for the Viz Fiction line. Ain't it Cool News also found the novel to be true to its roots, and that while it brought nothing new to the series, it was compelling enough for followers of the series to enjoy a retelling. As a whole, the reviewer felt it was a "work for young-ish readers that's pretty clear about some darker sides of politics, economics and human nature." Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times noted that the novel has a different focus than anime series, with The Land of Sand "creating a stronger, sympathetic bond" between the younger brothers than is seen in its two episode anime counterpart.

Reborn!

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 08:35:00 +0000

Reborn!, known in Japan as Katekyō Hitman Reborn! (REBORN! Katekyō Hittoman Ribōn!, "Katekyō" being a portmanteau of Katei Kyōshi and translated as Home Tutor), is an ongoing Japanese manga written and illustrated by Akira Amano. The plot revolves around the life of a young boy named Tsunayoshi Sawada, who finds out that he is the next in line to become the boss of the most powerful Mafia organization, the Vongola Famiglia. As such, the Vongola's most powerful hitman, a gun-toting infant named Reborn, is sent to tutor "Tsuna" on how to become a respectable boss.

The individual manga chapters are serialized in Japan in Weekly Shōnen Jump. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with twenty-four volumes released as of April 3, 2009. Viz Media licensed the series for an English language release in North America, shortening the series name to Reborn!. An anime adaptation of the series premiered in Japan on October 7, 2006 and it is still ongoing. It is developed by Artland and is airing on the television network TV Tokyo. Various video games based on the series have been developed, with several of them being for the Nintendo DS. Additionally, Hideaki Koyasu has authored two Reborn! light novels.

Reborn! has become one of the best-selling Weekly Shōnen Jump manga with several of its volumes becoming top-sellers in Japan. Reviewers from the series praised its use of comedy as well as the designs used for the infants characters. They also mentioned that though it has become more violent since volume 8, it has turned into a better shōnen series, praising the storylines and the fights.

Plot

The Reborn! story revolves around a boy named Tsunayoshi "Tsuna" Sawada, who is chosen to become the Vongola Family's boss due to him being the great-great-great grandson of the first Vongola boss, who had moved to Japan from Italy during his time. Also, the other candidates for the position of the head of the Vongola Family died. For these reasons, Tsuna is the only remaining heir. As such, Timoteo a.k.a. "Vongola IX", the current head of the family, sends Reborn, an infant hitman from Italy, to train Tsuna. Tsuna then unwillingly undergoes training from Reborn. Reborn's main method of teaching Tsuna is the "Dying Will Bullet", which will make the person be "reborn" with a stronger self intent on fulfilling his dying will. Through his experiences, Tsuna unconsciously becomes stronger and more confident, which ultimately makes him better suited as the Vongola Family's boss despite continuing to reject his Mafia inheritance. He also starts making several friendship such as his crush Kyoko Sasagawa.

Tsuna goes through many predicaments in his progress of becoming the Vongola boss including fighting against escaped Mafia convicts posing as Kokuyo Junior High students. Later, The Varia, a rival group of Vongola assassins, claim the right for their boss, Xanxus to be the true Vongola boss, and start a competition to decide it. To defeat the Varia, Reborn recruits most of Tsuna's schoolmates to become the Vongola guardians: Hayato Gokudera, a dynamite expert who wishes to be his right-hand man, Takeshi Yamamoto, a baseball player who thinks the Mafia is a game, Ryohei Sasagawa, the energetic captain of the school boxing club, and Kyoya Hibari, the deadly head prefect. Lambo, a weak infant assassin who came to kill Reborn, and Chrome Dokuro, a girl who has a mental and physical link with the criminal Mukuro Rokudo, joins them as well. Later, after defeating the Varia, Tsuna and his friends are transported to the future where they must face the Millefiore Family, which is annihilating the Vongola.

Production

Early versions of the series were published in seinen manga magazines, Reborn! first appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump as a one-shot chapter in late 2003. The success of this chapter led Weekly Shōnen Jump to begin serializing Reborn! in mid-2004. The author Akira Amano has referred to the series and its characters as weird and mentioned that they changed the style of the manga in volume eight, but it would keep showing its weird style. When the serialization became 2 years long, Amano was satisfied with the length of the series and commented she wanted to continue writing the manga.

Media

Manga

Written and drawn by Akira Amano, the Reborn! manga has been serialized in Japan's Weekly Shōnen Jump since April 4, 2004 and it is still ongoing. The individual chapters are also published in collected volumes by Shueisha, with the first volume having been released on October 4, 2004, and as of July 3, 2009, twenty-five volumes have been released. The series has been licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. Viz serializes the chapters in their monthly manga anthology Shōnen Jump Advanced and has also released them in volumes. The first volume was released on October 3, 2006 and as of April 7, 2009, ten volumes have been released. Reborn! is also licensed in German by Tokyopop, and in French by Glénat.

An official character book titled Katekyō Hitman Reborn! Official Character Book Vongola 77 was released on October 4, 2007 in Japan. It is based on the manga and covers the 77 incidents that happened since Reborn arrived at the Sawada household. The book also reveals profiles of major characters including birthdays and favorites. Short side stories not shown in the manga are also included, along with free color posters drawn by the author Akira.

^Anime

The series has been adapted into an anime series, and is produced by Artland and directed by Kenichi Imaizumi. It first aired on October 7, 2006 on the Japanese network TV Tokyo. Though the anime series has not been licensed for distribution outside of Japan, Funimation, on behalf of Japan's d-rights production company, exercised a power of attorney to remove fansubbed episodes of the Reborn! anime from the internet. Thus, to prevent copyright infringement, cease and desist notices were sent to fansub groups who were subtitling the series. On March 21, 2009, the anime-streaming website called Crunchyroll began streaming subbed episodes of the Japanese-dubbed series worldwide. New episodes are available within an hour after its airing in Japan.

As of May 29, 2009, a total of twenty-seven DVD volumes have been released in Japan by Pony Canyon. The DVDs have secondary volume titles: the first eight volumes are "Bullets" which contains the first thirty-three episodes; the next eight are "Battles", and contains episodes 34 to 65; volumes seventeen and eighteen are "Daily Chapters", containing episodes 66 to 73; the next seven are the "Burn" volumes and contains episodes 74 to 101; and starting from volume 26, they are referred to as the "X.Burn" volumes. A DVD box containing the Bullet episodes was published in Japan on June 17, 2009.

CDs

All of the Reborn! music was composed by Toshihiko Sahashi. Each theme music has been released into a single or album by their corresponding performers. Three Reborn! OSTs (Original Soundtracks) have been released; the first soundtrack, Katekyō Hitman Reborn! Target 1 OST, was released in Japan on December 20, 2006; the second, Katekyō Hitman Reborn! Target 2 OST, was released in Japan on April 18, 2007. The third soundtrack was released on August 20, 2008. It includes two CDs that include songs used from episode 78 onwards in the anime. Most of the Japanese voice actors of the series have performed a song; all of them were gathered in a CD called Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Character Soshutsuen Album Bongorefamiry Sotojo - Shinukidekatare! Soshiteutae!, which contains ten tracks. On August 20, 2008, Pony Canyon released Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Opening & Ending Themes, which contains the first three opening themes and the first six ending themes. Additionally, there have been various CDs that include songs performed by various characters such the Varia or Hayato Gokudera along with Takeshi Yamamoto.

Video games

Besides characters from the series making special appearances in Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars for the Nintendo DS, there are six video games based solely on the series. The first one released was Katekyo Hitman Reborn! DS – Shinuki Max! Vongola Carnival!! on June 28, 2008 for the Nintendo DS. and three fighting games titled Katekyo Hitman Reborn Flame Rumble were subsequently released on the Nintendo DS With the latest game in the Flame Rumble series being released in July 2009. Katekyo Hitman Reborn DS: Fate of Heat, an adventure fighting game, was released for the Nintendo DS.

A PlayStation 2 game titled Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Dream Hyper Battle! was released on August 30, 2007, and the same game was released on the Wii on January 10, 2008. In contrast to the PlayStation 2 version, the one from Wii added characters from the fight between the Vongola and the Varia. Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Kindan no Yami no Delta for the Wii and PS2 was also released in Japan on November 20, 2008. Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Nerae was released for the PlayStation 2 on August 28, 2008, but unlike the other games it was from the adventure genre. Another Nintendo DS game entitled Hitman Reborn! DS : Mafia Daishūgō Vongola Festival! was released on December 4, 2008. On July 23, 2009, Katekyo Hitman Reborn! DS Flame Rumble X will be released for the DS.

Radio

Starting from September 10, 2007, after the recording of the episode for the following week, there is a radio show called ReboRaji! Bucchake Ring Tournament (riboraji! ~bucchake ringu sōdatsusen~). The hosts for the radio are Hidekazu Ichinose (the voice for Hayato Gokudera), Suguru Inoue (the voice for Takeshi Yamamoto), and Rika Ishibashi (as the assistant). The show has brought in guests starting from the tenth episode. It has also hosted live audiences for the show during the Christmas break in '07, and also a couple of episodes near the end in Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo. The last episode of ~Bucchake Ring Tournament~ was aired on June 30, 2008. However, they restarted the radio show on July 21, 2008.

The current radio show name is ReboRaji! Bucchake Namimori Dong Dong (Dong☆Dong riboraji! bucchake namimori Ding☆Dong). The hosts are Hidekazu Ichinose, Suguru Inoue, and Toshinobu Iida (the voice for Mukuro Rokudo).

Light novels

So far, two Reborn! light novels have been released by Shueisha. They were originally serialized in Jump Square. The author is Hideaki Koyasu while Akira Amano is the illustrator. The first novel, Hidden Bullet 1: Mukuro's Illusions (Kakushi dan 1 Mukuro·Gensō), shows how the character Mukuro Rokudo took over Kokuyo High, and it was released on March 12, 2007. The second one, Hidden Bullet 2: X-Fiamma (Kakushi dan 2 X-en), which recaps the mystery of Xanxus, was released on February 4, 2008. A third light novel, Hidden Bullet 3: Millefiore Panic (Kakushi dan 3 Mirufiōre panikku) was published on July 3, 2009. It is focused on the Millefiore Family as well as various members of the Vongola Family.

Reception

The Reborn manga has been highly popular in Japan, with the series having ranked as the tenth best seller of the Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine as of 2007. During its second release week, the twentieth volume of the manga ranked as the third best seller comic in Japan. In 2008, the manga has sold 3,371,618 copies in Japan, becoming 4th best seller series from the country in 2008. In the first half of 2009, Reborn! ranked as the seventh best-selling manga in Japan, having sold 2,035,492 copies. Volume 23 ranked fifteenth with 598,192 copies, and it was followed by volume 24 at the twentieth spot, which sold 554,920 copies. Additionally, the second light novel from the series became the third best selling light novel in Japan during 2008, having sold 106,229 copies. The DVDs from the anime have also been popular in Japan, sometimes appearing in the Japanese Animation DVD Ranking. The DVD box from the first season sold all its weekly copies during the week of its release.

Various publications from different types of media have commented on Reborn!. Carlos Santos from Anime News Network noted the first volume from the manga to have several episodic chapters in which the plot does not go to the important parts of the series and that the art was "downright messy and crowded", but noted the "volatile chemistry" between Tsuna and Reborn to be very likely. Popcultureshock.com noted the series to be aimed for girls due to the large number of male characters appearing in the chapters and mentioned the series has a good combination of artwork and humor, making jokes repeated gags very funny. A. E. Sparrow from IGN praised the artwork from the manga due to the "cartoonish characters exist alongside chiseled, well-sculpted figures" and liked how it jokes with the "Mafia concept" since most of it is comedy. In another review, Sparrow noted the series "is quickly becoming a great shōnen read in no small part due to this current storyline" and noted the manga evolved since the character start to grow up and the fights became more violent. Comicbookbin.com mentions that though they liked that the fights were well made and the comedy was still in the series, volume 8 of the manga becomes too violent and that its common reader may find it strange. The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper has noted Reborn! to have one of the highest number of cosplayers in Japan.

HUNTER X HUNTER

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 08:16:00 +0000

Hunter × Hunter ( Hantā Hantā), pronounced "Hunter Hunter", is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi with an anime adaptation. The first chapter of the Hunter × Hunter manga series was published in March 1998, in Weekly Shōnen Jump.

The story of Hunter × Hunter focuses on a young boy named Gon Freecss, who one day discovers that the father he had always been told was dead was alive and well. He learns that his father, Ging Freecss, is a legendary Hunter. Despite the fact that his father abandoned Gon with his relatives in order to pursue his dreams, Gon becomes determined to follow in his father's footsteps, pass the Hunter Examination, and eventually find his father to prove himself as a Hunter in his own right.

The manga series was adapted into an anime produced by Nippon Animation, along three OVAs as well. It premiered on the Japanese terrestrial television network Fuji TV and the satellite television station Animax on October 6, 1999.

On April 27, 2009, the series made its North American television debut on the FUNimation Channel.

Plot

Twelve years prior to the start of the story, the famous Hunter Ging Freecss left his infant son, Gon Freecss, with his cousin Mito on Whale Island. Gon, raised believing his parents were dead, finds out from Ging's apprentice, Kite, that his father is still alive. As such, Gon leaves his home to follow in his father's footsteps as a Hunter by taking the Hunter Exam. Prior to the Hunter Exam, Gon meets and befriends three of the other applicants, Kurapika, Killua Zoldyck, and Leorio. After the exam, Kurapika departs to find work and Leorio leaves to attend medical school. Gon and Killua decide to gain combat experience by training at the Heavens Arena, a 251-story building where over 4,000 fighters compete daily in fighting tournaments. There, they meet the kung-fu master, Wing, who teaches them about Nen--a chi-like life energy that can be used to manifest superhuman powers.

The third story arc reunites the main characters for the world's largest auction in a sprawling metropolis called Yorknew City. Gon, Killua, and Leorio try different methods to make enough money to buy Greed Island, a video game that could help Gon find his father. This story arc introduces the Phantom Troupe, a group of thieves who, among many other crimes, slaughtered all the other members of Kurapika's clan. Kurapika crosses paths with them while working as a bodyguard. Finally Gon and Killua's find the Greed Island, the seemingly-magical video game that sucks players within. The goal of the game is to collect a number of set cards, although almost everything in the game, from food to money, can be turned into cards. Inside Greed Island Gon and Killua are joined by Biscuit Krueger, a master and experienced teacher of Nen who trains them. As part of their reward, they are allowed to take three cards to be used in the real world. Using the card 'Accompany', Gon and Killua travel to a player under the username 'Nigg', who they believe to be Ging. However, it ends up bringing them to Kite instead.

Alongside Kite, Gon and Killua briefly work as biological researchers in the country of Kakin. As they investigate a giant insect limb found on the country's shores, the group discover it came from a man-sized chimera ant queen — an insect that devours other insects and animals, and then gives birth to progeny that inherit the characteristics of the different species it has eaten. The queen chimera ant washes up onto island nation called the Neo-Green Life (N.G.L.) Autonomous Region, inhabited by a neo-luddite culture. She quickly develops a taste for humans and builds a colony in order to conceive both an army of offspring and a chimera ant king. The chimera ants proceed to wipe most of the population out before Gon, Killua, and Kite arrive. The queen dies during labor, and the chimera ant king and his Royal Guards flee the N.G.L., secretly overthrowing the government of the nearby Republic of East Gorteau soon thereafter. Under the guise of the former king of the Republic, the chimera ant king initiates the process of forcibly awakening Nen in the civilians of East Gorteau in order to form his own personal army to conquer the world — resulting in the deaths of millions unable to awaken Nen. As ants formerly under the queen's rule rejoin the king, the Hunter Association mobilizes quickly to stop the oncoming genocide by sending in an extermination team of Hunters to East Gorteau. Distraught over the murder of Kite at the hands of the Royal Guards, Gon and Killua join the extermination team in order to take revenge for their friend.

Media

Manga

The Hunter × Hunter manga is currently serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan. Shueisha compiles the manga's chapters into tankōbon volumes, of which 26 have been released. The manga is currently being published in the United States by VIZ Media, with 25 English volumes released in North America as of March 2, 2009. According to a note in volume 25, however, the 26th volume is not scheduled for release until January of 2010.

The publication history of the Hunter × Hunter manga has been plagued with hiatuses, the longest of which lasted from February 2006 through October 2007. These hiatuses were often attributed to rumors of the author suffering from an unspecified illness. Since that time, the manga has settled into a schedule of being serialized for ten weeks (ten chapters) with no delays for any chapters, but then going back into hiatus for several months until the publication of the tankōbon collecting the most recent ten chapters, upon which the serialization continues for another ten weeks. The most recent hiatus began after the publication of Chapter 290, on December 4, 2008.

anime

The anime adaptation was directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, produced by Nippon Animation, and broadcast on Fuji Television and Animax from October 16, 1999 to March 31, 2001. The television series concluded at 62 episodes, adapting the first eleven volumes of the manga series. In America, the anime episodes have only released up to episode 30. More box sets are scheduled to be released. The third boxset(third season) will consist of 16 episodes and will be released August 11, 2009.

Viz Media has licensed the Hunter × Hunter anime, via [The Ocean Group], for distribution in the Region 1 market. Boxed sets of the series have been released, the first on December 9, 2008, and the second on April 7, 2009. Each set consists of fifteen episodes.

OVAs

Since the completion of the television series, three subsequent OVAs have carried the story from where the broadcast left off. The first OVA was directed by Satoshi Saga and released from January 17, 2002 to April 17, 2002. It adapts volume 11 and half of volume 12 into eight episodes. The next two OVA releases, Greed Island and G.I. Final, were directed respectively by Yukihiro Matsushita and Makoto Sato while released from February 5, 2003 to August 18, 2004. They adapt the rest of volume 12 through most of volume 18 into a total of 22 episodes. Volumes 19 to 26 have not been adapted.

An early pilot was also shown only at the 1998 Jump Super Anime Tour.

Soundtrack

The background music for the anime was composed by Toshihiko Sahashi, and released onto six different soundtracks. The first three soundtracks correspond to the first series, while the latter three each were released in response to each Hunter × Hunter OVA.

Musicals

There have been three musicals, the second of which very little is known about. In the musicals, Killua, Gon, Leorio, Kurapika, and Hisoka, are all played by their Japanese voice actors.

The first is just called Hunter × Hunter: Musical. It was originally performed during December 2000. It is an original story that appears to take place in between the end of the "Yorknew City" arc and the beginning of the "Greed Island" arc. Gon gets a mysterious phone call, to come aid the citizens of Elrais. Once they get there they find that the country's four best performers have been kidnapped. It is later found that the kidnappers are controlling Madame Isabel (who is like a ghost). They plan to use her power to take revenge on Elrais. It is up to Gon and party to rescue the performers, and save the country.

The second Musical is called Hunter × Hunter: Deja-vu in Summer. It ran from Aug 15 until Aug 26, 2001. This musical has not been released on DVD. The third Musical is called Hunter × Hunter: The Nightmare of Zoldyck. It was originally performed during August 2002. This is an alternate re-telling of when Kurapika, Leorio, and Gon go to Kukuroo Mountain to fetch Killua back. This includes a farewell party at the Zoldyck mansion, and Illumi placing a "switch" in Killua's mind. This switch will cause Killua to become murderous and attack his friends, if he ever tries to fight Illumi.

Play

There is also a play called "Hunter × Hunter: Real Stage; A Longing for Pakunoda ~ A Spider's Memory ~"[citation needed]. It was originally performed during August 2004. It is a darker retelling of the kidnapping in the Phantom Troupe Story Arc. It has no singing and not too much humor unlike in the Musicals. Hisoka, Leorio, a number of Phantom Troupe members, and all Nostrade bodyguards are absent from the plotline. In addition, Kurapika is played by Kimura Akiko; the voice actress of Mito Freecss and Biscuit in the Hunter × Hunter Anime. Killua and Gon are played by their respective voice actresses. It contains flashbacks of Pakunoda's (played by Ikeda Yukiko) memories and experiences with the Spiders, including Kurapika's capture of Chrollo Lucilfer (played by Konishi Hiroki).

Video games

As with several other anime series, Hunter × Hunter has spawned numerous video games created by Konami (most of which take place on Greed Island), and appeared along with other Shōnen Jump properties in the Nintendo DS fighting game Jump Super Stars and its sequel Jump Ultimate Stars and a trading card game (which is based on the cards used on Greed Island).

Reception

Hunter × Hunter is one of Togashi's two most famous titles (the other being YuYu Hakusho). As of June 2007, the first 20 volumes of the manga have sold over 36,958,000 copies combined in Japan alone. The latest volume release of the manga (Volume 26) was the best selling manga in the first two weeks of its release, and has sold over 800,000 copies as of November 3, 2008. The manga has also been translated to different languages in many countries around the world.

In a 2006 web poll conducted in Japan by the network TV Asahi, the Hunter × Hunter television anime series was voted as the 28th best anime of all time.

Manga

The Hunter × Hunter manga is currently serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan. Shueisha compiles the manga's chapters into tankōbon volumes, of which 26 have been released. The manga is currently being published in the United States by VIZ Media, with 25 English volumes released in North America as of March 2, 2009. According to a note in volume 25, however, the 26th volume is not scheduled for release until January of 2010.

Jordin Sparks - Battlefield

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:38:00 +0000

"Battlefield" is a song from American R&B/pop singer-songwriter Jordin Sparks. It serves as the lead single from Sparks' second studio album, Battlefield, which was released on July 21, 2009. The single was added to US iTunes on May 12, and was first performed live on American Idol on May 13, 2009. The single has become Sparks' fifth consecutive top 20 hit and third non-consecutive top 10 hit.

Background

In an interview and press release for the album, Sparks commented:

“

It kinda came up by fluke. I was in the studio working on another song with Wayne Wilkins, one of the writers of 'Battlefield', and he said to me, 'I have a song I wanna play you but I don't know if I should'. I was like, 'Go for it - the worst that could happen is I don't like it'. He played the song and honestly my jaw hit the floor. I didn't wanna ask him on the spot if I could have the song, so I went to my A&R and said, 'This song's so phenomenal, you have to ask him if it's available'. About a week later I got a call saying I was going to record it.

”

"What grabbed me at first actually was the fact it was so big. The melody starts off very soft but then it gets massive and kinda angsty. I've had lots of friends who've gone through 'Battlefield' situations in their relationships, so when I was singing the song I put myself in their position and tried to imagine what they were going through."

— Jordin Sparks

The mid-tempo R&B ballad was written and produced by The Runaways (Wayne Wilkins, Louis Biancaniello and Sam Watters) and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder. It is set in common time in a key of G major with a tempo 144 beats per minute. Sparks's vocal range spans from A₃ to C₆.

The song was released to the US iTunes Store on May 12, 2009.

The media monitoring organization Media Base reported that "Battlefield" was the number one added and requested single on US radio during its first week of release.

Performances

Sparks appeared on American Idol's Top 3 Result Show on May 13, 2009 to perform a shortened version of "Battlefield" with Ryan Tedder.

On May 24, 2009 Jordin headed to Europe with her brother, PJ, to begin promotion for the single. She is currently performing the song with the Jonas Brothers during her appearances as a special guest on their tour. Kevin is among the guitar players, Nick plays the drums, and Joe sings alongside Jordin during the "Battlefield" performance

Formats and track listings

Digital download

"Battlefield" — 4:01

European & UK CD single

"Battlefield" — 4:01
"Battlefield" (Bimbo Jones Radio Edit) — 4:08

UK Download single

"Battlefield"
"Battlefield" (Jason Nevins Radio Mix)
"Battlefield" (Bimbo Jones Club Edit)

German Download single (Remixes)

"Battlefield" (Bimbo Jones Club Edit) — 6:42
"Battlefield" (Monk & Prof Mix) — 4:52
"Battlefield" (Mike Rizzo Funk Generation Club Mix) — 7:03
"Battleflied" (TONAL Club Mix) — 4:37

Critical reception

The song has been warmly received by critics. Popjustice writes, "To start with you think 'this isn't up to much' then by the end of it you think 'this is going to be Number One for precisely 2.5 months'. There is a brilliant middle eight where everything falls out and it's just Jordin bellowing "like a battlefield! Like a battlefield!" and then it all crashes back in and then it all falls out again and then it all goes back in again and it's all jolly good." The New York Post also raves that "the single is simply pure pop magic." This was echoed by About.com, which rated the song 4½ stars, stating, "This may indeed be the sound of summer 2009." MTV's Buzzworthy raves, "Battlefield" is "one of the most dangerously powerful pop tracks and videos to hit us in a minute" and that it is "the type of song that takes Jordin out of the juniors department and into the diva leagues."

Digital Spy compared "Battlefield" to Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" and Beyonce Knowles' "Halo", but found "Battlefield" "more bombastic, more overblown and, well, just plain better" The reviewer continues, "Tedder lavishes 'Battlefield' with ear-bashing drums, lashings of guitar, piano straight off an old Bonnie Tyler record, chanty backing vocals and if you listen carefully, an electro effect that sounds a bit like Sonar. To say his production job's bombastic is like calling Lady Gaga a bit of a show off. Fortunately, the song has the killer pop hooks to carry it off and Jordin Sparks is enough of a singer to rise above the rumpus...Number one surely beckons." The result? A strong contender for single of the year." Chris Williams of Billboard also predicts chart success for Sparks' single: Sparks makes her voice the perfect companion to his majestic pop productions. Big, crashing percussion; wall-of-sound layered vocals; and Sparks' cutting power pipes blast this song into the radio stratosphere. With lyrics aimed at motivating lovers to fight to the end for what they've got, it's clear from the first listen that Sparks is armed for victory at the top of the charts."

Female First said "So in truth, I have heard of Jordin Sparks, and loved her, but never put two and two together to realise how bloody epic she was! But now, I promise you, I’ll never leave her again, as her latest single, 'Battlefield' is, to say the least, incredible. You know when you hear a song once and think, 'Oh my god, this is amazing?' well, 'Battlefield' is one of those songs. From the build-up of the verses to the epic chorus that is just made to be sung in arenas all over the world; the greatness of this song can really not be summed up in words."

Music video

Philip Andelman was booked to shoot the music video in Los Angeles before the single was perfomed live on American Idol. Andelman has shot videos for the likes of Beyoncé Knowles, Jesse McCartney and Jonas Brothers. The video began production on May 13 and shooting was completed by May 14, 2009. Entertainment Tonight got a behind the scenes of "Battlefield" and also had a short interview with her about American Idol season 8 finalists. The video premiered on MTV June 8, 2009. And MTV played it on heavy rotation all day for the remainder of the day every hour.

In the video, Sparks sports a few different looks — in a 1971 De Tomaso Pantera wearing a black dress, lying out in a field in a white dress — but it's when she steps out of the car that we see her turn up the attitude in the aforementioned black gown. The song is about a tumultuous relationship where neither side wants to compromise. She sings, "I never meant to start a war/ You know, I never wanna hurt you/ Don't even know what we're fighting for/ Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield." There are several times in the video — especially by the time night falls and the song's bridge comes in — where Sparks, flanked by fireworks and smoke, warns her love interest to get his armor. And, it seems like she's using the video as a way to step out of her shell a little — perhaps she's out to show the world that she isn't all that sweet and can "start a war" in a relationship with the best of them.

Charts and sales

From a slow start, "Battlefield" recently became a big (top 10 hit) for Sparks in the US after the release of her second album. It has, so far, peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it her fifth consecutive top 20 hit and third top 10 hit in the US.

"Battlefield" was also quite successful in the United Kingdom, where it is Sparks' second highest charting single ever on the UK Singles Chart after "No Air" (which peaked at #3 at the UK Singles Chart and #1 on the R&B Chart). "Battlefield" is currently at #11 on the Singles Charts and #6 on the R&B Charts. To date, "Battlefield" brings Sparks' tally of top 30 hits in the UK to four. Despite this, it is yet to enter the top 10, although it has peaked at #11 on three separate occasions. The most recent move was back up to #11 after the release of her album.

The song also became a big hit in New Zealand and Australia where it was a top 5 hit, and in Ireland where it charted in the top 10.

Chart (2009)	Peak position	Sales
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	4
Canadian Hot 100	5
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	23
German Singles Chart	40
Irish Singles Chart	9
New Zealand Singles Chart	3
Swedish Singles Chart	81
UK Singles Chart	11
UK R&B Chart	6
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	10	544,000+
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Top 40	7	544,000+

Release history

The song was released on May 25, 2009 to mainstream, CHR/Top 40, and on June 8, 2009 to Hot AC.

Country	Release date	Format	Label
North America	May 12, 2009	Digital download	Jive, Zomba
Australia	May 18, 2009		Jive, Zomba
Europe	May 18, 2009		RCA, Zomba, Sony Music
North America	May 25, 2009	Airplay	Jive, Zomba
Europe	May 25, 2009	Airplay	RCA, Zomba, Sony Music
Germany	July 3, 2009	CD single	Zomba, Sony Music
United Kingdom	July 6, 2009	CD single	RCA, Sony Music

You Can Download "Jordin Sparks - Battlefield.mp3" Here :

Flo Rida Feat. Nelly Furtado - Jump

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:05:00 +0000

"Jump" is the third official single taken from Flo Rida's second album R.O.O.T.S. Nelly Furtado makes an appearance on the song with an upbeat hook.

The song is currently being used to promote the Disney film G-Force, and an edited version has been added to Radio Disney's playlist.

Music video

The music video was filmed in May by Chris Robinson. The video premiered worldwide on July 11, 2009, featuring clips from G-Force. Nelly Furtado does not appear in the video because she was busy the dates they were shooting so she was animated instead.

Chart performance

"Jump" made a brief visit to the Canadian Hot 100 Chart for 3 weeks and The Billboard Hot 100 chart for 1 week. Since the song has not been released as a single or for airplay, the chart performance relied on only digital sales.

Chart	Peak position
Aruba Top 20 Singles Chart ^[3]	5
Canadian Hot 100	32
UK Singles Chart	98
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	95
U.S. Billboard Pop Airplay	49
U.S. Mainstream Top 40	36

You Can Download "Flo Rida Feat. Nelly Furtado - Jump.mp3" Here :

Soul Eater

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:41:00 +0000

Soul Eater (Sōru Ītā) is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Atsushi Okubo. The manga is published by Square Enix and was first released as three separate one-shots serialized in two Gangan Powered special editions and one Gangan Wing issue between June 24 and November 26, 2003. The manga started regular serialization in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan manga magazine on May 12, 2004. The first bound volume was released by Square Enix under their Gangan Comics imprint on June 22, 2004 in Japan, and as of March 2009, fourteen volumes have been released. The manga has been licensed for distribution in North America by Yen Press. The English translated version of Soul Eater is serialized in Yen Press' Yen Plus manga anthology magazine starting on July 29, 2008, and the first manga volume will be released on October 31, 2009.

A single drama CD was produced on August 31, 2005 which came bundled with an art book. An anime adaptation produced by Bones first aired on TV Tokyo in Japan on April 7, 2008, and contained fifty-one episodes. An action-adventure video game by Square Enix for the Wii was released in September 2008, and an action video game for the Nintendo DS was released in October 2008. Another action game was released in January 2009 on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. Set at the "Death Weapon Meister Academy," the series revolves around three teams consisting of a weapon meister and (at least one) human weapon. Trying to make the latter a "Death Scythe" and thus fit for use by the academy's headmaster, Shinigami, they must collect the souls of ninety-nine evil humans and one witch, in that order or they will have to restart all over again.

Plot

In Soul Eater, meister (shokunin) Maka Albarn and her weapon partner Soul Eater are students at the Death Weapon Meister Academy (Shinigami Buki Shokunin Senmon Gakkō), or DWMA ( Shibusen) for short, located in the fictional Death City, in Nevada, United States. The school has many other students including Black Star with his weapon partner Tsubaki, and Death the Kid with his twin weapon partners Liz and Patti. The school is run by Shinigami, Death himself, as a training facility for weapons and the human wielders of those weapons, the meisters. Maka's goal, along the other meisters, is to have their weapons defeat and absorb the souls of ninety-nine evil humans and one witch, which will dramatically increase the power of the given weapon and thus be capable of being used by shinigami; these weapons are called Death Scythes. In the universe of Soul Eater, witches are powerful beings and the natural enemies of DWMA, as almost all of them have a destructive nature and almost all desire anarchy and chaos.

At the start of Soul Eater, Maka and Soul encounter the meister Crona and Crona's weapon Ragnarok; Crona is being forced to attack non-evil humans by Crona's mother and witch Medusa. Medusa eventually recruits the witches Eruka and Mizune, along with the immortal werewolf Free. Medusa and her cohorts attack DWMA on the eve of the festival to commemorate the establishment of DWMA. Medusa's goal is to revive the first "kishin" , an evil demon god that nearly destroyed everything by plunging the world into madness, named Asura who was sealed beneath the DWMA by Shinigami. Medusa's group successfully revives Asura, though Medusa is seemingly killed in the process.

As Asura escapes the DWMA, the world is plunged into chaos and insanity, and because of this, Medusa's older sister Arachne comes out of hiding after 800 years. Arachne reforms her organization Arachnophobia, which poses itself as a serious threat to the DWMA; Arachne is joined closely by her demon butler Mosquito and demon weapon Giriko. The DWMA calls in the Death Scythes Justin Law, Yumi Azusa, and Marie Mjölnir to aide in the fight against Arachnophobia. During this time, Medusa is proven to be alive and possesses a young girl named Rachel. Maka and the other students are progressively getting stronger as they train and participate in various battles. Medusa makes a truce with the DWMA for a time so together they can annihilate the threat of Arachnophobia. Once Arachne is killed by Maka, Medusa betrays the DWMA and takes possession of Arachne's previously discarded body, regaining her lost strength.

The anime series deviates from the manga considerably after episode thirty-five. After giving the DWMA information on Arachnophobia, Medusa takes advantage of Stein's increasing madness to lure him away with her. Crona and Marie decide to search for Medusa and bring back Stein. Medusa is defeated by Maka's demon hunter attack after Crona is nearly killed. Stein goes back to the DWMA having overcome the madness within himself. Shinigami and Asura resume their fight, which results in Shinigami's defeat when Asura threatens Kid's life. Asura eats Arachne's soul, and is confronted by Kid, Black Star and Maka. In the final battle, Maka defeats Asura and the world returns to normal.

Development

After the end of his first manga series, B.Ichi, Atsushi Okubo created an one-shot story called "Soul Eater" published in Monthly Shōnen Gangan. Japanese readers were so fascinated by it that Okubo created two other one-shots called "Black Star" and "Death The Kid". The results were high and the editor Gangan Comics asked to Atsushi Okubo to create a series from his one-shots that will become introduction chapters to the final manga series Soul Eater.^{[citation needed]}

Atsushi Okubo reveals that he creates the main characters by inspiring from his personality; like the dunce for Black Star, the order for Death The Kid or the fun for Patti. Other characters like protagonists and antagonists are created from his imagination and also from his previous favorite manga, like the sun and the moon smiling over Death City are inspired from his favorite manga Dr. Slump because it used many nonliving objects as if they were humans. Unlike many shōnen manga, Soul Eater's main character is a teenager girl Maka Albarn because Okubo felt that male and female readers would be more interested than with a male character. The background and design of Death City, the main town where the characters are living, is mainly inspired from Tim Burton and David Lynch movies.^{[citation needed]}

Media

Manga

Soul Eater began as a manga series written and illustrated by Atsushi Okubo. The manga initially began as three separate one-shots serialized between June 24, 2003 and November 26, 2003 across two manga magazines published by Square Enix: first in the summer 2003 special edition of Gangan Powered, followed by the autumn 2003 special edition of the same magazine, and finally in Gangan Wing. The manga started regular serialization in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan manga magazine on May 12, 2004. The first bound volume was released by Square Enix under their Gangan Comics imprint on June 22, 2004 in Japan, and as of March 21, 2009, fourteen volumes have been released. The manga has been licensed by Yen Press for distribution in English in North America. The manga was initially serialized in Yen Press' Yen Plus anthology magazine, the first issue of which went on sale on July 29, 2008. The first English volume of the manga will be sold on October 31, 2009.

Drama CD

A drama CD was released on August 31, 2005 by Square Enix entitled Soul Eater (Vol. 1): Special Social Studies Field Trip (Vol.1)Sōru Ītā (Vol. 1) Tokubetsu Shakaika Kengaku). The CD came bundled with an art book and a script of the CD dialogue. Of the cast used for the drama CD, only Black Star's voice actress Yumiko Kobayashi was retained for the anime voice cast.

Anime

A fifty-one episode anime adaptation was directed by Takuya Igarashi, and produced by Bones, Aniplex, Dentsu, Media Factory, and TV Tokyo; Bones and Aniplex were responsible for the animation and music production respectively. The anime's scenario writer was Akatsuki Yamatoya who based the anime's story on Atsushi Okubo original concept. Character design was headed by Yoshiyuki Ito, with overall art direction by Norifumi Nakamura. The anime's conceptual design was done by Shinji Aramaki. The episodes started airing on April 7, 2008 on TV Tokyo, and two animated specials aired on May 29 and June 1, 2008. The episodes also aired at later dates on TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Osaka, TV Setouchi, and TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting Co. The final episode aired on March 30, 2009. The first DVD compilation volume was released on August 22, 2008 with the first three episodes. The second DVD compilation volume was released on September 25, 2008 with episodes four through seven. Each DVD volume will be released in monthly intervals. The anime was licensed by Funimation and will be releasing the series in four half-season DVD box sets starting with the first volume in 2010.

The anime was regularly broadcast Mondays at 6:00 pm on TV Tokyo. The official Japanese website of the Soul Eater anime series announced that each episode will air in two different versions: the regular Monday 6:00 p.m. version and a late-night "Soul Eater Late Show" version. Special footage was added at the start and end of the commercial break; the next episode preview was also different from the regular version. The dual broadcast of this supernatural action series was being billed as the "world's first evening and late-night resonance broadcast". The "resonance" term refers to a story concept in which the characters, such as the heroine Maka and her living weapon partner Soul Eater, achieve maximum power by synchronizing their souls.

Video games

Soul Eater: Monotone Princess ( Sōru Ītā Monotōn Purinsesu), an action-adventure video game exclusively for the Wii and developed by Square Enix with Bones was released on September 25, 2008. in Japan only. Grimoire (Gurimoa) and Ponera (Ponera) are two original playable characters exclusive for the game designed by the author, Atsushi Okubo. Ponera is the Monotone Princess and Grimoire is known as Eibon in the manga. Soul Eater: Plot of Medusa (Sōru Ītā Medyūsa no Inbō) is an action game produced by Namco Bandai Games for the Nintendo DS and was released on October 23, 2008. Soul Eater: Battle Resonance ( Sōru Ītā Batoru Rezonansu) is a fighting game produced by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable and was released on January 29, 2009.

Music

Six pieces of theme music are used for the episodes; two opening themes and four closing themes. The first opening theme is "Resonance" by T.M.Revolution for the first thirty episodes, and the single was released on June 11, 2008. The second opening theme is "Papermoon" by Tommy heavenly⁶ from episode thirty-one onwards; the single was released on December 10, 2008 by DefStar Records. The first closing theme is "I Wanna Be" by Stance Punks for the first thirteen episodes, and the fifty-first episode; the single was released on June 4, 2008. The second closing theme is "Style" by Kana Nishino from episode fourteen to twenty-six; the single was released on August 13, 2008 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The third closing theme is "Bakusō Yume Uta" by Soul'd Out's Diggy-Mo from episode twenty-seven to thirty-nine; the single was released on November 26, 2008 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The final closing theme is "Strength" by Abingdon Boys School from episode forty through episode fifty; the single was released on February 25, 2009.

The first character song maxi single sung by Chiaki Omigawa (Maka) and Kōki Uchiyama (Soul) was released on August 6, 2008 by Aniplex. The second single by Yumiko Kobayashi (Black Star) and Kaori Nazuka (Tsubaki) was released on September 3, 2008, and the third single by Mamoru Miyano (Kid), Akeno Watanabe (Liz), and Narumi Takahira (Patti) was released on October 1, 2008. Two original soundtracks for the anime were released by Aniplex on August 27, 2008 and March 18, 2009. The theme song for Soul Eater: Monotone Princess is "Soul's Crossing" sung by T.M.Revolution, and is included on the "Resonance" single.

Code : Breaker

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:35:00 +0000

Code:Breaker (Kōdo:Burēkā) is a manga created by mangaka Akimine Kamijyo running in Weekly Shōnen Magazine through Kodansha. It tells the story of a high-school girl who is trained in martial arts and a new transfer student, a boy with mysterious powers.

Plot

Riding the bus one day, Sakurakouji Sakura looks out the window to see people being burned alive with a blue fire and a boy her age who's unharmed and standing over the people. She comes back to the site the next day and there are no corpses or evidence of any kind of murder, just a small fire. She then goes to class to find there's a new transfer student who looks exactly like the boy she saw before and wears a black glove only on his left hand.

Characters

Main

Sakura Sakurakouji (Sakurakōji Sakura)
: The main character (the story is told from Sakura's perspective but her influence on the plot is bare minimal despite her efforts), Sakura, is thought of as cute and helpless by boys who think they should protect her, but she's actually a martial arts expert and turns down guys who ask her out because they don't know the real her. Prior to the storyline, she found an old dog whose homeless owner had died a few months before the start of the story. She attempts to befriend the dog whom she promptly names "Dog" (,"Inu"). Her attempts are fruitless until Oogami comes. She is immune to Rei's fire and cannot be burned for reasons unknown which strongly draws the interest of the Code:Breaker organization leading her to be dubbed as a "Rare Kind (Chinshu)". Later through the story she is able to dispel other Code:Breakers' abilities, leading one to believe that her ability is that she negates the abilities of others, and together with her fighting skills, this makes Sakura a formidable force against other Code:Breakers. Sakura disagrees strongly with Oogami regarding his views on people, specifically criminals, and that they are trash who need to die. It is later revealed that she is the daughter to the most respected head of the yakuza. After the fight with Haruto, she tells Rei that she was adopted by her parents when he tries to find albums of before she was 5. She was spared by Oogami because of her identity as a "rare kind". She cannot be affected by Oogami's flame at all and by hugging Kanda, she was able to cancel out Hitomi's electric mind control. She managed to completely reverse Yukihina's "Eternity Zero" although it used up all her power. Like the Code:Breakers, if she uses too much of her ability, she will revert to the size of a doll. Hitomi has hidden a key that the Re:Codes are looking for with "Puppy" ("Koinu").

Code:Breakers

A top secret organization involved in taking down corrupt officials and politicians. There are six in existence at any time and four have been revealed so far (excluding Hitomi). They all have number code names that denote their strength: Code:06 being the weakest (which all Code:Breakers start off with) and Code:01 being the strongest. The ones shown so far all appear to have some sort of power that aids in the destruction of their targets and have their own unique addition to the Code of Hammurabi reflecting their views. They are given orders by a trio of people called "Eden". There have also been ex-Code:Breakers. However, if a Code:Breaker continues to use their powers to punish Evil, they will one day be killed by their powers, referred to as a Code:End. Interestingly, their abilities seem to operate on limited capacity and should they overuse them, they will experience adverse side-effects as well as their powers being Lost for a 24-hour duration.

Rei Oogami (Oogami Rei)
: The protagonist/antihero is a mysterious young boy that not much is known about. He was originally seen by Sakura in the park, then immediately becoming a transfer student at her school the next day. He wears a black glove on his left hand. His part time job is eliminating the "trash (Gomi)" of the people. He has so far eliminated a local gang called G-falcon who were attacking Sakurakouji and Dog, the local yakuza who controlled G-falcon, and a group of corrupt police officers, one of them vaguely knowing who the Code:Breakers are. He also apparently killed his own parents. His Code Breaker codename is Code:06, stating he is the weakest of the Code:Breakers.; Oogami's left hand is capable of causing anything he touches (aside from Sakura) to combust into blue flames. However, in chapter 31 it is revealed that the ring around his thumb is a limiter, where when removed he no longer needs to touch to cause combustion and it is stated to surpass a Code:01. He covers it with a black leather glove when he doesn't use his power. The Lost for Rei after using his power for extended periods can cause him to have a high fever along with a lower body temperature and won't be able to use it again until a full 24 hours have elapsed from the point he loses it. He claims to be part of a group known as Code:Breakers who reputedly exist outside of the law and will not be held accountable for their actions. He is supposed to eliminate any witnesses to his powers, but he cannot fulfill this in Sakura's case because he cannot cause her to combust. As the story progresses, Oogami grows fond of Sakura. He become protective of her but denies it by acting cold.; Oogami believes strongly in the idea behind the Code of Hammurabi, often citing the quote "Eye for eye (Me ni wa me wo), Tooth for tooth (Ha ni wa ha wo)" and adding on "EVIL for EVIL (,Aku ni wa aku wo)" Oogami fulfills a role similar to an anti-hero. Although he seems totally uncaring towards anyone, Sakura notes that his actions belie his words and that he wouldn't go to such lengths if he didn't truly care. This is later shown where he has a complete uncaring attitude to Lily's mercenary's threats, only to react when he attempted to kill a pregnant woman. He also appears to have a hobby in swordsmanship and is quite skilled as well, able to slice through arrows while still in flight.

Special Technique:

Flame away. (Moechire.): He creates intensely hot blue flame that surrounds and burn the enemy.

Toki Fujiwara (Fujiwara Toki)
: Another person who is a Code Breaker like Rei. Like his sister, who is one of Sakura's schoolmate, he has heterochromia and is seen to be a chain smoker. He also appears to be one of the more recently-recruited Code:Breakers, as he appears to be unaware of the others' abilities (forcing Rei to explain for him). After he is introduced, it's shown that he more socialible, lie easier, and is stronger than Rei (as he is able to grab ahold of Rei's left arm, while on fire, to use it to light his cigarette), and seems to know Rei's history. He is also the Code:Breaker with the most interactions with the others so far seen in the series, evident with his antagonistic relation ship with Rei and somewhat fearful reverence with both Heike and Yuuki. His Code:Breaker codename is Code:04. His power has to do with magnetism, from being able to bend metal doors, destroy electronic equipment, redirect bullets, levitate metallic objects as projectiles and even a sonar-like sense of any metal around him, however if he uses it too much he shrinks to the size of a toddler (strongly resembling Nenene). He also has great eye sight, being able to see 8/20 out of his left eye and 1.2/20 in his right, giving him the ability to snipe with hand guns. He is a student to Heisei-Gakuin High School, an elite school that Sakura wishes she could get into; however he shows no care for it and regularly skips, stating he only goes to that school because it was the closest school to his house. Also like his sister, he enjoys groping Sakura's breasts, often smothering his face between them and touching them. He also gropes most other girls in his childish form, which puppy bites him for. Interestingly, he tends to act more childishly (to the point of being immature) whenever he shrinks into his younger self than usual, and has a strong tendency to be easily annoyed with Yuuki's antics. He, like Ogami, uses the Code of Hammurabi except his addition is "The Steel Hammer of Justice for Evil (Aku ni wa Seigi no Tettsui wo)". His father is the Prime Minister and the target of Hitomi. He also doesn't seem to care that much for his father, but cares deeply for Nenene as he claims that he only saves his father because if he died then "Nenene would be all alone." Like Rei, Toki is not entirely defenseless whenever he loses his abilities, as he has displayed to be a very skilled marksman in chapter 40. He apparently thinks Sakura is strange based on his comments about her actions but cares for her in his own way because Sakura does the same reckless things like his sister. He became a Code:Breaker to kill the Re-Code:03 because Nenene supposedly died (most likely losing her memories) defending him when he was a child. When he gets serious he uses "Hydrogyrum" which is liquid mercury or quicksilver which he can control to be as had or flexible as he needs even making a mercury clone.

Masaomi Heike (Heike Masaomi)
: A classmate of Sakura's, and the Student Council Secretary. Though at first believed to be the one orchestrating the execution of yakuza children, he is later revealed to be the Code:02 and backup for Rei and Toki. He is referred to by the other Code:Breakers as the Judge, as he makes sure that the Code:Breakers are not using their powers just to kill for fun. However, unlike the other Code:Breakers he dislikes the idea of killing his targets, stating that "life is precious". So not to kill he ties up his targets in bondage, seeing it as a form of art as he constantly carries a book about bondage. He has the ability to manipulate light, using it to form a whip, or connect himself to a phone jack to relay and download information with his mind; he also appears to be able to move at the speed of light, as seen when he intercepted a fleeing Toki after Toki made fun of his absence of eye brows. It is currently unknown what side-effects he suffers whenever he loses his powers. He has a few odd attributes, as for no reason he will set up a table, from the classroom hallways to the middle of a forest, to sit down and have tea, it is also pointed out by Toki he is the Code:Breaker with the most secrets and he has no eyebrows. His addition to the Code of Hammurabi is "And Eternal Shackles for the Wicked". While he doesn't like killing the living, he wouldn't hesitate to kill the dead corpses Hitomi controlled, he changed his addition to the Code of Hammurabi to "The Eternal Sleep for the Dead (,Shisha ni wa Towa no Nemuri wo)". So far he is the only Code:Breaker to have two additions to the Code of Hammurabi.

Special Technique:

Great Fantasy (Gurēto Fantajī) - Used to connect himself to a phone jack to relay and download information with his mind
Eternal Binding of Death - Traps the enemies mind within an eternal illusion of death
Death Reaction - Used to move fast enough to cut bullets with his whip faster than others can react

Hitomi (Hitomi)
: An Ex-Code:Breaker. He is "Lackadaisical and never gives a straight answer" according to Oogami. He left the organization for reasons that Oogami does not know. He is said to have strength, greatness, and intelligence. He can control electricity as his Code:Breaker power. He has been revealed to have once been Code:01, the most powerful Code:Breaker (and the fact that when he left his position Rei became the new 06, which means the previous 02 is now the 01 and etc). He is able to control people by electrocuting certain parts of a person's brain and control them like puppets but doing this, by Rei's description, they are unable to return back to a normal state of mind. However through Sakura's Rare Kind abilities she negates it through touch. It is hinted that Hitomi knows something about Sakura's past and powers. His overall plan is to bring the Code:Breakers out of the shadows and recognized by the public as heroes, as he is tired at the fact that they are nothing more than teenagers being "dogs of Eden" and the fact they are cast off when no longer needed. By doing this he plans to kill 50,000 people and the Prime Minister on live national television, bringing the world to such chaos they will call out for people who will fight evil by any means necessary, that being the Code:Breakers. After his plan is thwarted by the Code:Breakers, he dies after he succumbs to his Code:End. All of the code breakers promised to remember him. He has apparently stolen a key from Eden and hid it with Sakura in chapter 33 along with a phrase "The 32nd of December".

Techniques:

Flash Over: Creates a room full of lighting
Arc Tension: Creates electricity capable of melting steel

Yuuki Tenpouin (Tenpōin Yūki): The current Code:03. At first glance, he seems pretty calm to the point of childish but goes on a rampage if anyone even brushes him. When he's first introduced he hadn't eaten in three days, forgot where he lived, lost his wallet and gave his phone to a stranger and spent the rest of his money on a crane game.Oogami described him as the "most barbaric code breaker". He speaks using Kansai-ben. Despite his violent tendencies, he genuinely rewards kindness, and apologizes by giving gifts to people. In chapter 35, he gives Sakura a stuffed animal for her genuine concern for his well-being, and in Chapter 36, he attempts to get a golden toy for Toki as compensation for beating him up, even though he didn't want it. In chapter 36, he admits that he hates Eden, but has joined the organization so that he can take it down. A major love of his is the stuffed animal named Nyanmaru. In recent, he has mistakened Sakura as the true identity of Nyanmaru when her saying reminds him of the animated character, as such he calls her Nyanmaru instead of her name. He hates Heike and unlike the others he doesn't fear him, he went so far as to pour tea on his head. He seems to have suffered a tramatic past resulting in him becoming kind rather than evil.; His ability is the control of 'sound' which allows him to listen and identify sounds from distance, travel at the speed of sound and manipulate soundwaves to attack. Like Heike, he too seems to not prefer the idea of killing, as he went out of his way to save a pregnant woman and a small child from an explosion. His addition to the Code of Hammurabi has yet to be revealed. When angered his skin turns red and when he overuses his powers, his Lost is a small, black cat but he still retains his rage (as well as his ability to speak), attacking anyone who made fun of him in that form. This form could also explain why he is so fond of the anime character Nyanmaru.; He sleeps in a mansion and is referred to as President (Shachō) by the servants. He is actual very intelligent, graduating at the age of 12 but only because he hated studying. He runs a succesful corporation that focues around his childish ideas to create cartoon characters. However all the ones he made he believes they aren't nearly as good as Nyanmaru.

Re-Code

Others with powers that work against the Code:Breakers. They are led by a guy described as "the one Rei is looking for". They all seem to follow the belief that "Justice is Strength".

The one Rei is looking for

The one Rei is looking for ("Sagashimono" lit. "The one being sought") is none other than Rei's brother, his identifying marking is the tattoo on the back of his right hand. After their parent's apparent death at Rei's hands, he had taken care of him, teaching Rei all he needed to survive. He leads other teens with powers to cause destruction and chaos with his true goal to find a key, which has been said that Hitomi stole it from Eden and put it in Sakura. If Sendou statement was true he does not care for the ones working for him, and will have them killed them when they are no longer useful. Yuuki has stated that one will lose their soul if one looks into his eyes, which could be the reason why everyone who works for him has, in a way, lost their soul. When we finally see him unmasked, he has a katana beside him while like his brother he is very skilled at using. He's looking for a key and can apparently read minds. His true name has never been stated, even the Re-Code call him That Guy ("Sagashimono" lit. "The one being sought").

Lily

Lily (Riry) is a young coldblooded woman who shows no interest in human life, even killing all the staff in the restaurant for her mercenaries to take their place. This is later explained from all of the abuse she has suffered from people because of her powers, even from her own parents would pour bleach on her. She appears to use her appearance as a weapon, regularly flirting with Rei to distract him (though to no avail). Though after being saved from Sendou by Sakura, she now appears to have gone to the good side, as she agreed to uses her powers to cure the people she poisoned. Her power is called Secretion, where she is able to turn her sweat into another chemical from poisons to acid in a liquid or gas state. Though powerful, she is not part of the top 6 Re-Code.

Yukihina

Not much is known about Yukihina (Yukihina) other than the fact he appears to be much stronger than Lily, as he knocked her out with one punch and takes on 3 Code:Breakers at once (though they had just gone through a lengthy battle before and Yuuki was in his cat form). He has a past with Rei with a desire to one day kill him. Through Sendou's description of the top 6 Re-Code (similar to the Code:Breakers), Yukihina appears to be Re-Code:06. His ability is described as one that can counter Rei's fire as he is able to control and create ice and snow by freezing water vapor, making him the second character that can't be burned by Rei's flame. He can also break his body down into ice.

Special Techniques:

Eternity Zero (Etaniti Zero): Used to freeze an entire room and everyone in it.

Re-Code:03

Not much is known other than the fact he is highly praised for his combat skills and was the one to "kill" Nenene.

Sendou

He appears in chapter 41 and protects 'the one Rei is looking for' when Toki attempts to shoot him. He has exceptional reflexes and strength, able to grab bullets with only his index and middle finger, break them, and throw them back with tremendous force. He is a very well built man with a tattoo of the word BLACKOUT across his stomach. His personality is very cold, almost killing one of his own teammates if Sakura didn't block his attack, but then shown scared when Toki revealed he was about to kill him. Toki killed him by using his powers to remove the mercury that he just breathed in outside of his body. His power is called Epithelial Manipulation, where he is able to turn his skin into other substances such as a material that is "harder than steel" as well as the pigment in his skin for camouflage. Though strong, he was not a member of the top 6 Re-Code.

Hiyori (Hiyori)

First appears in chapter 50, a young girl who has a child-like innocence as much as a child-like cruelity, getting really excited that she won the rock-paper-scissors match that decided who got to kill everyone while promising that she will make them suffer before they die. All while keeping up her child-like personality. She seems to be very fond of Yukihina as whenever she sees him she is automatically latched onto him and simply hugs him for long periods of time (Yukihina in turn, seems to either ignore it and lets her or simply doesn't care).

Shigure (Shigure)

First appears in chapter 50, a boy with glasses. He kills several people by slicing into pieces for disrupting him while feeding kittens. He has a bar code above is left eye. Yuuki seems to know him.

Others

Nenene Fujiwara (Fujiwara Nenene)
: She is Toki's older sister (although she seems, looks, and acts younger than him). She doesn't know that she has a brother. She is in second grade and vice-president of the student council. Like her brother she has heterochromia but hides it by wearing glasses. She has a strange habit of grabbing Sakura's breasts out of nowhere (something her brother tries to do to Sakura as well), cuddling herself against them and falling asleep on them; going so far as to name them (Mii-tan for the right and Hii-tan for the left). She also appears to have a possessive attachment to them, where after hearing the rumors that Sakura is going out with Rei she latched to her tightly and states she wont give up Hii-tan and Mii-tan. In Chapter 34, she is hinted at being the last Ex Code:Breaker where in Chapter 45 it was confirmed. Though it has been stated that she was killed by Re-Code:03, which could explain having no memory of her brother.

Sakurakouji Goutoku
: Sakura's father. The head and highly respected man of the yakuza that is said to fight the strong and help the weak and nicknamed "The Raging Dragon of the East". However he is revealed to be a weak ill man who gets nosebleeds when he gets overexcited, but loves his daughter dearly and only wishes for her to be happy and untainted by this world, even offering his life to protect his daughter. Yet when he met Rei he could easily see the killer intent in his eyes and warned him that if anything were to happen to his daughter, he would be next. He does this again when his daughter goes over to Rei's house in a text message stating how he would kill him if he did anything to his daughter, something that even made Rei sweat.

Sakurakouji Yuki
: Sakura's mother. She is introduced in chapter 17 where Rei and Toki mistook her for Sakura's little sister. She looks like a grade schooler and appears to like to dress up as one, much to the dismay of her daughter. She believes that Sakura is dating either Toki or Rei, causing the rest of the yakuza to be in an uproar and want to kill Sakura's "fiancé". She gets a little crazy after having some alcohol, revealing that she is quite strong as she could beat up their yakuza members. She likes to cosplay, as she is always seen dressed in a different attire and her closet is full of different outfits. Rei has also described her as "being blind in love for her children," where she has taken pictures of every memorial moment of her daughter (from her first day of school to the first time she ate wasabi, ironically her facial expression is the same in every picture) has been in ever since they adopted her (which is shown to be stacks of books) and whines that she should have taken more.

Fujiwara's dad
: He is Nenene and Toki's father and the Prime Minister of Japan. He is also revealed to be a member of Eden and acts like how the Code:Breakers describe Eden treats them, even referring to the Code:Breakers as "dogs". He also seems to know about Sakura's past stating she has been raised into a good girl and it'd be troublesome if she remembers her past now. He ran into Rei's brother and his current status is unknown.

Kanda
: Sakura's clumsy and ditzy teacher, she is actually an agent of Eden and serves as Oogami's assistant. She refers to him as "My Master" and protects him if he loses his powers. She is skilled in throwing weapons and firearms. In chapter 34, it's reveal that her parents were killed by robbers and Hitomi saved her life. She works for Eden since she wanted to be just like him.

Student Council President
: A odd guy who is always dressed in a Nyanmaru costume, stating he is Nyanmaru even though they pointed out to him there is a zipper on his back. He too is a "Rare Kind" and the only other one that Eden knows of. With his help Sakura was able to get back to normal size by an antidote he created using his own blood. He has no desire to join the Code:Breakers or the Re-Code, wanting to stay neutral through their battle.

Eminem - Beautiful

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:39:00 +0000

"Beautiful" is the seventeenth track on and the fourth single from American rapper Eminem's album Relapse. It was released on May 12 on iTunes available for digital downloads. "Beautiful" entered the UK Singles Chart on May 17, 2009 at #38. It has also been confirmed that Beautiful will be released on August 3, 2009 in the UK. Also in the U.S. it made a "Hot Shot Debut" at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is currently on the A-List of the BBC Radio 1 playlist. In the week of July 23, 2009 it re-entered the Hot 100 at #98.

Content

"Beautiful" deals with Eminem's different feelings and impressions, ranging from depression about his fame and career to more upbeat and inspirational concepts, similar to "Lose Yourself." It's also worth noting that Eminem started writing "Beautiful" when he was in rehab then finished it when he was sober, which may explain the stark contrast in the lyrics in comparison with the other songs from Relapse.

Critical reception

The song has received very high acclaim and much positive reception. Rolling Stone called it a "touching attempt at an inspirational ballad". It samples "Reaching Out", originally written by Rock Therapy (an ensemble). This version of "Reaching Out" is taken from the Queen + Paul Rodgers 2005-2006 tour. Pitchfork Media claim that "Relapse hits something of a stride with 'Beautiful'". "Beautiful" scored Eminem his ninth straight Top 40 single on the Billboard Hot 100, going back to Smack That with Akon. Billboard called the song "epic" and described it as "Part confessional ("I'm just so fucking depressed," begins the track's explicit version) and part "Lose Yourself"-style motivational anthem, "Beautiful" encapsulates the schizophrenic nature of "Relapse" but deviates from the shock tactics that dominate the album" adding that "The song is as much a lighters-in-the-air, arena rock power ballad as it is a lyrical showcase".

Music video

The video was shot in Detroit and it was directed by Anthony Mandler. It premiered on July 2, 2009 on Yahoo! music.

The video opens with a captions stating that "in 1950, Michigan was 1 of 8 states in America that collectively produced 36% of the world's GNP" and that "Detroit was the greatest manufacturing city in the world". It then cuts to present-day images of the city, featuring Eminem walking through three abandoned structures from that era that symbolized the "Arsenal of Democracy" (Michigan Central Station, the former Packard plant, and Tiger Stadium, including demolition footage of the latter), joined by several people appropriate to that building (an older woman with a suitcase, several autoworkers holding their lunchboxes and tools, and a neighborhood youth baseball team respectively). Although the original song contains three verses, the music video only displays the first two.

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
ARIA Australian Singles Chart	47
Canadian Hot 100	8
Danish Singles Chart	40
New Zealand Singles Chart	12
Swedish Singles Chart	49
Swiss Singles Chart	44
UK Singles Chart	38
Irish Singles Chart	38
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	17
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	11
Top 40 Mainstream	35

^{You Can download "Eminem - Beautiuful.mp3" Here :}

Drake Feat Trey Songz & Lil Wayne - Successful

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:29:00 +0000

"Successful" is the second single from Canadian rapper Drake's third mixtape, So Far Gone. It is his second single with Lil Wayne, the first being Every Girl, and his second single with good friend Trey Songz, the first being Replacement Girl in 2007.

Background

Drake wrote the bulk of the lyrics after Trey Songz came up with the hook. In an interview with Complex Blog, Drake explains: "It's basically a story. It starts in January 2008 when I was kinda confused like, What am I really doing? I gave up acting all together to really do this music thing, and I was really truly confused. It's way different than acting, there aren't people to depend on, you really have to build your own thing basically from the ground up, you know, so in January not only was I confused about my career, I was also in a very destructive sort of us exhausting relationship with a female and it was just a bad headspace for me to be in. So that's where the tape starts. I just felt that nothing was ever good enough, and she was always searching for more excitement and then we move into “Successful.” I say at the end of the song, “There are so many things I want to say but I just don't know how to say it to you.” I know exactly what I want to say, you know, I just want to be successful, but I don't know if I can do it with you and then it goes into “Let's Call It Off,” which is the breakup."

Chart

Chart (2009)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	89
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	12
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks	6

You Can download "Drake Feat Trey Songz & Lil Wayne - Successful.mp3" Here :

HELLSING

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:10:00 +0000

Hellsing ( Herushingu) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It first premiered in Young King Ours in 1997 and ended in September 2008. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Shōnen Gahosha, with 9 volumes released as of October 2008. Hellsing chronicles the efforts of the mysterious and secret Hellsing Organization, as it combats vampires, ghouls, and other supernatural foes who threaten England.

The manga series is licensed for English language release in North America by Dark Horse Comics, in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment, and in Singapore by Chuang Yi. In 2001, Hirano began publishing chapters of a prequel series, Hellsing: The Dawn, in special editions of Young King OURs, with six chapters released as of September 2008.

An anime series of the same name was produced by Gonzo. Directed by Umanosuke Iida, the series was based on the manga, but used a screenplay by Chiaki Konaka and is significantly different from the manga in terms of plot, though it uses some of the same characters and similar character designs. Spanning 13 episodes, it was broadcast on Japan's Fuji Television from October 10, 2001 to January 16, 2002. An original video animation (OVA) entitled Hellsing Ultimate is being produced by Satelight and Geneon. It follows the manga storyline more closely than the anime. The first episode was released on January 22, 2006, and as of May 2009, five episodes have been released in North America and Japan. The 6th OVA is scheduled for release on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan on July 24, 2009.

Plot

Hellsing is named after and centered about the Holy Order of Protestant Knights, led by the current member of the bloodline of Abraham Van Helsing. The mission of Hellsing is to protect Queen and Country from the undead and other supernatural forces of evil. This organization is led by Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, who inherited the leadership of Hellsing as a child after the death of her father. She is protected by the faithful Hellsing family butler and former Hellsing "trashman," Walter C. Dornez, and Alucard, a powerful vampire that swore loyalty to the Hellsing family a hundred years ago and serves as the organization's current "trashman." These formidable guardians are joined early on in the storyline by former police officer Seras Victoria, whom Alucard turned into a vampire.

As the scale and frequency of incidents involving the undead escalate in England and all around the world, Sir Integra discovers that the remnants of a Nazi group called Millennium still exist and are intent on reviving the Third Reich with an army of immortal vampires. The operatives of Millennium, Hellsing, and the Vatican Chapter XIII Iscariot clash in an apocalyptic three-sided war in London, and Millennium reveals its true objective: to destroy the vampire Alucard and end a feud begun in the last World War.

Characters

Hellsing Organization

More formally known as the Royal Order of Protestant Knights or Her Royal England Legions of Legitimate Supernatural and Immortal Night Guard, the Hellsing organization was founded by Abraham Van Helsing shortly after the events of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula as a response to the threat posed by vampires. The Hellsing Organization is traditionally headed by Abraham's descendants, who control Alucard, the ultimate vampire created by the organization for use in their continuing struggle against supernatural threats. After World War II, it was decided that Alucard was too powerful or potentially too dangerous to continue to be used as a weapon, and was locked away in the basement of the Hellsing mansion. Upon Arthur's death, his daughter, Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, became the director of the organization. Integra's uncle, Richard Hellsing, attempted to assassinate her and take control of the organization, but was defeated by Alucard, whom Integra accidentally released.

In the Hellsing universe, the organization is an integral part of the true power-structure of Great Britain, which is, according to the story, still ruled by a hidden aristocracy and the monarchy. The organization is tasked with defending the country's shores from any and all supernatural threats and often faces controversy over the highly unconventional methods Hellsing chooses to do this, such as the use of "anti-Christian" powers and creatures. In the TV series, Hellsing is portrayed much more like a paramilitary or counter-terrorist organization armed with Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns and GKN Saxon or VAB APCs used to transport Hellsing soldiers to areas where there are reports of supernatural outbreaks in Britain. The paramilitary aspects are rarely mentioned in the OVA or the manga.

Alucard

The series' protagonist. A very ancient and powerful vampire, he serves as the Hellsing Organization's most powerful operative and vampire expert and its "trump card".

Integra Hellsing

A descendant of Abraham Van Helsing and the Bureau Director of the Hellsing Organization. She inherited her position as the head of the Hellsing family at the age of 13 (12 in the manga), upon her father's death. Integra is also Alucard's current master. She is beautiful, intelligent and strong. Although often seeming strict and domineering, she is much respected and admired, even among her enemies.

Seras Victoria

A 19-year-old orphan, Seras was formerly a member of the police force's Special Division 11, but, after being mortally wounded on a mission involving Alucard, chose to join him in the ranks of the undead rather than die. As Alucard's fledgling vampire, she serves the Hellsing Organization.

Walter C. Dornez

Walter is a 69-year-old retired member of the Hellsing Organization who serves as Integra's butler, only revealing his true capabilities as the 'Angel of Death' and ex-Hellsing 'trashman' in times of need. He was handpicked to be a Hellsing operative and butler by Integra's father, and, along with Alucard, participated in the destruction of Millennium in World War II, over fifty years ago.

Iscariot (Vatican Section XIII)

The Iscariot Organization, named after Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, is a top-secret wing of the Vatican charged with the active pursuit and extermination of demons (such as vampires) and heretics. Given that the Hellsing Organization not only employs vampires but is run on the principles of staunch Protestantism, Iscariot is their natural rival, despite their similar aims.

Alexander Anderson

A warrior priest or paladin who works for the Vatican Section XIII, Iscariot. Anderson is Iscariot's ultimate weapon in the fight against the undead. With regenerative capabilities, and a variety of holy weapons (including his signature blessed bayonets, of which he has many) his mission is nothing less than the complete destruction of all the undead in the world. As this includes many of Hellsing's subordinates, Anderson is one of Alucard's greatest foes, as well as his primary rival.

Enrico Maxwell

Enrico Maxwell is the ambitious, ruthless leader of the Iscariot Organization (Vatican Section XIII).

Heinkel Wolfe and Yumie Takagi

Heinkel Wolfe is a pistol wielding assassin belonging to the Iscariot organization. Yumie, a Japanese nun with a split personality is her partner. They appear first as Maxwell's bodyguards and again in the brigade of Iscariot operatives sent to the besieged London to apprehend Integra Hellsing.

Millennium

A mysterious group of Nazis that was hiding in Brazil since the end of World War II. Research headed by the Doctor developed a method of creating artificial vampires, which are then sent out to wreak havoc with chips implanted in them to monitor their status, behavior, intent, and aggression. Somewhat similar to kamikaze units, they are remotely ignited and destroyed once defeated.

The Major

A former SS officer, he was in charge of Nazi experimentation with artificial vampirism until Alucard and Walter destroyed the laboratory in 1944. Obsessed with battle, he seeks to create an endless war.

Captain

The Major's silent, stoic adjutant and bodyguard.

The Wild Geese

The Wild Geese, a group of mercenaries, were hired as soldiers after a Millennium attack on the Hellsing headquarters left the organization severely short-handed. The leader of the Wild Geese is Captain Pip Bernadotte, a womanizing Frenchman who loves to tease Seras Victoria. Its members are remarkably mixed in ethnicity, age, and background. Though highly skilled, they are no match in a close fight against vampires and rely on measures like remote-detonated mines to combat the Millennium forces.

Captain Pip Bernadotte

Captain Pip Bernadotte is the leader of the Wild Geese, a group of mercenaries hired by Hellsing. He dies trying to save Seras in her battle with Zorin Blitz. Seras drinks his blood to become a fully-fledged vampire.

The Convention of Twelve

The Convention of Twelve or the Twelve Conventions is the name of a secret society that runs England from the shadows. Their members include nobles, prominent politicians, and military leaders. They hold meetings around a long, rectangular table, with Sir Integra Hellsing at the head and Sir Hugh Islands at the foot. They have also been known as the Roundtable Conference, in reference to the Round Table of Arthurian legend.

Media

Manga

The series premiered in Young King Ours in 1997 and ran for eleven years until the final chapter was released in the November 2008 issue. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Shōnen Gahosha, with 10 volumes having been released. The series is licensed for an English language release in North America by Dark Horse Comics. The first volume was released on December 1, 2003 and as of July 2007, the company has published nine translated volumes. Chuang Yi is releasing the series in English in Singapore, with six volumes released as of October 2008, and through an agreement with the company, Madman Entertainment is re-releasing those volumes in Australia and New Zealand. Hellsing is also licensed for regional language releases in France by Editions Tonkam, in Italy by Dynit, in Hungary by Mangafan, in Germany by Planet Manga, in Poland by Japonica Polonica Fantastica and in Denmark and Sweden by Mangismo.

Hellsing: The Dawn

In 2001, Hirano began publishing chapters of a prequel series, Hellsing: The Dawn, in special editions of Young King OURs, of which six chapters have been released as of May 2009. The Dawn features a fourteen year-old Walter C. Dornez and Alucard, in the form of a 14 year old girl, attacking Millennium's base of operations in Warsaw, Poland in September 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising. Publication is scheduled to resume after the conclusion of the main Hellsing series. According to Taliesin Jaffe, the chapters of The Dawn will be animated as part of the Hellsing Ultimate OVA series.[verification needed]

Anime

Following the release of the manga, Gonzo produced a thirteen episode anime series that uses the same characters and settings, but a different story from its source manga. Written by Chiaki J. Konaka and directed by Umanosuke Iida, the series premiered on Fuji Television on October 10, 2001 and ran until its conclusion on January 16, 2002. The series is licensed for English language release in North America by Geneon Entertainment, in the United Kingdom by ADV Films and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. Geneon's English dub of the series aired in the United States on Starz!'s Encore Action channel from October 4, 2003 to December 27, 2003.

The series uses two pieces of theme music. "Logos Naki World" (A World Without Logos) by Yasushi Ishii is used as the opening theme for all thirteen episodes. Mr. Big performs the song "Shine" for the series ending theme.

OVAs

Hellsing Ultimate is an original video animation (OVA) series being produced by animation studio Satelight and Geneon. The first fifty minute episode was released to Region 2 DVD in Japan on February 10, 2006. As of November 2008, five episodes have been released in Japan. The sixth episode is scheduled for release in Japan on July 24, 2009. The ending of each episode uses various pieces of instrumental music composed by Hayato Matsuo and performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Two more episodes have been announced but are yet to be released.

The OVA series is licensed for release in the United States by Geneon USA. In producing the English dub of the series, Geneon used much of the original cast from the dub of the anime series, which the company had also licensed. The first episode was released to Region 1 DVD on December 5, 2006, after premiering the episode at the 2006 Anime Expo convention. Though Geneon USA stopped self-distribution of its titles in 2007, it remains the licensor of the series and in 2008 the North American distribution was assumed by Funimation Entertainment. Funimation released the fourth episode on September 23, 2008. Simultaneously, the company re-released the first three episodes. There have been no announcements for US release dates of volumes five or six.

Soundtracks

Two CD soundtracks composed by Yasushi Ishii have been released by Geneon for the Hellsing anime series. Hellsing Original Soundtrack: Raid was released on July 1, 2003 and contained 20 tracks. The second soundtrack, Hellsing Original Soundtrack: Ruins, containing an additional 22 tracks followed on September 2, 2003.

Reception

In 2005, the six and seventh volumes of the Hellsing manga series ranked among Diamond Comics Distributors's list of the top 48 manga volumes sold in the United States for the year. In November 2007, the ninth volume was among the top 10 volumes sold according to Japan's monthly sales rankings.

XXX Holic

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:00:00 +0000

xxxHolic (××× Horikku, in-universe officially typeset xxxHoLic), pronounced "holic", but often pronounced phonetically "ex-ex-ex-holic" or "triple x holic", is a seinen manga series planned and presented by Clamp. The storyline of xxxHolic crosses over with that of a number of other CLAMP series, the most notable of which are Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle which was written in tandem with it, and Cardcaptor Sakura, whose history it draws on at several points.

xxxHolic has been serialized in Kodansha's Young Magazine periodically since 2003 and published in volumes under the KC Deluxe label. It is currently published in the United States by Del Rey Manga and in the United Kingdom by Tanoshimi. The art style of the manga draws on the influence of ukiyo-e wood prints.

Plot summary

Kimihiro Watanuki is a high school student plagued by yōkai, spirits with a strong attraction to him. The spirits are invisible to others and encounters with them are extremely troublesome. When he stumbles into a shop that grants wishes, however, events in his life promise to become more unusual.

The shop is owned by Yūko Ichihara, a mysterious and beautiful (sometimes playful) witch of many names and esoteric renown. For a price, she offers to grant Watanuki's wish to be rid of the spirits. The price, according to Yūko, must be of equal value and so, as payment, he temporarily becomes Yūko's part-time employee.

Watanuki's job consists of small errands dealing with the supernatural and household chores. His love interest, Himawari Kunogi, and "rival", Shizuka Dōmeki, occasionally join him in his work as per Yūko's request. The three become increasingly close despite Watanuki's annoyance with Dōmeki.

The world of xxxHolic is directly connected to several other of Clamp's works through dimensional traveling. The series is directly connected to Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, while other series including Cardcaptor Sakura, Legal Drug, and Magic Knight Rayearth are referenced at different times.

Yūko constantly refers to hitsuzen , meaning inevitability, destiny, or fate, as being the driving force in the world. She states that there is no such thing as coincidence, and that every single action and decision is inevitable, because without them, other related events in the future could not happen.

Characters

Kimihiro Watanuki (Watanuki Kimihiro) is a typical high-school student living on his own. He is down-to-earth and selfless, but also very irritable, especially when it comes to Yūko's lavish demands and Dōmeki's stoic attitude. Watanuki begins working for Yūko in exchange for the fulfillment of his wish to never see spirits again. Apart from Dōmeki and Himawari, Watanuki does not seem to have any friends at school; in fact, Yūko teases him about being unpopular.

Yūko Ichihara ( Ichihara Yūko) is a very powerful witch, mostly known for her ability to send people to other dimensions and times, and for her ability to grant any wish in exchange for an equal cost. Despite her seemingly immature and free-spirited attitude, Yūko is also sage-like and serious when the time calls for it.

Shizuka Dōmeki (Dōmeki Shizuka) is Watanuki's classmate and one-sided rival. He is part of the school's archery club and often participates in school competitions. He lives in a shrine owned by his late grandfather. Dōmeki's personality sharply contrasts with Watanuki's, as he is calm and often sarcastic. Dōmeki has the ability to rid evil spirits and is immune to most curses, mostly due to his ancestry and his upbringing in his grandfather's temple.

Himawari Kunogi (Kunogi Himawari) is Watanuki's main love interest. She is a kind and caring girl, but inadvertently brings bad luck to everyone she comes into contact with, with the exception of her parents and Dōmeki.

Media

Manga

xxxHolic has been serialized in Kodansha's Young Magazine since 2003 and published in volumes under the KC Deluxe label. It is currently published in the United States by Del Rey Manga and the first nine volumes were published in the United Kingdom by Tanoshimi.

Movie

xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night's Dream (xxxHOLiC , Gekijōban Horikku: Manatsu no Yoru no Yume) premiered on August 20, 2005 alongside Tsubasa Chronicle the Movie: The Princess of the Country of Birdcages (Gekijōban Tsubasa Kuronikuru Nendaiki Torikago no Kuni no Himegimi). The DVD version was released on November 24, 2006.

In the film, Yūko receives a request from a woman to help her back into her mansion, which does not allow her to enter. Yūko says that since Watanuki was the one who brought the client to her, he should be the one to grant her wish and therefore is brought along with her and Dōmeki. Yūko also attends because she has been invited to the mansion with many other famous collectors by the same letter, with the mansion filled with strange rooms and mysterious letters telling its guests what to do in place of a host. Though the collectors come to the theory of a mysterious auction being held, as in some urban legends, it becomes apparent that something more sinister and mysterious is going on as the collectors begin to disappear and a number of other strange occurrences happen.

The film was selected as a finalist for the Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2006 in the Feature Films category with other four nominees: Asterix and the Vikings, Origin: Spirits of the Past, Wallace and Gromit, and the award winner, Renaissance.

TV series

The first season of TV anime adaptation of xxxHolic began airing on TBS on April 6, 2006 in Japan and ended on September 28, 2006, with 24 episodes in total. Both the movie and the anime series are directed by Tsutomu Mizushima. Ageha Ohkawa, Clamp's director and main scriptwriter, is executive producer of the TV series. Due to differing studios licensed for the anime, the plot is not as complete as the manga, mainly with the Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and Cardcaptor Sakura references being removed (though Sakura's staff from CCS and Fay's staff from Tsubasa are seen in episode 18 when Watanuki is in the storage room, and Fay's staff is also seen in Episode 8 being used as a rug beater).

The second season, xxxHolic: Kei (xxxHOLiC◆Horikku: Kei), began airing on TBS on April 3, 2008 in Japan and ended on June 26, 2008, with 13 episodes in total. Kei, in Japanese, means "sequel" here. The main staff and cast remains the same as in the first season. In Chapter 154 of the manga release, there is a section offering readers preview of the second season. It shows episodes correspond to both the anime and its manga arc counterparts like the Spider Grudge arc, Kohane Tsuyuri and Haruka.

The first season of the xxxHolic anime was relatively loyal to the comic's timeline, whereas Kei has episodes which concentrated on the backgrounds of some of the smaller arcs in the xxxHolic manga. The most notable alternation in Kei is in the Kohane Tsuyuri arc, as she was introduced earlier in the anime and she was able to enter Yūko's shop without having a wish. Episode 10 of the anime changed and closed the Kohane arc in which Kohane was able to resolve her differences with her mother on her own while in the manga Kohane's role is still active to the ongoing series.

Connections with Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle are also seen in Kei. In episode 7, a connection with Tsubasa's Tokyo Revelations OVA occurs with the water containers, which are the same as those used to fill the underground reservoir in the Tokyo Government Building. Also, in episode 12, the egg given to Watanuki by Yūko is the same egg retrieved by Sakura from the caves in the Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations OVA.

On January 26, 2009, the series made its North American debut on the FUNimation Channel.

A two-DVD OVA, entitled xxxHOLiC Shunmuki (xxxHOLiC xxxHOLiC Shunmuki) (xxxHOLiC Spring Dreams Chronicle) has been announced for xxxHOLiC. The first DVD for this OVA was released on February 17, 2009 with the 14th volume of the Japanese manga. Another two DVD OVA which will cross over with this one was also announced for the Tsubasa series, entitled Tsubasa Shunraiki ( Tsubasa Shunraiki) (Tsubasa Spring Thunder Chronicle).

Novel

×××HOLiC ANOTHERHOLiC Landolt-Ring Aerosol (×××HOLiC Horikku Anazāhorikku Randoruto-Kan Earozoru), a novel set within the series was written by Nisio Isin and published in Japan on August 1, 2006. The first chapter of the novel, "OUTERHOLiC," was the basis for episode 17 of the animated series. The novel includes original artwork by Clamp. Del Rey published an English translation of xxxHOLiC: AnotherHOLiC, released on October 28, 2008.

Fanbooks

Several fanbooks have been released in Japan.

Gekijōban ×××HOLiC Official Fanbook (×××HOLiC OFFICIAL FANBOOK) – Released August 17, 2005, ISBN 9784063720495
TV Animation ×××HOLiC Extra Official Guide Released May 17, 2006, ISBN 9784063721515
Shinpan ×××HOLiC Dokuhon ( ×××HOLiC, "Brand New ×××HOLiC Reading-book") – Released November 17, 2006, ISBN 9784063722260

Video Game

An adventure game by Marvelous Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 video game console was released in Japan on August 9, 2007, named ×××HOLiC ~Watanuki no Izayoi Sowa~ (×××HOLiC , "Watanuki's Sixteen-day-old Moon Grass Story").

Music

TV Themes Opening theme:

"19sai (19 Jūkyū-sai)" by Shikao Suga
"Sanagi" by Shikao Suga (xxxHOLiC: A Midsummer Night's Dream)
"NOBODY KNOWS" by Shikao Suga (xxxHOLiC: Kei)
"Sofa" by Shikao Suga (xxxHOLiC OVA Shunmuki)

Ending themes:

"Reason" by Fonogenico (episodes 1-13,24)
Kagerou (-, Kagerou -Kagerou-) by BUCK-TICK (episodes 14-23)
"Honey Honey" by Seamo featuring Ayuse Kozue (xxxHOLiC: Kei)^[
"Cherish" by AZU (xxxHOLiC OVA Shunmuki)

Reception

In 2008, the Japanese copy of manga volume thirteen of xxxHolic claimed 43rd in the top 50 manga sold in Japan with 451,942 copies sold. Volume 13 also hit #6 on the New York Times list of bestselling manga shortly after its launch in April 2009.

Carlo Santos of Anime News Network finds that the series "has often been about the interaction between humans and the spirit world, but this time the series outdoes itself by breaking into the world of dreams".. He also added that, "no matter where the story heads next, some things remain constant: the unique artwork, the reflective mood, and Yûko's ruminations on life and what lies beyond ... all of which add up to one of the shining examples of the supernatural genre."

Buso Renkin

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:48:00 +0000

Buso Renkin (Busō Renkin, lit. "Armored Alchemist") is a manga series written and drawn by Nobuhiro Watsuki, the creator of Rurouni Kenshin.

Buso Renkin was serialized in the weekly Japanese manga anthology Shōnen Jump, with ten tankōbon volumes in total published in Japan. The series has been licensed by VIZ Media for US release and has been adapted into an anime by XEBEC, which finished its run in Japan with a total of 26 episodes. There are also two drama CDs as well as a novel based on the series.

On April 27, 2009, the series made its North American television debut on the FUNimation Channel.

Story

The story begins when high school student Kazuki Muto ( Mutō Kazuki) is killed one night saving a mysterious girl from a monster, only to wake up in his school dorm, believing it to have been a dream. However, he soon finds out that dream wasn't a dream at all when a giant serpentine monster attacks him and his sister. Tokiko Tsumura ( Tsumura Tokiko^?), the girl he saved, explains that the monster is a homunculus. Kazuki had been attacked and killed by it when rescuing Tokiko. However she, feeling responsible for him, revived him by placing a Kakugane medallion in his chest, serving as a replacement heart.

The Kakugane, as Tokiko explains, is an alchemical (alchemistic) device that, when activated, takes a certain form based on the Kakugane's user, forming a unique Buso Renkin. The Buso Renkin is the only thing that can destroy a homunculus monster. Using this, Kazuki creates his own Buso Renkin, taking the form of a giant lance, later named 'Sunlight Heart'. Along with Tokiko and her own Buso Renkin (the Valkyrie Skirt, an execution scythe), Kazuki joins the fight against the homunculi and their master.

Alchemy

In the world of Buso Renkin, there are two types of alchemy besides the historical one: buso renkin (arms alchemy) and homunculus. In this world, these are the only categories of alchemy which had succeeded, while the attempts to transform base metals into gold or achieve immortality had failed.

Buso Renkin

Buso Renkin are weapons formed by the alchemically-created kakugane, based on the user's will to fight. The shape the Buso Renkin takes reflects the user's personality. Buso Renkin are the only weapons known to be able to kill a homunculus. Kakugane are developed in the process of creating the Philosopher's stone, the ultimate goal of the Alchemy Warriors around the planet. Kakugane will generate a weapon that reflects the user's battle style; a user will always have the same type of Buso Renkin regardless of the Kakugane number, though there will be cosmetic differences. Buso Renkin are activated by the fighting instinct of the user. This means that they can only be used by humans or human-type homunculi, since only humans have the instinct to use tools to defend themselves. Kakugane, in their normal state, can also strengthen a user's healing abilities. In total, there are only 100 Kakugane, from I (1) to C (100). The first three of were turned into Black Kakuganes and the second one was made into a White Kakugane afterwards. After the Victor Incident, Kakugane were scattered around the world; currently, there are 25 known Kakugane that are used in Japan.

Black Kakugane

Black Kakugane I-III are the first results of the Alchemy Warriors. However, they were unstable, and upon insertion of Black Kakugane I (1) to replace his heart, Warrior Victor lost control. The same thing would happen to Kazuki 100 years later when his Black Kakugane III awoke. A person who has been revived using a black Kakugane is called a 'Victor,' since he was the first person to become such a being. Black Kakugane give their users glowing light green hair, red eyes, and tanned skin, with the ability to use 'Energy Drain,' a 'vital body function' which absorbs people's life force; it's possible to kill a person by draining his/her energy. As it is a vital body function, it is impossible to stop or shut off. Black Kakugane users also have the ability to evolve. While in stage 1, a user can transform from normal human to his/her 'Victor' form. After six weeks, a user evolves into stage 2, when he/she is permanently transformed into a 'Victor' form. After more time has passed, the person may willingly change back and forth from stage 3 where the tanned skin turns into a dark red, and the power of energy drain greatly increases. Black Kakugane have all the functions of a standard Kakugane. Buso Renkin created by Black Kakugane tend to be much stronger, since they make their users' bodies so much stronger.

White Kakugane

Developed by Alexandria, a White Kakugane is the exact opposite of a Black Kakugane. It holds the ability to nullify a Black Kakugane's power, restoring a person with a Black Kakugane to normal.

Kazuki's Kakugane that Tokiko took back from Alexandria was a 'test model' that was disguised as a normal kakugane. However, it proved to be unstable when it was in close proximity with a Black Kakugane; in this case, Victor's Black Kakugane I. Alexandria then developed another kakugane based on Black Kakugane II, moving past the test stage. This Kakugane was used in an unsuccessful attempt to restore Victor to normal; a Black Kakugane user in stage 3 can only be restored to stage 2.

Papillon was able to make a White Kakugane based on his own knowledge and the research Dr. Butterfly and Alexandria left behind. Using them, he was able to develop a White Kakugane from scratch, and used it to change Kazuki back to normal in Buso Renkin Period. His devices were then used to create another White Kakugane to restore Victor back to normal. Other than the converted Kakugane II, the other two White Kakugane's are not numbered as they were not the original 100 Kaguganes. It is possible to have more than one White Kakugane in a person's body, as shown by Victor, who has two White Kakugane in his body by the end of the story.

Homunculus

A homunculus is created when an embryo-like creation from a plant, animal, or even a human is placed inside a human. The embryo then invades the brain and takes control of the body, giving it abilities that mimic the natural talents of the embryo's origin.

Animal-type and Plant-type homunculi possess strength relative to their animal or plant base as well as retaining their sentience (they have the intelligence and reasoning of a human, but consider themselves to be an animal or plant). To activate their abilities, they have to 'transform', usually resulting in a large version of its base (an Eagle-type homunculus would become a giant eagle, for example). Often the homunculi's creator would have to brainwash them into following their creator with blind loyalty, though a few have been known to do so by their own choice.

Human-type homunculi do not change form, but merely gain the strength and regenerative powers of a homunculus while retaining their human form and mind, or at least a humanoid shape (as the embryo for a human homunculus almost always comes from the human him/herself). Human-type homunculi have one distinct advantage over Animal or Plant-types; they have the ability to use Buso Renkin (only humans can use Buso Renkins).

Most homunculi have the urge to eat other humans, but in episode 25 Papillon tells Victoria that eating humans doesn't whet his appetite. Victoria explains that homunculi eat humans because they desire to regain the aspects of humanity that they gave up; this may be why we never hear of Washio, who was once a wild hawk, eating any humans. She then tells Papillon that because he no longer has any connection to humanity (or rather, that he no longer desires to be human), he has become something other than human or homunculus, but rather a "superhuman".

Media

Manga

Buso Renkin begun it's run Weekly Shōnen Jump in June 2003 and ended its run in 2005. The 10th and final tankōbon volume was released on 4 April 2006.

VIZ Media released the first volume in English on August 1, 2006.

Anime

In Japan on October 4, 2006, the Buso Renkin manga was adapted into an anime series which ran on TV Tokyo until March 29, 2007. Viz Media had also announced the release of 2 13-episode English-dubbed DVD Box Sets, the first was released on April 29, 2008, and the last was released on October 7, 2008.

The episodes use four pieces of theme music: a single opening theme and three closing themes. The opening theme is "Makka Na Chikai" ("Deep Red Promise") by Yoshiki Fukuyama. The first ending theme is "Hoshi Akari" ("Mysterious Star") by Jyukai from episodes one to fourteen, and the final episode, and the second theme is "Itoshiki Sekai" ("Love the World") by Aya Kagami for the rest of the series.

Ep#.	Episode Title	Airdate

1	"A New Life" "Atarashii inochi"	October 04, 2006
2	"The True Form Homunculus" "HOMUNKURUSU no shōtai"	October 11, 2006
3	"You've Become A Little Stronger" "Kimi wa sukoshi tsuyoku natta"	October 18, 2006
4	"Another New Life" "Mō hitotsu no atarashii inochi"	October 25, 2006
5	"To Protect Someone" "Mamoru beki hito no tame ni"	November 01, 2006
6	"The Butterfly of Black Death" "Kokushi no chō"	November 08, 2006
7	"Whether or not You're a Hypocrite" "Moshi kimi ga gizen to utagau no nara"	November 15, 2006
8	"A Night in the Dorm" "Kishukusha no yoru"	November 22, 2006
9	"The Hayasaka Twins" "Hayasaka kyōdai"	November 29, 2006
10	"It Seems We're Well Matched" "Kimi to ore ha aishō ga ii"	December 06, 2006
11	"'Til Death Do Us Part" "Shi ga futari o wakatsu made"	December 13, 2006
12	"Carnival" "KAANIBARU"	December 20, 2006
13	"Signs Of Death" "Shi no taidō"	December 27, 2006
14	"Who Are You?" "Kimi wa dare da?"	December 27, 2006
15	"Interim Existence" "Chūkan no sonzai"	January 10, 2007
16	"New Power" "Arata naru chikara"	January 17, 2007
17	"When the Night Ends" "Yoru ga ake tara"	January 24, 2007
18	"The Escape" "Tōhikō"	January 31, 2007
19	"If Only You Can Protect" "Kimi sae mamorere ba"	February 7, 2007
20	"With Mind and Power" "Omoi to chikara o kome te"	February 14, 2007
21	"Gone Into Flame" "Gone Into flame"	February 21, 2007
22	"A Vital Decision" "Ketsudan o yōsu"	February 28, 2007
23	"Boy Meets Battle Girl" "Boy meets battle girl"	March 7, 2007
24	"When You Die, I Will Die Too" "Kimi ga shinu toki ga watashi ga shinu toki"	March 14, 2007
25	"Irreplaceable" "Kawari nado inai"	March 21, 2007
26	"Period" "PIRIODO"	March 28, 2007

La Roux - Bulletproof

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:15:00 +0000

"Bulletproof" is the third single by south London duo La Roux from their debut album La Roux. The song was released in digital and physical format on 22 June 2009, from two labels, Polydor and Kitsuné Music. The song was written and produced by both members of La Roux. Vocalist Elly Jackson told the BBC: "For me Bulletproof is just about looking at a situation that's usually a reoccurring one. It could be to do with anything in your life - whatever you want it to be about."

Formats and track listings

CD single (Cat.#: 2705727)

"Bulletproof"
"Bulletproof" (Zinc Remix)
"Bulletproof" (Tepr TsunAimee Remix)

7 inch (Cat.#: 2705728)

"Bulletproof"

Alternate versions

The "Bulletproof" CD single features two remixes. The first one is by DJ Zinc and the second by Tepr. The Zinc remix can be heard on La Roux's MySpace. The Foamo remix can be found on YouTube but has not appeared on the track listings for the single. Jack Peñate performed his own rendition of the track at the Radio 1 Live Lounge. Elsewhere, an instrumental version appeared on a CD promo prior to the commercial release of the single.

Music video

The video starts with various and retro patterns and designs in one scene. Then the camera shows Elly Jackson sitting in a chair in a bright setting with her eyes closed. Then the song starts and Jackson leaves the chair and the camera pans to show random designs of La Roux which are shown behind her. She continues to walk, while singing the song itself. At the bridge of the song she stops and then the song starts to build to the chorus and she starts walking again, while 3D shapes are bouncing around her. The video ends with Jackson sitting back in dark setting with her eyes open. During the video, there's a variation of Jackson in the setting of bright and dark colours. Throughout the video Elly Jackson is styled in High Fashion clothes, with House Of Holland amongst others.

Critical reception

The song has received positive feedback:

Digitalspy gave the song 5 stars, which made "Bulletproof" La Roux's second single to get full marks by the website (after "In For The Kill"). They said that "Well, it's a bright, bouncy slice of Yazoo-ish electropop with a chorus every bit as immediate as 'In For The Kill'. Jackson's vocals are less shrill this time around, but she comes off just as formidable, informing a useless sod who's messed her about that she won't be letting him do it again".

Radio 1-Chart Blog gave the song 5 stars out of 5 and said "the one sentence that crops up most often goes something like this: "...yes, 'Bulletproof' is brilliant, but...", hinting that this might be a song which possesses magical powers of persuasion". They went onto give 5 points on why the songs good: 1, marvellous verses 2, marvellous chorus 3, The music serves the song brilliantly 4, less shrill 5, The vocoder breakdown.

Chart performance

"Bulletproof" made its debut on the UK Singles Chart on June 28, 2009 at number one. The song also debuted at number ten in Ireland, outpeaking La Roux's previous single "In For The Kill" in both countries.

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Belgian Chart (Flanders)	20
Turkey Top 20 Chart	10
Irish Singles Chart	5
UK Singles Chart	1
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	6

Preceded by "When Love Takes Over" by David Guetta ft. Kelly Rowland	UK Singles Chart number-one single 28 June 2009 - 05 July 2009	Succeeded by "Evacuate the Dancefloor" by Cascada

^{Youy Can Download "La Roux - Bulletproof.mp3" Here :}

Demi Lovato - Here We Go Again

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:58:00 +0000

Here We Go Again is the first single from singer Demi Lovato's second studio album of the same name. The song was released to Radio Disney on June 17, 2009 and as a digital download on June 23, 2009. It has peaked at #86 on the Canadian Hot 100 and #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States making it her most successful charting solo effort.

Music video

The music video (directed by The Malloys) was filmed on June 8, 2009 and premiered on June 26, and through her official sites fans were told they could participate in the making of the video. The video starts with Lovato in her dressing room talking to her boyfriend on the phone. It is assumed that the boyfriend has ended the relationship as she rips up a picture of him. However a few minutes later he calls back but Lovato ignores the phone and heads to the stage where she performs. Her boyfriend is shown visiting the concert, and after Lovato is finished the performance she heads back to her dressing room, where he meets her with a rose, thus beginning their relationship again, staying true to the theme of the song.

Charts

On July 3, 2009, the song debuted at number fifty-one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and on the Canadian Hot 100 it made its debut at number eighty-six. For the Billboard issue date of August 1, 2009, the song rose to number 24 on the Hot 100, becoming Lovato's first top 40 hit as a solo artist. (Her duet with Joe Jonas, This is Me, peaked at number 9.)

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Canadian Hot 100	86
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	24

YouCan download "Demi Lovato - Here We Go Again.mp3" Here :

Green Day - 21 Guns

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:27:00 +0000

"21 Guns" is a song written and recorded by the American punk rock band Green Day. It is the second single from their eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown. The single was released through Reprise Records on May 25, 2009 as a digital download and July 14, 2009 as a CD single.

Release and reception

"21 Guns" was released to modern rock radio stations on May 25, 2009, although it had already been played on some radio stations, such as KROQ in Los Angeles and 101.9 in New York City. In the radio edit, the song is over forty seconds shorter than the album version because the guitar solo is shortened and the beginning was cut out. The CD single and clear 7" single was released on July 14, 2009.

The song features on the soundtrack of the film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (and also features it four times in the film itself), which was released on June 23, 2009. It is also available for download on the video game Rock Band & Rock Band 2 on July 7 along with the songs "East Jesus Nowhere" and "Know Your Enemy".

At the pre-release preview of 21st Century Breakdown, the MTV News reviewer called this song, "a cell-phones-in-the-air anthem".

Music video

The music video was directed by Marc Webb; it was filmed in Los Angeles, California on June 6, 2009. It premiered on MySpace on Monday, June 22, 2009 at midnight EST.

The band is found in a white motel room with Christian (Josh Boswell) and Gloria (Lisa Stelly), the two protagonists throughout the album 21st Century Breakdown. Gloria is startled by the arrival of police outside, and closes the louvers on the blinds to shut them out. A hail of bullets ensue, penetrating the motel room and terrifying Gloria. Sparks also fly from the motel walls as we see Billie Joe play the rhythm guitar to the solo.

As shots continue to pass by her, Gloria notices that the phone in the motel room is blinking. She holds the handset to her ear for a short time before throwing the phone in an aquarium. As the damage from the shootout continues to destroy the room and its furnishings, Christian and Gloria lock eyes and walk unscathed toward each other, embrace, and kiss (in the same position that's on the album cover art).

At one point during the video, the words written on the walls of the motel room are revealed for a moment to be the lyrics to Green Day’s song “See The Light”, the last song on 21st Century Breakdown.

The video ends with Billie Joe Armstrong playing the final note of the song, and the light dimming around him. The video is the fourth Green Day video to feature touring/studio backup guitarist Jason White (not including his brief cameo in Jesus of Suburbia), having appeared in videos for "When I Come Around", "Wake Me Up When September Ends", and "Working Class Hero." The video for 21 Guns is about twenty seconds shorter than the song as the volume swelled guitar sounds are cut out and the guitar solo was shortened.

Track listing

Digital Download

"21 Guns" - 5:21
"Favorite Son" - 2:13 (Green Day's contribution to the Rock Against Bush Vol. 2 Compilation)
"21 Guns" (Studio 880 Session)

CD Single

"21 Guns" - 5:21
"Favorite Son" - 2:13 (From "Rock Against Bush Vol. 2")

7" Single

"21 Guns" - 5:21
"Favourite Son - 2:13 (From "Rock Against Bush Vol. 2")

Chart positions

The song debuted at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100, so far peaking at #26, and #81 on the Canadian Hot 100, reaching #22. It has reached #4 on the Hot Alternative Tracks chart and #24 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. On the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, the song has peaked at #26. In the UK Singles Chart, it debuted at #100 and has since risen to #40.

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	17
Dutch Top 40	29
Irish Singles Chart	22
Japan Hot 100	98
Canadian Hot 100	22
Israeli Singles Chart	1
New Zealand Singles Chart	4
Swedish Singles Chart	32
Swiss Singles Top 100	41
UK Singles Chart	40
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	26
U.S. Billboard Hot Alternative Tracks	4
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks	24
U.S. Billboard Top Rock Songs	5
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks	30
U.S. Billboard Triple A	5

Personnel

Billie Joe Armstrong - lead vocals, guitar
Mike Dirnt - bass guitar, backing vocals
Tré Cool - drums, percussion

You Can download "Green Day - 21 Guns.mp3" Here :

Twista - Wetter (Calling You Daddy)

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:58:00 +0000

"Wetter" is a song by American rapper Twista off his eighth album Category F5 and released as the first single. The song features R&B singer Erika Shevon, and was produced by The Legendary Traxster. It was released as a Digital Download on February 24, 2009.

Formats and track listing

Promo CD single

"Wetter" (Squeaky Clean Version) (featuring Erika Shevon) - 4:18
"Wetter" (Clean Version) (featuring Erika Shevon) - 4:18
"Wetter" (Explicit Version) (featuring Erika Shevon) - 4:18
"Wetter" (Instrumental) - 4:18
"Wetter" (Acapella) (featuring Erika Shevon) - 4:16

Digital single

"Wetter" (featuring Erika Shevon) - 4:16
"Wetter" (Radio Version) (featuring Erika Shevon) - 4:16
"Wetter" (Instrumental Version) (featuring Erika Shevon) - 4:16

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	47
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	7
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks	3

You Can Download "Twista - Wetter (Calling You Daddy).mp3" Here:

Beyonce - Ego

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:56:00 +0000

"Ego" is a song by American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles, written and produced by Elvis "BlacElvis" Williams, Harold Lilly, and Knowles for the deluxe edition of her third studio album, I Am… Sasha Fierce. The song was released on May 19, 2009, as the album's fifth single in the United States. The remix, featuring hip hop artist Kanye West, is included on the Above and Beyoncé - Video Collection & Dance Mixes CD/DVD.

Background

"Ego" was planned as the third single from the album, but later was changed in favor of "Diva". "Ego" was released along with "Sweet Dreams", both tracks taken from the second disc of her album I Am… Sasha Fierce. This goes in contrast to the other joint-releases from this album where one track is taken from each disc.

Knowles told MTV that the song "kind of talks about someone being very confident and having this swagger when they walk and when they talk, and that being one of the reasons why I'm attracted to them."

Critical reception

Billboard magazine gave the song a positive review: "The fifth single from her I Am... Sasha Fierce album combines elements of both sides of her musical personality. 'Ego' sounds like an homage to old-school R&B midtempo jams yet is firmly rooted in today's production trends. Beyoncé's pop side is explored throughout, with a restrained vocal and a clever piano breakdown. Credit the singer for not polishing up her vocal during that interlude, choosing instead to show her real voice, limitations and all, just like the old days."

^{Music Video}

Knowles in the video seated with her hair styled in a curly afro beside her two back-up dancers in the music video for "Ego".

Knowles co-directed the video for "Ego" with her choreographer of twelve years, Frank Gatson Jr. Gatson has been Knowles' creative director for several of her videos, such as "Suga Mama", "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", and "Get Me Bodied", as well as her last three world tours, including the I Am… Tour. Knowles let Gatson direct the video for "Ego" after he introduced her to a new choreographer, Sheryl Murakami.

"My goal for [the] video is simplicity", Knowles tells Entertainment Weekly. "In 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)', I saw this old tape of Bob Fosse's wife, and I used that as inspiration. I thought in this world, with all the technology and everything that's going on, to strip everything down—great idea. So I kind of did the same thing, but glossy and black, for 'Ego'". A "bootlegged" version of the music video, featuring Sheryl Murakami performing the choreography, was leaked onto YouTube in early March 2009.

Overall, Beyonce made three videos for Ego:

ORIGINAL

The video premiered on Beyonce's official website on May 21, 2009. The video, like the ones for "If I Were A Boy", "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)", and "Diva" was shot in black and white. The video consists of Beyoncé in a silver leotard and two other women dressed similarly doing the same choreography as her, which has reminiscence of the video of "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)". Later in the video she is sitting in a white glittery chair in front of the same tiled background, in a black suit with the two dancers still dancing in unison around her, there are a few shots of her in the chair to the back of the camera with the dancers also with their backs to the camera. Later Beyoncé gets up from the chair and dances with the dancers around the chair this scene ends as she and the dancers walk to the left of the camera and walk into the next scene. In this scene she is still with the tiled background and she and her dancers are holding poles with which they dance with. Also, there are, during the pole scene some shots of her on her own singing in the chair from the second scene. In the next scene, with the same tiled background, Beyoncé is leaning against the wall during the Bridge of the song and her dancers spin in heels around her and afterwards they all continue to dance against the wall. The very last scene shows Beyoncé in the chair, without the black jacket and dancing to herself while the song ends. This is the first video from I Am... Sasha Fierce for her to have curly afro hair, similar to the one in "Work It Out". It is also the first video from the Sasha Fierce side of her album where she does not don her robo-glove as in "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "Diva". In the premiered version of the music video, the word "bitch" is muted out when Beyoncé states "I got every reason to feel like I'm that bitch!"

REMIX (FT. KANYE WEST)

The remix and its music video are on the Above and Beyoncé - Video Collection & Dance Mixes CD/DVD. It premiered on the June 15, 2009 episode of BET's Access Granted. In the remix video, Kanye West begins his rap in an empty room next to a follow spot. At the end of his rap, he points the light towards the camera and the shot fades in white to Knowles' scenes. The rest of the video is nearly identical to the original video. It was also shown in black and white.

FAN EXCLUSIVE

A fan exclusive version of "Ego" was included on Above and Beyoncé - Video Collection & Dance Mixes, in which only Knowles appears. The whole video is a continuous double-angled scene where Knowles is seated on the golden chair, previously seen in the original video. Clips are shown back and forth of Knowles singing to the music and dancing on her own. Sometimes during the clip she does not sing and instead smiles or laughs and than continues. Clips from this fan exclusive are also included in the other two versions.

CUT OUT PART

In the B-roll footage on Above and Beyoncé - Video Collection & Dance Mixes, it was shown that a clay sculpture of Knowles was made for the "Ego" video. However, the sculpture was not shown in the final version of the video.

Tracklisting

Ego/Sweet Dreams Singles & Dance Mixes

Ego - 3:57
Ego (DJ Escape & Johnny Vicious Club Remix) - 8:22
Ego (Slang "Big Ego" Club Remix) - 6:19
Sweet Dreams - 3:29
Sweet Dreams (OK DAC Club Remix) - 5:14
Sweet Dreams (Karmatronic Club Remix) - 6:36

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	11
Swedish Singles Chart	29
Turkey Top 20 Chart	14
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	43
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	3
U.S. Billboard Hot RingMasters	10

Official Versions/Remixes

Album Version (Dirty)
Album Version (Clean) / Video Edit
Album Instrumental
Radio Edit
Remix feat. Kanye West
DJ Escape & Johnny Vicious Club
DJ Escape & Johnny Vicious Dub
Redtop's Digital Ska Remix
Redtop's Digital Ska Radio
OK DAC Remix
OK DAC Dub
Karmatronic Club
Karmatronic Radio
Redsoul Club Mix
Ego Slang Club Mix
Ego Slang Dance Dub
Zoned Out Light Extended
Zoned Out Light Radio
Lost Daze Remix

You Can download "Beyonce - Ego.mp3" Here:

Eyeshield 21

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:03:00 +0000

Eyeshield 21 (Aishīrudo nijūichi) is a manga about American football written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. It has been adapted into an anime movie in 2004 (shown at Jump Festa), an anime television series in 2005, several video games and a trading card game from Konami.

The manga is serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump. The twenty five volumes have collectively sold over 16 million copies in Japan, and the number of children playing American football has almost doubled in the four years since it began. The manga is published in English by Viz Media.

The anime version, produced by NAS and animated by Studio Gallop, premiered across Japan on TV Tokyo from April 6, 2005, and ended March 19, 2008 with episode 145. The anime is sponsored by NFL Japan. The English dub aired on the free on-demand Toonami Jetstream as a joint effort with NFL Rush on December 17, 2007, however no more episodes will be dubbed, as the deal with NFL Rush fell through in 2008.^{[citation needed]} It is also aired in Singapore(on cable), Taiwan and Indonesia.

Plot

The plot of Eyeshield 21 revolves around a physically unassuming and non-assertive boy named Sena Kobayakawa who enters the high school of his choice, Deimon Private Senior High School, where his childhood friend Mamori Anezaki who attended the year before. His only remarkable physical abilities are his running speed, and intense agility; The result of a school life spent complying with the demands of bullies, it was revealed later a friend taught him how to run quickly as a base. His abilities quickly catches the eye of the high school's American football team captain Yoichi Hiruma who forces Sena to join the Deimon Devil Bats as its running back.

To protect his identity to prevent other teams in the school to recruit him for his speed, Sena is forced to publicly assume the role of team secretary, and enter the field wearing a helmet equipped with a green-tinted eyeshield in order to hide his features under the pseudonym of "Eyeshield 21". The makeshift team initially takes part in the Spring football tournament hoping to win with through the strength of their new "secret weapon." However, the extremely weak team is eliminated early on by the Oujou White Knights, a powerhouse football team that focuses on defense.

After Deimon's defeat, the Spring tournament is revealed as a secondary in importance to the Fall tournament, where the teams compete for the chance to play in the "Christmas Bowl", the high school football league championship. Hiruma, Kurita and Sena regroup and slowly build a real team from other misfits and students looking to define themselves, such as Tarou Raimon a baseball player who can only catch, and the The Three Ha-Ha Brothers. Other characters slowly join the team as the series follows the building and growth of the Deimon Devil Bats and its members as well as various rival teams as they all strive to achieve their goal of playing in the Christmas Bowl.

Following their victory at the Christmas Bowl, Japan begins to gather the best football members to form a team that will represent Japan at the American Football Youth World Championship where an MVP will be rewarded a NFL contract and $3 Million. Team Japan manages to make it onto the final against Team America. The result is that a final touchdown by Sena at the buzzer ties the score and as the people putting on the Tournament hadn't planned that anyone would put up a fight against the US, both teams were declared the winner; however Panther of Team America is chosen to be the MVP.

The series concludes with Sena becoming the captain of the Devil Bats when Hiruma and Kurita go off to college. In his final year of high school, Sena is invited to Notre Dame High School by Clifford, therefore bringing Hiruma's proclamation at the beginning of the series true: the famous Eyeshield 21 of Notre Dame High has been born. All of the main characters are shown in the final chapter to be in college or playing amateur-league football while maintaining a job.

Setting

Inagaki said that Eyeshield 21 is in Tokyo, specifically, "but perhaps not in the center of the city—more in the suburbs." He added that this is "not very significant" and that aspects of the hometowns of the two creators are reflected in the setting.

Media

Manga

Eyeshield 21 has been collected into more than 35 tankōbon; spanning 333 chapters, or 'Downs', they were all numbered until the final episode, which was named 'Touch Down'. The series will total 37 volumes when fully collected into tankōbon form, the final volume due to be published October 2009. The story within the manga continues past the end of the anime, which ended after the D-Bats' Kantou semi-final against Oujou. Eyeshield 21 has been published in the U.S. by Viz Media under the Shonen Jump Advanced label.

Anime

Eyeshield 21 began airing in Japan in April 6, 2005, with its last episode broadcast on March 19, 2008. It spanned a total of 145 episodes with two OAVs. The series ended with the match against Ojo White Knights during the competition for the Christmas bowl. The English dub aired on the free on-demand Toonami Jetstream as a joint effort with NFL Rush on December 17, 2007, but was dropped before its completion. In December 2008, the video streaming service Crunchyroll announced that they would begin to stream Eyeshield 21 on their site on January 2, 2009 by offering the first eight episodes for free while providing a Higher quality ad-free version for paid members. As of June 11, 2009, 69 episodes have been uploaded to Crunchyroll website.

Games

Konami appears to have the rights to produce Eyeshield 21 games for Sony video game systems. They have released Eyeshield 21: Portable Edition (Portable Edition) for the PlayStation Portable in March 2, 2006 and Eyeshield 21: Let's Play American Football! Ya! Ha!! for the PlayStation 2.

Nintendo secured the rights to the Eyeshield 21 video game license for their systems in December 2004. They have released Eyeshield 21: MAX Devil Power (MAX DEVILPOWER!) for the Nintendo DS in February 2, 2006 and Eyeshield 21: Devilbats Devildays (DEVILBATS DEVILDAYS^?) for the Game Boy Advance in April 6, 2006. Another game was scheduled for release on the Nintendo GameCube, but it was later canceled.

Nintendo published an Eyeshield 21 game for the Wii, entitled Eyeshield 21: The Field's Greatest Warriors ( Aishīrudo 21: Field Saikyō no Senshi Tachi). It was released in Japan on March 8, 2007.

Two non-football games have featured characters from the series, both on the Nintendo DS: Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars. Various Devil Bats as well as Shin and Sakuraba from the White Knights appear in support cameos.

Paulina Rubio - Causa Y Efecto

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:04:00 +0000

"Causa y Efecto" (English: Cause and Effect) is a song performed by Latin pop singer Paulina Rubio. The song was recorded for her ninth studio album Gran City Pop, and was released as the lead single on March 30, 2009. Causa y Efecto became a hit reaching number 1 in the U.S. Billboard Hot Latin Songs and Hot Latin Airplays. Causa y Efecto was produced by Cachorro López and written by Mario Domm and Mónica Vélez. "Causa y Efecto" is Rubio's first number one single in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs since Ni Una Sola Palabra in 2006. It samples the drum beat used in Katy Perry's most successful single "I Kissed a Girl", which was produced by Dr. Luke.

Release and promotion

"Causa y Efecto", debuted in radio stations on March 30. The song was performed for the first time on April 23, 2009 at the Latin Billboard Music Awards 2009, Rubio was one of the most expected artists of the night. Rubio also performed the song in a private concert at the Gotham Hall in New York City on May 11 promoting Gran City Pop. The concert was presented by Univision Radio.

Rubio performed the song at the Wal-Mart Shareholders' Meeting, she performed an "spanglish" version of the song. She performed parts of the Spanish version and others of an unreleased English version. An English version of the song was released on a remix of the song, the George Figares Radio Mix.

Track listing

CD Single

"Causa y Efecto" [Album version] - 3:27

Chart Performance

The song debuted at number 40 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs, the next week the song jumped at #26, obtaining the highest 'jump' of the week on the chart.The song currently peaked #1 for five consecutive weeks and it's her fourth #1 and her twelfth top ten hit on Hot Latin songs. It debuted at #22 and peaked at #1 on the Billboard Latin Pop Airplay.

In Spain, the single debuted at #43, and has peaked at #7 based on downloads alone. On May 9 2009, Causa y Efecto entered at the Spanish Airplay Chart at #7 as the highest debut of that week, and peaked at #1 for three consecutive weeks.

Music Video

The music video for "Causa y Efecto" was directed by the Austrian director Rudi Dolezal. The video was filmed in Miami, Florida during the month of March at M3 Studios. The video premiered worldwide on May 7 and in the U.S on the channel MTV Tr3s.

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Spanish Airplay Chart	1
Spanish Singles Chart	7
U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100	4
U.S. Billboard Hot Latin Songs	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	73
U.S. Billboard Latin Pop Airplay	1
U.S. Billboard Latin Rhythm Airplay	6

You Can download "Paulina rubio - Causa Y Efecto.mp3" Here:

MÄR

noreply@blogger.com (Fajardesign) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:43:00 +0000

MÄR (Meru), which stands for "Märchen Awakens Romance", is a manga series created by mangaka Nobuyuki Anzai. The television anime based on the series is titled MÄR Heaven (MÄR -Meru Hevun) and was originally broadcast in Japan on the TXN station.

MÄR is characterised by fairy tale motifs running throughout the series, Märchen being itself the German word for "fairy tale". VIZ Media has acquired the North American rights to both the MÄR manga and anime and aired a dubbed version of the series, first on Toonami Jetstream, an online service from Cartoon Network, and then on the network itself, as part of the Toonami programming block. In June, Canadian youth network YTV broadcast MÄR.

A sequel to MÄR, entitled MÄR Omega, was announced in September 2006. However, it is not being written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Anzai, but by Kōichiro Hoshino.

Plot

Upon appearing in MÄR-Heaven, Ginta's physical weakness is replaced with physical strength as well as incredible stamina and endurance. The explanation given was that the gravity was lower in MÄR-Heaven, thereby bestowing relative strength and endurance on Ginta. However, no explanation was given for his improved eyesight. Ginta, who on Earth was a typical video game geek and underachieving student with a drunkard chain-smoking writer for a mother, finds his wildest dreams come true by discovering a world beyond his own where he can be someone else.

Ginta quickly meets the mysterious pink-haired witch Dorothy, who introduces him to the powerful magical accessories called "ÄRM" (pronounced air-um).

Dorothy plans to obtain the mysterious ÄRM Babbo, and brings Ginta along. Babbo is extremely special for an ÄRM: he can be shaped into different forms with the use of imagination and possesses a will of his own. However, he has lost all his memory, and considers himself a "gentleman". After saving Dorothy from Babbo's guardian, Ginta becomes the new owner of Babbo, though at first they do not get along.

He continues on a journey of discovery, revelling in this new world, but also finds that he misses the real world. Eventually Ginta resolves to find a way to reach home while enjoying as much of MÄR as he can along the way. However, it is not long before Ginta finds out that the world of MÄR-Heaven is not as peaceful as it seems, as he is attacked by thieves wishing to steal Babbo (who is wanted by the Chess Pieces Army). He soon meets Alviss, the person who brought him to MÄR-Heaven using the Gate Keeper Clown, and acknowledges the upcoming war with the Chess Piece Army. The army aims to destroy the peace of MÄR-Heaven. He also realised that his dad had been a hero in MAR heaven. Then found out that his dad died in MAR heaven in a match with Phantom.

Many more secrets and characters come to light, especially that of the epic MÄR-Heaven War six years ago, in which a mysterious man called Danna (lit. 'Boss' in Japanese, and in the Toonami Jetstream Anime) from Ginta's world defeated the champion knight of the Chess Piece Army, Phantom (the former owner of Babbo), ending the first MÄR-Heaven War. However, he gave his life in the process. As time passes, the story reveals that Phantom has been resurrected and wants to start another reign of terror over the world, with the help of the evil queen of Lestava.

Media

Manga

The series is published in Japan by Shogakukan, in North America in English by VIZ Media, in France in French by Kana, in Spain in Spanish by Ivrea, in Singapore in English and Simplified Chinese by Chuang Yi, in Indonesia by Elex Media Komputindo, and in Vietnam in Vietnamese by Kim Dong Publishing House.

Anime

SynergySP produced an anime adaptation of the MÄR manga, which premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 3, 2005 where it ran for 102 episodes until its conclusion on March 25, 2007. It was released across 17 Region 2 DVDs in Japan by Shogakukan, which each disc containing 3 episodes except the first and last which contained 2 episodes each.

The anime was licensed by Viz Media and aired on Cartoon Network's online broadband service Toonami Jetstream and for a limited time on their television programming block Toonami. On July 9 2007, Toonami Jetstream restarted MAR from the beginning with episodes being broadcast biweekly, and "reruns" every other week. Viz Media released began releasing the series to DVD on June 12, 2007, with each disc containing 4 episodes. Four volumes were released before Viz delisted the series in favor of other titles.

Reception

IGN gave MÄR a mostly negative review, stating that, while the series is not horrible, it is "like every other shōnen fighting manga you've exposed yourself to", and "is only for the absolute diehard shōnen fighting otaku".