In the Axcel social media world, it has been quiet, besides the RISE single release events nationwide from every music store to every mall. But, as of this writing, today (2/24/19 JST) is the last day of this series of the single release events. In fact, this is the last day of anything else related to the RISE promotions, including the MADKID FACTION campaigns. The guys have done it all, we’ve all done it all. But, keep in mind, The Rising of the Shield Hero is still running, so please, don’t forget to watch the anime, enjoy RISE playing on the opening credits, and if you’re not satisfied with the length of the episodes right after Episode 1, read the light novels or the manga. ¹

Speaking of RISE…

RISE (English Version)

I know that most hardcore anime otaku around the world outside Japan aren’t really fans of non-Japanese language dubs on an anime. ² However, if you do watch anime in English dub, here’s a piece of news.

The English dub of The Rising of the Shield Hero is now available on Crunchyroll and you can watch all current seven episodes, as the next episode will also be released at the same time as in Japan and the English sub version. Along with the English dub is also the official English version of RISE as its opening theme. I’ve seen a few covering RISE on YouTube and even made their own English version based on the English translations, but the one used in the English dub was also written, composed, and performed by MADKID, just like the original Japanese. The ending theme, Kimi no Namae (Your Name), still remains in Japanese as the original.

If you haven’t been following me on Twitter, I also posted my English translation of the RISE lyrics. Translating Japanese lyrics to English is no easy task. I still have to polish the English to make it sound more accurate to the original lyrics’ intentional messages, which also takes a while to do. It’s not the most perfect translation, but nevertheless, it’s a translation. You can find it here in the Letters @ AXCEL STYLE site.

I’m just going to go for the first few minutes of the song since that’s all we have for the anime opening theme. MADKID’s ³ take on an English version is quite close to my translation, which made me feel relieved as a rusty translator. ⁴ But, like the usual process of writing an English version from a non-English song, you would have to write the English equivalent that would also fit the rhythm of the song as well.

The rap parts are a little difficult to understand. Then again, this is just me and my failing ears with rap tracks in general, including American ones. It would take me a lot of times for me to grasp the words in the raps regardless of language, which is why…

It’d be so awesome if MADKID releases the English version of RISE also, even if it’s in digital format. I’d love to hear the entire song and then write my thoughts of it a little more elaborate.

The conclusion of the “RISE” Release Period

As I write this, the final release event for RISE just ended. What a way to finish it because the final event took place in Shin’s beloved hometown of Miyazaki.

During the campaign, Miyazaki displayed a life-sized cardboard panel of their native son, SHIN, in the local Aeon Mall (where today’s final release event took place). During the first day of the display, locals are able to take a photo of themselves with the panel, and it will be on display until today. At long last, MADKID and Shin have met the life-sized panel.

This is the second time MADKID had their single release event in Miyazaki, and Shin couldn’t be any happier. ⁵ Not only that, Miyazaki’s mascot, Kaa-kun, also came for a visit along with the hinata smiles of Shin’s fellow locals!

Four more days till the end of February. And then, March and Spring will be just around the corner! Not just that, so is their upcoming one-man live tour, CIRCUS.

KAZUKI’s New YouTube Talk Show “Tanabe-Ya” Begins!

KAZUKI’s new YouTube Talk Show Tanabe-Ya (Tanabe x Heya) ⁶ premiered last week on the Nippon Columbia channel. You can watch the first episode on this site’s main page.

Furthermore, Kazuki talks about the show briefly in his latest blog entry. You can read the translation here.

In a quick nutshell, Kazuki also has a co-host, a comedian and 17/LiveAF streamer who goes by Mori Grill Chicken. ⁷ MADKID (naturally!) is the first guest of his show.

The first half of the episode features Shin introducing a local Miyazaki pastry which also happens to be his favorite: Cheese Manju. ⁸ Shin explains that not only that it has cheese in it, but it also has a special cookie-like batter that’s baked inside the manju. He also introduces a specialty store that sells food and goods directly from Miyazaki, KONNE.

The second half of the episode has the boys play a card game of sorts called the Jinrou (Werewolf) game. There are different ways of playing the game, but their version is divided into two teams of two (werewolf team and villagers team) and one fortune teller role. The cards are distributed at random, the host of the game is the only one who knows which one the players plays which role. The game begins when the players start discussing and talking to each other while figuring out which one of them are the werewolves. The werewolves will also guess which one of them is the villagers and then “kill” them in turn. Whoever guesses which person is the werewolf or villager correctly, that team wins.

We don’t know when the next episode will be released (March?), but let’s all stay tuned!

YOU-TA goes on a “GIANT KILLING” spree!

Are you an Axcel who also loves video games and is a fan of Twitch channels and follow players play their favorite games while you watch and comment? ⁹

You may want to add YOU-TA in your list of Twitch favorite channels. He just opened his own Twitch channel to play the remake of Resident Evil 2 ¹⁰ and “go on a GIANT KILLING spree.” You can follow him and check out his archives here. I’ve already played the original game when it was first released in the late ’90s ¹¹ so I already know how the story of this game goes and I won’t spoil. ¹²

I love going to the guys’ livestreams if I don’t miss them and do comment a lot, however, with You-ta’s Twitch, I’m just a viewer. I don’t want to comment anything that may spoil the game and I also want him to figure out any obstacles that come in his way (not including killing off zombies…). However, I also learned that he does encourage everyone to keep commenting even if doesn’t answer all of them, mainly because he needed moral support while playing the game. ¹³ Next time when I do join in, I’ll be sure to comment.

That’s it for today’s What’s Happening? post. Are you all ready for the spring season, Axcels? I sure am!

Till next time!

1. I recommend the light novels more. They provide a lot more detail than the manga would, plus the official romaji spellings of the characters are on the light novel, in which the anime is basing its series on.
2. I’m partial on this myself. I watch both subbed and dubbed, depending on the story’s setting. For example, I’ll watch the anime dubbed when the setting takes place in a country outside of Japan. The U.S., for example…
3. Or rather LIN’s and YUKI’s take, since they’re the ones who write the lyrics including the English parts…
4. MADKID already recorded the English version of the song before I translated the lyrics myself.
5. Summer Time was the first!
6. “Tanabe’s Room.” Tanabe is Kazuki’s last name.
7. Obviously that’s not his real name, but that’s the moniker that he goes by professionally.
8. Manju is steamed bun. It’s obviously Chinese, of course. I heard that in Korea, manju is mandu, though I hear that they call it manju over there as well. In the Philippines, it’s siopao.
9. I’m one!
10. The Japanese original title of the game is Biohazard RE:2
11. I was still a college/university student back then…
12. If you want to get spoiled, go look it up in Wikipedia.
13. Imagine playing a horror survival game such as this one during late night… I’m gonna need moral support for sure…