- Editted @ 050919 12noon-

Takki updated Takiren No. 181 There are hopes for MORE shows to be added We are to wait for official announcements Takki has spies from the Jimusho who go around the Internet scanning at fans' blogs I tell ya. He knows that we have been waiting impatiently for his concert dates. Dakara, he/Johnny decided to release the dates for Osaka and Yokohama first, knowing that all fans are going to grab the opportunity to spend X'mas with Takki. But Takki assures us that there are more dates to be released soon. He/they are still in the midst of coordination. Dakara, they cannot announce the rest of the dates yet. But Takki told us to wait for official announcements There will DEFINITELY be additional shows Yata!~~~~ I don't know why I'm so happy about that cos I'll most probably not be able to go for other shows anyway. But I'm definitely very happy that he will have more than TWO days of concerts! I hope it'll be a real concert tour Yata!~~~ Omedetou gozaimasu~~ Takki, your FIRST solo concert and it'll most probably be a tour too!

Minna, we must gamfammi and go F-L-O-O-D Avex with requests for Takki's solo con DVD! Takki/Jimusho/Avex does hear our screams, no matter which part of the world we are at!!! An excellent example is Tsubasa! Just 2 days into his solo concert and he announced that there are dvd cameras to make a Tsubacon dvd already!!!! He is proof that the power of fans is great and we can be heard!!!

Everyone, please drown Avex with requests for Takki's FIRST EVER solo concert!!! Onegaishimasu!!!

- End of Edit-

Starry Sky!!!!! Here we come!!!!! Woohoo!~~~~~~ Sorry not thinking straight!!! Will write properly later again!! But I need to scream out first.

TAKKI SOLO CON DATES ARE OUT!!!!!! They were announced today at Tsubasa's opening concert day!!!!

Takki Solo Con - Sayonara 2005 Arigatou
23/12 - 大阪城ホール (13.30 & 17.30)
25/12 - 横浜アリーナ (13.30 & 17.30)

Will be back!!! *rushes off to scream somemore*

PS: Yoshitsune Epi #36 links are up! Please refer to the previous entry!

Minna
Please vote for Takitsuba to appear for Kouhaku on 31/12/2005! Request!!! Go request like mad!!! Add this to requesting insanely for Tsubacon AND Takkicon dvds at Avex!!! Lots of work for us to do!!

1. Please go to this link --> http://www3.nhk.or.jp/kouhaku/vote/ and click on the red button below which says 「投票入り口」 (indicated with arrow).



2. Please enter your e-mail address in the spaces provided.



3. Next, NHK will inform you that they have sent you an email with a URL attached.



4. Please click on the URL and a NHK voting page will pop up. Please fill in 「夢物語」 タッキー&翼 in the respective lines as shown. Please click the bottom red button to submit your vote.



5. Please fill in your personal details. Please note that only the 1st 3 lines (marked with an asterisk *) are mandatory. Please indicate your sex gender on the 1st line. Please write your age in the 2nd line. The 3rd line is asking for your origin in Japan. Unfortunately, as all of us (almost all) are not living in Japan, please pick and choose any option you want. It does not matter.



6. A confirmation page will appear with the song title, artiste's name and the personal details which you entered. Please click 「投票する」 (bottom red button) to confirm.



7. You are done!



If you are not allowed to vote, the page below will appear.



Please note that everyone is only allowed to vote ONCE! Demo, I tried using different email addresses to vote and it worked! So, please fully utilise all the email addresses that you have and vote for 「夢物語」 Yume Monogatari!

For further information, please refer to this link --> http://www3.nhk.or.jp/kouhaku/vo...vote/howto.html

Credits: Nanana, BeeJan, Momo

PS: Please note that voting will end on 30th October.

+ ONE + TWO + THREE + FOUR + FIVE + SIX +

At Dannoura, Yoshitsune and his troops finally destroy the Heike family. With Otoku, who has come to Dannoura from Kyoto, Yoshitsune recalls the memories of Kiyomori and looks back at the rise and fall of the Heike clan as well as his younger days as Ushiwaka and Shanaou. (Episode 36 does a recap of the entire taiga from Episode 1 to Episode 35.) Realizing again that he himself is the very person who ruined the Heike family, Yoshitsune expresses his mixed feelings towards Kiyomori to Otoku. (I thought I spied Yoshitsune with tears in his eyes here.)

At night, Yoshitsune has a meeting about the Dannoura battle with his kerai, Kagetoki and Kagesue. Then, Tasanobu enters the room and reports that there are Heike survivors. He lists the names out. They include Tokuko, Tokitada, Emperor Antoku, Munemori, Kiyomune, Muneko, Akirakeiko and Yoshiko. All the kerai are glad to hear that Yoshiko is alive. Kagetoki asked Yoshitsune if he will go to see Yoshiko. However, as a commander of the Genji troops, Yoshitsune goes to see Munemori and Kiyomune first. There, Munemori asks about Tokiko and Yoshitsune breaks the news to him that Tokiko has passed away. Munemori cries.

Later, Yoshitsune meets Tokuko, Muneko and Akirakeiko. Yoshitsune asks about the whereabouts of Emperor Antoku and the sword which is one of the three sacred imperial treasures. Tokuko replies that both have gone under the sea with Tokiko.

The next morning, Yoshitsune finally meets Yoshiko at a beach. He offers living together in Kyoto, but Yoshiko says that she has already decided to throw her lot in with the Heike family. So she cannot be in close contact with anyone from the Genji, especially Yoshitsune who is a commander of the Genji troops. Yoshitsune asks who it was whom she covered with a white cloth during the Dannoura battle. Yoshiko replies that it was Shinno-sama. Before leaving, Yoshiko thanks Yoshitsune and says that she is happy to have him as a brother.

タキー&翼 3 周年おめでとうございます



May you stay together always, together and forever

Keep singing
Minna no tame ni utaitai itsumade mo
Keep shining
Kimi rashiku soshite boku rashiku kagayaite
Keep dancing
Rasen wo noboru suteppu ha tsuzuiteku
Keep smiling
Bokura ni shika dekinai koto sagashitai

Futari nara
Daijoubu sa
Wakaru yo ne
You and I

PS: Takki updated his Takiren No. 180 Who jumped? And.....I wana play jankenpon too Ja, Takki, please update tomorrow with details of your TxT date Onegaishimasu~~~ Please go drinking and eat ramen together

PS: Btw, I would really love it if you could kindly release your concert dates

Minna

Tsubasa's birthday is coming up on the 17th October! Ray-san has once again kindly created a birthday bulletin board (like the one she did for Takki earlier this year) for Tsubasa. Please help to spread the word and get as many people as possible to write birthday messages to Tsubasa!! Please follow the instructions she has written at the birthday board ya? It's really a tough job for her as she will print out all our birthday messages and send it to Tsubasa.

Birthday Message Bulletin for Tsubasa
http://free2.nazca.co.jp/mk4/sentaki/index.html

Ray-san, doumo arigatou gozaimasu
Huay, thank you so much for everything too

+ ONE + TWO + THREE + FOUR + FIVE + SIX + SEVEN +

(Ratings is 21.1%!!!!! Yayyyyyyy!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sorry this was a super long snyopsis. It's supposed to be a summarised version!!! But.. as usual, I couldn't help it! Oops... Moreover, last week's episode of Zubari is ranked 1st at 23.5%!!!! Zubari has beat SxS!!!!! Yoshitsune has beat Zubari too!!!! Kyahhh!~~~~~ OMG!!!! SxS is ranked 12th whereas Zubari is FIRST and Yoshitsune is 7th!!! Snuffles and Huay, the day arrived so much earlier than expected!! This calls for a celebration!!! *pops champagne bottle* )

One day before the battle...

Preparing for the coming battle against the Heike clan, Yoshitsune has Jiro to go check out the sea tide and works out tactics. At a tactics meeting among the Genji troops, Kagetoki offers to lead the vanguard but Yoshitsune appoints another warrior for the post. Yoshitsune feels that the other warrior is accustomed to the sea as compared to Kagetoki. Seeing Yoshitsune give priority to victory over Kagetoki’s taking credit, Kagetoki disagrees with Yoshitsune and the relationship between the two becomes further damaged.

Meanwhile, the Heike women let Yoshiko out of the locked room and discuss what to do with her as she had overheard of the secret plan to protect young Emperor Antoku. Tokiko tells Yoshiko to leave the ship of the Heike family but Yoshiko refuses, expressing her resolution to stay with the Heike family. Progressing with their plan, Tokiko and Tokuko stay in a boat with Shinno-sama. The other Heike women, including Yoshiko stay on another disguised boat with Emperor Antoku. Yoshitsune is concerned whether Yoshiko would follow his instructions that he wrote in the secret letter sent to her. However, without any means to remove his worries, Yoshitsune sails onward to face the battle against the Heike.

On the battle day...
(I thought the scene of the two huge fleets of Heike and Genji boats sailing towards each other is *quite* majestic... at least an effort!!! )

Ok, there are lots of shots of many arrows flying everywhere and people falling into the sea in slow motion. (I know NHK is trying hard. But seriously, they should hire someone from the LOTR crew already!!! A taiga deserves much better cinematography than this yo!! ) Benkei starts hurling huge boulders onto the boats nearby, oncoming to the main Genji boat. (Really, I have no idea where he got the boulders from. They stored huge boulders on the boat??!!! Ain't that kinda space-consuming, not to mention that it adds hellva weight to the boat too??!!? ) Munemori and Kiyomori's brother are hiding in the Heike boat while Tomomori leads the Heike to battle. (What cowards... and Munemori is supposed to be the head of the the Heike clan?! *pui* ) As the battle commences, more Genji reinforcements arrive by sea. These are the recent affliations with local navies which Yoshitsune and Benkei have convinced to join them. At first, the reinforcements pretended to be part of the Heike boats by putting up red flags. Then, at the last moment before joining in the battle, they throw down the red flags and switch to white instead, indicating that they are in fact part of the Genji fleet.

Though the Heike has disguised their most important boat with Emperor Antoku, Yoshitsune sees through their plan. Yoshitsune notices that there are small boats surrounding and protecting the disguised boat with Emperor Antoku, whereas the fake boat has none. Thus, Yoshitsune decides to sail towards the disguised boat. Yoshiko, upon seeing this, steps out to the side of the boat and uses a piece of long white cloth to identify herself. It is the method of protecting herself that Yoshitsune had written in the secret letter to her. Upon seeing this, Yoshitsune could finally confirm that Yoshiko is indeed his half-sister. He told his retainers to turn the boat around. Then, Emperor Antoku comes out to the side of the boat as well. Yoshiko panicks and uses the white cloth to cover Emperor Antoku instead. In the meantime, the Heike boats are fast approaching and blocks Yoshitsune's view of Yoshiko and Emperor Antoku. Then all the Heike women gathers on the boat with Emperor Antoku. More boats gather and surround to protect the Heike women.

Outside, Tomomori's boat and Yoshitsune's boat are meeting headlong. A face off is inevitable. The two fight against each other. Yoshitsune stops his retainers from helping out as it should be a fair fight between the two leaders. Tomomori and Yoshitsune exchange blows. Yoshitsune loses his footing on some arrows lying on the floor, slips and falls. Tomomori deals Yoshitsune a blow which cuts his long wooden sword into half. Kisanta sees this and is worried. In order to distract Tomomori's attention, he throws the nearest thing that he found around him, which was a bag of gold dust. He flings it at Tomomori and Tomomori slashes his sword at the bag. (Thus, we have the result of gold dust glittering in the sun and a gold dust covered Yoshitsune. ) Then, Yoshitsune pulls out his metal sword. Tomomori ditches his long wooden sword and pulls out his metal sword too. A fierce fight between the two continues. Yoshitsune did a long leap to the opposite boat. Everyone including Yoshitsune's own retainers and Tomomori stares in awe. (Watashi mo!!! ) Tomomori jumps after Yoshitsune, albeit a much shorter distance. After exchanging a few blows, Tomomori manages to inflict a cut on Yoshitsune's left cheek. (Gyahhhh~~~~~~~~~ Dame dame!!!! Anything but Yoshitsune-sama's face!!!! ) Yoshitsune fights back. Yoshitsune jumps around a few times, evading and confusing Tommori. He manages to inflict a cut on Tomomori's right cheek as well. Tomomori is stunned at Yoshitsune's skills. He stares at Yoshitsune and is reminded of their childhood days when they used to wrestle each other for fun. He realises that he cannot defeat Yoshitsune and win the battle.

Back on shore, Noriyori fends off the incoming Heike troops from the sea.

Tomomori goes to the Heike women's boat and informs them of the battle loss. Tokiko tells them that they will all jump off into the sea. (To end one's own life is considered to be more honourable than to die at the enemy's hands because you retain your family's honour.) Tokiko says that because they originated from the sea, so they will return to the sea ( I know Tokiko said say that they will return to the sea. But I'm not sure what the reason is. Gomen... my knowledge of nihongo is terrible. ) Being still young and ignorant, Emperor Antoku asks Tokiko if there is anything in the sea. Tokiko said that there are people waiting for them there, like Kiyomori, Shigemori and Koremori. Emperor Antoku then said that he wishes to see Kiyomori very much. Upon hearing that, Tokiko bursts into tears. However, she suddenly has a revelation. She has thought of an idea to save Emperor Antoku. Tokiko decides to entrust Emperor Antoku to Yoshiko as Yoshiko is after all, Yoshitsune's half sister. He is sure to spare her and the young Emperor as well.

Then, the Heike women with 3 of them holding each of the 3 treasures, together with Shinno-sama, line up at the side of the boat and mumble prayers as they prepare to jump into the sea. One by one, they start jumping off the boat with their eyes closed and palms facing each other in prayer. (Gyah....... no~~~~~~~~ It was really very saddening to watch this scene as they jumped off. ) Yoshitsune sees this from a distance and starts shouting to them to stop. He is totally shocked and upset. (I believe I saw tears welling up in his eyes. Gyah~~~~ watashi mo!!!) He tells his retainers to sail the boat quickly towards the Heike women. Yoshitsune continues to shout to them to stop jumping. Tokiko was the last woman standing at the side. She looked at Yoshitsune, gave him a smile, carried Shinno-sama and one of the treasures and jumped off. Yoshitsune is shocked in horror and shouts to her to stop, but to no avail. (More tears welling up here!!! ) Yoshiko and Emperor Antoku are still hiding inside the boat.

On another Heike boat, Munemori and Kiyomune are supposed to jump off into the sea too. However, they have no guts to. Munemori's retainer even had to push him off. Kiyomune jumped off after Munemori. However, they resurfaced and did not die. Munemori's retainer then saved them with a long wooden stick. (Why push him off and then save him after that?) Tokitada was still too shocked and depressed about the battle loss and remained hiding inside the boat.

Despite being wounded with many arrows, Tomomori continued to fight off the Genji soldiers valiantly alone. Then, Tomomori took a rope which was tied to a boat's wooden anchor and let himself fall off into the sea.

In the evening, the battle had ended. The surrounding waters were covered with fallen red flags. Although the Genji had won the battle, none of them were feeling victorious. They were all feeling sad with all the lives lost. Yoshitsune stood alone and stared into the sunset.