Suugaku Joshi Gakuen

[cadmonkey]

Has there been any indication that the S/mileage girls are going to get an episode, or are there relegated to...whatever the heck they do on the show?

[al kusanagi]

They are just what they are. I had hoped that their group was going to go up against the Nina-wannabes in episode 7, but they didn't do anything beyond their standard Greek chorus act.



Also, this was the first episode to debunk the whole "Risa isn't real/she's all in Nina's head" theory, since Sayu and Kazuki actually interact with her too.



And let's talk about Kazuki for a moment. Sure he's totally their bitch, but homeboy gets to massage Sayu, Reina and Maimi, while Airi follows him around! I'd gladly suffer for that honor!

[cadmonkey]

Ah...oh well. At least we get to see them every week.



As for Kazuki, I've never been more jealous of a guy that looks nerdier than me and gets shoved around in my entire life.

[al kusanagi]

Halfway through translating episode 8 when I get to the scene of Nakky seducing Sayu... <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ebleed.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':nosebleed:' />



I'll be back after a cold shower!

[al kusanagi]

Now I have no idea what's going on with the series. Episode 9 won't be Mano and Karin, but instead an episode about Maimi and some guy, which would then make episode 10 the Mano one. They had the thing about Nina's sister at the end of the credits this week, so I'd assume that it would be resolved by the end, but that means the show must be going beyond 10 episodes.

[al kusanagi]

Double WHAT THE HELL?!?



There's a SJG social game on gree, and it has pictures of Rika, Kaori and Kei in older style uniforms as students at the school! Flashback episode? It also seems to confirm my "Rika will be Nina's sister" theory.

[KirarinSnow]

Imported from Ep. 8 thread:



[quote name='KirarinSnow' timestamp='1330623326' post='120407']

[quote name='KirarinSnow' timestamp='1330617276' post='120401']

[quote name='KirarinSnow' timestamp='1330612588' post='120393']

[quote name='masa' timestamp='1330572275' post='120348']



豆知識

駒場 : 東京大学

三田 : 慶応義塾大学

四谷 : 上智大学



[/quote]



I was thinking the surnames were references to places in Tokyo (including Shibuya and Harajuku from earlier episodes)...

[/quote]



I like these connections. The trio from episode 7 have seasonal given names (Aki, Natsu, Haru) and family names indicating locations of amusement parks in Greater Tokyo (Hakkeijima: Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise; Maihama: Tokyo Disney Resort; Daiba: Palette Town)

[/quote]



Having looked at all the character names, I'm convinced they're all (except Kazuki, whose actor's name is ironically also a street in Tokyo) referring to places in the Greater Tokyo Area, with groups of characters being thematically related locations.



I'm having some trouble figuring out the connection among Tengenji, Okura, and Yamashita (played by the S/mileage members), though.

[/quote]





It appears that each of the characters, except Kazuki and Risa's character, has a family name that indicates a location in the Greater Tokyo Area. These group in interesting ways with regard to the characters' roles in the drama. I've plotted the locations in this Google Map: http://g.co/maps/an3j5



Nina and Sayuri are two cities within Tokyo Prefecture, off to the west of everybody else.



The two 1st-year trios form longer lines going down into Kanagawa Prefecture. Their introduction orders in the show go from south to north for both of the trios. Each one is also thematically grouped.



The S/mileage trio have names indicating sea (Umi), land (Riku), and air (Sora). Of their family names, Yamashita is ambiguous, but it fits Umi thematically if we go with Yamashita-cho in Yokohama, which is partially built on top of the sea. Okura is likely Okurayama, which has a giant park, hence the connection to land. Tengenji can only be one place, really, which is a bridge in Hiroo, Tokyo, or the crossing adjacent to it, which has pedestrian bridges on four sides; hence air.



The other 1st-year trio are named after seasons: autumn (Aki), summer (Natsu), spring (Haru). Their family names are locations of seaside amusement parks: Hakkeijima (Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise), Maihama (Tokyo Disney Resort), Daiba (Palette Town).



All the other characters are confined to a small region in the center of Tokyo, and many of them around Shibuya.



The Shibuya Junior Police Squad have names indicating neighborhoods of Shibuya: Jinnan, Udagawa, Miyashita, Miyamasu. These extend to the north of Shibuya crossing.



The Morality Squad are Jingu, Aoyama, and Azabu, indicating a shrine, a cemetery, and a temple, respectively.



The Gluttony Girls form a triangle around Okubo: Nakano, Otsuka, and Akasaka. I'm guessing these are related to food.



The elite trio have names indicating the locations of three universities: Komaba (University of Tokyo), Mita (Keio University), Yotsuya (Sophia University).



Uehara and her supporter, Hatsudai, are near each other in the vicinity of Yoyogi.



Shirokane and her pupil, Meguro, (to appear) are also near each other.



The other characters, Harajuku and Nagata, are also in the central area of Tokyo. Nagata is where the National Diet is, which is somewhat fitting for her role as referee.



I'm not sure about the significance of many of the characters' given names, except the first-years and those that are very similar to the names of the H!P members playing them. Does anyone have any insights as to the naming of the characters with respect to Tokyo geography? This feels almost like a puzzle to me. XD

[al kusanagi]

I don't think there's any real significance to the main characters' names beyond sounding like their actual names, especially since there are several ad-libbed bits, and it's be easier to cover up character name slips. As you pointed out, there are themes with some of the challengers' first names, but I think it's the last names where most of the effort was put into.



Also, episode 8 features Nakky seducing Sayu, Maimi in handcuffs, and Nakky tied to a chair while Maimi tickles her into submission... Are they purposefully trying to turn me into more of a deviant?!?

[roddyreta]

I enjoy this series a lot (mainly because I like the girls, but it's also quite funny in spots), but the last two episodes have been a little meh. The formula is starting to get repetitive. I'm starting to think that the Sayu-Momo episode may have been the peak (and that episode was dramatically different from the others in format).



Hopefully, now that the sister plot is finally starting up, we can see something new happen.

[masa]

Here are articles of Suugaku Joshi Gakuen. When they are dead link, I'll delete them.

Spoiler: [+]

[rob]

When is the Mano episode? Anyone know?

[al kusanagi]

In 2 more weeks. Episode 10.

[al kusanagi]

Is anyone a member at a place called Musume Central? Apparently they are hosting direct downloads of the show subbed in one of their members only areas, and I want to know if it's our version. I don't think we'd have any problems with people hosting direct downloads of our subs, as long as credit is given (someone at H!O says they are currently uploading them to one of their sites and says they'd be happy to maintain them), but by putting the show in a place that only members of their site can get to seems a little iffy.



Any thoughts? I don't have a problem of them making the show available by direct download, but I think they should do it in a way that's accessible by all.

[aine]

If they are hosting it on their own server and not re-encoding them or anything, then I'd say it's fair enough. If we were uploading the episodes to the BBS' server then we wouldn't be spreading the direct links around either because the server would explode.



But if they're just putting them on public uploaders and keeping it to themselves then that's an asshole thing to do and I wish someone would tell them to stop. Can't be bothered to register there myself though.



I've nothing against our episodes being put for direct download (again - only as long as the files are not modified in any way), but for a number of reasons I'm not willing to do it myself. Too bad the Asian Cinematic site stopped updating. But if someone else doesn't mind taking care of that then I'll be happy to add the dd links to the torrent descriptions etc. I'm sure a lot of people who can torrent will pick a dd instead and it will be a shame not seeing the episodes hit 1k downloads on H!O one after another, but there's no point in putting all that effort in subbing if we then limit our audience.





tl;dr suugaku rapidshit plx.

[roddyreta]

I'm a member of M.C. and they do have mediafire Direct Download links for all the subbed episodes. It's for members only. In fact, all their download sections are for members only -- isn't that the way it works for a lot of these forums? I personally don't find it a big deal, since it takes about a minute to sign up.



It's probably also worth pointing out that you can watch all the subbed episodes in streaming format on Drama Crazy.

[rob]

Be warned, what you are about to see is.... too... cute!



Don't Say I didn't warn you!



I think the dictionary needs to be changed, so when you look up the word "Cute" there is a photo of Karin <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... #>/wub.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wub:' />

[al kusanagi]

She may be evil, judging from the preview of next episode, but that just makes her cuter!



It also sounds like Maasa's character will be returning next week.



Speaking of cute, the Shibuya Junior Police Squad totally need their own spinoff. I want to see them kicking butt and solving crimes on a weekly basis!



Salute!

[al kusanagi]

The two highest rated episodes of the show have been the two Maimi-centered episodes.. Is there something about her popularity in Japan I don't know about? I absolutely love her, but I figured it would have been the Airi episode that had the highest rating, what with her getting all the PBs and magazine appearances. Poor Maasa's still the bottom by far though...



Ratings:



1 (vs Sayu) 1.6%

2 (vs Maimi) 1.7%

3 (vs Maasa) 1.0%

4 (vs Yu) 1.3%

5 (vs Airi) 1.4%

6 (vs Momoko) 1.6%

7 (vs Eggs) 1.5%

8 (vs NackyChisaMai) 1.4%

9 (Maimi episode) 1.7%

[masa]

As for TV ratings of Kanto region, while all the number of households is about 18 million,

the number of the samples is only 600.

The result of ratings seems within the sampling error.

Or Maimi's wota may be one of the samples. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... joyful.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':joyful:' />

[al kusanagi]

Wow! The rating for this episode was 2.7%, almost double their average!



Of course, we all know what that means: The fans demand more Karin!!!

[Shoujo Q]

Mano, U a Bitch.

[rob]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1331773487' post='121403']

Wow! The rating for this episode was 2.7%, almost double their average!



Of course, we all know what that means: The fans demand more Karin!!!

[/quote]



<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /weeeh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':weeeh:' />



I can't wait to see this episode, instead of playing where's wally with Karin at Hello! Project concerts she actually has something to do!

Also Reborn will be a must watch when that's released.



Go Karin!

[al kusanagi]

So, yeah, episode 11 is insane. The sister theory was completely dead on but instead of going all serious with this final arc, they've just gone batshit insane! Dance numbers?!? Panda?!? Ultra high quality Kaori and Kei cheese that has gone unseen for nearly a decade since the days of the awesome Hello Morning sketches!!!



Can't wait for the finale.

[Shoujo Q]

I couldn't take Rika seriously, could NOT.



Best episode yet though! Kaori and Kei were awesome. LOVE THEM (together)!

[KirarinSnow]

Haha, Sugamo and Asakusa, both popular with the older generation. I need to add those to the Tokyo map.

[al kusanagi]

So I got my copy of the SJG PB yesterday. It's alright. It's got photo synopses of each episode, run downs on all the challenges and punishments, character relationship diagrams, and a whole lot of interviews with various members. It's also got new pictures of Sayu, Reina, Maimi and Airi, along with a big interview with them.



The Airi things bugs me a little though... I adore her and I know she's popular, but she really doesn't deserve a spot as a "main character" like they're billing her as. She had one episode where she was the challenger and then maybe five total minutes of air time over the rest of the series, as compared to Maimi who was a challenger, had her own episode, served as judge for an episode, and has been the 4th member of Team Nina since her introduction in all but a couple of episodes. Hell, the girl straight up put her academic career on the line for them in episode 10, and took on the Elites to rescue Sayu in episode 8. All Airi has done is occasionally creep on Kazuki.

[Shoujo Q]

I agree, if anyone should be thrown into the group with Maimi, Sayu and Reina it should be Riho. She's has more episodes then Airi.

[al kusanagi]

[quote name='Shoujo Q' timestamp='1332883429' post='122235']

I agree, if anyone should be thrown into the group with Maimi, Sayu and Reina it should be Riho. She's has more episodes than Airi.

[/quote]



<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... lesson.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lesson:' />



I don't see why it just couldn't have been Kazuki. I know some people might not want dudes in their PB, but he's all over the place in the episode pictures and I'm sure there are girls out there that dig on him since he seems to be a decent-looking and nice guy.

[Shoujo Q]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1332883580' post='122236']

[quote name='Shoujo Q' timestamp='1332883429' post='122235']

I agree, if anyone should be thrown into the group with Maimi, Sayu and Reina it should be Riho. She's has more episodes than Airi.

[/quote]



<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... lesson.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lesson:' />



I don't see why it just couldn't have been Kazuki. I know some people might not want dudes in their PB, but he's all over the place in the episode pictures and I'm sure there are girls out there that dig on him since he seems to be a decent-looking and nice guy.

[/quote]

[andrewmarlin]

If the guy that plays Kazuki in UFA? I thought since it was a H!P drama they would add some UFA, but no outside people. Also episode 10 was the Mano Erina episode right? One last thing. Am I missing a pun or something with the panda eyes on Nina's sister? Who is playing her as well? Tons of questions