Mirai-chan, dannychoo.com’s new mascot
Illustration by Yuuko Azami
I want one too…

You can view the episode on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

I translated the portions of the show that feature him. You can take a look after the jump.

~ on-screen text.
// translator notes

BlogTV Episode 30 Part 1/3
(Danny appears at around the 2-minute mark)

Tokyo, Akihabara. Here walks a living urban legend.

Good evening to everyone watching BlogTV. I am reporter Danny Choo.

~ Danny Choo
~ Possesses indepth knowledge of anime, manga and otaku culture.
~ Revered as a god-like figure by Western fans.

Today I shall bring you into depths of Akihabara.

The legendary cosplayer: The God, Danny Choo.

~ Danny Choo Akiba Report
~ Illustration: Yuuko Azami

Danny, with his huge collection of figures, is creating waves across the net.

The first store we are visiting is called Kotobukiya.

~ Hobby Shop Kotobukiya (Radio Kaikan)
~ Tokyo-to Chiyoda-ku Sotokanda 1-15-16 Akihabara Radio Kaikan 1F2F

They sell many different figures and they have a lot of the latest stuff.
You can find many types of figures inside, such as Star Wars, Gundam and anime ones.
I just bought this one this week.
It’s a figure of Mikuru-chan from an anime called Haruhi.
Isn’t she cute?
I think she’ll look perfect on my desk at work.
You can even consider giving it as a gift to your superior.

And next we have Mirei-san.
It’s a Kotobukiya-exclusive figure.
A lot of my blog readers are awaiting her release.
I want her too.

Here we have various mecha models.
Like Armored Core and things like that.
These are pretty cool.

BlogTV Episode 30 Part 2/3
(Danny appears at around 5:41)

~ Danny Choo Akiba Report

~ Exclusive to Akihabara
~ Akiba Cookies
~ 800 yen

Well, the next shop is Asobit City.

~ Asobit Character City

This particular branch focuses on figures and toys.

// ZOMG Younha‘s Houkiboshi playing in the background!

~ Danny greeting a pair of girls who have come for interviews to be Akiba maids.

Why don’t you introduce yourself?
I came from England, my name is Danny.
Right now, I am studying the Way of Otaku.
That’s why I am learning about cosplay, figures and maid cafes.

~ Danny walking to the maid cafe with the two girls.

This is my regular outfit.

Eh?
Show us your face.
Oh! Umm, I’ll take it off later.

// ZOMG Mai:lish. I love that place!

~ It seems that filming isn’t allowed inside.

Danny told me that although there are still more footages left unaired, he isn’t sure if they will be shown in next week’s episode. We’ll see. Maybe Danny Choo Akiba Report will even become a regular section of BlogTV… LOL.

Picture shamelessly taken without permission from dannychoo.com

It took Danny Choo to get me to watch a Japanese talk show. And me being me, I decided to take my first shot at translating one. It’s a whole new world out there. I’ll translate anime and games over incoherent talk show ramblings any day! Well, it’s incomplete but I did my best… どうぞ

BlogTV #16 3/3 (Aired 20th October)
{ } = Translator’s comments

Woman: This is the corner of our show every week where we showcase “Super Blogs” with in-depth coverage of a chosen theme.

Woman: Our theme this week is “Figures”.

Woman: And here he is.

Man: Here he is!

Man: Die Imperial scum! {okay, I lied. I don’t know this. something-domo niwa ankoku wo!}

Man: I want to wear it too.

Woman: Oh, you can see the jealousy all over his face. But please stop looking at me. Kowai~

Man: I want one!!! I want one!

Woman: So anyway, I’m sure you are all wondering about this outfit here. After selecting a few Super Blogs out of the numerous figure-related blogs, we have invited this gentleman today to introduce us to them.

Man: Eh? He is going to introduce them?

Woman: Yeah. This is Danny Choo, the site owner of dannychoo.com, a blog that introduces the various aspects of the Otaku Culture, such as figure, anime, idols and cosplay, to the world. Welcome, Danny Choo-san.

Man: Yay! Welcome!

Danny: Nice to meet you.

Woman: The armour looks scary but he’s actually such a gentle person inside. I’m relieved. ^_^

Man: It looks great.

Woman: May I know why are you dressed in that?

Danny: Oh this? This is my normal appearance. ^_^

Danny: See, I wear civilian clothings in the daytime…

Man: {LOL} civilian?

Danny: …and change into this when I get home. Yup.

Man: Which one’s the real you?

Danny: This one is.

Woman: Aren’t you supposed to keep your identity secret? {I’m not sure about this either}

Danny: SHhhhhhh *wink* kinsoku jikou desu {ok I lied again}

Man: By the way, how much did this cost?

Danny: Hmmm, well… It’s about 300k yen in total, somewhere around there. {Nearly 3000 USD}

Man: 300k?!?

Danny: Yup

Man: Well I guess it’s just nice that Halloween is around the corner.

Danny: Yeah.

Danny: I do plan on walking around {on that day}.

Woman: So anyway, before we ask you to introduce the other blogs, may we first have you tell us more about what kind of site is dannychoo.com?

Danny: Okay, let’s see. I cover topics such as event reports for anime, games and figures, figure reviews and occasionally idol events. It’s an Otaku blog with a focus on figures. Yup.

Man: Wow. I can feel the overflowing Otaku spirit.

Woman: As you can see on the site right now, there certainly are a lot of figures. Danny-san, just how many do you own?

Danny: Well, I’ve never actually counted them before, but I probably have 98.

Woman: Down to the exact digit? And you say you didn’t count them. {my translation is awkward but I think you get the idea}

Man: Is this your house? {can’t hear what comes after. I hate talk shows desu}

Danny: Yeah.

Danny: I display my figures outside of shelves, so they often collect dust. Once in a while, I clean them and take the opportunity to line them up on the stairs.

Man: This is almost like Hinamatsuri. {Wikipedia explains it better than I can}

Woman: The title for this entry is “Stairway to Heaven”, right?

Woman: I heard your blog has an English version too.

Danny: Yeah. In general, 60% of my readers read the English version and the rest read the Japanese version.

Man: So when you post, do you write the English version first or the Japanese version first?

Danny: Oh, it depends. But generally, I write the English version first and then translate it into Japanese.

Man: Are the contents the same?

Danny: Well, sometimes I have Japanese-only entries and sometimes I have English-only contents.

Woman: Just a question, what do your foreign readers think about the Otaku Culture?

Danny: Well, the people who link to my blog are generally self-acknowledged otaku. That is to say, the foreign readers tend to have a rather cool image of otaku.

Woman: Oh, I see.

Man: Cool?

Woman: So it’s like the Otaku appeal?

Danny: Yeah like, “I’m an otaku”.

Man: I see, I see. In Japan, when we say “otaku”, it’s often like “Otaku? Ewww”. I guess it really depends on the culture.

Woman: Yeah, Akiba culture has really grown these days. It’s almost like a link to the rest of the world.

Danny: Yeah, I agree.

Woman: Well then, may we have Danny-san introduce some of his favourite figure blogs now?

Man: Well Danny-san is so well-versed in the topic himself, his recommendations must be really good.

Woman: Yeah, totally… BTW I just have to add this useless line to make my presence felt. {I kid, I kid}

Woman: Here’s the first one.

Danny: Yeah, this is Akiba-blog. This is the first Akiba-kei blog I’ve visited. {Me too!!!} It talks about the events at Akihabara and the occasional Sunday cosplay displays. {note: they seal off the whole street of Akihabara on some Sundays for pedestrians to walk and cosplay on} They also report on figures, new shop openings and shop closings.

Woman: There are some pretty ecchi stuff too, huh? {ecchi = sexual/porn}

Danny: Yeah, just a little. {Oh come on Danny, that’s such a huge lie…}

Woman: Certainly makes your heart beat faster. {no yaoi kthx}

Man: I heard that foreigners who come to Japan don’t just go to Akihabara for the cheap electronics these days. They are also interested in the Otaku Culture and see Akiba as an Otaku Mecca, {so true, so true…} almost like a real holy land.

Danny: Yeah, the people who read my blog generally want to go to Akihabara first when they come to Japan, not to buy the electronic products but to get figures and things like that.

Man: Do you think it’ll take off if we have something like Akihabara in Silicon Valley?

Woman: I heard there are plenty of places like that in various parts of the world.

Woman: I wonder why {something I can’t catch}. Well, let’s continue on to the next blog. What kind of site is this?

Danny: It’s moeyo.com, a very Akiba-kei blog. It mainly focuses on figures. The site owner often receives figures before they are released and take pictures of them. I often use refer to this site to decide whether to pre-order certain figures.

Man: Ah, I see.

Woman: It says “Moé-kei“. The site’s certainly moé. {Moé!!!}

Man: Yeah, it sure is.

Woman: It’s getting quite popular these days.

Woman: It really is quite amazing. Just looking at this site makes you go “Wow”.

Man: But actually, I’ve seen a lot of figures at Akihabara personally. Somehow they seem to look a lot more moé in these 2D pictures than the real 3D ones which are quite small.

Woman: So you don’t like them in 3D?

Man: Yeah, somehow I prefer them 2D instead of 3D. {what a bold statement desu}

Woman: Danny-san, how do you think your hobby will grow and develop?

Danny: Well, I just can’t imagine a world without figures. It’s like a soothing presence to me. In this stressful society, I think my growing collection will keep me going and I’ll continue to blog about them.

Woman: So, as your collection grows and grows, {something I can’t catch}

Man: Do you think that small figures are better? Or do you prefer them to be bigger?

Danny: Well, the small ones are good for carrying around.

Man: So it’s like a memorial?

Danny: Yeah, a memorial figure.

Danny: And the large ones, I leave on the desk at work or at home.

Woman: I wonder how large will your collect go. Maybe eventually your floor will disappear. Danny-san, what do you think figures mean to otaku, including yourself?

Danny: Well, as I said just now, they are a really soothing presence.

Woman: Oh, so that’s the whole thing behind it? {for some reason, I just have a hard time phrasing her words}

Danny: Yeah, indeed.

Woman: As you can see, his face is so full of joy.

Man: Yeah, it’s good to smile.

Danny: Yeah, it is.

Woman: And that was Danny-san. Thank you very much for today.

Man: Thank you very much.

Woman: And that’s it for this “Super Blogs” corner. Interesting.

INSERT SPONSOR MESSAGE BRAINWASH PROPAGANDA

Woman: Ahh! He’s really kowai!

Man: Oh that was great.

Woman: Please don’t shoot at me!

Man: Oh man, I want it so bad… I want it…

Woman: Isn’t this Darth Vadar?

Man: No, it’s a Stormtrooper. We are alright.

Woman: But I’m still scared. Oh oh, you’re hit!

Woman: Well, we are really done for today.

Man: We talked a lot about figures today, a topic we hadn’t really covered before.

Woman: Yeah, it’s like a whole new world.

Man: Yeah, I really learnt a lot.

Woman: Welcome to the 2D world.

Woman: And this week, we have a live webcam view from {some place} in Germany.

Man: Doesn’t this look cool?

Woman: Well, see you next week. Bye bye.