Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

There’s something to be said about hidden beauty. I too, was filled with utter rage when Azusa trimmed her hair for the new Ryuuguu Komachi group (short hair belongs to Makoto, darn it!). Although put her in a fashionable wedding dress, and I look past such a giant flaw and my emotions begin to waver. A weak man is me.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

On another viewpoint, Miki was not a person that I expected would fit a wedding dress that well. But she has a point there.

A wedding dress gives the first impression of elegance and beauty1, which Azusa displayed so well with her long hair and appearance (ara ara~). I never knew that you could switch the whole look around. With Miki donning the dress, you definitely get a more active feeling. Dynamic, even. Something I didn’t expect from a wedding dress. With that outlook, perhaps Azusa’s short hair look will turn out a new perspective as well. Azusa always had concerns about finding her ideal partner and looking old for her age, and maybe the haircut was just the thing she needed to freshen up her look and spark a change. Real life wedding dresses also appear to forgo a transformation of its own2 .

Hidden attractions

In this week’s episode of Idolm@ster, Azusa and her poor direction sense gets her into a tour of the whole city where the wedding dress photography event was taking place, leaving the Producer also lost in direction3. I am quickly reminded of the time I got lost getting from Zellers to a friend’s house even with a print out of a Google Maps directions page. Through her short journey, her helpful personality ends up making her the good samaritan, as well as putting up quite a self-display.

Living in “The Best Place On Earth”4 supposedly (sometimes I really wonder where they get that), I barely know my ins and outs of Vancouver. I was urged by my dad to get up and at ‘em and to visit around downtown, as well as visit a Japanese festival around downtown, which was nice, but that’s about it recently. I give credit to this city since there are places that are truly beautiful. Expanding on last Friday’s intermissions post, we can be so caught up in everything going on (take the upcoming school season, for example) that we are limited to the sights of our own neighbourhood. Sometimes the best adventures can be in our own city5 instead of constantly feeling the need to travel. I find some truth in my friend’s words when he says he doesn’t want to travel, but that he hasn’t even fully explored the entirety of the city just yet. There must be hidden wonders that haven’t caught our eye yet6.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juicyzeus/6084905406/in/pool-british_columbia

I leave this picture to you of a city I treasure as much as my hometown, and urge you to set out on a walk one day. A bottle of water, some change, and a phone (don’t forget emergencies), and possibly a bike are all you need to view the sights.

Notes

1. Japan really puts an emphasis on wedding dresses (in this case, kimonos) and their weddings. Some weddings can even have wedding ceremonies that cost up to 10 million yen (around 100 thousand dollars)!
2. Some examples of unique wedding dresses.
3. Was also going to put in a segment of the Producer and his poor sense of directing the idols at first, but forgot until the end, thus the side note. At first, the Producer was also a bit lost, being the new guy and all, so he kind of messed up scheduling and the sort in a previous episode. He has quite a sense of ganbatte though, so I hope he’ll become a better man by the end of the series. He has his good sides to him, after all.
4. There may be some truth to it after all. I’m not advertising Vancouver in any way though. Everyone has their own city that their love. If you can drop by though, then by all means! ;D
5. Geotagging seems like a fun activity to try one day.
6. Incidentally, it’s also quite an excuse that he uses not to travel anywhere outside of the city…