So you're a new Arashi fan/you want to help your friend getting into Arashi/help other find stuff without being bothered, but it's quite complicated to get yourself around. Search no more my friend because you've come to the right place (without pretention of course!). I'll try not to write too much because it can get overwhelming, but I'll try to concisely list ressources, along with the correct method to search and download stuff (that's the number one request I generally get: "Do you know where I can find XXXXX?").
The big Arashi starter pack
Without further ado, we'll start with a big zip file with many awesome/must see videos, because videos... are better than words!
Download links: Mega |
MF (1.91Gb)
Click here if you don't know how to download from those websites and unzip and join filesInside the pack I also added some shortcut links to useful ressources to watch short clips and such, and a "read me" describing each file. Here is what's inside of it:
*whispers* You should watch "[Live] Arashi - Hope in the Darkness (THE DIGITALIAN)" first ~(˘▾˘~)
Pimp posts
If you don't know what a pimp post is, basically, in any fandom, a pimp post is a post to introduce an interest or idea to other people in hopes that they will like/follow the interest/idea due to a wealth of information.
I made just a quick graphic, because a lot of Arashi subs are color-coded, and when you're new to the fandom, it's easy to get lost (just notice, for the future, that Aiba-chan and Jun's colors are inverted in C/D/G no Arashi and Arashi no Shukudai-kun).
You will find many great pimp posts in
this entry made by
justfever .
I'll just add my three favorite links to start quickly with Arashi:
Getting started with Arashi fan communities
As of April 2017, a big part of the international fandom is present mainly on
Twitter and
Tumblr.
If you're new to those social networks, I suggest the following:
- for twitter, you can start by checking the list of accounts that I follow here, that will give you a general overview (you can also check who those accounts follow too), and then twitter will give you recommendations later, so you will be able to adjust your timeline according to YOUR taste. Here is a more in-depth tutorial on how to start with twitter.
- for tumblr, check the Arashi tag, from there, you can see which accounts post often and which one you want to follow. Also checking the tag only will get you up to date informations too. Here is a more in-depth tutorial on how to start with tumblr.
But here you are on dreamwidth/livejournal, and while even Facebook and Instragram (and I believe, also Pinterest) have a lot of Arashi fans (also a lot discuss in LINE groups), this is where the real business is happening because mainly here will you find subs!
nicefinalbeam made an awesome tutorial for Livejournal, so I highly suggest you read it carefully because there are many unspoken rules in this fandom that you should be aware of.You also should know that, since the new TOS of Livejournal, a lot of people and communities are migrating to Dreamwidth, it's basically a clone of Livejournal, so the same etiquette should be applied there as well.
If you want to try your hand at Dreamwidth, I highly suggest that you read
this tutorial by
coolohoh.
Arashi communities
Now that you're all set for Livejournal, here is the very basic list of Arashi communities you should follow in order to be always up to date with what is happening in the fandom (especially if you're looking for subs). As of now, I'll refer to Livejournal with "LJ" and Dreamwidth with "DW":
arashi_on
arashi_off
storm_freaks(this community is great if you want to bring up your comments counter and make friends, because it's really active, with games, and a good place to chat)
arashi_bangumi (a community to post reviews on episode. It's great if you don't know what to watch, to bring up your comment/posting history, and sometimes, if you couldn't find subs for a certain episode, you can get an overview reading the corresponding the summary)
How to get your Arashi medias
Now we've come to the real reason you're here :)
I've made a
big flowchart at the end with the tried-and-tested process to find almost every Arashi file you may need to find.
1/ How to search efficiently
- First, you want to know what you're looking for. For many files, you will need to search sometimes in Japanese, sometimes in Korean, so you should refer to this guide I made.
- You will also need sometimes, somewhere, to type in Japanese, so please follow this tutorial on how to install the Japanese keyboard on your computer.
- You should also know that Japanese files are almost always listing the airdate in this order: YYYY/MM/DD. You should try different formatting if you cannot find what you need on the first try: YYYY.MM.DD | YYMMDD | YYYY年 MM月 DD日
- If you're looking for a video where you only have a gif or a picture, and if you cannot get informations from what could be written on the picture, try using Google reverse image search (here's a tutorial).
- If you ever need to request something, you should do it here at
arashi_on but please be careful to read the rules first and be mindful on how you do it or you will get banned. Once again, please read
nicefinalbeam 's guide to Livejournal to know the proper etiquette to adopt.
2/ Get your tools ready
- I highly highly highly recommend that you get Jdownloader 2, because it will simplify your life immensely. It's a download manager, that support almost every plateforms, it will unzip your file, join them, manage their passwords etc... it's just that amazing and time saving! Here is a very simple tutorial. Jdownloader will deal with the 5 points below, it is THAT amazing!
- You will need to know how to download from Mega
- You will need to know how to download from Mediafire
- You will need to know how to extract archives using winrar
- You will need to know how to join split files using HJsplit
- It's a bonus, but you can also get a video downloader extension for your web browser like Video Downloader Professional (free) if you want to download from streaming sites
- You will maybe later need Clubbox and/or Baidu, but we'll get to this part later.
- I recommend that you update all your video codecs using K-lite codec pack.
- Also I recommend the use of VLC as your video player. And here is a tutorial on how to add subtitles to a video using VLC (this will only work with softsubs, most usually you will get them for dramas and movies, the subtitles are in a separate file and not directly on the video).
3/ Find your subsThere are great listings of subbed files around, so I'll list them all here. Just know that you will encounter MANY locked entries and unfortunately behind that, EVEN MORE dead links (because of the
great Megaupload tragedy). I highly recommend, if you have not done it yet, that you really read
nicefinalbeam 's
guide to Livejournal because it covers that aspect.
we_make_storm (updated until 2013, not updated anymore)
arashic_index (updated until 2014, not updated anymore)
gonindeiru (starts from 2013 onwards, still updated)
- JE index (updated until 2011, not updated anymore)
kazunari (updated until 2013, not updated anymore)
arashiproject (a huge revival project, if you encounter a dead file, you should check this site)
4/ Find your audios and rawsSooner or later you will need to get raws ressources (raw means not-subbed here), here is a list of places to go:
arashigoodies (audios, pvs, concerts, dramas, movies etc...)
ninotendo (tv shows, dramas, movies etc...)
yumenohashi (recent TV shows, fast at updating after the airdate)
amnos_n0_asa (recent promotionnals shows, fast at updating after the airdate)
- There are other LJ communities for raws that are really up to date but they don't allow to link back to them. I suggest you look for the raw provider credit on subbed files and errr.... ask your friends for "KnH" and "DSS".
- Pan.baidu is a Chinese online cloud storage and is the number one raw provider for Arashi stuff. You can read my tutorial to learn how to use it.
- Clubbox is a Korean online cloud storage, really slow, but also a great source and easier to find stuff (especially old) than baidu. You can read my tutorial to learn how to use it.
- Naver is a Korean social plateform where you will be able to stream almost every video you want. Here is a great tutorial by
shelketuesti.
- Bilibili is a Chinese video streaming site.
- Youku is a Chinese video streaming site.
- Tudou is a Chinese video streaming site.
- MioMio is a Japanese video streaming site
- Pandora.TV is a Japanese video streaming site
- And ultimately, here is my tutorial on how to watch to Japanese TV and listen to Japanese radio live online :)
5/ The ultimate flowchart on how to search for your Arashi stuffWorks better if you've read the 4 points above or else you will feel lost!
Thank you for reading all of this, now you're fully prepare to buy another external HDD to download all those amazing Arashi stuff :D
Feel free to link this post anywhere :)
Also feel free to make suggestions in the comments to complete this guide!
But most of all: BAIT YOUR FRIENDS (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧ ✧゚・: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)
Winkyy..most of the guide video are my fave bideo of their dhows or perf xD
I m happy