Tinkerbell

(tags DVD region 2, computer graphics, movie, 2008)

I was going to be stuck at home nursing a debilitating neck cramp with some proscribed painkillers, so I bought Tinkerbell (2009) the direct to retail product on DVD. Previously I picked up the CD music "inspired" by the movie, but that was back in 2008 at Tower Records in Kobe. The music was pretty and ethereal, but I admit it's not my everyday traveling music.

I am a sucker for computer-generated primary color meadows and nature. I'm also a dirty old man who questions/welcomes the hemline on CG characters. (Too short!/?) But let me highlight the best part of Tinkerbell: Tinkerbell's quick reconsideration and rejuvenation when the pixie dust fairy Terrance responds with "I am [proud to be just the pixie dust guy]". This scene not only conveys her wide thoughtfulness, but also her quick mind. It works so much better that the cutting room floor snippets that I saw from the "Bonus Material". Maybe this is not so subtle but I wasn't expecting the expression on Terrance's face and Tinkerbell's reaction to carry this moment.

The movie stylistic does more showing than telling. I loved that part where she rebuilds the music box ballerina (with the tooth piano making a sound while her expression turns to enlightenment). The best graphic has to be the sunset capturing her dance with the finished ballerina.

It's not to say that I did like the voices. I watched it in English and Tinkerbell's voice actress sounds great. Maybe when I get board I'll listen to it again in Japanese. There are two voice actresses on that side who are familiar.

The story has a deus ex machina and I hate those. Except I kept on thinking that Tinkerbell was going to bust out with duct-tape ala MacGyver, or the camera was going to start zooming onto her tools like in Army of Darkness. Scenes of creativity enrapture me.

Watching the rest of the material on the DVD and feeling the magic end made me think of buyer's remorse. So I went to the website to collect some wallpapers, and searched for the Internet reaction (mostly positive?). Oh gee, a Blu-ray version, but I don't need that yet. Oh a DS game, but it's so simplistic. Ack! The sequel adventures of Tinkerbell, yes I'll be looking forward to that.

An Ichigo Masimaro Signing Event

(tags Ichigo Masimaro, signature, DVD region 2)

It really was an Otaku Sunday: Dream Party Osaka was on. But I didn't bother going. Instead I attended this:

Yes, Barasui-sensei was in the house. I was able to get a signed (copied) illustration for Ichigo Masimaro (苺ましまろ). As a fanatic for this series, being able to meet Barasui-sensei in the flesh, have something personally signed by him (with my name!), and actually shake his (drawing) hand is really one of the high points in my hobbies.

Basically I won a raffle (like 99 other people in the Osaka area) to attend this signing event after buying his latest tankoban manga volume 6 and the two recent DVD OVAs in the Encore series. As with the previous outing, I had to send the proofs of purchases through the mail and wait for the good news. It came as a small postcard. I saw a Yahoo Auction for this postcard asking for 15_0000 yen, but there were no takers.

I came in later, so I had to wait about 20 minutes, with 30 people in front of me. The stench in the room was typical otaku-funk, yuk. It didn't help that today was a bright, sunny day in the middle of tsuyu (monsoon) season. Perhaps as I get older, I am more sensitive to odor? That runs contrary to my body running down.

The first 50 people were told to sit in comfy rollable chairs, as if Barasui-sensei was holding a class. He was sitting at the signing desk, with a bunch of IM derivate goods (like the DVDs). They had the opening and ending themes playing in the background to get us in the mood. It was pretty spooky. I was able to stare at him while the first 39 people had their turn. Barasui-sensei himself looked pretty slim and healthy. He drew himself in one of those pickup collections (Ichigo Masimaru Yorinuku ?) as a sports or soccer nerd, and he definately looks it. I would have never guessed by appearance alone that this man would like to draw you some elementary school life manga.

Barasui-sensei and his two female handlers paused when before writing my name. Since my name in Japanese is 11 katakana characters, I suppose it was much longer than he expected to write. Huh. So I just requested my last name. Also, perhaps I was the only foreigner able to attend this event. (except I spied the Japanese guy with a foreign sounding first name, oh.) That must be why he asked where I was from. (I do recall that he did signing events in Taiwan, though.) He wasn't talkative and I wasn't talkative so I left with an Arigatou Gozaimasu, a handshake and a bow.

On the way out, one of the lady handlers asked me which character I liked and I said "Miu" because I blanked out. (I should have said Ana.) So I received a candy with a small Miu illustration as well. Finally I received a A3 sized Encore "activity" paper, intended for kids, like one of those McDonalds tray papers.

You know about 98% of the attendies were guys. Well there was a guy in a suit and tie, so he obviously wins the most normal prize. The one girl that was in the group in front of me was spastic and talkative. Not normal. Every other guy was in typical backpack/messenger bag and casual otaku long pants denim.

There are a couple of things I regret. I wish I said more, like "I like your comics", or "I am glad to finally see you", or "I will continue to support you". I suppose I panicked, and instead I have an awkward silence as a memory. Another thing I wish I had done was to prepare some kind of omiyage or gift. I am reminded of that female illustrator Aoi Nishimata and her copious pictures of gifts from fan events. As a guy, Barasui probably doesn't get many gifts. There was one fan in front of me that gave something, but no else seemed to bother. Ungrateful fans, myself included.

So this is it. I don't bother buying the monthly magazine with his manga any more. I just wait for his next collected release. Hopefully more OVAs will come out, but he seems to be skipping monthly issues or just losing initiative or ideas. I don't know what else he's been doing. I don't expect IM to last much longer, to tell you the truth. So to me, this send out was a final delectable bang.

The Matrix has me

(tags movie, DVD region 2)

I just watched The Matrix again on DVD. I still like it. Maybe I'm a kid that needs to watch the same DVD over and over again, every day. Okay, no.

Encore miss and makeup

(tags DVD region 2, anime, Ichigo Masimaro, failure)

I missed Sofmap's pre-order bonus for the Ichigo Masimaro second OVA "Encore" (苺ましまろ). I only learned about it through my usual Auction checks. The bonus? A replica illustration by original author Barasui: 

Not for sale, really. I tried bidding on one of the auctions but lost... I was kinda bummed out for a couple of days.

Since I was already  in the "acceptance" stage of shock, I decided to swallow the retail price at Animate. (Sofmap usually discounts new DVDs at 10%). My local Animate had the "tokuten" sticker on the DVD set, so I expected some kind of multi-purchase campaign trap. Instead I got the same illustration as above. Geez, what the hey.

I have yet to watch the DVD, but I'm kinda feeling stupid elated. Haha.

One thing's for certain, Sofmap rulez as far as tokuten goods stuff (the elusive Kudotan telephone card for one, and this exclusive set towering over other stores for the 2009-01 adult PC game Shukufuku no Kanpanera (祝福のカンパネラ) edit: OMG NSFW surprise surprise). I thought I could ignore Sofmap because their goods get lots of resell action on the Auctions (safety in numbers), but I mustn't let my guard down.

Oh crud, 2 hours playing blog level up, not watching the 6120 yen purchase. See ya next weekend.

Tales of Encore and other products I missed

(tags CD, Deen, Ichigo Masimaro, DVD region 2)

I bought some CDs today, a holiday in Japan. Huh? Has nothing to do with Xmas.

I never am up to date on these things. I learned of Thyme's new single through the auction of a movie poster. This is three weeks old. I am a fan based on Thyme's opening song for the To-love-ru (とラブる) anime. Very upbeat, nice vocals.

Deen released the Nintendo DS soft Tales of Hearts opening single "Eien no Ashita" (「永遠の明日」) earlier this month as well. It had a DVD of the band with clips from the animated version and the CG version of ToH. I'm not into Tales, but I like how Deen's lead singer's tenor voice and how he smiles when he's doing the PV. Plus as a bonus, the DVD has a (slightly remixed from the PlayStation 2) opening for the PlayStation 1 game Tales of Destiny. Deen also provided that opening music, "Yume dearu you ni" (「夢であるように」). That is my single most favorite game opening song ever, I think, and they claim that this is the first time it is available on CD. Sure, if you don't count the 8cm CD version. This new single could also be my new fav.

I also picked up the drama CD for Kurenai. I don't know what I'm expect with that though.

I visited the Sofmap store twice in one day in order to pick up the new Ichigo Masimaro Encore opening single. They sold the CD single one day early, thank you very much. I got the version with the two minute DVD showing the OVA opening. It's full of win, not that there's anything wrong with that.

I recently won an auction for the Ichigo Masimaro Encore store poster. Basically its the same design used in all the promotions. I guess I just want a little extra reminder in my room.

BTW, it took me 20 minutes to go from inserting a DVD into my PC to actually watching it. I am becoming increasingly annoyed at watching on the PC. Perhaps the drives are dusty.

What's the hubbub over Kannagi?

(tags anime, DVD region 2, Kannagi)

One more thing for today. I suppose I couldn't resist this Kannagi (かんなぎ) DVD + telephone card set:

Back in early November or even October, I took home the info booklet (pictured on the left). There was a manga sample and the drawings looked pretty crispy. The story was the typical anime harem vector, so my interest was sealed. Still I didn't follow the anime (out of it), but I heard it was a launching vehicle for upcoming seiyuu Haruka Tomatsu (戸松遥). Also, a plot device in the manga had fans in an uproar over a possible "non-virgin" tree goddess, who just happens to be hundreds of years old. Come on, she's been around. Also the original manga-ka seems to have lost her good health, even to the point of "not being able to move her body" (!?) according to another manga-ka friend (via Zepy). A lot riding on this one.

But for me, the important part was which telephone card. As always. :-) Gamers kept on tempting me with their package deal and Saber-like dress-up illustration. Animate was out of the running with their non-telephone card Hatsune Miku-like Kannagi book cover. In the end Tora no Ana's illustration FTW. I don't like Fate/Stay Night illustrations as much as I like zettai ryouiki. rawr

This is only two episodes, so this may not have the Kannagi heroine doing her idol renditions. Could be disappointing!

Ichigo Mashimaro OVA 2 as my last DVD?

(tags anime, DVD region 2, Ichigo Masimaro, goods)

I have been anticipating the nagomi-inducing Ichigo Mashimaro (苺ましまろ) new OVA series called "Encore". I was scoping the auctions, when I missed the auction for an in store poster. Oh well. Would I pay 1800 yen for a store poster? Do I have to answer that? :)

The new product is a direct-to-DVD sales two-parter (2009/1/23 and 2009/3/25), with probably 88 (4 * 22) minutes of animation and 1_2000 price total.

Truth be told, I haven't been reading the manga after the fifth tankoubon, because buying the phone-book-like thick magazine just wears me down. It's been a year and a half, there should be a sixth book out by now.

The character styles looked improved. This Dengeki Online scoop has colored character sketches and woeful watermarking (boo). Check out the recent interview with the seiyuu as well. Yes the character design looks cuter because the eyes seem to occupy more of the face, but I still miss the seemingly less-polished Barasui style. Out of the TV series and OVAs, this current style has to be the best one, IMO. However, the director (佐藤卓哉) and the character designer (坂井久太) are the same as the TV series, so I'm left wondering what changed.

So of course I'm penciling it in. 2009/03/25, the last day I buy a DVD. :-)

Which brings me to today. I totally overlooked the re-packaging of the TV series, which was released on 2008/11/21. I have been out of it. So I looked for it around town today. Animate: no, Gamers: no, Tora no Ana: no. Sofmap had one copy at a lukewarm location, so yay:

It seems to be just the TV series, no prelude or OVAs. At 1_2000 yen retail (but with Sofmap discount), it's par for the course.

So, what is that in the background? Oh yeah, the binders that I bought from a mail-order slip in Dengeki Daioh magazine 2008/8. I forgot! I also forgot it would come. I was surprised!

I can't seem to remember the otaku reasoning behind buying multiple copies of one item. One copy is for use, another is for worship, and one more is for backup. Or something. I guess a fourth copy makes it an even 1_0000 yen total. :-/

Next Season next month: Kimi ga nozomu Eien OVA 2 delayed; CDs

(tags anime, DVD region 2, Kimi ga nozomu eien, failure, CD)

I wondered why the second episode in the Kimi ga nozomu eien Next Season OVA series (君が望む永遠～Next Season～) was not at the shops. The first episode left me hanging.

It turns out that it will be delayed a month. Aww please. :-/

The above picture shows the "stamp rally" cards for Kiminozo and Kodomo no Jikan (こどものじかん) DVD sets. I should bring the Kiminozo card when purchasing the second and third OVA DVD. BTW, I don't understand why Bandai now is officially stepping in with a full-set purchase incentive.

Underneath are some cheep bargain bin anime related CDs I picked up today. 500 yen each, can't beat that. The first is 2006 anime Angel Heart opening song "Battlefield of Love" by Asami Izawa (伊沢麻未) I five-starred Izawa's ending song for the 2005 anime Eureka Seven called "Fly Away", so seeing her in the bargain bin was kinda sad. She has that J-R&B soulful sound, smooth.

The second CD is the opening and ending themes of the PS2 game Binchoutan Shiawase Goyomi (びんちょうタン しあわせ暦) featuring Isako Saneyoshi (さねよしいさ子). What would you do if you saw a girl with a charcoal stick on her head? Hahaha. Anyway, Saneyoshi sang the opening and ending songs for the 2005 anime Peto peto san. I five starred her "Kaeri michi" (帰り道, lit. return path). Her voice is really wierd, like Halko Momoi wierd. I think moe or iyashikei when I hear her.

Okay, the caffiene from the cafe latte drink should be wearing off now. Time to level up some guys in FFTA and then level up my piss-shot and sleep skillz, respectively.

Spelunkering my own things: Bottle Fairy DVD-Box

(tags DVD Region 2, anime, Bottle Fairy, failure)

While perusing the Yahoo Japan Auctions I usually skip items I have but I clicked on this "Bottle Fairy DVD-Box (domestic version)". (I recently re-watched the English version.) There I read the description: "includes Desktop Accessory CD-ROM". Buh-wha? *sputter* There's PC installable goodies with that box? I didn't even open my copy! I need to find my DVD-Box and install the goodies into my computer now! :-/

Somewhat related, I bought (won an auction of) another set of those four small Bottle Fairy figurines. I brought them to work. They sit right beside my Beavis and Butthead clear trading card and my Pikachu pencil cover. I want to say I don't have more personal crap at my desk, but I can't.

Okay, time to go to sleep but before that let's level up my gals in FFTA.

ho-e! Card Captor Sakura TV series DVD box 1

(tags anime, DVD region 2, Card Captor Sakura)

Recently I haven't been watching much downloaded anime stuff, shifting rather to DVDs I got. I've been making fine viewing progress with the Card Captor Sakura TV series on DVD (カードキャプターさくら). In fact, today I finished the first box of three, which is 24 episodes.

Every episode is very kawaii, while supplying lots of action. Dresses are of course very nice, while having no magic-girl-change scene is great, unlike Nanoha, Yumeria, and other anime I've admitted to buying. Kero-chan is totally cute (or maybe I just like small yellow animal-like things), and I totally respect (久川綾) Aya Hisakawa's vocal chops. (岩男潤子) Junko Iwao's Tomoyo is also the greatest. Iwao had a CD release recently according to j1mOne and my own store observations but I haven't yet checked it out. I'll buy it at Gamers if they have it, I need the points.

Coming back to the anime, there is also some mystery and innuendo about alternative sexual orientations. I keep wondering if this is to capture the fans who like yuri and "boys' love", ie. yaoi, no I mean shonen-ai. (I had to look those up...) Maybe it's best to imagine it as one-sided puppy love interest, irrespective of gender. Yes, concentrate of the blushing and the emotions, that's the kawaii part, and not the physical part.

Anyways, I rather not think that the first 24 episodes/5 discs cost me about 3_5000 yen, but that's two years ago and a different me (hahaha). Wait a minute, that's only 1500 yen an episode, more recent purchases have been around the 3000 yen range. *boggle* Eventually this anime will be sold in better formats and it will look better because the source is analog not digital. 1998. When you could actually buy cels. However, I continually consider that I won't move towards a Blu-ray or better media edition of anything. DVDs, the last type of media I will ever buy, just like my parents with their vinyl and cassette tapes. (yeah right) Oh wait, my dad has been collecting DVDs recently. Maybe there's no hope for me at all? :-]

I still haven't figure out which episode the cel that I bought long ago comes from. I have a sinking feeling that I passed it already. I put it away for some reason, but now it's in an accessable place for instant reviewing. When I find it, up goes the picture and the "boasting".

Taking statistics keeps me on track. I have been rating each episode. In fact I've been quantitatively rating almost all forms of content. Call it the iTunes syndrome.

The "days since last" line means that there are x days between watching episodes. Consider that I started again from episode 1 on 2007-11-24, it's been slow going. But I've been picking up speed ever since the start of the year, even watching a couple of episodes in one day. It must be because I'm not watching enough downloaded stuff this cours or the raws providers getting arrested. Heh. Danger. :-/

As for the ratings, I have no idea what my metric is. Kawaii? Cuteness? Tear-jerkin' factor? Would watch it again? Would buy it? Felt good about it? What would a 2 or 1 star mean? In any case I don't see much correlation between the ratings and my own mood to continuously watch the episodes. I love line graphs, though. Dig it.

Kodomo no Jikan DVD with "randoseru" case: Add another skeleton to your closet

(tags DVD region 2, anime, season 2007/10, loli)

No doubt as part of the elite group of anime DVD connoisseurs that have bought Kodomo no Jikan DVD 1 with the "randoseru" case, I have this sense of satisfaction:

I am enjoying this anime, no lie. What is the phrase? "Give me six sentences from any man, I can hang him in three." ? I have hanged myself hundreds of times already. Still, the novelty is buying the DVD-case size randoseru case. Using it for stuff other than holding DVDs is out of the question. But figures? It's possible.

This is some alternate universe. No I'm sure it is. Either that or the animators do not like their day jobs. Unless third graders in Japan are already doing fractional multiplication. But still, _0 x 2 = 15? In what base? Or is the teacher dishonest?

kawaii. orz

Of course, watching the DVD version, there's no censor graphics. But its the same as the manga, so there's nothing much that's new. Except for Houin-sensei's hair color. I was totally shocked that its brunette! Aw, it should be blonde.

Another thing is that the main character, Rin Kokonoe voiced by Eri Kitamura (喜多村英梨), sounds less like a child and more like a teen, what with the vocabulary and the intonation. She also sounds a little like Yukari Tamura (田村ゆかり), but my ears have deceived me before.

Having read all of the manga, I suspect this anime will subside quietly without drawing much more blog/Internet drama.

Makin' drama: Kimi ga Nozomu Eien "Next Season" OVA DVD 1 and assorted buying

(tags DVD region 2, anime, music)

Today was the release day for many anime, games and movies. I luckily remembered that it's also the release day for Kimi ga Nozumu Eien OVA. Excitement builds, woo (muted). There was a bunch of stuff that caught my eye but not my wallet: Macross DYRL "HD Remaster" on DVD (a pretty hefty package with all that paper, I got the note from destroy tokyo), Kodomo no Jikan DVD 1 with special "randoseru" case, Kimi Kiss DVD 1. All of these are Bandai releases. Huh. There was even a re-release of the Kimi ga Nozumu Eien TV series on DVD (廉価版). No I don't need to spend 20000 yen on something I already have.

Transformers the Movie (live action) was also on display. I kept standing around and watching it. I'll have to rent it sometime.

Also I saw Patapon for the PSP but I'll let it slide even though casual music gaming is my type of thing. It helps that it got the 35/40 Famitsu scoring (ugh I have invoked the Godwin's law of game reviews).

Nice illustrated paper cover, Kiminozo. I ripped both the Kotoko and Mikuni Shimokawa CDs on my PC while watching Kiminozo on my Xbox 360. I learned that this is a 3 DVD OVA, so I'm in it for 20000+ yen. Okay, 7000 yen for 29 minutes of anime, this better be high visual quality. It is in some parts, and other well, not so much. :(

Mizuki voiced by Chiaki Takahashi (たかはし智秋) only has one line of dialogue, but it's good. And Haruka voiced by Minami Kuribayashi (栗林みな実) is as cute as ever.

The story basically has no tension until the last part, where I was left with WTF, okay?!? :-/ Well, gotta make some drama. Now I can't wait until the next one, which according to the DVD itself is 2008-02-22.

30 minutes of entertainment went fast, so I put in the promotion video DVDs for Kaori Utatsuki (歌月カオリ). Hm, she's seems very uptight in front of the camera. And I don't believe she knows how to handle that guitar in her hands. I wonder how old she is, but she must be in her late 20s early 30s. Wikip is not helpful here.

Oh yeah, and the new Kotoko single is a miss. Plus the Mikuni Reprise CD doesn't have my favorite song which is the ending song to the 2004 TV anime Grenadier called "Kanashimi ni makenaide" (悲しみに負けないで PV and anime clip). Still its not a complete loss because Mikuni's previous CDs were heavily DRMd (thus I have been avoided purchasing them) but this release isn't. I was only lucky to have ripped the DRMd "Kanashimi ni makenaide / Kohaku" CD single because of my old Plextor drive.

Release! Really watching Card Captor Sakura DVD now

(tags Card Captor Sakura, anime, DVD region 2)

I really mean it now. I'm going to watch Card Captor Sakura on DVD. "Release!"

Recently I've come across bunches of people naming Card Captor Sakura as their favorite anime of all time. Okay okay.

So I started from the beginning to make sure I got into the mood of the anime. Unfortunately I kept on comparing it to Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha (魔法少女リリカルなのは)! I was disappointed with the Nanoha second season, so I really must excise Nanoha from my memory before it taints CCS. I suppose this "magic girl" mystique with the revolving halos or magic circles and books and cards is an anime tradition that extends before CCS.

Manabi Straight DVD 7: static pictures FTW

(tags anime, Manabi Straight, DVD region 2)

The seventh and final DVD for the anime Manabi Straight (まなびストレート) is a nice 30 minute Summer vacation episode. Summer is good for swimsuits (but school mizugi? ugh.) and onsen yukata, thank you. It's chronologically out of order, which makes this episode's cliffhanger scene pretty wierd. There is a lot of static picture panning. As far as an anime is concerned that's pretty terrible, but I love the quality of the pictures anyway.

Check out that zettai ryouiki, yeah right. This anime really flirts with skirts around the fan-service/panty shot. There are low angle scenes but never even a glimpse. I think the anime is better for it without. Then again, I'm commenting about naked leg shots and puni puni moe. :-p I could have all the panty shots I want if I bought the Manabi figures (Manabi airboard, Manabi & Mika blue and white, Mutsuki & Manabi blue and red), but strangely enough, I didn't buy them exactly for that reason.

Manabi Straight marks the last DVD series (anime or otherwise) I have actually bought and paid for. Perhaps I realized that my "stack" of unwatched DVDs is sickenly high, or that writing out my budget/expenditures (kakeibo, 家計簿) makes me re-evaluate purchase values, or last weekend's cleaning reminds me of the weight of tons of discs. No matter, Manabi Straight was fun, optimistic, kawaii cute, and surprising critical. In short, a good purchase.

I don't know how far this work goes, but for me, there is still the DVD bundle games to play (cleared: 1, 2. to go: 3, 4, 5, 6), the anime CDs to rip, the manga to read, the PlayStation 2 game to play, the ending animation's figure pictures to post, the telephone cards to enumerate, ...

What if I ripped my DVDs? (And how about a pony?)

(tags DVD region 2, DVD region 1, DVD region 3, computer, storage, hardware)

While cleaning up my totally disorganized cave, I contemplated ripping my DVDs. For my music, I don't even do FLAC just 192 Kbit CBR MP3s, so this whole excursion is out of character. But let's just calculate. I am assuming that if I rip the DVD, I can play it back on some software DVD player, with all the subtitles and niceties intact.

Let's say I had 400 of DVDs. WTF! I just realized I don't have a complete list of the DVDs I got. The CD (compact disc audio) situation is even worse. And I don't want to even think about all the game discs and other stuff I can't copy. :-(

One DVD holds at most 4.37 Gib (Gigabits SI notation). I suppose I have some dual-layer DVDs but let's skip that for now. I know I don't have more than 5 dual-sided DVDs, so I'll also skip that. So! I'm looking at 1.75 Tib of raw DVD data.

On 2007/08 I bought a 500 Gib hard drive for about 1_2800 yen. So without any redundancy it will cost me 4_5000 yen just to keep stuff I already have, but with more convenience. I assume that compression won't get me much because this is already lossy data. In terms of a 12-13 episode anime (in Japan), that's about 1.5 sets.

Would I want to RAID it? Probably, and at RAID 5. This would probably entailing buying another computer and buying cards/switch for Gigabit Ethernet, and budgeting 1_5000 yen per year for electricity. I would also wish to encrypt it. Or I was thinking of doing the single HDD swap trick with those fancy eSATA or "USB 2.0 to SATA" connections, which is risky, right?

Sounds expensive. I think I'll just let them sit in my cave right now. Or maybe I should get rid of some? :-/ I can't "beam them up" where I'm going.

Almost 4 years in the making: Kimi ga nozumu eien OVA !

(tags anime, season 2007/12, DVD region 2)

Remember Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (君が望む永遠) ? I can't believe its been more than 4 years since I've watched the anime (2004) or played the (PS2, 2003) game. So it was a surprise to hear that a OVA will be released. I learned this through Senakablog who got it from a Sofmap display, which makes me kind of sad on how out of the loop I am.

(photo credit Senakablog)

Most of the original seiyuu that are important to me are back, except for Mizuki. Originally voiced by Tomoko Ishibashi (石橋朋子) in the games and anime, Mizuki will be voiced by Chiaki Takahashi (たかはし智秋) in the OVA. I really liked Ishibashi's voice in this work, and especially the Blue Tears single CD (a Comic Market exclusive). She was pretty good in Imouto de Ikou! (妹でいこう！), a 2002 0verflow adult PC game (the company that gave you the original material for "nice boat").

Chiaki Takahashi was the tsundere princess in Otome Wa Boku Ni Koishiteru (「乙女(おとめ)はお姉さま(僕)に恋してる」 and also an Idolm@ster, but I don't know which one. She's also that one girl in seiyuu music group Aice5 that points a lot when she dances, well at least in that video I saw.

This time around they will give us the Haruka end. Personally I prefer the anime's Mizuki end. 7140 yen for 28 minutes is a bit steep for OVA, and its says disc 1, so am I in it for possibly 15000 yen or even 22000 yen? Oh yeah. :-)

My jokes, let me show you them: Manabi Straight DVD 6

(tags anime, Manabi Straight, DVD region 2)

I was surprised that the main story ended on this disc. Exactly what am I buying on the last (seventh!) DVD disc?

I really like this picture, not just because Mei is in it, but because Mei and Momo are in it. Before this series started I thought I would be all moe for Momo (pictured in the middle) but her character barely shows through. This scene depicts some typical anime stylings, namely the perplexed "devil" finger gestures which I recall most Rumiko Takahashi manga and anime, and the zaibatsu princess (Momo).

One can try to repurpose this picture with a manzai gag. (I can hear Mei exclaim Nande ya nen!?! Oi!), but it's a stretch. Unfortunately, Mei's hand is at the wrong angle for it. This angle indicates she's explaning something.

Now with the series over, I can play the PS2 game.

Tatari: Manabi Straight DVD 5

(tags anime, Manabi Straight, DVD region 2)

In the end, friendship and love win out over apathy. Wait a minute, there's still 2 more DVDs left, which means... 3 episodes? orz...

Mei looks pretty bad here. Maybe she just doesn't know how to smile?

Da zo!: Nagi from Hayate no Gotoku DVD promotional banner in Nipponbashi

(tags anime, DVD region 2, Nipponbashi)

Senakablog reported the Hayate no Gotoku (ハヤテのごとく) promotional banners in the Nipponbashi. Supposedly there are about a 130 of them. While it wasn't one of my objectives going there, I took a bunch of pictures for myself. These promotional banners are called nobori (のぼり) in Japanese.

Nagi is totally cute, da zo!

Kamichama Karin DVD 1

(tags anime, DVD region 2, kawaii)

Tuesday proves to be the day to grab new DVDs at Gamers.

I didn't see Kamichama Karin (かみちゃまかりん) before it went to DVD, but wow it seems kawaii. I did read most of the manga, though, so I can anticipate the story.

First off, there are parts I don't like, the opening song by Ali Project, the over-the-top guy transformations scenes (what comes around goes around), the shoddy animation work, the over-bright backgrounds. Most of all, I cringe whenever Karin says "I am God!".

But some of the cuteness is still salvagable.

The animation style reminds me of Pita-Ten and A Little Snow Fairy Sugar, so I'm going to keep checking this out. Maybe.

Gamers has the buy-full-set-get-telephone-card campaign again. I can resist, really.

A little bit Inagawa: Manabi Straight DVD 4

(tags anime, Manabi Straight, DVD region 2)

I've got the buying rhythm down. Manabi Straight (まなびストレート) comes out on Tuesday at Gamers.

The girls get seriously crazy here. Here's Mei-chan going crazy over the looming school festival.

Mei-chan also gets enhanced capabilities like face slapping and joke fan attack, ala Yuu Inagawa from Comic Party.

Manabi also goes straight to crazy as well. I love it.

Telephone and Quo card catch up

(tags DVD region 2, telephone card, character goods)

I wasn't planning on getting Mizuki Nana (奈々水樹) concert DVD "NANA MIZUKI LIVE MUSEUM× UNIVERSE", but it came with a pretty good telephone card and card backing (台紙). That is, until I had the idea to put that card in plastic. Now I see it's scratched where the paper holds it in. Ugh. I really like this picture of her, though, smiling. The otaku blogs are giving this DVD release some serious lovin' (thanks senakablog, akiba blog).

Moving on to the top right, Gamers had another telephone card / Quo card "festival" (a thinly-veiled exclusive time-limited sale of TCs and Quo that moves from each chain store). This Kamichama Karin (かみちゃまかりん) design is on a pencil card (下敷) already, but I am the telephone card freak so I got this as well. In the same "festival" there was a old-school Galaxy Angel with Vanilla H making an appearance, but unfortunately I didn't pick it up before it was sold out.

Finally, in the middle is a Quo card with a design by Hiromu Minato (湊ヒロム) of Blue☆Wind. It's a gothic lolita style blond gal with requisite zettai ryoiki in front of Kobe Tower. Definately a thumbs up for me! I don't have many anime/doujin telephone cards with backgrounds inspired by real places. Anyways, I could have got the Quo card yesterday, but I mistook yesterday for today. When researching Hiromu Minato for a link, I came across her webpage, but it announced that she passed away a few months ago at the young age of 29. Her art was featured in otaku/bishojo magazines like Elfics and Dengeki Hime (電撃姫).

Anime DVD catch up

(tags anime, DVD region 2)

I complained about not finding the Card Captor Sakura Movie Collection two weeks ago. But I got my copy at Sofmap in South Nipponbashi. Actually, after a weekend it was available everywhere. It wasn't really limited in quantity at all.

One thing that frustrates me is that Kaleido Star (「カレイドスター アンコールDVD-BOX」) was re-released onto DVD one more time, as the "encore" edition with a new soundtrack CD. Buy it again for another 80000 yen! No thanks. That is, if you can find the first set of two new. It's sold out everywhere!

I have been reluctant to continue buying the DVD series Otogi Juushi Akazukin Fairy Musketeers (おとぎ銃士赤ずきん) and Fushigi Hoshi no Futago-Hime Gyu (ふたご星のふたご姫ぎゅう！). I have up to 5 and 4 respectively, but I haven't been watching them. As far as Akazukin is going, the first edition DVDs aren't being sold out so I think I can pick them up whenever I want. Remember the first edition DVDs come with a booklet with illustrations by moe moe Pop-sensei.

I forgot to mention one other frustration. At Tora no Ana store there's a telephone card gift for those who buy Manabi Straight DVDs 1, 2, and 3. Since this is the anime DVD release that I am concentrating on, I feel frustrated by missing this. Granted my eggs are in the Gamers' basket, since they also have a telephone card tokuten gift, but only if you buy all seven DVDs. Guess I'll have to pick up the telephone card pre-owned somewhere.

Mei-chan check! Manabi Straight! DVD 3

(tags anime, Manabi Straight, DVD region 2)

Gamers had my Manabi Straight DVD 3 one day early. Lucky me! This time the two episodes are about friendship. Manabi is conspiciously absent, but Mikan-chan is the main character here.

So far, I'm a Mei fan, ha ha.

Still no Card Captor Sakura movie collection

(tags DVD region 2, anime, Card Captor Sakura, purchase, failure)

I still haven't found the newly released Card Captor Sakura movie collection (「カードキャプターさくら THE MOVIE COLLECTION」) at a price I want. I have been waiting for Animate to have the goods but unfortunately they don't have it in stock and there's no omake. Sofmap doesn't have it and pre-orders were sold out. I went to Gamers Kobe, and they had one copy at full price. I have enough points at Gamers so I held out, but the day after it was gone. Even Joshin didn't have a copy.

I want to go to Nipponbashi today to search for it, but I'm stuck blogging. Oh wait, I can stop now.

Manabi-shiki de arimasu! DVD pack-in game, vol. 2

(tags game, MMFlash, Windows, DVD region 2, anime)

The pack-in Flash game for Manabi Straight! DVD 2 wasn't as hard as last time.

It was one of those 4 by 4, 15 tile plus gap slide into order games. I kept on clicking the row expecting more than one tile to shift automatically, but they don't. Frustrating. I failed the four minute game but got it on the second try.

Downturn: Manabi Straight vol. 2

(tags anime, Manabi Straight, DVD region 2, season 2007/01)

Episodes 3 and 4 of Manabi Straight were a bit of a downer after the first two happy episodes. There were a lot of serious scenes. For example, Mei hiding from Manabi and friends because of her neurosis. She seeks refuge in a console RPG video game.

If this is gaming in the year 2035, its disappointing. Let's face it, this anime series isn't about real trends in future technology.

Still, the gaming in bed is my type of thing. But, if you have some holographic virtual screen thing going, couldn't you at least have the option to tilt it to fit your head angle?

I am enthralled with the attempt to address real-world problems about school apathy and problems. Yes, despite the puni-puni moe moe shape of these high schoolers, its a serious anime. But my mood is comedy right now.

Manabi-shiki de arimasu! DVD pack-in game

(tags game, MMFlash, Windows, DVD region 2, anime)

The limited edition Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! (がくえんゆーとぴあまなびストレート！) DVD 1 came with a CD-ROM disc "fun disc" for Windows PC (.NET 2.0). Among the useless things (3D Manabi Amamiya very-non-kawaii, scheduler software, email launcher), there was a Flash game. It was not a joy:

Bascially its a obstacle game. You must avoid the on-coming garbage and hit the bonus speed ups. But it was almost impossible. Okay, so maybe it took 30 minutes to beat this 2 minute game, but I had to overcome:

• bad control and lag
• tendancy for Manabi to creep to the right side of the screen on every boost, which means less reaction time
• necessary to grab every 5 second bonus (there are three)
• random patterns
• sometimes impossible to avoid garbage patterns
• starting the game with a mouse but its a keyboard game... move that mouse pointer off the screen, argh

But I beat it, after using my right hand for up and down and left hand for move back, since ESDF (you may recognize it as WASD) wasn't speedy enough.

Of course, the prize was sitting naked in the same installation folder as a background picture. Still I feel like accomplished something, huh. Just like writing a blog post, huh huh.

Before I did the game (to put this DVD away) I watched the DVD again in its entirety a third time. It's still magical. "Manabi-shiki de arimasu!" Awesome.

Hajimaru yo! Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!

(tags anime, season 2007/01, DVD region 2, Japan, telephone card)

Manabi shouts, "Hajimaru yo!" (Start it up! lol)

Gakuen Utopia Manbi Straight! (がくえんゆーとぴあ まなびストレート!)

What a totally positive anime. I saw the first three episodes back in January and decided to get/watch the DVDs instead. Then again I already got the 5 character songs set last Autumn.

Yui Horie (堀江由衣) headlining this anime, with babyface Ai Nonaka (野中藍), I-don't-know-her-yet Marina Inoue (井上麻里奈), no-talent Aya Hirano (平野綾), and I-just-saw-her-on-Tokimeki Saki Fujita (藤田咲).

In another way, it's "starting up" for me too:

Another 6 DVDs and I'll have another telephone card, heh.

Am I going to mention the CD character song set with pencil box? The PlayStation 2 game with telephone card? The magazine telephone card? The character goods? Links to the future posts here.

Winter Garden DVD: Charmingly cute

(tags anime, DVD region 2, kawaii, seiyuu, Koge-Donbo, Sugar, omake, telephone card)

Winter Garden aired at the end of 2006, but I knew this would be my type of anime to purchase, so I didn't watch it live. Instead, I waited for the DVD to come out. It's been 4 months people! I've been waiting to open this Christmas Box for some time now.

It has the lively Di Ji Charat sisters banter coupled with the cute character design originally by Koge-Donbo. Shinya Hasegawa (長谷川眞也) refined the character design for animation, and this refinement looks so very familiar to me because he's the same person who took care of the A Little Snow Fairy Sugar series.

Greatest! I'm pretty happy just watching this anime because so charming. Then again, I'm not very well versed in the Di ji charat universe, so I didn't figure out the in-jokes. I only know about the in-jokes because of the booklet and the audio commentary, which was very entertaining and informative. Other works' audio commentary tracks left something to be desired (ugh: Kasimasi) because they lacked focus. This anime's audio commentary was blessed with the director, Hiroaki Sakurai (桜井弘明), adding the necessary backbone to the talk. For example, I totally forgot that Dijiko is a Akihabara gal, because this anime forgos the otaku atmosphere, but Sakurai explains this point.

Since I'm not a hardcore Di ji charat fan, I welcomed the change of pace of this anime. It's more homely and down-to-earth, with a little bit of romance to lighten it up. Gone are the "cat ears". I did have to question the connection of this series to the previous outings, because it seemed so out of character. Asami Sanada (真田アサミ) and Miyuki Sawashiro (沢城みゆき) reprised their roles. I didn't expect Sanada to have a normal girl voice but I'm not an expert. Sawashiro's definately has range and variation to her voice based on the different series I've seen with her, but I kept superimposing her "Shinku" persona onto "Puchiko".

I do have to admit the animation is a little rough in places, but there are plenty of high quality scenes. There are not much gags in this run, so the director emphasized the little body movements that make a character seem alive. There are references to other series. Even the live band scene took on Haruhi-like parody atmosphere.

For this photo-expose shootout, I didn't open that Christmas Box, which evidently contains a micro-fiber towel, a telephone card, and pocket watch with serial number. But instead, I bring the picture of the Gamers' tokuten mug cup and Comi-Deji magazine's special telephone card for Winter Garden. Isn't it just so kawaii? I do have a gripe with that mug cup picture. It just doesn't seem cute enough. This is blasphemy because Koge-Donbo herself drew it.

Thumbs up. 5 out of 5 stars. Only 2 episodes but this is very special.

Beginning the closing thoughts on Otome-boku

(tags anime, game, bishoujo, DVD region 2)

In that previous post, 'Amber-orange twin-tail goddess... "So Lovely"', I totally forgot about Takako-sama. So much for blogging as a memory guide.

I want to go over Otome Wa Boku Ni Koishiteru since I finally finished watching it on DVD, but right now I need to get over the shock of losing that online order "theft".