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.

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.

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. :-/

Off to see the seiyuu

(tags anime, failure, games-of-chance, Ichigo Masimaro, live, seiyuu, Tokyo, voice actor, game, import)

Well I'm turning in, so that I can get a jump on the shinkansen tomorrow. So that I can attack the Akiba stores on Saturday. So I won't have to worry about Sunday. So that I can show up to the Ichigo Masimaro voice actor event (帰ってきた「苺ましまろでショー」in豊島公会堂イベント) with good seats (but seat assignment is a raffle).

But I'm laid back you see. The only thing I need to worry about is being at Ikebukuro at 16:00 on Sunday afternoon. No problem.

I haven't prepared anything except the invite and what import video games I should consider. Racketboy is putting spike in my punch with his recommendation for TMNT for the GBA. And I don't really want anything... except Puzzle Quest for the DS, and maybe some PSP games like After Burner: Black Falcon and Ratchet & Clank. Perhaps I'll see some telephone cards, or I'll see some CDs to complete my collection. Shoot, I should have prepared my inventory. My memory is not so good, but it keeps telling me it's excellent.

Well I am bringing an extra PSP battery (from my silver) and charge cables for iPod, DS and PSP, but its all really dead weight until I wait in line on Sunday. I should not be playing my games when stores are open! Plus I have a plan to reconnoiter Ikebukuro on Saturday night to make sure I don't get lost. I do wish that my copy of Harry Potter was electronic so I can get rid of dead-tree weight. I am not bringing my computer, there's plenty of Internet cafes to be had.

I am wondering if I'm going to write up this event. I failed to write up the Sachi Tainaka (タイナカサチ) live in-store event (last year), the Halko Momoi (桃井はるこ) live in-store event (last year), and even the recent Midori Karashima (辛島美登里) event (last month). I took notes,though! I'm not aiming to report at full verbosity like I did with Yoko Ishida (石田燿子) or Savage Genius, but just a liked it/hated it would be useful.

Um, maybe I should get to sleep now? With this, my vaction in Kobe (at home) is officially over.

Good and bad luck is with me: Ichigo Masimaro Voice Actor Event

(tags anime, games-of-chance, Ichigo Masimaro, live, voice actor, seiyuu, Tokyo, failure)

Yesterday was a good day. This whole week has been a good week actually, but let's concentrated on specifics.

One contributing factor was that I won the chance to see the Ichigo Masimaro voice actor event (帰ってきた「苺ましまろでショー」in豊島公会堂イベント) in person. I had all but given up hope of going to this event.

But unfortunately, it's on a Sunday (2007/05/06). Furthermore, the event starts at 19:00. I have to be at work on the following day! Did I mention it's near Ikebukuro? Which means Tokyo, which means returning to Kobe via overnight bus is not an option, and neither is Shinkansen or a plane flight. I can't help but think that the Shinkansen will be packed on the Monday morning...

I'm elated and depressed at the same time. This is one of those times where I wished I lived in Tokyo for my hobbies. Oh I'll definately be there, but I'm going to face hell at work, but that's fine.