She's in my sights: Shoko-tan

(tags music, anime, 石田耀子, 中川翔子)

Today I just felt like ripping a hole in my wallet. :-) I went to Osaka Nipponbashi, as is my habit when I want to create the most damage. At one of the southern Sofmaps in the area, I saw an anime display with a familiar tune playing. It reminded me of Yoko Ishida's rendition of "Sora-iro Days" (「空色デイズ」 on Hyper Yocomix 3), which was pretty good, so I was curious as to the original singer. It was none other than Shoko-tan (Shoko Nakagawa 中川翔子), huh. Oh yeah, this is the opening song for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (天元突破グレンラガン), a 2007-04 anime that I did not watch but I think was pretty popular.

I was surprised, because I seem to like her voice as well (having not hearing her voice long enough to remember it). Except Yoko Ishida has much better higher range and cuter voice. Oh well, I bought the full album Big☆Bang, for cheep (? 1200 yen), so I can check the rest of her. Too bad there's no DVD (but I don't need that because this is the Youtube generation).

I don't know why, but she's becoming more and more attractive to me. It's her face, I think, the eyes and princess hair looks pretty good. The rest of her body is like above average, enough to get into the sexy swimsuit magazine Sabra, which is a plus. She did recently get a photo-opin the gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu (which was more elegant), and it revealed some down-to-earth tidbits, like how she was going to cut up her copy of Famitsu to save the clippings. She definately seems to have anime-dork and game-geek cred, while at the same time appearing as the face for some Pokemon related activities, and mainstream commercials. She even appears as the "image character" for a leading Windows anti-virus software. I guess I like her nice and wholesome image.

I've been obsessed with getting her first single with DVD. It has the famous cat-head-eating music video (Cat Life). But why bother, I can always see it (again) on the Internet...(searching) woops, maybe not. Um, there is this cosplay/gravure video. Whoa... NOCARRIER

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.

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. :-/

Card Captor Sakura as my first Blu-Ray?

(tags anime, BD region A, Card Captor Sakura)

It's official, Card Captor Sakura (カードキャプターさくら) on TV is moving to Blu-Ray Disc. Mr. Zepy brought me the news and I commented like a rabid fan I am. This product is a two part-er, with the Clow Card series (eps 1-46) at 8_1900 yen on 2009/03/27 and the Sakura Card series (eps 47-70) at 4_9350 yen on 2009/06/26.

If I buy the complete TV series, I will be out 13_1250 yen. Sofmap (C, S) gives me the 12% discount, for a total of 11_5000 yen, while Amazon (C, S) and the store that leaked the info, Kinokuniya's Forest Plus (C, S), both give a 24% discount which makes it 9_9750 yen.

I, uh, previously bought the same product when it was on DVD (3 box version) at retail price at Animate, because of exclusive telephone cards and clear files (OMG, no pictures, where are they?! Have a gander at the exclusive figure, though). So I am waiting for Animate's goodies announcement with anticipation (hopefully here: C, S). Still would it be worth 3_1500 yen difference?

Is Blu-Ray even worth the cash compared to my DVDs? Not having any BDs or even a HD set, I really can't say. One store claims that this is a remastering, so it might not be a simple upscaling from the DVD. I hope so, for the price that Geneon is asking.

My bud in anime is dead-set on getting this BD set. He doesn't have to worry about owning a DVD set, though, shiku shiku.

At the time of this blog, there's no official announcement that I could find.

Should I be watching anime?

(tags anime, video, failure)

According to my records, I haven't watched any anime for like 6 weeks. Previously I used to watch 1 to 2 hours a week. I think my gaming and computer putzing has taken the forefront right now. Or perhaps I am tired of downloading stuff, even though I finally automated it through RSS and some custom RSS filtering.

Aki Misato comes to Otaroad Gamers

(tags anime, artist, concert)

Aki Misato (美郷あき) is a recent singer that just celebrated her third "best" album. She usually sings slow and fast ballads and anime theme songs. Broccoli Anibro-Gamers had a couple of Aki Misato events, which was really a "talk, live, and handshake" mini-contest. I got a free ticket for buying her CD. 

Actually I dread these in-store concerts. Not that I don't mind seeing the artist, but that there are those pushy bodyguards that make sure you don't handshake for longer than a second. At least that was my experience back when I saw Halko Momoi. So when the day and time rolled around I was the opposite of excited. I brought the CD, even though there was no expectation of receiving a signature. I also learned that I was in the second group event. The first group got a little something something. Perhaps they got a poster.

The concert was held in the basement of Nanba-Nipponbashi Anibro-Gamers, but rather call it Otaroad Gamers. I didn't expect good acoustics with concrete walls and industrial ceilings but I'm tone-deaf anyway. There were about 50 people, which made it somewhat intimate. Also there was a questionnaire to get some good topics from the crowd, which they collected before the start.

Anyway, so Aki Misato showed up all dolled up. It was actually the first time I've seen her "move". She looks pretty good on the album covers, haha. And in person she was alright, but actually I couldn't see over the first 6 rows, um. The first part was a talk, with a local host personality keeping the conversation going. Aki Misato doesn't have enthralling dialogue, haha. "Osaka is great, even the one way streets." It seems I missed her other live event that weekend, and I don't keep up with her radio show outings. Other people, probably college kids, kept on nodding their acquaintance with her various radio events. She said she went to Brazil for work, but I didn't pickup/understand the details.

She then sang three song from her newest CD, "I lost the place", "Disarm Dreamer", "Here I am". For most of the time she sounded just like her studio voice. Was she lip-syncing? She did crack and off-keyed some notes, though. She didn't move from the center stage so I still couldn't see much of her. The people around me were the typical hesitant types, so they didn't break into dance. At least the guy at the front row broke out at least 8 glow sticks (sailium), one between each finger. That was pretty crazy cool. 

Afterwards, the dreaded hangshake scene. But what's this? No bouncer types? Each person getting about a minute time?!? Nice. I didn't really have anything to say to her, and I didn't really do my homework (memorize the CD). When she took my hand, I thought of two things. One was to wash my hands throughly afterwards and another was that her hands were really soft. I just asked if she spoke English (!) because I read somewhere that she was in New York. But no, she doesn't. No surprise there. Thank you for your songs and keep on singing! A parting handshake later, and I belted myself out of there.

Now that I checked out how paltry her Wikipedia entry is, I feel kinda bad that she's not getting more play time. I hope her company brings her out again to Osaka for a concert. The announced concert for 2008-11 is Tokyo only.

Serve up my Xbox video: TVersity

(tags video, Xbox 360, Windows, anime)

I've already tried out the Windows Media Player 11 method for streaming media from my Windows XP to my Xbox 360. It works, however I didn't like having WMP11 running in the background. So intrigued by the recent Lifehacker roundup post about doing more with the Xbox, I tried out TVersity.

Actually TVersity works somewhat like WMP11, where you have to add your media to TVersity's database and start the server. But TVersity works better for me because its easier to start and stop the server. Plus its more open in its functionality, however I have not tried stuff like the Internet Media and Media RSS feeds. I still do the old fashion method of auto-BitTorrenting off of RSS feeds, so all my media is on my HDD. At least I have a custom-made client-side filter proxy, made with FeedTools, for the RSS feeds so I don't download "Naruto".

One niggling thing though is that browsing on the Xbox 360 by "Folders" does not all show all the media. I think it's an Xbox 360 problem. The workaround is to tag the videos as they are added by folder import. It's kinda lame but it works. I need to figure out how to meta-tag the videos themselves. I know all about tagging MP3s but videos stupify me.

So I've been watching stuff through my Xbox 360. I almost finished Amatsuki (あまつき), some almost Boy's Life 18th century Japan anime that has seiyuu Romi Park (朴璐美) and Jun Fukuyama (福山潤). These are the same two seiyuu I was falling over back in Princess Princess. This time though, Park actually plays a woman, great. Fukuyama is at it again with his silky voice.

And now I'm running Kurenai (紅). This one is interesting because of Miyuki Sawashiro (沢城みゆき) "manning" the lead character, and Minami Kuribayashi (栗林みな実) singing the OP. There's also the whole loli aspect which I can't deny. The lead character, Kurenai, lives in the fifth room of some apartment, while his neighbor in the 6th room is pretty hot and worldly, while his other neighbor in the 4th room is very mysterious. This kinda setup reminds me of Maison Ikkoku (めぞん一刻), but only in reference. Also Ryoko Shintani (新谷良子), who I was crapping on for her dire Soul Calibur 4's "Xianghua" voice, is singing the ending theme (and also voices a character). I was surprised that I like her singing voice. Did she get better somehow? Because the last time I saw some of her old CDs in the bargain bins, meh factor 6.

Colony Drop

(tags blog, anime)

Colony Drop. This is a Gundam-ism where the ultimate warfare technique in collateral damage is de-orbiting (inhabited?!?) space colonies onto (inhabited?!?) planet-bound cities. Well actually I don't really know but Gundam is about war with mecha, and I see a picture of a space colony crashing onto urban skyline with explosive results. It sounds epic.

Colony Drop. This is an epic blog title. Okay I understand the blog aims to be "hard anime blogging dropped onto your cranium with a fiery explosion". But when the blog's "enemies" include "moé", and yet one of the writers is "burning fever #1 Haruhi otaku", I feel like I'm only going to be reading this blog when I'm in a mecha funk. I still impassively skip over the Gundam merchandise spreads in Akiba Blog, though.

Still, a review of a Gundam (Shot) Bar in Akihabara. Epic.

Jason Mraz meets Caramelldansen

(tags music, anime, purchase)

Okay, not quite but what if?!

Today I got the 600 yen single of that Caramelldansen song, repurposed for Japanese market as ウッーウッーウマウマ(゜∀゜) I haven't yet overloaded on this animeme, but I just might. If I send the postcard with the barcode on it, I can get a DVD. It's probably just a Youtube copy. According to the CD booklet history page, this uma uma + caramelldansen thing was born around Summer 2006 after someone thought to increase the speed of the song by 1.2 on the videos. (「BGMとしてCaramelldansenを1.2倍の速度で再生した動画が出現、これが「ウッーウッーウマウマ(゜∀゜)」がうまれた瞬間である」)

I didn't know about the new Jason Mraz album CD "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.", so it was oh damn gotta buy it (Tower Records!) when I saw it. He's going to be touring Japan during the summer. The closest stop is Osaka. The sticker showed a promotion to get free tickets. I thought I would get 6 tries because it showed "X 6" (times 6). Turns out the promotion is named "X6". Aww, just give me more tries.

I haven't yet ripped the Kotoko single for Kamen no Maid Gai or that "@Lantis Non Stop Dance Remix" vol.2 only because Gracenote CDDB doesn't have the track info. I hate typing it up myself.

critical, light damage

(tags anime, doujin, Sugar)

This weekend I was cleaning out my room, tossing Mai-Hime posters away (oh wait that was last weekend) and I came across this. These are half-B3 sized pop stand posters of Sugar from A Little Snow Fairy Sugar (ちっちゃな雪使いシュガー). Actually it's a doujin work that I got at the Comic Market five years ago. I don't remember buying the first one, but I do remember going back to the same booth later in the afternoon to buy one more. It was probably less that 1000 yen each. Too bad I can't recall the circle name so I can credit them (or find their digital works, argh).

Kawaii. The one on the left is the one I keep for show, while the other one is my "storage" copy which I unearthed after massive digging. I don't have a third copy for "worship" :-( .

So this is what five years of light damage will do. It wasn't direct sunlight either.

This reminds me, I have all this Comic Market stuff including my routes maps of the floor and catalogs. I should just toss the paper ones, they're as thick as a phone book and probably just as dusty and yellow. What am I going to do with a trail map of the Comic Market floors, marked with my target booths? Probably indulge in a 10 second fit of nostalgia before shaking my head in shame... or a writing a blog post.

Kyoko Endo in Osaka, rare?

(tags live, music, artist, Japanese, anime)

80時代のシンガーソングライター遠藤響子（旧芸名：遠藤京子）は、2003からライブ活動を復旧していた。ファンハウス時代のファンとして、私は行きたかったが、そのライブは東京と名古屋中心だった気がする。

それで、突然のメールで「こんにちは。遠藤響子です。」という、大阪ライブの知らせを受けた。今までのメールは「pure modeです。」だったから、これはアーティストが直接にファンを招いていると思っていた。嬉しかった。でも、水曜日夜のライブは神戸から行きづらいだよね。今回はパスしかないな。メールを返事すべきですかね？「応援したいが、ごめんなさい。」

ところで、遠藤響子は2008年6月に、岩男潤子、Les.R、東 真紀、emikoと一緒に「From Voice Vol. 5」というコンサートに参加する予定。参加者にちょっと驚いた。岩男潤子は有名なアニメ「カードキャプターさくら」の声優/歌手で知っていた。またemikoはアニメ「うた∽かた」の音楽関係で知っていた。しかし、遠藤響子のアニメに対して縁がないと思っていた。なぜだ。

Golden Week at the speed of Burnout

(tags game, anime, Burnout Paradise)

My holiday is almost over, and I have a bunch of thoughts to collect (but not fully document). Over the course of last week:

I watched a whole boatload of anime. I think I need to watch this junk at 1.5x or 2.0x speed, because it is junk. I wanted to blog about Rosario + Vampire. I also wanted to mention Kamen no Maid Guy (kukuku) and also my restart of De Ji Charat Nyo on DVD.

I played a whole lot of games. Vice City on PC is stuck and not fun. I finished the single player campaign of the XBLA game Undertow. I like that kind of territory game. Oh, before going into the holiday I bought some Wii titles such as the Milestone Shooting and the Simple series Shooting. No I don't have a Wii yet, but the price was ... palatable.

Then in the middle I took advantage of Golden Week price drops at Nipponbashi A-Too and got Burnout Paradise for 3000 yen, Stranglehold for 1600 yen, and Bioshock for 2000 yen, obviously used but all English capable versions. I've already put in 23 hours into Burnout Paradise, which is about 73% complete. I also read the BP Criterion blog fully. I am hyped about this game.

And I tried taking out my imported bicycle but unfortunately the thumb gear shifters are broken. You know, explore my Kobe "sandbox" because BP put me in the mood. I want to get rid of this bike though, because it doesn't feel safe.

Back to work, so go to sleep early.

Quit this? Nah... Shugo Chara, DCIISS, Macross Frontier

(tags anime, season 2007-10, season 2008-04)

I was used to my torrents coming in through my feeds, but for some reason its been harder to track down what I want to watch. I let this situation continue for about 3 months, which made me miss season 2008-01. I considered stopping the anime hobby, yeah right. The feed situation hasn't improved, but Internet searching makes it easier than I thought. So here I am, starting off this historically long Golden Week, catching up on anime. Ugh.

Did I blog about this Shugo Chara (しゅごキャラ) yet? Oh! I am now fully caught up on this season 2007-10 anime, based on the Peach-Pit manga. I like this positive kids stuff. The first episode totally reminded me of A Little Snow Fairy Sugar (ちっちゃな雪使いシュガー), with main character "Amu" cracking open her first shugo chara "Ran", a boisterous happy-go-lucky cheerleader-like fairy-thing.

Shown above, in episode 28, Ran (left) lends a shoulder to runaway "Elle". kawaii!

There are a number of things I like about this anime: Ran is totally kawaii. Main character Amu is "cool and spicy" (tsun tsun?) but a good big sister. There are a couple of guys she likes, but I like how the story keeps trying to bring her and "Ikuto" together. Is Ikuto really a bad guy? Well he's neko-mimi and play the sad violin. Seiyuu goddess Nana Mizuki (水樹奈々) lends her singing talents with the insert song for character "Utau Hoshina". Utau is on the "evil" side (?) and has some sort of unrevealed love interest in Ikuto that hasn't been explained even after 28 episodes. It must be the main arc. She has the "blonde" "twin-tail" that hits my character design spot, rawr. Too bad she doesn't smile at all. I'm going to buy that insert song CD single not just because Nana Mizuki sings it.

I was really surprised with the cross-dressing theme that was revealed 20 plus episodes in, though. The other things that make me cringe is the whole "Shugo Chara" concept of eggs. It's sort of a loose analogy for optimism and pessimism. There are two many characters so Ran doesn't get the spotlight often. Also there is the magic-girl-transformation sequence and magic incantations in English. "Watashi no kokoro Unlock! Negative Heart ni Lock On! Open Heart!". Okay okay.

I intend on watching this every week because the romance angle has a good setup. Can our heroine Amu turn around the bad guy Ikuto? Can she stop doting on the prince-like good guy? (Who cares about Mr. Perfect? I sure don't.) Can she wrestle his affection (attention?) away from Utau, who literally throws herself at him every chance she gets? All this from a kids' anime.

Speaking of romance, Da Capo is back. Add a "2" and a "second season". Jeez, this is sequelitis. A friend told me he's expecting good things from this anime, after just watching two or three eps. I, myself, can't forget how D.C. 2 ended with the robot win (oh please give it a rest) and Yoshiyuki-kun throwing away a perfectly solid romance arc with genre-typical main character indecisiveness.

Whoa, Junichi Asakura (left) from the first DC makes an appearance as the old guy (okay, two heroines' dad). First off, supposedly DC2 is like 50 years in the future or something but that doesn't explain why another first DC character, ever genki "Yoshino Sakura", doesn't seem to have aged a day. Let us not forget "Suginami", whoa. Anyways, I snapped this picture because its rare to see yourself twice.

Unfortunately for "Koko", the heroine who lost out last time, she doesn't regain the spotlight this time around. After only seeing four eps of this DC2SS, I still don't know who is the main heroine, despite the opening animation. Unfortunately it's not "Anzu Yukimura". I kinda go for the quiet, doll-like type myself (Galaxy Angel's "Vanilla H" comes to mind). Also seiyuu goddess Yui Horie plays tsundere "Yume Asakura", but she also doesn't seem to be heroine material. In any case, DC2 started off promising, and DC2SS is just as promising, so I feel like I'm setting up myself for the burn.

Oh hey, it's been more than 5 years since I've seen one of these "Valkyries".

I've been hoping for Macross Frontier to show up on one of my feeds. As a Macross and Robotech fan, I am enthralled with the way this outing weaves the story with strikingly similar plot elements of the original Macross. I've typed too much already so I'm not going to explain how I like this feeling of deja-vu. I've already watched each episode twice just to make sure I understand what's going on! I also like how my tolerance for CG mecha has increased. And I did check the bio data on "Ranka Lee"'s seiyuu, Megumi Nakajima (中島愛). Man, has she got some great pipes. I love her singing voice! I can't believe this is her debut work.

Ugh, to garner some entertainment satisfaction by finishing these stories, I have to manually check the torrent sites each week, which means I have to think about anime regularly. Here I was hoping to distance myself from these fanboy hobbies. Nope, I can't quit this.

Great artwork, crap story: Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora

(tags manga, anime, 2007, failure)

I finally got around to reading Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora (京四郎と永遠の空), the manga. The first two volumes were somewhat interesting, but the story fell apart in the third. The artist Kaishaku (介錯) draws faces really well. I love the long flowing hair, long skirts, and meido. The color illustrations rock as well.

Still, what a waste of time. I want some kinda of logic in my stories, please.

The only reason I gave the manga some time is because I store my Xbox 360 discs in this nice Kaishaku-illustrated CD case. Or maybe it's by the anime staff. I bought it for the rawr factor, intending to watch the anime later on. Somehow, the manga was more convenient to start.

Anyway, I'm totally unmotivated to watch the anime. :-p

Books Lashinbang Kobe Sannomiya opens

(tags failure, telephone card, ecsite, doujin, Kobe, anime, manga, character goods, 200803, Shining Wind, Estrian Odyessy, CD)

On Saturday I woke up early but played the FFTA. Then I remembered Books Lashinbang Kobe was opening today. I need to put these things on my calendar. And I need to review my calendar every day. :-/

Anyways I got there 5 minutes before, and the line was somewhat okay, probably about 100 people in front of me. I was able to get in around 10:30 AM. I headed straight for the telephone card (TC) cases which were in the back. It goes without saying that it was packed. I couldn't see over the other people lining up there. I didn't see anything I really wanted, and I started to peruse the rest of the store, bouncing off fellow otaku. Still I didn't want to exit just yet so I headed back to the TC cases again. I then decided to get the two TCs pictured here.

The bottom right TC is that PlayStation 2 game Shining Wind related illustration with beautiful, lovely Kureha in a miko dress. WIN. I've seen it before at Books Lashinbang Osaka and K-Books Osaka and the price is the same over there. Might as well commemorate the shop opening with something special.

The second TC at the middle left is a DS game Etrian Odyssey II (世界樹の迷宮II 諸王の聖杯) which was an exclusive to Akihabara-based game store Messe Sanoh. The game itself was release just two weeks back, and according to the description, it's a "classic RPG" with manual mapping (whoa). Emulate the grid paper on yer DS. I don't care about the game, but I love the illustrations and wallpaper. The illustration theme is receiving a belated Valentine chocolate from the (tsundere?) blond hair gunner (job class) chick. What a cute "Jack Frost" badge. I don't even think she has a name. I scoped this same card at the Telecard Paradise Osaka store for like 4500 yen, so maybe its a deal. Also, the game comes with a soundtrack with that Insert Credit sound artist favorite Yuzo Koshiro (古代 祐三) and others. The cover illustration is again the blond hair gunner. Nice nice maybe I'll get the game nice nice. No.

I also bought some cheep manga: Kyoushiro to Towa no Sora volume 1, and CDs: the Loco Roco single and Angela Aki's "Kiss Me Goodbye" single for Final Fantasy XII. I have the over-sexy Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora CD case holding my Xbox 360 discs, but I never explored the story until now. Also this is the first time I've seen a store selling Quo Card plastic sleeves. Quo cards are a different size than TCs so you can't reuse the TC plastic sleeves for them.

It's too bad I decided to get the stuff late, because I was only able to get the exclusive clear file pictured above. If I was perhaps 10 minutes earlier, I could have got the exclusive TC (with slightly more horndog illustration, rawr). Doh. I really wanted something related to Kobe because heck I live here. The illustrator is 憂姫はぐれ先生（サークル：WIRE FRAME）. I suppose this link is NSFW, but it's not up now.

There seems to be some other specials, centering on telephone cards. Goodie. Take for example this one, a Card Captor Sakura TC set "celebrating" the re-release of the manga a year or two ago. I did check the price. Each card is 3_5000 yen +. A little steep, don'cha think?!?

I went to the store again this Monday evening and there's a healthy crowd of people there looking and buying. I was hoping that the Kobe-only exclusive card was available, because net auctions rip hard. No luck.

Here begins another store relationship. This location does seem to have a lot of interesting things and good selection, for now. I do hope they expand their TC selections. I want more stuff with daishi (台紙, lit. card backing) and more all ages stuff like Di Gi Charat. I am not interesting in the eroge TCs even though they are rawr.

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.

Second floor is for otaku too: Books Lashinbang Sannomiya

(tags ecsite, doujin, Kobe, anime, manga, goods)

Passing through Animate, I got my copy of Comic Blade and I'm going to read Fairial Garden as soon as I log off. Oh wait how do I segue into the main theme of this blog post. Uh:

My stroll from Animate on the third floor of the adjacent building goes through the second story of Sun Center Plaza. Of course I'm heading for Melon Books on the way to my bus stop. But the new store right next door caught my eye. Books Lashinbang will be opening a Sannomiya branch. I was so enthusiastic that I took pictures with my own camera. Melon Books in Sannomiya is strictly retail and new doujin stuff, and Books Lashinbang is pre-owned reselling of character goods, doujin and stuff, in other words, used sales, so I don't think they'll be stepping on each other's toes.

image originally from Center Plaza 2nd floor

Lashinbang is more interesting to me. I always go to the Osaka branch to check out the "premium" telephone cards. I hope they carry some here. Oh yeah they will. The only place to buy collectable telephone cards is at a store beneath Animate on the second floor, but they have some skanky ones. 840 yen for a card? Where has it been? :-)

Frankly I need to sell off some doujinshi that I just don't need. I didn't have a good place to do it in Kobe, but now with Lashinbang I don't have to haul it all to Osaka. Guess who's going to be there on opening day? (2008-03-01 Saturday) :^)

edit: added map. I like maps and editting with Paint.NET.

Screech, screech: recent seiyuu cd buys

(tags seiyuu, anime, music, CD, failure, manga)

I've always had a stack of CDs I haven't ripped, and I can't figure out how to motivate myself to get through them all. Mostly they consist of anime/manga drama CDs and character song CDs. But if it's purely music, rippin' is totally effortless.

I watched (田村ゆかり) Yukari Tamura's recent live concert DVD at a shop. It is really annoying to see her look down at her feet every few seconds. Anyway, I happened to find a song I liked from her. I couldn't figure out the name of the song though. So (therefore?) I got her "best album" Sincerly Dears, but still a sucker for completeness so it's the DVD + CD version. This is not a recent release, however. After listening to the CD, the only song I liked was "douwa meikyuu" (「童話迷宮」, lit. fairy tale maze), the song from the anime Akazukin (おとぎ銃士 赤ずきん), which I already had. I like her deeper "grown woman" voice than her "Nanoha" voice, when singing. Another example is "kagayaki no kisetsu" (「輝きの季節」, lit. bright season) and "fukashoku-na ai" (「不可触な愛」, lit. untouchable love). Perhaps I need to give the new songs a chance, because my other 5 star songs from her are "Nanoha" like.

The blind-sided release this time around was (高橋美佳子) Mikako Takahashi's Sweet CD, pictured middle. I like for her parts in Honey and Clover and probably other animes I can't remember. And I thought she was totally hot in one of those H&C interviews. Unfortunately, apart from the up tempo rhythm and the zettai ryoiki front cover, I don't like this CD. :-/ It must be her wavering, quick to clip voice. According to Wikipedia, this is her self produced album, taking about three years to create. On a related note, ever since her character in Hayate no Gotoku was associated with a hamster, I've had a hard time seperating her voice from that image. :-)

I wasn't expecting more than a couple of good songs from (堀江由衣) Yui Horie's latest CD release (pictured right), but at the last count I've five-starred 6 out of 14 songs, with the rest at four stars. It must be the upbeat rhythm and the way she hits those high notes, which sounds so pure. "zutto" (「ずっと」, lit. always) and "lovely everyday" (「ラブリエビリデイ」) stick in my mind. Instead of buying it at Gamers (for a poster and point card exchange) I bought it at Animate (the one pictured below) because B5 paper holder takes up less space (above pictured bottom right).

I also recently bought (茅原美里) Minori Chihara's Message 01 DVD + CD. I couldn't stomach finishing this DVD. She sounds like an dumbass! :-/ Some of her answers to an interview are truly WTF. The above picture is her shop tour at the major Animates. Okay, I'm going to fast forward to the part where she's street singing in Akihabara, according to houkoholic. Oh yeah, it starts at 37:05, all 20 seconds of it, and at 38:42, for a little more than a minute . She sounded so good with her solo rendition of "hare hare yukai" (「ハレ晴レユカイ」, lit. sunny sunny happiness), but the other songs I have of her just don't deserve more than 4 stars.

edit: added Chihara picture

A fairy weekend: Fairial Garden, Bottle Fairy

(tags manga, kawaii, moe, Fairial Garden, anime, Bottle Fairy)

On Friday evening returning home, I spotted this kawaii manga called Fairial Garden by Minene Sakurano (桜野みねね). I wasn't expecting it at all. The images at the back sold me even though I couldn't tachiyomi. I even bought it at a place where I never buy manga. Strangely impulsive, this one.

When I got home I read it from cover to cover. On Saturday I read it again cover to cover. And Sunday morning I read it again one more time. I must really like the drawing style here. It reminds me of A Little Snow Fairy Sugar but with more moeness. I would like to call it kenzen but one of the male sub characters has a cosplay fetish, and Sakurano does not disappoint (muhaha) "Dance with the one you came with" I suppose. Otaroad Senaka Blog post 桜野みねねさん作 フェアリアルガーデン1巻発売 「妖精の女の子とドキドキ共同生活！？」 covers this release as well with some reviews and images. When Otaroad covers a manga you know its for the otaku set.

Okay, the story kinda bites, though. The fairy, Claire, can't talk a lot except for a few emotionally loaded phrases like okaeri, iya, and arigatou, having just been born. She can transform into three different size (no explanation). Noa, who brought home the flower which sprouted Claire, has some grief and coping issues with losing a rare pet to his parents' scientific whims. So the story is about how he returns to being an emotional and trusting person, I suppose. However, the character development shines, because I am rooting for him to get back to feeling again. The whole sequence about teaching Claire to say "arigatou" was endearing. I can't wait until the next volume comes out, in what 6 months? :-(

I don't recall who manga artist Minene Sakurano is, but the ever convenient Wikipedia mentions she was responsible for long running manga and anime まもって守護月天! (Guardian Angel Getten). Not that I know of it, huh. Wait a minute. After reading the description of GAG, I see that this FG has many similar elements such as "strange girl", "lost mother", and "science parent". Maybe I should look into GAG as well? Then again I'm thinking that Sakurano may not be good at storytelling.

And the other fairy thing this weekend was my purchase of the U.S. English version of Bottle Fairy (瓶詰妖精) the DVD series. Puki puki payo. I'm now reviewing this series in voiced English, which is pretty decent. I forgot the entire content and even the names of the fairies but I love watching it again this time. I acutally LOL, jeez. I want to remember the Japanese holidays through memory association with Bottle Fairy, but despite the absurdity of the plot, it just does not stick in my mind.

2008 is already here! Animedia Nanoha Calendar

(tags poster, anime, Nanoha, 2008, sexy)

Well my Winter vacation has come and gone and I haven't achieved what I wanted to achieve. I did go crazy on Friday and Sunday (eg purchases) so there's that to document. I haven't yet talked about my own version of "best and rest of 2008", like last year.

But 2008 is already here and so that means a new calendar. But this one is not very functional, rawr.

I am so behind on reading Moeyo Akibajin blog. I read the news about this interesting calendar just last week even though it was posted on 2007-12-11 (「なのは9歳？、15歳？、19歳勢ぞろいカレンダー付属のアニメディア発売他」). Luckily Animedia is a monthly magazine, though I never regularly buy it. This particular calendar comes with Animedia issue 2008-01. I bought two of the same issue at only 500 yen each. Unfortunately the poster's paper is flimsy so I put both of them up in that plastic sheet.

Also this reminds me of that special poster when you buy that Nanoha StrikerS DVD 1 which features a young (9) and mature (19) Nanoha. I like that one better than this one. :-/ It was also illustrated in a one-of-a-kind POP back in 2007-07. I found a copy of the poster version at Books Lashinbang, and it could be mine for only 4000 yen! No thanks.

Also as a special addition to the 2008-01 issue, there was a data book about all the televised anime since 1962 till 2007. Whoa 45 years of anime. No pictures, just director, seiyuu, etc. It's surprisingly small at 130 pages, with a big chunk of it devoted to seiyuu data as well. Of course with Japanese kanji you can squeeze a lot in, plus it's normal to read a book really close to your face. It would be so cool to have this data digitized, though.

Looking for this: Yuiko Tokumi stuff

(tags stick poster, poster, anime, gal-ge, zettai ryouiki)

I'd like to think I learn from blind purchasing, but I'm just barely checking the Yahoo Auctions for illustrator Yuiko Tokumi == Hakka-ya stuff (keywords: 「篤見唯子」 or 「薄荷屋」), before I head out today.

Looking at that page reminded me about the stick poster postings I promised to show. Well here's one from my collection illustrated by Tokumi, on the right.

Yes, Comic Market 73 ended yesterday, but will those returning-to-Kinki-area otaku resell their stuff to K-Books, et al, in time for me to scoop them up today and tomorrow? I doubt it. I bet you the action day is January 2nd, Wednesday. I don't really want to spend that much time in Den Den Town, yikes.

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.

Polyphonica-themed telephone cards from Geemaga

(tags illustrator, sexy, anime, telephone card, magazine)

Geemaga, that monthly game magazine that I might be confusing for an old Dreamcast-focused magazine, is offering Noboru Kannatsuki (神奈月昇, Light of Night) telephone cards. I would have never known about it except for the announcement on the Geemaga blog, "ゲーマガ2007～8年末年始「応募者全員サービステレカ」企画を見逃すべからず".

Truly hawt. Gotta pickup this magazine now.

My computer's wallpaper rotation hits the Polyphonica illustrations (神曲奏界ポリフォニカ), quite nice.

Hooray for cuteness: Gamers character goods 2007/11 and Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun

(tags illustrator, character goods, music, anime)

A week ago on 2007-11-21 I picked up the Gamers point exchange telephone card. This time it's cute Petit Charat, but with green eyes. She normally has brown eyes, right? What is with this iris color change thing anyway? I did not anticipate the other point exchange item, which is the "light novel" yellow book cover made of really flimsy canvas-like material. Still, Dijiko FTW!

The telephone card was unadvertised that month, which worried me. Was the period where there were no telephone card item during the 2007 Summer a real break or did I miss something? I am uneasy. But I'm fine, really. :-(

Today I picked up the opening and ending theme of the 2007-10 anime Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun (ご愁傷さま二ノ宮くん). I am a sucker for the cutesy moe voices by Mai Kadowaki and Miyuki Sawashiro (門脇舞以 & 沢城みゆき). A cheerleader's "hooray hooray" turns into "furefure" in Japanese, heh.

Also purchased but not pictured was the limited edition of Nana Mizuki (水樹奈々) latest CD+DVD release, Great Activity. I'm a week late on this recent release, but it still came with a goodie, a slightly large picture of the seiyuu-diva herself. I heard one ballad from the CD at Animate (I think it's "Last Scene" 「ラストシーン」) and it was enthralling so... Normally I'm not into her but I don't doubt her talent.

BTW, it shocked me to learn some time ago that she wanted to be a enka singer. Luckily for us of the moe pursuasion she puts her full concentration on being the imouto-voice seiyuu, haha.

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, ...

Evil revisited: my second binder for Stick Posters

(tags stick poster, poster, anime, gal-ge, zettai ryouiki)

As I said, I was cleaning my bomb shelter and I unearthed my Stick Poster Collection binder (pictured left). I celebrated by buying a second binder. :-/ I forgot who did the cover for the right binder, but its one of those Leaf/AquaPlus illustrators, right? Zettai ryouiki FTW, rawr.

The second binder was marked down to 2000 yen. Basically I bought it for the inserts, because they DON'T fsckin' SELL refill inserts (at the shop). Where do I get refills?

Remember that Stick Posters (スティックポスター) are an AquaPlus invention that measure 182 mm by 515 mm (B3 paper size divided in half). On the same page, lots of interesting illustrations come out for the format. Personally I hope Stick Posters die a fast death, but it seem Mobile Suit Gundam will appear 2007-12-20, which will float this troublesome collectable a little bit more. Hm, do those Gundam heads go for paper? I thought they go for model kits and video game demos.

I will slowly posting pictures of my stick posters collection, so keep the label "stick poster" at the ready. Too bad my hand is not steady and my digi-cam is Sony quality.

Turn away but I'll be back: Ace Combat 6, Kyon no Imouto figure

(tags game, ECsite, Xbox 360, Wii, figure, anime, sexy, loli)

Yesterday evening I had a chance to pick up Ace Combat 6. Though I love the trailer and demo, I finally decided not to pick up the game due to a short comment from destroy tokyo. Besides I haven't played a flight game (not sim) in a long time, and my idea of flying is AfterBurner II. Also I like the 2D freedom of FPS like Halo 3 and Crackdown.

The Super Mario Galaxy demo movie which was playing at the new arrival area (thanks Senaka Otaroad) stopped me for a couple of minutes. There's just something about flying through space hanging low over a lava planet that looks spectacular. Galaxy Force II, anyone? But I don't have a Wii and I won't buy one just yet. Plus it made me feel guilty about not finishing Mario Sunshine.

I have to go to the shop again. I waste too much time just loafing around shops looking for things to buy. Stupid me. Anyway, I guess I have to pick up the Famitsu Xbox 360 magazine since it's selling out due to Ace Combat 6 and Idolm@ster special info. As an aside, I am looking at Idolm@ster auction goods and tickets for an upcoming live in Osaka and/or elseshere go for 2_0000 yen plus. If the Xbox 360 was cheaper I bet you it reign with Idolm@ster alone!

And the shop must have my pre-ordered figure "Kyon no Imouto" from FREEing. It's a 1/4 scale figure of Kyon's little sister in a bunny suit, part of the FREEing series, and based off of the Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsuu anime. I totally forgot about it and Akiba Blog reminded me (also Senaka Otaroad). As FooBarBaz puts it, it's cute but "pretty immoral". Um.... 9000 yen. You know I'm all about the bunny suit.

I suppose I need to balance this out by buying the other figures in the series (official pages: Mikuru, Haruhi, Tsuruya-san, Kyon no Imouto, Yuki), but the only other ones I want are the "Mikuru" and "Yuki", and even still, they are not smiling which is :-/ (sentence ends here).

Dead or Alive 4 hunt, Hisashiburi Osaka, Kureha digitized

(tags Osaka, purchase, character goods, telephone card, game, Xbox 360, anime, seiyuu, PlayStation 2, Kasimasi, Ikaruga)

Last post was a real bummer. How to get back to my dreamland? Goods!

On Saturday I headed to Tennouji and Nipponbashi Den Den Town for some Xbox 360 game scoping and telephone card hunting. I haven't been there since middle September because I spent 5_0000+ yen on an Xbox 360 last month, so the change of season makes the area look different. I didn't know how the Osaka tower looked at night, but it was so so. Anyways, the obligatory goods picture:

My goal was to get Dead or Alive 4 for less than 2200 yen, with original cover. The Platinum Collection covers irritate me and the DoA4 Platinum Collection edition comes out on 11/1 so maybe there are old copies lingering somewhere. Unfortunately I only scoped a 2900 yen one at A-Too, that crazy price used game shop that also carries a good selection of foreign console games. I let it pass (I got that telephone card there as a consolation prize). I could have snatched up a foreign edition BioShock with embossed case, but I don't need it yet at 7000 yen. One interesting find at another shop: a Panzer Dragoon (?) Xbox 1 console going for a little less than 3_0000 yen. No box?!? Oh please.

My buy threshold was 2000 yen for other games. I found Gears of War english-only edition for 1880 yen and Bullet Witch original cover for the same. At the northern Super Potato (?) I could have picked up Trusty Bell and Ridge Racer 6 for about 1900 yen each, but I figured enough was enough. BTW, at the same store, the Dead or Alive 4 arcade stick for the Xbox 360 was selling 12800 yen used! Why? Why!? It reminded me that I don't want to play Ikaruga on the Xbox controller. I'm not so hot on a joystick, though.

A semi-serious goal was to get the various Street Fighter on PS2 re-releases. The highest priority is on the Street Fighter Alpha collection. I had some fun times playing Guy on SF Alpha 1, but he wasn't the same on Alpha 2. Anyways, this game disc never got "Collection"-ed so its still 4500 yen new. Then again why should I bother since I already have the Windows PC port. I notice that there are no used copies of these SF games (!?!), but plenty of SNK fighters to be had.

Explaining the other items: various TCs abound. j1mOne's recommendation of Tiaraway's music made get the Seiyuu Gran-prix TC. I don't know the name of this anime, but a neko-mimi maid, right. The recent anime Kimikiss reminds me of the artwork from that old True Love Story - Summer Days and yet PS2 game, which was great illustrations by itself. Could they be related? Something to research. I wonder if I got that Kasimasi TC already, but it's a scratched reference. Oh yeah, I had fun watching Zettai Shonen (絶対少年) so I couldn't pass up this Quo card.

And still I have Kureha fever so I bought that Shining Wind Fun Disc from Sofmap Saurus Treasure Box. It was a special preorder item, which explains the 1200 yen used price. I bought it for the wallpapers, and I am a bit disappointed that Kureha doesn't smile in any of them. :-/ I found a Kureha telephone card at K-Books where she was smiling... only 8000 yen :-( Still, official artwork on my desktop background rotation, FTW. Pretty much I'm into Shining Wind based on the Tony artwork only. I know nothing about the game.

The cover for the drama CD Vol 1 is nice, rawr. :-) It surprised me that my class A seiyuu Yui Horie (堀江由衣) voices Kureha. The drama CD could be a buy.

On the way home, there was more security guards at the JR Osaka entrances, something like 10 to 15 guys in blue uniforms patrolling. "Osaka Kanjyosen" Halloween Train?

I am definately not going to Nipponbashi next weekend. I decided to get Ace Combat 6, and before that I need to start Idolm@ster. So I'm not going to repeat the Dead or Alive 4 hunt for a couple of weeks. :-)

Master of red: Noboru Kannatsuki CD-ROMs

(tags illustrator, sexy, anime, telephone card, CG)

I remember looking for goodies from the Comic Market 72 (2007/08) fallout at K-Books. I saw that the sexy bishoujo illustrator Noboru Kannatsuki (神奈月昇, Light of Night) had some CG CD-ROMs. I know him from the Polyphonica illustrations for the PC/PS2 visual novels and light novels (神曲奏界ポリフォニカ). Unfortunately the used price was unbelievable, 30000 yen! Just for one. And there were 3! Lucky for me and my wallet that he decided to re-release the CDs to doujin shops such as Tora no Ana.

Hawt. No, hawt would be Corti (the red-head bombshell) in her onee-san guise.

Only 1000 yen each. I only opened the third disc, Polyphony. Thankfully there's no nudity on that one (which is surprising). Now I gotta hook this up to my wallpaper changer, which at the moment is John's Background Switcher. I wholeheartedly recommend this freeware for Windows users who like Flickr or have multi-monitor setups.

The tosho card plus daishi on the top left was an Animate purchase. The illustration was originally an Animate exclusive cover for book 5 in the Polyphonica light novel "Crimson" series.

D.C. II is seriously deja vu

(tags anime, season 2007/10, galge)

I'm not impressed with D.C. II (a season 2007/10 anime). I expected something different, but a lot of things seem to be reused: names, character traits, magic. I thought this is supposed to be 50 years in the future? But this time maybe just maybe the story this time will be less oniichan-imouto love, and that gives me hope.

Acutally what surprises me more is my reaction. Ugh, another sister-love harem angle, oh noes veterans Yui Horie (堀江由衣) and Yukari Tamura (田村ゆかり), I'm tired of them. Usually I'm all for this stuff. Have I gone mad? :-/

Complex resolved! Lovely Complex

(tags anime, season 2007/04, Lovely Complex)

Lovely Complex ends with 24 episodes. What a grand adventure. 5 stars!

These two look like they can't go through one more episode, though. Go All-Hanshin Combi!

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. :-)

Season 2007/10 animes and the seiyuus that drive them

(tags anime, season 2007/10, seiyuu)

Yes I'm watching anime, but no I'm not up to date. But j1mOne is: Autumn 2007 Anime Preview. She concentrates more on the seiyuu (pictures included) and not the stories, which is the way I like it. She does link to other general previews (1, 2), but the format of the page is way easier to read that the others.

I wanna check out Kimi Kiss (キミキス), Kodomo no Jikan (こどものじかん), Kawaii Jenny, and probably the other schoolgirl, bishoujo animes. But I actually don't watch a lot, only 4 or 5 a week.

(picture thanks: アキバブログ)

BTW, I still haven't watched that DVD that comes with that Kodomo no Jikan manga. ^_^;

Mamoru-kun is orz: Rubik's Cube measured times

(tags anime, Rubik's Cube, season 2006/10, times)

I was watching some Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku wo! (護くんに女神の祝福を！) but its pretty bad. Seiyuu Mikako Takahashi (高橋美佳子) voices the main gal Ayako here, but the only role I liked her in was Ayumi in Hachimitsu to Clover.

Anyways on the cubing front, I did better than last time by not trying to Cube while watching.

----- JNetCube Best Average for Mon Sep 17 21:15:07 GMT+09:00 2007 -----

Average: 2:11.50 (2:47.16 -35.66 last week)

Fastest Time: 1:29.59 (2:14.03 -44.44)
Slowest Time: 3:44.43 (3:46.20 -1.77)
Standard Deviation: 19.48 (11.78)

Individual Times:
2:15.34 R2 B2 L F2 D2 L F2 U L2 D F2 L' B2 U' D B' U R U2 F R2 B2 U' F L
2:08.18 D' U2 L' R' U' F U2 L D R' U2 R B U F U2 D B U2 F' U D2 R U2 R2
1:29.59 U' R B' L2 D R' D' F' L B' U D2 L R2 B L2 B' F U' L R2 U' D2 F2 L
2:29.57 L' D' B2 F2 D F B' U B L2 U2 R' D U' L' U' F L' R B R' U' B' F' U2
2:35.00 B2 U' B2 L' B' F2 U' F U L' B' D2 B' L' B R' L F' L2 D' R U2 D' F U
1:50.28 D' B' D2 B2 F R B2 D L B' U' F B2 L' R2 B L B2 F2 D' U B' D' B2 F2
1:54.25 B2 U D' B' D R2 F B' L' U2 L' B' F' R' B' D' L U2 L2 U' F2 B2 L' D F
2:40.38 B U F' U2 D F R2 B' D U' F' L' R2 B2 F R L F' L F L2 B2 D' L2 B2
3:44.43 B' D R2 D R2 L U2 D2 F2 U2 F' R' D' R D2 B L B L' F' U2 L2 R B' D'
1:59.25 B F' U' B L' F' L2 U2 R F2 L2 B2 F' L2 D' L' F B2 U2 L U' R L2 B F2
2:18.31 F' U2 B2 L2 D' B F D2 F2 L2 F2 U L2 F2 R2 L D' U' B2 U' R U2 L2 B D
1:44.45 D L' R' B2 U2 B2 L' U2 R2 D2 L D L2 F2 U2 D R2 F2 B2 L2 D' L D B2 R2

Another improvement of about 30 seconds this week. I didn't "prune". I just did a straight run without rejecting or rolling over. I didn't even warm up, after resting 2 days from daily practice. I must say my hands don't feel very dexterous, and I "pop" my cube a lot. Over the course of the week I have somewhat mastered those last two Fridrich moves, but I forgot them on some these of the runs, which explains those 3 minute + results.

One thing I allow myself is to look at the cube for as much time as I want. Usually I get impatient but sometimes I try to think about how to move to the cross. I also try to shortcut some moves if I can look in advance. Cubing improvement is all about looking ahead, so if I can "see" the colors, I can get rid of redundant movement.

My time is limited

(tags anime, manga)

Well I was going to relax with an anime episode of Zero no Tsukaima and the new manga Kodomo no Jikan book 4 (with DVD, which I pre-ordered back in 2007-07-01), but all this exciting game news and posting just got in the way. No time to watch and read now, gotta sleep!

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.

Doujin Work is orz: Rubik's Cube measured times

(tags Rubik's Cube, times, anime, season 2007/04)

I was watching some Doujin Work, a season 2007/04 anime, and even though my favorite seiyuu Masumin (浅野真澄) is voicing the main character, the whole story just bites hard. Thumbs down. So I busted out my Rubik's Cube while glancing at the episodes. To tell you the truth though, I couldn't concentrate on doing both, so I repeated a set of 12 solves after it was done. The scores for this week:

----- JNetCube Best Average for Sun Sep 09 22:27:20 GMT+09:00 2007 -----

Average: 2:47.16 (3:16.43 -29.27 last week)

Fastest Time: 2:14.03 (2:17.57 -3.54)
Slowest Time: 3:46.20 (5:51.78 -125.58)
Standard Deviation: 11.78 (28.76)

Individual Times:
1) 2:45.73 U' L2 D' F D B2 L' B2 L U2 R2 D2 R B U2 B D2 U2 L' U B F R B' L2
2) 3:08.45 U' F2 L B U D2 F' B D F D R D2 R2 U' F' U L2 D' U' B' L2 R D' F
3) 2:53.28 U2 B2 L2 F L F2 R2 D F R2 D' F2 R2 B' U2 F D F' U D' B U2 D' F2 L
4) 2:38.46 D' U' F2 U F' U D2 F R' D2 B L2 R' B2 L2 B2 U2 F' U F2 R2 U' L2 D2 F
5) (3:46.20) D F2 B L R B D L2 U D2 R' B2 D2 B F' U' D B R' U2 R' F D F D
6) 2:50.26 D F' L R' B' L' U2 F B L2 R B' U2 F B' D' R2 D R D' L D B2 F2 R'
7) 2:52.29 D2 L R U B' F2 U L' D2 U F' D' L' D' F' B' L2 D2 U B' L2 R D F D'
8) 2:48.46 U' B2 D L F R2 U' R B F D2 F' U' L F B' U R' L F U F2 L B2 F'
9) 2:21.84 R' B' L U' F D2 U' F U' B2 R B F2 R' F2 D2 B F' R' U' R L' B' F' U
10) 2:47.28 U B2 D2 F2 D2 U R2 B' D' B U D2 L R U2 F R L' D U2 B2 U R' F R
11) (2:14.03) R2 D' F2 B2 U L R2 D' U2 B L B L2 F' D2 F U2 R2 L' B' F L B F' D
12) 2:45.53 B L F2 U2 R' L' B D R2 U R' F2 L B2 L' F D2 U R B2 F' U R F2 R2

Well an improvement about 30 seconds, but last week I didn't "prune" like I did this week. I'm still using the same method, but I think my hands are getting used to spinning the cube.

I have come to the conclusion that the Heise Method is for advanced Cubists, so I have given up on it. I still need the crutch of matching colors to absolute positions. I have switched to doing Blue side first, in a method similar to Fridrich but only 3 of the edges at a time. Still I haven't learned how to do the simple version of Friditch PLL corners and edges, even though I've practiced them a number of times.

Behind you

(tags anime, season 2007/04, Lovely Complex, Manabi Straight)

Today I bought Manabi Straight DVD 6 and watched episode 11. Well it was okay.

Then I watched episode 18 of Lovely Complex for a second time.

It's grand.

You just wanna appreciate the figures: "Haruhi" and "Yuki" Limited edition "White"

(tags figure, sexy, anime, purchase)

Its been a couple of months in the making, but my "Mikuru" doesn't have to go it alone any more:

Yes! I recently won the auction for third figure in this series,"Yuki Nagato [Bunny Girl]" (～涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱～ＰＶＣ製塗装済完成品 『1/6長門有希 バニーガール』), Chara-Ani limited edition White (no stockings, rawr). I did try to get it officially through Chara-Ani a couple of months back, but I was robbed. This time I used Yahoo Auction Japan, and it was only 8000 yen + shipping. The price is only slightly higher than retail, only because there is now a better Haruhi Bunny Suit series (FREEing(フリーイング)「涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 涼宮ハルヒ バニーVer.」 "Mikuru", "Haruhi", "Tsuruya-san", "Kyon's Sister"). Ah, such is life.

Since this was an auction buy, I kinda doubted that this was a unopened box. Granted the tape looked new and everything was in place with protective plastic, but the figure itself seemed dirty with some lint. I spent some time trying to clean it off, with little success. Some of the lint is on the bunny ears (right side in photo), and on the front side of the bunny suit. Since its white it irritatingly stands out. Also "Yuki" cannot stand by itself so I placed the support arm. Still I am very satisfied with the face, very kawaii. You can change the hands, but I think the combination of glasses and star wand is moe.

I'm not into Haruhi herself, but I kept my eye out for the second figure, "Haruhi Suzumiya [Bunny Girl]" (～涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱～ＰＶＣ製塗装済完成品 『1/6涼宮ハルヒ バニーガール』), Chara-Ani limited edition White (no stockings, rawr). I got this one used at Mandarake Osaka for about 7000 yen, which isn't a bad price for what appears to be another unopened box. Face is very clean, with some niggling scratches on the hair in the back. The rest of the figure is cleaner than "Yuki", so is it a manufacturing defect or auction deception? In any case, the pose is made for the guitar. There's also a mic hand set, but that just doesn't make any sense.

So now they're out of the box, let's pose them. Okay an obligatory story:

Yuki: "Mikuru-chan, you haven't seen my guitar around have you?"
Mikuru: "I think Haruhi has it."

Haruhi: "Let's play something interesting!" (starts to swing arm in giant windmills)
Yuki: "Are you sure you know how to play?"
Haruhi: "Sure!" (bad riff sound)
Mikuru: "Do I have to watch you practice?"

Haruhi: "Let's get a band going together in time for the culture festival." (bad riff sound and wild swinging continues)
Mikuru: "Ganbatte ne" (slowly inches away)
Yuki: "Hm, how good are at timed air guitar?" (ponders)

The "Mikuru" figure is the obvious win since she is so kawaii. "Yuki" isn't bad, but really does she belong in a bunny suit? And "Haruhi" is just fronting again, but I am surprisingly satisfied with it. The long legs are very non-Japanese, though. I placed these figures on top of my refrigerator, so I see them when I walk in. I want to put them next to the computer but there is no space.

I want to keep these figures out on display, but I've got so many others that I should work on. So perhaps in a month these "ladies" will hit the boxes again.