PSP wants and Hitsuji-kun nara Kisu Shite Ageru

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, hardware, Naoto Tenhiro, illustrator, DLC)

Now I want to spend some time with the PSP. Never mind that I own two firmware-crackable PSP-1000 series, I am searching for a new/used PSP-2000. I missed my chance because I thought they would still be available. The currently available PSP-3000 seems to have a wierd screen, though I haven't seen it in person.

I was checking out the available used hardwares. There wasn't anything available in Osaka Nipponbashi for PSP-2000. Well it was a pretty good week for the PSP, because Square Enix brought out a Final Fantasy product and it seems to have sold half a million in just a couple of days, w00t. I wonder if it's Monster Hunter "Square Enix" version or something. Ahem, yeah. Okay, today I spotted a bunch of PSP-2000 used. None of them are my desired pastel colors so I am still waiting.

Macross Ace Frontier is waiting for me. Also I will be picking up that Idolm@ster PSP series that will be appearing next February (it seems to be delayed). I do want WipeOut Pulse, and my copy is just pulling at my heart strings every time I go to the store.

Finally, I just learned today from reading Gamaga Magazine that a "heartful", Naoto Tenhiro (天広直人) illustrated game will be coming soon for the PSP. It's called Hitsuji-kun nara Kisu Shite Ageru (羊くんならキスしてあげる). The original work has been serialized for some time now in that glossy gal-ge magazine, E2 (Media Works/Softbank).

Also, it seems to have a PC browser only game, available from an online game distributor Playing Drama, since 2007/04 (appearing in serialized form). Looking at this page, I bet the PSP version is only a port of this web/PC game. Ah hahah.... I just realized that I won't touch this web/PC game version, because it requires an online connection. To make matters worse, this online service will end 2009/03/31 and there's nothing written about purchased DLC. This means it will evaporate into nothingness!!! Hahaha DLC Death strikes again! Time to salvage the free background graphics and other stuffs, since that's what I care about.

Actually, the seiyuu seem to be a good lineup, including Saeko Chiba (千葉紗子) and Ryoko Shintani (新谷良子). The PSP version will have the same seiyuu, so I look forward to hearing them. Also it seems to use a vertical screen orientation, which is pretty novel. Finally, there will be a telephone card omake for different shops. I hate this kinda of exclusivity, but I'm used to jumping through (expensive) hoops for Tenhiro stuff. Hahah.

I support this Ichigo-chan

(tags food, illustrator, Aoi Nishimata, Japan, mail-order)

Yes I bought the rice, and now I'm planning to buy the strawberries.

Very nice indeed. "Ugono Ichigo-chan". It'll be winter soon, though.

CM 74 goods: Tama-tan and others by illustrator Koge Donbo (Koge Koge House)

(tags goods, illustrator, Koge Donbo, CM74)

This is the second CM74 goods I actually care enough to buy. However I didn't have to canvass any shops to get these official doujin goods. I only had to read illustrator Koge Donbo's blog, "Do-Bo*JO" and buy the goods from her virtual shop only hours after she announced it. Only 2500 yen through bank transfer. No pain, no irritating scalping, all gain, too easy. Koge Donbo explains the goods herself.

This time around Koge-Donbo's goods include a doujinshi-sized tote bag (detailed picture). This is not cloth or paper, but laminated vinyl, I think, which is surprising. I always intend to use bags like these, so I already folded, spindled and mutilated it. (Which reminds me, I should do a blog post on the bishoujo-otaku-for-life bags I carry around as backup.) Unfortunately this one is inconvenient as a shoulder-tote bag because the strap is too short to thread my arm through.

The illustration itself is "Kazune Miku", which I suppose is the character Kazune from Kamichama Karin (2005 manga and TV series?) cross-dressing into Hatsune Miku clothes. Um. WTF.

The back side is something more palatable to my eyes. It's "Tama-tan"! I already got this figure (though I didn't blog post about it and I tried to buy-prevent it). According to that figure's accompanying doujinshi, she's a schoolgrader that transforms to this frilly girl in order to combat trolls on blogs. Huh. Anyways, Tama-tan has her own blog, called Tama-tan Blog, surprise surprise.

On a related note, another CM74 item is a vocal CD based on this original character, called "USB!!! -うさみみ すぅい～と ばに～がぁる-". The seiyuu for Tama-tan is Momoko Saito (斎藤桃子). I don't really know her. I just want the illustration, ha. (BTW this illustration has really good eyes. Koge Donbo's illustrations as of late have had some terrible eye drawings. Did she have a falling out with one of her assistants?) Unfortunately there's no info on how to purchase it, so it's a CM only thang. Ouch. Well I could always look at the official nico-nico douga video. Or get the backgrounds jpgs. Wow, 1600 by 1200 pixels. Rawr. Thank you Koge Donbo for giving this away.

Finally rounding out this goods set is a doujinshi, a clear file with the same illustration, and a flyer (chirashi). I haven't read this goods' doujinshi yet, but it looks like an original character, trademarked Koge Donbo kawaii with bunny ears and bunny dolls.

Speaking of which, Koge Donbo has a new manga work called Naki Shoujo no tame no Pavane (亡き少女の為のパヴァーヌ). I thought this work would have different character style, but one character, "Misaki Kanda", looks like a recycle from Pita-ten. Hahah, more bunny dolls hanging off headbands, please.

CM 74 goods: Tama-chan by illustrator Yuiko Tokumi (Hakkaya)

(tags illustrator, Yuiko Tokumi, goods, CM74)

It's that time of year again: Comic Market 74 (CM74) goods by proxy. Since CM74 ended on a Sunday (2008-08-17), I expected Kinki region otaku to resell their stuff this week or this weekend. I window-shopped my favorite stores in the Osaka and Kobe areas: K-books, Books Lashinbang, TC Paradise, Vanilla. Only the latter had the following circle Hakkaya (薄荷屋) / illustrator Yuiko Tokumi (篤見唯子) goods:

It's a big paper bag of Tama-chan from Bottle Fairy (瓶詰妖精), a paper fan with the same character, and a light novel cloth book cover of some unrelated illustration, for 1500 yen. I consider cheep because usually this kinda stuff starts at 3000 yen. The illustration reminds me of her old licensed gachapon-like swimsuit figurine series back in 2006 or 2007, but I didn't follow that one too well despite buying the convention-only telephone card. Is it "ソリッドシアター Pocket THEATER 薄荷屋 Collection みずぎくらす" ?

Anyways, I didn't do my homework though, because I don't know if this a complete set. Where's the doujinshi, for example? As far as this CM's goods set are concerned, I give it 4 5 out of 5 stars. The bag and paper fan illustration is kawaii win, but the cheepness of the light-novel cloth cover lowers the rating and I ignore the cloth cover.

It seems that Tokumi is changing the way she illustrates the eyes. Every illustrator refines their art with time, but I suppose I liked her older style. It seems to me that more and more bishoujo illustrators are coloring the eyes similarly to Tokumi's method (not that I think she originated this style), so perhaps she's trying to maintain her distinctiveness.

Gamers "2008 Summer trading card game supplies sales campaign"
Tokyo Trading Card Show 2008 exclusive telephone card (right)
illustrated by illustrator Yuiko Tokumi

It's been years since Bottle Fairy. I like how Tokumi visits Tama-chan and Bottle Fairy over and over again in her doujin activities, though I wonder if she's ever going to come with other stuff. I ignored that figurine series though, and that was something new and different. I'm not following her too closely actually, though I know she submits piece or two for those gal-ge based card games like Lycée.

Also she has that unobtainable telephone card from a Gamers trading card game supplies campaign (2008-08), as shown above. Ugh, want. I mean, look, Hakkaya bunny playing cards. Win. However it's "unobtainable" because I need 30 tickets to get it, but one ticket "costs" a card supply item, which starts at 400+ yen. Best to look at the auctions, starting next week, but let's save the picture for posterity and purchase-deterrance.

Tama-tan: Pink wins over Black

(tags figure, Koge-Donbo, illustrator, kawaii)

I'd like to get this figure by illustrator Koge-Donbo and figure creator Takeshi Miyakawa (T's System), called "Tama-tan" (T's system「コゲどんぼ×宮川武コラボレーションフィギュア　たまタン」 ). It's a 1/6 scale, pre-built PVC figure. The pink one was released at Wonder Festival Winter 2008 earlier this year, and I saw one for sale at Sofmap Zaurus Treasure Box for about 12000 yen. I'm kinda kicking myself for not getting it then.

You can now pre-order the black one from Tora no Ana online for 7500 yen, but only until 6/14. Black doesn't suit my fancy (white is more like it, aww yeah), so I am staying away. I only noticed the latter because I subscribed to Koge-Donbo's blog and steal her pics, at least the one announcing this figure. There is a nice photo-heavy blog post capturing the pink "Tama-tan" at the Tenra Blog (天羅Blog: T's system「コゲどんぼ×宮川武コラボレーションフィギュア　たまタン」 ) and at Yotsuba to Figure (よつばとフィギュア：コゲどんぼ×宮川武コラボレーションフィギュア 1/6たまタン ワンダーフェスティバル2008Winter)

Frozen uma dance in melon maid gear

(tags telephone card, illustrator)

I just reviewed (took pictures of) the telephone cards I bought over the last month. Geez there's a lot, even though I thought I was cutting back. Actually today, I got a printed receipt of my bonus stipend, which will come next Wednesday. June is Japanese salary bonus time. I am rolling in dough that I haven't even baked yet.

So I was feeling a little bit more frivolous today so I bought this telephone card for 2000 yen. This is Ef: The First Tale's main heroine "Miyako", but in the trademark Melonbooks "Melon-chan" green-white maid clothing. This is the omake telephone card when one purchases the 2006 adult PC game at Melonbooks, or at least I think so. This is different from Melonbooks' usual point exchange telephone cards which are also "Melon-chan" themed but full of ero loli fan-service. FTW. But no, I don't get those.

Anyway, I haven't even watch or played Ef at all, but I have at least one other telephone card of this busty "Miyako". I think its all original illustrator Naru Nanao's fault (七尾奈留). She makes her heroines so pretty. In the background is a cover sheet flyer of D.C. Da Capo II PS (PlayStation 2)'s "Yume". For me, Nanao defined the blockbuster D.C. Da Capo, but according to Wikipedia, she did not have a hand in this sequel. I didn't know that before writing this post. Personally I think D.C. II character design looks better.

Other than that, lackluster zettai ryouiki. Pretty means pretty thin. But hey look it's an Uma Uma pose. Rawr. I feel like playing the Speedycake remix again.

How bad do you want it? "Hakkaya 73" goods (Yuiko Tokumi 2007-12 stuff, part 2)

(tags collectable, Comic Market, Yuiko Tokumi, illustrator, auction)

So I've been following the bidding on the complete Yuiko Tokumi goodies available at Comic Market 73 (2007-12-30, keywords: 「薄荷屋 73」) It's horridly crazy. I was about to put my bid down but now the bids have skyrocketed beyond my tolerance. The goods looks like this:

We are looking at a paper bag, a canvas-like tote bag, a pencil card, a calendar and two doujinshis. Ugh, it's that "Miku Hatsune" craze. But who knows, some of the bidders have a history of being Hakkaya fans. In fact there was one person that maintained the highest bid, even when they were outbid (I kept refreshing the page, you see). They really had to have it, huh.

Yes I gotta have that calendar since it's a tradition (I have 2006 and 2007 calendars) plus it's Bottle Fairy! (瓶詰妖精) I would die for Bottle Fairy. But! I wouldn't put up 2_0000+ yen just for a 1000 yen calendar.

There are some backups online as well as off. I do have Nipponbashi to explore, but the past two days indicate that its too early to check. I am going tomorrow as well, because I haven't picked up the Gamers "New Year's" Dejiko Telephone card in lovely wine red.

Gah, what a waste of time. :-(

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.

Scratched card "collecting": Kureha, Dijiko, Xbox Live

(tags game, purchase, illustrator, Xbox 360, figure, telephone card)

First off, the Sega Direct shipment of the "Kureha" figure and Capcom Classics Collection for PSP came in, but the emphasis is on the card. I always hate it when the card is not securely embedded in its plastic sleeve. It could be possibly be scratched. Ugh.

I went out on Sunday night. My resolve to not get the premium Crackdown map pack was slipping. Besides, I needed to pick up this month's Gamers 30 point-exchange telephone card. Can I complain about the recent Dijiko? Why does she have red eyes now? Before she was totally hawt with green eyes. I remember in a recent Akiba picture, two seperate billboards had green eyes and red eyes. Anyway I fail my Japanese Internet searching skills, so I probably missed the whole discussion.

So I picked up the Xbox Live 3500 Microsoft Point card, which is 4980 yen (priced to move). It came in a "blister packaging", which is that hard to open thing that doesn't seem to catch on in Japan. I made the mistake of scratching off the back with some scissors. No not the cutting edge, but the other side. Still, it deeply scraped off the plastic, and I could not completely read the 25-letter subscription code. Uh, dumbass! Well, there were 5 incomplete letters, and I could see the bottom halves. If I was going to try all of the possible combinations, it would take 384 attempts or something like 5 hours.

So today during work I called up the Microsoft support. The support guy first verified that I was my gamertag, and then asked for some visual proof of the card. After sending an email with support request number and two 2.5 MB digi-cam files, I got a callback where the same support guy read off another 25-letter subscription code. "...taiga no T, suuji no Kyuu, arufabetto no Q, arufabetto no C, bikutori no V..." I verified it now and I am now 3500 points into this Microsoft digital thing.

Now to buy that Crackdown 800 point and finish off the achievements!

A little too eager: Shining Wind's Kureha (figure)

(tags figure, game, PlayStation 2, sexy, illustrator)

Remember the "Kureha" figure I mentioned in May? Well, Moeyo reminded me that its coming out this week so I've been making quick stops to the Sofmap.

Um. Guess I didn't read too closely, because it says it will come out on Friday, not today. Duh.

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.

Free magazine, but expensive collectables: A-Station Telephone Cards

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

A-Station magazine is a free glossy magazine "for the Akiba-otaku". They just celebrated 1 year of publication. It has some reviews of recent and upcoming anime/manga, as well as maid cafe and poster inserts. It is pretty limited distribution here in Kobe, but I am able to obtain a copy at "otaku" stores like Gamers, since they have increased their publication to 10_0000 copies. Pretty much I collect it based on the magazine cover illustrations alone:

These are the work of illustrator Atsushi Yoshinari (吉成篤). Moe!

Actually these are scans of the collectable telephone cards up for sale right now at the web store. They have online ordering by debit-prepay card, but I am doing the old-fashioned way by sending them postal checks (定額小為替). 1200 yen per card, ouch. There is a limited print run of 200 cards per design, on a first-come first-served basis. For the whole Japan. This is not a familiar system. It's either a limited print run by draw, or all-applicants print run. I sent my money last month pretty quickly, but I wonder if it got through. They are doing the same run this month, so I'm buying an incomplete second set. Heheh.

Before this, I was able to buy A-Station's first three issue covers reprinted onto telephone cards. It was totally easy to obtain it by postal check order, so I hope its the same for the above 9 cards.

Moetan the animation?!?!

(tags anime, season 2007/07, Moetan, POP, illustrator)

Yes, Moetan the animation! (もえたん) I can't wait! Then again, I was not much into the story part, just the illustrations and figures (1, 2). Thanks to Mr. Alvin for the email.

POP is the character designer and illustrator for the original English-by-otaku book series (萌える英単語もえたん). Though prolific in the doujinshi scene as part of the Electromagnetic Wave group, POP is expanding into the mainstream. Recently I recall the push for illustrations aimed for kids, for example the calendar and fairy tale redux (POP WONDERLAND series ふしぎの国のアリス, 赤ずきん) books. Also POP is the sole reason I'm buying the mainstream anime Otogi Juushi Akazukin Fairy Musketeers (おとぎ銃士赤ずきん Fairy Musketeers). Yes the limited edition 12 page illustration and postcard tokuten makes all the difference.

The animation character designer will be Kohaku (?) Nishio (西尾公伯). He was involved in a number of recent animes such as To Heart 2 and Tokimeki Memorial Only Love, so I expect the same level of moe service here. Though there is a picture on the official animation site which is high quality, I can't help but think that the quality of the Moetan animation will drop. It just will, m'kay. I need to lower my expectations.

The voice actors are the same as from the doujin "Listening CD" cast, with Yukari "Yukarin" Tamura (田村ゆかり) headlining. I am actually getting tired of Yukarin. She needs to reprise her role as Sakura from Da Capo or Tomari from Kasimasi to get me to get excited about her again.

On a related tip, when is that Moetan the shooting game coming out? Its been 7 months now since I put in my pre-order.

(This IE 7.0 crashed eating my first post. Curse you IE! Then again using Firefox with this blogger makes italic tags look like <span style="italic"...> which is ugly in my opinion.)