Today's Updates Daiki’s Bakuten Sei, Asu no Yoichi Ibuki preorders open Ikkitousen news roundup See below for a roundup of totally awesome figure and ero news, including more from Hobby Japan (squishy Xecty!), updates on Daiki figures, Volks's Haruka, Eye Up and others, and a look at the big game releases coming next weekend:
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Amiami's evening update tonight included a couple of figures we've reported on here in past weeks: Daiki Kougyou's Sei PVC bust from Bakuretsu Tenshi and Movic's Hankyuu Ibuki from Asu no Yoichi!. Tackling Ibuki first: we reported on her preorder listing at Movic back on May 13th, and it wouldn't bear repeating here but for the revelation of a surprise upper castoff (images below). As previously reported her sculpt is from Saitou Heel and she's set for release in August at.... Movic says 1/8 scale and 19 cm, Amiami says 1/7 scale and 21 cm. Both report a retail price of 5,880 yen. Daiki's Sei bust was also the subject of earlier reporting when her official page went online, and details on this release have changed as well. The sculpt is still credited to Shiragami Takayuki (Yukishiro) and she's still scheduled for release in October at 28 cm tall; the retail price however has been lowered from the initially reported 11,550 yen to 9,975 yen. That doesn't happen too often... Pictures of both figures can be found below:
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Today's Updates Figure Review: Food Girls Strawberry-chan Dokimajo 2 petit Nendoroids unveiled Asougi Rin, Yatsuhiro Nanaka hug pillows Tonko follows Menma to the Taki chopping block Daiki Kougyou to adapt epic Bakuten Sei Orchid Seed’s May lineup delayed to June Volks announces Kagamine Rin, Len Toy’s Planning does To Heart 2’s Konomi 47th annual Shizuoka Hobby Show More news and miscellany below the fold:
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Figure maker Daiki Kougyou updated their official site this evening with a listing for an extraordinary Sei PVC figure from Bakuretsu Tenshi (Burst Angel). This PVC conversion continues Daiki's tradition of adapting epic kits that turned a lot of heads on the garage kit circuit, with Sei coming from veteran sculptor Shiragami Takayuki (Yukishiro) who debuted the kit in 2007 (see below for our shots from WF07 summer). Daiki's PVC version is scheduled to retail in early October at 11,550 yen, 28 cm tall (scale unspecified) and completely pre-painted and assembled. Preorders were momentarily open at Daiki but seem to have closed for now; we'll be watching closely for further preorder info that should be coming soon. Figure images below:
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Today's Updates Figure Review: Alter’s Franco il Nero (Kuro no Franco) Taki Corp. announces Ikkitousen nurse trio Goodsmile presents To Love-Ru Lala, Kiminozo Mitsuki Spring 2008 Anime: Tower of Power Gonzo has one of the spottier anime track records among of late, but if there's one thing they deserve respect for it's their willingness to risk innovation on the business side. This season they're presenting two of their new shows (Druaga and Blassreiter) viewable online at Crunchyroll, subtitled in English, on a "pay what you think it's worth" basis. Whether this will be an effective solution to the fansub dilemma I don't know, but right now Gonzo seems to be the only one trying to bridge the gap. I just wish Crunchyroll didn't feel quite so much like it was written and coded by a Harvard MBA who majored in marketing to tweens... Druaga no Tou ~ the Aegis of Uruk Production Studio: Gonzo Genre: Fantasy, online RPG Original Concept: Namco's Druaga no Tou Director: Chigira Koichi Chief Writer: Gatoh Shouji Character Designer: Hakua Ugetsu (concept), Takaoka Junichi Doujin Potential: fair to middling Figure Potential: quite decent, based on Bakuten precedent The Full Metal Panic tag team of writer Gatoh Shouji and director Chigira Koichi returns to Gonzo with this anime adaptation of the classic Tower of Druaga franchise. The Hakua Ugetsu designs are what initially caught my eye, but with some decent production values and the team of talent they have assembled I have high hopes that this will be the best Gonzo title since Last Exile. Maybe. Iizuki Tasuku's Queen's Gate Iroha We first brought news that doujin illustrator par excellence Iizuki Tasuku would be producing a Queen's Gate volume featuring Iroha from the Samurai Spirits franchise back in February, and ever since I've been eagerly anticipating the volume's April 18th release. I managed to get ahold of a copy a day early, and I've got to say this is a very nice book indeed. If you're a fan of Iroha, Tasuku, or beautiful crane girls reincarnated as ninja maids to serve and protect their husbands, this is definitely an item worth investigating - J-List has it available right now (don't believe the page, it's actually in stock) if you'd like to support HD with your purchase. The World's First Dorodere Luca from Ar Tonelico 2 spawned a new permutation of the moe archetype: dorodere. HD crack web developer Jetfuel explains: Dorodere: a new term for a character who’s dorodoro on the inside (messed up and disturbed), but deredere on the outside (sweet and affectionate). This term seems to have been coined particularly to describe Luca Truelywaath of GUST / Banpresto’s opus Ar tonelico 2, which I may or may not be currently writing up in my first Heisei Democracy column. Thanks to Hatena blog After Seven for the explanation; asking Luca herself didn’t yield a very satisfying answer... Max Factory's Luca is now on sale! Look for Jetfuel's new moe console game themed HD column soon! Figure Recommendations Max Factory's Ruka (Luca) from Ar Tonelico 2 Orchid Seed's Onna Kenshi Feane (HD Review) Comic Gum's Pearl Black Ryomou Shimei (HD Review) Orchid Seed's Gekkou no Carnevale Anna (HD Review) Miyabiya's Bible Black Takashiro-sensei (Imari Review) U-Art's Mogudan Kanu Unchou Alter's Kuro no Franco (Franco il Nero) (HD Review) Ero news below:
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One thing that works rather well for anime and/or game popularity is to mix girls and guns. So does for figures. And ALTER seems to know this and exploit it. Revy from Black Lagoon and Jo from Bakuretsu Tenshi have already had their own moment of glory, and are being joined by Nadie from El [...]
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[Posted @ 1:34 PM]YEAH! My parcel came in YESTERDAY AFTERNOON! My maid smsed me about it, I was really excited lol and can't wait to get home.Scroll down for more pictures of my purchases, Bakuretsu Tenshi [Burst Angel] DVD Box Set by FUNimation and Loveless DVD Box Set by Media Blasters.I wanted to post the images last night but my spirits were dampen by the dorm stuff again. Oh well. Okay, I seriously dunno where to start ... this is just too awesome lol. Oh yeah, I'm not going to talk about Medal of Honor - Airborne, cos it's not mine and not of my interest either.Spectacular glossy box cover, in good condition XD. LoL, I still can't believe it's half priced, someone please pinch me!Look at the abundant contents on the back of the box cover!!!- 24 Episodes on 6 discs- 6 Guide Books- Director Commentaries- Original Radio Dramas- Textless Songs OP/ED - Outtakes <- -.-- Widescreen 16:9All these for ... like S$69. By the way, what do ODEX give? Even at the price of S$29.90 per volume, let's see two volumes, S$29.90x2=S$59.80, which is worth it?Feast your eyes on these guidebooks, the printing alone probably cost like S$10.6 Discs, scratch-free and playable.The covering for the Discs.'Slot-in' behind the Discs.Next, Loveless DVD Box Set, it looks rather plain, the box cover's thin and easily ... well bendable cos it's CARDBOARD lol. Kinda disappointed cos Loveless has the one of the BEST art style I've ever since and I don't want a cardboard to be the box cover, sigh. Anyways, There's no extra booklets or something in the disc cover, just some advertorials stuff. There's textless OP/ED though and they even included the SD [Super-deform] theater in! LoL.Needless to say, the video quality's gorgeous, Soubi looks so hot lol.Random rants;I managed to catch an episode of D-Grayman on Arts Central last night and the flashing advertisements around about ODEX really getting the 'same' [only one week delay!] airing time as Japan for D-Grayman Season 2, was truly admirable. We can't deny that. Maybe they should venture in getting licenses to broadcast animes on TV instead of releasing DVDs, eating too much cake might cause a major stomachache. Well, not like I really care cos they're unlikely to license the titles I like lol and I'm going to study soon. With their website still down, we have like totally no idea what will happen or even know what to expect next.Arts Central's airing Bakuretsu Tenshi and Azumanga Daioh on TV next week, too bad, I've already BOUGHT the D-'VIV'-Ds lol. I don't think I'll be catching the two titles on TV and also D-Grayman, not interested, lost me in there!I'm serious when I'm saying I'm moving to happy grounds like manga and purchasing DVDs online, it's so fun lol, no stress, no expectations, just like the good old days. Too much information kills a person sometimes and it gets worse if you know you either can't get it or go illegal. Anyways, off to read fanfics.[Signing off @ 2:35 PM]
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[Posted @ 3:00PM]Because I have nothing to do and felt like doing so, I've decided to list, explain and disclose discuss where all my anime/manga you see floating in my blog come from. Even though I've not patronized half of the sites listed, I might be a potential customer in the near future if anything catches my eye =). Be warn, lots of harmeless bitching of shopping experience! [I'm only stating stuff and conditions applicable to me or an Anime & Manga Fan]1. Amazon.com - Categories are Anime/Manga, Online Shopping- Payment Modes accepted are American Express, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard, Visa, Amazon.com gift certificates, etc. - Unfortunately, amazon doesn't accept Paypal and International Wire Transfers.My shopping experience;I was rather skeptical of purchasing from amazon at first because I heard around that the prices were on the 'premium' side but then I just had to start somewhere, so I ordered two manga, Sister Red #1 [By the way it was out-of-stock in Takashimaya's Kinokuniya when I purchased #2.] and Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ #3 and Kannazuki no Miko DVD Box Set for the time being. After calculating the costs, shipping costs via vPOST and comparing to my local Kinokuniya's pricing, I realized it was darn expensive LOL. The total order rang in at US$72.73, free shipping charges cos shipping address's at vPOST USA address, so the goods were about S$108 [Taking US$1 = S$1.48]. vPOST charged me S$26.98 for the shipping fees, so it's like S$108+S$27 = $135. That means the Kannazuki no Miko DVD Box Set was S$90 and Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ #3, Sister Red #1 were S$22.50 each!!! Anyways, I forgotten EVERYTHING about the price when I got the parcel in 3 weeks ... so it doesn't matter now, I'm happy with my KnM DVDs XD. Recently, if you've been following my ramblings, I've purchased Bakuretsu Tenshi [Burst Angel] DVD Box Set, Loveless DVD Box Set and Medal of Honor Airborne PC Game. I was like totally excited when I saw that Bakuretsu Tenshi DVD Box Set was at half price and so I grabbed the chance and clicked the buy button. The total was US$115.97 which means it's about S$172 [Taking US$1 = S$1.48]. My shipping cost was about $$36.14 but I was given an 8% discount so it's around S$33. S$172+S$33=S$205, so the average costs between the three items were S$69. Which I thought to be quite a catch, not bad la, considering ODEX's price and quality for Bakuretsu Tenshi Volume Sets. 2. Play-asia.com- Categories are Anime/Manga/Games/Figurines/Jpop Music, Online Shopping- Payment Modes accepted are Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, Western Union, Moneybookers, Bank Transfers. - Unfortunately, Play-asia doesn't accept check payments, money orders, cash or cash on delivery. My shopping experience;Play-asia.com is my first shopping experience online, likewise, I heard around that Play-asia.com's pricings were on the 'premium' side and even though they had stated that delivery to Singapore was free, I believe the shipping costs were included in the item itself. Hey, nothing is free in this world you know lol. At that time, I didn't have a credit card yet, so I used Moneybookers, first I had to transfer funds via eNETs with a small fee to the account before I can start using it. It was pretty fast, the transaction was done in 15 minutes. The goodies I got were Strawberry Panic! OP1/OP2/ED1/ED2/OST singles and 3 Drama CDs, Kannazuki no Miko OP1/ED1/Drama CD singles and Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru OP1+DVD single. All I can say that the total was around S$380 for the loot mentioned above with the shipping charges included, so it's like around S$380/12=S$32. Considering some of the stuff I ordered where really backdated, it's a wonder that I could still get my paws on them lol even though I had to wait for some time [3 weeks] for some of the items to arrive it was okay cos I wasn't charged for shipping [Which ironically was included in the first place lol]. However, after I got my credit card, I pretty much 'closed' the Moneybookers account lol and ordered Meilin's 'Candy☆Boy' + DVD single with the credit card XD. 3. Comics Connection - Categories are Anime/Manga/Games/Figurines/Magazines/Trading Cards/VCDs/DVDs etc, Brick and Mortar- Payment Modes accepted are NETS, Cash, Credit Cards [Probably for Payments above S$30? Not sure but there's a cap.] at distributing outlets.My shopping experience;Before Comics Connection, I used to buy my manga at Popular Bookstore, but then Popular used to be REALLY REALLY slow in their arrival of the latest manga issues that I had to turn to Comics Connection. I think Popular ain't so bad in their releases now, but it's too late, they lost me lol. Basically I'm a regular customer at Comics Connection, usually Northpoint, purchasing the latest English manga by ChuangYi Publishing every twice a month or more. It'll depend how many volumes I'm getting for the week, if it's only 1 for that particular week, I'll wait till the next week and get the 'old' and 'new' at the same time. Anyways, I heard or dreamt? that ChuangYi Publishing's opening a retail outlet of their own, so ... I guess probably I'll jump to them in the future? Lol. 4. The Celestial Zone Studio - Categories are TCZ Volumes/Merchandises, Online Shopping, Brick and Mortar- Payment Modes accepted are Credit Cards for Online Shopping and Cheque on Subscription Basis. Cash and NETS for distributing outlets. My shopping experience;I started collecting TCZ when I was around 14 and was pretty active in the forums back then lol, but now I'm quite busy with my life. I used to pop over Popular Bookstore to get my fix, now I'm only contented to receive latest issues monthly via post. However, I'm religiously collecting the TCZ merchandises during the Singapore Book Fair every year. I was so crazy once that I almost wanted to purchase the Chi Xue's Blood Red Sword sword for S$200 LOL and there's only 3 in this world. I'm still supporting TCZ because it's a Singapore-based Manga series and will continue to do so =). 5. Kinokuniya Singapore - Categories are Anime/Manga/Magazines/VCDs/DVDs etc, Online Shopping, Brick and Mortar- Payment Modes accepted are Cash on Delivery, Cheque for Online Shopping. Credit Cards, Kinokuniya Vouchers, Cash, NETS for distributing outlets. My shopping experience;Well I haven't tried the online shopping yet, maybe when I want more than S$50 worth of manga just to get that S$5 delivery charge waived lol. I think the payment modes are pretty good, good old cash and cheque =). Even though many people think/said that Kinokuniya's pricing were expensive, you'll have to see what you're purchasing I reckon. Unless you're purchasing alot alot of books online, just to save that little on the shipping charges, I recommend you just get it from Kinokuniya to save the troubles and time wasted. Ultimately the decision lies in you. 6. ADV Films - Categories are Anime/Manga/Merchandises/DVDs/Legal Video Downloads, Online Shopping, Brick and Mortar- Payment Modes accepted are MasterCard, Visa for Online Shopping. ?? for distributing outlets. [Never been to their store/HQ] My shopping experience;I'm always on the look out for their sales and got my chance on September 2007, I purchased 'Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu - Complete Collection', 'Azumanga Daioh - Class Album', 'Chrono Crusade - Complete Collection' and 'Full Metal Panic! - Complete Collection'. The total cost for the four box sets was S$283 + shipping charges of $33 [13% discount] = S$316. So it's like barely S$80 on average for each box set. Taking into consideration that 'Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu' is a 13 episodes box set, let's take it as S$50, so S$30 will be averaged out to the other three 20+ episodes box sets to make it S$90 each. Besides, I got a free OVA which is usually worth like S$19.90 so ... it's like S$85 each, which I personally think is quite reasonable. On the down side, not that I mind, I found out that ADV Films had poked a hole through the barcode [Probably for some sales/security reasons or something] in the Box Sets. If you're a person who can't take this kind of 'suffering', I suggest you don't buy stuff during sales period lol. As for the rest - Online Shopping;7. CDJapan 8. Anime Nation 9. Deep Discount 10. Yes Asia 11. Anime Castle 12. Right Stuf15. vPOSTAs I mentioned, these are the sites whereby I've not purchased anything from, so I can't really comment anything but I believe from the comments of other anime fans, that these are quite reliable sites to do your online shopping. As of the moment, I think I'll try shopping via CDJapan soon heh.As for the rest - Online Shopping, Outlets in Singapore;14. Andomacha by M.A.G.E15. Kareshi Kanojyo no Mise16. ChuangYi PublishingI've not bought any anime/manga merchandises yet from these outlets but I guess I'm interested. Ok, I think that rounds up the this long post, I'm tired lol. Any comments, suggestions and tips on where/how to shop online, purchase any related to anime/manga and where you get your anime/manga fix, please post it in the blogger comment instead of the tagboard. Thanks!!![Signing off @ 5:51 PM]
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[Posted @ 8:30 PM]Went to Takashimaya's Kinokuniya this afternoon in the pouring rain to get these goodies. What's up with the 'Unsuitable for The Young' haha, click to see the enlarged picture. Yep, I used up my S$60 Kinokuniya vouchers on these babies~ lol, finally got a rock off my chest. Next, I've got to spend the S$80 Comics Connection vouchers LC gave me. Anyways, the 'Bakuretsu Tenshi [Burst Angel]', 'Loveless' DVD box sets and 'Medal of Honor Airborne' PC game I've ordered through amazon.com WAS delivered! vPOST just sent me an email payment letter yesterday and I paid, so I'm expecting it to arrive probably on 23th or Christmas Eve ... well hopefully. I'm still waiting for my 'Candy☆Boy [CD+DVD]' I ordered from play-asia.com to arrive, probably on Monday since Mr Postman don't deliver on Sundays [I think?].Random rantings;It's been a long and depressing week, received news from the dormitory [In-campus] I've applied that I'm in the waiting list and there's like little chance I'll get a place. So, probably I'll get another dormitory out-campus lol, I emailed a dormitory I'm interested that like 3km away from the campus, so I think it's okay la. I saw bicycle tracks heading towards the campus so, maybe, I could try cycling to campus or something.Hopefully I get some GOOD news on January 2008 of the dormitory [In-campus] ... it's always better to live in ... lol don't need to rush. But then, I don't wanna pitch too much hope on them. Just as I was cheering up, a freak accident happened two days ago in the place I worked in, I believed that the driver didn't pull his handbrake properly, which could be a result of the death of his friend. It was still unknown, the police took statements and the lorry away.Everything was filmed by the security camera from afar and we could clearly see the driver alighting from the lorry then suddenly the lorry moved forward as the road was a slope. The driver instinctively ran back to open the door to pull the brake or something but it was too late ... we could see the lorry bumping up and down as it went over his friend. I don't think his friend even had time to protect himself as he was ran over his back [He was walking in front of the lorry]. Everything was gone in just 10 seconds, a life just like that. Needless to say, an ambulance was called and I heard that the vicitm was barely hanging on.It was really an unfortunate accident, it should NOT had happened. After the incident, my dad and I were discussing more proactive measures to prevent this kind of accident. We never expected this to happen. This was a lesson to the workers operating heavy vehicles to ALWAYS, ALWAYS check that your handbrake is securely in and my dad told me that the gear must be in gear 1 too especially on slopes. I was never taught this in my driving lessons, instead, I was taught to shift it to free gear when the engine is off. Probably my instructor never expected me to drive a manual car [even though I was learning manual], still ... My dad, aunt and workers in the nursery who knew the person went to the wake tonight and probably going to be very sad. If you're driving, always check that everything is in order and drive carefully to ensure the safety of your love ones. ... Sorry to suddenly shift into depressing mode in the end ... so here's some happy news, Strawberry Panic! Volume 1 [Manga] is shipping out soon! Just saw the update on Seven Seas Entertainment website. So I believe if you pre-ordered it in amazon.com, it should be arriving pretty soon! I'll be getting mine via my local Kinokuniya when it's out![Signing off @ 9:50 PM]
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Friday’s news that Shinsen-Subs has dropped Romeo x Juliet in accordance with an C&D letter sent by Funimation on behalf of Gonzo is a stark example of the deep relationship the two companies share. Funimation has previously licensed many Gonzo titles including Black Cat, Bakuretsu Tenshi, Basilisk, Desert Punk, Kiddy Grade, Samurai 7, Solty Rei, [...]
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