Tenjou

Zero no Tsukaima & Suzumiya Haruhi 2nd Seasons in Fall '07

2006-11-11T18:18:00.000+08:00

Skulking about the animesuki forums, I came across this pretty tasty little rumour that there will be second seasons of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Zero no Tsukaima coming at you in Fall 2007. Meaning you'll get to continue your closed-space mishaps with Haruhi and see what Louise does as a Void Wizard. ^^ Sounds pretty good to me.

Details are very scarce, but here's a little Japanese excerpt from a webpage that mentions the rumours:

" ＞ハルヒ第二期がどんどん遠ざかっていくなあ. . .

ハルヒ第二期は、再来年予定だったのが、スケジュール前倒しになって、来年秋で確定だそうですよ。ちなみに、ゼロの使い魔第二期も来年秋スタートで調整中らしい。

追記. 大きく取り上げたわけではないのに、ハルヒ二期の噂に対する反応が大きすぎて驚く。ちなみに情報元は、前に新劇場版エヴァの速報を寄せてくれたのと同じ方からのタレコミです。"

Um, roughly I think it says that the 2nd season of Haruhi is not going to be anytime soon, but it'll most likely be in the fall of next year. Zero no Tsukaima is getting it's 2nd season in fall too. Something like that. Anyway, my kanji sucks ass. =D
Click here to translate it yourself. ^^

More adventures from everyone's favourite human, and the pink-haired Louise. Who can wait?

So, I guess the question is whether we'll be getting a half-assed 13/14 episode run from both Haruhi and Zero no Tsukaima (ZnT) or something more. While I think the animation studios will want to milk every cent out of the franchise, I do have a slight feeling we'll be getting more than 14 episodes with Haruhi this time. Expect 13 again from ZnT...just cause it's ZnT. Heh.

They're still rumours though. And until the studios themselves open their mouths, I'll stick with being 'excited while apprehensive'. ^^

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, Zero no Tsukaima, New Season, Tenjou

The Economic Insanity of Haruhi Suzumiya

2006-11-09T14:40:00.000+08:00

Fans of Haruhi and her motley crew of aliens and humans, self-proclaimed members of the S.O.S Dan, and Harutards found a reason to rejoice and to weep a week and a half ago, when Max Factory announced their quite amazingly sculpted Suzumiya Haruhi PVC figure at a quite unbelievable price. The catch? ONLY 5000 units (since increased to 10000) of the hyperactive schoolgirl would be released. O.o

Now, before we get to the figure itself, one wonders what is going through the great minds at Max Factory. What would drive them to LIMIT (for now, at least) a figurine from one of recent times' most successful and contagious anime franchises? It's pretty well-known that Haruhi-ism is well and truly present among anime-watchers and otakus in Japan, most of Asia, and in the U.S, not to mention other parts of Europe I haven't heard about. Face it, I have seeds in my torrents from Chile and Ukraine...EVERYONE watches anime.

So, what part of economics preaches low supply when quantity demanded is way in the clouds? You don't sell less when you can sell more. ESPECIALLY when you can sell more AND up the price in the process. A projected price of 3990 Yen? When Ryougi Shiki is 5000 Yen, I'm sure people would buy Haruhi at 6000. =P The figure seems simple enough, not many frills like the recently released Ignis of Jingai Makyo. So, I don't think they're worried about her armband warping and changing shape.

Maybe they're holding it back so they can increase the price later? When desperate Haruhi fans turn into rabid, snarling maniacs, you never know what they'll pay to satisfy themselves. But that would just be simple insanity and commercial suicide, so to speak. Sure, they MAY get to sell their 2nd batch at a generally higher price, but what of their reputation? People would just hate them for doing it. Nah, even a dumbass would know this isn't a good plan.

So, what drives this somewhat inexplicable move from Max Factory in limiting the seemingly limitless (at least in PVC figure terms) profits just waiting to be plucked and stuffed into their pockets? Some other issue behind the scenes? Or just plain mental retardation? (spoken like a true fan that has not yet secured his own pre-order of the figure, lolz)

Anyway, here's what's causing all the 'ooh's, 'aah's, 'orz's and 'meh's on the internet. Suzumiya-san in all her glory.

Suzumiya Haruhi 1/8 scale PVC
From: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu

She's 1/8 scale as is the norm. And she's wearing her trademark school uniform, musch better than a bunny dress, in my opinion. Yup, she's got the S.O.S Leader armband, and she seems to have interchangeable hands, one for posing and the other for holding that little yellow horn. What can I say, it's a dream come true for me. And even people who don't like Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu would be hard-pressed in finding much fault with the figure.

Release? February 2007 for the 1st batch (of 10000). And a tentative April for more? There had better be more...*readying ESPer powers to blast Max Factory out of the closed space they're lost in*. ^^

Manufacturer: Max Factory
Release Date: February 2007
Price: 3990 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Max Factory, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, Suzumiya Haruhi, Tenjou

Orchid Seed's Fantabulous Masane

2006-11-06T05:03:00.000+08:00

Well, someone up there must have something against me using my computer. Just days after I get back my internet connection and my PC (running pretty well again, I should say), I get hit by a bucketload of malware/trojan crap. The one day I decided to turn off all my spyware protection/firewalls because my P2P was having some trouble...=S Needless to say, clearing it out was one heck of a job. Even after 2 days of scanning, cleaning and what have you, I still ended up with a crazy-acting dwwin.exe which alerted me of errors everytime I did something related to the internet. Curse it. Anyway, I managed to solve all that now, and I'm actually pretty relieved. After all, my 70+GB of anime in my CPU's harddisk couldn't be accessed for a few days due to the errors...and 70GB is alot of time and money. ^^

Then my day got better when I saw that there were finally (saw this pretty late, I guess, sue me) pictures of the Masane Amaha first seen at Wanfesu '06. And I must say IMHO that it's the best so far.

Masane Amaha 1/6 scale PVC
From: Witchblade

GDH and Kotobukiya have fought valiantly, but it is the last man standing that counts. And Orchid Seed has definitely done what they can to make sure that THEY have the last laugh. I mean, look at the figure. Aside from the fact that she's no Ignis or Belldandy, this one had me at hello. Koto's version had shiny hair and I didn't particularly like the nail-like protrusion coming from the GDH version' err...nether regions.

Her Witchblade-transformed hair is wonderfully dynamic giving the figure a feeling well-suited to the anime. I guess her face is a little too 'pretty' considering her character. And I do admit I've never really liked Masane in the anime, drunk mom goes monster isn't exactly the best role-model in the world, lol. But come on...the 15cm blade itself (removable if you can't fit it in your display ^^) sells itself. A 40cm PVC figure is either a blessing or one hell of a curse. Find a place for it, or dig a hole in your wall, then use the Koto and GDH versions as paperweights, cause Masane's coming one more time, and the third time looks the charm. Slated for March 2007...freakin' long time to go.

Manufacturer: Orchid Seed (Good Smile Company release)
Release Date: March 2007
Price: 6800 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Orchid Seed, Witchblade, Masane Amaha, Tenjou

'Passion' - Anime & Game Music Concert by Eminence

2006-10-30T01:25:00.000+08:00

Eminence is a somewhat new-age, contemporary orchestra comprising of around 60 odd wonderfully talented musicians. And Eminence is bringing this performance of anime and game (mostly console games) music to the lucky otakus and game fanatics of Sydney (16th Dec 06), Melbourne (9th Dec 06) and Singapore.

The 'Passion' Promotional Poster. (Details etc.)

Excerpt taken from Eminence Online:

"Performing in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore, ‘Passion’ is a concert series which combines talented musicians with powerful and evocative music from some of Japan’s most loved anime and video games. Performed by a small ensemble, consisting of violins, percussion, guitar and piano, ‘Passion’ will feature the unique and innovative arrangements of memorable themes from games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Tsubasa Chronicle, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII, Xenosaga, Haibane Renmei, Shadow of the Colossus, Super Mario Bros., .hack//Liminality and many more.

On top of the great selection of anime and games, we will also be performing selected classics from Walt Disney features.

For over 3 years, Eminence has listened to the greatly appreciated opinions of the community with ‘passion’, bringing together many of these ideas into a series which is specifically designed to cater for everyone. We believe that this concert will be a testament to the amazing talent of the musicians involved and will show Eminence’s ‘Passion’ for quality.

In order for the audience members to receive the maximum experience, Eminence has collaborated with and consulted the composers of the performed pieces themselves, and has received invaluable advice on the performance setlist.

We are quite fortunate to play music hand-chosen by the composers and freshly arranged with an impressionistic, interpretative touch. Through talks with composers, as well as extensive research through many of Japan's video game and anime scores, we hope to give each attendee an experience which they will not forget.

To add even more excitement and wonderment, well-known video game composer Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono series, Xenogears) will not only be attending as a guest of honour, but will also be playing the bouzouki on a select number of tracks. Also to be in attendence at the Sydney show, will be Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy Tactics).
All attendees will have the chance to meet these composers at a special meet and greet session free of charge!"

Sounds pretty cool, and it's a pity I probably won't be attending the concert. What I would give to meet Yasunori and Hitoshi-san in person. =( But for all those who can, then get ready for it and try to get your tickets as soon as possible. ^^

For more information, go here.

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Eminence Orchestra, Passion, Game Music, Eminence Australia, Tenjou

Anime Review: Zero no Tsukaima

2006-10-29T04:36:00.000+08:00

Title: Zero's Familiar / Zero no Tsukaima / ゼロの使い魔
Anime Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Harem, Romance
Date of Airing: 2nd July 2006
Date Concluded: 24th September 2006
No. of Episodes: 13
No. of Episodes Watched: 13

"Pink haired Potter?"

Well, I must say that exams and a confounded PC do not make for a particularly generous setting for anime watching/downloading or blogging. The latter of which I very much regret...my blog's kinda grown on me, so it's an injustice that it has to lie dormant for so long. =( After around 3 weeks of getting the final 5 episodes of Zero no Tsukaima (henceforth ZnT), I've finally managed to finish the damn series. Pathetic? Hell yeah! ;)

So, here's my review on it. I've decided to change the format of the review and make it slightly more ordered and concise (I hope) for the purposes of:
i) Easier reading
ii) Less yapping from me = less typing ^^
So, read on!

Plot Synopsis:
Well, you could probably get this on ANN or AniDB, but it's required for a review, okay? =P So, we have Louise Francoise de la Valliere of Tristein Magic Academy (or Hogwarts if you so please), or better known as Louise the Zero, so named due to her lack of successes in casting any sort of magic spell. The students at the academy have a familiar summoning ceremony which she must attend. At the ritual, lo and behold, Louise manages to defy the odds and summon a familiar. Only her familiar turns out to be Hiraga Saito, normal teenage boy from Japan. He's stuck here, and she's stuck with him, so it begins.

Louise the Zero, and aptly named too.

Setting/Story:
At first glance, just like I mentioned some time ago in first impressions, the setting of the anime appears to be very much a rip-off of Harry Potter's famed Hogwarts. 2nd and 3rd glances don't do much to change my view, so yes, it is somewhat a Harry Potter rip-off, but not in a bad way. The world is always blindingly colourful (Louise's pink hair included) and makes for pleasant viewing throughout the 13 episode series. The story is pretty much the synopsis, except that Saito finds that he's pretty attractive to a few girls in school, making it a little harem-y. He's also trying to find a way back to Japan, which he does, in a way. There are a few twists, but I don't think the producers ever meant it to exercise your brain.
Score: 6/10

Characters:
Saito's your stereotypical, likeable Japanese boy, voiced by Hino Satoshi who also did Yuuji in Shakugan no Shana (SnS). And Louise is rather cute, discounting all her temper flares and her 'dog-treatment' of Saito. Hmm...actually that's rather cute too. Her seiyuu is Kugimiya Rie, who was Shana in SnS. See what I'm getting at? The problem with me was that I've seen SnS, so watching the pair of Saito and Louise in ZnT was like watching brighter, more colourful versions of Yuuji and Shana in SnS. You see, SnS is a pretty nice show, with a rather dark story etc. etc. (if you haven't watched it, go see for yourself), so their very similar portrayal of the characters in both shows (Shana & Louise get angry alot/Yuuji & Saito are innocently dumb alot) kinda detracted from the experience for me. That's not to say they did a bad job, on the contrary, in fact. Just try not to watch the 2 animes too closely together. The rest of the cast, from Henrietta to Kirche are all what you would expect from an anime of this sort, but they play their parts well enough. I paticularly liked watching Guiche squirm in the face of Montmorency or any slightly threatening situation, lol. Stale roles, with a rather entertaining execution keeps things interesting.
Score: 7/10

Shana with pink hair...deja vu.

Saito and Guiche.

Animation:
Animation is very nice. Though if colours and happy thoughts aren't your cup of tea, then this may disappoint. Think Negima and not Trinity Blood/Blood+. Overall, I thought the animation pretty much suited the show perfectly.
Score: 7/10

Music:
As with most animes, the opening and ending songs are catchy tunes sung by women with dog-whistle octaves in their vocal range. Okay, I'm kidding. But, the songs are nothing to shout about and I really didn't like Kugimiya Rie's execution of the end song 'The Real Feeling'. Cringe-inducing. Music in the show is in the same department as the animation, happy and colourful.
Score: 5/10

Metal polish does wonders on rust.

Verdict:
Harem, love, and some heroics in Hogwarts Academy, Nagoya, Japan. Lol. This was like ordering a huge burger and not being able to finish it. The show started out really well to me, but around the 3/4 mark, the plot just became a bit tired, and you can really see what's going to happen next. But, it's still a burger I managed to munch down.

Princess Henrietta, dressed to kill, literally.

Worth Your Time?
Well, if you're the "I download all anime, new or old!" kind of person, then why even read this? If you're not though, then yes, it's worth your time and bandwidth (or money if you want). However, I wouldn't recommend it to people who only watch Gundam, Naruto, Bleach and nothing else. ^^

Overall Score:

If You Liked This, You May Like:
Love Hina, Tonagura!, Inukami!, REC

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Zero no Tsukaima, Louise Valiel, Hiraga Saito, Tenjou

Louise and Eri PVCs from Alter

2006-10-10T02:42:00.000+08:00

While on my little world wide web exile, I thought about changing a couple of things on the blog. Here's the first one, which may or may not be better, I don't know. I've decided to use thumbnails for my posts on figurines, just cause I think it's rather cumbersome to have a post 4 screens long, and scrolling forever just to reach the end. If you guys don't like this, tell me. If you like it, then I'm happy and you don't have to tell me. =)

Louise 1/8 scale PVC
From: Zero no Tsukaima

Here's the first. Well, forgive me if you've seen this. I may probably be a little late. But anything's a start. First announced during this year's Wanfesu (Wonder Winterfest 2006), this is Alter's sculpt of Louise from the quite interesting Zero no Tsukaima. Kotobukiya has another one due this month, which doesn't look as good as Alter's version. This one has Louise sitting on a pretty realistic looking wooden ladder, and I just love the frontal view of her face. From the side though, her chin seems a tad bit sharper than I remember.

Problem though. Unless my eyes deceive me, she seems to have the top step of the ladder as her butt. Look closely, her thigh seems to be 'stuck' to the ladder or something. I hope it isn't released like that. Woaah. Anyway, that aside, great pictures.

Manufacturer: Alter
Release Date: February 2007
Price: 4800 Yen

Sawachika Eri 1/8 scale PVC
From: School Rumble / School Rumble ni Gakki

Here's Eri looking deeelicious in a black bikini. Again, I hope that plastic base turns out to be a nice chair. Well, even if it isn't I guess I can live with that. Funny how there's more Eri than Tenma, but she's hotter, so I'm not complaining. Nothing wrong with this figure here, Eri's lounging (in a chair, oh, please, in a chair), and she'd be a great addition to my little display back home. =)

Manufacturer: Alter
Release Date: February 2007
Price: 4800 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Alter, School Rumble, Zero no Tsukaima, Tenjou

Ah, The PS3 Wins...Oh, and I Can Go Online!

2006-10-10T01:47:00.000+08:00

I'm back! Um, sort of. I'm still pitifully stuck doing this on a 'uni-work only' laptop, and it is excruating and slow, I kid you not. I have internet access though, and I guess I should be grateful considering the circumstances. Sigh what do you do when 2 weeks offline causes you to miss downloading around a zillion episodes? Ouran's over and I just found out. How sad. Lolz. =(

Anyway, after 180 votes (should have been 150), this is the result of my little console war poll that has been going on a seemingly long time. I don't even know how long. The PS3 started off leading by a heck of a lot of votes, but in the end it's quite close between the XBox 360 and PS3, though Sony's money-maker wins out, probably 'coz it's launch date is only a skip and a hop away.

The results are:

1) Playstation 3 - 34%
2) XBox 360 - 27%
3) Nintendo Wii - 20%
4) Me PC geek crush consoles! - 16%
5) Are those like...an iPod? - 3%

Well, 16% of 180 hate consoles. I bet you have a console lying around somewhere even if you voted that. ^^

Oh, well. No new poll for now. Can't think of anything, and it'll be slightly bothersome to change it.

>>> Miscellaneous

Tags: Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Miscellaneous, Poll Results, Updates, Tenjou

A Short Little Hiatus

2006-09-25T04:34:00.000+08:00

Right. Just a little heads-up to everyone who reads this blog (thank ye a whole bloody lot ^^), and whoever's passing through. I've been rather busy lately, studies and stuff, and I'm about to lose my internet connection for a week or so, starting tomorrow (don't ask *sob*), my computer's out of service (I'm doing this on a laptop...I don't even have pictures *2x sob*), so I guess I'm forced to take a little break from my blogging exploits.

Blog's not dead, so check back once in a while ya hear?! Lol. =P Anyway, that's about it. Oh, and please do yourself a favour and get Haruhi with her guitar from Atelier Sai if you're a Haru-tard. =)

>>> Miscellaneous

Tags: Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Miscellaneous, Hiatus, Tenjou

Alter's 2007 Prelude And Delay Dismay

2006-09-15T02:45:00.000+08:00

Also coming from Alter in January 2007 (or so it would seem, what with delay after delay going on), are these two figures of Tachibana Rei and Nagi. Rei is from Pani Poni Dash!, the anime with the 11 year old teacher (lol), Nagi is from the Peace@Pieces H-Game.

Rei is quite well done, if well done means looking like the anime. And she's got removeable glasses! Yay. I don't think she's a character that makes an interesting PVC figure, but Alter has still done a fine job here. Though I must say her rear view doesn't look very good. She looks better from the front. 1/8 scale, as usual, and it's the usual 4800 Yen also.

Name: Tachibana Rei 1/8 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Alter
Release Date: January 2007
Price: 4800 Yen

Nagi here completes the pair of Death Gods which also includes Hikaru, released a month back. I haven't played the game or anything, but this, along with Hikaru, make pretty nice eye-candy. I love the base she's sitting on, that round green thing, whatever it is. Looks like a cute insect. =)

Name: Nagi (Death God Ver.) 1/8 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Alter
Release Date: January 2007
Price: 5500 Yen

Oh, and since I mentioned delays earlier, here's a list of the PVC figures that have been delayed, in case you didn't get what I was talking about.

Delayed Figures:

Max Factory - 1/7 Ignis [Sept ==> Oct]
Max Factory - Yuuma [Sept ==> Oct]
Max Factory - Van [Sept ==> Nov]
Max Factory - Kotona Elegance [Sept-Oct ==> Nov]
Good Smile Company - Kazami Mizuho [Sept ==> Nov]
Good Smile Company - Fate T.Figures [Sept-Oct ==> Nov]
Good Smile Company - Fate Testarossa [Sept-Oct ==> Nov]
Alter - School Rumble 2nd Sem TMC [Sept ==> Oct]
Alter - 1/8 Ignis [Sept-Oct ==> Nov]
Alter - Alvis E.Hamilton RE-ISSUE [Sept-Oct ==> Nov]

WHEN THE HELL WILL I BE ABLE TO GET MAX FACTORY'S IGNIS?! Sigh.

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Alter, Peace Pieces, Pani Poni Dash!, Nagi, Tachibana Rei, Tenjou

Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia 1/6 Ilya Swimsuit PVC

2006-09-14T20:19:00.000+08:00

Affirmative bud. Another Fate female in a swimsuit. Fortunately, this time it's the much under-appreciated Ilya. This, along with the Sakura and Tohsaka Swimsuit figures released a few months back, and the upcoming Saber with Ice Shaver and Rider bikini figure from Alter basically completes the set of 'Fate babes in swimsuits' line. Unless they do a Caster. ^^

I really like this one, not because I have any particular liking for Ilya, but because she's done really well here and besides the rather funny-looking Ilya from Koto, I've been rather Ilya-deprived (she can be rather kawaii when she's not evil and demonic). I'm still confounded as to why nobody out there has sculpted a figure of Ilya in her winter coat. I would love that. Aah, listen not to the ramblings of a Fate junkie. ^^

Very good likeness to her anime self, and it's got that trademark Alter matte finish. Nothing much more to say about this one. Got the other swimsuit figures? Like Ilya? Then, get this. Hate Fate? This won't interest you one bit then, lol. Comes out next year.

Name: Ilya von Einzbern Swimsuit 1/6 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Alter
Release Date: January 2007
Price: 4800 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Alter, Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia, Ilya, Tenjou

I Could Not Resist...

2006-09-12T20:33:00.000+08:00

How many Fate figures are there now? I think I've seen Sakura 3 times in the same old bikini as of today...you'd think manufacturers would think up something more creative when they decide to crank out another one. But nooo....instead, now we get Alter's swimsuit Sakura, but on her knees by Kotobukiya. And she seems to have lost her towel too, haha. Alter's one is still WAAAY nicer, IMHO. And bigger too. This comes out in December...but I REALLY DON'T CARE ANYMORE! But I couldn't resist not posting about it. Lol.

Name: Matou Sakura Swimsuit 1/8 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Kotobukiya
Release Date: December 2006
Price: 4410 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Kotobukiya, Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia, Matou Sakura, Tenjou

Ghost in the Shell 1/7 Kusanagi Motoko PVC

2006-09-12T19:43:00.000+08:00

Major Kusanagi Motoko, the beautiful, deadly, and mostly human heroine of the award winning Ghost in the Shell gets a figurine worthy of her brilliance. Hmm, sounded a little corny, that. This figure of Motoko from Alter/Vice has her in her official police get-up, standing rather lazily holding a cool-looking pistol. I saw this a few days back, and damn, I knew I had to try my very best to procure one for myself. =P The figure pretty much resembles Motoko of the anime and I can't get over how...'Motoko' she looks. I must say it isn't the most detailed figure ever, but everything just blends. The jacket, the gloves, her gun, and I'm lovin' the holster at her back. Very nicely painted, it's a 1/7 scale figure, and comes out in December.

I liked the anime and the movies, which consisted of pretty stunning visuals, even looking at them today. As a fan, I can't say it gets any better than this. =)

Name: Kusanagi Motoko 1/7 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Alter / Vice
Release Date: December 2006
Price: 6090 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Alter, Ghost in the Shell, Kusanagi Motoko, Tenjou

Anime in Retrospect: Amaenaideyo!!

2006-09-06T03:21:00.000+08:00

Title: Amaenaideyo!! / あまえないでよっ!!
Anime Genre: Comedy, Ecchi, Harem, Romance, Supernatural
Date of Airing: 1st July 2005
Date Concluded: 16th September 2005
No. of Episodes: 12 + 1 DVD Special
No. of Episodes Watched: 12 + 1 DVD Special

"Religious fanservice."

Amaenaideyo!!...probably the only anime that lumps together 2 ingredients from opposite sides of the planet. A buddhist monk, and many amply chested, sexy babes. Okay, sexy priestesses/nuns (I'll go with nuns now...coz it's shorter), but no difference, just more perverted. =) If you have a fetish for very sexy, very young nuns, then stop reading this and do not hesitate to watch this anime, whatever my take on it. If not, read on. ^^

Sakura.

Real nuns are all this hot, honest.

Satonaka Ikko is a 16 year old, talentless bloke who has been sent to the Saienji Temple by his parents to train as a monk. Upon arrival, he finds that the only other trainees at the temples are six pretty and sexy nuns (depending on what you like, lol), who will eventually subject him to all kinds of abuse like any other harem anime. The temple itself is run by Ikko's grandmother, Jotoku-ba, the Head Priestess of Saienji. Anyway, to cut to the chase, Ikko gains the incredible power of the deceased High Priest Saizen when he sees any of these nuns in whatever state of undress. Hence, begins their wonderful life together. ;)

Haruka Neko-chan....meowww.

These 2 are 'not supposed to be hot', lol.

Anyway, the nuns in question are Nanbu Chitose, the fuchsia-haired, cute and innocent love interest for Ikko. Then there's Haruka, who's just the typical nice, carefree babe (much like Hatsune in Tonagura!), and Sumi, the brown skinned girl with a more than normal affinity for dogs. You'll get what I mean if you watch the show. ^^ Sakura and Hinata are sisters, Sakura is sadistic and power crazy, while Hinata is your silent-loli. Lastly, there's Yuko, who's more the fighting nun kind.

As far as story goes, there really isn't much. Most of the plot for this first season of Amaenaideyo!! focuses on Ikko and his powers, but only in the most flippant fashion. Meaning all we get for the first 10 episodes is that Ikko becomes Superman when he sees the girls undressed. Nothing else. So, this concept is played out in all sorts of various situations, be it exorcising hordes of ghosts, or putting on a Masked Ranger stage show. There are quite a lot of religious sequences in the show, consisting of Buddhist terms, and also the chanting of the mantra. I do admit it's rather unsettling to hear religious chants 1 minute, then see a nun having her robes pulled off the next. =.=

Masked Ranger Pretty!

The anime is slightly like Love Hina in the sense that from the get-go, you KNOW there's only one girl for Ikko. Definitely not a plus for an already shallow anime striving to be genrified as 'Harem'. I like Chitose's innocent character, somewhat sheltered and totally lacking any sort of guile. She's from a small village somewhere (after 2 seasons, I still don't know), and it's really amusing listening to her talk about stuff like the small 2-storeyed hut that was all of supermarket, department store, and video shop. The girls reaction to her unknown past are also somewhat funny.

An extra scarf is more than enough...despite the frozen steps. O.o

The most reliable way to exorcise ghosts.

Near the end of the 12 TV episodes, we learn A LITTLE bit more about Ikko's latent powers and why he must learn to control it. Slightly more interesting here, but not by much. Anyway, the end leaves us with something of a cliffhanger for season 2, which I'll talk about sometime later. Here comes the meaty part. Episode 13. Loads of ecchi, loads of nudity. It was like watching some softcore hentai episode, lol. This doesn't do much to redeem the whole season, but if you've suffered through all 12 episodes then you'd be dumb if you didn't at least watch this one. =D

Behind every man, is a woman...a naked one in Ikko's case.

Aah..the creme de la creme.

Animation is passable. Though I noticed there are a very large number of headshots. Just the heads of the characters, nothing else. Not good. Music is so-so. OP and ED are catchy, but aren't all anime songs? Too bad the series itself is nothing more than another excuse/setting for yet another harem anime and more ecchi. I feel there could have been something unique here, if it was done better. There should have been slightly more emphasis on the story, since they put in all these bits about Ikko's power and the girl's pasts. Right now, all it is to me is a jumble of unrealized ideas bereft of proper execution, topped with lots of fanservice. Good fun, but nothing more.

*Out of 10*
Animation (Quality of): 8
Story (Depth, twists, and extras): 4
Music (Songs, Suitability): 6
Characters (Dynamism, Background): 5
True to Genre?: 6

OVERALL RATING:

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Amaenaideyo!!, Nanbu Chitose, Satonaka Ikko, Tenjou

Ikki Tousen 1/7 Ryomou Shimei PVC

2006-09-06T00:56:00.000+08:00

If you've never seen Ikki Tousen, trust me, you haven't missed anything (except lots of panties and cleavage ^^). But, if you don't at least look at these pictures, you'll be doing yourself an injustice.

Another offering from Orchid Seed, along with it's now censored version of Ignis, is this exquisitely sculpted Ryomou Shimei from the anime Ikki Tousen. Definitely topping any other PVC figure of the sexy brawling maiden, this is a somewhat more dynamic version of Shimei-chan than whatever I've ever laid eyes upon. She's in her famous maid costume, but it's not really that either. The get-up seems missing the apron but this is much hotter than the original.

Shimei is even carrying her handcuffs, which, I hasten to add, look rather detailed. The sword and her pose completes the 'oh, so cool' factor for me. ^^ From the pictures, I think the figure looks very nicely painted, and how can one not like the ribbons and frills she's got all over the dress. Oh, and her top's torn too. Classic Ikki Tousen, haha. The figure is 1/7 scale, around 23cm, and slated for the end of 2006. Go get it. =)

Name: Ryomou Shimei 1/7 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Orchid Seed
Release Date: Winter 2006
Price: 6800 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Orchid Seed, Ikki Tousen, Ryomou Shimei, Tenjou

Anime Dubs = Anime Duds?

2006-09-03T03:17:00.000+08:00

A few days ago, someone told me about the addition of the anime channel Animax to Malaysia's cable TV network. Never too impressed by their repertoire of channels and shows, mostly due to the crippling problem of repeating waaaay too many series/movies, and the blatant insertion of rather inferior local advertisements which are always so lengthy that they take away parts of the show to air it, I was pleasantly surprised by this development. Or so I thought.

I was then told that, at least for now, all animes will be aired with both the American-dubbed English voice tracks, and the native Japanese track. Sounds okay. Then, I was informed that subtitles are not available for most of the animes, and for those that DO contain subtitles, they are in the malay language. =.= To make a long story short, let me just say that malay is not a language you want to be using to subtitle anime. Even in English there is trouble getting half the nuances of Japanese culture across, what more malay? So, with a majority of people in the country knowing 3 words of Japanese, the bottomline was, either watch anime with customarily sub-par English dubs, or read malay. What a way to ruin the experience.

Nothing to do with anything, really...

So, this got me thinking about the subject in the title of this post...namely dubbed anime. Let's take a look at dubbing, shall we, and not just english dubs. Have you ever watched dubbed anime/shows and just felt that the voices sounded SO out of place and unsuitable that for the entire 25 minute episode, you find yourself wondering how the original would sound like, and whether that guy doing Goku is gay? ^^ While I understand that there are people out there who really don't mind dubbed anime, I think most anime-watchers with even a hint of seriousness in their hobby would beg to differ. I haven't watched a great deal of dubbed anime, but I've seen enough to know I fit into the latter category, obviously, but why is this so? Why is it that dubbed animation turns me off? And how is it that dubs usually sound so 'unnatural'?

In response to both questions, here are a couple of points I've read about from disgruntled anime fans in forums and also stuff I myself cannot stand.

1) Lousy Voice Direction - What is it that voice directors do? Well, for starters, they cast the voices. Voice casting is probably the most important part of starting a dub. Choose the wrong guy/girl, and you'll end up with Belldandy sounding like a college co-ed, and Goku like a homosexual. (Just examples, not necessarily true) I don't understand how dubbing studios can choose voices which are worlds apart from the original after watching the Japanese version. Or do they not even give a damn? Voice directors also choose and FIT the dialog to the show, and the movement of the character's mouth. Obviously this isn't given it's due attention sometimes, as we hear english dubs where characters speak at almost supersonic speeds just to end their sentences in time with the lip movement. Hardly riveting, watching shows like these.

2) Identifying with Authenticity - I believe I wouldn't be far from the truth when I say most people want to consume media in it's original form. You don't want to watch a Bollywood movie in english, a Chinese kung fu flick in spanish, or the Lord of the Rings in mandarin (unless you have no choice, of course). This applies especially to anime. I have the DVD of Ah! My Goddess The Movie which features both English and Japanese voice tracks. On impulse, I decided to watch the whole movie in English first. It was acceptable, to say the least. Then, I watched it in Japanese a day later. Imagine my surprise (lol) when the movie became 5 times better than the first time I saw it. Despite the fact that it was exactly the same movie, with the same animation, and I hardly understood the dialog, I found myself getting more caught up in the setting and the whole tone of the movie. In English, the characters sounded too drab,and voices were more often than not, lacking in emotion. Perhaps the voice actors did not grasp the animated personalities being put across through these big-eyed characters? Unlikely. Anyway, the point is, animes are made for Nihon-go, and making them sound different is a bloody crime. I won't go into detail, but let's just say some shows need to stay in their native languages. Imagine Bollywood singing dubbed in English. Now, that WOULD be a good lesson in the sheer hilarity of some of these anime dubs.

3) Bad Voice Actors - Yes, one of the simplest factors in causing anime dubbing to go awry more times than we'd like. Just like how they use and re-use seiyuus in Japan, voice studios in America tend to employ the same voice actors over and over again, regardless of their talent or quality. The problem is, voice actors in the US hardly have the talent of the numerous seiyuus in Japan. They sing, they act, they do voices AND they are able to diversify themselves enough to fit into a huge amount of totally different animes/games. Sadly, this is not true for their english-speaking counterparts. They not only lack emotion, but seem to be devoid of the range or the acting ability bestowed upon their Japanese equivalents. Making them inept and very often unsuitable for the job. It's like they just picked an decent sounding guy/girl of the streets and dragged them into the studio. Just to name one well-known seiyuu, let's take Yui Horie for instance. She's probably best known for her role as Narusegawa Naru in Love Hina, but has also played parts in other big animes such as Sawachika Eri in School Rumble, Sasaki Makie in Negima!, Shiina Yuya in Samurai Deeper Kyo and also Siesta and Yoko from the recent Zero no Tsukaima and Inukami! respectively. True, some of these may be similar roles (girl that likes guy) in similar genres (romance, comedy), but I think she's done a good job for all of these and even managed to sound different and convincing enough that I didn't recognize her in some.

4) Lack of Motivation? - Probably the hardest to prove, easiest to deny, but lack of motivation is probably the number one reason why American dubs are so bad. First of all, the Anime companies know that their biggest critics, anime fans, are rarely ever satisfied by dubbing efforts. Therefore, since they know they can't win, why should they try? Better dubbing involves higher costs in hiring better talent, using more studio time, and mayhaps also for getting better translators. These are costs anime studios don't feel the need to bear due to the aforementioned reasons. The "If people think we suck anyway, why bother to do anything to change that?" mentality holds many animes back, and makes dubbed episodes unwatchable to the hardcore anime fan.

5) Difference between Dialogue and Subtitles - Those of us used to subtitles, be it fansubbed or DVDs, would be rather surprised when actually comparing the subs with the dubs. Dubs usually deviate from subtitle sentences due to the fact that they have to i) translate the Japanese language and try to keep the nuances and meaning, and ii) fit this all into the few seconds of mouth movement alloted to them. Hard to do? I'll say. Subtitles are usually much longer than what is being heard on screen, because it's easier to get everything in a long sentence without actually saying it out. That's already a natural hindrance to the dubbing process. Cut sentences short and lose the meaning, or adhere to the 'supersonic speed talk' rule? Both options are hardly encouraging.

6) Since I Don't Understand It... - The Japanese seiyuus probably have a better chance of getting away with crappy voice acting compared to the english-speaking ones, for me. After all, I DO understand english very well, compared to japanese, and would probably spot every irregularity or weird uses of words. This isn't a very good reason though, as I still feel more involved in an anime shown in japanese, rather than english or any other language. I guess you can take the anime out of Japan, but you can't take Japan out of the anime, haha.

Conclusion: Dubbed anime usually sucks ass. Stick with subtitles if you don't understand japanese. And if you actually LIKE dubbed versions, learn how to start liking the Japanese versions STAT. Or you'll be missing out on a whole lot of goodness. Oh, and girls in Hentai animes sound better in japanese too. ^^ I have seen A FEW good dubs over the years, but the way dubbed animes are the butt of jokes for the otaku community worldwide, it looks like there won't be much effort anytime soon from voice studios to motivate themselves to do any better. After all, even if I buy a US DVD, I listen to the japanese track and switch over to english only for laughs, or if I need to puke. =D

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Anime Dubbing, Anime Dubs, Tenjou

First Impressions: Tonagura!

2006-08-31T03:48:00.000+08:00

Tonagura means ecchi. No, it doesn't, actually (what does it mean? O.o). However, watching the first few episodes of the anime certainly gave me that impression. It's not that the anime treads the thin borders of hentai-dom like...say...Amaenaideyo!!, but it's more the way it portrays the perversions that are part and parcel of an anime genre classified as "romance, ecchi, comedy and school life".

Kazuki.

What comes to mind when you see an anime with those genres? Yup. Yes, and affirmative. Whatever you were thinking, it's probably here. A short synopsis is in order. Tonagura! centers around Arisaka Kazuki, who has been waiting to 10 years or so to once again meet the young boy Yuuji, whom she had a crush with a long time ago. Well, perhaps more than a crush. Yuuji and his sister Marie used to come over and play all the time with Kazuki and her own sister, Hatsune. Alas, the day Yuuji and his family moves back to the very house they left 10 years ago (real estate must suck in Japan), he turns out to be more than a little disappointing.

Instead of meeting the Prince Charming she had envisioned all along, Kazuki finds that he's 100% Japanese pervert. =) That's just about the gist of it. More often than not, I find myself thinking of Love Hina. This is in most parts due to the massive abuse Yuuji receives from both his sister, Marie, and Kazuki herself. (Why does every anime in this mould contain a weird-loli character like Marie?) Anyway, Marie has taken it upon herself to 'eliminate' Yuuji with her air rifle everytime he goes all ecchi and perverted. Which is rather often. Kazuki punches him, kicks him and sends him flying across the room. Naru-punch anyone?

Yuuji launching himself at anything female.

That picture is SO cute. Especially Hatsune. =D

What differentiates Yuuji from Keitaro in Love Hina is probably the blatant way he carries out his fantasies. While Keitaro walks in on girls changing unknowingly, Yuuji practically throws himself at Kazuki's (and Hatsune and Chihaya, so far) breasts, seemingly without fear of divine retribution. ^^ That's what gives a slightly different spin on how sexual innuendo is woven into the storyline, in my opinion. We're all fed up with guys inadvertently walking into every onsen (onsen = hot springs bath) and shower only to be thrown out by the raging beauty within. Now, this time, our friend Yuuji here seems to be a self-confessed pervert (read: teenage guy). He's not going to fall under your skirt. By golly, he'll climb up there if he has to, lol. Okay, maybe that was a bit far-fetched, but it certainly feels different.

What is the deal with these sort of characters?

Endearingly bubbly.

The anime is moderately amusing, if you actually find this sort of thing funny. Animation is quite good, and I kinda like both the opening and ending songs. One's catchy, and the other one's a typical J-pop ballad. And as far as I can see (from 3 episodes), there ARE a few sensible, touching moments where Kazuki reminisces about the past, and still hopes for a major transformation from the pervert.

Chihaya and Yuuji.

According to ANN, around 8 episodes have been aired in Japan at the time of writing, so it's hard to make a substantial comment on the show before I get that far, lest I piss off some fans. But, I'm not really sold on the tired concept of the show. The way I see it though, this feels much like an anime that will give you part of your 'ecchi and craziness' fix during this summer line-up (due to few similar shows), but not much more. Watch it, if only for the ending song. =P

P.S Oh, and a Happy Merdeka Day to my fellow Malaysians out there. Probably another 49 years before we get flying cars and climate control. No, not really, lol.

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Tonagura!, Arisaka Kazuki, Kagura Yuuji, Tenjou

Bleach: Redemption

2006-08-29T19:23:00.000+08:00

No, no, it's not the title of another Bleach movie. Though it does sound catchy, huh. =P Looking at scores and ratings given in anidb, ANN, animenfo etc. etc, one wouldn't be faulted in thinking that Bleach is one heck of an anime. And one would not be wrong, to an extent. While certainly possessing a rather solid story, I do believe much of Bleach's charm and appeal lies in it's cool-factor (seen in abundance in earlier episodes) and the action-packed, zanpaktou-swinging mayhem that make up it's fighting scenes. Who can forget the first time Ichigo stood up to Renji to save Rukia, only to be hacked down by the then incredible 'shinpou' of Byakuya? Or Ishida's fight against Kurotsuchi Mayuri and his Bankai? Indeed, any lame excuse to fight was happily accepted, as I knew it would be a treat to the shonen fan in me.

Ah, watching Ichigo FINALLY use his Bankai (after 10 or so episodes of irritating sword-swinging underground) was a special moment. Man, getting past Byakuya's Senbonzakura and stabbing him was indescribably splendid for me. Hehe. Okay, lame, whatever. Anyway, then peace had to come. You see, in any long-running anime, we have to have side-stories to make it even LONGER-running. Hence, enter the Bounto, Bound, Bount, however the hell it is spelled.

These Bounto, if you don't know already, are results of failed Shinigami experiments in Soul Society. They are near immortal, live forever, and control 'Dolls' as their weapons. The 'Dolls' are mostly really lame by the way. So, after years of festering, their wounds of hatred have finally gotten so painful that they are now seeking revenge over the Shinigami, and total decimation of Soul Society. Sounds okay for a side story, no? Much better than the Naruto crap which I stopped watching 70 episodes ago. And it is/was, until the usual sickness plaguing most side arcs set in.

Fighting and action were always Bleach's forte, and that went horribly wrong a little ways into the Bounto story. There were way too few battles, and whatever battles we DID get were short and uninspiring. The Shinigami, Ichigo and his gang, well, almost everyone, had their powers 'nerfed' big time. I understand the rather thin story about Kurosaki's inability to use his Bankai in the real world. However, that aside, he didn't even seem to move fast anymore. His usage of Zangetsu was pathetic to say the least. It's like going back 40 episodes and watching him when he first became a Shinigami. Yuck. What happened to those flash-steps, that ability to read his enemies, that inner power he possessed? Getsuga Tenshou seemed a lot more scary when he blasted it at Byakuya.

To make matters worse, I do believe the animation suffered as the anime dragged on. Drawings started to get rather inconsistent, with people looking cool one moment and having their eyes too far apart the next. Here's a look at Kuukaku looking all manly in one, and somewhat more feminine in the other. Yes, both show her in a bad mood as usual, but I can't help but notice the fuller eyes and slightly more rounded face in the latter.

Before, and after Hollywood got to Kuukaku.

And don't get me started on battle scenes. It was plenty hilarious watching Kira swing his 'weight-doubling' zanpaktou up and down, up and down, hacking away at that female ballbearing Doll whatshername. Where is the class in that? =.= Sheesh. And the recent battle between Rukia and Yoshi (that green-haired butch Bounto) only served to amplify this problem. The movements were spastic, and sometimes it looked like they were moving paper dolls on a still background of Rukongai. Oh, and how is it that the frighteningly deadly Senbonzakura that sliced Renji and Ganjuu up didn't even scratch the seemingly weak Yoshi who couldn't even kill the weaker Rukia? Argh.

The side-characters seem to be hard-pressed finding someone to fight, and have much less things to do too. Sado-kun and Inoue have used their powers around once each, I think, in this current 30+ episode run. Urahara does nothing but sit around in his shop while the world goes to blazes, and Yoruichi hasn't fought any Bounto yet, eventhough she probably could have taken out a few of them before they started soul-sucking from the Bitto insects...things...whatever. Oh well.

Like an old Nintendo fighting game...

But in terms of action, at last, there is hope. My perseverance seems to be finally paying off, starting with Ichigo getting rather awesome against Kariya a few shows back. Ishida regains his strength and is hell-bent on killing Kariya to avenge his Bounto girlfriend, lol. Then Byakuya appears, and it seems we're going to get quite a battle between him and Kariya next time around. Yes, I will tell you straight out that I watch Bleach only for the battles (the cool ones, that is), and that's what I'm getting again. The animation is still too erratic for my liking though. Hmm, but if Byakuya can't scratch Yoshi, I wonder how he'll do against Kariya?

Bankai!

Redemption at last? Perhaps. Or maybe there never was need for any. I don't know. But if things even get close to what they were during the main story arc, what I DO know is, I'll be happy enough.

P.S. I cannot stand the way everyone RUNS in this anime. They look like sticks on legs. =S

P.P.S. Yoruichi needs to eat more. =D

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Bleach, Bleach Anime, Kurosaki Ichigo, Tenjou

Asahina Mikuru PVC

2006-08-23T00:32:00.000+08:00

Hawt. =)

Well, Haruhi fanboys rejoice. Something better looking than that bunny girl Mikuru is on the way. From Kaiyodo this time. ^^ Though I won't get too excited. I'm still waiting for a Haruhi. Lols.

Name: Asahina Mikuru PVC
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Release Date: January 2007
Price: 3990 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Kaiyodo, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Asahina Mikuru, Tenjou

Wonder Festival 2006 [Summer]: Anime Figures Report

2006-08-22T02:10:00.000+08:00

Wonder Winter Festival, Wonder Summer Festival, Chara Hobby Expo, Gundam Conventions, Anime Conventions, and every other otaku convention happening in Japan. This isn't even including the numerous gaming conventions like the Tokyo Game Show which happen every year, or all the conventions that happen way across the world in the US. Anime Expo and Comic Con come to mind. It's either a great time to be an anime/comic/game fan, or it's a time where you just wonder where to get that next wad of cash to feed this frenzied craze. =P

WonderFest Summer 2006 has just wrapped up over in Japan, and it's just given people like me quite a few more anime figurines to drool over. Kotobukiya, Alter, Max Factory, Goodsmile, TakaraTomy, Toypla and quite a few others preview more of their money-sucking commodities, which I will be taking a very brief look at now. Being more into anime figurines than anything else, that'll be mainly what I'll talk about here. Most are only hitting stores in 2007, time enough to amass the moolah.

I'll start with Alter, since they had the most in terms of stuff that caught my eye. First up, you guessed it, more Fate.

Name: Ilya swimsuit 1/6 scale PVC
Release Date: January 2007
Price: 4800 Yen

A rather cute Ilya, and the first where she looks pretty much like the anime. The one from Kotobukiya (released this month) just looked weird to me. Nice swimsuit, nice pose, though I would have preferred her in her purple fur coat get-up.

And now, for something looking SUPER HOT. ^^

Name: Rider swimsuit 1/6 scale PVC
Release Date: Spring 2007
Price: n/a

Yup, it's the purple-haired Rider, in a swimsuit again. She looks ever so slightly more voluptious compared to the Hobby Japan special one. Slightly better 'proportions' too, if you catch my drift. No surfboard for this one, but if you aren't getting the HJ version, what better way to satiate that Rider appetite. Heck, get this even if you're a lucky bastard who's getting the HJ one, lol. 1/6 scale, so it's big AND sexy. What else could you ask for? =)

Alter are also releasing a Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia trading figure set, which, from first glance, looks like quality. Since it's HA instead of Stay Night, we get a coy Saber, magical girl Tohsaka, Karen and some characters I don't really know of. But they look good nonetheless. I like the detail on the figures, just like those other Type-Moon characters Alter is releasing which has those awesome figures of Saber and Rin. =P According to reports there are 7 figures in all, including the obligatory 'secret' figure.

Name: Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia Trading Figures
Release Date: January 2007
Price: Around 4700 Yen

Ah, finally got that over with. On to other stuff. Another figure of Sachikawa Eri of School Rumble is in the works, and I must say, it's looking pretty good.

Name: Sachikawa Eri swimsuit 1/6 scale PVC
Release Date: February 2007
Price: 4800 Yen

Hopefully the transparent plastic she's lying on turns out to be a deck chair or something when final production commences. That would make the figure perfect. =D

Louise de Valiel gets another rendition of herself, this time seated atop a folding ladder, and looking slightly better than Kotobukiya's version (I seem to say that alot...=.=;). I definitely like this figure. Very good likeness to her anime counterpart, in my humble opinion.

Name: Louise de la Valiel 1/8 scale PVC
Release Date: February 2007
Price: 4800 Yen

Anyone remember Rindoh Rina? Or if you know anything about the game Pastel Chime Continue, you should recognize this figure. Which I don't expect. I don't really know her name right now, but this is looking to be another very beautiful figure from Alter, in a subdued kind of way. Looking at both this and the Rina figure, you'd never think these girls are from a H-game, doing perverted err, stuff.

Name: "Whatshername" 1/8 scale PVC
Release Date: Spring 2007
Price: n/a

I wasn't totally attracted to the Rina figure, but this one may just make me get both. ;P I like the way the finishing is done on the paint job, giving her dress a slightly smoky look in the gray regions. Her hair is also done well, sharp and separated at the ends. And blue hair turns me on, for whatever reason. ^^

Oh, and some cutie figures of Navel's characters, including Shuffle! girls. Yay. =)

Now, let's take a look at Goodsmile and Max Factory. Though yet again, Fate gets first dibs on everything.

Name: Saber maid 1/8 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Good Smile Company
Release Date: January 2007
Price: 4500 Yen

Surprise, surprise, it's Saber in a MAID costume. Yup, I think my predictions of the Saber mermaid will come true soon, haha. Well, what can I say? It's Saber as a maid. The figure isn't painted yet, so I can't really comment. Yeah, pretty nice, but I've never had a thing for maids.

Name: Majikina Mina 1/5 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Good Smile Company
Release Date: January 2007
Price: 7800 Yen

A very hot Majikina Mina of Samurai Spirits is the next figure on offer from Goodsmile. I remember one a while back from Toypla, but that one is nowhere near this version. (Was this one ever a resin?) Mina is sculpted holding her trademark bow, and whatever semblance of clothes she has is being blown ever so enticingly by the wind. ;) It's huge, 1/5 scale to be exact, and the price is pretty steep too. but don't let that stop you.

And here's a picture of a bunch of Fate figures standing together. I see gorcery girl Sakura there, so this probably confirms that Goodsmile is probably the main player in the manufacture of that figure, whatever it is that amiami says. =)

One rather interesting thing I noticed was the Orchid Seed Ignis figure on show. NO EXPOSED BOOBIES! So, is this the real figure that's coming out in a few months? Or another, censored version. I don't think they're that stupid, so I'm putting my money on this being the completed PVC to be released in November.

Name: Ignis 1/7 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Orchid Seed
Release Date: November 2006
Price: 5800 Yen

So, is this bye bye to all your hentai dreams? ^^ Though, this does make me want to buy it. =P

And Witchblade's Masane from Orchid Seed? At 1/6 scale? Yummy. Though if you're getting Koto's or GDH's, you really shouldn't blow your money on this.

Name: Masane Amaha 1/6 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Orchid Seed
Release Date: n/a
Price: n/a

In terms of PVC figures, Kotobukiya didn't have too much on offer. A few ToHeart figures, which I'm sorry to say, didn't interest me too much. I think I've said this once before. Cut off the girls' heads and you're left with the same body in the same uniform, hehe. However, I'm willing to forgive this one here. ^^

Name: Tamaki Kousaka 1/7 scale PVC
Release Date: January 2007
Price: n/a

A pretty nice looking figure of Tamaki Kousaka if I'm not mistaken. Sorry, my ToHeart viewing was sporadic and incomplete at best, hehe. Pretty hair, nice base, and she's holding a bag. I like figures holding bags, cups and whatnot. They give it that slight uniqueness over a girl doing nothing; ie. your normal running/standing/hopping poses.

And of course, there were a number on figures on show which are coming out real soon. A few notable ones were Zero no Tsukaima's Louise, Eruruu from Utawarerumono, and Yomiko Readman from R.O.D (Read or Die).

Name: Louise de la Valiel 1/8 scale PVC
Release Date: October 2006
Price: 5040 Yen

They seem to have settled on a nice pentagram base for her. That's a good thing. Here's Eruruu, and Koto has screwed up her face once again. =/

Name: Eruruu 1/8 scale PVC
Release Date: September 2006
Price: 4410 Yen

Name: Yumiko Readman 1/8 scale PVC
Release Date: October 2006
Price: 5040 Yen

Okay, that's about it from me. I like Alter's recent releases mostly, and definitely hope Koto picks up the pace in terms of their anime figures. Oh well, here's to another year of figure-buying and anime fests. =D

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, WonderFest 2006, Wonder Festival Summer, Tenjou

Asahina Mikuru PVC Black & White Versions

2006-08-20T13:00:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the embarassing lack of updates recently. =P Been bogged down with a few things lately, and whenever I've had the time, it was either a case of too tired, or too lazy, lol. Been holding on to these pictures for almost a week now. Sorry if it's old news, but here's the black and white 'special editions' of the 1/6 scale Asahina Mikuru PVC figurine.

I'm still not sure who's the manufacturer, though I read somewhere it's being done by Atelier Sai? Oh well. Here ya go then. Promise more updates very soon. Original figure here.

Name: Asahina Mikuru 1/6 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Sol International / Atelier Sai
Release Date: November 2006
Price: 7140 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Atelier Sai, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Asahina Mikuru, Tenjou

Asahina Mikuru 1/6 PVC Preview

2006-08-13T00:27:00.000+08:00

Aah, a wonderful day it is today. The first (of many, hopefully) PVC figure from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, but it's not Haruhi. Though it's very similar to that garage kit of Haruhi I posted (and mistook for a PVC) in her bunny suit. This one's Mikuru-chan in her red bunny suit! ^^ Moe fever. This figure is on preview now in Japan, and if my understanding is correct, it's only from the 11th to the 14th of August.

Looking cute.

Front view. Still rather plain though. But it's Mikuru-chan!

Anyway, as you can see, it's Asahina in her red bunny costume, looking as cute as ever. The figure is currently going to be 1/6 scale (about 26cm tall), and is tentatively scheduled for a November 2006 release. Hopefully they announce a Haruhi one soon. =) And Yuki. The figure itself looks quite decent from the pictures. Slightly plain, but it's Asahina alright. I think it's a bit shiny right now...hopefully they'll sort that out by November. Supposedly the figure hasn't been finalized, so expect some changes. I'm not sure who's manufacturing this, but maybe Sol International, since that's the only name I saw mentioned. If it's true...all I can say is "Why?" O.o

Back view.

Aah.

So, where's that star shaped mole?

There's supposedly going to be a white and black version too. Will update when I know more. Anyway, this is not going to be cheap, as the price has been announced at around 7140 Yen. Ahaha, that won't stop me! =P

Name: Asahina Mikuru 1/6 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Sol International (?)
Release Date: November 2006
Price: 7140 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Sol International, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Asahina Mikuru, Tenjou

Resistance: Fall of Man

2006-08-12T00:36:00.000+08:00

Whether you've got your US$600 ready and have ants in your pants waiting for the launch of the PS3, or you don't know if it's worth blowing money on Sony's latest scam, you've got to look at this game. This may just be the game to make you buy a PS3. MAY be. It's touted as the potential Half-Life 2 of console gaming, it has incredible graphics (probably as good as, if not better than HL 2), it's got a massive 40-player multiplayer mode, and it seems to have a great story. The catch? It's a first-person shooter...on a console.

You'd almost think John Carmack (of id) was behind this game.

Hey, I probably support console gaming slightly more than PCs, due to my frenzied addiction to Final Fantasy games, but I admit there is NO WAY FPS games can make it on consoles. Just like fighting and action games need a gamepad on PCs, you need a mouse and keyboard attached to your PS3 to pull this off. The difference is, the PC has gamepads, the PS3 doesn't have a mouse. Games like Killzone (PS2) have gotten great scores from various gaming mags, but they're just kidding themselves, I say. No matter how polished a console FPS is, having to rely on auto-aim and feeling like you're dragging the crosshair through slime puts the game straight into the 'average' category. No questions asked. That will probably be the huge deal-breaker for Resistance: Fall of Man, this really cool-looking, cool-sounding game for the PS3.

Chimeras invade, Hitler killed in crossfire. =)

Medal of Honor: Creepy Crawlies

No matter. Enough negativity. I won't know till it comes out, so let's move on to what's GOOD about the game. First, the story. So far, the only info available is that players play as Nathan Hale, an American soldier sent to the UK to fight back aliens. Yup, for once, we don't have to storm Normandy. WWII never happened here, but Independence Day did. Aliens known as the Chimera invade Earth, and Hale, with some help from Rachel Hunter, has to take them down. Designs for the Chimeras are really cool. They're sort of a mix of Resident Evil zombie and Quake Stroggs. Err, maybe, lol. Sounds rather interesting to me. Wouldn't mind the concept of blowing up aliens with World War II weapons.

Cool lighting effects.

Early levels are a lot like Doom. Dark, creepy walks through long, narrow hallways. Which is a change from the console perspective. Console gaming has hardly gotten the 'dark hallway' treatment, as opposed to Doom, Quake IV, F.E.A.R, Prey and almost every other recent FPS for the PC. I'm not sure, but looking at screenshots, it must get rather scary, if you're playing this in the dark at 2am, with a souped-up sound system and a larger than normal HDTV. =) Chimeras range from worker class to 'Leaper' Chimeras, which have the ability to scale walls and swarm you from above. Should make for some rather hairy encounters.

Multiplayer is definitely a plus too. Hopefully the PS3's online-gaming plan won't blow up in Sony (and our) faces. But, all things aside, this will probably be the Counterstrike or SOCOM of the PS3 launch era. The game will have a full online ranking system, so that should be good for something. We all know how addictive Battlefield 2's ranking system is. Just...one...more...frag...

I wonder if damage is area-specific..would love to shoot that mask off.

Outdoors.

Everything looks in place for the unveiling of the next great console hit. I reiterate though, NO MOUSE CONTROL. I've said it twice now. So, if this game sucks because of that, remember, you read it here first (or not). ;) Seriously though, I'm looking forward to quite a bit of what the PS3 has in store and I'm just hoping games like these don't turn into another 'oh, what could have been' cases. Till then, here's another game to look forward to in 3 months time. ^^

>>> Gamelog

Tags: Games, Gaming, PS3 Game, Insomniac, Resistance: Fall of Man, FPS, First Person Shooter, Tenjou

Pretty Pretty Sakura: Part 2 (Uniform Ver.)

2006-08-10T23:56:00.000+08:00

Yup, this one here's the 'grocery bag' Sakura I was talking about in my last post. I also first saw this in Hobby Japan, and even then I loved it. It's a crime to only say good things about stuff you like, but I don't care. The figure looks like Sakura stepped off my TV screen on the way back from marketing. She looks that good. Nice job, Alter.

The pose of the figure is something like what you would see quite a few times if you watch the Fate anime. Sakura, in her school uniform, carrying her schoolbag and a bag of groceries. ^^ I personally think she looks very nice and sweet here. Of course, if you didn't like Sakura to begin with, this won't change your mind. I like the detail on the plastic shopping bag there. It looks so darn realistic. My only gripe...the hair's a funny purple, if you get what I mean. Like she washed it in grape juice. This one's a whole lot larger than the Battlesuit Sakura though. 1/6 scale and measuring a whopping 29.5 cm. Whee! Also pending a December release.

Name: Sakura 1/6 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Alter
Release Date: December 2006
Price: 6800 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Alter, Fate/ Stay Night, Matou Sakura, Tenjou

Pretty Pretty Sakura: Part 1 (Battlesuit Ver.)

2006-08-10T23:16:00.000+08:00

First looks came for me in the August issue of Hobby Japan, and looking at slightly more detailed pictures a month later, I must say it still has me impressed. Alter has outdone themselves yet again, with this PVC figure of Matou Sakura from Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia. I'm not too sure if she had a dress like this in Fate/ HA, as I've never played the game. Must be from when she became Rider's Master.

Slightly oriental looking, the figure itself is 1/8 scale, and is slated to cost the usual 4800 Yen. Sakura is sculpted standing with her left gloved arm (looks like my yo-yo glove there ^^) raised. Her hair AND skirt look like they're being blown by the wind. This is important, you know. I've seen figures where the hair is billowing, but the dress is stiff as rock. Definite turn-off that. Not so here.

I like the soft pinkinsh-purplish coloured theme she has going there. But, this coming from a guy who likes the 'Sakura with leeks' figure (also by Alter)...not so surprising, hehe. =P Hate those sandals though. Looks like something you'd wear to the market, not to fight off magical Servants. She seems to have interchangeable expressions. One a smiling face, another an angry one. Not sure how that works yet. Removable head/face? Anyway, I NEED a Sakura figure, haha, so it's either this one, or the other one where she has a grocery bag. Both are really, really purrty. Gonna be a tough decision this. Well, I do have a few months to decide, as this ships in December.

Name: Sakura 1/8 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Alter
Release Date: December 2006
Price: 4800 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Alter, Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia, Matou Sakura, Tenjou

Zero no Tsukaima 1/8 Louise PVC

2006-08-04T03:10:00.000+08:00

Well, continuing on from my last post on Zero no Tsukaima, I thought I'd talk about Kotobukiya's 'lightning speed' in cashing in on this relatively new anime. About a month ago, Hobby Japan and a few websites had pictures of this PVC figure of Louise de la Valiel in it's pre-painted stages. If I'm not mistaken, that was around when the first blinking episode of ZnT was being aired. Talk about moving quickly. *rolls eyes*

Anyway, about the figure. Considering it's the only one on offer right now, it really isn't too bad. But, personally, looking at the past few months of releases, I would have much rather had Alter or Max Factory pick this one up. Kotobukiya has really not impressed me much with it's PVC figures recently (besides Belldandy, but only 'coz I like AMG), and sometimes I just think they should stick to Clone Troopers, lol.

She'd fit right in next to Harry Potter.

Louise is sculpted casting a spell (or not, in her case ^^), I presume. She's holding a spellbook and holding her wand in the air. In terms of likeness, I think they got it about 80% right. But the base could have been something more interesting than that. Her hair reminds me of a pink octopus, but beggars can't be choosers. Generally, it's really not bad though I just think she's a bit cuter than this. Unless something better pops up, this is the one to get. Coming somewhere in October this year.

Name: Louise de la Valiel 1/8 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Kotobukiya
Release Date: October 2006
Price: 5040 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Kotobukiya, Zero no Tsukaima, Louise Valiel, Tenjou

First Impressions: Zero no Tsukaima

2006-08-01T02:12:00.000+08:00

Harry Pott...eh? Sorry about that. Yes, it's quite obvious from the moment one lays eyes on Zero no Tsukaima that the setting for the show was blatantly pulled from the best-selling Harry Potter series. I kid thee not. All we need to complete the package is Quidditch (that game on brooms). But, in it's defense, the setting and magic is about all the show pulled from Potter. It's a comedy/harem/romance anime in every way.

Harry Potter was decent, and so were the movies. So, is this? Well, when the anime started all bright and colourful, I was instantly interested, at least to find out what the story is about. Call me boring, narrow minded, whatever, but I generally dislike all anime that starts in black/grey/washed out colours. With a few exceptions, of course. Stuff like Last Exile manage something many 'darker' anime struggle at doing, avoid being boring even with monochrome animation. =) Anyway, my first thought was, "Okay, Louise doesn't look irritating, so that's a start."

Louise Francoise le Bran de la Valiel...I think.

The opening sequence was Love Hina-esque, with all the characters and their names shown one by one. I wonder why they do that? Episode one introduces many of the cast, Louise the 'Zero', known as such due to her inability to cast any spell correctly, Kirche, the obligatory hot chick in these anime, Guiche, the stuck up noble, Montmorency and a few more. Well, for an anime with a whole school of aspiring wizards, credit has to be given to the creators for coming up with characters that, while typical, are diverse enough to avoid being boring.

Sealed with a kiss.

Pamela Anderson at Hogwarts.

Hiraga Saito is Louise's 'tsukaima', or familiar. Not that he wanted to be. You see, in animes, no matter what dimension you're in, or what time period, Japan is always lying around somewhere. Just like how aliens, vampires, ghosts, and the day after tomorrow only happen in the United States of America. ^^ So, it's no surprise that Louise screwed up her summoning ritual and calls forth the great Saito. Who is the typical normal guy which every girl has the hots for. But, these early episodes make me feel he's not that big a loser, although he does get 'dog' treatment from Louise. After all, he had the guts to go after Siester in episode 4, when she was taken away by a noble.

There have been small hints that Saito is 'different' from other familiars, due to the special runic inscription on his hand. But, aside from his ass-whupping of Guiche in episode 2, I haven't seen anything else of that yet. Hoping to see some action soon. It's a change to see Saito 'resisting' the sexy Kirche. How often do we see harem anime losers do that?! Wahey!

Weakling proves not so weak.

"You taste like garlic."

Well, I like this sort of anime. But even if I didn't, it's light-hearted and pleasant enough to view after a dose of stuff like Chevalier, Utawarerumono or anything more serious. The story is not bad either. I felt it did enough to make me want to watch the next episode, eventhough it's nothing I've not seen before. Not great, but good. So, take some time off your heavy downloading schedule, and slot in a space for Zero no Tsukaima, if you haven't already. ;)

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Zero no Tsukaima, Zero's Familiar, Louise, Tenjou

Poll Results

2006-08-01T01:49:00.000+08:00

It's weird. I consider myself a blog with readers that would be watching anime and reading manga. Yet, when I polled who you guys thought would win the World Cup, there were around 300 votes in 4 days...=S And now I ask a question on anime, and it takes 4 weeks to reach 150 votes. What is wrong with you people?! Only joking, haha. =P Well, I think I'll be waiting for the vote count to reach 100 or 150 on all other polls before announcing the results.

The question: What do you look for in upcoming animes? Thanks for voting, and here are the results after a STAGGERING (lol) 150 votes:

1) More dynamic and involving storylines - 26%
2) More innovation - 25%
3) Fun and laughter! - 17%
4) Love and romance - 11%
5) Better animation - 11%
6) More of the same - 5%
7) Something else? - 5%

Err, I guess it's hard to have a clear winner when there are 7 choices and everything listed can be improved on. =P Still, better stories and innovation win out over the others. Kinda expected, actually. Animes are getting too much like they're coming off a single production line, with a little difference in their artwork. I know it's hard for studios (or mangaka for that matter) to come up with something really different since the same crap sells so well. But stuff like Suzumiya Haruhi is different and proves that coming out of the comfort zone doesn't always result in failure. Well, that doesn't look like happening frequently in the near future, so let's sit back and drink in 'more of the same' till one of us gives in. ;)

New poll. =)

>>> Miscellaneous

Tags: Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Miscellaneous, Poll Results, Updates, Tenjou

Suzumiya Haruhi PVC?!

2006-07-27T03:19:00.000+08:00

'They' say a picture speaks a thousand words. Yes, the proverbial 'they', who say a lot of other things. Well, this time I'm inclined to agree. Although this picture only says two words to me, which are "BUY ME". ^^ I'm still not sure of the details, but this figure of Haruhi from the anime 'The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya' looks absolutely fantastic. Even if I wasn't a self-professed fan of the Haruhi Brigade, I would still think the figure looked great.

Haruhi is shown in these pictures holding a very, very detailed and awesome electric guitar from when she stood in for a band and performed on stage during the cultural festival at her school. She's wearing her black bunny costume (as opposed to Asahina's red one), and shown winking and giving the thumbs up. I wouldn't care if she was showing the middle finger, she looks GREAT. The base is a nice star, and well...what can I say, she looks perfectomundo. Get your wallets ready fanboys, 'cause you know you're going to pay what it takes to get this baby. I'm not 100% sure it's a PVC figure, but it defintely looks like it. (Click for a larger image)

EDIT: Well, some better-informed fellas have shattered my dreams, lol. It's a resin kit, and one of a kind at that. Just noticed the strings on the guitar, good god, that's amazing. But that won't stop me from waiting patiently for a figure as lurvely as this one to appear. Aaah...one can dream. =)

Simply awesome.

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Suzumiya Haruhi, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Tenjou

Ignis Strikes Again, And Again, And Again...

2006-07-26T22:06:00.000+08:00

Ignis figures are like fungi. Mushrooms that seem to be sprouting non-stop. After updating with THREE different Ignis figures from 3 different manufacturers in the short span of a month, I now find myself telling you about ANOTHER very similar PVC figure.

Ignis is from the H-Game Jingai Makyo...bla bla bla...I don't even want to say it anymore. Take a look at this, this, or that, to know. Or you can Google it if you want. This time, it's Good Smile that joins the big bad Ignis war with a PVC version of a resin kit released a few months back. It's being produced by Orchid Seed though. Were they the people who made the resin? Not sure myself. Who cares? =D

Your hentai fantasies come true this time around, with the latest Ignis sporting a ripped dress at her chest area (just like the resin version). So, plenty of tittilation for all you males of the perverted persuasion. I can't deny it's not a turn-on in a really weird way, but I would have preferred if they didn't make the figure this way.

Firstly, nothing else on her dress is ripped. Makes it look more like someone modified it to show her boobs rather than the figure being made that way. Secondly, she has that nice smile and looks so pretty, like Max Factory's, so rather than looking sexy, she just looks rather dopey, like she doesn't realise her breasts are falling out. But that's just me. All other normal males are free to ogle. =)

She's a 1/7 scale this time, and the nice thing about the figure is that Ignis is sculpted drawing her sword from the scabbard. Something different from the others. And again, this is the 'pretty' Ignis, not like Alter's Xena Warrior Princess look, so what you like is up to you. It actually looks like a hybrid of the Bome one and the Max Factory one. Red hair like Bome, but soft, pretty features like Max Factory. I would love to have this, though the boobs turn me off, but with another 2 (which are not bad themselves) pending collection...I think I'll take a raincheck.

Pictures haven't been censored for the sake of all the men out there, so I hope I don't get sued. ^^ And if you've never been to the blog, this is NOT about to become your #1 source for hentai, lol. Gawk, gape and drool.

Name: Jingai Makyo 1/7 scale Ignis PVC
Manufacturer: Orchid Seed / Good Smile Company
Release Date: November 2006
Price: Around 5800 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Good Smile Company, Jingai Makyo, Ignis, Tenjou

Anime Bloggage Slows, but 10000 Visitors Bring Hope! =P

2006-07-26T21:36:00.000+08:00

Well, uni-life has started once more, and I have to say it isn't easy to blog everyday about anime when I don't even have time to watch much. But I will strive on! Unless I have exams of course, lol. This post is just a little self-indulging post, where I get to hop and skip as my blog has finally hit the 10000+ visitor mark.

Yay. Whee (*Hop, Skip, Jump*). Okay. Ahem. I didn't have time to even look at the blog the past 4 or 5 days and it was rather nice to see that number. Which sorta added some wood to the tired fire of blogging inside me. =D

So, to celebrate, I went and bought myself the first of many Ignises! (Boy, that sounded lame) Bome's version was released about a week back, and since I had already pre-booked one, I collected it just before leaving for uni.

Blister packaging tougher than Fort Knox...

Close up. I think I can see myself. =P

Well, can't say it's the best looking among the mini-horde of Ignises, but since I have it, I will like it, dammit! As seen in preview pictures, her pose is rather static, and she looks abit skinny here, but why complain? The nicest thing about the figure is probably the base, and that little curvy dagger she has in her right hand. Didn't take it out of the blister packaging though...hate Bome's super-sealed figures. It looks nice inside, which makes it a waste to rip it open...and ripping it open requires garden shears, lol. *Patiently waiting for Max Factory's....*

Like the sword.

>>> Miscellaneous

Tags: Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Miscellaneous, Milestone, Bome Ignis, Tenjou

Be Vewy, Vewy Sucky. And Air Gear Obliges

2006-07-22T00:04:00.000+08:00

Air Gear disappoints me somewhat. Really, I'm sorry you fans. 13 episodes and there isn't much light at the end of the tunnel. It's like freaky deja vu, because I feel like I'm watching Naruto on rollerblades. Oh, brother.

First, the premise of the whole thing. So, we have these awesome Air Trecks, the new fad in Japan. Or 'old' fad, since some of these Riders are stated to have been around for more than 10 years now. Considering the technology level in the show (read: pretty similar to present day, 2006), it's quite unbelievable that more than 10 years back, people were jamming engines in their blades to hop over buildings and scale walls. Right, fine. It's an anime after all.

Then the sheer twisting of any basic moral values you have ever learnt. It's really normal for 13 year-old kids to be in a gang named East Side Gunz with no repercussions from school or neighbourhood authority. And I guess in Japan there's nothing wrong with kids going around punching people to gain territory and using their motorized Air Treck wheels to rearrange another person's facial features. I'm what you would probably call 'desensitized by violence'. And I still felt unsettled by the meaningless 'gang activity' shown in every episode. It's all, 'you're in my way, so I have to punch your teeth down your throat' crap.

Simca (and Ringo) make this a bit more than Air Crap.

The story itself is pretty shallow, at least up to this point. Ikki is this middle school failure who suddenly finds out about Air Trecks. Long story short, he finally puts a pair on, and obviously he's a prodigy. So, as carefree as his life is, he chooses that he'll make a living out of rollerblading. Whee. Then we have the hundreds of Air Treck 'gangs' vying for AT parts, territory and emblems. Emblems have got to be the silliest idea yet. These people put their life on the line for nothing more than a sticker. Oh man. That is SOOOO cool. Not. Just like Naruto, Ikki learns techniques faster than you can say 'idiot'. 'Rasengan' in 3 weeks for Naruto, 'Spinning Wallride Overbank 1800 Buccha Special' in a minute for Ikki. And of course, everyone, including the topmost, legendary, L33t Stormriders are awed by this. Oh, and he also has that Naruto tendency to make friends with everyone he beats. Even the maniacal Agito, Fang King, ruler of the Bloody Road, who loves saying F#%$! for some reason, ends up literally loving good ol' Ikki.

"I see the Wind Road". Yeah, um...whatever floats your boat.

And the animation is like something from 1996, not 2006. It's really inconsistent, with some rather detailed drawings one second, and a pile of glop the next. And I really find nothing particularly amusing about how the scenes where Ikki (or whoever else) has their faces turn monstrous/weird are done. Hey, these scenes happen in almost any anime, but here it's just so...fugly. And what is with the @#&&*! crows??! Get them out of the way and show ecchi like it should be shown. If you're going to have 13 year-olds bashing each other (granted, some are probably 18, lol), the least they could do is let those scenes be. The crows are so big sometimes, I can't even see the girl's neck, let alone anywhere else. If not, then I really wish they wouldn't go with this half-hearted attempt at fanservice.

Crows turn me on big time. Who cares about girls?

It's also rather weird to have Ringo saying she kept Sleeping Forest a secret from Ikki for 10 years already. I think 10 years ago Ikki was 3 years old...and was probably more worried about pissing straight than what Air Trecks were. And wouldn't Ringo be only four? Umm...

I'm sorry, I haven't really read the manga. If it's like this, I probably won't be anytime soon. Though I did read that it's further ahead, and slightly cooler. Anyway, I'm watching the show to see Ringo and Simca, who has been missing for the past 3-4 episodes. And the tricks and powers, especially Spitfire's Regalia, are not too bad. There also seems to be SOME story development, with Rika-nee and Sleeping Forest. But these 'histories' of their AT activities just feel so made up, I just can't seem to care. I hope something changes my mind. It's not ALL bad, but really, if this was the only anime in the world, I'd probably die. Hohoho. Err, yeah. =/

P.S. Oh, anyone using (or ever used) blogger know what this problem I have is? I come to the posting page, and those little buttons and stuff to format my post, post pictures etc. are not there. I've got to put in all the coding myself, which really slows things down. Urk. Help!

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Air Gear, Air Gear Anime, Air Gear Sucks, Tenjou

Busou Shinki from Konami

2006-07-21T02:47:00.000+08:00

Konami plans to release a new online game, which involves buying yourself a figurine, called Busou Shinki. Taken from Anime Nation,

"Konami has revealed its new "online game" Busou Shinki. The "game," scheduled to debut on September 7th consists of an action figure retailing at 3,675 yen. The figure can be connected to a free online server that allows complete customization of the figure. The server will eventually offer exclusive digital accessories for sale to customize online figures, and a fighting game for customized figures will be implemented next year.

The first two figures released will be the Angel Type MMS Anvale and Devil Type MMS Straffe."

Cute.

Hmm, are we supposed to get the figure and plug it into our PCs or something? Sounds intriguing. This sort of gimmick will probably be a big hit in Japan, with loads of people clamouring to customize their figures etc. Digital accessories? Err, how's that go on to my 3675 Yen figure?

The figures look like Konami's Figuremate in Robotech armour. =) Sleek webpage though.

More pictures and info (in jap.) here, and here. Oh, and HLJ has pretty clear images of each figure.

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Konami, Busou Shinki, Tenjou

Anime in Retrospect: Shuffle!

2006-07-18T01:52:00.000+08:00

Title: Shuffle! / シャッフル!
Anime Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Harem, Romance
Date of Airing: 7th July 2005
Date Concluded: 5th January 2006
No. of Episodes: 24
No. of Episodes Watched: 24

"A mix of heaven and hell."

*Wee, my 100th post. Never thought I'd make it this far, this fast. =) Thanks for reading.*

I've just re-watched this series, mainly because I was sorting out the anime in my hard-drive, and after mosey-ing through episode 1, I just kept on clicking. Shuffle! is an anime based on, wait for it...another eroge (H-game)! Heck of a surprise, wasn't it? *sarcasm*. Hold on there, don't toss the notion of watching this into the trash yet. Surprisingly, while anime based on these games have turned out to be rather abrupt and erratic, they have also been rather good. Fate and Da Capo are among those, I guess. But I did have my reservations when I first watched Shuffle!. Not having played the game, but knowing the gist of what the game was about, I kinda expected your run-of-the-mill harem anime with the loser guy getting it on with loads of girls. Boy, was I wrong. Yet, sometimes I do wish I was right.

Choosing meat is reserved only for serious air-heads. ^^

Since your hair is short, I'll grow mine long and tie my ribbon on the right.

Okay, long story short, Shuffle!'s synopsis goes something like this. Tsuchimi Rin was an orphan from young, and lives with his friend and her father Kaede. Kaede takes care of him and they go to school together. One day, the kings of Gods and Demons respectively decide to take up residence next door to our good friend Rin, with the intention of marrying their daughters, to Rin. Hence, begins every guy's dream of having more girls than you can count chasing after him.

Nerine's demon powers. Exclusively for Rin-sama, of course.

While there are rather surprising differences to your typical harem anime, let me warn you that Shuffle! is STILL a harem/romance anime. I'm a sucker for these sort of shows, so expect this review to be slightly biased. So maybe cut off a point or two from the final score if this isn't your cup of tea. Anyway, Shuffle! takes the generic harem-romance foundation of one bland, normal guy that a few pretty and sexy girls just can't get enough of, just because he's so bloody 'yasashii' (kind). This just makes me wonder, is the male population of Japan mostly made up of complete assholes? What drives them to write plot after plot of this crap?

Nerine and Kaede.

Rin's greatest challenge yet. If it wasn't for the hair, he'd never tell them apart.

The bland guy in question is Tsuchimi Rin, who is really nice. He is portrayed as the guy who thinks of others before himself, and is really nice to all the girls. Thumbs up to the animation studio for not making him a lame-ass loser. And at least he doesn't sound gay. He's voiced by Sugita Tomokazu, who most of you will know well as Kyon of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. Oh, just something I noticed too. I think there are around 3 seiyuus from Haruhi, which is surprising. Anyway, no idiotic, accidental 'boob-grabbing' here. And I must say he manages to hold his own and doesn't get all stuttery when communicating with the love interests of his life. However, his dripping niceness just makes him a pussy for most of the anime. 'Most' of, I say.

Asa-senpai! Asa-senpai! Asa-senpai! Daisuki!

Now, the girls. Kaede is Rin's childhood friend. She cooks for him, cleans for him, and washes his underwear for him. She's also very sweet, pretty and has the most cutesy, sugary voice you will ever hear. For the first half of the series, I just felt her character was just 'sweet girl with crazy obsession for Rin', and I wasn't too far off as I found out later. Except, make that 'sweet and deranged girl'. Nerine, also called Rin, is the daughter of the King of Demons, and Lisianthus, called Sia, is the daughter of the King of Gods. Oh, by the way, the King of Gods and Demons are the best of pals, how that happened, I don't know. Anyway, Nerine is sweet, pretty, and has the most cutesy, sugary voice you will ever hear. Sia, on the other hand, is sweet, pretty, and has the most cutesy, sugary voice you will ever hear. Waitagoddamnminute! What? Yup, you read that right. Indeed, their traits are more or less a simple job of 'copy and paste' of Kaede.

No, really Rin-chan. Four times already. I need a rest. =P

Shigure Asa, or Asa-senpai, is the older girl who also has a crush on Rin, but we only see this slightly later into the series. And Primula is the lolicon from the Demon world. She's actually a test subject for some experiment, more on that later. Okay, all these girls have fucked up pasts, I kid you not. It's like the studio, or the game-creators thought..."We must make this as interesting as we can", then proceeded to ram some twisted tale into every one of these girls' history. Hmm...how should I explain this?

Okay, the series started out just like I expected. Girls, girls and more girls for the unlikely hero. Beach visits, lingerie shop visits, and what have you. There's even an episode called "A Date of Panties". Oh, for crying out loud. However, that point was where we start to learn more about the girls, their pasts, their personalities and their crazy secrets. So, while the title was cheesy, the episode was okay. Halfway through though, the anime takes a dark, somewhat twisted detour. We find out about Primula, and her being a test subject and all. The experiments weren't very pretty either, what with the previous two experiments failing and killing many people. Then, this slowly builds up to Nerine's past, and her clone, Licorice. I won't say much more, but it was quite a sad story. I'm not a block of wood with no feelings, no matter how hard I try to be cool, lol. So yes, watching Nerine's past, and what Licorice went through...I had to catch myself, otherwise I'd probably have started crying. =P

Licorice. Oh god, here come the tears.

Primula makes her own bento. How nice.

Really, I don't think the anime recovered to it's harem roots after this. Dark story followed dark story, and near the end, we just have this whole bunch of crazy/sad/twisted tales from the girls' pasts. Sia is shown as having a split personality, which she supposedly got because of her dead twin's soul. So, this twin, Kikyou, takes over Sia's body sometimes, turning her into a sexier, naughtier version. Even that part was tinged with sadness. Asa-senpai has a 'disease' (if you don't know what it was, I won't spoil it), which makes her body weak and prone to fainting and collapsing. The worst was probably seeing Kaede's darker side. She was totally mental when she was young, even trying to kill Rin with a blade. Then, she goes berserk again when she feels Asa is stealing Rin from her. And the way she does it is rather unsettling. Man, I thought I was just going to see a guy get lucky with hot babes. Definitely unexpected.

Shades of Carrie.

Which makes me rather undecided whether this darker progression to the end of the anime was good. By itself, it was quite dramatic, and certainly interesting enough to keep me watching. But when it's lumped into a package undeniably about romance and harem-type love...it starts to look out of place, and girls with dementia don't appeal to me. So, this makes it harder for me to say whether it's a good story or not. I enjoyed it, if that counts for something. But, this really comes down to personal tastes. If all you wanted was girl fun and panty shots, you may be turned off.

"Rin-kun, we'll be right here for you if Asa-senpai...you know, dies or something."

Animation is pretty high quality though. There're very few 'head-only' shots, and it's pretty cool how that arrow thing swings onto screen when multiple people are talking. My only gripe is how every female character seems to have come off some factory line of cute schoolgirls. When 80% of the time is spent in IDENTICAL school uniforms, the animators should have worked harder on the differences in their appearances rather than just changing their hair colours. The opening song is noisy, but catchy. And the ending is a nice combination of sweet and melancholic music. Quite good. One last thing that made me liked the show...Rin chose the girl I would've chosen if I was the lucky guy in the game wondering who to bonk. Asa is sisterly, and always seems to give Rin the support he needs, while also possessing the traits of a girlfriend. I dunno, I just liked her the most because the others seemed too...'fluttery' for my tastes. And she's the least weird, in terms of screwed up pasts.

Ah, the best scene of all. =)

There's some frontal nudity (though you gotta be quick to catch them) and lots of panty-shots, but that's expected I guess. Rin makes up for his lameness by doing what he did at the end to save Asa. Takes balls of steel to do something like that, man! Here's where I take back the 'pussy' tag, lol. Like I said before, I'm a sucker for animes of these genres, so I definitely recommend it to anyone of my kind. =P Overall, a good watch, nothing overly different from the stereotypical harem show, unless death and psychotic drama count as something. Take off a point if you hate romance. =)

*Out of 10*
Animation (Quality of): 8
Story (Depth, twists, and extras): 8
Music (Songs, Suitability): 7
Characters (Dynamism, Background): 8
True to Genre?: 7

OVERALL RATING: 7.5/10

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Shuffle!, Tsuchimi Rin, Shigure Asa, Tenjou

Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia 1/6 Karen Ortensia PVC

2006-07-15T20:29:00.000+08:00

Man, it's not been a great few days. Busy with house-moving, and coupled with my internet connection having downtime...I haven't even had time to blog. Here's a little something, just to keep things going till I get some things settled. ^^

Saber and Rin figures are spawning in almost every size and form nowadays, almost like Rei and Asuka of Evangelion. I can't help but think that soon we'll be seeing 'christmas' and 'mermaid' versions of Saber, lol. Anyway, seeing someone from Fate other than these two is sort of refreshing. The huge Fate Figure File in HJ August itself should tell us what to expect in these coming months.

Here's another figure of Karen Ortensia though, from Hollow Ataraxia rather than Stay Night. This time around it's from Good Smile Company, and she looks quite the loli though. They called it the Prologue version...meaning? Were there older and younger versions of her? 'Cos this one definitely seems younger than Alter and Koto's rendition.

The figure itself is well done. Nice hair, and a nice finish. Though I don't know about the face...until I find out for sure she doesn't look slightly different for some reason. Fate fanatics should be able to answer this. =) Pose is virtually non-existent. I mean, come on, nobody makes figures standing straight these days. Looks like her cap isn't removable either. Again, nicely done, but at 6800 Yen, if I had to go for one, I'd take Alter's any day.

Name: Karen Ortensia 1/6 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Good Smile Company
Release Date: November 2006
Price: 6800 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Good Smile Company, Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia, Karen Ortensia, Tenjou

First Impressions: Tsuyokiss: Cool X Sweet

2006-07-12T02:04:00.000+08:00

Maybe it was my overly immense expectations. Maybe it's because I really like tsundere type characters. Whatever it was, when I watched the first episode of Tsuyokiss, I was slightly crestfallen. Mildly disappointed, so to speak. My comments are based on the fact that aside from that one visit to the official website about 3 weeks ago (when there was basically nothing there), I don't know much about the anime except that I want to watch it.

Konoe Sunao, or Daikon. ^^

The opening song is cutesy, and some parts of the lyrics do foreshadow the theme of the show. "Daikirai nante usotsuki, daisuki sunao ni narenai" or "How I hate you, I'm a liar, how I love you, I can't be true to myself" obviously exemplifying the tsundere theme. Translation is probably off, but you get the point. But other than that, opening was generic. Ending was better sounding, I guess I'm more a ballad person.

Talk to the sword, boy.

Crab vs Coconut. Hard to crack, this one.

The first thing I noticed was that the animation is only so-so. It's not Gonzo definitely, but I would love to see these girls better drawn. It may be the animator's art style, or rather simplistic animation, but I wasn't too impressed. I won't complain though, if the series turns out great anyway. =)

Also, one minute after we see Konoe Sunao waking up, we have our first scene of exaggerated fanservice. What's with Sunao's towel falling off? Not in the first minute guys. And her boobs are like water balloons. Anyway, then we basically meet the girls one by one. Most of them have particularly convenient scenes where they get to announce their names. Like Kurogane Otome saying she's a member of the discipline committee while threatening a guy with a samurai sword...=S Oh, well. Kanisawa and Yashi Nagomi were very amusing, especially with Kanisawa being small and calling Nagomi 'coconuts'. A little bit prettier and she'd be your typical lolicon.

"Kuu..."

Then Erika the student head, and 'hime' of the school arrives, with all the guys going loopy over her. She's probably the 'best-looking' girl to me, next to Nagomi and maybe Nishizaki...the girl who I've seen only go "Kuu.." and sounds real cute. Anyway, I can't remember all the girls but that should cover the few main ones. Oh, and seriously...I don't need scantily clad girls telling me I'm watching Tsuyokiss everytime a scene changes. Sheesh. And they all look so much hotter and older in those 3-second scenes.

I assume he's the lucky bastard? =)

Erika. Bitchy, manipulative, but kinda hot.

Jokes and humour basically depend on what you would normally laugh at. I think I smiled at the "coconuts" and "Kani" scenes, but little elsewhere. Hopefully this improves later on. The episode as a whole was okay, but basically I believe this was just meant as an introduction to the myriad of girls/tsunderes we will be watching for 13 episodes. Speaking of tsundere, the only time I saw anything like that was probably Sunao slapping Leo. And they called themselves 'A Tsundere Animation'. For shame. Haha, though I'm sure we'll see much more of that later on.

"Tsuyokiss."......"Huh? Sorry, come again?"

Kanisawa and Nagomi crack me up.

Okay, so-so start to me. But, I'll definitely watch the other episodes. However, I do expect some misdirected fanservice, but I won't let that deter me. After all, we're talking about tsundere action here! ^^

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Tsuyokiss, Konoe Sunao, Tsushima Leo, Tenjou

Saber Swimsuit PVC Goodness

2006-07-12T01:15:00.000+08:00

Finally, nice images of Alter's November release of Saber of Fate in her swimsuit. Well, taking a closer look, I'm quite convinced that if you're a Saber fan, and you want a swimsuit figurine of her, then get this one. Although the others available/upcoming aren't too shabby themselves. It's just that Alter's is the only one featuring a two-piece bikini get-up. At 1/6, it's bigger than your standard 1/8 scale. And bigger the better, I say, especially when it looks this good. Well, the pose is simple, and Saber is sculpted to hold a little penguin ice shaver (I think). The penguin is cute. And Saber holding it makes them both cute. ^^ Heh. She's also pictured holding a cute little version of Saber, much like Goodsmile's Tare Saber. Considering I liked Fate, I can't wait to get my hands on this. =)

Name: Saber Swimsuit 1/6 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Alter
Release Date: November 2006
Price: 5800 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Alter, Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia, Saber, Tenjou

The World Cup Ends, And A Hero Leaves A Zero

2006-07-11T00:18:00.000+08:00

Well, it's over. All you football (the round ball kind, silly) watching fans can now catch up on sleep, spend your winnings, or start earning back your losses, lol. The World Cup finally came to a close yesterday with my predictions of either Germany or Brazil winning the thing so off the mark I could have hit my own ass. Italy were the final victors, and rather worthy ones at that.

The World Cup.

The road to the finals was quite uneventful. With the favourites of Brazil, Italy, Germany et. al progressing through the early stages. Holland surprisingly fell early on, while England somehow managed to make the quarter-finals. Argentina and Brazil lasted not much longer. Alas, I felt deliberate handballs, playacting, diving and sheer stupidity left a bad taste in many a mouth this World Cup campaign. Playacting and diving, performed wonderfully by renowned players like Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zidane, Arjen Robben and a host of others was such a pathetic sight I am at a lost for words. But the best was yet to come. Indeed, it most certainly was.

Champions of the World.

The final featured the mildly impressive Italians against the steadfast old guard of the French. One of which would see his career end in the most horrible fashion, but not without due cause. A rather dubious penalty scored by Zinedine Zidane gave France the lead as early as the 7th minute. But, jubilation turned to despair as Italy scored an equaliser through Marco Materrazzi hardly 8 minutes later. And so it stood, with the ball going up and down the field so many times it resembled a hoops game more than football.

Creativity turned to frustration, and led to tedium as both sides tired and were content to play out the time aiming, I guess, for the penalty shootout to decide their fate. All was well and boring, until around the 106th minute, where suddenly, a commotion broke loose on the field. Buffon raced from his goal, shouting at the third official and the referee, apparently noticing something most of us viewers did not.

A crying shame this.

And then we saw it. A vicious headbutt by the legendary Zinedine Zidane straight into Materazzi's chest, sending the Italian centre-back reeling. Whether Materazzi's actions were overdramatic or not are irrelevant. A headbutt of that manner spelled malicious intent and nothing else. What fools these mortals be. And a greater fool Zidane. I really don't know what possessed the man to suddenly turn and attack a player, minutes before his team reached the penalty shootout of a World Cup Final. You hate him? Punch him up in the tunnel, AFTER you've won the cup. But recalling the past, as cool and as skillful Zidane always seems to be, underneath that calm exterior seems to lie a beast that rears it's head only sometimes. And this was one of those times.

The long walk of shame.

So, Zinedine Zidane is red-carded, and is sent off the field like some third-rate bully footballer...once the greatest, forever remembered as a madman. The scene of his walk past the golden Cup of Life itself showed better than anything what his madness brought, both to himself, and to his team. If Zidane had been there, then maybe Trezeguet wouldn't have taken that penalty, and maybe France would have had more of a chance. Sad that it wasn't to be. I really liked that guy, and will still remember him as a footballing great. But not a hero. Nobody's a hero when they do something like that. Self-control is the most important thing in a person's life, I feel, and it was totally absent there. Hence, a hero leaves Germany, Golden Ball or not, a zero.

So, that's it from Germany. And a curtain falls yet again on the stage of the World Cup. So, until 2010, when they meet in again in Africa, all us football fans will return to our bickering of whether Barcelona are the best in the world, and whether Roman Abramovich is spoiling football, or whether Man United are in decline. =)

>>> Football

Tags: Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Football, Soccer, World Cup, Italy, France, World Cup Final, Tenjou

First Impressions: Gun X Sword

2006-07-10T01:32:00.000+08:00

Yes, you read that right. First impressions. I must say it's rather ironic that I've known about Gun X Sword (or Gun Sword, if you must) for the better part of a year now. I know it's story...I've more or less read about the characters, I've got it in my blog's header, and I've even got a Carmen figurine on a pre-order, supposedly due this month. But I've only ever watched 1 episode of this show, way back in September last year, I think.

Being in my first year of uni and all, 2005 was not a good time for my anime-watching' habit. Stranded in another country, with assignments to do, and an internet bandwidth cap of 3GB a month is NOT the ideal setting to obtain new anime liberally. Well...it's not much different now, but a better internet plan and the holidays do help. So, here I am, trying to catch up on stuff I missed.

Wendy Garret, 12 year old with a big-ass revolver.

I've tried to abstain from reading reviews or forum topics on this show, just so I could 'feel' it myself. And 3 episodes in, it's not all downhill. It starts off well enough, with some character intro, and Van eventually meeting Wendy and saving her village. The way Van summonned his 'armor' (Note: armor = mecha) was quite cool, something a bit different. However, I must say, definite shades of Trigun, and some Kannazuki no Miko for flavour. And Wendy offering to marry Van, hehe, a hint of loli there? ^^

"I'm Van, I can bend like gum".

Carmen99. She has 2 bazookas, but you never get to see them. ^^

Then we meet Carmen (no, not Electra), with her seiyuu Inoue Kikoku (I was definitely surprised) sounding rather different to what I'm used to. Definitely no Mizuho or Belldandy here, more like I-No of Guilty Gear. Episode 2 had some really stupid excuse for a battle, with some Baron thinking to rule the world from his puny metal city and with his crappy 'armor'. And of course Van kicks his ass. Nothing special there. I found it somewhat cute how Wendy seems jealous of Carmen, seeing she's like..12 years old and all. =) The third show was rather touching though, but the play on Voltron/'any other show with combining robots' was really lame, but funny. I actually felt rather sad knowing that the bunch of old heroes had lost their partner Chizuru, and nobody respected them. Good play on the empathy part there, I thought.

Van's armor, Dan.

Go Voltron!

Well, it's only 3 shows, but I do hope it doesn't become a pointless Bakuretsu Tenshi sort of story. There's SOME direction now, with Van searching for the clawed man and Wendy her brother. But I dislike the fact that 3 episodes in a row has been, 'find bad guy, whup bad guy's ass'. The least they could do is connect the fights somehow. Animation is not superb, but better than normal. But the opening and ending songs just blow big time. Can it get suckier than that? Well, I'll be having myself a little marathon of Gun X Sword today, and hope to review it when I'm through.

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Gun Sword, Gun X Sword, Van, Tenjou

Air Gear PVC Babes

2006-07-09T01:14:00.000+08:00

Megahouse, famous for it's Gundam heroine figures mostly, are producing two figures of characters from the ongoing anime Air Gear. The girls in question are Noyamano Ringo, the girl who likes Ikki, and Simca, or Tsubame no Shimuka, leader of Genesis. While Ringo is 'sexi-fied' slightly, both the figures bear good likenesses to their anime counterparts, although Shimuka may pose a little niggle.

Ringo is sculpted in a 'sitting down' pose, wearing a pink bikini and her red Air Trecks (AT). From the pictures, it would appear that she has interchangeable glasses, a normal one and an even goofier looking red-framed one. The figure measures in at about 20cm, so I guess it's about a 1/8 scale. She looks very nice, though I would have preferred her with a little more clothes on. Hmm, I seem to find prettily clothed girls more attractive than semi-nude ones. How fascinating. Lol. She's carrying a tray of fast food, sorta like your everyday parking-lot roller-blading, food delivery chick. Comes out in September. ^^

Name: Ringo 1/8 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Megahouse
Release Date: September 2006
Price: 4200 Yen

I love Shimuka in Air Gear. That's why I feel her features deviate somewhat from what she looks like in the anime. It isn't an ugly figure, but if you've seen the show you may have some strong words to say, heh. The eyes a little too big? She comes with her trademark hat, her green ATs, and even that black bag thingy she carries. The hat comes off, so that's a nice gimmick. But, I can't get over the face. =( Love the hair tho'. Well, some people may like it. And at 4200 Yen, it's not overly pricey.

Name: Simca 1/8 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Megahouse
Release Date: September 2006
Price: 4200 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Megahouse, Air Gear, Ringo, Simca, Tenjou

Suzumiya Haruhi no Musubi, and A 2nd Take

2006-07-07T01:25:00.000+08:00

So, chronologically, after the whole closed-space dream, and ending up back in the real world, Kyon, Haruhi and everyone else plays baseball, goes on a cruise and plays virtual battleship with the computer society. Without a care in the world. Hmm. A teensy bit surreal that.

I cannot get enough of Asahina's voice. When they said moe, they really meant it, huh?

Does it not affect Haruhi that she had such a weird dream? Kyon did say he was going to tell Haruhi about aliens, time-travellers and ESPers at the end there, which wasn't really the end. Then, are we supposed to assume he said something about Nagato, Koizumi and Asahina? Okay, maybe some things are best let unanswered. It was a great show which was a nice departure from our everyday anime. And episode 9 (which is really the LAST episode) sort of ties in to episode 14 (S.Haruhi no Yuutsu VI), with Kyon and her walking home, and a bit of her feelings for Kyon.

I liked your ponytail. Oh, boy.

I really liked Nagato, alien, yet human all the same.

I guess that's the reason they put all those messed-up episodes in the middle of the series. I think if we were to watch those after episode 14, and see the 'real' ending from episode 9, we'd think "what the hell was wrong with that?". So, screwed up chronological order justified there, I guess. Too bad I couldn't see more of the 'grown up' Asahina. I think from what Asahina says throughout, one can make an educated assumption that 1) Kyon's supposed to end up with Haruhi in the 'future', 'cos she keeps saying that Haruhi shouldn't see them 'close' together and 2) Asahina likes him too. =)

You know you want to hug her.

Oh well, a pity it was only 14 episodes long. But there's quite a lot of the 14-part Haruhi novel yet to be shown. So maybe a 2nd season in the offing? After the ending (meaning S.Haruhi no Yuutsu VI) though, which I really liked, I thought I'd bump up my review score for this from a 7.5 to a 9...but I'm still pissed that it was so short, and not too taken by the 'play baseball after celestial encounter' part. So, an 8.5 will have to do. ^^

Edited Ratings (*)

*Out of 10*
Animation (Quality of): 9
Story (Depth, twists, and extras): 8(9)
Music (Songs, Suitability): 6(7)
Characters (Dynamism, Background): 9
True to Genre?: 7(9)

OVERALL RATING: ~~7.5~~(8.5)/10

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Haruhi Suzumiya, Tenjou

Playstation 3: The Good, The Bad and the Downright Ugly

2006-07-07T00:19:00.000+08:00

All sorts of info on the upcoming Playstation 3 was announced recently. Some cool, while others utterly shocking. Here are a some of my takes on the good and the ugly of the PS 3.

The Playstation 3. Complete with Spiderman brand fonts. Only in black on release. [Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk]

The Ugly

The Price - Holy shit, $600?! You can say what you like Sony, $500 or $600 for a gaming console is nothing short of craptacular. Quoted from Sony themselves,

"The PSOne and PS 2 were both 10,000 Yen more than their competitors at launch, yet both sold to shortages. If you consider the PS 3 a toy, yes, it is an expensive toy. However, it is more than a toy. It is a Playstation 3."

Yes, and? So, what you're saying is I need to be driving a Ferrari since it's obviously a Ferrari, and way better than a Honda? The fact now is, the damn thing better be able to fly people to Mars, 'cos even if I had the money, I'd think twice before shelling out 600 big ones on a gaming machine. Of course, I'm not saying I wouldn't eventually get one myself, but I'd probably wait a year or so before I do. And living in Malaysia, I wouldn't have much of a choice. All issues of piracy and modded versions aside, the PS 3 will probably be priced around RM 2500++ a unit over here. Something I can't just throw out of my pocket.

A bit like a coffin, eh? [Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk]

Games - Hey, the games are great. FF XIII, Resident Evil 5, and Assassin's Creed are reason enough to be awed. But competitors like the XBox 360 have had a year to refine and better their game releases and will certainly have a big say in whether you get a PS 3 or not. Halo 3 and Gears of War. 'Nuff said.

See, we were too lazy to think up anything. So, we just removed the vibration and added a little gimmick. [Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk]

The Crappy Controller - Well, not exactly. However, taking away the force feedback is like making me play with my PSOne all over again. Darn it, why couldn't Sony just leave things. If you can't sell the boomerang, then at least give us what we're used to. Tilting the controller like an idiot doesn't sound particularly cool to me. Nintendo Wii has this feature, and loads more. So, this is half-baked if you ask me. Oh, and WE STILL CAN'T PLAY FPS the way it's supposed to be played. Seriously, games like Resistance can go to hell if I have to contend with auto-aim crap.

Blu-ray - Okay, how much is this thing going to cost? And if it doesn't take off, we all know what will happen to the PS 3. Sales will drop tremendously. It won't be worthwhile to get a PS 3 whether you like the games or not. HUGE storage space is all it has going for it, but when games like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on the PC takes less than 10GB, I wonder what we need Blu-ray right now for? Maybe we can stuff Sony's ass in one of these discs.

Okay, enough of that. Now for a bit of the better things to come.

The Good

Hard Drive - The PS 3 has a built-in 60GB hard drive. This is great news considering future plans to download stuff off the net. Alas, we pitiful people in South East Asia have yet to be able to experience this. Also, a hard drive will most likely make loading much faster in the PS 3, as data can be streamed from both the disc and the HD together, just like in a PC. And no more memory cards! Yay.

"If you hold it like this, Aeris will come alive," says Ken Kutaragi. [Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk]

Online Play that's FREE - Okay, the only way Sony was going to beat XBox Live was to offer their online services free. Anyone with a broadband connection can get online right out of the box. A definite plus. However, I don't think there are many games implementing online play yet, so things may start off slow.

Games - Yes, games again. The good side now. And again...FF XIII, Resident Evil 5, Assassin's Creed, Metal Gear Solid 4, who in their right mind wouldn't want to play these? So yes, if you're a fan of these games, or console gaming, the future is still bright for the PS 3. Big name games always assure the sales and popularity of a console. So, if they pull it off, it may just be in your best interests to pick up half a grand worth of plastic, wires and chromium.

That's about it then. Until the next expo, where lucky Japanese and game-mag geeks get to play more games on the PS 3.

>>> Gamelog

Tags: Games, Gaming, PS3, Playstation 3, Sony, E3, Tenjou

Assassin's Creed: A Lesson In Realism

2006-07-05T02:53:00.000+08:00

The recent E3 was a showcase of new console technology mostly, with the PS 3, XBox 360, and Nintendo Wii all vying it out for booth space. Besides the obvious hits like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII, one game that stood out for me was Assassin's Creed (AC) for the PS 3. I was simply amazed when I first laid eyes on screenies of the game. It's developed by Ubisoft, and it definitely shows, with AC's style very much resembling Ubisoft's other hit, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

This is actual real-time gameplay...utterly gorgeous.

The game is set somewhere in the 12th Century, and you play Altair, an assassin in a really cool white hood-cloak get-up. From what I've learned, you'll be able to cling on to ANYTHING that looks scale-able. From ledges to walls, to stall roofs, anything that sticks out more than 2 inches can be grabbed on to. Now, that's cool.

Jerusalem recreated in painstaking detail.

Also, everything is just so damn realistic. Townspeople will also react realistically to your actions. Bump into them too hard and they'll shout out, maybe alerting nearby guards. Draw your sword in daylight and risk creating a riot. And how you interact with people in the crowd depends on how fast you're running/walking. Run and you'll shove them, walk and you'll gently nudge them aside. Wow. Fable for the XBox 360 certainly offered this sense of realism, but that game just didn't make the grade. Looking at these early screens, Assassin's Creed looks to be well on it's way to being a better experience.

Get out of my way! Or not.

Again, just like watching CG.

And the graphics. You just have to stare at the screenshots yourself. Click them for larger images. Really, CLICK THEM. =) Games like this almost make it worth shelling out USD 600 for a PS 3. Almost...

Some parts of the game take place in the present...go figure.

The lighting is amazing here.

P.S. Oh, another little bit of info. The PS 3 will not have those boomerangs for controllers anymore. They will look EXACTLY like your faithful old Dualshock 2, minus the shock (*gasp*), but with a nifty 'Tilt' feature where you tilt the controller to control...oh, various things yet undiscovered, lol.

>>> Gamelog

Tags: Games, Gaming, PS3 Game, Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed, Action Games, Adventure Games, Tenjou

Brazil's Demise, Rooney's Folly, and A 'Hot' Ono Kanako

2006-07-04T02:38:00.000+08:00

Okay, this post isn't really anime or gaming related, but...oh well. We're finally nearing the end of the 2006 World Cup. Controversies, hilarious refereeing and some outstanding goals (probably due to the new Adidas Teamgeist's design and 'lightness') have marked and marred this year's World Cup. The quarter-final dust has settled and the four countries left standing more or less merit their places in the semis. Germany, the hosts, were of course expected to pull through, as they have quality and the nation behind them. Italy, who faced Ukraine in the quarter-finals, should be red-faced if they didn't make it.

Jubilating Frenchmen, and deservingly so.

The real surprises and controversial faces in these semis are of course, Portugal, and the seemingly aging France. Let's talk about France first, shall we? When I watched them in the opening games, I didn't just feel...but I KNEW this team were going home. There was nothing in their play to even hint that they were more than what the world was calling them, a group of has-beens. Zidane, Thuram, Makelele, even Barthez...they lacked the spark, they lacked the quality even. But how things can change. France scraped through to the 2nd round, sparking a series of inspiring performances to first down the then impressive Spanish, and then vanquish the Gods of Football themselves. Yes, Brazil were completely stifled by the French, with Zidane producing probably the performance of his life at that age to humiliate even the highly-touted Ronaldinho. The Brazilians created nothing, and even the rotund Ronaldo could not save them.

Oh bother, looks like I'll have to cancel that countryside tour.

The end of an era, the end of David Beckham.

Then, we have Portugal, who defeated the ever-underachieving English, albeit in a penalty shootout. I actually felt it was best England left the competition then, because if they scraped through another round, it would be all the more painful for the players and the fans when they eventually, and ultimately fall at the next hurdle. England's performances have been close to abysmal, but maybe God is an Englishman. After all, with uninspiring displays, toothless attacking, the Three Lions made it through their group, went on to beat the quick and pacey Ecuador, before losing in controversial manner to the Portuguese.

If you watch the World Cup, you know what happened in that match. Rooney, and Cristiano Ronaldo, both players from a club I support, losing it and causing chaotic reverberations in the world of the satanic tabloids and press. Rooney, either cynically or accidentally, stomped on the...crotch area of Ricardo Carvalho, a Portuguese defender. A foul was called. Ronaldo rushes up, for whatever reason, and starts complaining about the foul. Rooney gets pissed, as he always does, and pushes Ronaldo. Referee produces red card, Rooney is off, and Ronaldo becomes England's enemy No.1.

No mate, not THOSE balls! The other one!

More like a soap opera than a football match.

From what I watched, I cannot believe that Ronaldo would do this to a clubmate of his. But even if he did complain, he had every right, because then and there, on the pitch, his loyalties were to Portugal, not to Wayne Rooney or Manchester United. I've been to a few football forums, read a few articles, and many an England fan blames Cristiano for their team's eventual demise. I say, STFU and take off those rose-tinted glasses. The incident aside, England were a better team with 10-men and held on to force a shootout. Commendable. But both England and Portugal screwed up their penalties. It's just that England 'effed' their penalties even worse. The bottom line is, Rooney should not have lost his temper in the first place, and failing that, Lampard and Gerrard, usually reliable in every situation, should have done more than scuff their shots straight into Ricardo's arms.

I feel this makes it worse for my favourite club, which is probably No.1 in the most supported and most hated charts, lol. Sir Alex has not made any significant changes to a team with an ailing midfield, and with Van Nistelrooy's impending departure, this little incident does not bode well. What can we do? On to happier things. Michael Schumacher won his first race in...errr 5?6? at Indianapolis last Sunday. Whoopee. At least now there's some life in this year's F-1.

On another note, I just managed to collect a few of my backlogged figures this weekend. Good Smile's Ono Kanako, Bome Vol.12 and Alter's Sei. Well, it is my birthday today (cue embarrassed cough), so it was a nice 'personal' gift. Born on the fourth of July would probably mean something to Americans out there. But, to me, it's just another day. Nice to know a whole country is celebrating with me though. Lol. =)

Left to right: Sei, Kanako, Chidori and Tessa.

Um, the back.

Kanako is loads hotter than what I've seen of her in the manga, which was what made me buy the figure. And I don't care if it's a crime to say only nice things about stuff you like, but Kanako is awesome. I haven't taken her out of the box yet, but from early looks, this doesn't disappoint. Had to get an acquaintance of mine to pick up the Full Metal Panic Bome from Japan though...the entire KL was out of stock, and I wasn't prepared to get mine online. Sei isn't the most interesting figure ever...but she looks quite like in the anime, and I've always liked the mask, and her. Anyway, I've got Meg, I want to get Jo, so what the heck, Sei and Amy will just have to be bought too. ;P

Terrible reflection here, didn't notice till I uploaded it.

Ye gawd...lol, it's still visible, right?

I really wanna do reviews on these figures, but that will just have to wait for now. I'm partially broke but there's just so much more to get, lol. Ignis...especially the lovely Ignis...so....pretty...need....air....

>>> Football, Miscellaneous

Tags: Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Football, Soccer, World Cup, England, PVC Figure, Good Smile Company, Tenjou

Anime Review: Kamisama Kazoku

2006-07-03T05:05:00.000+08:00

Title: God Family / Kamisama Kazoku / Kamikazo / 神様家族
Anime Genre: Comedy, Romance
Date of Airing: 18th May 2006
Date Concluded: n/a
Current Episode: 8
No. of Episodes Watched: 6

"The Gods must be crazy."

Phew, what a weekend it's been. Football, Formula One, more football, and a few new toys. I'll get into that later, hopefully. It's late (or really early...) and since I haven't done any blogging in the past 2 days, I thought I'd just post this little review I had typed up a week ago. The reason I didn't post this sooner was basically 'cos I was waiting for more fansubbed episodes of Kamisama Kazoku to watch before coming to a conclusion. Hell, I couldn't wait, so I watched the raws instead. I definitely got the gist of the story but sadly, I think I missed quite a few of the jokes, haha. But even with the raws, I do think my first opinion of the anime was quite accurate.

Aww, ain't he cute?

Samatarou and Tenko.

If you didn't already know, Kamisama Kazoku is about a family of a god and goddesses living on earth. This is so God's son, Samatarou, gets a taste of 'human' life, and hopefully becomes a better God, or something. Nihon no Jesus? Sorry, I couldn't resist. =P Samatarou has a childhood friend slash guardian angel, Tenko, who takes care of him wherever he goes, whatever he does.

I wish my mom and sisters did that for me. Wait a sec, no I don't!

Kamisama Kazoku has got to be one of the most intriguing, yet riveting comedy/romance anime I have watched in recent times. It starts out really bright and colourful, with an especially catchy opening song, which you'll be humming to 2 episodes in, trust me. Mizuhashi Mai's rendition of Brand New Morning starts out with a few bars of snazzy electric guitar and builds up to a really nice chorus accompanied by just about the perfect animation for the opening. Anyway, after that we meet the cast, one by one, starting with Samatarou and Tenko. Samatarou is sort of laid-back, more like a typical jap anime teen than God's son. Tenko is the pink-haired bubbly childhood friend of Samatarou, who cares alot for him, and yeah, you guessed it, secretly likes him a whole lot. Unfortunately, Komori Kumiko, the shy, beautiful transfer student comes into Samatarou's life, and he falls in love with her. Making it that much harder on poor Tenko.

Kumiko's being controlled here, so don't get your hopes up. =)

Samatarou's family is a crazy mis-match of personalities. There's his dad, Osamu, God himself, who is really more clown-like than God-like. Zany in more ways than one. His mom, Venus, the somewhat exhibitionist and crazy goddess who loves Samatarou to the extremes. Meme-chan, his younger sister, who reminds me of that president girl in Onegai Twins!, you know the one who kept going "he,he,he". She's got that gothic look with the white hair and stuff, and is perfect for making a scene funny just by standing there, lol. And lastly, Misa, Samatarou's older sister, who hates men but doesn't seem to mind him.

Misa. Hot and spicy version.

Misa. Round and cute version!

This is like watching Ah! My Goddess, School Rumble, and oh I dunno...something else really bright and colourful. It's supposed to be a comedy and romance hybrid, but from what I've seen, it's leaning more towards the romance part, what with Tenko's heartache, and Samatarou's love interest. The show is really easy to get into, starting off with a bang from the get-go, and following up with simple, bright, and solid animation which wouldn't put you off even if you hated these sort of shows. The storyline is your standard romantic comedy stereotype, but the show manages a really decent execution of it. It's really interesting to watch how Samatarou carries himself through the various romantic situations with Kumiko, or any other situation, considering he's God's son and all. Oh, I forgot to mention, he gets everything he even THINKS about, as his dad just makes it happen for him. I can't say it better than Osamu, so..."Kiseki!"

Tenko left behind again. Poor girl.

A kiss, and more hot pot action from Tenko.

Tenko, who is surprisingly voiced by Koshimizu Ami of Gunslinger Girl and School Rumble fame, is also another interesting character. We see her obvious liking for Samatarou as the episodes progress, and this eases into her sadness and sometimes desperation when Samatarou falls in love with Kumiko and starts to drift away from her. Until somewhere in episode four, but that's for you to find out. =) Anyway, she does whatever she can to help Samatarou with his endeavours, but finds it hard to hide her feelings, which usually comes in the form of steam coming out of her head, hehe. Cute. They portray her as somewhat happy-go-lucky, with mood changes at a flick of a switch. She's really easy to like, and really easy to pity, but it's nice to see a variety of personalities in a show like this.

Meme-chan, funny when serious. Err, yeah, something like that.

I just liked this scene.

Animation is bright and colourful. Pink hair, blue hair, brown hair, blonde hair, yellow hair, you name it, it's there. There are also many occasions where Samatarou and his family have to switch to these chibi/small and cute versions of themselves to communicate. Those sequences are definitely worth a laugh, for the animation and voices at least, if not for the jokes.

Oh man, cuteness overload. Good god, I'm weird. LOL.

That's right, Kamisama Kazoku falls short in the humour department, relying more on looney situations and an almost incestuous mother to provide the humour. While watching his mom and sisters in bloomers did provoke a smile, I found that the anime was crammed heavily (at least the first 3 episodes) with fan service and outrageously crazy sequences, obviously never making an attempt at jokes but providing the Mr. Bean sort of humour. It's not always a bad thing of course, but it would have been nice to hear punchlines or jokes rather than physical action all the time. The story does mature slightly from episode four, which is a nice touching episode. Episodes 5 and 6 were really entertaining too, but I'll have to watch the subs before making any substantial comments on those. Another gripe I have is that the anime is only slated to run for 13 episodes. If that is true, it would really be a waste. Of course, this should by no means be a deal-breaker.

With a little pink paint, it'll be JUST like Tenko. ^^

Music is pleasant throughout. Like I said, the opening song is the bomb, and the ending is just as good. Although very 'pop-like', you'd only hate them if you're weird. ^^ The music is also cleverly used in touching or funny sequences in the show, providing more soul to this seemingly simple comedic romance. Trust me, it's more than that.

Overall, besides over-trying on the humour part, I think Kamisama Kazoku is another diamond in the rough from spring. Don't dig too deep, or look too much into everything that happens, and you'll find that this is definitely an enjoyable anime. Light-hearted, yet deep enough to warrant a watch. While not the best (School Rumble takes that award), it's certainly better than most of the rest. =)

*Out of 10*
Animation (Quality of): 7
Story (Depth, twists, and extras): 7
Music (Songs, Suitability): 9
Characters (Dynamism, Background): 7
True to Genre?: 8

OVERALL RATING: 7.5/10

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Kamisama Kazoku, God Family, Samatarou, Tenjou

The Bootleg PVC Phenomenon, Kasumi, And A Simple Guide To Identifying Fakes

2006-07-01T03:25:00.000+08:00

The number of copies, imitations, or bootlegs of PVC figurines is, and has been increasing steadily over these few years. Most are illegal productions, most look like crap, but these days it's getting harder and harder to tell. Of course, sticking to a legitimate source for buying your figurines such as reputable online stores like Hobby Link and Play-Asia, or the local store you trust SHOULD keep you out of trouble.

I was browsing through Play, a Malaysian hobby forum, and came across a thread talking about these bootlegs. The topic was mostly about imitations of the recent Max Factory Kasumi (you know, the one where she looks like she's about to keel over). And it was quite surprising to me how close these 'imitators' could get their product to look like the real thing. Here's a comparison. There's a slight difference in the hair of the fake and the original Kasumi. Also, the original Kasumi has a matte finish, while the other is slightly more glossy.

Real stuff on the left, fake on the right.

There's also a link to Hongfire forums where this matter is put under slightly more detailed discussion. Also, comparisons with a real review from Japan usually exposes the imitation quite quickly. Like so:

Don't you wish real girls dress like this and bend over everyday?

I like the hair. And the eyes. Really.

Oh, and beware when you find cheap stuff on ebay. If it's $30 cheaper than what you've seen everywhere else, it's probably either trashed or a bootleg. Some are even more blatant, posting pictures of their fake crap and passing it off as real. Click here to see and also the picture below. I mean, at 12 pounds, only someone who's never bought any of these before would be fooled. Unfortunately, there are billions of people in the world, so these assholes still manage to rake in the dough.

I could paint it better...no, actually I couldn't. But you get the point.

Anything that is supposed to be sold in Japan but ships from China or Hong Kong is definitely something you should be wary of. Although figures are generally licensed to be produced in China, you'd be surprised at how many illegitimate manufacturers exist. China's huge, maybe they have a factory under the Yangtze, haha. I'm sure all you figurine collectors out there are aware of most of this, but I just feel like posting this just so people like us don't get caught out. Hey, I've seen the hobby store itself make mistakes, so it never hurts to be careful.

So, here's a little guide on how to spot these fakes:

1) Bootlegs always feel different. They are either lighter or heavier, depending on make. Now, I would assume that we can't always compare when buying, so use common sense. If a 1/6 scale figure feels like a trading figure, then something's wrong.

2) Packaging. More often than not, the packaging of a fake is flawed. While seemingly identical, it is either badly printed, or may be missing a sticker or a serial number somewhere. Best to check stuff out online before purchasing. Hobby Link is a good place for packaging pictures. But of course, you guys do that. =) ALL trading figures from Japan have a 'ziplock' cover, and not flaps. Makes sense, since you're not supposed to know what's in them. If the cover of the box is a normal flap, it is fake.

3) Compare, compare. Even if you live in the jungle, try to find sources to compare your product and the original one in Japan. Japanese figurine reviews are the best, and definitely try to find pictures of the original as they will give you a better idea. Can be found from sites such as Moeyo, Hobby Fan, Noda-Ya and wherever else you know.

4) A seal of the manufacturer themselves. A PVC figurine, or even certain toys such as Transformers usually have seals or marks of the manufacturer on the figures. These are usually printed or embossed on to the figure itself. Example, Megahouse has it's name printed on those crummy stands their figurines have. If all you see is a blurb where it should be, or nothing at all, there's definitely something wrong.

5) Joints. PVC figures usually have their parts moulded separately and painted before assembly. If the figure you're looking at looks and feels very much like one single piece, and does not look like it has joints, it is probably an imitation. These joints may not be immediately visible, so look for thin lines near the shoulders, and where the legs joins the torso. Fakes also have a glossy finish, and not the matte finish PVCs usually have.

6) Material is important. A combination of PVC + ABS is the norm, and is usually slightly malleable. It's not Play-doh, but it will bend under pressure. If a (PVC) figure feels rock solid or is so soft it bends by itself, then there may be cause for concern.

7) The last, most simple piece of advice. If it's TOO CHEAP, be wary. Everyone wants to make a quick buck, even honest people. So, nobody's going to sell you anything cheaply. A difference of more than about US$4-$5 (convert to your own currency) should be checked out properly, unless the store or website is having a sale, or it's a pre-order special...in which case get it, and tell me where you bought it. =D

Well, hope that helps abit. Would love for you guys to share anything else you may know about. Any experiences in buying fakes? Other ways to spot crap? This is definitely something we all feel happens to someone else. The thing is, we're all someone else to someone else. =)

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Figurine Bootlegs, Fake PVC Figures, Figurine Bootleg Guide, Tenjou

Gundam 0079 Cardbuilder Um...PVCs? 1/6 Reiko and Catharine

2006-06-30T22:46:00.000+08:00

Japanese people are either slighty screwy in the head, or incredibly innovative. Wait...make that Japs ARE slightly screwy AND incredibly innovative. No offense to any Japanese reader that may come across this. I like Japan, and when you guys come up with something like the Gundam 0079 Cardbuilder, I LIKE it it even more, lol. ^^ For those who haven't heard, this Cardbuilder game was released in arcades in Japan somewhere in 2005. It's a sort of a strategy game that uses trading cards which you move about on sensor-equipped tables. It's like Sangokushi Taiken from Sega...with added coolness. Here's a picture of the machine at the arcades.

Battle Stations, you sweaty teenage guys! ^^

Each arcade represents a battlefield...each machine racks up and records the number of times the Federation or the Zeon have won, through the cards, that is. The arcade then becomes 'territory' of the prevailing side. Geeky, yet infinitely awesome for some reason.

The two PVC figures from err, Unifive, here are supposedly secret characters in this game. Hmm, I'm still not sure how you get hot babes through cards, but feel free to find out more. Reiko Holinger and Catharine Blitzen are both 1/6 scale and actualy look half-decent. I don't know, but Unifive aren't particularly prevalent in the figure-making market are they? I know they've done some Dragonball figures, but that's about it.

Reiko on the left, Catharine on the right.

Honey, I Shrunk The Toy.

They're going to be big, so you kinda hope they'd be slightly more detailed. Hell, I've never played the game, so if this is how they look, then so be it. Not bad, may interest Gundam fanatics out there. On sale this August.

Name: Reiko 1/6 scale PVC / Catharine 1/6 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Unifive
Release Date: August 2006 (Both)
Price: 6615 Yen (Price of one)

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Unifive, Gundam 0079, Reiko Holinger, Catharine Blitzen, Tenjou

Fate/ Stay Night Animation OST

2006-06-30T03:50:00.000+08:00

By my not so recent review of the anime, you would know that one thing I liked about Fate was the music. It was really immersive, something slightly different from what you hear in your everyday anime series. Well, just skimmed through the new Fate animation original soundtrack, and it doesn't disappoint (well, not me, that is ^^).

Gotta love the art.

Back Cover.

Released in Japan on the 28th of June, this soundtrack is really something. Containing every song and instrumental score heard in the series and renditions from the PC game itself, there is a really balanced blend of dark, moody music and peaceful strings and woodwinds (um, it may have been done by a synthesizer, I dunno). There's even a Fuji-nee theme, which sounds just like her. =) Most of the songs have a melancholic undertone to them, so avoid if you like normal 'Inuyasha' J-pop.

There are 40 tracks in all, about 70 minutes of play time. More bang for your buck I say. Composition is mostly by Kenji Kawai and the songs are sung by Sachi Tainaka and Jyukai, both of whom I don't know but sound really good. I really liked the opening and ending of course, but stuff like track 14, Fuyu no Yousei, and La Sola were really soulful and well, peaceful. It felt really different from say, Full Metal Panic: TSR's soundtrack. Meaning you can listen to the entirety of this and feel that you're actually listening to normal music and not anime music. Okay, I admit it's not for everyone. If you hated the show, then don't even bother. If you're a metal or rock fan then this may not be your cup of tea either. Anyone else should really pick it up.

Cool card. Collectible, I guess. No, it's not this huge. =)

Wish they'd made one of Rider.

Great just for a listen, late nights, driving (=P), or wanting to feel really sad, haha. Heck, some tracks wouldn't be out of place at a funeral. Lol. Anyway, if you're interested it can be found at Play-Asia and Cd Japan, just to name a few places. This isn't really a review, but I'll give it a rating just for the sake of it.

My Rating: 8/10

>>> Musique

Tags: Music, Anime Music, Original Soundtrack, Fate/ Stay Night, Kenji Kawai, Sachi Tainaka, Jyukai, Tenjou

Double Fate/ Stay Night Whammy! 1/7 Rin and Archer PVC

2006-06-29T05:04:00.000+08:00

Enterbrain aren't satisfied with their single offering of Saber in her battle gear (obviously), and have decided to appease the Fate fanatics with yet another version of Rin and *shock* *horror* her servant, Archer. It's a male PVC figure! Haha.

First up, Rin. She blows. No, I mean she looks terrible here. What were you thinking? The pose is stunning, really. That's why I feel it's such a waste that her face resembles some cat or something. Why can't they ever get her face right?! Even Clayz's version of Tohsaka (not the swimsuit one) had a below average likeness to her anime version. The cool thing about this Rin is that she carries that magic dagger she gave to Shirou at the end, and she has her magic jewels between her fingers. Gimmicky, but cool nonetheless. Another gripe of mine is that she's connected to the base by nothing more than her right foot. I do believe there's the 'hole and peg' combination there, but it still looks suspect to me. It may or may not be on the floor in a few months. If you really want a Rin in her red attire, and can't find anything else, then pick this up. ^^

Name: Tohsaka Rin 1/7 scale PVC
Manufacturer: ebCraft
Release Date: September 2006
Price: 7140 Yen

Right, on to Archer. What can I say? He looks well-made and detailed. The face isn't 100% either, but it's a far cry from the aforementioned Rin. And he's holding Kanshou and Bakuya! Whee, otaku glee! Lol. Seriously, besides Saber and Rider, you ain't going to get any other servants unless they make a Caster (oh, please, please). So, if you have the cash, and alot of it, definitely look to get Archer.

Name: Archer 1/7 scale PVC
Manufacturer: ebCraft
Release Date: September 2006
Price: 9240 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, ebCraft, Fate/ Stay Night, Tohsaka Rin, Archer, Tenjou

Kuchiki-san, Kuchiki-san, I can't do it...

2006-06-29T01:19:00.000+08:00

Really? You can't? Why not?

I'm starting to hate Inoue. Or Orihime. Whatever you call her. Bleach 84-85 special. Oh, god. 10 minutes worth of her whining is more than enough to last a lifetime. I had great hopes for Inoue way back in the first 15 or so episodes, when she found out she had this cool summoning power. I REALLY don't want to dislike her. Well, 70 episodes on and she still has that same power. Same ability, same stupidity, and I think she's used it twice.

Do her boobs need that much support?

Yeah, that's it. Now bitch-slap that girl.

She's just become the celebrated cheerleader for the show. Argh! When I saw her steel herself in the middle of that whining, I thought, okay, at least we're getting somewhere. When she started whining again. God damn it! Then when she finally uses her power, all she does is shield herself and make that noisy pixie-thing of hers fly around. Felt a bit like winning 10 cents in a lottery, in my opinion. She's better than this. I know it.

She needs a slap. And a huge power boost. =)

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Bleach, Bleach Anime, Orihime Inoue, Tenjou

Samurai Shodown 1/8 Majikina Mina PVC

2006-06-28T02:47:00.000+08:00

Remember the game Samurai Shodown (SS)? SS 2? SS 3? 4? 5? 6? Lol. Well, I played the first two like mad back in 94-95, I think, I can't remember that well. I was getting bored of all the Street Fighter, and Haohmaru and the gang were the next big thing in fighting games. Or so it would have seemed. Alas, the SNK Neo-Geo bit the dust and I really haven't played any of these games since then...no, not even the remakes. A few SS 5: Samurai Spirits figures have been or are soon to be released this year. This latest one from Toys Planning is really nice though. It features Majikina Mina from Samurai Shodown 5. Just a little info. Mina's a character in the SS game obviously. She's a human girl with really great powers or something. Her powers became so great people called her a goddess.

It gets really cold sometimes. ^^

The figure has Mina kneeling down and holding her signature bow and looking really sweet and all. Oh, and she's got her little Champuru next to her too. Whom she killed later on, but let's not get into that. I don't know, I guess I just like the way she's holding her bow, the 'soft' look she has about her, and her sexaay 'skirt' thingy. Some older resins had her looking all tough and toned like Chun-Li, but I like this better. It's a pity the fringe of her hair had to be in those square clumps though. If you get nostalgic thinking of the game, then pick this up when it comes out in August. ^^

Name: Majikina Mina 1/8 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Toys Planning
Release Date: August 2006
Price: 4800 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Toys Planning, Samurai Shodown, Majikina Mina, Tenjou

Anime Clichéd? Touché!: Part 3

2006-06-27T23:24:00.000+08:00

Part 1 and Part 2, again only if you feel the need to read them. =)

While battle sequences are plagued by the aforementioned incessant cliches, what about when the hero and his gang of mismatched stereotypes have to run away to fight another day? Another sickening cliche arises, and this one is where nobody in the fleeing party seems to get shot or wounded by oncoming fire. Better known as:

v) The Stormtrooper Abberation - Yes, just like in Star Wars, anime characters can have an entire army shooting at them with bows/guns/blasters/any projectile weapon, and still escape unscathed. Some animes don't even bother to make it realistic, allowing EVERYONE to escape totally wound-free. Come on, somebody has to get hurt when a hundred people are shooting at you right? Apparently not, in the minds of Japanese animators. Can this be avoided? Well, they COULD do without these horribly idiotic scenes and just let the hero get away without all the fuss.

And while we're talking about heroes, my biggest peeve of a cliche is when characters on the good side hardly ever die. Of course there are the very scant exceptions, but it's quite normal to watch an entire anime series (especially if it's aimed more at young teens), and not see any of the good guys kick the bucket. This is most apparent for the leading character of course.

vi) The all-immortal protagonist - Yes, we have all seen this. If the hero dies, then there is no anime, is there? How do we avoid this tragedy? Why, by making him immortal of course! Injuries suffered by main characters always seem like epiphenomenons, caused by a brutal attack, but usually having no subsequent influence besides the hero being on the ground. Shirou's incredible gash across his chest in Fate/ Stay Night is one of the most recent examples. True, it may be hard in ANY sort of media to just kill off the main character. However, I do feel that sometimes, especially in these shounen/fighting animes, people should die more. Period. Maybe you can't have the hero die, but I refuse to believe that nobody gets fatally wounded in the midst of all the energy blasting and crashing into brick walls and stuff. It's really contrasting how the anime of today are quite clearly aiming for more realistic animation, and believable stories, while failing to address problems like these.

That, in my opinion are the few cliches that stick out like a sore thumb in this particular genre. It just goes to show the tendency of Japanese culture to ruthlessly, and blatantly imitate the best. Any remotely successful anime will undoubtedly spawn exactly 100 clones and 3 sequels (okay not really, but still), all of which will use similar mechanics, humour and style to portray their version of the story. Both bizarre and very predictable, this is what makes anime so full of repetition and cliches

Okay, moving on. Next on the agenda is another genre-hybrid which is honestly, in my opinion, starting to be crippled by it's 4 or 5 standout cliches. The harem/romance genre, initially just romance around 8 years back, spawns clones like no tomorrow. Long ago, anime guys used to have to actually chase girls, but slowly animators decided these guys should have girls living or working with them or just clamoring all over them all day. Go figure. Hence, the harem bit. Oh, sure they change a few bits and pieces...schoolgirls, elf girls, magical girls, space girls, goddesses (um, ok, make it, they change the girls and settings)...but essentially nothing much separates one anime in this genre from another. Remember Tenchi Muyo? Alien girls. Love Hina. Crazy dorm-girls. Negima! Girls with pedophilia, lol. Ichigo 100%, Hand Maid May, Shuffle!, Ah! My Goddess and many other outright harem anime and also a decent amount having elements of this.

Shuffle!

So overpowering are the stereotypes that this has resulted in near perfect genrification of the harem/romance theme. Again, I'll begin with the obligatory protagonist, or in this case, one hell of a lucky guy.

i) I'm Keitaro! No, I Am! - These anime NEED at least ONE male character. This male lead/s somehow always possesses a few, if not a load of, loser attributes. Okay, they're not all total losers per se. However, it is deemed necessary that the male lead is usually the shy-type, unusually unlucky, a nerd, and has a really lame styless hairdo. He may also possess 'women skills' close to retard level, and is the butt of most jokes played in the show, either by other acquaintences, or the girls of interest themselves. This really gets on my nerves sometimes, because it isn't very realistic when all the totally sizzling hot (in anime world) females start going ga-ga over this undistinguished character. These guys are nearly ALWAYS in embarassing situations with the girls, resulting in either a piercing scream or a hard slap on the face. How droll. But, there is a very valid reason for this wimpy manifestation of a man, besides the animators being sexually depraved. Majority of anime-viewers = MALE. Gender with non-stop sexual urges = MALE. =D Making the somewhat lame male lead eventually score with one/many/all of these beautiful tsunderes/moés is every guy's dream come true. Again, the lead is made to be more rooted in reality (read: normal), so when he finds love, it feels good to the viewer. Pandering to the viewer's desires is a good way of stating it.

The next important ingredient are obviously the girls or love interests for that lame dude. This is where things get a little stale sometimes. Having such a large number of girls (usually) means that good differentiation of personalities is absolutely vital. This is, of course, to make it more believable, and to keep things interesting. Before I get to their personalities though, let's talk about looks.

ii) Stop the presses! I think we have enough girls! - Looks? Whaddaya mean looks? Aren't they all pretty, cute or sexy? Yes, they're all usually acceptably attractive, ie. big chests, flowing hair, cute face, long legs, but this is also the problem. Sometimes it feels like the artists just couldn't be bothered to come up with distinguishing, unique designs for these girls due to their large number or whatever. Look at the girls in Shuffle!. Man, they look like they drew the same freaking girl a few times, added pointy ears to some, and changed their hair colours. And if you lopped off the heads of every To Heart girl, they'd just all be dead schoolgirls with the same measurements, haha (sorry, I'm sadistic). Love Hina is an exception though, the girls all having their own personalities/desires/wants. Seiyuus are also important, and again I felt Love Hina did well with this. Every girl had distinct differences in clothes, features, voice and attitude. Although I'm not totally happy with the anime, I felt it excelled in these 2 departments. After all, the whole purpose of having this many girls, besides to showcase the loser's lucky break, is really so that the audience can identify with a girl more appealing to their particular tastes. I really hate it when 4 out of 5 girls have that high pitched, sugary, loli voice. Goodness.

Attack of the Clones!

iii) I hate you! POW! Oh, I think you look cute with your teeth punched in - Sound familiar? The term may be relatively new, but the concept has been used quite abit over the years. I'm talking about the all popular tsundere. Female characters in these sorts of anime are usually stereotyped into one of a few constant roles. The tsundere, the moé, the loving, motherly girl, the smart girl, and the girl that has no romantic interest in the guy. Tsunderes again pander to the male viewers. It's just that much more satisfying watching the protagonist somehow manage to make the violent, aloof and unfriendly girl fall for him. Wahaha! Super Conquest! Ahem. Hmm, I'm not sure whether this should be a paragraph on tsunderes or stereotypical roles. But, they're closely related, I guess. It's not puke-material just yet, but animators need to diversify the girls in these animes if they're thinking of milking this popular franchise for the next 10 years. Hey, I LOVE tsunderes, but too much of anything can never be good.

Then, there's the stupid situation factor. Every anime in this genre has to have these scenes. They range from the guy falling into a girl's chest, to the constant interruptions during romantic sequences.

I love you, you big loser you.

iv) I love y...Aah! - Humorous sequences are meant to be just that. Compromising situations, usually forced upon our stereotypical male lead, often lead to funny sequences. Often. You see, an anime has to be able to carry a scene out professionally, although that might seem like a terrible choice of words. Scenes must be included in a way where a plot is not disrupted and the anime does not feel like it suddenly came to a halt. A few of these harem/romance anime overdo these funny bits, resulting in really UN-funny bits. Looking up the girl's skirt is only amusing THAT many times. And, I just dislike those interruptions when the guy and girl are going to kiss or are becoming more intimate. Once is okay, twice is acceptable, 3 times is bearable, but almost every episode is downright lame. I like romance. I'm the kind that would love to see 2 people end up together at the end of a series. I'm the kind that felt disappointed when Shirou and Saber didn't end up together (F$#% the game, make your own ending, for crying out loud!). So, I hate it when, for instance, Keitaro of Love Hina kept touching Naru 'somewhere' or gets cans hitting his head whenever he seems to be making headway. The manga was much better at this, providing comic relief and satisfaction at the same time. These two problems here can certainly be improved on. Don't throw jokes at us for no bloody reason, and make relationships more mature. I don't get a kick out of watching 2 young adults acting like children when it comes to love.

Well, there are quite a few more cliches I could talk about. Like the ever-present hateable 'rival' in romance animes. But I won't. I'm beat, and you're probably way past the 5 second mark of internet surfers. So, that just about wraps it up for me. I've gone through the two genre-hybrids where I feel showcase anime's plague-like disease quite clearly. Perfect sub-genrification from perfect stereotyping.

Another goddess just for me? Huzzah!

While I do not expect any of this to change much in the near future, I do hope and expect animators to start cracking their minds to come up with better ideas. Anime has evolved into what it is today because somewhere along the way, they DID use their brains. After all, as much as we knock it, this harem trend came from somewhere didn't it? And it has been and still is entertaining. In a money-churning business like this, repetition is inevitable, but it still needs to keep evolving, instead of stopping to smell the flowers, so to speak. So, while we're waiting for that, it's cliches all around the table then. =)

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Anime Cliches, Anime Stereotypes, Tenjou

Birth 1/8 Yupiteru Rasa PVC

2006-06-27T01:56:00.000+08:00

Hmm. Intriguing figure here. This figure of Yupiteru Rasa, or probably Jupiter Rasa, is based on a character from a 1984 anime OAV called Birth. Wow, that's a long time ago. Besides the staples of Gundam and Doraemon, I don't think many manufacturers go back that far for their designs. On first impressions, Rasa's design is really simple. And her face sucks, but I guess it's bearable since it's based on a 1984 animation. What made me interested is that flying scooter thingy she's on. If only they'd made her a little more detailed. The scooter has movable handlebars, if I'm not mistaken, so that's rather cool. And she's got a cute little helmet...awww. But being precariously balanced on that earthy base, I expect Rasa to be kissing floor very quickly. And it has a whooping heavy price tag at 8190 Yen. Well, we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.

Name: Yupiteru Rasa 1/8 scale PVC
Manufacturer: Yamato
Release Date: August 2006
Price: 8190 Yen

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Yamato, Birth, Yupiteru Rasa, Tenjou

The Obligatory Milestone Post...And A Little Bit of Happiness!

2006-06-26T05:57:00.000+08:00

Right. It's been about a month since I started this blog, and about 2 weeks since I realized that to actually get people to READ my blog, I'd need to first let people know about it, lol. It started out real slow with like 500+ hits in the first 2 weeks. Then I got wind of sites like Anime Nano and Anime Blogger, so here I am now. =)

Been seeing these milestone posts around recently, so I thought I'd do mine. No stats here, this isn't wordpress, it's blogger's crappy platform. Current hits 3180, which is nice enough.

Anyways, I'd like to say thank you to all the people who have visited the blog from all over the world, and those who've commented, and those who've supported me, people of A.Nano and A.Blogger who've forced themselves to go thru some of my boring posts (I'm not very funny, and I don't talk about lolis and yuri =P but I'll try harder, lol). Make no mistake, you all ROCK!! =D Oh, and my lovely T.Tessa of a girlfriend who had to stay in Australia while I'm back home. Ahem. Okay, enough mushy stuff.

Haruhi sez you guys ROCK! Now, join the S.O.S!

Sorry, nothing remotely anime related today. Just got back from the city, with a spankin' new external HDD. I've literally not watched more than 5 episodes of anime on my PC this past 3 weeks. I have like 200Mbs left in my PC. Finally, I can start getting some new animes in. Kamisama Kazoku, AMG, and Haruhi is not enough! Whoop dee doo!

Okay, with that out of the way, it's time to format the damn thing. =D

>>> Miscellaneous

Tags: Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Miscellaneous, Milestone, Updates, Tenjou

Anime Clichéd? Touché!: Part 2

2006-06-25T00:20:00.000+08:00

Part 1, if you feel the need to view it. =)

Instead of generalizing anime as a whole, I thought I'd look at this from the perspective of a few anime genres where certain cliches are most noticeable. Starting with the action/fighting/shounen genre. Fighting, huge weapons, crazy magic, and incredible superpowers define this genres very soul. And that soul is what I'll be looking at. Please set aside animes of this category which have comedy/romance 'bla bla bla' in them. After all, in such a vast market, hybridization (I feel like I'm in a chemistry lecture) is unavoidable.

There are literally over a hundred stereotypes in any particular genre, but I'll try to look at what stands out as idiotic, repeated ideas, which are just so tired that they really have to undergo some change. Well, considering there's always a hero in these shows, let's first take a look at that, shall we? A critical difference between a good anime and a crappy anime is that a good anime seeks to humanify characters, while a crappy anime tends to rely upon stereotypes to create stock protagonists or antagonists with little depth. Well, then:

i) The hero who is never cool enough - This is a funny thing. Main characters in these sort of shows are NEVER the strongest nor the coolest. There is always one of his companions or enemies who are always, always head and shoulders above the hero in terms of strength, wit, and the cool-factor. Naruto is one such example. Is it not enough that he is a whiny dolt (that's a story for another day), but his 'best' friend is the ultra-cool Sasuke? Goku of Dragonball Z is never the strongest character. Every time he gains a certain degree of power, some other bloke appears with a certain degree MORE power. And wasn't Vegeta that little bit cooler when you first saw him? I feel this sort of stereotyping has a lot to do with actually wanting the viewer to be able to connect with the hero. I mean, if you wanted to imagine yourself as one of these heroes, would you rather be the already cool guy, or the Naruto-esqu weakling who is gonna whup some big-time ass at the end? That is probably the appeal of these under-powered protagonists, the slight feeling that they are more based in reality than the rest. Bleach itself has Kurosaki Ichigo that I certainly feel is the coolest among his group. But it never fails, Byakuya was waaay more impressive than the reckless Ichigo, and even Ishida the Quincy had more power when they first met.

Which brings me to the 2nd cliche:

ii) The hero's rapid ascent to 'god-like' - Note Ichigo of Bleach.
Stage 1: Schoolkid that seems to be able to see ghosts.
Stage 2: Temporary Shinigami.
Stage 3: Temporary Shinigami after Urahara's training, about twice as powerful.
Stage 4: After getting angry a few times, defeating Renji, loads stronger.
Stage 5: Bankai Boy!
Okay, I'm not sure if everything is there, but that's the gist of it. All this in the 60 episodes of development, which really, spanned about a month in the show's reality or so? Another reason why they always make the hero underpowered. Viewers get the thrill of watching the hero grow stronger every episode. Can we actually escape from this particular cliche? I believe it is possible. After all, there are SOME animes out there that make the hero a horrible weakling all the way (lol). But not many are brave or imaginative enough to concoct a series based on the main character being strong from the beginning. Some have tried, and most have failed. They should devise ways to perhaps place the 'strong hero' in situations which test more than his strength, like an inner struggle (although thats horribly cliched too).

The next bunch of cliches involves the fights in this sort of anime. Fights are a delicate thing. Sometimes these overused ideas still manage to meld together producing one hell of a battle. Sometimes, if wrongly done, it all falls apart for the animators, and the show itself.

iii) The Kamehameha! Syndrome - Generally, in la-la anime land, for superpowers and sword skills etc. to be effective, they MUST have a name. And the name MUST be shouted out when the skill is used. Most shonen animes which involve any sort of usage of sword/bo/fist skills will fall prey to this. In certain deeper, more serious (apparently) animes, which try to deviate from this disease, supporting characters or the antagonist him/herself will go something like "..Oh, no...that's the 'insert power name here'...". This, I guess, is a move to make the hero look less idiotic when attacking. Very easily named examples of this are Dragonball, Rurouni Kenshin, Naruto, Bleach, Trinity Blood, and every other anime of this sort. Okay, I heard the samurai of feudal Japan used to do this to gain honour during battle. Shouting out your secret technique and striking your foe down was deemed as a great honour because you defeated your enemy based on your skill, not by some underhanded trick (okay, I'm not sure if this is true, it's only based on web-sources). All this reinforces is that the Japanese were looney from way back =P. As tired as this is, we wouldn't want to watch animes where 2 people fight each other silently, right? So, all I ask is that animators do not repeat the whole sequence of 'name screaming and power boosting' every blessed time they want to perform an attack.

iv) Foes who tell each other everything - The sheer idiocy and foolishness of sequences where two enemies start blabbering on about every detail of their technique ie. how it works, where and when they mastered it, how strong it is, never ceases to amaze me. Of course, doing so usually results in said technique getting countered, and the speaker getting pummeled. Why do they do this? The animators justification of these scenes are most probably 90% economics and 10% entertainment value. It's just so much more profitable when a big battle lasts over 3 episodes. In the case of (yes, again) Dragonball, fights can drag on for more than 10 episodes. There is another explanation for this, though. The anime sometimes catches up with the manga, and this is found to be the simplest of ways to let the manga storyline evolve before the anime catches up again. Off the tip of my tongue, Naruto and Dragonball are victims of this. The 10% entertainment factor is probably directed at those otaku who WANT to know every detail of the aforementioned attack.

v) Stopping time - Most characters have ample time to perform lengthy transformations or super attacks. We ALL know this. Even people who hardly watch anime know this. I know I'm supposed to assume that most of these lengthy chanting or whatever is done quickly, but is shown over a longer period for viewer gratification. But when a 2 second jump into the air is transformed into a 5 minute sequence of flashbacks and magic chanting, that already fragile basis wears very thin. Watch Fate recently? Is it possible to i)concentrate, ii) say 'Trace On', iii) remember good ol' Archer, iv) stare in awe at Avalon v) have Saber get up and run towards you...all while Gilgamesh just stands there, obviously in awe at our wounded pair of Shirou and Saber. Is this glaring problem insurmountable? Hardly so. Either make these sequences much shorter; a good shout is plenty, or make it more believable. Believable meaning animators should set up scenes where an adversary is either far away, or recovering from a blow while the hero goes about the hocus pocus. Simple no? Sadly, that's not savvy business-thinking, is it?

The average attention span of an internet user is what, 5 seconds? So, if you made it this far, I appreciate your reading this. =) I'll wrap up this genre and look at cliches in the increasingly popular harem cum romance genre next time.

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Anime Cliches, Anime Stereotypes, Tenjou

PwneD Any n00bS Lately?

2006-06-24T00:07:00.000+08:00

Anyone play Counterstrike? If you don't know that game, then please get out of the house for some sunshine! =D Another little flash animation (sorry, I'm really into this right now), based on the Counterstrike and Halo games. Basically, it's Master Chief against your everyday 13 year-old online n00b. Nice treat to see the infamous de_dust2 rendered in flash animation. And the n00b cracks me up.

Check it out.

>>> Miscellaneous

Tags: Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Miscellaneous, Flash Animation, Counterstrike, Tenjou

PVC Figures Aug-Oct Preview: Fate Overload, Hime/Otome Fever

2006-06-23T23:42:00.000+08:00

These are scans gotten from the latest issue of Hobby Japan (credit: holiday of Play). If the pictures are anything to go by, looks like I'll really be skimping on basic necessities soon, lol. Most of these are upcoming releases in the August-October bracket.

Anyway, there's a whole slew of Fate/ Stay Night and Hollow Ataraxia figurines lining up. ANOTHER swimsuit Saber, and a real fugly Rin. Rider's looking hot though, complete with Bellepheron (read: her little Unicorn Hougo) surfboard and Sakura is definitely a must-get in my list. You can see the leeks and whatever else in that grocery bag! ^^ Arika of Mai Otome looks very nice, but at around 15000 Yen, it's either resin or polystone. Shana of Shakugan no Shana gets another rendition, as does Lacus Clyne (again...*pukes*). I really like the 2 girls with the bunny ears. Um, I'm not sure who they are though. There are some nice figures from Air Gear too. Okay, just some early thoughts there, take a look yourselves. Will post clearer pictures whenever they're available. Click images for a larger view.

>>> Toyzlog

Tags: PVC Figures, Figurines, Toys, Anime, Anime Toys, Japanese Toys, Hobby Japan, PVC New Releases, Tenjou