*squeeeeeeee*
I cannot begin to describe the level of excitement I felt when the figma for Samus Aran was teased this past summer. I cannot describe the excitement of the release date being announced. I can say that I absolutely cannot wait to have this figma!!! I just wish she released sooner than June. JUNE! Here I thought that by March, I’d be done buying figures for a while but noooooo.
I shouldn’t complain though. As long as Samus doesn’t get delayed, I’ll be happy. In June.
Filed under Well That Figures
I should take this time to point out that I know very little Japanese. So little that what I do know isn’t useful at all really unless I’m watching something and I pick stuff up from dialog. That’s it. I really want to learn and I take little stabs at it occasionally but there’s no expertise whatsoever here.
So if I’m wrong on a song title, feel free to correct me. I also don’t actually know what most of the songs are about. Even when I watch with english subtitles, I don’t pay attention to them at all. I just immerse myself in the song itself and whatever animation might be in the video I’m watching.
So this week, there’s another vocaloid: Gumi! Also known as Megpoid, I think. The really fascinating thing about Vocaloids is that there’s probably many more than you might think there is. Various companies besides Crypton Future Media develop their own Vocaloids, the most fascinating of which I ran across was one that was an opera singer. I don’t think Gumi is Crypton, that’s probably why you don’t see as much of her as Miku, Kaito, Meiko, Luka, and the Kagamine twins.
Gumi is pretty cool to me because she has green hair (green’s my favorite color) and sports goggles. Her default outfit is pretty weird though. Her voice stands out nicely from the Vocaloids I’m more used to listening to, and I’m looking forward to checking out more of her songs. This video seems to be about desserts? And maybe a guy? Plus, is it just me, or is there a dessert that looks suspiciously like spaghetti in a cupcake paper?
Bonus! Here’s a cover of Coward Mont Blanc done by Marina, who you might recognize as the singer behind Masami Iwasawa, the first Girls Dead Monster lead singer in Angel Beats.
She has such a lovely voice.
Hope you guys are enjoying your week so far! Hopefully these videos help!
Filed under Vocaloid Music Monday
Magic Knight Rayearth, Sailor Moon, and Fushigi Yugi were the first manga I’ve ever read. At $15.95 per volume, Magic Knight Rayearth was easily twice as expensive as the fantasy paperbacks I also -and still- like today. I’m so glad the price of manga has come down, but those books were also bigger than manga is now.
Recently, Dark Horse published an omnibus of the first Magic Knight Rayearth series – it has its own complete story, which I will not spoil, because the twist at the end is pretty unexpected, even if the rest of the story is pretty predictable. Reading it again was nostalgic, but the beginning was slow. Once I started getting absorbed into the story again, I remembered why I liked Fuu so much out of the three, Hikaru being the hot-blooded leader type, and Umi being uh….spazzy?
Fuu is quiet and calm. She wears glasses, has beautiful manners, and seems to rely on strategy more than physical fighting. Most of her magic centers around healing, but that doesn’t mean she can’t kick ass when it’s necessary. When the girls are lost in the Forest of Silence and happen upon a handsome stranger, she immediately strikes a bargain for him to safely escort them out of the forest. Fuu is also incredibly morbid. She has a cold practicality and somewhat blunt way of trying to be cheerful that is weirdly endearing to me. Here’s some of my favorite quotes from Magic Knight Rayearth:
“It seems safe to say…not a good guy.”
“To be honest, I don’t think our getting out of this alive will depend on whether we sit down or stand up.”
“It seems true that even in realms of fantasy, there is no such thing as a free lunch.”
“That is a trifle alarming.” (Reaction to being told that no one has ever returned from the Forest of Silence.)
“I hope we live to see you again.”
“We only asked for your protection on the way through the Forest of Silence. To ask for more would just be selfish. This is our fight.”
“This is indeed a happy reunion…but if we don’t do something quick, we’re going right back to the bottom of Umi’s Weirdo Fountain of Eterna.”
“It’s all right. After all, if we fell from way up here, we’d black out in seconds. Next thing we know, we’d be fitted for halos.”
Filed under manga
*Drumroll!*
I had this list written out quite a while ago, it’s just taken me this long to actually put it together and do mini write-ups for my choices.
Over the course of a year, even a conservative year, I buy a LOT of books, and a LOT of manga. The grand majority are from favorite authors and creators that I’ve been following for a while, but there’s always a few that catch my eye randomly…or that I find in the midst of a giant sale while my favorite bookstore closes its doors forever. (Sigh.)
This list represents the manga that I eagerly kept up with this year, or just plain liked above everything else I read. I also tried to choose manga that I didn’t choose last year, otherwise it’d be Chi’s Sweet Home all the way.
Number 5: Kingyo Used Books
I love the concept of this manga! It centers around a used book store (or is it just a used manga store?), and all the individual chapters deal with particular manga and their impact on the main character of that story. It’s really fun to see people nostalgic over books they used to love, wrapped up in memories of swapping with their friends, and turning to the books for comfort. It really speaks to me as a bibliophile.
Number 4: House of Five Leaves
This was a pretty random choice. I wasn’t sure about Natsume Ono’s art style, thinking it might be too simplified for my taste, but it grew on me fast. I also really like that the main character of this story is a samurai who is battling his shyness. It’s nice to see a greater variety of hero than the super hyper, super dumb heroes that tend to star in stories of this sort. I really need to catch up on this one. Also, it has an anime that was simulcast by Funimation, and then licensed by NIS, so I definitely want to look into that also.
Number 3: 7 Billion Needles
This was another manga that caught me totally by surprise. This year, I ventured into works by publishers other than Tokyopop and Viz, and it’s really unfortunate that I started so late, since quite a few publishers have closed their doors in the past couple of years. I kept hearing that Vertical has really good releases, though, and I adore Chi’s Sweet Home, so I took a step into some sci-fi fare, which isn’t the norm for me. So I was very pleasantly surprised to absolutely love this manga. It’s a story of a girl living with a parasite, battling other parasites, but it’s also about the parasite inside her forcing her to come out of her shell and make friends. Her initial interactions with other people are completely awkward and sympathetic to me, and I found myself chuckling at some of the situations. I’ve read all but the last volume, and I’m looking forward to finishing it up.
Number 2: A Bride’s Story
Kaoru Mori has some really wonderfully detailed art! I didn’t know this, having not had the pleasure of reading Emma when it was published in the States. I heard a lot of buzz for a Bride’s Tale, so I picked it up and really liked it. The main character is marrying into a family of nomads (I think? It’s been a bit since I’ve read it, and I’m going off memory), and she seems like a total sweetie. There’s a terrific two page spread wherein she rides a horse and kills a rabbit for dinner with bow and arrow. It’s very dynamic, easy to follow, and just beautiful. The only thing that really worried me in the first volume is that the titular bride is marrying a kid who seems to be half her age, and there’s no real conflict until the very end of this volume. The hardcover editions that Yen Press is releasing are pretty awesome, although they are pricier than normal manga.
Number 1: *Drumroll!* The Tyrant Falls in Love
Spoiler: this is a yaoi series.
This is a tale of unrequited love, and I think it’s actually a spin-off of a previous series. Morinaga (in the previous series Challenger – thank you Wikipedia!) had confessed his feelings to his sempai, Souichi, who was repulsed and pretended it had never happened. At the start of this series, Morinaga has been living with his feelings for a few years, but still hangs around the sempai who hates that he’s gay. After Souichi downs an aphrodisiac at Morinaga’s place, there’s not entirely consensual sex, but that’s as close to rape as it gets, which is fortunate. That kind of stuff definitely weirds me out.
I really enjoy this series because of the humor. Wikipedia really does put it best, summing it up as “a dysfunctional, mutually-abusive relationship which develops slowly into a romance over the course of the series.” After the first time, Morinaga is constantly trying to convince Souichi to have sex with him. Meanwhile Souichi very angrily repels these advances, although eventually he gives in more and more often, and doesn’t seem to know what his actions mean. It’s entertaining, and it’s somewhat sweet, and has definitely been my favorite constant read this past year.
Runners up for this list included Skip Beat!, which actually picked up again after too many slow volumes, Dorohedoro, which is just all around weird, plus Bride of the Water God and Seven Days, which I think graced my list last year….maybe. One of them did. I also flirted with the idea of putting Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon in there somewhere, but I really liked all these books more. Maybe next year.
Filed under manga
The quarterly area doll meet was this past weekend, and I was happy to have dolls of my own to show off, one of which I’d just received the day before the meet. Perfect timing! I was happy to possibly be able to buy her clothing right after receiving her instead of ordering over the internet and waiting for them to ship.
I arrived late at the meeting, and people had to move their dolls to make space for me…unfortunately this meant that I’d also completely missed introductions. It’s difficult for me to make acquaintances because I’m pretty well crippled by shyness and terribly afraid to even talk to other people, but I’m hoping that will change eventually. Getting out and being somewhat social is good.
So here’s my collection so far. The two little ones are Bobobie tinies: the green one is an Elfkin and the one with pink hair is a Sunny/Moony, with the horn sanded off. I didn’t do it, she was previously owned by someone else, and I actually bought her at the doll meet before this one. The gray-haired guy is a Dream of Doll Tender Too that I bought from a girl online, and the white-haired girl is an Angell Studio Vera.
If you look closely you can see that my Vera doesn’t have eyes. I dressed her in some spare clothes that came with the guy for this meet, and I hoped to find some eyes from someone. Luckily I did! She looks so much prettier and lively with eyes!
It’s fascinating to see the variety of dolls that exist, and what people choose to do with theirs. I took quite a few pictures, but don’t feel comfortable posting them here without permission, so if you want to look, here’s a link to my photobucket album: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v509/sailorsamus/Ball%20Jointed%20Dolls/January%202012%20Doll%20Meet/ or you can go look at my facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151144917015696.786321.718670695&type=1&l=856f7bccbd (and possibly friend me if you want!)
Meanwhile, here’s more pictures of my dolls.
My little Bobobie Elfkin, Ivy. I plan to eventually get her a red wig and eyes. I want to give her a dark forest fairy look. She’s currently wearing a dress for a Bratz doll, it matches her eyes so well. Her little barrette is a gift from a fellow doll owner. She got a little love from some of the other doll owners at the meet.
My Dream of Doll Tender Too, David. I had to tell my coworkers multiple times that he’s not a girl. He does have a really girly face, and those pink lips sure don’t help.
My Bobobie Sunny/Moony, Rae. I like to think of her as a tiny punk princess.
My Angell Studio Vera, Leigh with beautiful eyes I bought at the meet! I really love these eyes. I’ve been paying off Leigh for the past few months and I’m very happy to be able to mess around with her now. Unfortunately I don’t have much in the way of girly clothes for her, so I hope to make/buy some soon.
This is one of the few posts in my blog that wouldn’t be in danger from SOPA/PIPA. I generally stay away from politics, but I don’t like the way our justice system would be circumvented if these bills are passed. There are too many companies supporting them that have no care for the damage they could do in the name of “defending their property,” and who knows what would happen. Wikipedia has a handy link to help look up your senators and representatives, that gives you the contact information you need to make your voice heard. I e-mailed both senators and my representative, and hope that my voice added to all the others makes a difference.
I still plan to write my top manga of last year, as well as at least post up some pictures of Meiko. She’s pretty plain, but her poses are what really make her stand out, along with her drunk face. I’m happy that my Cheerful Rin and Len nendos have finally shipped, and I’m dreading the Love Is War DX version Miku that’s set to ship January 30th, just because of how much she cost. She’d better be worth it! I have some pretty great photoshoot ideas for her too.
Filed under BJDs
Between this week and last week, it’s just vocaloid videos. I’ll have to fix that.
My third installment is a visual kei style video with Kaito, Gakupo, and Len Kagamine. I really like the style of this video, although for quite a while, I thought Len was the female half of the Kagamine twins, since he is wearing a dress in this video. For those of you not really familiar with visual kei, though, a guy in a dress is nothing new. I think it’s actually a trope.
If I remember correctly, there may be more songs with Kaito, Len, and Gakupo as a visual kei group. I’ll definitely be checking those out in the future.
Filed under Vocaloid Music Monday
If you asked me who my favorite vocaloid was, I’d probably waver between Luka and Kaito. Of course, I started out liking Miku (and I still do!), but Luka’s voice hits me just right more often.
This video is beautiful. The scenes go right along with the lyrics, which although Luka is singing is from the guy’s perspective. This song first caught my attention watching the dvd of the first live vocaloid concert, and it’s stayed on my favorites playlist pretty constantly since then, which was about a year ago now. Behind Love of War, it is easily my favorite vocaloid song ever.
So far this resolution is successful! Two weeks in a row! I know I’ll probably run out of songs pretty quick, or at least I’ll run out of the easy songs, heh. My plan then is just to hit youtube at random and see what I find. It could be a great way to discover new music.
Also vocaloid related, I received my Meiko nendoroid today! So there will probably be a review or just a photoshoot with her sometime, as well as my list of top 5 manga. I figured out which titles are in the list, I just have to write it up.
Filed under Vocaloid Music Monday
Waaaay back, I decided to watch an episode of an anime with an absurdly long name that was popularly shortened to “UraBoku.” (The full title is Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru…long right?) I found it mostly boring. Thanks to reading the first volume of the manga, I will definitely revisit it now.
This manga follows a teenage boy named Yuki, who is intent on moving out of the orphanage he lives at. He has no memories beyond the time he was found on the doorstep, and has a fairly normal life. Enter the rest of the cast! Yuki finds out he’s part of a group of…I’ll say demon hunters for lack of a better term. He eventually also finds out that all these new people he’s met have passed at least one former life in the same role they play now. Yuki himself is unusual though, in his past life he was actually a girl!
Yuki’s past life was definitely at least a love interest for the other main character, Zess, which makes this series definitely shounen-ai, if not yaoi. In this first volume it’s not subtle, per se, but it’s awkwardly one-sided in an endearing way. It’ll be interesting to see how the relationship between Yuki and Zess progresses through the manga.
The plot moves along at a pretty good clip. It doesn’t seem rushed in any way, and there is a bit of monster-of-the-week about it, but once the main storyline gets rolling, the encounters stay pretty interesting. The cast is good too, there’s a pretty big variety of characters and varying reactions to being joined by Yuki. The nature of their living situation really strongly reminded me of Vampire Knight – along with hints of elaborate uniforms.
The art is clear, and not at all confusing. There’s a lot of cute deformed action too. I especially like the comic bits, and the expressions on character’s faces. I bought this manga at random, and I’m glad I did. I definitely plan on reading the rest of it. Also I now plan to revisit the anime – hopefully the humor is still there!
Filed under manga
I’ve read that a good blogger should never embed youtube videos into their blog, that it’s a very lazy thing to do. However, I feel that to share some vocaloid music properly, videos are a must. Youtube links it is. Hopefully they work for everyone, if they don’t work for you, let me know and I’ll look into other options. Welcome to a new feature: Vocaloid Music Monday! It’s pretty simple: I share a video for a vocaloid song that I particularly like.
Vocaloids are such a complex subject and there’s just so very many songs that it can be really intimidating to even try to get into. Vocaloidism is a good starting point for information, as well as the Vocaloid wiki. I always find that when I’m interested in a new fandom, the way to go is just jump right in! It’s all very confusing at first, but eventually it’ll make sense, and you’ll become confident in your own knowledge.
Love is War isn’t the first vocaloid or Miku Hatsune song I’d heard, but actually the second, although it’s from the same album as the first – Supercell by….Supercell. Apparently it was their debut album, and they used Miku for vocals. Love is War is a very dramatic song, and I really like the visual aesthetic of this video. I hope you guys enjoy it too!
Sometime later this week I should have my top five manga of 2011 posted! There were some surprises this year.
Filed under Vocaloid Music Monday
I don’t think I kept any of my resolutions from last year, which is why I usually don’t bother with them. I do believe one resolution was to read Bokurano, which I haven’t done (but still plan to do!), and revamp my blog design (meaning I do some of the coding myself, instead of just changing the theme).
So those are still in effect. Another resolution would be to blog more. In my year end report from WordPress, I learned that I added 28 new posts last year, which is an embarassingly low number. Also my most-read posts were from previous years, which is pretty interesting. It tells me that maybe those topics aren’t written about enough.
With my entry into ball-jointed doll fandom, you can expect more of those sorts of posts, for better or worse, heh! Also, there’ll be plenty more figure, manga, and anime reviews, plus whatever else I think of to write about. I’m thinking of doing some sort of weekly vocaloid feature sharing some of my favorite videos, and why I like them. I have plenty of ideas. I never really set out for this to be a very focused blog, which may or may not be a good thing. I have some ideas. We’ll see if they pan out. I also want to do more figure comics and/or just captioned pictures. That’ll be a random thing, I don’t really plan on trying to keep to a story this time.
Happy new year to everybody reading this blog! Let’s make it a great one. 
Filed under General Updates
