Loot from Boxing Day & Before Christmas

Once again it's another outing for Boxing Day shopping! Hoping to get some good deals and perhaps even win $500 gift card from Best Buy, an electronic & entertainment store. This has been the second time I'm going there really early. Once again I didn't sleep the night before. So I woke up at 10 AM on Christmas morning and did not sleep until the 26th... or should I say 27th at 12:30 AM.

Anime Stores Around Vancouver II

Been in Vancouver for a while? Can't find your anime & anime goods fix? Let me help you by showing you the anime stores around Vancouver and its surrounding areas. This is a continuation of part I. I've only found fewer than before, so I also moved one of the entries to this post to reduce the loading time of the first one. After this post I think I've covered all the stores that sell a majority of anime-related products in-store around Vancouver.

Yuri Mania 22: A Very Lily Christmas

Gokigenyou minna-san! Meri Kurisumasu! By the time this is posted, it should be Christmas or Christmas Eve. I don't usually plan on doing Christmas posts because I'm sure there will be lots out there, but these ideas for yuri 4koma cannot escape my mind! And wow... I haven't done a Yuri Mania since September 0.o

Anime Stores Around Vancouver I

Dropping by Vancouver for a visit? Looking for anime related stores? Then let me help you. This is an ongoing project to inform the public (specifically the anime fans or people looking to get gifts for anime fans since it's almost Christmas now) about the anime stores around Vancouver. Now to be clear about this, the stores I show don't always sell anime, but anime-related goods and merchandise. And not all the stores are in Vancouver, but in surrounding cities and areas around Vancouver as well. This is but a fraction of what's out there, so I'll continue this project in another post in 2010. EDIT: Scratch 2010... The next one should be posted within the week. The second part is now posted.

Komugi Nakahara

One of my favourite characters from early 2000's is Komugi Nakahara. She is originally a side character from Soul Taker, but either the fans or the staff members liked her so much that they made a spinoff OVAs that focused on her. Thus the Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magicarte was born!

So it definitely gives me a reason to get this figure of Komugi. Her line of figures aren't exactly all over the place, so this is a nice get even though I didn't find out about her until she was released already.

On the Dinner Table

Saber showing off the chopsticks from Sushi Oyama

Two of my closest friends from college get together once in a while to have dinner and catch up. This time we decided to have it at a sushi restaurant on Friday night. The food is the typical sushi fare that you see in other Japanese sushi restaurants, but the location is quite unique.

Knee Pits

The colloquial term for the back of the knee, or if you'd like to be technical about it, popliteal fossa. It's the area where your knee bends. Since it's similar to where the arm bends at the shoulder, the arm pit, this area is also called the "knee pit".

The above photo of Kanu in cosplay is by Ren of Zark&Ren on Cosplay.com. Look through more of their cosplay at their site!

Please be wary that there may be some picture that are risque and NSFW...

I'm with Judgment!

Or in Japanese: "Judgment desu no," as announced by Shirai Kuroko while flashing her armband. Another anime-related merchandise that I'm tempted to get is this armband from To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (or A Certain Scientific Railgun in English). It looks much more stylish than the Haruhi Suzumiya Dancho/Brigade Leader armband, in my opinion. Not to mention it also has a ring to put the safety pin through. Of course this armband is worn on the left arm, so if you feel like it, you can have both armbands on you XD

Epilogue

The last of the Dollfie Dream Theatre X Melancholy of Saber Lily collaboration... It's been a long running crossover actually. Wolfheinrich and I intended to just do two parts, but somehow I found more stories along the way than just 2 parts. Oh and above is my tribute to Ultraman. It is relevant to what's happening in the last 2 comics.

MEIKO

Everybody loves MEIKO onee-chan ^_^ So do I! MEIKO is one of the earliest VOCALOID that was made by Crypton. The same company who created the ever popular Hatsune Miku VOCALOID that everyone's listening to. Ok, not everyone but a LOT of people.

Otaku Consumerism & Dubs

So a few days ago I found out there's a watch with an Evangelion license, called the Daykeeper (Relax Plus Plugsuits Edition). Not only is it Evangelion, but it's also made to look like the watch they used in the movies (or an existing watch that they use for the movies). There are three colours with the same design, but they are labeled according to the characters. Red is Asuka's, blue is Shinji's and white is Rei's...

Pictures of the watch are from Hobby Search and Rakuten.

Opposites Attract

The world seemed to have turned sideways and completely backwards than what it used to be... Or perhaps it's not as backwards as one might think, maybe even logical.

Omake

Oh lookit that... It's my 100th post! I'm crying tears of joy as expressed by Mikuru's face here... Ok not really. I didn't really plan too much for my 100th post honestly. I did do quite a bit of work to do the next batch of Saber Lily 4koma though. These ones don't really follow any storylines, so I thought calling them omake is appropriate.

Nekomimi Kanu Unchou ~Pink Ver.

Nyaa! Nekomimi mode desu! It's Ikki Tousen's fiercest warrior, Kanu Unchou, with a cat ears, cat paws and tail slapped on her along with a pink uniform! This was one of the figures I've been hunting for. I was looking for the blue uniform one, but when Toylet had their recent sale, I jumped the chance to own this cutie kitty even if she is pink. =^.^=

Griffon's figures is a hit and miss, but they do make a lot of Ikki Tousen figures and some of them are quite nice just for the gimmicks. At 50% off I didn't find any reason not to get this one

GN Archer

I've been meaning to work on GN Archer for a while, but it kept being pushed back. This was the decoy to prevent people from figuring out that I was doing a Mirai Gundam last month. I intended to make this one straight build from way back...

Unlimited Saber Works

The arrival of Saber Lily Nendoroid was a pretty good timing. I was about to collect the poseable figures of Saber together. She came in with EMS shipping because I forgot to change my shipping method at HLJ from the last order ^^; But here she is posing with her older sisters. Saber Lily Figma had to borrow Excalibur from her blue cloth counterpart.

Otaku Around the House

It's getting cold around here in Vancouver, so around the house is cold as well because of the granite floors here. So my feet is the first to react to the temperature... My solution? Totoro slippers!

Prelude to the Final Battle

The titular character, Saber Lily, appears! Haruhi has been out of control taking over the pages of The Melancholy of Saber Lily and rampaging (or is it ravaging?) the visiting Dollfies from Wolfheinrich's World. Time for damage control!

Selphie in Distant Worlds: Vancouver

On Thursday, October 8th, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra played Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy at the Orpheum in Downtown. It's an otaku event, so I MUST be there! It's actually thanks to Radiant Dreamer that I knew about this early on and got tickets for two cheap seats closest to the front. I went with my brother who took some of the pictures here. I also went with Selphie Tilmitt ^_^

I believe this is the first time I went for an outing carrying a figure in my pocket in order to take photos... I blame Danny Choo for this!

The Rescuer

Saber Dollfie finally on her way to rescue her Escalayer onee-sama! This is another Dollfie Dream Theater X Melancholy of Saber Lily, my collaboration with fellow blogger Wolfheinrich. I also had approval from the proud papa to let me get Saber to call Escalayer, "onee-sama". Something a yuri fan like me appreciate very much ^.^

How to Spend 20,000 Yen Part 2

My Saber Lily arrives at last! She is the final piece to finishing this 2 part post and of course the figure I've been waiting for a while now. It was delayed and delayed again several times. This is part 2 of how I spent my winnings from Danny Choo's 'Your Room' Giveaway. In Part 1, I got myself a Yoko figure and a Saber portrait book, along with my brother's birthday gift :)

I thought they dented the Saber Lily box when they shipped it to me... but turns out it actually looks like that.

Saber Lily was supposed to arrive in August; 2 months ago. I was hoping that Amazon Japan would have two of the figures I ordered on the same time and would be shipped in combination through Tenso. Unfortunately Amazon could not wait, nor could Tenso... so they shipped two separate figures with EMS, which costs half of what the figure is supposed to be. Good service, but I think they need to give some of us a break with shipping ^^;

The other figure I ordered is Mizore Shirayuki. My aesthetically favourite character from Rosario + Vampire. She came way back in August, but I thought I'd wait til Saber Lily arrived to make a combined photoshoot.

So up first is Mizore from Shueisha. I kept thinking back and forth whether to get her or not as a part of my winnings... I'm actually liking her a lot. Thigh highs, cute face, shimapan and some nice cast-off features!

First we start with the clothed option... I like the skirt too. Maybe because I went to a school with uniforms.

The obligatory panchira. That belt thingy that's attached to her left thigh is kinda interesting. I don't complain about it. It looks great on her!

"Ooops! Where did my skirt go?"

"Okay I found my skirt... but what did I do to my shirt??"

Lovely shitapai... she may not be as big as Yoko, but she still looks nice! I guess it's hard to find a bra her size in the monster world?

Fully cast off! It's a weird combination of colours... but I'm not a colour co-ordinated person, so I'm not complaining.

Now here's where I'm noticing the quality... I thought I'd have some fun with the newly discovered macro option on the camera, but then I notice the shimapan. Not really painted well unfortunately. Still if I wasn't using the macro, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

And now on to the Main Event!!

We begin with the base... FREAKING AWESOME! It's a flat base, but the amount of decoration on the base exceeded my expectations! The damage on the tiled floor, possibly from Excalibur, looks well done! Very nice Fate/Unlimited Codes logo as well. The base reminds me of this one stage in the game.

The accessories and extra parts: Caliburn, Avalon, Excalibur and a variant hand to hold Avalon in the air. I'm surprised how they did it. It'd looked good on some angles, but not all...

Closer look at the hand that rocks the crad... err... the hand that holds Avalon. It reminds me of the Franco Il Nero figure I have.

On to the figure! I figured a lot of people have done this photoshoot... so I didn't take too many shots of her.

Instead I try to focus on interesting angles, such as this one... the hand that holds the swords... or something else...

Doesn't this shot make it look like it's a lily flower in full bloom?

Lovely design on the lace of her stocking! Too bad the pantsu doesn't look as good as the Saber Maid...

Trying to take a peek under the armor... tough angle to do.

And finally........

Fate/Triple Play

"Are you my manager?" A new series starting where masters and their servants play baseball to determine who will win the Holy Grail... and a pennant. Play ball!

See more of Saber Lily from Kodomut, RadiantDreamer, Blue Blue Wave and Meronpan ^^ UPDATE: New review by Tommy at the Inferno Project

How NOT to Spend $15 on a Strange Night

I don't usually blog about my life, but weird and strange events have to be remembered somehow and since I'm treating my blog as an online journal, I'll write the strange thing that happened to me recently.

On Tuesday, October 6th, I was killing some time before I went home from work. I was looking for an orange Tamiya paint at this mall... but to no avail. So I stayed in that mall until they closed. I ventured into Blockbuster to see if there's any game I want to play. A Saw game?? Yeah, anyway...

As I was about to drive out of the parking lot, this girl, probably in her mid-20's, stopped my car and approached to talk to me. Ideally one should not stop or open their window to strangers... but I'm a gullible moron, so I did many foolish things here. She asked for a ride a few blocks away from this Blockbuster. I was kinda hesitating and gave her a lot of excuses, but then I caved in... I thought I'd do some Samaritan work. At first she asked a ride to the closest public transportation station but changed to a specific location in Vancouver. She said and changed so many stories... like how she just got robbed, came from Williams Lake and don't know the Vancouver area, needing a place to stay for the night, etc. Not sure what to think of them until the whole event ended.

I was nauseated the whole time she was inside because she just finished smoking. I get real dizzy from cigarette smoke. I tend to hold my breath when I walk past a smoker... I can't really hold my breath the whole time in the car, can I? And as we kept talking in the car she starts asking for money... Yeah... Said something about how she's not a cop and maybe she can exchange for a "date". I just brushed it off and quickly changed topic like where exactly she's going.

Nearing our location she told me to turn somewhere and just stop at an alley... Now she's really pushing for the money, $15 to be exact. "Please please please," she kept repeating. Then she said she'll give me a [BJ/fellatio] for that money......................................

Well, I'm glad she's not some kind of nutjob who kills me in his car and then steal the car or something. But still some kind of "job", if you know what I mean.

I instantly said no. I didn't even think about it. Perhaps the first time she mentioned something about the "date" already made the hamster wheel churn to give me enough time to think. I tried to shut her up with $5 and hoping she'd get out of the car with that. She was still pushing for more, but gave up eventually.

So I'm not quite sure what to think of this... Of course as a guy, I would be thinking about how I could've got something there, but from my moral stand point of view, it wouldn't be right. Plus there are a lot of weird diseases out there. Maybe I'm feeling guilty too for not giving her that much, but I don't know how truthful she was. I was doubting her truthiness because of the amount of sob stories she was trying to push on me.

A very strange experience... Let's hope I learn a lesson from this...

Top image is reversed from its original because my car's passenger seat is on the right and the girl does not look like the 2D girl at all.

New (Actual) Desk

Remember that "desk" I posted a few months ago? Well no more of that! I've acquired an actual desk from my workplace that they planned on throwing away anyway. So this cost me nothing, zip, zilch, nada! FREEBIE! Don't you just love that word? XD

The First BlogDay

Last Friday, September 25th, was officially one year since I started to blog, so Happy BlogDay to me! (^_^) The picture above is done by Minami, artist of Chibi Miku-san.

I wanted to make it official last Friday that it has been one year since I started to blog, but I didn't want to make it a simple photo and text post. So I made Mirai Gundam as my anniversary project. But I think it would be criminal if Mirai Gundam had to share a post with an anniversary post. So now I have to do this post separately after all, lol.

Ideas ideas... Just before I finished Mirai Gundam, I picked up Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei Vol. 3 from my comic shop, and I think I will base this post on that volume because I love it so much! Looks like this will be text heavy ^^;

But first... why did I start this blogging thing? A lot of people I knew from Anime Figurine Network on Facebook either have a blog or starting out a blog; people like RadiantDreamer, gndynames and Quentin. I contemplated whether I should start one... do I follow the crowd? Do I even know what I want to put on there? From the very beginning up til now, I never had a theme on my blog. There were a lot of variety of topics being covered on my blog. I wanted to make it my online otaku journal. Of course it also stemmed from my constant visit to DannyChoo.com where I've created a lot of works that would've been blog-worthy. So I have to credit Danny for creating a purpose for me as well.

I will also mention a few people here, but a lot of them are already on the side of my blog on the blog list, there are just too many to list. If I don't mention you it doesn't mean I think less of you at all; just blame Zetsubou-sensei for not letting me write you in XD But I thank all of you who have supported me throughout the year and hopefully with many more to come!

Chapter 21: It's Way to Gross in This Sad Town
Itoshiki Rin, Nozomu's sister, comes to visit Zetsubou-sensei and the students for a Gross-Out test.

Oh, I've certainly had my share of gross posts. I don't quite know what would gross me out, but I know slugs, wet pantsu, yaoi and tentacles would gross out a few people... And maybe even that figure with a spiked genitalia having a yuri moment.

Speaking of yuri, I gotta give a shout out to Acesan, who does really great gross yuri 4koma comics, perhaps he is the one who actually inspired me to start my own 4koma? And of course to my other yuri fan comrades at Listless Ink and Blue Blue Wave. Also a big thank you to Wolfheinrich for putting up with me and my collaboration shenanigans. His support of the 4koma really pushed me to create more and more.

Chapter 22: I've Read Books Full of Shame
Zetsubou-sensei encounters a new student who have read many many books and now able to tell stories that touch people's heart... He may even be able to read their hearts!

It's funny that I only wanted to tell a tale of a battle between Saber Lily and Haruhi into 2 parts of the 4koma comic but now it ballooned up to over 20 parts, its own site (so people can link back to the older ones easily) and even got my infamous Lily Panel stolen by Yunamon! And thanks to Blowfish's idea, I even got beaten up by Saber Lily...

I, of course, had my own share of book readings such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and... and... Ok not that many books, but I do read lots of manga... Unfortunately I am behind on a lot of blog readings, but there were a lot of good reads, especially Snark's Taikutsu Remedy. Oh the joys of reading Fruits Basket review from another perspective. XD And I'd love to read more of Kodomut's stories right now but so far behind! Do chek his site for great stories or even just for the photos!

Chapter 23: A Cultured Man was Waiting for the Rain to Stop Under the Rashomon Gate
What a freaking long title... It's time for the usual cultural festival in high school, but Zetsubou-sensei denies his students because they are not cultured enough. Chiri Kitsu, however, argues that they have the right to maintain a minimum standards of cultured living. Keyword here is "minimum".

Obviously my blog is all about anime and lots of things that are Japanese related, posts about my own town is rare however. There is the occasional Vancouver post though... but I really do live with minimum standards of cultured living here, at least about Vancouver XD

Chapter 24: The Namayatsuhashi Must be Burned
Zetsubou-sensei and his students travel to Kyoto to preview their class trip so that they know what to expect when they go to the real trip. But of course they go into other topics related to "previews". Such as: "Some guy playing with [anime] figures. Of course. It's a preview of a woman. Without a preview, if he suddenly saw a real woman's breasts he might have a heart attack! Anime -> Figures -> Large Figures -> Love Doll -> Real Woman's Body"

I have a lot of previews of a woman's body... I did a lot of figure shots which focused on figures with panchira and thigh high stockings, just so I could make a new angle on figure photoshoots. Get it? "Angle," ahaha, I kill me. To this day, Saber Maid is still my favourite figure which had the best combination of panchira AND thigh highs!

I also showed previews of my Gundam Projects. When I first begin to blog, I created my Saber Gundam, but I was very paranoid at the time, "what if someone else is doing this Gundam too at this very moment in time and that someone is going to beat me to it?" That was my thoughts, which made my resolve to finish Saber Gundam very quickly in 3 days time. Though since it was the first few posts I did on my blog I don't think anyone even know what I was up to anyway, lol. I also had similar thoughts when I was building Mirai Gundam, "what if someone beats me to it?" I was egotistical about it XD

Chapter 25: I am Amakudari. I Still Don't Have Any Work To Do
Amakudari means "descent from heaven", but in the manga it means senior bureaucrats who gets cushy jobs with high salary paid by the taxpayers... Basically the whole chapter is about people who is pretty much like a big fish in small pond.

Hmm I wonder if I actually do this sort of thing on my blog. I hope I don't do this sort of thing to my peers... Although I am already like this since a lot of people who likes anime are quite young... I'm not a youngster anymore, but I sure do act like it XD I'm very surprised at a lot of my friends I've made through DannyChoo.com. Argyle just turned 17, while Yamada is still 19 and Coco just graduated from high school last June! I feel so old ^^;

Chapter 26: As Gregor Samsa Awoke One Morning He Found Himself Carrying a Mikoshi
A mikoshi is one of those portable shrines that people carry around. The chapter involves putting things on pedestals because people think they are something that they want to publicize.

I tend to put Danny Choo on that mikoshi often. A lot of people do, even when Danny doesn't really want the publicity. I am glad to stumble onto his site because I'm having so much fun. It was very nice to talk to him as well. In turn he's also put some of my work on his mikoshi like the 2009 calendar and my loot from AnimeBoston, along with one of Rin's Mega Otaku Loot!

I've also put some fanart done by my friend, Yakuri, on the mikoshi as well. Many of her artwork are just very cute and she even personalized a couple of them for me by putting two of my favourite characters together. One of them resides as a part of my blog header now ^_^

Chapter 27: Evening Primroses on Mt. Fuji are a Mistake
Zetsubou-sensei points out all the mistakes in his class... but Super Positive Girl, Kafuka Fuura says, "At the point in time when a mistake is brought to light... It becomes correct." Meaning it's not longer a mistake because people have admitted to their mistakes.

I know I've made a lot of mistakes... a lot of them were things in high school that would have made my high school life so much better. I've always hated making mistakes which is why I always look at consequences... but mistakes and accidents happen. That accident happened this Wednesday. I made a major mistake and I brought it to light to my brother and my parents. I was prepared for them to be angry at me... but instead they showed compassion. I am glad to have my family who've supported me; someone who is born with a lot of mistakes.

Chapter 28: I was Thinking of Proving it this New Year
Zetsubou-sensei's nephew comes to visit... but he doesn't believe he is his real nephew. So he asks him for proof. Which leads to him asking proof if his students are who they really say they are.

Art on the shirt drawn by Chun, which you still can get from Zazzle.com ^^ You can also get my John Smith shirt too if you like, lol.

Am I really who I say I am? I act differently around people a lot. I have very different personalities at work depending on who I talk to. I seem to have put on the same air when I talk to friends though.

I have many that would identify me by my Rei collection, or the room that won Danny's giveaway, or the Saber Lily vs Haruhi 4koma... So many things that I've done in just one year to show proof of who I am. I strive for uniqueness, to be different, but the face of otakudom is always changing... so my proof of identity changes every time. Do I sound narcissistic yet? XD But hey, at least I prove myself, right? :P

Of course there's that other thing that proves who I am... Ecchi Man, a nickname given by the FatBastard. I have no idea how I got that nickname at all...

No... no idea at all.

Chapter 29: Because of My Hereditary Lack of Energy, I Have Been Hibernating Since Childhood
Hibernating... simple enough, right? Sleeping through winter... but also taking a break from something for a long time then continuing it later on.



Sleep is for the weak! I'll sleep when I die... why when it was winter I stayed up to take snow pictures with one of my figures in it! Ok fine... maybe Saber Lily and Haruhi did hibernate for a while... but they've returned with a major crossover! Saber Lily's still hibernating from the looks of it though ^^;;; Either way the 4koma has returned in a major way... seems like my last few posts were the 4komas!

Chapter 30: The Musashino of Today is Shrouded in Darkness
The class is having a stew... but a dark stew! Stew made of the darkness of the heart and when someone picks an ingredient from the pot, it'll be something dark from their past!

My darkness faded away when I become involved with the DannyChoo.com community. Blogging have really brought out my fun side. A lot of my darkness went away when I stopped playing World of Warcraft. There was just too many drama in that game. I don't want to dig to that past again. I wouldn't mind playing it again, but I don't want to involve myself with drama anymore.

So now I look towards the future instead. I hope to create more unique posts in the future. Blogging have also increased my creativity and imagination. It's thanks to all the blogs and members of DC.com who I've bounced ideas. I hope to come back to reading blogs and be active in the community again... but since I do not have a lot of commitment like what WoW used to have, I've begun to spend time with friends and be a little bit more social. I won't stay away from this world of blogging though, but I've learned that I have to live a life as well.

Either way, here's hoping for another year of these fun things that we're doing here ^_^