Anime Evolution 2010 Loots

Despite my complains of the dealers room and the convention itself, I actually got some stuff from Anime Evolution anyway. I withdrew some money on the Friday, but after my first visit to the dealers room, I thought I could just put all the money back later after the weekend. Turns out I've spent quite a chunk it already by the end of Sunday.

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.

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.

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 ^_^

AE 2009 Loots

After a convention there must be merchandise abound, right? This is pretty much everything. I spent quite a bit less than a month ago at AnimeBoston, so I practiced self-restraint. I also got a few things that I've wanted too out of it instead of impulsive purchases ^^;

But first... there's a pile of loot that I didn't take a picture of. It's a pile of SAM or Suddenly Acquired Manga. On the Thursday when we were lining up to pick up our badges, some of the staff were running trivia for people in the line. A lot of manga were given away that day. When the question came up, "Which 3 brothers who are voice actors are appearing at Anime Evolution 2009?" I knew the answer right away. There was only one other person besides me who raised his/her hand, but didn't know the answer. I knew it was the Dobson brothers, but I wasn't really enthusiastic about answering trivia really... It's just because I knew the answer. I did get it right but the person who was about to give me the manga asked for my ID first since it's for mature readers ^^; So what did I get?

The complete Basilisk series, volumes one through five. I didn't bring a camera, but as you've heard from my Anime Evolution post, Chun from DannyChoo.com was actually there and we were waiting in line together. She took these two pictures for me ^^

She commented on how lucky I am on giveaways, lol. These manga were big so I couldn't handle them properly ^^; And yes, I do look like Shirou from Fate/stay night... and that's the Excalibur shirt I'm wearing.

I didn't take an individual picture of the poster, so I'll describe it quickly. I won the poster of Cybersix from the Charity Auction on Saturday. I didn't get a chance to pick up the free copy they were giving out from the Cybersix 10th Anniversary panel, but at least this one is signed by the main character's voice, Cathy Weseluck, Andrew Francis and Brian Drummond. A bit pricey but it was for charity.

So here are some of the closeups of my purchases. I didn't really open anything yet, so box pictures will have to do for now.

Kotobukiya 1/7 Gothic Lolita Ayanami Rei (Crimson Version). I wasn't planning on buying any figures during this convention at all, but on the last day one booth had 50% off on whatever they have on some of their shelves... Well how can I resist? So I finally got this version of Rei for $35, half price from $70.

The other figure I got was this Ryomou Shimei figure in the nurse outfit. I've kinda wanted this for a while, but wasn't sure about the quality until I checked the back of the box... "Good Smile Company". GETTO! She's originally $50, so I got her for $25. Funny how the figures I got for 50% off have blue hair, eh? ^^;

Ok this Hatsune Miku figma wasn't really from the convention but it's somehow related. I got it from my comic shop. It was supposed to be saved for me but that was in April. They put it on their shelves since I haven't picked my comics in a while. At first I changed my mind about this figma, but I think I may have a potential for her. So when I saw her still on the shelf I picked it up since she is rare. I did pick this up before I picked up my convention badge, so it works out :P

One of the ones that I've wanted... the Revoltech Danboard. Unfortunately this is the mini version. Fortunately it's the Amazon version! It still lights up. I've given up on getting this until I saw Anthony Poon's review of it. Good thing I saw one at the convention. I picked up several things from the booth that was selling this too. They've come all the way from Halifax, Nova Scotia! They're online only usually so it was nice of BigPfeiffer.com to drop by at Anime Evolution ^_^

Also from the same booth are these Macross Frontier trading figures. At last I've finally got a Ranka figure that's doing the *kira* pose, even if it is small... There were two versions of this Ranka, but only the colour of the dress is different. Whereas the Sheryl Nome have two different heads and outfit... which is why I have two of Sheryl here ^^;

A couple of keychain/cell phone strap thingy? Saber Lily and shimpanchira Miku! Even if I don't attach these to anything I can still use them for figma pillows/cushion ^_^

This is the Ranka towel you saw from the group picture up there. It's not a big towel, but a good size for something like a poster. Not sure what all these other text are for ^^;

No-pan Ranka??

The vendor had all these towels shown above, but I couldn't resist the Ranka one!

Another good deal was this copy of Replicant, Winter 2009 issue. Saber Lily shows prominently ^^ I checked the original price tag which was $32, but I got it for $10!

Saber Lily, Distant Avalon poster inside... I might post this on my wall.

This issue of Replicant also have a calendar included. Nice bonus! This Asuka figure pictured is still my favourite Asuka figure... except it's a garage kit. I guess I'll just have to enjoy it in picture form. Kawaii, ne?

The calendar goes up to March 2010 with Saber as the last month. I have this thing about anime girls with toast or some kind of pastry in their mouth...

The two months that I missed since I bought this in June... I would love to have Komugi visible for a month or two ^_^

And this is the current two pages that the calendar is on... And I placed this calendar at my workplace......

Yay! Nyan-Type volume 1! Ever since Optic reviewed this magazine I just had to get it. I'm so glad I found it. It was listed for $17, but I got it for $5. Bonus!

This is the reason why I wanted this magazine... Will be using this as my door poster.

A cute poster of Kiss X Sis. Very naughty anime... anyone saw the second OVA yet?

I've been hearing about Sexy Voice and Robo for a while now... who was it that pointed it to me? Belgarion from DC.com, I think. I bought this for $10 and saw that the original retail price was $27.50. Got pretty good deals here.

And lastly I ventured through the Artist Alley. I didn't get too much, but I found a few nice items. When I first saw these Gurren Lagann's Yoko and Nia cutouts they looked familiar. I kept walking and thought where did I see this kind of design. Then I realize it was from that smooooch･∀･ × VOCALOID video! So I went back and picked them up. The Ayanami Rei card is something I could not resist... And I love these two buttons. I finally have something with Meiko on it! Sheryl Nome in her concert outfit looks great too!



I really didn't want to spend too much at this convention, but I think the damage was somewhere in the $200 range. Good thing there weren't too many things I wanted... and there were many bootlegs as well; really prevented me from buying too much. Phew so now I'm free from another spree event... Time to pay the bills T-T

Yuri Mania 13: Iono-sama Fanatics

Gokigenyou! Eeep, lucky #13, eh? Well you can never be unlucky when you're dealing with yuri!

Now I'm sure some of you have read or heard about Love Hina, Tenchi Muyo, Girls Bravo, and Shuffle. They have been called harem shows because there's only one male character and gaggles of female characters of all types of moe! Now let's replace that male character with a female one and you get one of funny yuri romance story! This is Iono-sama Fanatics!

Iono-sama Fanatics is created by Miyabi Fujieda and runs for only 14 chapters; a very short and sweet story. It is sometimes called Iono the Fanatics because the author wrote it in English that way. Instead of the lovable loser male character as the main character, whom the women "throw" themselves onto, we have a lovable queen who's got THOUSANDS of girls surrounding her in her own (fictional) kingdom in Europe. Unfortunately she's left most of them behind so she can look for a black haired beauty in Japan... Plus it really cuts down the cost of ink drawing all these girls in the manga.

So the queen, Iono Mito Arshrain (my own romanization translation on the last name), has arrived in Japan for diplomatic relations visit but also in search of sobame (Japanese word for lady-in-waiting and/or concubine). During her search she finds Eto Hachibe, a clumsy, careless girl with glasses. Eto was dumped by a girl back in high school which developed a complex to her clumsiness. Yes, they make it sound like this is a common occurrence and yes, the queen just happened to coincidentally find the one girl who actually likes girls. Convenient plot device aside, it's obvious who Iono has picked for her new sobame. Eto resists at first but eventually accepts Iono's offer and even craves for the queen's attention.

Aside from the queen and the new sobame, Iono also brought her entourage. Aida Brummel is Iono's beautician and sometimes accomplice. Even though she is one of Iono's sobame, she isn't very attached to the queen, in fact she even helps her find locations to find new sobames and where to treat them. The other side of the spectrum is the jealous Kass Lusence. She is pretty much like Iono's personal secretary. She is strict and always gets mad when Iono goes after more girls to become her sobame. I think she fills in the tsundere position well, sorta...
Iono-sama is an important leader of a kingdom, so we can't have a queen running around without bodyguards, right? Iono's Special Police force are so good they only consist of two members, and to top it off, they're mother and daughter! Freshé Vincent is the mother who's always clad in black and wears a shade. Freshé is very capable, especially with a gun. Her daughter, Argent Ephemeral (don't ask me why she has a different last name) or Aru for short, is always clad in some kind of gothic lolita dress. She is also a lolita... Her black decorated hair buns makes her look a panda. Armed with a katana sword, she is one force to be reckoned with if you mess with Iono. She also likes to call Iono, "the horny queen". ^^;

With so many girls in a harem-like situation, you'd think there are a lot of fan service, right? Well... unfortunately a lot of the hanky-panky is off-panel. But you do get the occasional Iono trying to get it on with the girls around her (mostly Eto). It's not explicit, but very suggestive. I got a reaction out of reading some of the ecchi parts >.>

The girl pairings aren't limited to the Queen and her harem either. Eventually you'll see that Iono also allow and approve her girls to have their own girlfriends. Ah, what a country...

The art is very beautiful and cute at the same time. The art jumps back and forth from normal-sized, beautiful girls to chibi-sized, cute forms. It's a very good balance between dramatic, romantic and comedic chibi art. The first thing I noticed when I saw the cover is that Iono looks like Mahoro from Mahoromatic. I'm pretty sure Mahoro would not be happy to be associated with this ecchi queen though ^^;Another thing about this manga, it was licensed by Infinity Studios, which is how I found out about this title when I picked up the hard copy in my hand. I loved it very much... unfortunately they've never released the second volume. I've emailed them about it and unfortunately there weren't enough interest for them to release the second volume. I think Infinity Studios is defunct as well since their front page has been hacked and have no release dates for 2009.

So when I found out it was on OneManga.com, I jumped the chance to finally finish the story. The difference between the translations was a bit off that I was off-balanced when I read it again. But yes, you can read it there. I recommend to read chapter 1 first and leave chapter 0 til you finish the last chapter. The pictures are also from there... I would have scanned my copy, but I can't seem to find it. Most likely I've separated it where I can find it in the future to make this post, but that didn't work -_-

Doesn't the scene above make you want to read more? Hekekek!

To this day Iono-sama Fanatics is still one of my favourite yuri manga and it's a quick read; so safe to say I highly recommend this. You can't go wrong with yuri harem!