Summer Wonfes 2014-Good Smile Company Items

It's that time of the year again, Wonfes time. For us who aren't in Japan mainly we get to see lots of posts of figures and toys that will be coming out soon. Or items that are prototyped and will never come out ever...

I took a peek at Good Smile Company and their items of things that are coming out and there was only two that I am really interested in.

Nendoroid More Face Plates

These aren't Wonfes exclusive, but Good Smile will be selling them per case which means that the likelyhood of them all being in the same case is a pretty sure bet. I don't like four of the faces which means I do like five, and it's going to be a good for swapping and taking fun pictures. Though I should get into the habit of posing and taking pics of my nendoroids since I have quite a few.

This one is a limited Wonfes item though, and it's two of them together. Casual Sayaka and Kyouko. Obviously the 6,000 yen price tag reflex that you're getting more than the standard nendoroid, but if you have bought the other girls in their school uniforms, well this is the time to complete it.

Both items will be offered at Good Smile Company's offical site on their webpage starting July 27 the face plates expected release date is September while Sayaka and Kyouko are slated for a November release.

Monster Girls and Nurse Hitomi's Monster Infirmary

Monster girls; they're girls who happen to be monsters or could also be oni,yurei or yokai as well. The best way to explain them is that they're just a little different than others.

While I am not surprised that the Japanese had started liking these sorts of girls, I am more surprised that the international audience seems to love them just as much. While I saw the phenomenon unveil with my eyes over threads on the internet and anons talking I really wasn't interested in it, but I did end up buying "A Centaur's Life" for a friend as a gift last holiday season. When I saw the cover I couldn't help but think the centaur was adorable and so were her friends on the cover.

A Centaur's Life vol. 1 cover from Seven Seas

Now I really didn't read it since it was a gift but my friend said that it was a great present and she wanted more of it. Her favorite part was that it was just about the everyday life of a girl who just happened to be a centaur. Which I do honestly think it's something interesting to think about, life from another point of view.

As time went on I started to watch the threads again in /a/ and saw that someone posted something very interesting, a school nurse who just happened to be a cyclops. I thought Hitomi-sensei was a cute and short story, a monster girl tugging at my own heart strings with her adorable big eye; but it wasn't just her looks but her caring personality and her own insecurities that made me love her as a character. Not much of it was translated if I recall correctly just a handful of chapters.

But then, on June 16 Seven Seas Entertainment released more information on their 2015 releases.

Nurse Hitomi's Monster Infirmary cover from Seven Seas

It's Hitomi-sensei!

I honestly have no idea if it is just Seven Seas just keeping up on the growing love of these monster girls or if they pay attention to certain threads on the internet. But, you know I really like Hitomi and am glad that she's getting a more general release to the international audience.

I am one of those people who tend to be more picky about what I buy when it comes to manga and books and want stuff that I would pick up and read over and over. I don't need any more manga underneath my bed that will never get read again after I finished. I know I will be preordering the manga once we get a release date out for it.

Monthly Purchase June-Part One

I know I will have quite a few purchases from June so they're going in parts, there should be three parts if I end up not combining them, but I tend to though. As usual the purchase is from Amiami and contains an assortment.

Yotsuba&! Figure, Little Busters Nendoroid, Steins;Gate CD single and traveling mug, Kill la Kill BD and shirt, Hozuki no Reitetsu BD

Mostly everything that I got from this package, there is a book that isn't pictured but I will go into that later.

Yotsuba Figure and Kamikita Komari Nendoroid

While I was really excited for the Yotsuba figure I was rather sad seeing how small she stands in comparison to other scale figures. But I guess at the same time I am going to be standing her between two different Danboards so it shouldn't be that much of a problem in comparison, after all Yotsuba is just a child after all, so I guess she should be small in comparison to other figures.

As for the Little Busters nendoroid, I haven't watched Little Busters yet, nor have I played the VN as well. But it is on my backlog things to do. I must say though, I actually just bought her because she looked so adorable and her expressions are completely moe I could just die.

Stiens;Gate "Hacking to the Gate" CD single, Kill la Kill BD vol. 5 and Hozuki no Reitetsu BD vol.3

I've talked about my Steins;Gate mug in detail, so I'm not going to be talking about it anymore... But if you want to know why I bought it, here is the main reason.

Along with that I also bought the Hacking to the Gate CD single from the anime, I actually like the OP theme a lot and wanted it so I ended up buying a copy, while I should have bought the "Best Vocals" album I also like the idea of starting up again a CD collection but since the US is getting rid of CDs (or at least it seems that way) it looks like my entire collection is going to be Japanese CDs and CD singles; which isn't a bad thing to me.

Kill la Kill volume 5 BD is really cool as it features Gamagoori and Sanageyama not only on the cover but each are on a respected disk, Sanageyama is on the Original CD Soundtrack Vol. 2 while Gamagoori, accompanied on his head by Mako and Guts, is the actual BD disk itself. I personally haven't listened to the CD soundtrack yet but will later this week.

The other BD is Hozuki no Reitetsu. I don't know how many of you watched the series as it was airing or are reading the manga, but Japanese supernatural stories are kind of something I have liked since I was smaller (loved Gegege no Kitaro). So watching a glorified assistant to King Enma doing his daily routine of helping out in the various hells was just a blast. Supposedly it was picked up by Sentai Filmworks but honestly it's a rather short series with only 13 episodes, so it's pretty much the standard two episodes per BD. But the interesting thing about the Hozuki BDs is that you were able to chose between A and B. A having the drama CD accompanying it while B has something they call "Jigoku Goods" featuring Hozuki's plant/goldfish hybrid plant. Volume three features a small pouch that you can use for pencils and cosmetics.

Kill la Kill "Kamui Banshou" book

This supplemental book for Kill la Kill is really interesting, not only does it contain the standard things you'd find in a supplemental book like character synopsys and episode details but also talks a deal about their process in general like the 3D in episode 3 among other things. Even if you can't read Japanese this is a good book as a point of reference for images for drawing or just in general to see how Studio Trigger does their thought process.

One thing is for sure though I do want Sushio to come out with a Kill la Kill artbook though.

Personal Thoughts-Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari

Araragi and the Main Girls of Bakemonogatari

For some reason I decided to start watching the Monogatari series after seeing so much figures, people enjoying it, and just general talk. So I got started with watching Bakemonogatari and I have just finished Nisemonogatari.

With Bakemonogatari, I found that a lot of the characters were pretty interesting and not only that the supernatural elements that tied them together were really great overall. I really enjoyed Oshino being the person that Araragi always went back to for help. But more interesting enough, Oshino's design and him being an Omniyouji-like person (haven't watched everything out yet so this statement may be false) really drew me in.

While the story was good overall, the fanservice is one of the things that I didn't like about this show. At some points the service was so over the top it made me feel really awkward for watching. I think the first one that made me feel bad when they were trying to help Sengoku and all sorts of junk was happening with her. But the most weird one for me was the whole tooth brushing scene in Nisemonogatari.

Also another thing I personally didn't like is everyone was cutting their hair; Hanekawa,Senjougahara, and Karen. They all cut theirs short, and it made me so sad, since they all looked so cute with longer hair.

Nisemonogatari though did give us Kaiki Deishu though. And I really liked him.

As far as antagonists go, he plays a rather neutral one in Nisemonogatari, and makes Araragi question the whole real vs fake ideal. Which plays in perfect with the title of the anime Nisemonogatari. His rather sullen voice and sulken features really make him stand out even more than just his visual looks.

When I finished watching Nisemonogati, it felt rather unfulfilled though. As if that wasn't a concrete ending, even though I know the show does continue, it just kinda felt anti-climactic.

Well I have Nekomonogatari and Monogatari Second Season to start on and to finish before August 16. Because that's Hanamonogatari's air date, and not only that. All five episodes will be shown together.

Monthly Purchase from May

I do a lot of online purchases so I thought I would start posting images and what I got so that you could see my collection, and my tastes. Hopefully if you see something that you like and want a more detailed information on an item or even more pictures (within reason) I can do that too.

Madoka Magica Rebellion, Kill la Kill Vol. 4, Guts MofuMofu case, Yume Nikki phone strap/cleaner, El Psy Congroo T-shirt

The Blu-rays alone pushed my order into the very expensive range, because for some odd reason the Japanese price their anime BRs at an expensive price. I know that the money goes more to the studios but still... I understand quite well why people would import the English version because at the same price you get a lot more.

The Shizune/Isabelle nendoroid was mostly an impulse buy as I only like the effects that she does come with and I don't really care about anything else, because she doesn't even fit into my collection. I probably won't open her at all and probably sell her.

The phone case and accessories I bought because I'm finally upgrading my phone into something way better than the crap phone that I have now.

The shirt though, it was something I ordered by chance. Here is what it looks like on the front and back though.

Steins; Gate shirt from Cospa

It's a really ridiculous shirt, but I love it.  I tend to buy anime clothing every once in a while and most of the time it seems to be an over sized shirt. I kinda feel like though, Cospa should have used the Divergence Number for Steins;Gate on the shirt instead of what they did. I still enjoy it though, since it's not everyday you'll see a shirt like that.