Golden Week- Shops Are Closed and a bit of Life Update

If you rely on Japanese websites like I do for things, you'll notice that pretty much all of them have come to a standstill for the first week of May. This has to deal with their holiday called Golden Week. But why is it that most things come to a standstill when it comes to sites like Amiami and such? It mainly has to deal with every one taking their vacation time and it's a popular time for travel (this includes overseas travel as well). So even though the celebration ends May 5th in Japan, most companies will observe the holiday time for just a bit longer.

So even though I know Golden Week is happening I keep going to sites like Amiami and then being sad because I know there's no updates. I've been having a bit of health problems and I still feel a bit sick from time to time, along with school and there's a ton of writing in both along with basically at least 4 chapters of reading. But I will have more updates; I have lots of pictures and I still have to edit all the pictures from the GSCxMax Factory panel from Sakura-con even though it's late. Also I've been watching One Piece, from the very beginning.

More updates will be soon, also I have a convention even though it's small this week about ball joint dolls, so I will probably talk about that too.

Sakuracon 2015- Good Smile Company Booth

Sakura-con 2015 was an amazing year; there was lots of fun stuff to do.

On the first day of the con we actually got to our hotel at a little bit past 9am and we were able to check in already also a huge thanks to Henry and the staff at the Roosevelt as always for giving great service; which goes above and beyond expectations.

Anyway the dealers hall opened at 10am and I made sure that with my group of friends that we went to the GSC booth before anything else. And we were one of probably the first 30 people in line. And all of us were able to get everything that we wanted. But what was even great was the area that they were in had lots of toys and displays that they brought with them for even more fun.

Snow Miku was a popular purchase for most people though I was in there to get the nendoroid Sayaka and Kyoko. Though when I went to make my purchase I noticed they had the Shimakaze nendoroid and purchased that as well. From what I had overheard by the time I picked up my nendoroids they were almost out of the Kyoko/Sayaka pack. Which would make sense, because c'mon they're together and cute.

Besides that there were toys and figures all over. And some of them made me greatly regret that I don't like Figma.

I remember watching Big O on TV, and recall fondly the dub of the series and my overall love of the series. I remember when I got heavy into collecting toys and figures, the orders for Roger Smith were just closed. I did though enjoy looking at them, and I am pretty sure I stared at them for a good couple of minutes.

All the Kill la Kill that they had. Also the Ryuko is actually pretty badass looking in real life. Though I'm not too keen on the prototypes legs being like that with only one grounded while the other is just hanging there. But still looks cool none the less.

On the side, of their booth is were the face drawing challenge was, and for only $2 you can make your own nendoroid faceplate and keep it.

It wasn't available at the beginning of the day for obvious reasons, but I didn't have time to do it due to scheduling problems. But luckily enough Mamitan let us buy one so that I could paint it at home. And yes, I will hopefully be doing that soon, if not I have a nopperabo face just for fun. But in all seriousness I'll probably have the face painted within a couple of months because I already have paint, I just lack brushes for small scale and finite detail. Though at the area where the expression drawing was, they were using gundam markers.

Overall the GSC booth was amazing and a blast like last year. I hope they come back to Sakura-con again, not only because they bring some of the best toys and figures with them. But because the events that they had were amazing.

More Sakura-con Fun from Good Smile Company

Today I was bombarded with all sorts of information from Good Smile Company about what they were bringing for Sakura-con. We only have the images of the limited items that they're bringing for sure, but that's enough to know I will have to be there early, as soon as the dealers hall opens.

They're bringing the Snow Miku again. Even though I have already the nendoroid on preorder, if they're avaliable I will so be getting another one, because I really think she's a cutie. Also for sure want those capsule toys and the Kyoko and Sayaka from Madoka Magica. I mean I already have three different Madoka nendoroids, but I really like that Kyoko, because it is what we see her wearing for most of the series. Also those cute capsule toys, I just want to line up all the cuties on top of my monitor or near my bed because cuties being cute.

Also we're getting the whole faceplate drawing thing, and that's going to be fun. I can't remember where I saw this at, but I remember seeing a video from Japan with this; it may have been something about Wonfes but I am not sure. Anyway super stoked for this little event, as it should be a lot of fun. I mean who doesn't love drawing on blank faces.

I just checked the Sakura-con website and found that there's a link to a video that GSC has put out for it, so here it is.   

 I am really excited for all the events from GSC and will be looking forward to the live sculpting event which is followed by a Q&A about the Japanese collectibles industry.

Really stoked and barely over a week left before the fun.

Hatsune Miku V3 1/4 Figure Impressions

I was browsing the Good Smile Company website when I saw another Miku figure out. I thought it looked really pretty and have not ordered any sort of default looking Miku figure before, so I thought this one looked really nice from the thumbnail. I was more surprised when I clicked the link.

Miku is HUGE, 1/4 the size of a human or also standing at 43cm or almost 17 inches tall. The fact that Good Smile put a CD next to her so that you can see the difference in size is a really good thing if you're not sure what the measurements actually meant. But having such a bigger figure can do much more for the actual design more than anything else. The details are very well sculpted so far the actual details that we can see so far, they're very meticulous. I really love how much detail they've put into the hair, as Miku's hair usually looks rather static sometimes, now it looks free flowing and rather whimsical.

Costing about 27,000 yen after tax and before shipping it's probably not something that much people would purchase unless they're a huge fan of Miku's. For me I purchased it because I do enjoy bigger figures and Miku but also the details in the hair is just something that amazes me. I am all about simple things with attention to detail as much as I like cute things. 

With a base price of 25,741 yen from Good Smile directly, with tax being about 27,000 it doesn't mainly differ between purchasing it from them directly or going to Amiami.

I ended up going with Amiami for a few reasons. The sale price of the item is 21,360 yen though with shipping it will most likely end up being about the same as ordering it from Good Smile. But mainly the reason for me going with Amiami has to deal with points. Receiving points from prior purchases, I can use it to make Miku cheaper and also the points I get from purchasing Miku as well. It may not seem like a good reason for most people, but I do shop at Amiami almost every month for my otaku needs.

Hatsune Miku V3 1/4 Figure is sculpted by FREEing and distributed by Good Smile Company, slated for a release of September 2015 for the base price of 25,741 yen.

Senbonzakura- Rin and Len Kagamine Scale Figure Impressions

FREEing had just released for preorder today the twins from the Senbonzakura video. I've honestly been waiting for these two to come out along with Kaito since the Senbonzakura is one of my favorite songs that has been written but even more so I loved the character designs. But I accidentally missed the Miku version of this, so when the twins came out for preorder today I jumped on the chance to order them.

Rin's design is super lovely dealing with the sepia tones in her outfit and the ruffles on her billowing sleeves and her sailor tippet is so adorable. I've always loved how she looked in the video... But seeing how gently they colored her, it makes the figure feel really nice.

The koppori she wears looks very amazing as well and looks like it has a traditional lacquer finish to them, even though I know it's plastic. Overall I do love the feeling it encases between western and eastern fashion.

Len is also cute with his traditional military school uniform on along with is cape. The type of gakuran Len wears was popular during the time of war up until the 1990's when they ended up being for middle school students while high schools wear blazers and ties.

FREEing has the initial release for June 2015 and each figure is 1/8th scale and is about 10,800 yen roughly (depending on where you order). Also since these are the Kagamine twins FREEing does give you the option of purchasing them together and giving you a slight discount so it would be 19,800 yen (again depending on where you order) for both.

Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler-Ciel Phantomhive Scale Figure Impressions

Kotobukiya came out with another preorder for their ARTFX-J line and I was a bit surprised by it to be honest. A Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler figure wasn't something I would have thought would be done. But I guess the success of the Book of Circus arc and going back to the manga series for a reboot shows that it's a good idea for marketing and fans. But I am surprised that Kotobukiya would release Ciel first before any other character, since it seems Sebastian has already been prototyped out. But I'm not going to complain as I do love Ciel as a character.

Up close Ciel's face looks so lovely and the detail in the eye is so amazing. I like how they made the clothing rather simple in color but yet those slight details in the clothing and accessories make the figure just pop even more. But more than anything else the base is something else, just amazing.

Chess tends to be a reoccurring theme in the manga series as it constantly alludes to many other things (though they don't play chess all that much). But the base for Ciel is simply gorgeous. The finer details just make the base simply breathtaking. 

The Ciel figure itself is 1/8 scale and is 11,000yen roughly (depending on where you order it) and is being released in March 2015 if the manufacturing isn't pushed back.

Expect to see a full review of the figure once I get it in my hands. Because I am super excited for it already.

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.