Sakuracon 2015 Plans

It's almost Easter, with that said more importantly for me, it's almost Sakura-con time. I've attended a few anime cons both big (like Anime Expo) and smaller ones as well, but I've always liked Sakura-con the best. I feel as if it's always getting better each year, and varies out what it does and focuses on each year.

This year I'm excited for quite a few guests, events and the concert.

First off the concert is both going to have Kanako Ito and GARNiDELiA. If you have no idea who either of these people are Kanako Ito does a lot of vocal music for Nitro+ games including Steins;Gate while GARNiDELiA has done music for various animes including Kill la Kill.

I'm very excited because I've never seen either live but I've watched a live of Kanako Ito doing Skyclad Observer and I really enjoy how her voice sounds just as lovely as it does in recordings. Also Kill la Kill's second opening is vastly superior, in my opinion.

There will also be both a BlazBlue and Guilty Gear Xrd tournament as well. Though I won't participate, I will be watching the tournament going on if I have nothing to do or if there aren't any events that I will be going to.

I'm also really excited for the Good Smile Company guys as well as h.NAOTO coming to the US. My friend told me the Good Smile guys are going to do a live sculpting event, and if that's true... It's going to be amazing. I went last year to the Magi/Sword Art Online live drawing and it was super fun.

I've got a little bit of money saved for the con so if I see something I like I'll make sure to get it. For sure I will be going to the Good Smile Company booth first to see what they're all selling, which is my main thing as I buy multiples of a lot of toys (for modding), but usually isn't much I buy because you know, online shopping.

I will make sure to post everyday of the con hopefully or at least have a huge megapost at the end of the con.

I have 22 more days before 3 days of con fun. I cannot wait!

Year End Review-Visual Novels

Visual novels have always been a part of my life for a very long time,but oddly enough it seemed like this year was the year that I bought a ton of them, and oddly enough almost all of them were translated into English.

I initially just preordered Steins;Gate the limited edition because JAST USA made it sound like the only people who were going to get a physical copy of the game (at the time when this was in golden master) were the people who jumped in and bought limited editions. So of course I went ahead and preordered a copy of the limited edition, though now there is Steins;Gate coming out for almost everything and that a standard edition of the game exists as well. Though I don't regret getting the limited edition, it looks really nice and everything. I wish that they made more of them like this, I really like the way the box looks.

Honestly though, if you haven't picked up Steins;Gate for the PC yet, or if you don't want to play VNs on your PC, there is going to be a few releases next year of the game on IOS, PS Vita, and PS3. So in 2015 no one will have an excuse to not have played a piece of otaku history.

When I was at Sakuracon in the spring I ended up buying Kara no Shoujo for the PC as well. It only happened by chance because I was just walking through the dealers hall at the convention and ended up finding the Mangagamer booth. The only thing I was kind of interested in was Kara no Shoujo so I picked it up for $50 for the limited edition of it as well. Though it was a limited edition, it's not as good looking as the Steins;Gate one. And to be honest, it was much of an impulse buy than anything else because I want more VNs to come to the US and international, I knew enough about it that it's an eroge but nothing else.

Of course after that I bought another Hakuoki game, this time for the PS3 just for the fact that I love this game series even though we end up getting the same game over and over with just added content.

I'll buy it because not only do I like the story of it being taken a part in an alternate history in Japan. There's freaking Oni and pseudo-oni people in it. And if that wasn't enough fun, then I don't know what is. But to be honest it is an Otome game and there aren't many of those existing in general; even in Japan. So I feel like I got to buy this game to boost up the numbers. But it actually is a good story, so it's a win-win situation.

Though with how niche the PS Vita is, I don't see why AKSYS hasn't gotten the copyright to release an English version of the Sweet School Life version of Hakuoki. Because who doesn't like an alternate reality where everyone in the Shinsengumi is in high school, or teaches in high school. Are you kidding that would print instant money. Seriously, every fangirl would get to live out their dream of being surrounded with cute boys doing stuff.

The last thing I have bought this year in regards to VNs was another impulse buy it was Littlewitch Romanesque released by JAST USA released on the 23rd of December. The only reason why I think I bought it was because I was on JAST USA's page and saw it was getting released this month. And to my honest surprise it was. I have the game downloaded right now on my computer but I am still waiting for my physical copy, though I just looked it up on J-list itself and saw they have addressed the problem. I don't know when I will be getting the physical one but I hope it is soon, because I want to see how the case is and I hope it is akin to the one they did for Steins;Gate.

I did get past the intro to actually save the game and I came across this cute little thing.

I really have no idea what it is, but doesn't it kind of look like a Moomin? A Moomin that looks like he's made out of chocolate...

From what I've seen so far, I like how the story is shown, with it going more for a living manga style where speech bubbles appear than just a box with text. And the voices are great so far. I am especially glad that the main male lead has a voice, as that is the number one deal breaker for me. If I play a game and the main male has no voice... It just stops me in my tracks and then makes me want to mute all the characters. Because if I hear someone talking and the response to it is just a wall of text that I am suppose to read, and then goes back to voices. It just breaks immersion. There is an all-ages version though coming to Steam via their Greenlight system, so if you're interested in the story without the eroge contents there's that for you.

I am excited for 2015 since there will be a lot more VNs on their way, including Clannad from Sekai project, and not to mention (hopefully) the release of Hanachirasu from JAST USA. Also more Steins;Gate which is good too. But most of all I am excited to see what will get the potential go from either kickstarter or from independent small groups making their own VNs.  It seems as if VNs have found their way into the hearts of people outside of Japan. And I'd like for it to keep growing years down the line.

Steins;Gate coming to Playstation 3 and PS Vita in 2015

Stiens;Gate is coming, be prepared Sony

Well if you haven't heard the news yet, Steins;Gate is going to have a release in 2015 for PS3 and Vita. Now even though the game is already out in English on the PC thanks to JASTUSA there is going to be a release for Europe and North America.

I am really excited by this. Even though I have a copy of the PC game already, I hope what has had happened recently with the growing trend of visual novels coming out, that Japan does see that there is a market out here for it, and that yes, people do buy them. While I do have a few gripes of how visual novels are handled (I'll make a post about it eventually) in the USA with certain distributors. I've got to say overall that I am glad that people can enjoy these games.

Now I am just waiting to see if they'll actually start translating otome or yaoi games.

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.

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.

Steins;Gate-Shiina Mayuri Route

I finished Shiina Mayuri's route the other day and I totally forgot how depressing the game got when you started to aim for her or Kurisu's end. To be honest, Mayuri is probably in my top favorite girls of all time. Even though she's not the brightest her perception for other peoples feelings and wanting everyone to be happy is rather endearing.

Mayuri being given the Metal Upa that Okabe got from a Gashapon

As you gradually get along in the story, you start feeling horrible for her and Okabe for reliving all those horrible things over and over in the loop. What really hit hard the most was when she mentioned the dreams of her death to her grandmother, and then when Okabe sits her down and tells her everything. To which she just kept beating herself up.

Mayuri's accurate description about her position change

 The things Okabe did for Mayuri really clenched in the end when it had to deal with her route end with Okabe. After all, he did all those things for her to keep her alive, so it would make sense that he loved her in that way. But the way that it was all brought together was what made me cry at the end of this route.

Final scene with Mayuri and Okabe walking down Akiba holding hands

You can feel that Okabe still has mass feelings of regret for not being able to save Kurisu, and also potential feelings that may have been love (at least in this route end) because he does always go to Kurisu for help when he tried to figure out how to save Mayuri.

Though I actually really love the Steins;Gate route the Stardust Sky (Mayuri route) is my favorite side route.

Steins;Gate Tumbler

So I've been having a bit of a problem lately and that's with people taking my travel coffee tumbler instead of just using another one. See the tumbler I have is a limited edition tumbler from Kyoto Starbucks. And even though everyone complains about it, they always take it from the house to use; which is just beyond backwards to me.

So I'm pretty much out of a coffee mug. So I thought I should get one that no one would end up using. So I ended up browsing AmiAmi and found one that I like, also it was one of the few ones that didn't seem so lewd, since at times I would go to Starbucks/Tullys/Seattle's Best to refill it with coffee.

Steins;Gate Fuka Ryoiki no Deja Vu Tumbler

Pretty much a nice and simple tumbler that should keep a drink warm for good long time, while also not being too crazy with the reference. Steins;Gate doesn't have that much official merchandise so I thought I would get something from it as well. The only bad thing is that I wish Okabe was a bit bigger, but Kurisu and Mayuri look so cute standing back to back together.

The tumbler doesn't actually carry an excess amount; about 360ml so roughly 12oz which for some coffee drinkers that's not enough, but for me that's actually plenty.

Playing Steins;Gate- Amane Suzuha Route

It's been a long time since I had actually played Steins;Gate. I first learned about the game back when it was released on the Xbox 360 in 2009 but didn't actually play it until 2011.

So with all that time passing I preordered the game when JAST USA announced that they were going to release the visual novel. Like many people I was waiting for the long haul of it going to take the metaphorical years that it usually takes them to release anything. No seriously, still waiting for that Hanachirasu VN that was supposed to be bundled with Saya no Uta.

Anyway I got the limited edition of the game and have been slowly playing through it and have just reached the end of the first route completed.

Amane Suzuha's route.

Final CG from Amane Suzuha's Route:Heading to the Past with Okabe Rintaro

I forgot that this route was a relatively easy one to get first of all and it was one of the ending routes that made me feel so horrible for the girl. She finds everything just to lose it. And not only that, but she feels such guilt and self loathing for herself that she eventually commits suicide for not remembering her mission.

Through this route as well, you not only get to see Okabe's softer side (as you do with all the routes) but you see the consequences that start to inflict his psyche when he loops time over and over. To the point where Amane makes a reference to the movie "Groundhog's Day".

Overall though, the ending of the route though doesn't do much for the story as it's the only one that ends in huge ambiguity. Which is actually fine, after all Steins;Gate is about possibility.