Evangelion 2.22 Blu-ray

Today I've received Evangelion 2.22 Blu-ray that ordered months ago in CDJapan:

Since the price difference between the Dvd version and the Blu-ray version was minimal, I decided to buy the Blu-ray one, making it the first Blu-ray disc that I purchase (coincidentally, Evangelion was also my first Dvd, too).

Since is impossible to take pics from a Blu-ray displayed with the PS3, I took pictures in an amateurish way: pausing and taking pictures to the TV.

Smiling Rei not telling her "secret" of the dinner with everyone. Is the first time I see subtitles in a Japanese release.

Embarrassed Asuka using her favorite insults with Shinji.

Kaworu words are more accurately translated as "Nice to meet you (for the first time), father"

Nya!

Is nice to finally be able to see the next movie preview multiple times and frame by frame:

Eye-patch Asuka was the only thing I was able to remember clearly...

Episode 26 Ayanami with chibi-Rei's?

Since almost a year have passed since I saw the movie, I can't really say what are the new changes besides the really obvious ones (for example Mari landing scene now contains more "fan-service"). But there are new scenes that I noted: Kaji meeting with Shinji & co. in a train station, Rei, Shinji and Asuka doing a synchro test, Eva-03 airlifted and passing through the thundercloud, Eva-03’s entry plug is shown after the battle and Mari's last fight is expanded a bit.

Synchro test. Asuka is yelling "maicchingu ne", most likely a reference to Maicchingu Machiko Sensei.

The extras included are the complete script, several trailers and tv spots, a voice-less making off and five unfinished scenes that were not included: Misato, Shinji, Toji and Kensuke talking about a distant Asuka in a train, and after a while Kaji appears; Ritsuko examining Rei and talking about her plain underwear; Kaji showing Shinji the surrounding area of the watermelon field and Misato, Ritsuko, Maya, Aoba and Hyuga talking while crossing Nerv's parking area.

Asuka in one of the pre-animation stills of the making off.

Mari scene showing the various production stages in the making off.

Asuka in one of the unfinished scenes.

And finally, the film strip that I got is Misato and the Nerv crew in the main deck, after the 10th angel (Zeruel) eats Eva-00:

Exactly this scene:

By the way, the film strip that I got with the limited Evangelion 1.01 dvd was this:

Hard to see, is the Eva-00 entry plug when is being recovered after the berserker incident (this scene)

And this is the one that I got with the massive artbook Evangelion 1.0 Complete Records Collection:

Is the scene when Shinji refuses to pilot the Eva (this)

1/6 Saber Alter Maid version by Alter

A few days back, I received at last 1/6 Saber Alter Maid version by Alter.


I did a pre-order via Tokyo Hunter back in September, since it was sold only through Hobby Japan online shop.

Like the previously released, 1/6 Saber Maid version, the sculpt is by Kuramoto Ikuma from circle Millimeter Modeling.

The figure is truly gorgeous. I don't like Kuramoto's job with the faces that much, but the amount of sculpt details compensates it by far.

The paintjob is also excellent, just look the weathering job in the bucket. Saber Alter's skins seems way too pale, but the character IS already very pale per se.

Side view. Great detail in the frills and wrinkles of the maid uniform. Is hard to see in the pictures, but unlike 1/6 Saber Maid version, the white is actually a pearly white.

Back view. I like how she's holding the bucket lifting her little finger.

As an extra, a mini Saber maid is included:

I'm not very fond of SD characters, but this is even cuter than the nendoroids!

The size is about 6 centimeters, but with the same quality sculpt than the main one.

So cute!

My videogame collection III: PlayStation Portable

And the last one of my portable consoles is the PSP.
I bought a white PSP-1000 in early 2007, anticipating the extra PSP game included in the PS2 version of Fate/stay night.
Except for 5 titles, all the games that I have are ports of previously released games.

Guilty Gear Judgement (2006). Guilty Gear is one of the few fighting game franchise that I like that is not by Capcom (I don't like most of the SNK games). This game features a somewhat crappy beat'em up (the "Justice" of the title) and as a "bonus" includes a full Guilty Gear XX game, in this case #Reload.

Guilty Gear Judgement (2006). The Japanese version of the previous one, that includes Guilty Gear XX Slash instead of #Reload, adding A.B.A. and Order Sol to the roaster.

Tekken Dark Resurrection (2006) An updated port of Tekken 5 adding Lili (a great addition), Dragunov and Armor King. I don't like the Tekken series that much, but is a nice port and was a budget title.

Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (2004) One of the PSP launch titles, is a port of Vampire Chronicle for Matching Service for the DreamCast that included all the fighting styles from the series. Darkstalkers/Vampire is my second favorite series from Capcom fighting games.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX (2006) The ultimate Street Fighter Alpha 3 version, adding Eagle, Maki, Yun and Ingrid, each with their own story modes.

Power Stone Collection (2006) Contains Power Stone 1 and 2, an underrated franchise by Capcom. I don't like the 3D fighting games that much... but is a Capcom fighting game after all.

Fate/tiger colosseum (2007) A fighting game featuring super deformed characters from Fate/stay night. The artwork for the game was made by Hirai Yukio (of Pixel Maritan fame) instead of Takeuchi. Gameplay-wise is similar to Power Stone 2 and the story modes are nice, but as a fighting game is really crappy.

Fate/tiger colosseum Upper (2008) An updated version including all the characters that didn't make the cut in the previous one (Avenger, Kiritsugu, Irisviel...) plus new ones from Tsukihime (Phantas Moon, Magical Amber, Neko Arc). The game is as crappy as the first one.

Fate/unlimited codes PORTABLE (2009). I did a lengthy entry about it here.

Tobidase! ToraBuru Hanafuda Douchuuki (2007) The translation is something like "Rush out! Trouble Hanafuda Journal Diary", with a pun in "trouble": Tora (Tiger) referring to Taiga and Buru(ma) (Bloomers) referring to Illya.
It was an extra in the limited edition of Fate/stay night [Réalta Nua] for PS2. Is a port of the hanafuda game included in Fate/hollow ataraxia, adding a Yukika-Kaede-Kane team.

Capcom Classics Collection Remixed (2006) A collection of 19 old Capcom games.

Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded (2006) A collection with 20 more games. Man, I really love old school Capcom...

THE iDOL@STER SP: Wandering Star, Perfect Sun & Missing Moon (2008) An enhanced port of the original arcade game but divided in three different versions, each featuring 3 idols. A raising sim/rhythm game with extremely likable characters. I did entries about it here and here.

Hatsune Miku Project DIVA (2009) Another rhythm game featuring vocaloid characters (well, mostly Miku, a very few songs with Rin/Len and the rest only as alternate skins). I did a brief entry here.

Final Fantasy (2007) The latest remake of the first FF game to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the saga. Graphics with higher resolutions than the Dawn of Souls version, still in 2D.

Final Fantasy II (2007) Same as above, but with the second game.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (2007) Another enhanced remake, this time of the great Final Fantasy Tactics for PSX. The new cel-shaded FMV are great, I wish all the new FF games where using that kind of videos instead of videos full of androgynous emo-bishounen jumping around like idiots.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (2007) As much as I like Nomura's characters designs (in juxtaposition with the ethereal designs by Amano), I really hate that now every character in FF world looks like an emo J-Pop star... heck, even Gackt appears as a character!
Well, I suppose the game is not really that bad, because unlike Kingdom Hearts 2 or Dissidia, I actually finished this one.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy (2008) This is the epitome of all the things that I dislike of the recent Final Fantasy games: classic characters now became fashion victims pretty kids plus a non-existent plot that is a mere excuse to show the characters doing flashy and acrobatic attacks.
I received it as a gift, so I can't complain, but most likely will be my last "modern" FF game.

Breath of Fire III (2005) Breath of Fire was the only RPG saga made by Capcom and this one was the last that was worthy. It's a shame.

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (2006) I bought Disgaea for PS2, but never had the time to play it, so technically this was the first version I played. A good tactical RPG, with cool characters and funny plot.

Super Street Fighter IV

My brother bought Super Street Fighter IV for PS3 at the beginning of the month, and I've been playing non-stop until today (side effects of being jobless).

I must admit that I wasn't happy with the aesthetics of SF4, and I really hated the idea of a main SF game in 3D. When I was in Japan I refused to play SF4 in the arcades and I didn't really paid attention to it until I returned to Spain and played my brother's copy. It doesn't really looks like an Street Fighter game but plays like one.

I think Juri is the most interesting new character, and the only good looking Capcom new female character since Ingrid (C.Viper feels more like a SNK character than a Capcom one).

Juri and her sexy tongue

Juri is the first evil female in SF world (C.Viper was a double agent) and her psycho behavior and sadistic nature is kind of cool. It also helps her crazy/sadistic/erotical voice by a surprising Kitamura Eri.

Honorific mention goes to the extremely hot wife of Hakan:

Surely she beats all the other SF wives: Sally (Dhalsim's), Julia (Guile's) and Eliza (Ken's)

I'm a slightly above average player and I main Cammy (since Super Street Fighter II), but I managed to get all the 35 characters to rank C, a not so hard feat but extremely time consuming... I'm only missing about 40% of the characters trials, but is impossible for me to achieve that.

Rider by Griffon Enterprises

Rider by Griffon Enterprises is, like the previously released Saber (I did the entry here), part of the Deformate Series: figures based in illustrations by Harada Takehito (of Disgaea fame).
This time Rider was sculpted by Fio (Reply From...).

I was not very happy with Deformate Saber -is a rather small figure and the lack of details gives it a kind of "cheap toy" feeling- but Rider, despite of having the same small size (about 15 cm) is in overall better than the previous release: better sculpt that resembles more Harada's style, better paint job with metallic gloss effects and parts made of metal (the chains and the mask).

Side view. If you played Disgaea, Rider breasts are Succubus-sized.

Without the mask.

And the original illustration by Harada.

Along the the myriad of Saber figures, is nice to see figures of other TYPE-MOON characters from time to time...