Soth's Blog

TYPE-MOON manga

2012-01-22T17:50:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago I decided to update the TYPE-MOON related manga that I follow all at the same time at CD Japan, except for the ones that were too recent (like Fate vol. 17) and some of them that they didn't have in stock (like the last 2 volumes I'm missing of Shingetsutan Tsukihime). And to think that while I was living in Japan buying manga was SO easy...

Anyway, the list:

-TAKE MOON Sakuhin Shu Special Edition by Takenashi Eri
-Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei! volumes 2, 3 and 4 by Hiroyama Hiroshi
-MELTY BLOOD volumes 8 and 9 by Kirishima Takeru
-MELTY BLOOD X volumes 1 and 2 also by Kirishima Takeru
-Fate/Zero volumes 1 and 2 by Shinjiro
-Fate/Extra volume 1 by Robina

And now with a bit more in detail:

TAKE MOON Sakuhin Shu Special Edition is the limited reprint of the original TAKE MOON volumes that I already have (and I talked a little bit about them here) in one big tankoubon instead of two.

The reason of the re-purchase is because includes a dvd called Carnival Phantasm EX Season, an extra episode that includes some gags that didn't make the cut to the regular OVAs.

Cute ashamed Bazett.

My only grudge is that is a dvd instead of a Blu-ray, and now that I'm getting hooked at watching anime with blu-ray quality, dvd quality is an eyesore...

The manga doesn't includes anything new (besides two pages of Takenashi thanking her fans and TYPE-MOON), but the paper is of much higher quality than any normal volume.

The multicolored Ren's chapter. The quality of the paper is not visible in photos, but the page is more white than usual.

A mini-booklet called TYPE-MOON Artworks is also included, that features color illustrations by Takenashi.

Random page.

Most of the illustrations already appeared (also in color) in the first pages of the previous edition of TAKE MOON.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei! volumes 2, 3 and 4 by Hiroyama Hiroshi.

Until now I only managed to buy the first volume almost a year ago and the limited edition of the volume 4, so now I bought the volumes 2 and 3 and the regular version of volume 4 (because of the different cover).
A pleasant surprise that I found is that in the volume 2, the bonus chapter featuring the cross-over with Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha was included! I missed the chance when was released in the Comp Ace and I thought it was lost forever (or pay an absurd amount of money for it).

Nanoha and Illya.

MELTY BLOOD volumes 8 and 9 and MELTY BLOOD X volumes 1 and 2 by Kirishima Takeru. With this Melty Blood manga is totally over, no new arcs after this. Is a shame because despite I didn't liked that much at first I found it rather enjoyable at the end.

The first 6 volumes included the main story (Sion vs Wallachia) and the volumes 7 to 9 included all the half-joke scenarios (Miyako, Mecha-Hisui, G. Akiha...)

Miyako was the main heroine in the second arc.

MELTY BLOOD X was not based directly in the Melty Blood games, so in an original arc starring the Back Alley Alliance formed by Sion, Riesbyfe and Satsuki. Is a non serious arc like the Miyako one, were the main characters are forced to climb a pyramid-like house made by mistake by Sion.
Even if it was not based in any story arc from the game, it included some characters that didn't appeared in the previous volumes.

The short appearance of the tsundere White Ren

Actress Again final boss Dust of Osiris.

Fate/Zero volumes 1 and 2 by Shinjiro.

It covers until the battle royale of Saber, Lancer, Rider, Archer and Berserker. I don't have nuch to say besides that the male characters looks quite ugly, and some females (like Maiya) looks weird as well.

Berserker vs Saber

And finally Fate/Extra volume 1 by Robina.
Robina did a Fate/Extra one shot for the Type-Moon Ace 6 (that is included in this volume) an that escalated to a whole series. The pace is pretty quick, in one volume they are already fighting against Archer, and for now I like it better than the game.

Main characters are the male MC and Saber.

Archer, Caster and female MC appears in some extra pages, quite unhappy for not being the main characters.

2011 Tokushima Awa Odori Poster

2012-01-10T18:21:00.001+01:00

One of the items that I bought back in August was a 2011 Tokushima Awa Odori poster, but I didn't wanted to do a review until I got it laminated and hanged.

The poster was made by studio ufotable to promote Awa Odori festival in Tokushima.
Tokushima for the past few years is comissioning promotional posters featuring anime characters, and because those posters are not for sale reach quite high prices in second hand markets. This time was different, the poster were sold at Animate stores because half the price was destined to charity efforts for the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake.

Since it was for a good cause, 2011 poster features a lot of guest characters. The bigger ones are the reason that I purchased it: Saber drawn by Takeuchi Takashi and Shiki drawn by Sudou Tomonori (character designer of the Kara no Kyoukai movies), but it also features Major Kusanagi drawn by Nakamura Satoru, Black Rock Shooter by huke, Vash by Nightow Yasuhiro, Asuna from Shinkai Makoto's movie Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo, Nitroplus Super Soniko drawn by Tsuji Santa, Minori from Minori Scramble!, several characters form Milky Homes, Tsukineko, Manabi Straight! and Vanguard, as well as the character mascots of Animate, Mosaic.wav, NipponIchi, Seikaisha, Anime Style, ufotable and the prefecture of Tokushima.

IDOLM@STER Blu-ray & Gravure For You! Vol. 2

2012-01-09T18:10:00.002+01:00

Next in the review line is the second Blu-ray of iDOLM@STER and the second volume of Gravure For You! for PS3.

This Blu-ray includes the episodes 3 to 5, and as a bonus includes a drama cd (pretty much the girls talking about what kind of program they would like to present) and a booklet called Model Sheet Collection Volume 1 that features character settings.

The cover of the Blu-ray features this time Yukiho and Makoto (volume 1 featured Haruka and Miki)

Postcards with the photos from the endings.

Again, the "Special" section includes creditless opening and endings and the extended episode preview from the website.
This time the extra audio commentary track features Asakura Azumi (new voice of Yukiho), Hirata Hiromi (Makoto), Imai Asami (Chihaya) and Hara Yumi (Takane).

Model Sheet Collection Volume 1 is 104 b&w pages long, and includes general settings for each main character, and specific clothes and sub-characters from episodes 3 (the festival) and 4 (GeroGero kitchen).

Azusa face expresions.

Yukiho on stage clothes.

Hibiki and Takane kitchen clothes.

Gravure For You! Vol. 2 setting is in school, and the 2 clothes available are a school uniform ("School Days blazer") and a school swimsuit ("765 school swimsuit").

Random photos:

Tsuki no Sango hardcover edition

2012-01-08T17:49:00.003+01:00

I received this harcover edition of Tsuki no Sango in early November:

The contents are pretty similar to the previously reviewed Tsuki no Sango booklet, but with more illustrations and 2 cd's containing the narration by Sakamoto Maaya.

The book (right) is 75 pages long, so is almost the double amount of pages of the booklet version, and features pictures that where not present before. The thing to the left is the cover of the digipak containing the cd's.

One of the pictures not included in the previous booklet.

By the way a translated version of the story can be found at Mazui Subs webpage.

The cd's voiced by Sakamoto narrates the whole story. Both discs together are about 90 minutes long.

I hope they release sooner or later a Blu-ray (or at least a dvd) of the Tsuki no Sango video that was originally aired during the recital. I thought it was to be included in this version, but sadly is not. The promotional video below:

Carnival Phantasm 2nd Season

2011-12-31T13:55:00.002+01:00

With over a month of delay since I received it, here's Carnival Phantasm 2nd Season review.

Carnival Phantasm 2nd Season, the limited edition book CP Dokuhon and Toranoana exclusive clear book featuring Saber Alter and long haired Arcueid.

Like the first season, a large amount of it is directly based on Takenashi's TAKE MOON, but several pieces of it are original contents.

Saber Alter's pose based on this figure

Saber Extra short cameo. Her "it's not see-through, I'm showing it" line is priceless.

Like the previous season, both Blu-ray and dvd discs are included, no subtitles and the special audio commentary this time is made by Tiger Dojo Taiga and Bloomers Illya.
There's also a Special section that includes a playthrough of "Illya's Castle" minigame from Fate/hollow ataraxia with the characters audio commentaries.

CP Dokuhon (reading book), includes the script of the audio track "Teach me Ciel-sensei" from the previous season, a character settings section, a section of special illustrations (like the eyecatch scenes), an early storyboard with contents that never went to production and a couple of short manga by Kengou Yagumo and Keikenchi.

Character settings for Arcueid and Saber

Eyecatches from the first episode

Storyboard with Saber Lily versus Princess Arcueid in the unused opening

Young Ace December '11

2011-12-29T18:07:00.003+01:00

Aggh... the pending reviews keep piling up, and as more time passes since I received the goods the less interest I have in doing the reviews, and thus they keep piling over and over... Anyways, I'll try to continue with them, even if it's months late...

I decided to review Young Ace December '11 issue first because we are still in December (altough the magazine was released in late November...).

As I said when I received the previous issue, the extra included in this one is an original Fate/Zero clock drawn by Takeuchi featuring Saber, Irisviel and Ilya, all wearing Iri's dress.

As expected is a rather cheap clock, but the illustration is gorgeous.

There's only two of the series included that I'm interested in. One of them is Fate/Zero by Shinjiro:

Loli Rin arguing with Kotomine.

And the other is Shin Seiki Evangelion by Sadamoto Yoshiyuki:

Rei "betraying" Gendou.

In the manga version this is the second Rei and not the 3rd, but even with that it seems that the end will be similar to the movie. And because Sadamoto's pace, this will be the last chapter for months...

IDOLM@STER Blu-ray & Gravure For You! Vol.1

2011-12-07T17:21:00.000+01:00

And this is the last part of the coverage of THE iDOLM@STER 2 for PS3, covering the first volume of the Blu-ray and also the first volume of Gravure For You!

The vol. 1 of the Blu-ray includes only the first two episodes, a pretty usual thing in Japanese releases. I don't have any complain about the quality of the image or the sound, both are pretty high.

Like is usual in Japanese Blu-ray releases, the extras are very few. The "Special" section includes creditless opening and ending (of both episodes) and the extended episode preview from the website.
"Sound" section includes the normal track and an extra audio commentary track by Nakamura Eriko (Haruka), Kugiyama Rie (Iori), Shimoda Asami (Ami-Mami) and Nigo Mayako (Yayoi). Their commentaries are pretty random, and with little to no relation with what is happening on the screen at that moment.
No subtitles available.

There's also a bonus cd included in the package called Perfect Idol 01, that contains four tracks: "I'm So Free!" (sung by Miki, Azusa and Takane), "Relations -Jazz Rearrange Mix-" (Miki), "Tonari ni... -Jazz Rearrange Mix-" (Azusa) and "Kimi wa Melody -Jazz Rearrange Mix-" (Takane). Jazz tones in iM@S songs doesn't work too well, and the only new song "I'm So Free!" is clearly the best song in the cd, but not really that great.

Gravure For You! is a PS3 game that is includes in the limited version of the Blu-ray. Well, "game" is not really accurate, since the only thing you can do is to take pictures of the girls. You control the camera and you can give commands to the girls about how to pose. The photos can be easily exported in JPEG format.
In this first volume there's only one costume available, the "beauty swimsuit", but it seems that from volume 2 onwards there are two costumes available.

Some random photos:

IDOLM@STER 2 Ryuuguu Komachi extra episodes

2011-12-06T08:05:00.002+01:00

After clearing the game for the first time (with Takane), I finished the four Ryuuguuu Komachi extra mini episodes, perhaps one of the biggest additions in this PS3 port.

You play as the Producer from the same timeline of your regular gameplay, after Ryuuguu Komachi loses the nomination to the Idol Academy awards against Touma but before your unit goes to the finals.
Seeing that the RK members lost all the motivation, Ritsuko asks the Producer to help as a "support Producer" taking care of one of the girls instead of her.
With you as a new support, RK participates in the Idol Ultimate tournament (was the main event in IDOLM@STER SP) with a new set of clothes and a new song: "Nanairo Button".

Each extra episode consist in three weeks, each one facing a rival in a festival, and before and after the battle you do some automatic communication sessions that develops the story. Ryuuguu Komachi level ups and gains memory appeals automatically, so you don't have to do anything besides try to aim for a perfect communication and win the festivals.

Each of the four girls have an unique story. Only 6 communications seems rather short, but the main game doesn't include many more than that so in comparison the lenght of about one hour is rather acceptable.

Iori was humiliated as the trio leader with their defeat against Touma, and gets more angry once meets with him, who's also participating in the IU as a member of Jupiter at the same time is participating against your unit in the IA awards.

Adding insult to injury, Touma doesn't even remember her and on the contrary remembers the Producer.

After a series of tsun tsun episodes, Iori gets pretty dere dere with the Producer before the final match against Jupiter.

So at the end RK wins and all is laughs and happiness with you...

Well, at least until you tumble onto her and you get called a mega pervert.

Azusa is leaving to one side her search for her fated one for a while and instead focuses in her role in the RK unit as the more mature one. She progressively relies more and more into to you as the Producer, until you say that her true Producer is Ritsuko. She gets depressed until you says that is not necessary to meet only one fated person, that all RK members and their fans are "fated persons" to Azusa.

After winning against Jupiter, she rejects Hokuto, who was flirting with her.

In the party after winning the IU, all members of RK cunningly leave Azusa alone with the Producer, and she bashfully ask what he will do if she finds her only one fated person...

Out of the four Ryuuguu Komachi members, Ami is my least favorite one, so the summary and photos will be scarse. She acts very childish (even more than usual) and seemingly without any worry, but all was a facade to hide she was really nervous fearing another lose in the finals. You promise her that if RK win, you will fulfill a wish. Ami gets pretty excited about it and wins the finals.

The wish she asks at the end is to have 100 more wishes...

If you select Ritsuko, she gets pretty astonished since she thinks the members with troubles are the other 3 girls and not her, but she accepts the offer. She works as a producer "as it says on the book", and because of that is somewhat strict with the girls. Producer says that every producer have his or her own way to do the things, and a confident Ritsuko overworks even more her unit, so at the end you need to restrain her and sugest that she should communicate more with her unit.

Ritsuko is quite happy with you teachings, and says that if is not by the Producer, her unit would not stand a chance in the finals.

RK wins the finals, and all the members call Ritsuko to do the encore together, since she is also a member of Ryuuguu Komachi. Since the game can't do 4 persons performances, they also call Mami and together do "Smoky Thrill" as a quintet.

IDOLM@STER 2 PS3

2011-12-05T20:43:00.000+01:00

I received the PS3 version of THE iDOLM@STER 2 a few days ago, after a long retention in customs. The odd thing is that when I ordered IM@S2 for Xbox it was also held in customs for almost a month...

The contents are:

Box to contain the all the 9 Blu-ray
Short novel Kotori Working by Takahashi Tatsuya (scenario writer of the original To Heart)
"I-Gra!!" magazine
Blu-ray vol. 1 (episodes 1 and 2) with the cd "Perfect Idol 01"
IM@S2 game soundtrack (includes all the BGM)
IM@S2 game
Gravure for You! vol. 1
Film strip
Postcards with the photos from the ending of episode 2

I'll enter in detail of the game, Gravure for You! and the blu-ray in future posts, so for now I'll only cover the rest.

Kotori Working explains Kotori's daily life in the office. Includes a few pages drawn by Minazuki Tooru (character designer of the original To Heart)

I-Gra!! is a mock idol magazine, much like the ViDaVo! magazine that came with iDOLM@STER Dearly Stars. Includes a photo session, interviews and a few manga pages.

The idols covered in this issue are Haruka and Iori.

And the film strip that I got have this scene of Kotori on the phone (and one ribbon of Haruka).

Fate/stay night volume 16

2011-11-24T19:16:00.000+01:00

And yet more manga, Fate/stay night volume 16 by Nishiwaki Datto.

Not really much to say. Still I don't like Nishiwaki's manly faces EVEN ON FEMALES, and I expected something new after the Caster arc (that was a mix between Fate and UBW routes), but now it clearly goes for the Fate route.

This volumes covers the first battle against Gilgamesh.

Even with Avalon, Shirou moving around with that cut was a bit too much...

Prisma Illya Volume 4 Limited Edition

2011-11-23T18:15:00.004+01:00

Today is the turn to review Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 2wei! volume 4 Limited Edition by Hiroyama Hiroshi, that was released in late September.

It includes a box (upper left), the volume 4 with alternate cover, a drama CD (that I didn't listened yet) and a Nendoroid Petit Illya.

Illya close up. Until I saw this figure, I never realized that Prisma Illya version of Illya have orange eyes instead of red...

It comes with an alternate face and Kaleido Ruby is detachable.

Since I don't have volumes 2 and 3, I'm a bit lost with the current events.

Illya, Kuro and Miyu birthday celebration at the beach.

Hot yuri action!

Newtype November '11

2011-11-22T17:21:00.000+01:00

Lately I don't have much time to update the blog, and the pending reviews are piling up...

I received Newtype November '11 issue at the same time I got the Young Ace, almost a month ago.

The issue main focus is Fate/Zero, but I bought it because it included a Weiss Schwarz card:

This is a PR card for the upcoming Fate/Zero Booster Pack

The contents about Fate/Zero are not really worth mentioning:

I watched the first 8 episodes in one go the last weekend. Ufotable is doing a pretty good job, so far faithfully adapting the novels.

There's also included an extra booklet called My Favorite Saber, with comments by the anime staff and voice actors about what they think about Saber as a character.

Is subdivided in a Carnival Phantasm section:

And a Fate/Zero section:

Saber Extra Arcade Prize by Sega

2011-11-08T19:37:00.004+01:00

One of the figures that I received months ago was this Saber Extra Arcade Prize by Sega.

Like other arcade prizes by Sega , the overall quality is low but reasonable since those figures are UFO catcher prizes that can be won if you are skilled for only 500 yen.

It was quite difficult to find because none of the usual webshops that I use had it in stock, so I ended buying it at Archonia, a Belgian webshop that I hardly use.

Like the figma Saber Extra, a couple of heads are included, Wada Rco styled and Takeuchi styled, but unlike the figma both faces are very similar and only noticeable when are one besides the other:

Wada Rco head.

Takeuchi head.

Side view

The skirt is not very translucent, but still very revealing:

Rear view. It seems like white, but is flesh colored and showing her butt crack.

Young Ace November '11

2011-11-07T18:38:00.002+01:00

To tell the truth, this is the first time I buy a Young Ace issue, and was only for the extra:

Young Ace November issue included a figure of Saber made by Kaiyodo and sculpted by Enoki Tomohide.

The figure is small (about 11 cm) and I really hate Tomohide previous works on Fate figures (revoltech and bust collection) because he sculpts the faces sorta chubby and with an excesive space between the eyes (like this one). Unexpectedly, this figure face is rather pleasant.

The questionable part of the figure is Caliburn; the hilt is badly bended and unpainted.

As for the magazine itself, I didn't follow any of the series so the only interesting part was the Fate/Zero chapter by Shinjiro:

I'm also buying next month issue (i. e. the issue released this month) because it will contain a Takeuchi drawn cheap clock featuring Saber, Iri and Ilya:

Carnival Phantasm 1st Season

2011-10-30T13:00:00.004+01:00

Received over a month ago but unable to do a proper review until now, Carnival Phantasm 1st Season, the OVA series that commemorates TYPE-MOON's 10th anniversary.

Carnival Phantasm, the limited edition book Catalogue and the Toranoana exclusive postcard.

The contents and all the leaflets. It includes both a dvd version and a Blu-ray version. Except for the floating menu in the blu-ray version, the contents are the same.

As every one knows, Carnival Phantasm is based in a couple of manga anthologies by Takenashi Eri called TAKE MOON that were released several years ago:

The episodes were rather nice and much more faithful to the original chapters than I expected. The biggest part in each of the four episodes included is actually a short story from the anthology:

Some minor characters that appeared in some of the stories were changed for the OVA for more popular and newer characters. For example, in the beach volleyball chapter Akira, Hanei and Souka were changed for Miyako and Sion (and Len doesn't play)
Some of the mini-gags are also faithfully based in the short stories, like Phantasmoon:

The Blu-ray it doesn't contains many extras besides the audio track "Teach me Ciel-sensei" written by Nasu itself that features Ciel-sensei and Neco-Arc loosely explaining the situations and characters on screen.

This is the floating menu in the blu-ray, featuring all the necos; the already old Neco-Arc and Neco-Arc Chaos plus the newly added Neco-Arc Bubbles (voiced by Ciel's VA Sakuma Kumi) and Neco-Arc Destiny (voiced by Caster's VA Tanaka Atsuko).

The limited edition extra, Concept, is an over 250 pages long artbook that compiles Takeuchi Takashi's illustrations in the last 10 years.

The format is rather small (is the same size of a dvd box) and 95 % of the contents already appeared in other media, but as a Takeuchi fan is definitely a must have and probably the best TYPE-MOON artbook available.

The contenst are divided in sections covering each franchise: Tsukihime, Melty Blood, Kara no Kyoukai, Fate/stay night, Fate/hollow ataraxia, Fate/stay night [Realta Nua], Fate others (Fate Zero, Unlimited Codes and EXTRA) and Others.

Some random photos:

Tsukihime illustrations from 2001-2002 period.

Usually each section contains a newly drawn pic. In Tsukihime section is the Arcueid to the left.

Melty Blood pictures.

Kara no Kyoukai

Fate/stay night newly drawn Saber to the left.

The Fate Others section

Fate Zero pictures from the drama cds

Thee others section includes the covers of the Vampire Wars novels.

CANAAN

Guest illustrations for Kannagi, Gainax (Fushigi no Umi no Nadia) and for the Tactics eroge Harem Party

B&W pictures used in stuff like Comic Market catalogs.

The 2nd season was released this week, so I expect my copy at the end of November...

Shin Seiki Evangelion volume 12

2011-10-16T11:08:00.002+02:00

Shin Seiki Evangelion volume 12 by Sadamoto Yoshiyuki was released in April, but I forgot to buy it until a while back.

This is the manga series that I'm following for the longest time. The first volume was released in 1995 and is still ongoing. Sadamoto finishes each volume in one or two years, so it advances really slow...

It was the first manga series that I bought in Japanese because I was not happy with the Spanish edition quality. Until now I bought all the volumes so far:

Those are the 12 volumes plus the limited editions of volume 7 (two types, Rei & Asuka versions) and the limited volume 9.

The story follows the End of Evangelion movie quite closely, but with some notable differences:

Badass Gendou using an AT-Field

Recovered Asuka against the JSDF

Misato's farewell

The volume finish with the battle against the Eva series.

Weiß Schwarz IDOLM@STER 2

2011-10-15T18:12:00.001+02:00

Received a while back, a Weiß Schwarz IDOLM@STER 2 booster pack box:

I'm missing 13 cards for a full set (not counting the always elusive promo and SR cards): 1, 3, 26, 29, 52, 53, 55, 71, 72, 76, 78, 84 and 85.

The SR card that I got was Makoto:

And also purchased Yukiho and Chihaya SR cards from the first series:

Now I'm only missing Hibiki, Makoto, Ritsuko and Azusa

For WS cards sales and trades, please visit this post!

Comic Market 80 doujinshi loot

2011-10-09T13:15:00.002+02:00

Late and brief review of C80 releases (and some Comitia releases as well) that I bought:

As usual, those are mostly works from the circles that I systematically follow. In detail:

T-Moon Complex X 07, keeping the excessively long Fate vs. Tsukihime crossover by Shirotsumekusa of circle Crazy Clover Club and Mado☆Magi Complex, an updated version of his previous work.
This time bonus is a shitajiki with Arcueid in one side and the T-Moon Complex cover in the other.

Konton Lady Studio Ryuu Soushuuhen from circle Konton Lady Studio, a compilation of IDOLM@STER works that are not part of their Super Kotori Time series.
Their released 2 compilations at the same time: Ryuu, this one, is focused in the works drawn by Tee and Tora, focused in the works of DIT. Sadly I was unable to find the other volume...

The works by Kikuta Kouji from circle King Revolver: Futanari Gohan (featuring futa Mami and Homura "playing" with a non-futa Madoka) Natsu No Bunny (featuring several characters in bunny outfits, but mostly Mami from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica), Summer Pudding (starring a yukata dressed Rider) and the copy-shi Serio-san to Ecchishiyou starring Serio.

Atsui Hi Daradara by Takemura Sessyu from the circle Chotto Dake Aru Yo., starring extremely lewd versions of Makoto and Miki staying at Producer's home.

Hijirin Yume Mousou and Mima-sama Yume Mousou by Tsukiwani of Circle Nurumaya.
When I was living in Japan I was strongly exposed to Touhou universe, but now my interest in it is quickly fading (I didn't play anything since Subterranean Animism). Besides that, Tsukiwani does exactly the same situation in every issue, and while it was fresh in the first ones, after 14 issues it's a bit repetitive...

And Enikki Recycle 16, the blog entries compilation of A1 (Initial-G) covering the second half of 2010. The omake booklet features Chihaya from IdolM@ster.

Recent game purchases

2011-09-23T14:37:00.002+02:00

Those are the games that I purchased (and finished) recently (and by "recently" I mean the past 3 months...):

Ace Attorney Investigations for the NDS and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for the PS3.

Ace Attorney Investigations is a spin-off of the Ace Attorney series starring the prosecutor Edgeworth, and taking place outside the court.

Is more in the vein of the Ace Attorney series than Apollo Justice, the fourth installment, and the cases are quite good. Despite that, I disliked the "friendly rival" Shi-Long Lang, and the main sidekick Kay Faraday was kinda boring and irritating. In fact, for me Edgeworth's best partner was Franziska von Karma, specially in her 13 year old appearance:

Cute young Franziska

Is not not the best game in the Ace Attorney series, but unlike Apollo Justice, is a worth sequel. Too bad that the second game starring Edgeworth is not coming to Occident...

And for Marvel vs. Capcom 3... I don't like it at all.
My brother and I play a lot of fighting games, mostly Capcom ones, and he was quite hyped for this one so at the end I purchased it, but it never was appealing for me for several reasons.
The first one is that, except for a very few exceptions, I don't like 3D visuals in fighting games. The second is that I dislike about a third of the cast represented. I don't like the recent Resident Evil games (the last one I liked was RE2) , Devil May Cry or the new Bionic Commando, so from the start I dislike 6 characters from the Capcom side (not counting the characters that "I can tolerate but I don't really like" like Zero or Crimsom Viper), and my knowledge of Marvel characters is mostly from the late 80's to mid 90's, so "new" characters like x-23 and Deadpool are pretty much unknown to me (and seemingly quite fan-service characters) and some old-school characters like Thor, MODOK or Dormammu are quite uninteresting... To compare, in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, with a bigger roster than MVC3, the only character that I disliked was Marrow.
And the 3rd reason is that I dislike the game mechanics, very different from the previous games from the series and with unnecesary gimmicks like the X-factor.
Worst of all is that a couple of weeks after I bought it, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 was announced Orz

Megami Magazine September '11

2011-09-20T13:03:00.001+02:00

And yet another magazine that I bought only for the extra, Megami Magazine September '11 issue.

This time I bought it because of a Weiß Schwarz promo card (and to a lesser degree, a iDOLM@STER drama cd included):

Angel's swimsuit! 765Pro

The rest of the magazine is not really very interesting.

A few iDOLM@STER pages covering the anime.

The upcoming THE iDOLM@STER 2 for PS3.

The Gravure4You! mini game included in the limited version and the seiyuu in their last live concert.

The cover and a few pages are dedicated to the anime of Steins;Gate. I played the trial version of it in the Xbox and I'm quite interested in it, but I didn't watch the anime.

The only TYPE-MOON related stuff in the whole magazine is this Carnival Phantasm mini poster.

Like last time I purchased this magazine, a Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica reversible long poster was included.

Swimsuit Sayaka in one side...

...and swimsuit Ryoko in the other.

Comptiq September '11

2011-09-13T19:05:00.003+02:00

Comptiq September '11 issue was released in August, and featured a very nice cover with Saber, Saber Alter and Saber Extra in swimsuits.

Over two years had passed since I bought a Comptiq issue. As I said in previous entries, I don't buy magazines issues unless it includes some juicy extra. In this case, it includes a super deformed figure of Saber from Fate/EXTRA.

The figure is part of the figure line niitengo by Toy's Works, and is clearly an attempt to emulate Good Smile Company's nendoroid puchi line.

Compared side to side with a nendoroid petit, the proportions are a bit different; niitengo's head is smaller and the body is a bit bigger.
Quality wise, the nendoroid have a much better paint job and sculpt and personally I find the nendoroid line cuter than the niitengo.

This issue was supposed to contain lots of TYPE-MOON related news because of it's 10th anniversary, but the actual contents are not really that much:

The already on sale first season of Carnival Phantasm. I expect my copy soon...

Fate/Zero TV series will begin on October.

And that's it.
The serialized manga includes:

Fate/Extra manga by Robina

HibiChika Time by Oomori Hayashi

Koha Ace by Keikenchi.

I knew this author for quite a while (his drawings are pretty unique) but this is the first time I read something by him.
In order to conmemorate the 10th anniversary of TYPE-MOON, Kohaku and Akiha leap back in time to the year 2003 and find the T-M characters of that time... In the picture, 2003 Satsuki is waiting for her route.
This is the 4th chapter and I missed the previous 3, so I hope they'll release a tankoubon of it.

EDIT: I have some pins designed by Keikenchi:

Those where extras included in some Kotobukiya's garage kits that I bought in 2003, that are among the very first TYPE-MOON items that I purchased. I'm quite an old time fan, aren't I?

1/10 Amami Haruka & Miura Azusa by Wave

2011-08-29T20:04:00.003+02:00

1/10 Amami Haruka and Miura Azusa by Wave were released in May and July respectively, but since both are from the same figure line (Beach Queens series) and both share the same origin (THE iDOLM@STER), I'll review them together.

Haruka is sculpted by Abira, who also did Takane figure. Includes a detachable swim tube and two interchangeable faces:

Normal face.

Winking face.

The overall figure is rather nice, and I like Abira's face sculpts with iM@S characters.
There's only a major flaw in the sculpt; the pose is leaning way too much to the front making it a likely candidate to bend the PVC and be a leaning figure.

Also this pose is not very photogenic outside the strictly front angle.

Rear shot.

Azusa sculpt is by Clumsy Zero, based in an official illustration by Annin Doufu:

It includes two faces, a normal one and a smiling with the eyes shut one. Perhaps the forehead and cheeks are a bit too wide in my opinion...

Normal face

Smiling face

The pareo is made of transparent rubber and can be detached.

And true to the character, she have a really nice body.

Rear shot.

Figma Ayanami Rei Plugsuit Ver. by Max Factory

2011-08-16T20:00:00.001+02:00

Received two months ago but unopened until today, figma Ayanami Rei Plugsuit Ver. by Max Factory.

Unlike the terrible disappointment that was figma Asuka, Rei doesn't have any fault in the sculpt, albeit as a figma is rather plain.

The accessories consist in three faces (neutral, angry and smiling), 11 hands (one of them holding Shinji's S-DAT player) and an Eva cockpit like the ones included with figma Asuka and figma Mari

Neutral face.

Unlike Mari and specially Asuka, the breast part have no problem this time.

Smiling face holding the S-DAT. Not really visible in the photo, but I received my copy with a profound scratch across her right eye.

Angry face.

And the cockpit.

And finally a rear shot. Her buttocks is not as nice as Asuka's or Mari's.

Fate/EXTRA Visual Fanbook

2011-08-03T13:59:00.003+02:00

Slowly filling the review list. I still have 8 figures unopened and 6 artbooks/guidebooks to do... In order of purchase the next is Fate/Extral Visual Fanbook, released back in February.

Unlike the disappointment that was Fate/EXTRA Perfect Guide, this artbook contains all the stuff I wanted, specially an extensive gallery section and early design and sketches for the characters.

The first part is the gallery section, filled with pictures from promotional material (mostly telecards). Most of them are by Wada Rco, with a few by Takeuchi.

Yuri overtoned picture of Saber and Rin.

Cute Caster and Rin.

The character bios section includes not only their stats but also the in-game character cuts:

Bio page for Saber.

It includes an extensive part filled with Takeuchi's initial designs. Most of them already appeared here.

Gawain and Lu Bu designs by Takeuchi

The info for the huke designed weapons. In the picture Lancer's Gae Bolg, Gawain's Excalibur Gallatin and Berserker's God Force.

The following part are a bunch of interviews, that I didn't take pictures of it because was mostly a wall of text.

Next is a gallery made by guest artists. Unlike the official art that most of the times includes either Saber, Caster or Rin, the characters here are pretty diverse:

Saber by AkaRingo

Caster & Alice by Fruit Punch

Leo and Gawain by Sumihei

The last part part includes a couple of short manga by Wada Rco (one of them already appeared in Type-Moon Ace 5) and a short novel called "Seven's feel".

Random page from the short manga.

IDOLM@STER 2 for PS3 announced

2011-07-21T16:03:00.003+02:00

Today THE iDOLM@STER 2 for PS3 was officially announced.

As I said when iM@S 2 was first announced, it was heavily implied that the franchise was going to do the leap to the PS3 (the PSP versions, the presence of iM@S related events and items in Playstation Home), but the surprise is that the release will be not roughly a year after the original release but in October 27th, exactly 7 months after the Xbox360 version. It seems that the sales where really that bad and Bandai Namco is leaving the sinking ship beforehand...

According to the info available and the entry from Famitsu, the four non playable girls (Ritsuko, Ami, Azusa and Iori) are still not produceable (at least not at first).

Songs, outfits, and accessories from the first 3 DLC catalogs from the Xbox version will be included in the disc, that means that the songs "Little Match Girl", "Honey Heartbeat" and "Ai Like Hamburger" will be available from the beginning, as well as the iM@S anime opening song "Ready!!". It seems that new outfits will be also available, since the pattern of the Floral type outfit used in the promo pic is new. Ah, and an extra difficulty will be selectable as well.

The anime opening song (and choreography)

The limited edition will be bundled with the first Blu-Ray of the iDOLM@STER anime, and also includes another disc with the game Gravure4You!, that allow you to take pictures of the idols in the beach. Is labeled as "Volume 1", so other volumes will also be released along other media.

The limited edition is quite expensive (19,800 yen) and is in essence the same game that I have, but most likely I'll buy it... The mind control power of IdolMaster sure is frightening.

iDOLM@STER 2 Official Guide Book

2011-07-17T09:25:00.002+02:00

Keeping with the delayed reviews, next is THE iDOLM@STER 2 Official Guide Book, released in March.

Despite the overly nice picture in the cover, this guidebook is awful, and the worst of it is that is the "official" one. I expected a book like iDOLM@STER SP Producer's Guide, but this is lacking all the aspects of a guidebook and is mostly a very bad photobook of sorts.

The first part is centered in each of the nine playable girls:

Basic profile with the official art. The quality of the pictures included is pretty bad (especially the Master Artist 2 one in the top left) with visible compression artifact.

Probably the best part of the book are the interviews with the voice actress, along a nice photo of each. In the picture Hara Yumi (Takane).

The last part consists in some screenshots from the game, a chart of how characters call each others and a bunch of random outfits displayed (changes for each idol). The screenshots from the outfits are taken directly from the game, with awful quality and badly jagged edges.

Ritsuko gets a summarized version, with only two pages...

...but Ryuugu Komachi girls doesn't have as much luck and all three are covered in only two pages.

The outfit and accesory gallery is a complete joke, badly organized, incomplete and again with jagged edges and compression artifact.

The last part that explains the game mechanics is pretty much the same information that appears in the instruction booklet from the game, using even the same graphics.

Overall a guidebook to avoid because not only is useless as a guide but also fails as artbook, character reference and pretty much anything.

Fate/stay night volume 15

2011-07-05T11:10:00.002+02:00

First of all, I broke my leg 3 weeks ago. I thought that the blog updates would be unaffected, but I was wrong so for now the blog updates will be fewer, shorter and about thing that are easy to take pictures of (mostly books).

So, the today is the turn of Fate/stay night volume 15 by Nishiwaki Datto.

As I said over and over, is not my favorite TYPE-MOON related manga, but is the only available with reasonable shipping costs at Hobby Link Japan, so every time I do an order there I purchase the latest volume of this manga as well.

This volumes includes the end of Caster in hands of Gilgamesh and up to the "date" between Saber and Shirou:

Doujinshi

2011-06-20T10:05:00.013+02:00

The latest batch of received doujinshi, mostly Comic Ichi releases:

Initial-G omake book released in the previous Comic1☆2
Itsumo no Yuukarin by Circle Nuruma-ya
Haru no Bunny by circle King Revolver
Mado Magi Complex by circle Crazy Clover Club
Senjou No Tsundere Senshachou by circle Lv. X+

Initial-G omake book is a short copy booklet with a few pin-up images of Miki and Azusa from IdolMaster.

Itsumo no Yuukarin is the latest work by Tsukiwani. Is his second non-ecchi work that was supposed to be released in the cancelled Reitaisei. The main character this time is Yuuka.

Cute ashamed Yuuka

Haru no Bunny is the last work by Kikuta from King Revolver, starring Valkyria Chronicles' Selveria in bunny outfit.

Mado Magi Complex is the first non-TYPE-MOON related doujinshi by Crazy Clover Club after a long, long time. Features mostly short gags featuring the Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica girls.

Mami is not longer alone. I really like his works the best when he doesn't try to be serious.

And Senjou No Tsundere Senshachou by Yuzuki N', a Valkyria Chronicles 3 starring Rydia. In a semi-related note, VC3 is not being released outside Japan, so I'll buy the Japanese version once is re-released as budget version.

Tsuki no Sango

2011-06-15T18:12:00.002+02:00

Tsuki no Sango is a story by Nasu Kinoko for the Sakamoto Maaya's Full Moon Recital Hall, a weird project organized by the Japanese online magazine Saizensen that consist in Sakamoto reading short novels in a theater along with the airing of a short animation movie in the background.

The first one this series of recitals, Tsuki no Sango (Moon's coral), was held in December 21th and was aired live via Ustream:

The short movie features drawings by Takeuchi Takashi and Aikura Chihiro and was animated by studio ufotable.

The story takes place in aproximately the year 3000, when the humankind arrived at his civilization peak but is loosing it's will to keep living, and talks about a girl living in a small island with a shinning coral reef that is descendent of Moon people, and how supposedly her ancestor came to Earth. Ok, is more complicated than that, but the overall plot is that and as a very brief summary kinda works.

At the event hall a visual booklet was sold, that features the novel, illustrated by Takeuchi and Aikura:

Is rather short, only 42 pages, and most of the illustrations are landscapes and starry skies, but features some close up of the characters.

The girl that lives in the small island, called "princess" by the 50 person colony that lives with her.

Shingetsutan Tsukihime Clair de Lune

2011-06-14T16:26:00.000+02:00

Shingetsutan Tsukihime Illustration Anthology Clair de Lune was originally released almost a year ago, at Comic Market 78, but it was not until a few weeks ago that I finally purchased it.

It was released as a tribute to the ending of the manga version of Shingetsutan Tsukihime.
Its a 34 pages long book featuring illustrations from 30 artists, ranging from profesional mangakas and illustrators to obscure and not so obscure doujinshi artists. Some random pages:

Arcueid by mangaka Kouga Yun

Arcueid by Shingetsutan Tsukihime manga author Sasaki Shounen

Ciel by Ar Tonelico illustrator Nagi Ryou

Arcueid by the mangaka Fujima Takuya

Shingetsutan Tsukihime goods

2011-06-13T12:32:00.000+02:00

Some weeks ago I bought at Yahoo! Auctions a set of some Shingetsutan Tsukihime goodies:

The set consisted in:

A mini cushion (formerly an extra in an Animage issue)
An incomplete set of trading cards made by Movic
Shingetsutan Tsukihime Settei Shiryou Shuu artbook
A couple of clear file folders

The set of cards includes 17 cards, 6 of them special ones:

Shingetsutan Tsukihime Settei Shiryou Shuu is the collection of setting materials for the anime, released by Movic in 2004.

Setting for Arcueid.

The book includes settings for the characters (full body and facial expressions), items and locations.

Loli Akiha

Is less than 100 pages long, but only one side is printed. It doesn't includes any color page.

Nanatsu knife.

Tohno mansion entrance.

And this is what I bought in another auction, but I received in the same package:

A Melty Blood Act Cadenza telephone card featuring Arcueid and Neco-Arc.

Weiß Schwarz IDOLM@STER 2 Trial Deck

2011-06-13T11:55:00.000+02:00

Received a few days ago, Weiß Schwarz IDOLM@STER 2 Trial Deck:

The trial deck exclusive cards are 5: "Unit Member Yukiho""Unit Member Miki", "Unit Member Yayoi" and "Old School Idol! Haruka" in the third row and the climax card "A Day at 765Pro" in the last row.

IDOLM@STER 2 Booster Pack will be available at the end of August.

And I also received a PR card that I ordered months ago:

"Chibi Rin" was a prize for winning one of the Schwarz Cup Tournaments instead of just participate in it, so it's really rare (and expensive). Now I have all the Fate PR cards.

iDOLM@STER 2 over

2011-06-12T00:08:00.006+02:00

I'm completely over with iDOLM@STER 2, I cleared all the 9 girls with the true endings and I got all the items available.

The stories are not as bad as I expected after finishing my first play-through, but overall I prefered the ones in the first game. And unlike the SP version that had an extra epilogue once you finished all the girls, in this game you only receive an e-mail from Takagi saying that you are a true idol master.

I redid Yukiho and Haruka parts to get the true endings. The true end addition to Haruka story, is that once you return everybody is talking how great Haruka is as a leader, and once you meet with her, she and the Producer almost do a love confession each other.
In the addition to Yukiho ending, her self composed song becomes a hit and sings all of it for you. Before going to Hollywood, she said that once you return she will reveal a secret and the Producer jokingly says "maybe is that you're in love with me?". Yukiho replies that that is not a secret, and the secret is that when she first sang half of the song was because it was unfinished.

In Mami story, she and Ami became different idols in order to see who becomes a top idol and get a boyfriend first. Since Mami was nominated in the IU Awards and Ami not, she lies and says she got a boyfriend, causing Mami to almost leave the idol business. At the end they get in good terms again and forget about boyfriends for now.

In the true ending part, they won an audition and will debut in a Hollywood movie, dragging the just arrived Producer with them.

Makoto wants to be even more cute and femenine, and trains everyday for it. At the end, she feels somewhat empty, and with the encouragement of the Producer she realizes that she wants to become not only cute but also strong.

At the true end she attacks the Producer for helping a foreign blonde and apologizes for it. She became stronger, but still wants the Producer at her side to "protect" her.

Hibiki reason for keep so many animals is because she feels lonely. She was determined to not to keep in touch with her family or her Okinawan friends until she becomes a top idol, but at the end realizes that she needs her family and friends to become a better idol.

At the true end, Hibiki returned to Okinawa and is helping some neighbours with the touristic business, and since the idol unit is on hold until her return, the Producer goes to help as well.

Yayoi is optimist and doing her best despite the extra stress of being the unit leader and to be in charge of her little brothers and sister. When Iori, her rival but also her best friend, loses the nomination to the IA Awards she becomes kinda depressed, but with the help of the Producer (that becomes her "older brother") she return to her good spirits mood again.

In her true ending, she is competently self producing the unit, adding all the girls from 765Pro to her unit as well, but is glad that all the members of her "family" are at last together.

Results and stats:

In my last play with Yayoi I got all S rank.

The status page. I'm around the 300th place in the total fan ranking and in the 33th place in the hi-score ranking for the song "Megare!"

All the girls evenly produced.

Now the only think to do is to play with the Stage 4 You! mode. Some of the photos that I took:

"Kyun! Vampire girl" is the only song that I purchased so far, along with the vampire costume.

As can be seen in a previous post, I like the Candy Lady extended dress, that gives a very Sakura Taisen feeling to Takane.

Azusa and Takane in the Angel Swuimsuit extended outfit. Almost all the photos that I have stored in the game have Takane on it...

1/7 Saber Alter ~Vortigern~ by Good Smile Company

2011-05-31T18:34:00.002+02:00

Keeping with figure reviews the next one is 1/7 Saber Alter ~Iron Hammer of the Terrible King (Vortigern)~ by Good Smile Company.

It shares the same scale and overall feeling of the other big scaled Saber's released, 1/7 Saber and the 1/7 Saber Lily also by Good Smile Company. Like the other two, there was a special care for the base, this time representing the insides of the cave where fought against Shirou and Rider.

The sculpt is by Hiroshi (circle Sakurazensen), that did the extra face for Gift's Sakura. This time I can't complain about the face, since is pretty nice, but I prefer the sculpt jobs of Tokunaga Hironuki or Kawahara Takayuki.

As usual with Saber Alter, the visor is included. I'm not really fan of it.

The pose is very dynamic, catching Saber in the middle of an attack.

Rear shot.

Another version of the dark Excalibur is included to do the dark beam of light attack.

Compared with the normal version of it is really massive and is one of the "charm points" of the figure, but for me it looks like a giant feather duster instead of a sword...

1/8 Matou Sakura -Makiri's Grail- by Gift

2011-05-25T19:48:00.005+02:00

After a delay of several years, 1/8 Matou Sakura -Makiri's Grail- by Gift was finally released.

Dark Sakura was sculpted by Toda Satoshi (circle Yume No Kagutsuchino Koukoku), that already did Saber and Saber Alter, and the upcoming Saber Lily and Saber Extra.

There are few scaled figures of Sakura, and this is the first one in her dark form.

As usual in Toda's sculpts, the body is very detailed, with a semi-transparent effects in Sakura's clothes-tentacles and the marks all across her body.

Side view. Those white marks seem a bit out of place but are supposed to be there.

Back shot.

The other characteristic in Toda's sculpts are the realistic faces, so usually the body is gorgeous but for me the face is a let down. This is not the case with Sakura, that even with the realistic style it looks rather nice.

Like the previous Saber by Gift, includes an alternate face made by another sculptor, this time Hiroshi from circle Sakurazensen. I usually display Toda's figures with the alternate face, but this time the normal one is much better than this yandere-looking alternate.

The big point of this figure is that can be displayed with Saber Alter. Part of Sakura base is removable, and Saber Alter's base includes 3 pegs to attach Sakura base. Since both were sculpted as a pair, they look great together!

Saber Alter was released by Solid Theather, who went bankrupt, and later re-released by Movic. Sakura was at first announced by Solid Theather, and took several years until it found a new publisher in Gift.

As can be seen, Sakura's hand was sculpted specificaly to be displayed as a pair with Saber Alter.

The Wonder Festival limited edition Saber Alter have the same base, so can be displayed together as well.

1/8 Dizzy by Alter

2011-05-24T19:40:00.002+02:00

It's been quite a bit since I received a scaled figure, but it seems that all the ones that I had ordered are either released this month or June, so I'll reviewing figures for a while...
The first one is 1/8 Dizzy by Alter.

I was waiting for a good Dizzy figure for a long time because is one of my favorite characters. Surprisingly, for a such good looking character there are very few figures of her. The only PVC figure released until now was based in her Queen's Gate appearance, that I don't like at all.

Sculpted by Yagyu Toshiyuki, this is by far the best Dizzy figure that I have seen, even counting garage kits.
It was a miracle that such a great figure was made, now that Guilty Gear franchise is almost dead (the last game released, Guilty Gear 2, was a failure and Arc System lost the rights of the series and is now focused in BlazBlue). So why release a figure of a series that had his popularity peak long ago and there are no plans for new games? I don't know, but I'm really glad for it.

The sculp and paint job are both superb and catches Dizzy's shy personality perfectly.

Both her wings are nicely detailed. Necro is pretty heavy and makes the overall stability of the figure a bit off.

Undine paint job is excelent, too.

I used to paint garage kits, and paint a character with several hues of the same color is really troublesome. God bless the person who invented the pre-painted PVC figures!

Back shot. I didn' expected Dizzy to be a no-pan character!

Fate/complete material III - World material.

2011-05-10T19:29:00.004+02:00

The last review that I had in my "to do" list is Fate/complete material III World material., that was released in November and I received quite a while ago.

This is the 3rd book in the Fate/complete material set, focused in the settings for the world of Fate/stay night.

I tought it would be a forgettable book filled with the kind of information that the fans loves to discuss and made flame wars about it (and actually happened at Beast's Lair) but it also includes the new images made for Réalta Nua, so it kind of redeems the book for me.

I hate when the followers of a series tries to overanalize every single piece of information and rages when new information emerges contradicting a previously established fan speculation, and Fate fans seems really prone to do this... Really, for me is more important to see compiled all the new Réalta Nua CG than know if Shirou is able to replicate Excalibur or not...

Anyways, moving to the contents:

The first part is an explanation of the Holy Grail mechanics and the summon system.

A complete timeline, before and after the events of Fate.

And again each servant bio, this time more centered in their abilities and weapons.

The explanation of how magic works.

A compilation of background scenery and locations from Fuyuki. In the picture, Tohsaka's residence that I visited in real life.

A Nasu Kinoko FAQ answering several questions.

The rest of the book is thankfully all artwork, focused in the additions for Réalta Nua:

The infamous dragon scene that replaced the mana transfer between Saber and Shirou both in Réalta Nua and in the anime.

Newly drawn scene is Saber's route.

Rin's summoning scene.

The Rider induced dream in Rin's route, featuring yuri action between Rin and Ayako.

The newly drawn character cuts.

The next part is promotional artwork that not appeared in the previous two books:

Dekgeki Playstation magazine cover.

The cover for a Newtype extra booklet called Arts & Words and a Saber shikishi.

Rin and Archer illustration used in a telephone card.

Since the post lacks of Sakura presence, here is her picture for a trading cards collection.

And the last few pages includes the images from the new epilogue:

"Yes... welcome back, Shirou"

IDOLM@STER stuff

2011-05-08T21:47:00.001+02:00

And yet more iDOLM@STER stuff.

I finished iDOLM@STER 2 with Miki. Her story is so-so; she takes Producer's words as a proposal and becomes all lovey-dovey with you. I don't really like her that much.

In her true end she follows you to Hollywood and wants to live together.

I also re-did Takane story to get her true ending. The addition to her good ending is that she is waiting for you at the airport. Is a good addition to her ending.
Now I'm missing the stories of Mami, Yayoi, Makoto and Hibiki.

At eBay I bought THE iDOLM@STER and THE iDOLM@STER Live For You!

I bought non-Platinum ones (yep, I care for those kind of things).

I only played L4U! for a day and I already obtained all the achievements. Compared with IM@S 2 the visuals are somewhat ugly because is not in HD...

And I bought some IM@S Weiß Schwarz cards: Mami, Iori, Miki, Takane, Yayoi and Haruka SP cards.

Now I'm missing 6 (not counting Kotori card, that I don't want because it have the same picture than the normal one).

And I also bought the first promo card for the upcoming IM@S 2 booster:

The blank spaces are already reserved for the upcoming cards from the IM@S 2 Trial Deck, that I have reserved.

Megami Magazine April '11

2011-04-28T19:04:00.000+02:00

Another magazine that I bought only for the extra, Megami Magazine April '11 issue.

The wanted extra was a Weiß Schwarz promo card:

"New challenge! 765 Pro" card, using iDOLM@STER anime designs.

The other extra was a reversible long poster:

Swimsuit Madoka from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica...

..and swimsuit loli-Nanoha from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

As always the magazine includes lots of small posters of scantly clad anime women:

Sexy Homura, the same picture of the cover. She's my favorite character from the series.

iDOLM@STER poster featuring Hibiki, Miki and Haruka in maid uniform.

And the rest of the magazine is not really interesting, since Megami tends to be a massive pin-up collection of recent anime, most of them I don't even follow.

The only interesting thing is the character designs for iDOLM@STER anime.

Newtype March '11

2011-04-27T18:04:00.005+02:00

More delayed reviews, this time Newtype March '11 issue:

As I said previously, I rarely buy magazines unless it have a nice extra or groundbreaking news. The reason of this purchase was the former, because it contains this clear folder:

A Takeuchi drawn clear folder featuring Saber, Arcueid, Shiki and both Neko-Arcs.

There is another clear folder included featuring Index, Mikoto and Kuroko from To Aru Majutsu no Index. I didn't watched the anime or read the novels, but maybe I'll give it a try since the Misaka Sisters are kinda similar to Serio...

The magazine contents are the usual entries about current and soon-to-come anime. Worth of mention are:

Fate/Zero anime adaptation. The airing date will be this year.

Kiritsugu and his voice actor Koyama Rikiya.

I didn't mentioned before, but iDOLM@STER will also have an anime adaptation! This time the story will follow the games, unlike the aberration that was the mecha filled Xenoglossia...
No date yet.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica was the only anime I watched this season (not counting Fireball Charming). It was a great series, and if is not by Aoki Ume's character designs (that I don't really like much) this anime would be in my top ten...

And a Carnival Phantasm poster. No new info, just this poster.

Doujinshi loot

2011-04-26T17:10:00.004+02:00

This is a really late review of the doujinshi received in early march:

Most of them are c79 releases from the authors I follow.

In detail:
Kikuta Kouji works (circle King Revolver): Mata Rider-san ni Nukareteru (Rider), Dopyu! to Atsumare Hana no Power (Cure Sunshine from HeartCatch PreCure!), Oppai Kikou (Selvaria from Valkyria Chronicles) and BunnyHo, featuring bunny versions of Rider and Saizaki Minori from the manga Hokenshitsu no Shinigami.

Milk Angels 1 by Kakyouin Chiroru from circle Kuro Yuki. Is the follow up of his previous titles Milk Hunters and Milk Masters, but this time moving on to the cast of Fresh Precure!

Enikki Recycle 15 compilation of A1 (Initial-G) blog entries and the bonus book Ryuugu Komachi de Dokki Doki, featuring short haired Asuza and Iori from iM@S 2 plus a 3 pages collaboration by Nekoi Mii featuring Miki.

Tsukiwani from Circle Nuruma-ya works; Dai-chan Yaku Mousou, featuring Daiyousei, Rumia and Keine and his first non-ero work Alice no Tanjoubi, starring Alice and Marisa.

T-Moon Complex EX, the latest work by Shirotsumekusa of circle Crazy Clover Club, a bonus calendar and the 4 pages omake book Arcueid Complex 0.1.

This time he didn't had enough time to do his Fate vs. Tsukihime crossover, and did a gag doujinshi of Fate/EXTRA instead. I'm glad about it, because he's much better at gag situations.

Yuzuki N' (circle Lv. X+) stuff. A doujin based in her commercial work Another World called Another Another World and the C79 releases: the Amagami books Watashi no Itoshi no Wanko-kun (featuring Ayatsuji Tsukasa and Morishima Haruka), Soen Rihoko (starring Sakurai Rihoko) and the short and Valkyria Chronicles 3 centered Omake no Rakugaki Hon.

Super Kotori Time Soushuuhen Vol. 1 from circle Konton Lady Studio. This circle is formed by two artists Tee (drawings) and DIT (story) and is focused in IDOLM@STER works. They have another circle, Chaotic Otome Studio, for their non-ero and non-IM@S works.
This is the compilation of their previous works, starring Otonashi Kotori having erotic delusions with the IM@S girls. Tee drawings are really good and his works was in my wishlist for a while, so this compilation was an instant buy.

Takemura Sessyu works from the circle Chotto Dake Aru Yo. I knew the author for his commercial work Take on Me, but it was his first IDOLM@STER doujinshi that caught my attention. Haruka to Chihaya to Producer is, as the name suggest, a competent story about Haruka, Chihaya and Producer. The girls act a bit bitchy for my tastes, but the drawings are good looking. And totally not expected, X is a futanari orgy with Ryo as the special guest. I can tolerate futa in very small doses, so I'm not sure if I want to keep buying Takemura's works...

And Mahou Shoujo Soushuuhen 2 by RAITA from circle Zettai Shoujo. I already bought the previous compilation in 2006, and I patiently awaited for this.
Mahou Shoujo is an original story about a series of magical girls fighting sex fiends. As usual, RAITA's drawings are great and keeps improving.

Sasaki, the main heroine, in her first appearance (2003).

And this is Sasaki most recent design.

More iDOLM@STER 2

2011-04-19T18:53:00.002+02:00

I finished THE iDOLM@STER 2 three more times since my previous post.

My second playthrough was with Yukiho. Unlike Takane, her story is pretty good. She overcomes her fears and becomes more confident. At the end, she sings a self composed song called "First Step".

Since I got her good ending and not the true one, she only sang half of the song and she will finish it when the Producer returns from Hollywood.

Third playthrough with Chihaya. Her story was also good, taking aside the miraculous recovery of her throat injury thanks to the spirit of her deceased little brother that appears in form of a swallow (??).

I managed to get the true ending, that ends with the Producer going to the brother's gravestone, thanking him and asking permission to take Chihaya to Hollywood.

The third playthrough was with Haruka. She screws an audition versus Jupiter team due overwork, but at the end she becomes a great leader. Somewhat boring story...

I did a serious scheduling mistake and was unable to win one of the special festivals, so I got the good ending, when you promises her that you'll return and become her Producer again.

I got an A rank with Yukiho and S rank with Haruka and Chihaya.

So far, my best results with Chihaya.

Most likely I'll do one more entry about the game once I completely finish it.

Kara no Kyoukai Ongaku Shuu

2011-04-18T20:31:00.001+02:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. As expected, I'm using all my free time to play iDOLM@STER 2.
I received this at the same I received the game, so I almost had forgotten that I bought it.

Kara no Kyoukai Ongaku Shu (music collection) is the first commercially available cd containing the BGM of the Kara no Kyoukai movies. The tracks were already available in the cd included in the limited edition dvd's but this is the first time sold as a stand alone.

It contains 2 discs, with a total of 18 tracks. It seems like way too few to contain all the movies, and the reason is that most of them are a medley of all the music for each movie and are around 10-15 minutes long each one.

Weiss Schwarz collection update 2

2011-03-29T18:22:00.003+02:00

A very short entry. Today I received the last 3 Weiß Schwarz cards I ordered, plus the 27 that I received last week:

With this, my collection status is:

THE iDOLM@STER: Now I have all the promo cards. I'm still missing 12 SR cards.

Fate stay/night: Now I have all the promo cards besides the Chibi Rin promo card, that I have already ordered. Missing 3 triple rares and 3 SR.

Fate hollow/ataraxia: Now I have all the foil versions and all the promo cards. Completed!

Melty Blood: All the 100 from the booster and all the promo cards. Missing 3 SP and one SR.

For WS cards sales and trades, please visit this post!

iDOLM@STER 2 clear

2011-03-26T21:21:00.003+01:00

Just finished my first play-through of THE iDOLM@STER 2.

My unit after winning the IA Grand Prix.

The story sections are way too few. There are only 5 story related events with your group leader, only two festivals against Ryuugu Komachi team and Jupiter rival unit doesn't appear until very late in game, completely centered in Touma and forgetting the other two.

The event parts barely develops the characters. In the first game you need to do several communications to get enough memories to do the memory appeal in the auditions. This time it was completely changed; now the events raises the overall number of appeals you can do in the auditions, and those are automatically refilled. This makes the events less necessary and since the the gameplay is now focused in the auditions, the story part is now secondary and actually worse than the first game.

Takane's story was a bit disappointing, mostly being Takane being flirted by a rich middle aged man. Her personality was changed a bit, too. She is unable to understand casual speak or foreign words, and easily gets offended due to this. I got the good ending but it wasn't as heartwarming as I expected... I hope the other girls have better stories.

Lovely swimsuit Takane.

Since until now I played the PSP version, I find the visuals incredible, and there are a pretty nice added things, like the girls able to send you pictures via the mobile phone.

Chihaya send me only 5 e-mails, and 3 of them had pictures attached (Takane send 37, and only 2 with pictures).

There's also the nice effect that now the girls wears winter and summer clothing, and changes the outfits pretty often for the events.

Takane in kimono! This sure is a future DLC.

And my status post game:

I managed to get the first position in the sales chart, but my hi-score was rather low and I ended with a B rank.

Now I'll begin my second play-through with Yukiho as the leader. Her new voice by Asakura Azumi is very similar to Hase Yurina's one, and only sounds weird in certain songs, like "Kosmos, Cosmos"

And for those curious, this is my Xbox gamertag:

iDOLM@STER 2

2011-03-23T18:39:00.006+01:00

After a long struggle with myself, I purchased an Xbox 360 to play THE iDOLM@STER 2. I purchased it in the release date (late February) but received it today after a really long delay in customs.

The limited version of the game comes with a numbered ID card, 4 "photos" of the idols, 2 Weiss Schwarz cards and the download code for the song "Little Match Girl".

The Xbox bundle extra is a little box with a 8 GB USB memory with all the iM@S2 promo videos and a download code for iDOLM@STER: Live For You! that seems unavailable to download outside Japan T_T

And since I bought it at AmiAmi, the shop exclusive is a playing card set:

Too bad that all the suits have the same pictures...

It also includes paper money to play the game Yayoi no u'uh! Daifugou.

I'm only in week 3, producing Takane (leader), Yukiho and Chihaya:

At last I'm playing an HD iM@S game!

Don't expect new entries for at least a week...

Fate Unlimited Blade Works guidebook and pamphlet

2011-03-21T20:27:00.006+01:00

Two more items that I received in the last loot, and both related to the Unlimited Blade Works movie:

Gekijouban Fate/stay night UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS Koushiki Guidebook, released on February by Kadokawa Shoten, is the official guidebook for the movie. The other is the theatrical pamphlet sold at theaters while the movie was airing.

The Official guidebook begins with a gallery section:

Pictures used in magazines, using the re-designs for the anime by Ishihara Megumi (Club40).

Some of them were drawn exclusively for this book, like this one by Makita Yoshinobu.

A summary of the movie.

Characters profiles.

The only setting in this book are for the background, not the characters.

There are a quite extensive part with staff interviews:

Long interview with the voice actors Suwabe Jun'ichi (Archer) and Ueda Kana (Rin)...

...Sugiyama Noriaki (Shirou) and Kawasumi Ayako (Saber)

A summary of the TV episodes.

A short list of Fate related merchandise.

And a message from TYPE-MOON with an exclusive picture by Takeuchi Takashi.

Theatrical pamphlets are always available for anime movies. Those are sold at the theaters in the first weeks of the movie airing and usually features thumbnails, summaries, character profiles, interviews and a ton of merchandise advertising . This one is not an exception, is a short 30-pages pamphlet with nothing really outstanding.

Several pages are a collage of screen shots from the movie.

Characters profiles.

It also features short interviews with Nasu, Yamaguchi Yuuji (director) and the voice actors Sugiyama, Kawasumi, Ueda and Suwabe and a small glossary of terms.

The theatrical pamphlets are not really worth the purchase, so are more a memento than anything else. The only thing that I made me purchase it is that the first print contained an exclusive Weiss Schwarz promo card, and like the Dream Symphony cd's, is easier and cheaper purchase the item than included the card than purchase the single card.

"Always graceful" Rin

Mahou Tsukai no Hako C79 set

2011-03-18T20:31:00.003+01:00

More merchandise released at Comic Market 79, this time the Mahou Tsukai no Hako C79 set.

The set consist in an exclusive paper bag, a box (since "hako" means box, all the Mahou Tsukai no Hako sets were "boxed"), a calendar, a booklet and the main dish: a Nendoroid Puchi set.

The Nendoroid Petit versions of Hibiki, Keitan-san and Chikagi.

The small booklet. Hibiki and Chikagi are quite sexy there...

It includes an explanation of how the Nendoroids were done.

A small manga by Oomori Hayashi, that is serializing HibiChika Time.

Guest illustrations by CHAN×CO and Haizumi Natsuki (circle Chabashira Kikaku). I never mentioned before, but the blond girl that tags along with Hibiki and Chikagi from time to time is called Sunao, a classmate pretty obsessed with Chikagi.

The pictures of the calendar were originally exclusive contents made by guest artists for the Mahou Tsukai no Hako website for mobile phones. Some of the pics already appeared in the C78 set and the C77 set.

February entry by Oomori Hayashi.

May entry by Robina.

December entry by Higurashi Ryuji. His ability to mimic Takeuchi's style is still awesome.

Kara no Kyoukai: Satsujin Kousatsu (Go) E-conte Shuu & Genga Shuu

2011-03-15T21:20:00.001+01:00

After the Touhoku earthquake and tsunami I lost the will to update the blog. This entry was scheduled for the Friday 11th, but I postponed it in the last minute because I found very frivolous to speak casually about Japan subculture when a catastrophe like that shocked the country. Today I'm resuming the activity, and I'm publishing the entry as was supposed to appear.

Today is the turn of the 7th Kara No Kyoukai movie E-conte Shuu & Genga Shuu.

Kara no Kyoukai Satsujin Kousatsu (Go) E-conte Shuu is the storyboard for the movie. Since the movie is quite long, the storyboard is pretty thick, like the one for Mujun Rasen movie.

Beginning of the fight between young Shiki and Araya.

Meeting of Shiki and Kokutou at the end of the movie.

Kara no Kyoukai Satsujin Kousatsu (Go) Gengashuu, again like the gengashuu for Mujun Rasen, was also released in two volumes. Like usual, consist in a selection of key illustrations and a and a flip-book part.

Nude Shiki! Is the shower scene without the steam...

Kokutou and Touko.

The ending sequence.

Flip-book scene of angry Azaka taking off the coat.

Shiki against the hoodlums.

The "wet scene" of Lio. Without color, Shiki and Lio really seems the same person...

Fate/stay night and Prisma Illya Manga

2011-03-10T19:49:00.006+01:00

I updated my TYPE-MOON manga collection purchasing all the volumes that I was still missing at Hobby Link Japan. Sadly, only Fate/stay night and Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma☆Illya 2wei! are available.

The volumes 11 to 14 of Fate/stay night by Nishiwaki Datto covers the battle against Berserker. As I said over and over, this is the TYPE-MOON manga that I dislike the most.

Shirou and the "dragon sex" scene.

Stereotypical nude encounter in the bathroom.

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prism☆Illya 2wei! by Hiroyama Hiroshi is the sequel of the previous Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya manga. It was released over a year ago and right now the volume 3 is on sale, but only the first volume is available at HLJ.

Illya and Kuro first encounter.

iDOLM@STER Dream Symphony

2011-03-09T16:41:00.000+01:00

I received two large shipments, too large to take a single shoot of the complete loot, so I'll review the contents right away.

Among the things that I purchased, there are the 4 singles for THE iDOLM@STER Dearly Stars NDS game, the Dream Symphony series. One is for the main theme "HELLO!", and the other 3 are focused on each idol: Mizutani Eri (Hanazawa Kana), Akizuki Ryo (Sanpei Yuuko) and Hidaka Ai (Tomatsu Haruka).

To tell the truth, I bought those only for the Weiss Schwarz promo cards, because weirdly enough it was more expensive to buy each card alone than buy the CD with the card included:

Dream Symphony 00 contains the m@ster version (i.e. extended version) of "HELLO!" sung by the trio and "Happeace", plus the karaoke versions of them. "HELLO!" is a pretty nice song and the main theme in iM@S DS. "Happeace" is good, but forgettable.

Dream Symphony 01 - Precog is Eri's single. Contains the m@ster version of "Precog", "Crossword" and the m@ster versions of "Mahou wo Kakete", "Omoide wo Arigatou" and "HELLO!" sung only by Eri, plus the karaoke version of "Precog" and "Crossword" and a drama bonus track. "Precog" was the last song in Eri scenario and is really good. In the other hand, "Crossword" is a rather mediocre song.

Dream Symphony 02 - Dazzling World is Ryo's single. Contains the m@ster version of "Dazzling World", "Himitsu no Sangoshou" and the m@ster versions of "Agent Yoru wo Yuku", "shinny smile" and "HELLO!" Ryo solo, plus the karaoke versions of "Dazzling World" and "Himitsu no Sangoshou" and a drama bonus track. Again, "Dazzling World" was the last song in Ryo's story and is also very good. "Himitsu no Sangoshou" is also good, so out of the 4 cd's this is the best.

Dream Symphony 03 - Alive is Ai's single. Contains the m@ster version of "ALIVE", "Hanamaru" and the m@ster versions of "Watashi wa Idol", "GO MY WAY!!" and her solo version of "HELLO!", plus the karaoke versions of "ALIVE" and "Hanamaru" and a drama bonus track. Story-wise "ALIVE" was the hit song of Hidaka Mai (Ai's mother) and her last song. Is a slow ballad, that I personally hate (except for a few exceptions, I don't like iM@S slow songs). "Hanamaru" is a bit better, but I don't like Ai's hyperactive voice when singing it.

Canaan Official Fanbook

2011-03-08T17:11:00.000+01:00

Canaan Official Fanbook was also released in February '10 by Ichijinsha.

Is mostly a compilation of pictures and a episode digest, but is the only easily available artbook for CANAAN, and considering there's no word for the movies announced, this may be the last piece of merchandise related to that anime (not counting the ongoing manga).

The gallery section is quite extensive, and covers most of the pictures that appeared on magazines and advertisements.

This time there are works by Takeuchi in the gallery. In terms of fidelity to the original Takeuchi's designs, CANAAN is the closest from all the TYPE-MOON anime adaptations.

Even the fan-service pictures are somewhat in-character.

The pictures used to promote and model the 1/8 Canaan and the 1/8 Alphard figures by Good Smile Company.

Setting material for the anime. The ones on the upper left are the ones used in the bonus chapter of 428 ~Fuusa Sareta Shibuya De~.

Summary for each episode...

...with special "pick-up moments" for the key scenes. Poor Liang Qi...

Opening with the storyboard.

And finally some interview with the cast. In the photo, Sawashiro Miyuki (voice of Canaan) and Nanjou Yoshino (Maria).

And Sakamoto Maaya (Alphard seiyuu).

The other side of the cover features Alphard as well.

Tohsaka Rin Shashin Shuu

2011-03-07T18:29:00.002+01:00

Tohsaka Rin Shashin Shuu or Rin Tohsaka Portraits in it's official English name, is an artbook released in February '10 focused exclusively in the anime version Rin.

This is actually the second atrbook released. The first one was for Saber (I did an entry about it two years ago) and was pretty much the same; a collection of pin-ups drawn by several artist (except Takeuchi).
For some reason Ichijinsha books are hard to keep open, so forgive my fingers in the borders of the following pictures.

Most of the pictures came from magazines, and features the anime version of Rin in all sort of situations.

Usually, Rin depictions in the book are rather out of character...

..or directly slutty.

There is a scarce section with setting materials for the anime.

And a brief summary of events from the anime with Tohsaka actively participating.

Included, there's 7 bromide with pictures from the book.

As I said with Saber Shashin Shuu, this artbook in not recommended at all, unless you are like me and keep collecting TYPE-MOON merchandise no matter how shitty it is.

Type-Moon Ace 6

2011-02-27T14:36:00.009+01:00

Type-Moon Ace Vol. 6 was released last December, and featured the guidelines of TYPE-MOON related projects for the year 2011. Since this magazine is 2 months old, every piece of information has already been discussed everywhere.

Fate/Zero will be getting an anime adaptation by ufotable. The director will be Aoki Ei (Ga-Rei Zero, the first Kara no Kyoukai movie...).

A manga adaptation of Fate/Zero by Shinjiro is being serialized in Young Ace as well.

There's a small gallery of Koyama drawings for Mahou Tsukai no Yoru. No fixed release date yet besides "this Winter", so or will be released in the following 20 days before Spring or will be delayed again...

Rough sketches of Girl's Work heroine Asube Shirube.

The sub-characters Miyamoto Ariso (right) and Kurayamizaka Jizeru (Giselle?) (left).

Girl's Work story is by Hoshizora Meteo (Kusarihime 〜euthanasia〜, Forest) and the character designs by Takenashi Eri (Kannagi), so is a TYPE-MOON project only in name, since neither Nasu nor Takeuchi are working on it.
Is not completely stated, but it really seems that the VN was discarded in favor of the anime.

Rough sketches for the OVA Carnival Phantasm. Based in an anthology comic by Takenashi Eri, directed by Kishi Seiji (Angel Beats!) and the animation is going to be produced by the newly established studio Lerche (that will do an anime adaptation of Maji de Watashi ni Koishinasai! too).

Info for the already released epilogue chapter of Kara No Kyoukai and the limited BD box set.

Mahotsukai no Hako stuff.

An interview with Nasu Kinoko regarding Fate/EXTRA, with illustrations by Wada Arco.

An interview with Matou Sakura's seiyuu Shitaya Noriko.

A Dollfie Saber Lily photo session.

And the usual bunch of manga section:

All Around TYPE-MOON by Bsuke

Arcuetyp by ACPI

Melty Blood X by Kirishima Takeru

A X'mas special chapter of CANAAN by Ishida Akira

A Fate/Zero one shot comic starring a maid Sola-Ui and Kayneth El-Melloi drawn by Kurohachi.

Another one-shot by Medori featuring gender-swapped Fate/stay night characters. In the picture Kotomine, Rider, Sakura, Rin, Archer, Shirou and Taiga gender-swapped.

A short chapter of Fate/stay night by Nishiwaki Datto. Assassin being harassed by Caster by wearing female clothes.

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei! bonus chapter starring Sella and Leysritt, by Hiroyama Hiroshi.

A Fate/EXTRA one-shot by Robina

And HibiChika Time by Oomori Hayashi.

The extra DVD contains a Kara No Kyoukai trailer and 3 episodes called Type-Moon Ace Omake Gekijou.
The first and second episodes contains the Extra versions of Saber, Caster, Archer and Sakura answering several questions about Fate/EXTRA world.
In the 3rd chapter, Extra Sakura, tired of being only a neglected side character, kidnaps the main character Master (both the male and female version) and fights against the Servants.

Dark Sakura decides to attack all the time, while the other 3 are guarding, thus counterattacking all the attacks.

Caster and Saber realizing that their Master is actually the same person.

Kara no Kyoukai C79 set

2011-02-16T20:30:00.002+01:00

The full set of Kara No Kyoukai items sold at Comic Market 79.

Kara no Kyoukai 2011 Calendar. Unlike most of the anime themed calendars, this features a different image for each month, and each image matches with that month.

Kara no Kyoukai E-conte Shuu. The storyboard for the last chapter. Full color.

Kara no Kyoukai Case Poster. A stick poster in a specifically designed case. Not really visible in the photo, but it have a cool metallic gloss effect.

And the full color Kara no Kyoukai Genga Shuu. Contains the key animations from the final chapter.

Most of the pages have the corresponding screen-shots for comparison.

Like the other Genga Shuu books, it contains a flip-book part with a scene for Shiki...

...and another for Mikiya.

Origin of Type-Moon Comptiq booklet

2011-02-16T19:50:00.000+01:00

Origin of TYPE-MOON was an extra booklet from Comptiq October '10 issue.

The main information is about Mahoutsukai No Yoru, with pictures that already appeared everywhere.

Kuonji Alice

Church themed sub-characters.

But the reason of my purchase is because this booklet is the only place were Takeuchi's rough sketches for Fate/EXTRA appears (at least for now):

Caster

Rider

Lancer

Archer

Assassin

Rubicon Hearts Kyoto, aki posters

2011-02-16T19:29:00.003+01:00

The doujin circle Rubicon Hearts (a circle formed by several authors, but mainly Takeuchi from TYPE-MOON, and the School Rumble author Kobayashi Jin) released a set two A2 size posters at Comitia 94 . Those are called Kyoto, aki (Kyoto, autumn), the continuation of the Kyoto, haru doujinshi realesed at C77.

The Takeuchi Takashi poster with the cute blond Ariel and her twin sister.

And the one drawn by Kobayashi Jin

The paper of both poster have some sort of texture, that is why it seems like dirt stains in the photos.

Comp Ace December '10 issue

2011-02-14T22:54:00.003+01:00

It's been a while since I last purchased a Comp Ace (over a year ago). Is not really expensive (only 680 yen), but since is almost 800 pages long and weights over a kilo, the shipping cost is comparatively pricey.
Anyway, I bought it for the Takeuchi drawn cover featuring Illya and Miyu from Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya and Hibiki and Chikagi from Mahoutsukai no Hako, and for the original drama CD included.

A reversible poster with the cover is included:

The other side features Kuro, Illya and Miyu drawn by Hiroyama:

Since over a year had passed since I last read it, several series that I was following are already over, and there are plenty of new series as well. The TYPE-MOON related ones are:

Melty Blood X by Kirishima Takeru.

The last time I read it was still in the Miyako arc. Now it seems is over and the new arc is centered in the Back Alley Alliance formed by Sion, Riesbyfe and Satsuki.

Sexy Ries with short pants.

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prism☆Illya 2wei! by Hiroyama Hiroshi.

Besides the extra chapters in the TYPE-MOON Ace and a couple of scattered chapters in the last Comp Ace's that I bought, I didn't read this since the end of the first series. It seems that Kuro is now part of the team, and in this chapter for some reason Miyu is fighting against Bazett.

HibiChika Time by Oomori Hayashi

A series of 4-koma manga with the characters of Mahotsukai no Hako with Miyu and Illya as guest characters. Not sure if this series began a while back or is recent.

Weiss Schwarz collection update

2011-02-14T22:42:00.005+01:00

As I wrote yesterday, I also received several Weiß Schwarz cards, a Melty Blood Booster Box, 3 Weiss Schwarz Fate/hollow ataraxia Extra Booster Boxes and several single ones.

With those my collection is right now as follow:

THE iDOLM@STER: I have all the 100 from the booster. Still missing 8 PR cards and pretty much all the SP cards.

The PR and SP that I have.

THE iDOLM@STER Dearly Stars: Completed

Fate stay/night: I have all the 100 from the booster. Missing the 3 PR chibi character cards and almost all the SR and RRR cards.

Fate hollow/ataraxia: All the 45 normal ones. 40 out of 45 of the parallel ones. Only one PR card, missing 4.

Melty Blood: Missing 10 for a full set. No SP cards and no PR cards

The rare card from the Booster Box was the triple rare card of Sion drawn by KEI, that I willing to sell or trade

CANAAN: Completed.

Kara no Kyoukai: All the 7 PR cards acquired. Completed.

Shiki card is pretty cool. No wonder is the most expensive from the set.

And I don't have much luck with it, but for WS cards sales and trades, please visit this post.

February loot

2011-02-13T20:33:00.004+01:00

Usually I receive two massive loots of Yahoo! Auctions winnings each year; one in February and another in October. The main reason is mostly to get the items from winter and summer Comic Markets (held in December and August, the two months delay is the time that takes to find all the comike items that I want) and since I have to pay for a massive shipment I also try to hunt down items from my wish list as well.

I had bad luck with this loot. First, I exceeded the storage time limit at Shopping Mall Japan, so part of the loot was auto-shipped and second, the items were held for customs clearance here in Spain. So at the end I paid extra fees and is not even the full loot T_T

In detail:

Rubicon Hearts Kyoto, Aki posters sold at Comitia 94.
Kara no Kyoukai case poster from ufotable booth at C79
Len plush by Toranoana
Type Moon Ace Vol. 6
Comp Ace December '10 issue
Origin of TYPE-MOON, an extra booklet from Comptiq October '10 issue
Kara no Kyoukai Epilogue E-conte Shuu from ufotable booth at C79
Kara no Kyoukai 2011 Calendar from ufotable booth at C79
Kara no Kyoukai Epilogue Full Color Genga Shuu from ufotable booth at C79
Tohsaka Rin Shashin Shuu
CANAAN Official Fanbook
And a bunch of Weiss Schwarz cards not pictured

Expect review of those in the following days, but let's begin with the 1/1 Len plush:

It was a limited release by Toranoana back in 2001, and was one of the first Tsukihime merchandise released.
I was searching it for years, and finally I was able to get it for under 7,000 yen (the original price tag was 3,000 yen), that is quite rare since until now I lost in bidding wars when the price exceeded the 15,000 yen tag.

The rest of the items coming soon.

Figma Shikinami Asuka Langley Test Plugsuit Ver. by Max Factory

2011-02-09T19:52:00.001+01:00

Received today, Figma Shikinami Asuka Langley Test Plugsuit Ver. by Max Factory.

Since I'm quite angry with it, I'll begin the review with the most glaring fault:

What the heck is that!? I complained about how Figma Mari breast piece was sort of disjointed from the rest of the body, but this is too much! Is not a solid piece, but a hollow chunk of rubber hanging there with a vaguely form resembling a breast!

This is the first time I feel cheated buying a figma, since the promotional shots are completely different from the final product.

Okay, after the rant let's proceed with the rest of the review.

Asuka comes with three faces (smiling, embarrassed and yelling), 11 hands (one of them holding a cell phone), the creepy doll (pictured above) and two different sets of hairs, one with movable twintails and the other fixed.

Holding the cell phone. The smiling face is a bit too neutral for a hot blooded character like Asuka.

Angry face and another shot of how bad the breasts looks in almost every angle.

Back shot and the fitting ashamed face.

And like Mari, she also comes with a full cockpit.

I'm not too fond of Asuka's overkill fanservice plugsuit, but with those ugly breasts this figma became my second least favorite one (the worst is Drossel Gizmo ver.), even when Asuka is my favorite Evangelion character.
I hope Max Factory will release a "normal plugsuit version" with a better sculpt.