Update 3.5: Figures (rest)

A quick update with the figures I forgot to take pictures in the previous post, mostly arcade prizes.

EX Figure series Saber and Arcueid by Sega.

PM Figure series Phantasmoon by Sega. This figure have the best quality among all the arcade prizes I own by a big margin.

SQ Figure series Saber by Banpresto.

DX Figure series Irisviel and Saber by Banpresto.

And a small figure by Kaiyodo. The upper left one was bundled with Monthly Young Ace in November '12. The other 2 are already covered here and here.

Update 2: Doujinshi & Manga

Following my one year update, this entry covers manga and doujinshi.

MANGA

I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff, for example right after I took the photos I remembered I bought a few English manga published by Udon (3 Capcom anthologies by Itou Mami, Street Fighter 5 and 6 and  Darkstalkers 2) that are not in the photos. The rest (or at least the rest I remember) are:

The extremely delayed Kannagi 7 by Takenashi Eri (volume 6 was released in November '08), limited and regular editions of Evangelion 13 by Sadamoto (one more to go), a new volume of All Around Type-Moon manga by Bsuke, Fate/Extra volume 3 by Robina, regular edition of volume 3, 4 and 5 of Fate/Zero by Shinjiro, Fate/Kaleid Liner Prism☆Illya 2wei! Vol. 5 (last one from 2wei series) and the first volume from Prism☆Illya 3wei!! by Hiroyama Hiroshi,  Fate/stay night volume 18 to 20 by Nishiwaki Datto (finished at last!), volumes 1 and 2 of Love Plus Manaka Days by Akitsu Mikami (I liked Love Plus quite a bit), Fujima Takuya's Idolm@ster Break! Vol. 2 to 4 (I bought the first volume years ago during my iM@S fever peak), Tenshi no Oshigoto 1 by Satoh Ryoryo (because contains one page collaboration by Takeuchi Takashi) and the ero-manga Fella Pure by Fue.

Spanish edition manga: Takahashi Rumiko's The One Pound Gospel, the last 6 volumes of Inuyasha (completed at last, I had this series on hold for almost 3 years), Sakura Taisen volumes 1 to 9 drawn by Ouji Hiroi (at a bargain price, I bought the whole series for 23 euro) and the two last volumes of Mazinger Z.

DOUJINSHI

I'll skip some stuff here, since the photos I have are only for the items I bought from Comic Market 82 and 83.

Comiket 82:

Comiket 83:

Pretty much the works from the circles I regularly follow: Zettai Shoujo, King Revolver, Nurumaya, Kurusugawa Pikumin Tei, Crazy Clover Club, the now defunct circle Konton Lady Studio,  Chotto Dake Aru Yo., Kuroyuki, plus the works from circles that I follow sporadically (mostly when they parody series I like): Lv. X+, Jingai Makyou and Shinjugai.

I'm back

Well, after an over a year long hiatus I'm finally back.

I was planning to make a comeback in May 11th, to make it exactly one year break, but I'm quite busy and didn't have the time until now.

To tell the truth, my otaku culture motivation is still a lot less compared when I first began this blog, and nowhere as much as it was in my consumerism peak (in the early to mid 2000's). Compared with myself 10 years ago, now I hardly watch anime (one series per season at most), almost stopped to purchase manga at all (when once I was following over 20 titles monthly), and the time I spent in videogames became less than 10 hour per week. The global economical situation doesn't help either, and the time when an euro was 170 yen was long ago...

Perhaps I must be growing too old for this, but that doesn't means that I no longer have stuff to show in this blog! In fact, the list is too large that I'm sure I'll be missing things.

I'll try to sort it by genres, the fist being:

VIDEOGAMES

The games I purchased since my last update, 15 in total.

For PC, the English version of  Saya no Uta published by Jast USA. Is my favorite VN and I was planning my purchase back when I was living in Japan but was too expensive for such a short game. I decided to buy it in English when was first announced to support western publishers when they release quality titles... they only took 2 years for an already translated and short VN...

For PS2, the regular edition of Melty Blood Actress Again. I purchased the limited edition years ago, but because the regular edition had another cover it was on my wishlist for a while.

For XBox 360, Muv-Luv Twin Pack. I was planning to purchase the PS3 release of Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative, but then I found the XBox pack with the same price for ONE of the PS3 games and includes a Figma Kagami Sumika as well. And since my XBox is my most underused console ever (purchased only to play iM@S) is a nice way to add value to it.

For the PSP, the limited box of Fate/EXTRA CCC. The game is still unwrapped, so I can't say much...

For the PS3: 428 Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de, Aquapazza, Dream C Club Complete Edipyon! and Dream C Club ZERO Special Edipyon!.
I already bought 428 for the Wii several years ago, but I was unable to play it with my unmoded PAL Wii. I was interested because of the bonus scenario written by Nasu and drawn by Takeuchi that surprisingly was the weakest scenario of the game. I really wanted to do an extensive review + summary when I just finished it (a year ago), so maybe I'll decide to do it sometime now that I'm back.
Aquapazza is a fighting game featuring Leaf/Aquaplus characters, so is like the official version of The Queen of Hearts doujin games by Watanabe Seikakusho (now French Bread). I used to like Leaf a lot and I like fighting games, so it was a no-brainer purchase.
I was interested in Dream C Club games back when was announced for the XBox, and the games where way better than I expected, if you put aside the somewhat creepy setting of a hostess club simulator. Maybe I will do a review as well...

For the PS Vita, Fate/stay night Realta Nua. With this I bought Fate/stay night for the 6th time (3 for PC: limited, regular and DVD versions and 2 for PS2: limited and budget versions) despite not having a Vita nor planing to buy one anytime soon. At least I was able to play the extra game included as a bonus, Tobitate! Chojikuu Toraburu Hanafuda Daisakusen, in the PSP.

For the PSP, the 3 versions of The Idolm@ster Shinny Festa.To tell the truth I didn't play any of them that much and the only interesting bit besides the OVAs included (that act as an opening for each game) is the brief appearance of the iM@S Cinderella Girls idols as a collectible boosts.

And finally for the NDS two games; 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Love Plus +.
I was interested in 999 mainly because the designs of Nishimura Kinu and because the writer was Uchikoshi Kotaro (writer of the excellent Ever17). I ordered it when the sequel was announced (fearing that it will became hard to find) and I ended with a reprint version. I liked a lot the whole premise and some of the fictional themes of the game, but for me the ending was a bit lacking and the "plot twist" was too similar to the Ever17 one...
And Love Plus +, that caught my attention before the release date. I've been playing this every day a bit for almost one year and it became the permanent cartridge in my NDS. My girl of choice was Manaka.

And to finalize my videogame review, last September Kubooka Toshiyuki visited Spain. He is one of my favorite character designer (I talked a bit about him in this post).

I was struggling what to bring to get it signed, and finally I decided on the first iDOLM@STER for the XBox (the cover for the second one was not made by him):

BLU-RAY & DVD

Not really that much I bought this last year, and most of it is still unopened.

-Fate Zero Blu-ray Disc Box II. Still unopened.

-TYPE MOON Fes. Blu-ray Disc Box. Also still unopened.

-Gurren Lagann Movies DVD's. Spanish edition, unopened.

-Evangelion 1.11 Blu-ray. I already bought it in DVD, but since now I have 2.22 and 3.33 in Blu-ray I bought this one in Blu-ray as well)

-Evangelion 3.33 Blu-ray. After the hype I had with the previous movie, I'm not sure if I liked this one. I need to see the last one to properly judge.

-Zettai Junpaku: Mahou Shoujo Blu-ray Disc. RAITA's self published short movie based in his original doujinshi series. Too bad is so short (less than 6 minutes), because the voice cast and the animation is great. PV below.


And that's all for today. I'll keep posting more as soon as I can.

Goodbye

This announcement has been coming for a long time. When I returned from Japan back in September of 2009 I lost half the will to keep with the blog, and that will was getting weaker and weaker until about a year ago, when I totally lost all of it.

I didn’t want to say it, and pretty much forced myself to keep with the blog, mostly as a token of gratitude to my followers, the people that I know in person and reads this blog from time to time and the people that keeps writting constructive comments... I’ve been trying to keep up to date this blog for quite a few months, lately I tried to increase the number of posts each month and even tried new things like doing the Mahou Tsukai no Yoru summary in "real time" but with no luck and forcing myself to do it just makes me loath it all the more.

Recently I got diagnosed a nervous breakdown. Now I'm reconsidering the priorities in my life and this blog is not in the top. I want to have one less pressure on my shoulders for now, one less stress so I can try and get myself back together once more.

So Soth's Blog is going on indefinite hiatus. I may return in a couple of months, a couple of years or perhaps I move to another chapter in my life and drop this blog for good, I don't know.

So as a goodbye I'm going to post all the stuff I received months ago and was unable to do a proper review:

1/6 Saber Extra by Clayz (sculpted by Miyagawa Takeshi), 1/6 Caster Extra by Phat (sculpted by iTANDi), 1/8 Minase Iori Ryugu Komachi Ver. by Wave (sculpted by Abira) and 1/6 Ayanami Rei Cross Ver. by Amie Grand (sculpted by Suzu)

Valkyria Chronicles 3 Extra Edition for PSP (not played),  Valkyria Chronicles 3 Complete Artworks (not opened to avoid spoilers), and the limited Black Label edition OVAs in Blu-ray (not even unwrapped).

Fate/complete material V Hollow material and Carnival Phantasm Official Guidebook

 THE iDOLM@STER Character Master, THE iDOLM@STER Platinum Album, THE iDOLM@STER DS Delicious Album, Marugoto iDOLM@STER For You! and THE iDOLM@STER Twins Precious Album Guidebook

Doujinshi from circles Nurumaya, King Revolver and Kurusugawa Pikumin Tei

 

TYPE-MOON manga: Shingetsutan Tsukihime volumes 7 to 10, Fate/stay night volume 17, All Around Type-Moon manga, the paperback version of Kara no Kyoukai Mirai Fukuin chapter and several postcards that are Tora no Ana store exclusives.

Well, it's all for now. I hope to see you guys as soon as utterly possible,

Soth

1/8 Saber & Tohsaka Rin Summer Ver. by Alter

Released last year's July 1/8 Saber & Tohsaka Rin Summer Ver. by Alter are the oldest figures in my "to review" list. Now I still have 4 unopened figures (for now), but at least those are releases of this year...

 

Both are sculpted by Numakura Toshiaki, who also did an Ayanami figure also by Alter and Alter's Aozaki Touko alternate head, and is inspired by a Takeuchi Takashi illustration used for the C79 goods. Both figures are rather plain, and probably that is why costs only 4,800 yen each instead of  about 7,000 yen, that in the past few years became the usual price for 1/8 figures.

The illustration theme was "Summer Holiday", so it displays Saber in a very light and casual summer wear.

 Close up of the rather pleasant face.

 Side view. The figure itself is pretty simple, without intricated details or an over-exagerated pose.

 

Back view. I like Saber better with Saber Lily's hairstyle (or completely down) than her usual bun.

Rin is also wearing a simple summer clothing, and being red does a pretty good combination with Saber's white.

 Face close up.

 Side view. Is not really appreciable in the pictures, but she's wearing shorts and not a mini skirt.

 Back view.

Each one includes a postcard with a Takeuchi illustration with Saber and Rin doing the same pose of the figures (the original one was different).

1/7 Tohsaka Rin -Unlimited Blade Works- by Good Smile Company

Another of the figures that I kept unopened until now is 1/7 Tohsaka Rin -Unlimited Blade Works- by Good Smile Company, released in June 2011.

Is part of the same series of 1/7 scaled figures by GSC (Saber, Saber Lily and Saber Alter), and the sculptor of this one is Yokota Takeshi (the usual romanization in the net is Yokota Ken even in Japanese websites, but Yokota Takeshi is as appears in the box and in the English page of Good Smile Company). The pose is based in the movie poster of Unlimited Blade Works:

Since the illustration is made by Yamanaka Kotetsu and not by Takeuchi Takashi, Rin's design is a bit different, with longer and lighter colored hair. Only because of that I can't say this is my favorite scaled Rin figure, and for me that spot is still kept by the first GSC figure of Rin.

And so, the figure have a very light brown hair. For me, Tohsaka's hair color is black (or deepest brown at most), not chestnut brown... but the definition of hair colors in anime characters is somewhat vague (Ciel's blue hair is described as black in-game, and pre-red haired Aoko is also described black haired when is clearly despicted as a brunette).

Side view. The paint finish in the clothes is very glossy, perhaps too much because she seems is wearing vinyl clothing (specially the stockings). I read that the second batch, that was released in late November, fixed that and the sweater had a mate finish.

 It comes with four interchangeable hands. The default ones are a right one holding the pendant and an empty left hand.

The alternate ones are a right hand holding the Azoth dagger and a left one holding magic jewels.

Rear view. The 3 swords included are not attached to the base and can be removed. Is a nice touch that all 3 have different shapes and longitudes.

1/8 Saber Lily by Gift

I keep piling unopened big scale figures. Yesterday I received a new one and still have six more that I need to review... so let's begin the figures reviews with one I received over 9 months ago: 1/8 Saber Lily by Gift.

Like the previously released Sakura and regular Saber, this figure is also sculpted by Toda Satoshi, that have a particular sculpting style of doing very detailed bodies and somewhat realistic faces that doesn't give an "anime feel".

This time there's no alternate heads sculpted by another artist, but is not really needed since this face is pretty good despite not being faithful to Saber original design. The face, and specially the eyes paintjob is much better than previous works by Toda, like his previous normal version Saber.

Side view. Since the carvings are more abundant in Lily's armor than in regular and Alter's ones, Toda sculpt abilities shines at his best here.

Rear view.

The base is mirrored, so the also very detailed underwear can be easily seen as well.

Fate/Zero Volume 3 Limited Edition

I was expecting to do an entry about Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, but since it's been a week since it was sent by EMS and still I didn't received, most likely is hold on customs and it will take at least another week ;_;

Well, instead I'll review Fate/Zero Volume 3 Limited Edition that I received last week along with iM@S 6.

The limited edition of Fate/Zero 3 includes an alternate cover drawn by Takeuchi Takashi and a figure based in the image.

Like the previous figure of Saber included in the Young Ace, this one is also made by Kaiyodo and sculpted by Enoki Tomohide. The face, the most important part for me in any given figure, is not as good as the previous one but still better than the usual Enoki sculpts.

Side view. The shirt have a subtle color gradient to give the effect of translucency, and in this angle her panties are showing. Too bad the head looks hideous.

Back. They opted to paint white the Invisible Air covered Excalibur. If using clear plastic was too expensive, at least the color should be silver....

A set of 6 postcards are also included, 3 drawn by Takeuchi and 3 drawn by Shinjiro.

The manga itself covers up to the scene when Caster shows himself to Saber, and also includes as flashbacks how Caster and Berserker were summoned.

I said that the uncut scenes in the Blu-ray edition of Fate/Zero were not as gore as I expected, and in that aspect the manga is rather graphic.

Ryuunosuke tunning the "human instrument" an scene from the novels that doesn't appear in the anime.

There are several scenes not included in the anime that appears in the manga version, like the meeting of Ryuunosuke with his sister, and some other scenes are way, way more explicit. Not only the gore show of Caster and Ryuunosuke, but also scenes like Sakura being raped by thousands of worms are shown without little to no constraint.