2011 Tokushima Awa Odori Poster

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.

Kara no Kyoukai Satsujin Kousatsu (Go)

Just received the 7th and last movie of Kara No Kyoukai, Satsujin Kousatsu (Go).

After the somewhat toned down adaptation of Boukyaku Rokuon, is nice to see the end of the movies faithful to the original novel.

The beastly movements of Lio are remarkable.

Shirazumi Lio looking kinda Arcueid.

And I liked how displayed the relation between Mikiya and Shiki.

No, is not a kiss scene.

The last manners commercial:

Argh... from those I'm only missing the limited edition Nendoroid Saber...

There's only one problem that I found in the whole movie: a serious mistake in one scene (easily missable if you not pay attention):

There's something in this scene that not must be there...

Overall the movies were very enjoyable, and the only TYPE-MOON anime that is faithful to the original material.

-Now, what do you wish?

Ryougi Shiki Nendoroid by Good Smile Company

Along with the Mandarake package, I also received another one from Hobby Link Japan with Ryougi Shiki Nendoroid by Good Smile Company.

Shiki is not really a "cute" type of character, so the nendoroid treatment is not so fitting... I don't like the Nendoroid line very much, and I strictly have TYPE-MOON characters only.

An angry eyed :3 face and cat ears are included, but feels a bit out of character even if it's based in the manga included in Mirai Fukuin.

In "feline" episode of Mirai Fukuin, Shiki temporarily takes care of a cat, and Ayaka compares the cat with Shiki, hence the neko mimi.

With killer eyes and knife in hand, for me is the most good looking display.

Mizugi Saber cloth poster and Kara No Kyoukai coaster

I won two items in Yahoo! Auctions via Shopping Mall Japan several weeks ago, but until a few days ago I didn't ask to be send to me.

Mizugi Saber cloth poster was a Sofmap shop exclusive for Fate/unlimited codes PORTABLE. Technically is a "cloth poster" and not a "tapestry" because is missing the plastic rods, but it exactly the same size and material of the previous tapestries.


TYPE-MOON x ufotable collaboration special coaster was a very limited coaster available at ufotable Cafe only during Tanabata (July 7).
What is special about this coaster is that is drawn by Takeuchi Takashi instead of Sudou Tomonori, the person who draw all the other Kara No Kyoukai coasters released until now.

1/7 Ryougi Shiki by Movic

After a long delay (it was planned to go on sale in May), Ryougi Shiki by Movic was finally released at the end of the last month.

Sculpted by Saitou Heel, is 1/7 scale figure and not 1/6 as originally announced. Nevertheless, is still pretty big, but with figures like this I really repent of keep buying all the TYPE-MOON figures released on the market...

The arm in front of the face makes almost impossible to see the face...

...that is rather ugly. Also the shoulder seems dislocated.

Perhaps the best angle of the figure.

Upcoming TYPE-MOON figures

More prototypes of TYPE-MOON figures were displayed:

The pretty impressive Canaan figure by Good Smile Company. Sculpted by Iwamoto Kunihiro, but no info about the price or the release date.

Nendoroid Ryougi Shiki by Good Smile Company. 3500 yen to be released on October. They added the cat and the nekomimi from recalled out summer manga...

Nendoroid Canaan. Again 3500 yen to be released on November. The legs are a bit weird, and seems to be wearing diapers.

A glimpse of a future Nendoroid Alphard, also from CANAAN. No more info yet.


Sources:
Mikatan's Blog and Hobby Japan September issue scan from http://futaba.anacel.com/figure

Beginning of July loot

I wasted all the weekend doing the previous Evangelion summary and responding to questions at EvaGeeks forums in detriment of my studies. Now I have outstanding homework, and in the last 2 round-up tests I scored below my average... and this is pretty bad since I have only 3 weeks of classes left.

As a result, most likely I will not update the blog until I'm over, but before of it I will list the purchases of the past 6 days:
-Figma Drossel by Max Factory.
-Ciel Battle Suit Version by ebCraft/Enterbrain.
-Ciel Clerical Robe Version by ebCraft/Enterbrain.
-Ryougi Shiki by Movic.
-Dengeki G's magazine August issue, that as an extra included princess Arcueid figure.
-CompAce August issue.
-Dengeki Daioh August issue, that as an extra included normal Arcueid figure.
-Shounen Ace August issue.
-Evangelion Comic 2009 - Summer Special Edition
-Gemaga August issue.
-Dengeki Playstation July issue.
-Chara-Mel August issue.
-Dengeki Hime August issue, that as an extra included child Arcueid figure.

I didn't opened any of them yet, so I will try to do short reviews once I'm over with classes.

Hybrid Active Figure Saber by Azone

Yesterday I went to Osaka with another companion from the university.
I think I'm getting a reputation as a doujinshi freak, because she wanted to buy BL doujinshi and asked me to show her the way to K-Books.
Since is still Golden Week, yesterday DenDen was unusually crowded, even with the rain.

While she was doing her purchases, I went to Lashinbang because there were a couple of things that I wanted to buy. One of them, a telephone card featuring a fox-eared Illya, was already sold. I'm not a big fan of telephone cards, but I systematically buy all the TYPE-MOON ones that are in the 1,000 yen price range (not so many, because the usual price is 2,000 yen or more).

The other thing was 1/6 Hybrid Active Figure Saber by Azone.
It was released in early 2007 for 23,000 yen, but since it was so expensive and I'm not a fan of dolls, I let it go until now, that I found it for 11,000 yen.

The quality is really astonishing, so you can see why is so expensive.

Here displayed without the armor parts.
 

 The face was done by Ouzaka Miki (Cherry Blossom). Is not great, and with that pseudo-happy face it seems that is high on drugs or something...

 Every piece of armor is metal, even the armored parts of the boots and the hanging details in the robe.

Caliburn is also cast in heavy metal, so heavy that the doll arm is unable to hold it properly...

Since is the Fate/hollow ataraxia version, it includes the new outfit. 

 I don't want to change the clothes, so here's a pic with the casual clothes, from Azone webpage.

In the official Azone shop in Osaka I purchased a couple of stands, one for the newly acquired Saber and one for Shiki, 420 yen each.

Hoshii Miki by Max Factory and Ryougi Shiki by Azone

Lately I'm trying to stop purchasing merchandise that at first I'm not planning to buy because it's been six month since I came to Japan, and with the current exchange rate I'm spending more than I expected, but I found at Amazon.co.jp a couple of figures with a 56% discount... and I was unable to refrain myself:

1/8 Hoshii Miki Expectant New Face version by Max Factory.
This is one of the best Idolm@ster figures ever released (the best one is perhaps the limited Miura Azusa in wedding dress) but I decided to not purchase it when was released last September because Miki is not really one of my favorite characters.
The sculpt is by Tokunaga Hironuki, that I knew previously for his beautiful Asuka by Kotobukiya and Sakura from Fate/stay night Trading Figure Collection.

The shinny coat is glitter, so I must be extra careful to not detach it.

Also includes cat paws and nekomimi.
There's also available the Awakening version, with short undyed hair, but I prefer the blond version.


And 1/6 Hybrid Active Figure Ryougi Shiki by Azone.
I usually avoid articulated figures; the main charm is the poseability over the overall aspect, but I almost never move the few articulated figures that I own.

Azone is one of the most prestigious makers of ball joint dolls, and like Volks' dollfies, they have a creepy cult following. I don't dislike ball joint bodies if they have a nice face sculpt, but in most of the cases they have hideous, devilish Blythe-esque faces (I admit it, I have a childhood trauma with an Argentine ventriloquist puppet called Chirolita).
Hybrid Active Figure line are dolls but with a more figure-ish approach in their faces, that I really prefer.


The face sculpt is by the prolific Ohzaka Miki from circle Cherry Blossom. He's one of my favorite sculptors, but not always his sculpts are top notch. He is specialized mostly in Gainax characters, and the rest of the characters are hit or miss, and in the case of the characters from TYPE-MOON, sadly he's prone to miss (for example maid Saber by Good Smile Factory, unrecognizable if it were not for the haircut).
In the case of Shiki, her face is just average.

It contains an alternate, killer eyed face.

The detail of the clothes is very high, including mini zippers in the jacket.
It also came with a kimono with sleeves if you want to display her without the leather jacket (the normal one is sleeveless to fit the jacket), but I don't want to mess with the clothes.

Photogenic shot.

27 cm are imposing.

And professional photos from the maker webpage, to do justice to the doll:

Pre-ordered figures

As promised, I'll list the figures that I have on pre-order.

When I was in Spain my main figure supplier was Hobby Link Japan, but if you live in Japan Amazon.co.jp is faster and cheaper (they usually do a 20% discount in the pre-orders, and the shipping cost is free).
There are not many figure shops in Kyoto. Melonbooks, Animate and Gamers have a very restricted stock, and the only shop specialized in figures, Super Position (located also in Teramachi), is focused more to the gashapon, arcade prizes and trading figures than regular figures.
So at the end, all the figures that I buy is via Amazon.


1/7 Ciel nun version by ebCraft. 8,980 yen to be released March 25.
Sculptor is French Doll from Cerberus Project.
This figure was already on my wishlist when was released as a (sorta) castoffable resin-kit, because for an odd reason Frech Doll's face sculpts actually works on Ciel's face. Previously released Frech Doll's figures that I own are Saber, Rin and Rider, and the sculpt's weak point is always the face.

1/7 Ciel combat uniform version by ebCraft. Again 8,980 yen to be released March 25.
Is a variant of the previous one, but different enought to do a double purchase.

1/6 Ryougi Shiki by Movic. 6,825 yen to be released in April 25.
Sculpt by an unknown for me, サイトウヒール, that I don't how to romanize (Saitou Heal or Heel?). I don't really like it that much, but at least is a big scale...

The gorgeous 1/7 Saber Lily by Good Smile Company. 9800 yen, on sale May 25.
Sculpt by the always competent Kawahara Takayuki, responsible among others of Saber Alter Dress version, Illya from Fate/stay night Trading Figure Collection, Caren and Caster from Fate/hollow ataraxia Collection and Saber and Rin from FA4 Type-Moon Collection.