Type-Moon Ace 7

Released in mid December and received almost 3 months ago, this is the review of Type-Moon Ace Volume 7.

The cover and a good part of it is focused in Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, including a demo cd of the game and a phone strap of Aoko as extras.

The Aozaki Aoko (Mahoyo version) phone strap. Is very small and a bit on the ugly side if you look at it closely.

Over 20 pages are focused in Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, that will be released (at last!) in a couple of days. The demo cd contains a few non correlative chapters. I played it and besides the excelent use of the kinetic effects and the neat soundtrack, I was largely unimpressed by the contents... Well, I have the game pre-ordered and shipped by EMS, so if customs doesn't screw me again I'll be playing the full game in a few days and I hope it doesn't turns into a complete let down.

A few pages are also covering Carnival Phantasm (the last volume was released shortly after the release of this magazine). In the picture, a short interview to the voice actors of the Neco-Arcs.

A bunch of interviews related to Fate/Zero, that last week began to air the second season. In the photo, the first part of the interview to Takeuchi Takashi (original character designer) and Sudou Tomonori and Ikariya Atsushi (character designers for the anime).

Interview to Koyama Rikiya (voice actor of Kiritsugu) and Oohara Sayaka (voice of Irisviel).

Four pages covering Fate/EXTRA CCC, an alternate (and supposedly darker) take of the first Fate/Extra. In the picture, a mysterious version of Sakura that seems to have a major role and a still unnamed pink-haired girl with horns and tail. The relase date is a very vague "Spring 2012".

A Fate/Apocrypha chapter written by Higashide Yuuichirou starring the loli Assassin (Jack the Ripper) and her Master Rikudo Reika. I don't like the idea of Fate/Apocrypha at all (is a rejected project for a reason), so I hope it doesn't turn into something bigger than an sporadic chapter in each T-M Ace...

And the rest is the manga section. As usual it includes special chapters of the regular series plus one-shots chapters of diverse origin. Some of the most interesting are:

All Around TYPE-MOON by Bsuke. An accidental meeting between both Sabers.

Melty Blood special chapter by Kirishima Takeru. Satsuki got the short stick yet again and dosen't appears in the covers of Melty Blood X that have only 2 volumes and featured Sion and Riesbyfe.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya by Hiroyama Hiroshi. This special chapter is focused on Mimi, excited by the series of events she lately saw... By the way, Prisma Illya will have both a 3rd manga series and an anime version!

Fate/Extra extra chapter by Robina. The main character turns into a girl, but Saber is more than happy with this turn of events.

Young Ace December '11

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 Illya, 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...

Newtype November '11

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:

Young Ace November '11

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 Illya:

Megami Magazine September '11

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

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?

Megami Magazine April '11

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.