Sadamoto, Kubooka and Colorful Highschool

Today I'll post a short story of my otaku youth and a bit of field work research, too.

In '93 I watched Fushigi no Umi no Nadia and I fell in love with the character designs. Months later, I read in a videogames magazine that a Japanese RPG called Lunar: The Silver Star was causing furor in the US. Thanks to the tiny pic, I instantly assumed that the character designer of Lunar was also Sadamoto Yoshiyuki, designer of Nadia.
I was young and was the pre-Internet era, so I didn't realized of my mistake until years later, in 1995, when Shin Seiki Evangelion was announced.
I became an instant fan of Evangelion because of Sadamoto's designs, and realized that the person who drew the Lunar characters was in fact Kubooka Toshiyuki, who was the animation director of Fushigi no Umi no Nadia.

Left, Fushigi no Umi no Nadia cast.
Right, Lunar: The Silver Star cast.

After that, I more or less followed the works of both Sadamoto (FLCL, .hack series, Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo...) and Kubooka (Lunar series, Giant Robo, iDOLM@STER...).

When the arcade version of The iDOLM@STER was released, it's aesthetics reminded me of a previously released arcade game also with Kubooka as the main designer and also released by Namco, but at the moment I didn't paid much attention because those kind of games are fated to never see the light of day outside Japan...

Now, obsesed with iM@S, I began to dig for information about that game, called Seishun Quiz: Colorful Highschool.
The game was released in the still unemulated (as far as I know) System 10 arcade board in 2003, but is almost unkown even inside Japan.
As a quiz game, it follow the steps of Capcom's Quiz Nanairo Dreams, but instead of moving randomly in a board game world, in Colorful Highschool you have to specifically date with the girls and make them happy answering correctly her questions.

I don't know why it doesn't became famous, because it really seems like an early iDOLM@STER game but changing the idol part with more traditional dating sim parts, but the main focus of the game is the "events", like the "Communications" in iM@S.
The girls' movements are like in iM@S (they MOVE, and not just change from static pose to static pose) but in 2D, and despite being only partially voiced, the seiyuu cast was well known.

The characters are:

Kanzaki Miku

The transfer student. Kind, modest and pretty much the default main heroine of the game. Asks about general knowledge. Voiced by Nasu Megumi.

Kujou Ayaka

The ojou-sama from a rich family. Intelligent, good at sports and overconfident. Asks stuff from the fashion and trendy world. Voiced by Takahashi Chiaki, who also voices Azusa in Idolmaster.

Shishido Megumi

The tomboy basketball team captain. Genki type. Asks about sports. Voiced by Saitou Chiwa.

Takamura Marie

The intellectual meganekko. Clumsy and otaku, so asks about that theme. Voiced by Ueda Kana (also Tohsaka Rin's voice!).

The game was re-released in 2008 for mobile phones, and there are rumors of a possible Nintendo DS port as a cheap alternative to PSP's iDOLM@STER...

There's not really much info on the net about this game, and most of it comes from the official site (worth checking, specially the sketches of the characters). Also, the user Misokatsu from Nico Nico Douga have uploaded a full playthrough until Ayaka best ending in his list.

EDIT: For the non-NicoNico users, I uploaded the first video on YouTube.

Fate/stay night in Kobe

Yesterday I went all day to Kobe.
I don't enjoy sightseeing that much, and during my stay here I visited relatively few places, but Kobe was in my "absolutely must go" list.

The reason is that Fuyuki, the city where Fate/stay night takes place, is heavily based in Kobe.

First I went to Port Island to see the Kobe Oohashi:

Nice Boat.

Then I went to Kitano-cho, the foreign residences district:

The street to Kotomine's church in the game. Is not the exact angle, because I was unable to take the picture in the middle of the road.

The slope to the Western-styled residences.

And Tohsaka residence. In the game is sightly modified.

The real name is Weathercock House because of it's trademark vane, but it doesn't appear in any of the photos that I took (I fail as a photographer).

As a souvenir I purchased... The IdolM@ster SP Missing Moon. In the shop they still had the limited edition.

Motorcycles

A bit off topic here.
One of the future releases of the Figma line during this year is a Vespa motorcycle.

Is a PX model, the same model that I had been using for years at my job in Spain.
But that is not the funny part. I'm working for Correos, the national postal service of Spain, and the corporate color is bright yellow. The uniforms, post boxes and vehicles are also yellow, so the Vespa looks exactly the same (except for the detachable windshield and back coffin):


The other famous yellow Vespa is the one ridden by Haruhara Haruko in FLCL, an old SS model.


I'm not a motorcycle fan, in fact I hate to drive, but after years of using it I'm somewhat hooked.
In 2005, when I really needed my own vehicle, I prefered to buy a motorcycle instead of a car (in the last 10 years I only drove a car about 50 times). I wanted to buy a Vespa and paint it yellow ala FLCL, but my brother convinced me to buy a black Honda Shadow instead.

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:

Beginning of March loot

Yesterday I bought Gemaga Magazine April issue for the cover and the inner poster. The iM@S girls looks gorgeous in that dress.


It also contains a bit of information about Mahoutsukai No Yoru, the new game by TYPE-MOON.

I think some of those pictures are new, but I don't care much. The lack of Takeuchi Takashi as the main designer was a joykiller for me, so I'm rather expecting CANAAN than this.

I also purchased a 5,000 yen PlayStation Network Card. I must correct myself; the price is the amount of the card.
Is a bit hard to find stores with the PSN cards compared to the Wii point cards and the Microsoft point cards, and in the first shop that I tried they were out of stock. I think that thanks to IdolM@ster, the PSN cards purchased skyrocketed (when was released in the 360, Microsoft points sold were multipied by 4).

And today's loot:

Kalafina's debut album, Seventh Heaven, released today.

Kalafina performs the theme songs for the Kara no Kyoukai movies.

Saber Shashin-shuu, a collection of portraits of Saber. Expensive, few pictures and none by Takeuchi... but I purchased it even knowing that beforehand.
The book is hard to keep open and I don't have scanner, so I can't take pictures of it, but here is a bad picture of the bromide included:


I also wanted to buy the limited edition of the manga Idolm@ster Break! by Fujima Takuya, that it was also released today, because it contained a download code for a dress and an accesory for the games, but was already sold out in Animate, Melon Books, Gamers, Kinokuniya and even in the nearest mom and pops book shop...

More IDOLM@STER

Still playing iDOLM@STER.
Is really addictive. Now I understand why Miura Kentaro stopped Berserk to play it, and the people spending hours in the arcade game.
On Thursday I played more than 10 hours in the morning, and at night I forgot to sleep. When I realized it was already past seven...
Now I'm forcing myself to take long breaks from the game, hoping that my IM@S fever drops down to a much less serious state..

I regret for not preorder the limited edition. Not for the alternate jackets or the limited Weiβ Schwarz trading card (the TCG rival of Lycèe) but for the product code for downloading the school uniform.

I did a search in Yahoo! Auctions because now the people that purchased multiple copies for the store extras are selling it, but because I must use a proxy bidder (I don't have an account in Yahoo! Auctions) the final price rises a lot (item price + proxy fee + shipping from seller to proxy + shipping to proxy to me; and pay in USD, that is now weak against the Yen).

At the end I bought the limited edition of IDOLM@STER Perfect Sun via eBay from a seller located here, in Kyoto.
After the exchange rate convertions (Euro to USD to Yen) I paid 6,500 yen for it, so is not that bad after all because the retail price was about 5,000 yen.

The reversible jackets:
The game, a leaflet and the Weiβ Schwarz card:

Now I'm missing Missing Moon (pun intended), but I'll wait until I'm over with the other two.

The iDOLM@STER SP

On Saturday I bought The IDOLM@STER SP for PSP, and I have been playing almost non stop until today.
I hoped to play IDOLM@STER series of games for a long time, but until now it was an XBox exclusive, and the XBox is the only console that I don't want to buy at all.


I wanted to buy all 3 versions, but for now I only bought Wandering Star, that contains the tsundere Iori, the genki twins Ami & Mami and the shy Yukiho.
I was divided between buying first Wandering Star or Missing Moon, but at the end I prefered the rival idol Takane instead of Miki.

Those are the rival idols.
Left: Ganaha Hibiki (in Perfect Sun)
Center: Hoshii Miki (in Missing Moon)
Right: Shijou Takane (in Wandering Star)

The game is hard if, like me, you are not fluent in Japanese because is heavely text based (specially the Comunication parts) and the game doesn't stop the script (after a sentence, the game waits a few seconds and jumps to the next one, without giving time to check vocabulary or kanji meanings).
At least the girls are fully voiced, so it's easier to understand the overall plot, though what your character says isn't voiced at all, and during the conversation there are points where you have about 5 seconds to pick one of 3 responses that pop up on screen, and in most of the cases I'm unable to read all of them.

I began two new games, one with Ami/Mami in the Story Produce and one with Yukiho in Free Produce (I didn't pick Iori yet because is the hardest to manage).
The diference between Story and Free mode is that in Story your main quest is "Idol Ultimate" tournament against the rival idol and Free is the original arcade-XBox mode.
I really like the ojou-sama character Shijou Takane (Ami & Mami fittingly calls her Ohimechin), and I hope she becomes playable once I finish the game.

Hibiki and Takane are the new faces of the PSP version, but both of them were present in the pre-production stage of the game but dropped at the end, so their first appearance was in fact earlier than Miki's.

Prototype Takane.

Prototype Hibiki.

IM@S is known for being a yen sucker in download contents, and is also true in this version: 1,000 yen for a extended outfit, 500 for a regular outfit, 200 yen per accessory, and 150 yen per song for every girl... My credit cards are not accepted, so if I want the new contents I must purchase PlayStation Network Cards, but are really expensive (I think the 3,000 yen card costs 5,000 yen).