Kanu Unchou Maid Ver. - By GoodSmile

Hello all! I know it's been a LONG time since the past post, which was my first music post, but I swear I have a good excuse! Actually, I have a few. After classes ended last semester I was planning to make more posts here, but little did I know that I had less than a couple of weeks worth of vacation, and life off the internet took priority there. Christmas time came, and I got the new Nikon D40 that I asked for, so I have been doing a little experimenting with it, trying to get used to it. It's rather difficult for someone who has never used an SLR before, digital or not. Anyway, down to business. I recently purchased the maid version Kanu Unchou off of a Dannychoo.com member, drakanity, so I thought I would go ahead and do my first formal figure review on her, especially since I have a DSLR to take some nice pics with now. ^^




This Kanu figure isn't a brand new release or anything, but she is quite lovely. She's listed as a "Wani Books" figure, but she was actually sculpted by Good Smile Company, and I have as of yet to be disappointed with Good Smile.



Her skirt is castoff-able (pics at the end of the article ^^), but it's too bad that her top isn't. :p



I read multiple reviews on her before I decided to purchase, something I suggest everyone do before making a figure purchase, even if they are sure that they will like the figure. One review I read mentioned her boots, which happen to be somewhat of a vibrant, semi-dark color blue, which, of course, does not seem to match her outfit at all. This would be the only complaint I have -- as they look more fitting of Ryomou than Kanu, but it's most definitely not that significant of an error in my mind.



I love her maid outfit, it gives her sort of a more girlish, cute look, while retaining her strength and elegance.



In quite a few of these pictures you can see the way Good Smile sculpted her hair, which is quite amazing. Very detailed, lots of work went into her hair, and the entire figure at that.



If anyone were considering buying this figure, I would wholeheartedly recommend it. It's an excellent sculpt, paint job, and general figure design. Definitely worth the money.

Also, not much, but at least a little yoko-pai (side of the "eyes," if you do not know what I mean by "eyes" then you may want to visit dannychoo.com and do a little research) is exposed, always nice to see. ^^



Also, these are the first pictures I have watermarked. I'm not very experienced when it comes to digital photography, whether it be actually taking pictures, or working with them in a photo editor, but I tried my best to make a good looking watermark. I ended up watermarking each photo by hand, individually, for two reasons. One, I don't have a batch watermarker (anyone know of any for windows? ^^.) Two, I had finally found a good looking design/color combo for my watermark text, but it didn't contrast enough with the white snow, so I had to tweak certain images by hand to get the contrast right.





Well, I'll stop babbling on and finish this article off with the remainder of the photos. Any and all feedback on my photo taking/editing skills is welcome, as I am trying to improve however I can. Also, just a little heads up. Here start the cast off photos, not too risque though, so shouldn't matter for most. ^^















I had promised more music posts previously, and they most definitely will be coming. For now, posts will be unpredictable, just as my current school schedule is. x.x Also, I am taking a web design class, and my final project is supposed to be a custom designed web page. As such, I am thinking of using that project as an opportunity to improve this blog. I might end up overhauling the entire design of this site, and hosting it on my own in the (somewhat) near future.

I know I don't have very many readers, but what would you like to see on this site?

(Read the rest of this post here.)

Update and J-Music

Above is "Last Song", a nice slower song from my favorite Japanese artist, Gackt.

Hello all, I know it's been quite a long time since my last update; I've been very busy with school. I've been doing English 1A, History 17, PHP programming, and an Internet class. This post is actually, in part, for the internet class, as part of what the instructor wants the class to do. My semester will be ending relatively soon, so I will most definitely take advantage of that and post quite a bit more.

Anyway, this post, along with another few posts will cover J-Music (J-Music stands for "Japanese-Music" for those of you who might not know). They will also, all have youtube video links. It will be a little bit each day since I don't have the time to sit down and compile large posts just yet. I hope these posts can expose J-Music to Western culture a bit more, maybe help break down some of the ideas that people hold about Japan, for instance, the idea that Japan is entirely traditional and doesn't have modern music and styles. I've heard that one out of many people before. ^^;


First, I'll start off with some J-Rock. There are many artists that are known quite well in America already, but there are many more which have almost no fan basis in America. I'll include a bit of both.

Another moderately slow song from Gackt, who, while being classified as mainly J-Rock, kind of isn't. He has rockish sounding songs, but many of his songs are actually slower. Another interesting thing to note, J-Rock could be metal, screamo, slower rock, just about anything that falls under rock, and is by a Japanese band. As such, some harder rock will be coming after Gackt. ^^

"Rain" by Gackt.


By the way, I've been trying to take some good figure photos for reviews, but I just can't seem to get good ones with a point and shoot camera, so I'll hopefully be getting a DSLR soon. *Crosses fingers for Christmas* xD

This is the last one I'll post from Gackt, and is also a faster song, more of what you might expect to hear when you think of "J-Rock". For those who may be interested, there are many sources of information about Japanese artists on the internet (along with artists of every other nationality), so I will post a link to some wikipedia information for each of them.

"Returner (Yami no Shuuen)" by Gackt.


Now for some harder rock. It might be a good idea for me to tell you all a bit about "Visual Kei" (lit. Visual Style in english.) Some people like this style, other hate it, but quite a lot of the harder J-Rock comes from bands that are Visual Kei (which can also be shortened to "Visu", something that I will be doing from now on.) One of the things that many people hate about Visu is the fact that many of the members in different bands look at least slightly androgynous. If people don't like this then that's fine, but there is no reason to judge how good a band is based upon their looks, even though Visu is based upon looks. xD

Here is a couple of videos from what is probably one of the most well known Visu bands, especially in America, Dir en Grey. They have had many different looks and styles of music over the years, but that helps to make them quite a versatile band.

Let me warn you now, Dir en grey does have screamo sounding songs, and some of the videos I link may not be entirely appropriate for younger audiences. :p

"Saku" by Dir en grey


Die en grey is actually a band that's been around for a while, they has their classic Visu days:

"Akuro no Oka" by Dir en grey


And, finally, my favorite song and music video by Dir en grey. This video is, to say the least, very crazy, most definitely not appropriate in many workplaces, and may be hated by many people. But I love it. ^^

"Obscure" by Dir an grey


Two or three more artists left for this post. Next will be a group called Maximum the Hormone, definitely among my favorites.

This first song is the second opening song for the anime "Death Note".

What's Up People! by Maximum the Hormone.


One of my favorite songs.

"Koi no Mega Lover" by Maximum the Hormone


I'll just post one up from this next band, the GazettE. I am only going to post one up for two reasons, one, it's their best song, and two, it's the only song of theirs that immediately comes to mind as one of my favorites. Not that their other songs are no good, they actually have many good songs, but none are nearly as good as this one, at least in my opinion.



Since I'm now running a bit short on time, this will be the last band for this post, more to come later. UVERworld, a band that might be known in America due to the use of one fo their songs in the anime "Bleach". That song is this next one.

"D-Technolife" by UVERworld.


UVERworld is a bit more of a softer rock band, not so metal sounding, but I love all types of music, hopefully everyone else might take this sort of point of view too. ^^

"Chance!" by UVERworld.


Last song of this post, it's a moderately slower song by UVERworld, nice to listen to. :p

"Kimi no Suki na uta" by UVERworld.


Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this post, and maybe became interested in some new bands, there are many more to come, and my posts will never be meant to be comprehensive, as there are so very many different bands out there.

(Read the rest of this post here.)

Fall 2008 Anime List

The new Fall anime list is out! I would like to thank Denizen over at myanimelist.net for making this list. By the way, click for a much larger image. ^^

Which of these anime are on your to watch list? I have a lot of them on my list, but I'm most looking forward to Rosario + Vampire Capu2, Penguin Musume Heart 2nd Club, Clannad: After Story, Kemeko Deluxe, and Vampire Knight Guilty.

Found via dannychoo.com news items, posted by member, Sie Kensou.

(Read the rest of this post here.)

Opening of Good Smile English site

As you may or may not have heard by now, Good Smile Company has opened an English version of their website. The website is being run on Danny Choo's web platform, Mirai Gaia. Danny was, of course, the first to announce this great achievement. In his post, he also made mention of the fact that he is now part of Good Smile's "International Strategy team", they are aiming to make figures more easily available to people all over the globe. Very good news for all of us not in Japan right now.

With such great a great achievement and, I'm quite sure, many more to come, I do believe we have much to look forward to in the otaku community.

(Read the rest of this post here.)

Fullmetal Alchemist - New TV Series

Awesome news: Fullmetal Alchemist is getting another TV series!

All that's known so far is that it has been confirmed. More detail is available over at Anime News Network, info found via dannychoo.com member news items, posted by member marl0.

(Read the rest of this post here.)

Animation's 100th Anniversary.

Animation had it's 100th anniversary on the 17th of this month.

Sorry this is a little late, have been delayed in things lately.

We owe a thank you of massive proportions to the pioneer of animation: Émile Cohl. 100 years ago it took Cohl from February 1908 to May or June 1908 to create the very first animated film: "Fantasmagorie".



Made up from 700 double-exposed drawings, Fantasmagorie had a running time of almost 2 minutes. The film's title is a reference to the "fantasmograph", a mid-Nineteenth Century variant of the magic lantern that projected ghostly images that floated across the walls.

Émile Cohl


My hat is off to Émile Cohl, along with all the other pioneers of animation, without them we probably would not have such amazing animated shows:

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya


Death Note


Neon Genesis Evangelion


Howl's Moving Castle


Lucky Star


Or sweet 2D girls as these ^^:















Click on any of the pictures for full res versions, I don't have the sources unfortunately. Also, I recently found a ton of Miku pics on Wakachan, is anyone interested in a Miku pic post? :p

(Read the rest of this post here.)

Anime Parody MADs

Sorry I haven't really been able to keep up with the posts like I should, been busy organizing and cleaning around the house.

This way posted by a dannychoo.com member named Coco the Bean in the news items.

Multiple anime OP parodyMADs.

Haruhi x Hidamari Sketch OP


By the way, I realize that I haven't had this blog for long, but I would like to make it as good a blog as possible. I haven't covered any anime or idols, both quite an integral part of otaku-dom. So, I just want to let you all know that I will be covering everything, but it may take a bit for some things because I'm still getting the hang of this and I'm very busy. As a matter of fact I'm starting my next college semester in about a week or so, that will make it even harder for me. I will try to keep a pace of 1 post every 1-2 days, but we will see what happens.

Anyway, without further ado, here are a few OP parody MADs.

This is actually an ED: Haruhi x Hidamari Sketch ED


Gurren Lagann x Cutie Honey OP


Idolm@ster Xenoglossia x Neon Genesis Evangelion OP


Sunon: Sunohara x Kanon OP


Kanon x Lucky Star OP

And last, but definitely not least: Haruhi x Lucky Star OP (I love this one xD).


Has anyone here made any MADs?

(Read the rest of this post here.)

Akihabara Geeks

Otaku Dan has a review up of a movie called Akihabara Geeks over at his blog. More pics available there, too.

I'm trying to get this movie as we speak, seems very interesting. I would really like to see more about the lives of Japanese otaku. Is anyone else interested ins seeing this movie?

(Read the rest of this post here.)

My new Nendoroid and Figma!

Just got these two from Hobby Search, will take more pictures and do full reviews later. Nendoroid Mikuru and Konata Figma, I just HAD to get them both when I saw them at Hobby Seach... I should probably stop browsing that site when I know I should be saving my money. xD

I know I said the same about other figures I got, but I'm having some trouble getting any kind of good pictures out of this camera I'm using. I'm probably going to use my dad's old 35mm SLR and get the pictures on CD, at least till I get my own DSLR.

(Read the rest of this post here.)

Butler Cafe

Just a quick post today, I found this post in Danny's member news items. A Butler Cafe, supposedly called "Love-All"; the equivalent of a maid cafe, except aimed at women. Good looking guys dressed sharp, waiting upon guests.



Post picture and source via dannychoo.com news items, posted by member Ichi.

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Bakuman, from the creators of Death Note

Creators of the hit manga and anime series Death Note, Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata have started on a new series, called Bakuman.

For those who don't know, Death Note is an immensely successful series in both the US and in Japan. If you haven't read it or watched the anime by now I highly, highly suggest you do. Some people say it's just a fad, and others just plain hate it, but it really can't be denied, the art in it is amazing and the story is just so awesome.

Well, this post isn't about Death Note so I won't dwell on that too much. I just finished reading the first chapter of Bakuman, released today in Japan (August 11th), it has been scanned and translated already. It's available for reading over at One Manga.

I'm loving it already, awesome beginning chapter. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so I will just say a few words about it, the story *seems* to be completely different from Death Note, as far as I can tell it's not a melancholic story, neither is it a detective/mystery story. Surprisingly enough, it seems to be a story about becoming manga-ka, a story type that, I'm sure, appeals to many otaku out there. The first chapter really explains a ton and gets you engaged while at the same time leave the entire story completely open, they could do ANYTHING with the story from this point. The art is spot on, as one would expect from Takeshi Obata. I will definitely be following this series closely, most likely will buy it all when it's released here.

Once again, the manga can currently be read online at One Manga. Source for this news is dannychoo.com member, Akari's news item post.

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Suzukaze Air Conditioned Seat Cushion

A Japanese company called Kuchofuku has released their latest in a line of personal air conditioned products, the "Suzukaze air conditioned seat cushion".

This Suzukaze seat cushion is designed to help dissipate the heat and moisture that can accumulate when sitting in front of your computer for long periods of time, especially during the summer... or maybe even those times when you need to take care of your "health", if you're familiar with the term from dannychoo.com :p It works in such a way that the fan in the front will channel a constant stream of air through and out the other end of the specially designed plastic mat inside the cushion, which works as a channel to collect and dissipate the heat and moisture coming off of your behind. ^^ I can see this being needed in Japan, from what I hear, Japanese summers can be VERY hot.

Personally I'm thinking of getting one of these, and maybe even the bed cushion. It seems like a much better and more efficient way of cooling yourself, rather than having to turn on central AC, which costs a TON. Not to mention, no one in my household is comfortable with one single temperature, I tend to be the hottest among us. (In more ways than one ^^) I kid, I kid. xD



There is a standard, a high grade and a car seat version of this cushion, from what I can see the only difference between the high grade and the standard is a on/off switch in the seat itself, so it will activate only when you actually sit on it, and (maybe) higher grade materials/construction? The car model is supposed to have a car power adapter for cigarette lighter outlets.



Accessories.



Video of it in action. It's also supposed to be very economical, supposedly: "Even if the cushion is used every day for 8 hours a day, the monthly electricity fee is less than 5 yen, or 5 cents."



I mentioned that this seat cushion is part of a line of products, Kuchofuku also has an air conditioned bed cushion, and shirt. Personally I think the shirt is taking it a bit too far, but maybe some people really need it. ;p

This is the bed, also supposed to be very economical. Works in the same way as the seat cushion, it's just a lot more expensive.



And the shirt. I'm not too sure about this, but I think it's basically just a USB fan sewn into the shirt, attached to a battery pack... seems like a slight rip off for $169.00. I definitely wouldn't buy this one.



Source for the seat cushion info is here, and source for the bed and shirt info is here.

Just want to clarify this in case this post sounded more like an advertisement than a simple blog post, I'm not advertising these things in any way, I'm not making money off of this in any way (I wish I were xD). I'm simply bringing news about a product that I happened upon and I think is quite nice, to you all. I

f anyone is interested in buying any of those air conditioned products (like I am), here are links to an English site where they sell them. Seat Cushion, Bed Cushion, Shirt.

(Read the rest of this post here.)

Antec gets moe character

The PC parts manufacturer Antec now has it's own moe character.

The character, named Antecco, is said to have been originally developed by a Link International employee for an international paper but gained popularity inside of the company until someone suggested the use of this cutie as an official Antec trademark character, Antec happily accepted and the character is now going to be used (at least) for the Japanese face of Antec.

"Acording to staff the girl is 14 years old enjoys surfing and eating california roll."

I think it's quite awesome that Antec has it's own character now. I've always known Antec to be an excellent company, they have amazing cases and overall just great quality products. For the past 3 years they have shared a booth with Maximum PC and other PC related companies at Comic-Con and every year they always give out a TON of free Antec products. From case fans, to lights, and even cases themselves, they give out and raffle off a whole lot of things at Comic-Con, quite an excellent move for a company in my opinion, keeps current customers happy and shows them that you care as a company and brings new customers in.

News and picture via Akiba Today.

(Read the rest of this post here.)

WonFes 08

Unfortunately I live in the US so I wasn't able to attend Wonder Festival this year, but many others were.

Those interested in WonFes coverage can check out Danny's post. He also has links to more coverage on other sites in his post.

Pic is of Nendoroids at WonFes, via dannychoo.com. Original source at Ota-Suke

(Read the rest of this post here.)

Tokyo Stormtrooper (Danny Choo) - Rick Trooper

Japan blogger Danny Choo, also known from time to time as the "Tokyo Stormtrooper", has recently finished the filming of "Rick Trooper".

His latest stormtrooper dance video rickrolls us all. Filmed by Hector Garcia of Kirainet.com.



I really love Danny's stormtrooper videos, excellent fun. :p

Source of picture and info is here at Danny's blog.

(Read the rest of this post here.)

"Daruma otoshi" high-rise demolition method

A Japanese construction company called Kaijima Corporation is in the process of demolishing two high-rise buildings in Tokyo:



They are using an innovative, original method of demolition, called "Daruma otoshi". This new method of theirs is inspired by the traditional Japanese game of the same name:



Personally I find this quite interesting, this method involves a lot less mess and general disturbance to neighboring buildings, but on the other hand it requires more time, physical labor, and most likely more money than other methods in the long run. I would much prefer it if this method were adopted everywhere in the world, but I doubt that will happen any time soon. Unfortunately though, this method was most likely only used because they didn't have any way to access the top levels of the building with a large crane and the building was probably too close to any other buildings to blow it up, this is an assumption of course, but it's highly likely that it's the case.

Original source at PinkTentacle, discovered through Kirainet

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