Azunyan Working as Utility Inspector?

A 2ch netizen was surprised to find his meter inspected by the youngest K-ON! member, Nakano Azusa.

Old Couple Play with Anime Jigsaw Puzzles

A special programme by "Nihon no Mikata!" highlighted an old couple's interesting hobby: anime jigsaw puzzles.

The Hokago Tea Time Ita-Train

Only a few more months till the premier of moeblob series, "K-ON The Movie" and fans are already treated to the ride of their life; The Hokago Tea Time Train. 

Wonder Festival 2011 Summer Highlights

Welcome to Wonder Festival 2011, the Summer edition, an event where top toy and figure manufacturers gather to display their latest works to the public, for your sake and wallet's worth.

Wonder Festival, biannually held during the Summer and Winter seasons in Chiba City, Japan, was held for the 14th time on July 24th, Sunday, from 10:00 to 17:00 at Makuhari Messe, as droves of cosplayers, figure enthusiests and garage kit sculptors gathered to attend of of the most anticipated events of the year. 

Below is a gallery of the latest figures, complete with price, release dates and other information! つ（＾∀＾）つ
Took me quite longer than expected as I'm not that free on weekdays, but its finally complied! Enjoy!

Makuhari Messe
Wonderful Hobby Life For You!
Good Smile Company 10th Anniversary Puella Magi Madoka Madoka Corner Madoka Corner Homura Corner Mami Corner Sayaka Corner Nendoroid Puchi WF Exclusives Good Smile Cafe Cheerful Japan Good Smile Ccompany Shanghai BRS Vocaloid DOG DAYS Fate Series Hanasaku Iroha Ikoku Meiro no Croisee Ano Hana Denpa Onna to Seishin Otoko Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Tantei Opera Milky Holmes BEATLESS Guilty Crown Fireball Charming Disney Steins;Gate Bakemonogatari Claris Ore no Imouto Toaru Series Kobayashi Kamui threeA Muv-Luv Berserk Evangelion se.kirara Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Working!! Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai ToLoveRu Amagami SS Strike Witches Soro no Otoshimona Catherine Shin Megami Tensei Super Sonico Anata no Shiranai Kangofu Love Plus Heavenly Warrior Sunred Shinryaku! Ika Musume Sonic the Hedgehog Card Fight! Vanguard Sengoku Basara Tsuchibayashi Makoto Shinsengumi Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt Nendoroid Puchi Freezing Totori Full Daemon Muramasa Dynamic Change Getter Robo Big O Good Smile Racing
Alter	Kotobukiya	Megahouse
Persona 3 Bakemonogatari Infinite Stratos Durarara!! Fate Series Hyakka Ryouren K-ON! Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha KOS-MOS Strike Witches Tales of Abyss Valkyria Chronicles Yosuga no Sora Yumekui Merry Starry★Sky Guilty Gears	Ore no Imouto Shining Series Aiyoku no Eustia Daiteikoku Coming Soon Hoi Hoi-san LEGACY Muv-Luv Hoshizora e Kakru Hashi Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ToHeart Little Busters! Kudo Wafter Toaru Series Shinryaku! Ika Musume Strike Witches CLANNAD Bishoujo Statue Trading Figures Star Wars	Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate Yumekui Merry THE iDOLM@STER One Piece Dororon Enma-kun Occult Academy Mobile Suit Gundam Bleach Code Geass Gintama Full Metal Alchemist Rurouni Kenshin Trading Figures Coming Soon

*use the "Back to Top" arrow at bottom left to return here

TV Show Eats Mio, Bashes Otaku Dance Troupe

Star ★ Draft, a variety show currently airing on Nippon Television, has welcomed a few "otakus" to their show and publicly shames them.

Now, its been awhile since I've watched any reality, talent or variety shows currently airing on Japanese cable (except Downtown for a good laugh), but I had no idea public bashing had become this open for slangs and slurs to even be uttered by the guest commentators (Okay, so it was pretty rampant to begin with but is that how you treat guests?).

For a good part of the show, bashing from the critics was disgustingly brutal and heavy. Many (rude) comeback remarks were exchanged mostly from the panel of 7 seated guests and it was clearly a "talk-down" session meant to silenced the "lambs". You can see the hostility for yourselves at the video link below.

The group were asked from things that they hold dear, such as K-ON!, Madoka and Toyosaki Aki being mentioned, to "Akiba News" which criticized their "Akiba" fashion from Tote Bags to merchandises.

At one point, one of the guest commentators asked to view the figure and started kissing it before shoving a figure of Mio into his mouth, not before rinsing his mouth with a Ritsu plushie doll and PSP.

As one 2channer said, "Welcome to public execution..."

Official K-ON!! Dakimakura

To keeping you company during those cold (and lonely) nights, KyoAni has announced another dakimakura for you!

Lawson x K-ON!! Round 2

Lawson and K-ON!! has teamed up together again for Round 2 at feeding on your wallets while you shop for K-ON!! merchandises. Sounds like the perfect keikaku plan trap deal.

The Many Faces of Hikasa Youko

Why isn't there a bigger reso for such a divine image...

OTL

Hikasa Youko, or as I and many others like to call her, "Hiyocchi" has voiced quite a handful of noteworthy characters up till now. Thou she may sound pretty common as any other seiyuu to many viewers, Hiyocchi's talent for singing is real, blowing away everyone's eardrums when she debuted in music comedy anime "K-ON!", propelling her to stardom as a noteworthy and talented seiyuu too.

K-ON! Girls Strip in Otaku's Room

The girls of moe-blob-anime-soon-to-be-movie-too, K-ON! has descended upon one fortunate otaku's room and are in the process of going commando by stripping down to their underwear.

Asahi x K-ON!: The Real Tea Time

A collaboration between Asahi's "Sixteen Tea / (十六茶)" and K-ON! has been contracted, bringing results in the form of collectible phone straps with every purchase of bottled tea.

Full story by my partner in crime: Zero, after the break.

「2011 Winter Hobby Manufacturer Joint Exhibition」+ 「Wonder Festival 2011 Winter」

The 2011 Winter Hobby Manufacturer Joint Exhibition is the after-event of Wonder Festival, hosted by Good Smile at Akihabara UDX on Tuesday 8th. By invitation only to certain individuals/organisations in the industry, various products are revealed here as they were to the public in Wonfes,
all labelled with product information, pricing and release dates! ＼（＾∀＾）／

Hikasa Youko X Akiyama Mio

Hikasa Youko really got my attention when she starred as Mio and I fell in love with her voice.
Not because of the obvious moe levels emitting from her character, but her latent talent in voicing and singing really awed me.

Already having a few main roles under her belt with more to come, while doing a radio talk show, she's really quite something.

Here's the best of both world; Hikasa Mio, or Akiyama Youko or Myocchi or which ever floats your boat.

Figures Ordered (Q3 - 2010)

Again, I've completely forgotten this little segment of the blog. Loads of stuff IRL happened, is my excuse but that's pretty common, no? 

September is ending, while I enjoy a short break before my next paper later this week. A lot of shows have ended already, with many impressions left behind, which I'll save for a post later on.

On another note, I laugh at those who have been following their ladies in the ISML Postseason tournament, only to have Mio and Mikoto cut them down! My two favourites have entered the finals (so happy!), and now I'm at a dilemma;

WHO DO I VOTE FOR???? TT_TT

There's a high possibility of Mio winning again since she beat Mikoto previously, but I'm quite satisfied if either won. xD

Now here's the part where I try to convince you into getting one these lovely ladies I've come to love. Can't wait to get my hands on'em, so let's see if I can remember what I ordered;

Wonder Festival 2010 Summer (夏) Highlights

Even though I'm 5,317 km away from the world's second largest economy, with social networking sites, blogs and a little help from my ISP, I feel like I'm already at Wonfes.

I love the Internet. xD

It's 25/7/2010, D-Day, where hordes of fanatic, mindless devotees launch a massive wave-by-wave assault on Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Hall, with dealers barely holding them off at the defense line.

Scout reports are filling up social networking sites, with the closing of the festival (17:00 GMT +9)

Time to skim through the assassination target list, and narrow down our focus onto the highlights of the event.

An Expected Delivery

Upon arriving home, I was greeted by an over-excited Miku, who kept tugging my sleeve for some reason. 
Did I forget to feed her negi this morning? But I'm pretty sure I fed her before I left. Then, she mentioned to upstairs and said the mailman came. Naturally, I followed her up and found a parcel on my bed. Thanks for signing it, Miku! 

I wonder what I got this time... ^^"

K-ON!! Goes Home!

Like most high school life scenes, the annual field trip to various cultural parts of Japan, which most Japanese have never been to unless for a good reason, has begun.

So K-ON!! goes home to Kyoto, where the production company, Kyoto Animation is based.
Ironically, KyoAni is located on the outskirts of Kyoto, which is Uji, but still within the Kyoto Prefecture.

As expected of a company which is based in Kyoto, one must live up to the expectations of great artworks and backdrops of various Kyoto scenes, which are quite impressive throughout the episode. The last time they did something like this was Lucky Star ^^

Like all field trips. we start off any with packing up of necessary belongings;

Figures Ordered (Q1-2010)

From gundam to nendoroid, puchi to PVC, model kits to macross, it's been quite a strain on Mr. Wallet for the past few months. Who said any hobby was cheap anyway?

Nonetheless, I have no regrets (like others) once the figure/model is sitting on our shelf, staring at us.

I don't claim to know all about figures or the different versions and what makers are good. My collection is just starting to grow as I was closed-closet type until last year. Since then, my treasures have grown quite considerably. For the new year, I thought I'd spend on my self on a few figures, here and there.

#82 Nendoroid Akiyama Mio [K-ON!]

After holidaying in Hong Kong, I arrived home to discover that Mio had FINALLY arrived. ETA was around November but the courier only sent it on the last week of December 2009. Delay or not, I now have it!

Been waiting and anticipating Mio for quite some time now as it was one of the very few I actually craved to have. Now onwards to the gallery.

Comes in a blue boxed case (why blue? Shimapan?)

Mio-nic Maniacal Madness~!

This is a response to the previous post, "New Notaeable Nendoroids~!"

Weeks after the K-ON! series had ended, the fans (including me) have already begun stock piling on every K-ON merchandise they can possibly find on the net. Ranging from cups to towels, the merchandising business is doing pretty well, thanks to KyoAni marketing of course. But now, the recently crowned SaiMoe Queen, Akiyama Mio, and her friends have finally started to emerge from the figure product line.

First to come out was the Nendoroid Akiyama Mio. Debuting in Nov 09, she stands at approx 10cm with interchangeable features and effects like her lefty bass guitar and a mini amplifier.

As stated in my previous post, New Noteable Nendoroids~!, this is definitely one of the nendorons I would love to collect.

But all pre-order slot were taken up... in less than 2 days... (*SOB* *SOB*) and thought I had to resort to waiting for the Nov stock.

Until another distributor was accepting orders. LUCKY~!

And I have just pre-ordered her.

So all that's left is to wait for the arrival of Nov...... Somehow, when waiting for something, it never comes any faster huh? Funny how that works...

On another happy note, a 1/8 scale version of Mio was recently available for pre-order as well. By expert figurine maker, Alter, she is pre-painted with her lefty-bass guitar and a pick on the left hand.

Despite the cuteness of her face...
Despite the awesome detailing and time that went in to her...
Despite the ''moe...moe...kyun!'' tune running in my head...

I RESIST! (with reason of course)

Well, mainly due to my sudden decrease in funds also...

Ever since the series had ended, the anime industry has been ravaged by the devoted otakus on a global scale. Not only being able to sell almost every and any product with a K-ON! print on it, the hype of the series will be long before it hits rock bottom.

My prediction is that these are the few 'taste testers' for the public. Testing how we would react and whether we would jump at the bait.

And some of us have really jumped at it...

So I shall wait for other versions to come out as I am quite sure there is in the future. For example; Mio in maid costume... An epic win...

But I'm not saying the upcoming 1/8 scale version is not any good. Awesome detailing with free-flow hair design and effects such as the life-like guitar is a sure win~!

I just don't have the funds right now since i'm already pre-ordering Saber...

Next is probably Hirasawa Yui with more to come, so keep a look out! (I'm still waiting for my neko, Azu-nyan~!)

So decide well~!(or just get them all...) Look forward to more~!

New Noteable Nendoroids~!

Okay... well, I've been wanting to get a Nendoroid for a while now. Since they're unbelievably CUTE~! I really love their bobble heads! And cute scale of the figure~!

But I just cant decide which to get. There's tons out there.... but I have more or less narrowed them down~!

Well, I saw a few awesome ones at Hobby Link Japan and thought, "If I am gonna get a Nendoroid, might as well get a good one, right?"

So I did a bit more researching and more or less decided on these 3!

Let me know which you think is awesomely cute and nice to have!

1. Nendoroid Arawn - Tears to Tiara (Oct)

From the still current airing (well at the time this post was created) Tears to Tiara, one of the Great Spirits but banished and now theDemon King, he joins the Gael tribe with Arthur and his harem of combat-able "wifes" or beautiful ladies on their tales and adventures.

This nendoron stands at the usual scale height of 100mm like the rest of the series figures. As you can see, it is incredibly detailed from the eyes, expression and garmets.

Posing with his sword, Edram, which can be removed from the its sheath. Various parts are movable too.

Other additional props include an apple as seen from the opening song in the anime!

Seems there's another switchable head to show this expression. Not bad! Now to the 2nd choice!

2. Nendoroid Saber Lily - Fate/unlimited codes (Oct)

The pure, white and valiant knight from the Fate series of Type-moon, this version of Saber Lily comes from the PS2 (and recently playable on PSP too) game, Fate/unlimited codes. Returning from the Altar of Kings, she is reborn to serve her master once more...

A very cute Saber~! With her emerald eyes and steel armor and greaves, there's no better nendoroid than your very own Saber-slave figure!


Detailing is awesome as always by Good Smile Company. Check out the free flowing hair and armor details.



Guess the artist also wanted to show a shy/tsundere part of her with a changeable expression! Hehe!



Posing with her trademark and famous sword belonging only to King Arthur, Excalibur can be drawn from the his ultimate shield, the Scabbard. And awesome pose btw!

3. Nendoroid Akiyama Mio - K-ON! (unknown)

From the studio of KyoAni, K-ON! (which means "light music club") features the story of 4 high school girls finding the joy of music and band-playing together with their everyday lives.

Again, praises for GS company! Finally the K-ON nendoroids are starting to roll out. Looks like she come with her lefty guitar + amplifier. Eyes and hair are also excellent along with the details of the bass guitar.

I really,really,really,really,really want this! Haha.

Currently, this figure is not released yet with an unconfirmed debut date. But this is the expected nendoron figure to come out. Cute right! Haha! Hopefully this will spark the more releases of K-ON models and many of us (yea that includes me!) are dying for them to come out!

Well, I think I have decided....

TO GET THEM ALL~!

Thanks for reading. Look forward to more!