AFA 2011 Report [Day 2: The Masses Amassed]

It was Day 2 of Anime Festival Asia 2011 at Suntec City Convention Centre, and I'm stuck with a broken shoe, concert-hangover, and an unsatisfactory breakfast.

But truthfully, never felt better.

AFA 2011 Report [Day 1: MikuPa in Singapore]

It's been almost a full month since the Anime Festival Asia 2011 took place in Suntec City Convention and Exhibition Halls, Singapore yet here I am, still having that fanboy festival fever. As my first and probably last visit to AFA, it was THE single greatest festival/convention I could have hoped to experience in my life (at this point). For the next few days, I'll be actively posting my reports after the break with a photo-by-photo chronicle of my trip to Singapore, so read on if you'd like to know my part of the adventure.

5 Days Left...

Been really inactive lately, as I've been busy preparing my body as an offering for my pilgrimage this Friday to Singapore.

As you can see, I'll be attending this year's AFA2011 on all 3 days (well, 2 days, 1 night actually). Should be good as AFA committee has rounded up a bunch of amazing artistes as always each year. Might be my first and very last time to attend AFA as other plans in the future will hinder me from attending next year, so it a definite must-go at this point, besides the Friday concert.

Will be flying early, and arriving on Friday itself. A friend has decided to accompany me, and we should be meeting sumore like-minded individuals and comrades in Singapore. Should be a blast before leaving on Sunday night.

See you guys there!

VocaLawson Campaign Coming Soon

Lawson, the official ota-konbini, has launched yet another campaign, this time a "Lawson x Vocaloid" collaboration to liberate every diehard fan's money from their wallets; the "VOCALAWSON" Campaign.

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

Anime Map by Japan National Tourism Organization

To promote the insurgency of more international visitors, the Japan National Tourism Organization has turned towards the brave global demography, hopefully willing to endure the rumours of nationwide radiation that has driven away most of Japan's visitors and anything that stands in their way; the otaku population.

GT300 Fuji Speedway 2011 Qualifying and Raceday

Held on April 30th and May 1st, the GT300 had stopped by the good old Mt.Fuji for Round 2 for this leg of the race. As my report will be heavily biased towards covering team GSR due to my nature as a fan of the diva and customer of GSC, do forgive me if I do not highlight the other teams that much.

As I previously mentioned in the history of GSR Studie & Team UKYO, the backdrop gave a hint as to the teams next circuit, the Fuji Speedway in Oyama. The circuit, if you have seen it, has only a few tight corners with the major speedway being the famously long stretch also known for holding drag races.

GSR&Studie with TeamUKYO

The latest addition to the SuperGT300 Series is team, GSR&Studie with TeamUKYO, a rare joint collaboration between 3 factions; Good Smile Racing, Studie and Team UKYO.

Let's take a look at how this 3-way collaboration came about.

Good Smile Nendoroid Cafe

UPDATE: New images added, along with 2 new sections created:
"Nendoroid 00 - 170 + No Numbers"and "Nendoroid Puchi and Nendoroid Plus"

UPDATE 2: Nendoroid Racing Miku 2011 ver. just arrived at Goodsmile Cafe today! (4/20)
She's been added to the Nendoroid collection at the "Latest Nendoroid Closeups" section. ^^

Guma-chan welcomes and beckons you to join her at the Good Smile Cafe in Chiba, with their latest cafe theme, Nendoroid Cafe, starting from April 5th (Tuesday).

For the duration of this theme, the cafe has been decorated with tons of their flagship figure series "Nendoroid", plastered everywhere from walls to shelves and even tables.

Come and drown yourself in this amazing Nendo-experience as you are surrounded by hundreds of Nendoroid faces while enjoying a "dining together with a Nendoroid" encounter, with a special menu.

This is heaven-sent for Nendo lovers and I can't blame them. This is absolute eye candy to any lucky customer that walks through those doors. Makes me wish I was there too ^^;

A definite must-go if you've visiting Japan anytime soon. as the closing date of the theme has yet to be announced.The theme might even be up for a few weeks/months considering this is GSC own cafe and series, bunched and rolled up into a ball of goodness for you to savour for the next few days. The theme will end at the end of this month on April 30th, so get there are quick as you can! （＾∀＾）

Of course, to those who would love to teleport themselves right now but can't, I hope these images can bring you that much closer to the cafe which is the purpose of this post. Also, it seems this "cafe" segment is becoming a regular thing, hence the birth of the "CAFE" tag ^^

Special thanks to Zero for unleashing his Reality Marble; Unlimited Copypasta Works for lining the images from our server. Big cheer for the poor guy! ( ´∀`)

Shinryaku! Tako Luka Musume

Lord help me...

The day started out like any other day; wake up, power up the PC, check my mail, then take a quick bath before returning to my desktop to reply some emails.

Except, I never got the chance to reply to anyone.

When I emerged from the bath, a Tako Luka was on my workspace with the other monitors featuring its siblings.
And thus began my days with Tako Luka and their invasion (in progress).

Since they're here to stay (and its not like I can make them move out on their own or have a choice), I've decided to carry out an observation journal on my findings on such a rare species, concerning mostly of their behaviour and natural diet in our world.

May this serve as a guide to caring (or maintaining) for you own Tako Invasion when one does arrive at your doorstep.

April Fool Sites Gallery 2011

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

「Figma in Animate Exhibition 2011」

The collaboration of "Animate x Good Smile Company x Max Factory" hosted the "figma in animate Exhibition" at the Animate Store in Ikebukuro from the 22nd to 27th February 2011.

All 100 figmas are displayed, along with the Special figma (SPs), the latest prototypes, those currently in the works and even a life-sized figma.

「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! ＼（＾∀＾）／

Post of the Dead

Rei is mine.

That is all.

Voluptuous Rei and the gang rescues to brings my blog back to life, as it was at the edge of death. She fights through boredom and hiatus-ness to bring you some updates from the dead and back.
So listen up! -she says.

Simmoned Figures #3 - Nendoroid Petit Vocaloid #1 「ねんどろいどぷち ボーカロイド #01」

My last post kept on ranting about suspicious and near-perfect imitations that would dupe even the most avid collectors at first glance, which classifies them as the most dangerous out there.

But no worries for the imitations in this post. 
After looking at these, you'd want to chuck it back to the pirates and ask them to do a proper job of manufacturing a fake. 
One might have to question if these are even worth labeling as a "figure"...

The level of pirating for this set is so laughable, I'm sure only blind otakus of a certain ethnic *cough* would purchase them as GSC giggles at their phailed attempt of replication.

Compared to the previous counterfeit of Saber Lily, I'm quite astound by pathetic replication such a lovely series as pirates would give they're all to make near-perfect copies to lure customers in.
After looking at these images and comparing them to the real ones I currently have in my hands, I love Miku and GSC all over again for they're quality.

However, the following images may cause momentary blindness, rapid blinking, squinting, frowning and accelerated eye cancer.
You have been warned...

Threat Level : 2/5

BRS - Black Rock Story

From a song, to illustrated art, supported by doujin, to figures and now

an OVA on the way...

BRS-san has come along way and I'm damn proud of her...

I remember posting a picture of BRS and a friend of mine said, "Wow, that Miku is so cute, all dark and gothic!" 

EH? O_O

I really hate the fact people don't know what BRS is all about, especially when they compare it to Vocaloid2, Miku and say its like her alter-ego, completely ignorant of her past. Please, for the love of BRS-san and her rock cannon, get your facts right!

So this post is inspired to help poor, misinformed individuals know more about BRS-san, from her origins to the latest updates. Not to say ignorant, but hopefully those who already know about BRS, would leave here with FULL KNOWLEDGE of BRS and spread the RIGHT INFORMATION regarding her. 

A Certain Otaku Shopping Spree in Hong Kong

It's been awhile since I last posted anything. As it's almost New Year already, I might as well talk about my recent trip to Hong Kong where I spent the festive season (and wallet) until Christmas Eve.

Many say Hong Kong is a woman's shopping paradise...

I beg to differ...

Its also an Otaku shopping paradise. If you can't make it to Tokyo for Comiket, HongKong is 2nd best to Japan. HK has the same pace as Tokyo. Fast-moving in an urban jungle with dense concrete trees. A perfect place to get lost when looking for hobby shops.

As an idiot who is extremely sensitive to the cold, this idiot went to shop in the middle of winter. 21°C by day and 9°C by night, I can only imagine the coldness the European and North American continent must be going through as I'm freezing my ass off in this HK winter...

Tunes of Symphony

I've FINALLY found some free time as for the past few weeks, a couple of things came up which could NOT be avoided like;

1. Exams... (hand-ache after every paper)
2. Partying (recommend dosage after every exam ;)
3. Playing Modern Warfare 2 and Left for Dead 2 (All for the winter sales, hoorah!)
4. Laziness.... (need some K-ON-music to ward this off...)

So anyway, I'd like to share a couple of songs from now on, especially vocaloid ones, which have a great impact on my ears and eyes. Well, it may not affect you but its something like a recommendation to all J-pop and song listeners in the Y-generation era.

Vocaloid - The Sounds of Tomorrow

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EDIT: Links to selected songs added at the bottom. For albums, please torrent it yourself or purchase a copy and support Hatsune-sama
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I've been seeing a lot of confusion between the term, Vocaloid, especially with people who just heard the word. Some ask what anime or OVA is this, meaning they haven't bothered to actually google about it. Hopefully this post would clear up a few things along with a short summary...

Vocaloid