The point is, being an otaku isn’t exactly the coolest of things and it can sometimes prove to be quite an awkward moment in a discussion. When I meet someone who share my interest, and I know is totally fine with mine, I will usually start to open up. However, most people will just give you a strange look if you start going on an extended otaku conversation with them. Worse, they remember you as “the strange otaku” and that will be the end of your social life so far. Ok, that was probably an exaggeration but you get the idea ^^ Anyway, until then, I will just keep a low profile with regards to my otaku interests and at best, be just a typical narutard/bleach or increasingly, a K-ON fan. Mind you, the first 2 categories are pretty hard for me as I don’t keep up with either Naruto or Bleach at all. Being a fan of the moe-blob show isn’t that hard….its engineered to let everyone like it. Why else 5 girls prancing around and doing funny stuff? Surely there must be a reason don’t you think so?

For those with a similar inclinations to remain under the radar, I have 10 tips for you. Not to be presumptuous but I guess we could use every tip we get.

1. The first is one of the easiest – Do NOT discuss anime or profess to knowing ‘popular’ (read cult hits/mega otaku obsession level) titles like Haruhi. When absolutely pressed, talk about shows like Gundam, Bleach and Naruto and just show a passing interest in them.
2. Do NOT attempt to have a lecture or ‘teaching’ session with other people. If you find that you are dominating the conversation and is already on a 1-minute monologue, stop immediately. Otakus generally feel like they have to attempt to level up other peoples’ otaku knowledge. We have a tendency to correct others or make known our point of view. DO NOT! This is a trap to lure you out of your otaku ninja-hood!
3. Do NOT talk about figures/PVCs, especially the gazillion collection that you have or that 1 moe bootylicious PVC girl winking at you from the corner of the shop. Knowledge about The Most Evil Company in the World (TMECW), otherwise known as GoodSmile Company, should be kept to a need-to-know basis. Its partially for their own good as well since no one can withstand the various poisons unleashed periodically on the unsuspecting public by TMECW.
   
   Talking about bishoujo figures is obviously off-limits if you haven’t figured it out by now. Do not identify or even show recognition of popular collections, the nendoroids or any limited edition rare items. Talking about retail websites such as amiami (finally!), hobby-link japan or even hobbystock/otacute etc are obviously a big NO-NO. When absolutely needed, a discussion about gundam plamo & its difficulty is your best bet. Do not venture in Macross Plamo because it will just spiral out of control into a Ranka vs Sheryl debate.
4. Do NOT confess to reading any manga or even any scanlations. Its a dead giveaway for a ninja-otaku especially if you let slip you are reading some obscure or niche titles.
5. Do NOT in any case talk about cosplay, cosplayers’ raison d’être (fancy phrase which basically means why a cosplayer do what he/she does) or celebrity cosplayers (KIPPI !!). People don’t really want to know what you think of it, and knowing it inside out just make you sound like a creep who stalks those cosplayers. Just say its quirky, interesting and colorful and most people will leave it at that.
6. When someone says that some show is the BESTEST show of the season/year/decade/EVAR, and even if its the moe-blob show K-On or some show which you can obviously see is missing a plot, do NOT interject and argue that they are sacrilegious/rubbish/out-of-their-freaking-mind/obviously have not watched enough anime. Just let it go and suppress those urges to knock some sense into that person’s head. This rule applies to game(ero-games…), manga or anime movies as well.
7. On that note, do NOT even talk or venture into ero-ge/game territory. The less said about this, the better. Self-explanatory for anyone who wants to be a ninja-otaku.
8. Do NOT use words like orz/moe etc in your regular vocabulary. Besides making you sound like a terrible weaboo, its very disorientating for anyone who is trying to take you seriously when you are in ninja-otaku mode.
9. Most importantly since chances are that many people will trip up on this due to the surprise, do NOT in any case name popular anisong artists as your favourite band/musicians. A regular j-pop one is fine but will set some peoples’ otaku-radar on alert though. Anyone that starts to shift towards the niche like Nana Mizuki, Yukarin etc, no matter how awesome, is of course NOT appropriate for an answer if you are trying to be a ninja-otaku.
   
   Personally, I will say Fire Bomber, High & Mighty Color and Orange Range. Most people who are not in the know will just wave them off as regular western bands. Those who are slightly in on the joke might find it slightly familiar on account of Orange Range though.
10. Which brings me to the last point. Its fun to know more people who you can just discuss/debate random stuff and commit every mistake the above 9 points have tried to prevent you from committing. This means you have to spread out some ‘feelers’ but nothing too obvious. Sometimes it feels much better to be yourself and have a nice chat about how moe-anime is killing the industry. Do NOT wall yourself away from the world

That’s all for now. Have fun and good luck!

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Its the ED of the Bakemonogatari Anime as well as one of the single from Supercell, the group which used to have Hatsune Miku as their lead vocalist and also the creators of Black Rock Shooter. They have alot of really good hits with Hatsune Miku and they released them all on Nico Nico Douga. Currently, for their latest project, their lead vocalist is Nagi (aka gazelle) who is another really talented singer from Nico Nico Douga. Which reminds me that I might do a short introductory post on some of Nico Nico Douga singers as well as Supercell’s past songs.

Meanwhile, enjoy the videos and the lyrics! I tried for the first time in translating a piece of lyrics so pardon me if there is an error somewhere. Please do correct me so I can improve!

This is the PV for their single. I find that it is purposely done in an amateur manner with a young inexperienced casts, probably to capture the spirit and rawness of youth as well as the tribulations of growing up.

Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari PV -- supercell

This is the ED of Bakemonogatari. Really nice anime which I want to finish as soon as I have the time for it.

Lyrics:

I tried to preserve the meaning of the japanese lyrics as far as I can word for word and only condensing/summarizing sentences when I can’t think of any alternative. Also, orihime-sama is the Japanese term for the Vega Star, hikoboshi is the name for the Altair Star and I have translated accordingly to the implied meaning rather than the literal meaning for them (It doesn’t make sense otherwise). The stars have a very interesting back-story which has many cultural links to it. Do check it out if you are at the wiki page.

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Basara was great, performing my favorite macross 7 song Try Again (!!!) and Remember 16 (classic!!) amongst other songs including the popular Totsugeki Love Heart. And May’n sang a few songs from her latest album not released yet and also Northern Cross, Lion & 9pm Don’t be Late. As for the Pure WIN, it was the duet between them and they chose not to revise old material like the Totsugeki Love Heart song which they sang together in January this year. They sang Diamond Crevasse where May’n sounded slightly under-strength due to Fukuyama’s powerful voice and then Dynamite Explosion, which was AWESOME due to the entire power and meaning of the song. I had a remarkable fanboy night which was made really memorable by that song as it was a great ending song for the Anisong concert. Adding to the fact that I just finished watching Macross 7 less than 2 weeks ago just make the entire experience really magical for me.

And as for the last WIN of the day, check this out -> Was dying to get them together to pose for a picture when I saw them. Pardon the phone cam please

One of the best cosplay I have seen the entire weekend (and there were some pretty good ones – Black Rock Shooter girl, I’m referring to you) and kudos to their originality. Both of them were the first time I seen these 2 characters in cosplay.

Not really a big fan of cosplay myself but the outfits on these 2 characters were really good and those Altos/Sheryl Nomes/Rankas over the weekends just pale in comparison to both of them. Really capped off my weekend beautifully after the conclusion of AFA ‘09.

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Good Smile has announce the pre-ordering of Index from To Aru Majutsu no Index. Quite a nice figure but a plain base and nothing fantastic in the design/sculpting. I guess the production issues with all their new fancy bases must be giving them a ton of headache.

A must-get for all Index’s fans but otherwise, I can safely assume you will give it a miss. Pre-orders will start 17th November, tomorrow. You can expect to get it at the usual places, including HobbyLink Japan and HobbySearch.

Index
Release Date: Mar 2010
Scale: 1/8th scale – approximately 190mm in height
Price: 7,800 Yen

 

Pictures via goodsmile.info

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2. Alter’s Yui Pre-order Out
3. FREEing Ex:Ride

More pictures of Alphard figure out! All of them look stunning and I can only guess when will they be ready for the market, given all the recent troubles Good Smile has with deadlines etc.

The sculpt looks really good and this is just a 1st print, meaning the final sculpt and finish will probably be slightly different/better. The slight bit of problem I see in the hair area will probably be fixed by then. The base is top-notch like most of their current figure releases pre-orders. I wonder how much effort it takes to produce them in the factories.

Overall, another affirmation of my decision to go ahead with the pre-order of the Alphard PVC figure and I know it will pair up sweetly with Canaan’s PVC figure. Just look at their combined bases!

 

For more of those stunning pictures, visit AkibaHobby here!

Pictures via akibahobby.net

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3. The Fast, the Furious and the Fake Saber Lily!!

I think most of the people who know about the Saber Lily ~Distant Avalon~ PVC by Goodsmile will have known that it was just released just a few days ago. While I did not order one, I felt it was a wonderful piece of work with fantastic craftsmanship to boot. Regrettably, some bootleggers have already come up with an imitation PVC of this figure. Here’s a quick guide to show you the differences, courtesy of Goodsmile.

Those bootleggers are pretty good themselves, making an imitation of such a well-crafted figure and releasing it just as Goodsmile released the original, probably to confuse those who are not well-versed in spotting fakes. Not that I blame those who fell for the fakes as some of them are quite well done and even passable for the real thing at times. Goodsmile Company predictably, reacted very fast and came out with the update on their webpage to condemn them and showcase the differences as soon as they learn about the issue.

RED / Left is genuine while BLUE / Right is fake

The genuine version comes with the Good Smile Company sticker as well as another sticker.

The printing on the fake is pretty awful as you can see for yourself. The color is also slightly off as if it was photocopied, which it probably is. ^^

There is an holographic sticker on the back for the genuine box.

For the actual figure itself apart from the box, there are 3 tell-tale signs.

Firstly, the base. Pretty obvious once you compare both of them. One comes with Fate / Unlimited Codes and the other without. The shade of the gray is different as well.

The connector that joins the left hand to the scabbard is also of a different color. The authentic one is clear while the imitation is black.

Lastly, the angle of the head and the ahoge is totally off for the fake. It does however, look alot like Yami from To Love-Ru from this angle. It could just be me though but maybe fans of Yami-chan could do well to take note. ^^

Personally as a collector, I feel there is no point getting a fake. It just decreases the perception of the original figures which you already have just by having a fake in the midst. If you can’t afford the original, maybe save up and hope to get it another day rather than spend your money on a fake which you know will never replace the real stuff.

Also, I feel its good to support the company which release such excellent figures by purchasing their items. But by purchasing bootlegs, you are just feeding the bootleggers who obviously do not pay any copyrights etc to the respective copyright holders. On a larger scale, this will just decrease the motivation of the companies to release such well-crafted figures since they know that people will just end up buying the bootleg copy instead and this will be terrible for the entire market.

On a brighter note, if you want to take a look at the original Saber Lily, head over to AkiraHobby here where there is a fantastic gallery and review of the figure. Terrific work by Goodsmile Company here, can’t wait for Black Rock Shooter

Pictures via Goodsmile.info & akirahobby.net

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Need a case for your figmas? Max Factory has a solution for you and its out in December 2009. Cost will be around 743 Yen and you can order them at either Hobbysearch or at HobbyLink Japan.

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Ex:ride is a set of vehicles created to be used by the figures in Max Factory’s figma action figure series.

Vehicles that can be ridden by the figma series of figures are on their way, brought to you by FREEing. The first in the new ‘ex:ride’ series are a set of Italian-style vintage bikes. There are a total of five colors to choose from – pearl white, metallic red, metallic green, metallic yellow and metallic blue, so you can pick whichever suits your figma the best!

All the vehicles in the series will have careful details on all their designs, and allow for even more possibilities from the figma world. Many more vehicles are scheduled to be announced soon!

Personally, I think the design is pretty good and the bright colors really stunning. Might actually get a couple just to pose my figmas on them. They are all rather quirky and add a nice touch to the backdrop.

You can make your pre-orders at HobbySearch here.

ex:ride Vintage Bikes
Release Date: Dec 2010
Scale: Not to scale
Price: 1,410 Yen

 

Pictures via Hobbysearch

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3. K-On! Release by Wave

Wave has just released both these K-On! characters for pre-orders in homage to the beach scene in the show. Yay to fan-service! ^_^

Mio fanboys will undoubtedly be overjoyed when they finally lay their hands on a bikini version of their goddess. Me, I think both these figures look moe and the price is pretty awesome as well, almost the cost of a nendoroid. Its rare nowadays that you can find a PVC at this price point, especially for a popular series.

Yui looks rather awkward at first but she sorts of grow on you with her pose and her ‘friendliness’. As for the Mio figure, she’s just being herself with her shyness and her coy facial expressions.

However, I find the paintwork somewhat lacking, especially in the head region. Both heads look rather badly painted and they look kind of odd. You can see for yourself how the hair looks like one badly molded lump of plastic with horrible joint-lines to boot. However, this could just be due to them being pre-release pictures. The final products might be much much better with an overhaul of the molding design etc. Not a must-get for me in any case as I do not really like them in their swimsuits. If, and a very big IF, Azusa-nyan comes along with this set, I might be sorely tempted.

Truth be told, I’m still holding out for the ED PVCs ^^ Will give these 2 a good thought though, the Yui figure beckons me oh so often…

Both of them are available for pre-order at HLJ and HobbySearch.

Hirasawa Yui Wave Version (PVC Figure)
Release Date: Dec 2009
Scale: 1/10
Price: 3,800 Yen
HLJ / Hobby Search


Akiyama Mio Wave Version (PVC Figure)
Release Date: Dec 2009
Scale: 1/10
Price: 3,800 Yen
HLJ / Hobby Search

Pictures via HobbySearch & konachan.com

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Alphard nendoroid is out for pre-order. Goodsmile is apparently not letting up its hunt for our wallets…

To add to the multitudes of figures released or will be released by Goodsmile in the coming months, Alphard from Type-Moon’s Canaan join the ranks of the nendoroids.

Alphard comes with a grinning face, a calm face and an angry face, presumably when she’s fighting with Canaan. She has a revolver as well, similar to the Canaan nendoroid.

I say she does look great when paired up with the Canaan nendoroid in a battle scene. A must get if you already ordered the Canaan nendoroid. Otherwise, it boils down to whether you like the character design or not. Canaan is a pretty good, action-packed anime but its essentially Type-Moon to the core. Some people will like it while others can’t even sit through 15 minutes of it.

Preorders are open at Hobbysearch here and at HLJ here.

Nendoroid Alphard
Release Date: Jan 2010
Scale: Not to scale – approximately 100mm in height
Price: 3,500 Yen

 

Pictures via Goodsmile.info & Hobbysearch

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I finally found this figure of Shiki made by GoodSmile Company. It was sold out pretty fast when it was released late last year. I guess even GSC themselves didn’t realize what a hit they had on their hands.

The highlight of this figure got to be the kimono worn by Shiki. While not being made of fabric, it looked very realistic under some lighting. The details on the kimono look fantastic as well.

The base is plain and unadorned. I think the overall theme of this figure is just simple and dignified class with a hint of flair. The base fits right in as it doesn’t take away anything from the figure but adds on to it in an unstated manner.

The katana have some delicate etchings on it, especially on the hilt guard. Its rather fragile though so I’ll advise people to handle it with care. Overall, a very nice piece for display.

Pictures of the Shiki figure:

 

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Just came back with more di:stages! Not all of them are for me though.

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Max Factory has opened the Canaan figma for pre-orders.

She comes with a gun and sugar sticks, same as the nendoroid. Three expressions are included – a normal face, a smiling face as well as an angry face. The included pistol is fitted with a sliding mechanism to recreate the scenes when Canaan reloads her weapon. Additional parts are included and can be attached to the pistol to give the effect of a firing pistol. A poseable figma stand is included, which allows various poses to be taken.

Personally, I think this will look great on the di:stage…you can have a mass shootout with Canaan, Makina Hohimura and maybe even Shana with her flame sword.

You can pre-orders yours at HobbySearch today.

figma Canaan
Release Date: Nov 2009
Price: 2,500 Yen

 

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Bought 4 black di:stage to test out on my figmas. It works pretty well and it looks like I can save some space….
Planning to get more soon. ^^

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Alter announced the release of Yui PVC for pre-order today.

Yui was just released for pre-orders to complement the one released of Mio about 2 weeks ago. Her electric guitar looks pretty detailed and the paintwork is excellent as expected from an Alter’s PVC. The only drawback I can see is that it looks a potential leaner with the weight all balanced on the ankle of her left leg. I supposed they will have to find a way to prevent the leaning from occurring.

You can pre-orders yours at either HobbyLink Japan or HobbySearch.

Hirasawa Yui Alter Ver. (PVC Figure)
Release Date: Dec 2009
Scale: 1/8
Price: 6,800 Yen

 

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