Bet you wouldn’t think it was a man driving a fish cart xD. But it could possibly be it with the famous Tsukiji fish Market turret truck being shrunk down to a 1:32-scale model of itself including a little driver and a little styrofoam box to hold fish. Guess I need to buy my own little tuna to put it in the little styrofoam box since it’s not included . Found on fu*&edgaijin. Information provided by Daily Yomiuri Online + AP Associated Press.

I’ve never been to Tsukiji fish market myself but always wanted to go. Though I can’t find myself waking up so early to watch the action lol. It’s nice that foreigners aren’t banned for Tsukiji’s anymore, due to bad PR as a result of it. I want to go to try fresh seafood straight from the waters of Japan.

Has anyone been to Tsukiji and want to tell us their experience of it?

Hi again everyone. Sorry for the wait since the last post, things have been a bit hectic due to the seasonal holidays, and I’m happy to share my first full review. Do enjoy it~ And oh yeah, a bit late too, but hope everyone is having a great New Years~

Just only got this recently since this is the N/A release of her. A little bit of info here about this figure (though introductions possibly aren’t needed I’m guessing): She’s Blanc Neige of Shining Tears/Wind fame, designed by Tony Taka, and this figure here is the latest offering from Kotobukiya. Her mantle can be removed as well as her wand. The following shoot consists of her mostly in her mantle, though the finishing photos show her without the mantle since the mantle does obscure some points of interest.

While she’s really nice overall from a general point of view, the collectors who ask for perfection will likely be somewhat disappointed by Koto’s shoddy finishing for this figure. The little squiggles on her clothes could certainly be cleaner is what I feel. From the comments of people who have her that I have spoken too, it appears that QC overall is somewhat dodgy and each of them have certain complaints about different areas (such as the gem on the wand being painted sloppily), but maybe the lucky few might just be getting a figure that was done nicely. But as always, it’s a game of lottery with mass produced figures, even more so when you’re getting them online, where you can’t exactly pick and choose the “perfect” figure.

Can’t complain much about her hair, certainly isn’t the most detailed hair out there, and when viewed from the front, doesn’t do much since the mantle obscures it from view. It does lend itself to the overall look when viewed without the mantle from the front, though in the end I chose to display her with the mantle after some struggle in my head ^^;

I guess I went with the mantle look since less skin would be shown, and since the figure comes with the mantle anyway, might as well use it since I paid for it xD But the mantle-less look might be more to others tastes.

I like the edges of the mantle though, with that little bit of detail that is hardly noticeable, but I think it’s a really nice aspect. Pity that once Blanc’s head is there, the collar region pretty much goes unnoticed.

Without the mantle, you get more of Blanc’s curves to look at, both ways of displaying her are actually nice to be honest.

Some details of her clothes always tend to be less drowned out/obscured without the mantle. And well, there’s always the skin factor xD

Can’t ever say that I’m happy with Koto’s bases for their Shining series though, which is why Blanc is the only one I have out of the entire series. I might go for Ryuna though, but I guess it depends. Blanc’s right foot is screwed onto the base itself, so the base is pretty much stuck to her.

And well, without the mantle, her rear view is definitely much more enjoyable don’t you think? xD Now before any funny ideas are gotten, I really love her back, pity her hair obscures much of it unless you peer at it from lower angles. Any other view you’re treated to in the process is just mere happy coincidence xD

Got this figure rather late since I opted out of the Japanese release, and waited for the North American release of her which is this month, and saved quite a fair bit. So for those who are still on the fence about this figure, and especially those residing in NA, do check out the blogs of Belela-san, super rats, and James to view more photos of her. She should retail for about 49.99 USD in North America (compared to 5800 Yen for the Japanese release)

Happy New Year ^^.

Another year has passed and what a great year it has been for me. I was able to get a great girlfriend, pass my classes, get the classes I want for next year, and more.

Now, it’s that time of the year when I announce the word of the year. The word of the year is….

NENDOROID.

That’s right xD. I chose nendoroid for this years word of the year because the nendoroid boom that has otaku all over the world ordering them.

You may or not know what a nendoroid is. Basically it’s a smaller and cuter form of an anime character that is one of the cutest things you’ve ever seen ^^. Here’s a video of the famous Miku in nendoroid form which I believe is the best selling nendoroid due to the amount of times good smile has needed to remake her to meet the demand of the otaku xD.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A cute video of dancing nendoroids to check out (Note: This is CG and not the actual nendoroids dancing)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nendoroids come from all types of anime series and goodsmile has previewed more of them on their blog for the upcoming year. You can see the nendoroids that they previewed at Comiket 75 over here.

I myself received a cute nendoroid from my girlfriend for Christmas which is my favorite gift this year ^^. Look forward to pictures of this mysterious nendoroid gift in the future ;P.

To end it off I would like to propose a new nendoroid for goodsmile that I saw on Sankaku Complex, a Taiga nendoroid xD.

She looks very cute sitting on top of Ryuuji’s head ^^. They made two Shana nendoroids so far so I’m hoping a Taiga one will come out xD.

Hi there everyone, I asked AS for a spot over here at his blog so that I may post some figure photos and he graciously gave me the opportunity =) So here I am now, and while I don’t have his story telling talent with regards to figures, I’d thought I’d try my best and try to share my photos since I really enjoy figures and hope to share them with everyone. That said, I actually came on board a few weeks back, and even while I asked to join, it turned out I couldn’t poke out enough time to actually get started. Much apologies AS ^^;

And even after all that is said and done, there really aren’t much photos here that calling this post a review would be an insult to all the other bloggers out there that actually take awesome photos and talk at length about the figure. So please be gentle and understanding and consider this an introductory post instead ^^ I promise I’ll allocate more time next time and not waste everyone’s time again =)

Index is a really nice figure, if you can ignore the safety pin mess (which honestly irks me somewhat since I don’t really know what’s in between the pins, nor do I really wanna know) as well as the seams on her sleeves where you take apart her “walking church”. She’s cute though, who can really resist her? Hopefully I can get to do a proper review of her soon enough so Sphinx can get a bit of spotlight too :p

And while this becomes a relatively short post, I hope everyone enjoyed these few pictures I’ve taken and will hopefully look forward to more posts in the future, definitely with more content I promise ^^ Till then, I thank you for your continued kind support =)

Click here to view the embedded video.

For all you nendo Miku fans out there, here’s a youtube video for you to watch ^^. Filled with nendo Miku goodness, from pictures of her alone to pictures of her with miniture furniture, mini Miku nendo boxes, and other nendos xD. Miku will be the new gravure idol for the otaku world with pictures like these ^^. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do make a gravure nendoroid book with Miku as the model ^^. To all you Miku nendoroid fans out there, enjoy the video.

It’s been over ten years since I’ve gone back to my hometown. On the day I left for my studies abroad I also left my high school love behind as well, I always wonder how she was doing. Her name was Sasa, a beautiful girl whom I became acquainted with when I started high school. She was a new girl in town who enrolled in my class and our homeroom teacher appointed me to show her around the school. Initially I was irritated by this, it was the start of my high school year and already I had something to do. I tried to avoid her as much as possible while still being with her. I took her around the school, hung out with her during our breaks, and sometimes for lunch. The most time we spent together was walking to school and back home together, we lived in the same direction only a couple of blocks away from each other. It was during that time that I got to really know her. Soon we started hanging out with each other more frequently. It was about half a year before I asked her to be my girlfriend outside of her house, she gave me a cute smile and said yes.

What I remember most about the time we spent together is sitting outside in the lanai of her house and talking until the sun set. The glow of orange reflected beautifully on her white skin. We would talk about everything from school to what was going on in our small town. It was in my senior year in high school that I decided to study abroad. When I told her the news she shed tears but eventually agreed that it was best for me. On the day I left I waved her goodbye as I boarded the train to the airport. I held back my tears as I left, but after I couldn’t see her shape anymore the tears came streaming out. We wrote to each other for about a year but our letters to each other gradually dropped in frequency over time and eventually just stopped. I still wonder about her, but since my parents passed away I never had to go back to my hometown. It makes me wonder if I should ever go back, just to see her again.

These aren’t my set of photos again. They are quite beautifully done, especially the lighting. The props are a nice touch. Sasa herself is pretty cute, I like how the dress looks on her. The hair is done nicely as well ^^.

For other great pictures, take a look here:
Happy Soda