Listed in no particular order:

• Akiyama Mio figure by Alter
• Fujibayashi Ryou prize figure by FuRyu
• Alicia Melchiott and Isasa Gunther prize figures by Sega
• Asahina Mikuru Waitress Version gashapon
• Miles Edgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations for DS
• Half-Minute Hero for PSP
• Dead Space for Xbox 360
• PSP 1000 with soft case
• 10 miscellaneous PSP games
• Omamori Himari Intro CD Oshichauzo!
• Omamori Himari Ending CD BEAM my BEAM
• Umineko no Naku Koro ni Characted CD 1
• Omamori Himari manga volume 2
• Neon Genesis Evangelion Perfect Collection
• Animelo 2009 booklet
• Autographed sketch by Summer Wars director Hosoda Mamoru

Not too shabby, if it’s not too presumptuous to say so.

I’ve had this on pre-order for ages, so naturally I was thrilled when it finally shipped out from HLJ. Soon after, though, I remembered that I was (and still am) far too cheap to spring for EMS when SAL is available, and thus resolved to wait the typical two weeks until it should show up. It arrived after three and a half.

I had managed to collect all five of the Kotobukiya Clannad figures, but Ryou was not included in that set. This is understandable, as Ryou is not a heroine of her own right in Clannad, but rather a side character primarily featured in Kyou’s path/arc. Regardless, I was disappointed, as she is one of my favorite characters from the series, and my collection felt incomplete without her. When I spotted this prize figure for only 1500 yen, I put in an order straight away, and I couldn’t be happier with her.

I also happen to be a huge fan of Valkyria Chronicles, and I was very disappointed when I saw the price tags on what few scale figures from the game/anime were being released. I could not afford them when they were released, and the after-market is even worse. So, once again, prize figures came to the rescue, still at just 1500 yen apiece. I have to say that the quality of these figures is superb for such a low price.

Anyone else who can’t wait for Valkyria Chronicles 2 to come out?

This was a freebie that came with an order from YesAsia. Yes, I did give them another chance despite my earlier rant, and this time around I’ll admit that there were no problems whatsoever. You get to pick between sets of gashapon figures if you order certain items, and I was lucky enough to get the one I wanted the most out of a possible five.

These are just some games that I’ve bought since Christmas. I’ve had Ace Attorney on pre-order for a long time, but Dead Space and Half-Minute Hero were impulse eBay buys. I managed to get good deals on both, but I haven’t had a chance to start either of them yet. I have finished Ace Attorney already though, and this installment reaffirmed my love for the series. It was a shock being out of the courtroom at first, but you get used to it fairly quickly.

Funny story behind this group of items. You’re going to hate me for this:

I paid $60 in total for all of it. And yes, I am laughing right now.

My brother was essentially done with his PSP, so I offered to buy it and all his games from him, originally at a higher price. While we were discussing it, I recalled that he had the Evangelion set lying around, and he agreed to sell that to me as well. Here’s the weird part: it was cell phone-upgrading season for our family plan around then, and my brother cooked up a clever idea to use the deals being offered in such a way that he and the family could get nicer-than-typical new models on the cheap. The gigantic catch to his plan was that one family member would have forgo getting a new phone altogether, keeping an older one instead. I hardly use mine, so I volunteered, and my brother insisted that he make it up to me somehow. I asked for a discount on the sale, he slashed the price significantly, and we called it square.

It was definitely worth it.

I thoroughly enjoyed Umineko, and despite what anyone may say I am very much enjoying Omamori Himari as well. That includes the music, and I’m glad to have the actual CDs of some of my favorite songs from those series. If you’re a Yui Horie fan and you haven’t heard Happy Halloween Maria, you should remedy that posthaste.

Yes, this is in Japanese, and no, I can’t read it. Yet. For now, I bought it for personal collector’s value, though I hope to be able to read it someday. I bought volume 1 as a souvenir when I was in Japan, and when I needed a few extra dollars on my YesAsia order to qualify for free shipping, I decided to follow up with this.

As you may have heard, MIT hosted the U.S. premier of Hosoda Mamoru’s newest movie Summer Wars, at which he himself was in attendance. Plus, it was free! I live in a suburb, but I trekked up into Boston to see it. After the movie I listened to the entire Q&A session with Hosoda-san, and got in line for an autograph. The line was short but took forever, but that was only because Hosoda-san was taking the time to talk to each person, despite it being quite late at night by then. The only paper I had on me was the map I had used to get from the T station to MIT proper, but he gave me an autographed sketch of the main heroine Natsuki (with nekomimi) on the back. I got home at 12:30 on a school night, but it was absolutely worth it. I haven’t mentioned it yet because…well…I didn’t bring my camera. I thought it imprudent at first to bring a camera to a movie screening, but I later learned that it would have been perfectly fine. And hey, I’ve got an autographed sketch to remember it by.

As for the Animelo booklet, I got it from a giveaway on The-O Network. It has a page for every artist that played at the Animelo Summer Live 2009 concert. I was shocked when I learned that I, of all people, had actually won one of the available third-prizes, but I was delighted all the same.

This awesome Valkyria Chronicles cloth poster ran me only $13 on eBay. I decided to take a chance with a Hong Kong seller since the price was so low, and I’m very satisfied with it. It smelled like paint for some time, but that faded quickly enough.

Here are some other photos I took:

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading.

But I’m sure many of you who might be reading this already know most of I’ve said so far, not to mention the fact that where I live, Valentine’s Day ended as I was typing this up. As for my own goings-on of late, I’ve been accumulating some most excellent loot, but I cannot yet post in detail about it a friend has my camera for a school project. Also, I will be attending both Anime Boston and PAX East this year, though unfortunately I could only get a Sunday pass for the latter.

But that should be enough for the moment. As always, thanks for reading.

Anyway, today’s topic is essentially just me jabbering on about a less than ideal experience I recently had with, you guessed it, yesasia.com. I say “less than ideal” on purpose, rather than something like “terrible” or “Shear angry! Shear smash!” because I do not consider it to be entirely to their express discredit.  In retrospect, what happened to me, though unfortunate, was not so egregious as to call gross incompetence or foul play, and for the most part their company dealt with their fault and my concerns quite well. I think I’m not so much outraged as I am still fuming over not getting the outcome I was hoping for.

Image from Safebooru

I should probably outline the details about what actually happened before I go on ranting about how I feel about it. I’m a big fan of the manga and now anime series Omamori Himari (CR got the license–Shear angry!) and I heard somewhere that the limited edition release of the 6th volume in Japan was going to come with a special DVD. Granted, it would be region 2 and it’s probably readily available on the internet, but I decided to look for it anyway. Some searching led me to yesasia, and the price seemed more than fair. The item description, however, was just garbled romaji, so I sent a customer service request to make sure that I was getting the limited edition with the DVD.

I had a reply in my inbox by the following day, something that quite impressed me. It informed me that the item did indeed include the DVD, but that stock was limited and I should order right away. I immediately did so, including a CD I had been eyeing because it brought me over their free shipping minimum by a few cents. All seemed perfect…

…until I got the email informing me that the manga volume was being canceled from my order due to its being out of stock. Had this happened the next day, or perhaps the day after, I would have understood. Exact stock figures are finicky, and this sort of thing happens. But it wasn’t the next day. Or the day after. I got that email eight days after I placed the order.

Again, thinking in retrospect, this might not be as grievous as I am making it sound; yesasia is an international exporter, and to be fair, the item did state that shipments for that item could be delayed by up to 21 days. Regardless, at the time I was understandably quite upset, so I sent them another customer service request demanding to know what had happened. Again, there was an email in my inbox the next day, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. Rather than a reply to my request, it told me that they had gone ahead and shipped the rest of my order, i.e. the CD. I don’t know if it would have shipped then anyway or of they were trying to make up for having to cancel one of my items, but for a while I thought that they believed the matter settled. Again, I was naturally quite upset. It felt as though that they had chosen to be done with my order rather than address my complaint.

Seeking answers, I discovered that they had a customer service phone number, so I decided to give them a call.  I’ll admit, despite how angry I felt, I found their level of customer service impressive. The representative I spoke to couldn’t do anything to get my item for me, but he treated me with respect and was clearly trying to explain the situation to the best of his ability. He also informed me that the item “may” not be out of stock forever, but I’m not really going to get my hopes up.

It turns out, though, that today I did finally get a reply to me second request, which said essentially the same things that the representative had told me on the phone, but it there was one little footnote at the end of the reply that serves only to make this whole ordeal even more confusing:

“Moreover, according to our supplier, the item does not contain a DVD. “

Wait, what? This contradicted both the previous reply I received and the item title itself, which I would have noticed had “dei vui dei” in it had I paid attention to it, not to mention that the Japanese title had “DVD” in it from the get-go, and that it Google-translates to “Omamori Himari Ultra Limited Edition with 6 DVD.” I’m inclined to think that the DVD is indeed included, but it hardly matters now, save for the off chance that they do get in back in stock at some point.

But that’s more than enough of my ranting. I want to emphasize that this is a single consumer’s opinion on a single order, and is in no way meant to be interpreted as a reflection of yesasia.com in general. Also, sorry for the text-heavy post; there wasn’t really much in the way of pictures for a topic like this.

And that’s about it for today. I have some stuff on order, and I’ll be sure to post about it when it comes in. Until then, though, thanks for reading. See you next time.

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu, everybody! It also happens to be my sister’s birthday today, so I’m celebrating that too (it’s still midday on the 31st here, actually, but posting this a little early couldn’t hurt, right?). I hope everyone had a great 2009, and I wish you the best for 2010!

Picture from Safebooru.

Now I know what you’re thinking…well, I really don’t, but it serves my purposes to pretend that I do. Anyway, as you can plainly see, there isn’t much in the way of otaku goods to be found here. I wrote a long list this year and told my family to pick a few things; I usually ask for a few specific items, but because of that I haven’t really been surprised all that much in recent years.  I think my family decided to play it safe and get me things readily available from stores and websites they already knew and trusted, which precluded most of my less American requests. That’s not to say that this wasn’t a good Christmas; I got plenty of wonderful gifts:

First up is the new Zelda game, Spirit Tracks. I’ve been a Zelda fan since I played Ocarina of Time when I was little, and I can’t wait to see what this installment holds in store.

Next is Clannad Collection 2, the only anime I received this Christmas. ADV is distributing the series in America, albeit undubbed. I’m fine with this, as I prefer subs in most cases, and the original voice work is simply amazing for this series.   I was given Collection 1 for my birthday a few months back, and this DVD finished the first season.  I hope to buy the After Story DVDs in the near future.

I’ve heard nothing but praise for this game from friends, and I very much enjoyed the first installment. I’m intrigued by the use of Renaissance Italy as the setting this time around.

This was another recommendation by friends, and from what I’ve seen of it thus far it should prove quite impressive.

I’ve nearly run out of room on my shelf for PS3 games, but I hear that this one is a more than worthy addition to any gamer’s repertoire. Prototype was another option on my list, but I didn’t really hold one over the other. Should I get that game eventually as well?

What Christmas is complete without gift cards? $25 to Amazon, $25 to Barnes & Noble, $25 to Shell gas stations, $10 to iTunes, and a year of AAA membership. Yes, AAA membership. It takes a certain kind of person to give someone a AAA card for Christmas, but luckily for him I am that person’s son, and I loved it. My car is a ’95, and it’s set to crumble to dust any day now.  Also, the Shell card wasn’t actually a Christmas present; someone I tutored a few times gave it to me a few days ago in thanks. Thoughtful, no?

Can’t go wrong with tea!

Or hot chocolate. My brother got quite a lot of coffee beans and the like, so we’ll have no shortage of hot beverages for quite some time, it seems. Not that I have a problem with that.

I got some chocolates and candy canes as stocking stuffers, along with that iTunes gift card from before. Note that those are the good kind of chocolate coins, in that I’ve already eaten a lot of them. Also in my stocking…

Chapstick. Santa knows me well, it seems.

Sparkling pomegranate juice. I wanted to photograph everything before I started using them, but I couldn’t quite help myself. I fear it may somehow be too delicious for my own good.

A cold-weather vest from my father. I’ve never really been a vest person, but it was still a nice surprise.

A scarf. I would have balked at the idea of using a precious Christmas gift opportunity on winter clothes when I was younger, but this time around I asked for this. Some would call that a sign of maturity. I say it’s a sign that my neck gets cold often.

Every year my parents try to get one particularly expensive or lavish gift for me and my siblings.  The only such item my parents knew I am aspiring to possess was a DSLR camera, which is of course far above their intended price range for such a gift and far beyond what I was expecting. Rather than take a chance on some expensive figure I might not want, they opted for this:

I think they may have been a bit worried about being unable to choose a specific gift, but I couldn’t have been happier. I’ve been saving money for months now in the hopes of making some big purchases myself. Had they actually gotten me what I am after, not only would they have spent far too much, but it also might have felt as though I had been working so hard for nothing.  This certificate helps me toward my goal and maintains the validity of my efforts. I doubt my parents thought of all that, but I made sure they knew I was happy with it.

That about wraps it up for my Christmas loot this year. What do I think?

I loved it. What else can I say? Great gifts and glazed ham go a long way. Plus, with the money from the gift certificate, the backed paychecks from all those extra pre-Christmas hours at the store, and the check I got from my grandmother (thought it best not to photograph that one) I think I may be nearly ready to make some purchases. As for what those may be, I’ll leave that for another day.

Well, as always, thanks for reading. I’ve really got to stop waiting until holidays to post, and I’m going to try to post more regularly. If I should fail, then I guess I’ll see you on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Thanks again!

When I finished typing up my previous post, I was quite excited to see what sorts of events, purchases, or other goings-on I’d be able to blog about in the near future.  Eventually I came to realize that nothing much was really happening.  Well, perhaps “nothing” isn’t the right word: life went on as it typically does, and, yes, I had a few more interesting days to break the routine here and there, but there was nothing that gave me that feeling of “Hey, I should blog about this,” or what have you.  Maybe I’m setting the bar for blog-worthiness too high.  Maybe I’m just lazy.  Probably both.  Regardless, Thanksgiving seemed as good an excuse as any, so I figured I might as well run my mouth a bit.  Oh, and the image (source) doesn’t really reflect anything other than A) the sense of listlessness that I’ve been feeling of late and B) the fact that I really like it.

Where I live, convention season is still months away, but I did attend a smallish cosplay contest up in Cambridge a while back.  There were some pretty nice costumes and I’d show them to you if I hadn’t forgotten my camera.  Since I’m too cheap to buy my own costume and lack the skill to make one, there wasn’t really much to do other than wander and admire.  A costume isn’t really that high on my list right now, though I might start to change my tune once Anime Boston rolls around.  Aside from pre-ordering the next Ace Attorney game and the Akiyama Mio figure forever ago, I’ve pretty much been hoarding every penny I find, even though I haven’t fully decided exactly what I’m saving for.  I can’t quite tell if I’m thrifty or miserly when it comes to money.

I’ve also started going into the city on Saturdays for Japanese class.  I’m glad I can finally take real lessons on the subject, but the three hour session plus the commute makes it seem like I have an extra day of school every week.  It’s interesting, though, and I’m hoping it will score me some points on college applications too.

I got to meet up with a few of my friends from my trip to Japan last summer, and we walked around Harvard Square for a while.  We had Japanese food, something I do not recommend doing mere days after having your wisdom teeth removed.  We may have been caught in the background for a scene of Friday Night Lights, oddly enough.  Again, I forgot my camera and thus have no pictures, a mistake I hope to avoid more consistently in the future.

That’s really all that’s happened to me recently, as far as my tired brain is currently able to recall.  Before I forget, I found something great for those of you who have actually read this far:

My hat is off to the genius who thought of this (source).  Anyway, thanks for reading, and Happy Thanksgiving!

The plus in this dismal failure of my self-control is that I’ve made some new acquisitions.

The combination of trying not to buy any figures and being hopelessly unable to resist buying figures led to my purchasing several figmas, as they are traditionally less expensive than the PVC statue variety.  I got the Hatsune Miku figma from a sale at Lovelyduckie’s blog.  I was very fortunate in finding it, as I got an excellent deal AND free shipping on this only slightly used figure, which is in perfect condition.  I’m completely satisfied with the purchase, and I’d definitely recommend buying from her if you see something you want.

Tohsaka was actually a birthday present that only recently arrived, since SAL shipping takes forever. Likewise, I bought Saber soon after my birthday with some of the money I got from relatives, and by chance they both arrived on the same day.  Import shipping is expensive, so getting two separately shipped HLJ boxes on the same day was a pretty aggravating sight, even if I only paid for one of them personally.

That, however, was nothing compared to my experience with getting Drossel.  I won her on eBay for a reasonable price, compared to the prices I usually see her fetch on auction.  Of course, it occurred to me minutes after I won to make one last check to make sure I couldn’t find her somewhere else for less.  It was then that I discovered that HLJ was going to restock them in October, and that I had just overpaid by at least $15.

It would have been more bearable if it had ended there, but it never ends “there.”  The figma was new and unopened, as promised by the seller, so I thought I was in the clear.  I picked it up to test the joints and what have you, and no sooner had I touched her right hand when I heard that dreaded snap, coupled with the faint sound of Misfortune laughing hysterically at me.

I was so shocked by the experience that I didn’t make a photographic record, hence the text-heavy post (sorry about that).  Basically, I tried all manner of pocketknives, pins, and tweezers, succeeding only in pushing the peg in deeper and scratching up the peg-hole rather badly.  I think the point of a sewing needle might still be lodged in there somewhere.  Anyway, I gave up and asked my father for help, and he miraculously happened to have a drill-bit thin enough to clear the hole.  We obliterated the peg rather than save it, so I’ve got one useless Drossel hand now, but figmas always have plenty of replacements, thankfully.  Since the hole was a little wider than it used to be, my father had the clever idea of wedging a tiny bit of thin wire in with the replacement hand.  The new hand fits about as well as it used to, and it’s actually not too difficult to change.

In the end, my Drossel has some scratches and some weakened joints (from holding it forcefully while trying to jam my ill-chosen tools between the peg and the arm), but it’s still useable, thankfully.

My last purchase this month was Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for the DS.  I had preordered this, so I got some gifts along with the game.  The first item was this set of four postcards, which are pretty cool.  When I read about the preorder gift way back when, I remember it saying that your friends will think you are writing from the world of Kingdom Hearts, or something.  If that were true, then it seems much less likely that they would look the way they do.

The second item was this surprisingly large poster.  I was quite impressed when I unrolled this; it’s much nicer that I assumed it would be.  I’m particularly partial to how they chose to use art rather than images of the actual graphics.  It just makes for a better poster image in my opinion.

Well, that’s all for this month’s loot.  I apologize for the long-winded post this time, but I didn’t have time to take very many pictures.  I really am going to try to save money this time around, so you can look forward to the results of my failing to do so.  Thanks for reading!

Lo and behold…

…Kotobukiya’s Ibuki Fuuko from Clannad!  I am a big fan of the visual novel company Key, and Clannad is certainly no exception.  The language barrier has thus far prevented me from playing the actual game, but I have seen both of the anime series, and they easily rank among my top favorites.  That being said, my acquisition of this particular character is quite significant to me, for you see…

…she completes my collection of Kotobukiya’s series of Clannad figures!  To my knowledge, each character had two production runs, but by the time I started looking for them, the online stores were all but sold out.  Luckily, I managed to grab Kyou (she’s the one kneeling in the middle-right, if you’re not familiar with the series) from Toyslogic, just before they sold out of her as well.  Needless to say, acquiring the others was not an easy task, nor a cheap one, for that matter.

Despite my buying her last, Fuuko was actually the easiest to find, as a third party seller called Robert’s Anime Corner Store listed her through Amazon.  Their company has fulfillment by Amazon as well, meaning that their orders through Amazon marketplace are packed and shipped by Amazon itself.  Though I usually feel secure enough buying through Amazon marketplace, this system proved a plus in that I netted Amazon’s free shipping on a third party item.

From my perspective, the sculpts on these figures are top-notch; each one captures the essence of the character quite beautifully.  While I bought Kyou from an online retailer, I had to delve into the depths of eBay to find Tomoyo.  Considering the price tags that out of print figures can carry, I believe I got an excellent deal: under $60, including shipping.  Tomoyo is also the only one of the Clannad heroines not depicted in her school uniform, instead donned in casual clothes and an apron, and carrying a cooking pot (the lid is removable, for the record).   I do like this design, but since she is the only character who is not a third-year, and would thus sport a different color patch on her jacket, I would have liked to see her in her uniform as well.

The method by which I obtained Nagisa and Kotomi was much more exciting, in that I got them from the otaku center of the universe: Akihabara.  Last July I experienced the trip of a lifetime: a full month in Japan.  The entire journey was beyond what I could have hoped for, but for me the highlight was doubtlessly Akiba.  I’ll explain in greater detail in the future, but for now, I’ll simply say that while there I found these two in a figure shop, the name of which now escapes me.  Nagisa was the more expensive of the two, and I didn’t see the figure again for the rest of my trip.  I’m glad I bought her when I did.

Fuuko came with two additional heads, which can be exchanged in a manner similar to the method used with nendoroids.  Aside from the default smiling face shown earlier, there is an adorable distressed face, shown above, as well as her classic starfish-daydreaming face:

Fuuko was the only one with exchangeable heads, but some of the other accessories for some of the figures caught even me, a big fan of the series, completely off guard:

Caught off guard, perhaps, but not in the least bit disappointed.  The bunny ears and tail suit Kotomi particularly well, don’t you think?

I don’t display them like this, but I love that these extras were included.  They’re a fairly creative addition, and they make the figures all the more moe.

Kyou and Tomoyo did not feature extras like these, but in their boxes I found something else I wasn’t expecting:

I cannot read much Japanese, but these appear to be Clannad-themed breast cancer awareness ribbons.  I’m not sure if a cut of the profits on these figures went to a research fund for the cure, but I certainly hope so.  If that is indeed the case, then these are a highly tasteful addition.

Having at last collected all five figures in this series, I can say with confidence that I don’t regret buying a single one of them.  I’d recommend them to any fan of the series, provided you can still find one at a decent price.  Now that I’ve returned to this blog, I sincerely hope that I’ll be able to keep it going this time around.  I’m infinitely far from the most dedicated otaku blogger out there, but I’d still like to share my experiences on the subject.  Until next time, thanks for reading!

The Lala Satalin Deviluke figure, by Good Smile Company.  Stunning.

Kinda hard to get the tail into its socket, since you have to reach behind her hair from the side.

Lala’s hat/Peke’s face(?) is removable.  Surprisingly tough accessory, despite the seemingly flimsy wings.  Accidentally dropped the hat as I was removing it and it fell down a (thankfully carpeted) flight of stairs, but there’s no visual damage whatsoever.

Her hand is also replaceable with one holding her wand/tool thing, the name of which escapes me.  You can’t really see it in the other photos, but the wandless interchangable hand has her pointing her index finger.  My bad for the photo angle on those, I made her look like she was hitchhiking or something.

You can see it better here.  It’s a really cute pose in my opinion.  This figure was made a while ago, so it wasn’t cheap or easy to come by, but I managed to get it from Toylet via Amazon Marketplace.  I think I would have got it a little cheaper had I bought direct from their site instead of on Amazon, but I had never bought from them before and wanted the security of the Amazon guarantee.  The order went fine though, and I’d probably buy direct from them next time if I ever find that they have something I want at the lowest available price.

Anyway, Good Smile did fantastic work with this figure.  The dynamic pose really reminds me of Lala’s unabashedly cheery personality, and her Dressform costume is well sculpted and spot-on.  I’m a big To-Love-Ru fan, and I’ve both seen the anime and read all the chapters to date (that have been translated, at least, though I’m pretty sure those are up-to-date as well).

Moving on, I also recieved my first figma from HLJ not long ago, and here she is: Tsukasa from Lucky Star.

I’m a Lucky Star fan too, and I know I’ve watched the full anime at least twice.  Kagami and Tsukasa were my favorite characters, and since HLJ was out of the former, the choice was easy.  At first I thought figmas were weird, but as I saw more and more of them I started to change my mind.  Now I own one, and I wholly intend to get more, money permitting.  When she first showed up, it was a cold, snowy day and she had been sitting by my mailbox for who knows how long.  Needless to say, when I first took her out of the package, the joints and the changalbe hands were stiff to say the least, and my fingers were raw by the time I managed to get the starting pair of hands out of the sockets.

The other included face has her classic airhead expression.

Lastly, I got this cool print a while back:

I got this when I made a $25 donation to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund regarding the manga trial, and if you look in the bottom right next to their emblem, you’ll see that it’s signed by the artist.  I’m fairly certain that they only sent you this if you donated by a certain date, which has long since passed.  I did choose to donate, but I’m not going to give any sermons on why everyone else should too.  I really don’t like sounding preachy about stuff like that.  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I would encourage you to at least get the gist of the situation here.

That’s all I’ve gotten since my last post.  Not a whole lot, but then again I try (and usually fail) to be a frugal spender.  The downside is that, aside from a few pretty far off pre-orders, I have nothing on its way right now.  That’ll probably change pretty soon, as I’ve already got my eye on some more cool stuff.

One last thing: is there a simple way to add those image titles on the bottom corner of your images?  I’ve been doing each one manually on photobucket, but it can take a while when there’s a lot of images.

It took 14 days from the shipping date for her to arrive, but I did choose SAL shipping, so I suppose it could have been worse.   It was definately worth the wait, though: it’s an extremely well done figure, at least in my opinion.  See for yourself:

Sorry about the small/amateurish pictures.  I’m still trying to figure out the best ways to take and format them.

This actually happens to be the reason I decided to start collecting figures, believe it or not.  I have both read and watched Kagihime (romanized as Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo) and I found it…well, pretty weird.  I enjoyed it all the same, particularly the character designs of the  Seekers of Alice, many of which were created by different mangaka (there were some listed in the manga that never actually appeared in the story at all!).  Anyway, I had searched the name in Google or something, probably out of boredom, when I stumbled across Adun’s review of this figure on his blog.  Arisu is my favorite character in the series, and after seeing this figure, I knew I had to have one.  This experience also piqued my curiosity about figures in general, and now I’m completely hooked.

And here’s Arisu’s box.  You can’t see it, but there’s a small advertisement for their figure of Kiraha, another Seeker of Alice.  She is also on sale at HLJ (at time of posting).  Come to think of it, if I had bought both Arisu and Kiraha at the current sale price, I think I would have paid less than I actually did for Arisu alone.  Wonderful.   I’m still probably going to end up buying Kiraha from them too.

At any rate, this is a fantastic figure, and I would highly recommend it to any figure collector, even if they haven’t seen the anime or read the manga.  I personally enjoyed the series, but it’s probably not for everyone.  At the moment, I only have one other figure on its way in the mail, and HLJ shipped it today, so it’ll probably be a while.  I’m not really sure what I’ll post about next, but I’ll think of something.  See you next time!