Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link. Nyan Type vol. 5 Vol.5 of the instantly popular Nyan Type, the brand new magazine dedicated to super-cute anime and bishoujo characters, is here. Great for fans of Megumi Magazine, since it's loaded with free posters. Dengeki Daioh Feb 2010 Then enjoy another issue of the popular Dengeki Daioh ("Electric Shock Great King"), featuring some of the best manga in Japan, from Shakugan no Shana to Yotsubato to Toradora and more. Free "Index" keychain in this issue! Girls Graph (Girl, Illustrated) Pie International publishing presents an amazing compendium of bishoujo "moe" art, featuring dozens of Japan's highest profile creators. Not only is every page of this heaven for the 2D art fan, the book is entirely in English! Oyari Ashito Chronicle Master of Bishoujo character design Oyari Ashito is back with a limited edition full color artbook featuring 100+ gorgeous art pieces from his previous works ranging from the years 1997-2009. Love the "sad eyes" in his characters. Bee Kawaii earphone ~ Blue We've got a new color of the cute standard earphones shaped like little bees, which work with your standard music players, computers and iPhone. They're kawaii and also very affordably priced. NARUTO DX Evolution Pencil Case If you haven't used one of the deluxe pencil cases from Japan, you don't know what you're missing. With many compartments and ways to organize all your writing instruments, these pencil cases make learning tons of fun for Naruto fans. Restocked Games for Sony PSP I am happy to see the popularity of the Sony PSP as a platform for dating-sim games, and today we're posting fresh stock of L no Kisetsu ~ Double Pocket and Like Life Every Hour, two excellent visual novels for you. KATAMETE-PON ~ ECO Powder to Dispose Oil This is an awesome item: a magic "eco powder" that you sprinkle over oil you've used for frying, and it become hard instantly, so you can throw it away without harming the environment. Haruhi Figmas Restocked See fresh stock of one of the most popular figures we've ever carried. We have Haruhi, Mikuru and Yuki all restocked, and ready for any pose you want them to make. 'No Normal Humans' T-Shirt Do you hate normal humans? Would you prefer to hang around with espers, time-travellers and aliens? If so, then we recommend our popular original anime T-shirt, which has been one of our best sellers in recent months. Designed by Rios, the guy who made that incredible Haruhi Kinnetic Animation YouTube video (click the link to view it). iTunes Japan Prepaid Cards from J-List If you need a fix for Haruhi Suzumiya songs, the iTunes Japan store has a ton for you, waiting to be purchased and played via iTunes or your iPod/iPhone. Also fun to browse, this fan-made playlist of Haruhi and other anison, or this mix of current hit "CM" songs from TV commercials. J-List Reserve Subscription System If you're in the market for a really excellent monthly manga, we recommend Shonen Ace, a massively thick manga that features just about every red-hot story you want to read, from Haruhi Suzumiya to Macross Frontier Keroro Gunso and more. Comes with cool figures and other stuff each issue. Awesome Cosplay Eye Patch Restocked J-List loves cosplay, and wants to help everyone feel the joy of becoming your favorite anime character, just like I did when I made a Totoro costume for San Diego Comicon 1987. (I was a bit ahead of my time.) Today we've restocked those awesome eye patches for anime cosplay. Authentic 'Socks Glue' From Japan Also, for all those who love "Zettai Ryoiki," which is the space between the top of the a girl's over-knee socks and where her skirt begins, we've restocked the Japanese "socks glue." Also goes great with "loose socks." New Snacks from Japan Awesome new snacks from Japan: Meiji "Chopan" chocolate treats in two new flavors for Spring, plus Meiji Lychee and Grapefruit gummy and a fun Doraemon snack treat. Potato Chips Drops ~ Japanese Food Drops Enjoy a wacky new flavor of traditional Japanese "Food Drops" candies -- potato chips! Also see fresh stock of Goya Champloo (from Okinawa), Okonomiyaki (from Osaka) and Ramen (from Tokyo) candies. Lucky Cat Canned Bread ~ Green Tea Our Akihabara Bread-in-a-Can is a hit, as many customers pick up this wacky treat which you can usually only find in Akiba. Today see fresh stock of the Lucky Cat themed bread that's Green Tea flavor. Rice Burger Maker ~ Gyutto Pon Instead of making a hamburger for dinner, why not try your hand at a rice burger, using onigiri-style flat pieces of rice instead of bread? It's delicious, and easy to make with this handy tool. Chirashi Sushi Style Round Bento Box One of our favorite dishes is chirashi-zushi, literally a "tossed salad" of sushi fish over vinagered rice that's just delicious. Here's a new bento box that would be perfect for this, or for any lunch with foods you want to keep separate. Other Restocked Bento Boxes Then enjoy fresh stock of the smash hit DX Simple men's Bento, which is elegantly designed, large enough for any appetite, and non-kawaii. Also see the colorful Bento Special Gift Set restocked. Hello Kitty & Cinnamoroll Bento Items Then see fresh stock of several popular Sanrio bento items today, including the basic Hello Kitty Face Bento Box, one of our most popular lunch boxes ever, plus the matching Cinnamoroll Bento Box. Hello Kitty Microwave Rice Cooker Make delicious Japanese rice using only a standard microwave oven, thanks to the Hello Kitty Microwave Rice Cooker, which we have restocked today. A very popular item. Fun Onigiri Shapers Also: the extremely fun ball-type onigiri maker that you can use to make perfectly round Japanese rice balls, great for creating that Death Star Onigiri you've always wanted. Studio Ghibli 2010 Schedule Books Then: fun for Studio Ghibli fans, in the form of the last-ever stock of the popular 2010 schedule books for Totoro, Ponyo and Kiki's Delivery Service. They're frankly the most awesome things you've ever held in your hand, and awesome to use all year long. Other Fun Ghibli Items See other fun Totoro products, too, including a Totoro puzzle for learning hiragana,the awesome Swimming Wind-Up Ponyo toy and more. Bilingual Study Books For anyone studying Japan's language or culture, we've restocked the excellent series by JTB, including A Look Into Japan and Living Japanese Style. DX Long Study Flashcards for Study See fresh stock of some great tools for learning Japanese, including long flashcards that are great for memorizing full sentences of Japanese. Kuretake BIMOJI Real Fude Style Brush Pen A fude (foo-DAY) pen is an ingenious writing device that's just like using a classic writing brush, yet you don't need to use an inkwell. We've gotten in a really nice new one for you today. Vante 1/8 Figure ~ Queen's Blade Rebellion **Preorder** Wow, yet another awesome Queen's Blade figure for us to drool over, this time in the form of Vante, who has awesome iron gauntlets to crush her opponents with. One Piece Bobble Heads *Preorder* Like One Piece? Then the new One Piece bobbleheads we have up for preorder will be popular. Preorder all three now! Anime Pocket Watches -- K-On!, Railgun **Preorder** Talk about awesome: three pocket watches for anime fans, two featuring K-On! characters and one with Kuroko and Mikoto from A Certain Magical/Scientific Index/Railgun. Street Fighter Mousou Controller ver.1 **Preorder** Here's a fun item from Japan: a Street Fighter "Fantasy" controller you can carry on your keys which you can use to play real games of STII. The game is fully functional with full sound effects, but you play it in your mind. Restocked Toys for Grown-Ups See fresh stock of the amazing "double hole toy" based on the actual body of Nao Yoshizaki, complete with two places to receive healing, plus all varieties of the TENGA EGG stress-relief toy and fantastic "PLESTO" massager with three speeds. Cat Girl Alliance IN STOCK More good news: our awesome futanari cat-girl game is finally in stock and shipping, and you can order it now. Features tons of fun gameplay, eight unique endings, and just about every fetish you can dream of/ (Download orders for the game will be available in a week to give preorder customers time to receive their games.) Great Doujin Games from Japan Next up, we've got some fun doujin games for, which are like doujinshi parody versions of your favorite anime, but they're full games you can play. A parody of Toradora! and the awesome CG "Melancholy of Yuna" from Final Fantasy X.
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As far as I know, the sheet music here are not Kanno’s arrangements, and they are easy, elementary level piano arrangements. As expected, there’s a lot of Macross F, but there are some songs that I don’t expect on the piano so it might be interesting. The first installation is here. Details: Product Name: Yasashii Piano Solo [...]
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Last night I had a chat with Misaki over MSN where I was told that May'N going to have a concert somewhere here in Kuala Lumpur. To tell the truth, I'm not really sure who May'N was, and as far as I know, she sings for Sheryl Nome in the anime series of Macross Frontier. I have heard about her through the advertisements in Animax's Newsletters and from other anime blogs blogging about her appearance at the AFA08 in Singapore.Apparently, the concert is part of her, erm, BIG☆WAAAAAVE!! Asia Tour where she'll also stop by Hong Kong and Taiwan. Details for the concert of May'N in Kuala Lumpur are as follows:The price of the tickets are at RM198 for early birds, and those who opt to get them at the door will have to pay RM218. Singaporeans can get a better deal by going for the SGD200 pacakge which includes: 1. Two-way return trip to KL Live on coach2. 1 night of accommodation in Concorde Hotel (10 minutes walking distance from KL Live)3. Concert ticket to May'n BIG☆WAAAAAVE Asia Tour 2010 KL Concert.(or SGD135 minus the accommodation, or SGD85 minus the accommodation and the transportation, i.e. the tickets only)Tickets...I might not be going due to the price of the ticket being far out of my monthly budget, and besides that, I am not a fan of May'N or Macross Frontier at the very first place. Now on the other hand, if it was Aya Hirano or myco who were to instead come to KL and perform, I might be willing to fork out the money... ahaha.
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The core motivation of Alto, from the very beginning of the narrative, is to fly in a big sky. Growing up in the Frontier Colony all his life, he’s never seen a sky higher than two kilometers. This is so important to him, that he is perfectly willing to become a soldier (risking his own [...]
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Mamoru Nagano, the man who created the epic manga and less epic anime Five Star Stories will be finally making his directorial debut with a new anime called Hana no Utame Gothicmade. This project was first announced all the way back in 2006, let’s hope the hype is worth it. A preview of this anime will be presented in the “All Night Newtype Show!”, an event that will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Newtype magazine. Not only will they show Gothicmade at this event, but also the new Haruhi movie, Kobato, Macross Frontier movie, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 movie, and other great anime. 300 fans 18 years old or older will be selected from mail-in forms found in Newtype’s March issue. Five Star Stories is really great, with fantastic mecha designs, so I can only imagine that this new anime is going to be just as good or better, or so logic dictates. It is unknown at this time whether Gothicmade will be a television anime, OVA, or film. But I’m hoping for OVA myself, since they usually have better animation quality. [Via ANN]
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May’n’s “BIG☆WAAAAAVE!!” concert in Budokan is scheduled for DVD release on May 26, 2010. About half of the songs she performed on this concert are Macross F songs, including those in the movie. This post will be updated as more information comes up. Source: May’n’s Official Website
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One thing that made Macross Frontier interesting for me is the dynamics of the love triangle, from the standpoint of character ‘class’ (as if they were in a role-playing game). While it’s important to note how Ranka makes a statement performance that shifts the balance of her fame and Alto face-time vs. Sheryl, and how [...]
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After three episodes of most new shows, the time has come to say something about them.For me, Dance in the Vampire Bund is clearly the best new show. I know no-one else agrees, but that's okay. So far (up to episode 3) I think it is real visual, filmic, and dramatic art. More later in this post.And although it didn't look like this was going to be much of a season, there are actually several more good and/or watchable shows. (click images to enlarge)Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu was my pre-season pick. It has taken three episodes for me to really get it, but it is now clicking for me in a big way. Director Oonuma Shin was my reason for picking this show, and we can clearly see his touch in its look.But one of the best things he did was pick crazy auteur Nabeshin (Watanabe Shinichi, director of Excel Saga and PuniPuni Poemi) to storyboard and direct episode three -- which was totally crazy and utterly hilarious.On the Japanese discussion board 2channel, the most popular new show is Sora no Oto, the moe slice-of-life anime featuring a platoon of five girls who are the guard in a postwar guardpost in an alternative-universe Euro/Japanese town. Their main function seems to be to play reveille every morning on a bugle from the ramparts.The animation, voice-acting, and especially the backgrounds are excellent. As are the gentle and humane atmosphere and characters.The next most popular new show on 2channel is Durarara!, which also features an ensemble cast, good animation, and a vivid setting. This time, the setting is the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo. Life swirls around and through the many characters in a wonderful way.The characters seem fairly thin to me so far, and I'm not a huge fan of shounen fighting. But the characters bear watching, there is some mystery lurking, and the fights are certainly entertaining: one guy throws a trashcan a block through the air, and in another scene someone loses all his clothing as he is propelled up and across an intersection.The big surprise for me is the comedy Hanamaru Kindergarten. So far, the show is highly enjoyable, which seemed unlikely in a show featuring kindergarteners and their insecure new male teacher. Another surprise is that the show is directed by the director of Gundam00 and FMA1, Mizushima Seiji.This is not Kodomo no Jikan, which I think of as a show based on loli appeal that had a serious side, too. This is an innocent show, with delightful characters and its own kind of depth. However, it does star Shindou Kei, who was Kuro in KnJ.The most striking character is the childish genius played by Takagaki Ayahi, who continues to cement her position in the upper ranks of seiyuus. Last year, she performed in the ninth-highest number of episodes of any seiyuu.Nodame Cantabile Finale is having trouble getting going, through two episodes. Nodame's craziness seems less endearing; there is too little behind Chiaki's actions; and as in the second series, the music is not getting its due.But I continue to have high hopes, and am following the story closely.TV ratings started at 2.5%, a far cry from those of the first series, which doubled that; but episode two jumped to a highly respectable 3.7%Katanagatari just aired its first episode and was both good to look at and quite enjoyable to watch -- although it doesn't seem to me to be anywhere near the show Bakemonogatari was, which was also based on a novel by NisiOisiN. The character design and backgrounds are excellent, and the animation good.But somehow, director Motonaga Keitarou (Amaenaideyo, School Days) just doesn't seem to me to make the most of the material. There isn't much rhythm in the directing, and he doesn't get the best from a decent main cast: Tamura Yukari, Nakahara Mai, and Hosoya Yoshimasa (Juuzawa Juu in Denpateki na Kanojo).It's hard to know how popular the new Hidamari Sketch is, since there is no separate thread for it on 2channel, and TV ratings are not available. But this seems a worthy continuation of the series. It's beautiful and well-acted, but unfortunately it bores me. This season, we get a new character, called Nori, played by Harada Hitomi, an interesting new voice who played Tomoe in Sasameki Koto and is Himeji in Baka to Test.Actually, maybe Ladies versus Butlers is the most surprising show. It makes no pretense of being anything but a bishoujo fanservice comedy, and is by the staff that made Kanokon. But it is actually funny. The look and colors are delightful, the animation good, and the character design -- if you don't mind the absence of noses -- is excellent.And I find myself laughing out loud during every episode. They take common memes and do them well, pushing the humor just one stage further. Like the innocent clumsy maid (voiced by Koshimizu Ami) who comes into the shower to apologize for something by scrubbing the protagonist's back, and shows not the slightest embarrassment at all, advancing step by step as he contorts his body to hide. And we have a bit of mystery and some interesting human relations.Seikon no Qwaser fascinated me at the start, with its pseudo-Christian mythology and good voice-acting (Sanpei Yuuko, Fujimura Ayumi, Toyosaki Aki, Chihara Minori, Hirano Aya, Hikasa Youko, Kawasumi Ayako, Ookawa Tooru). But the censored version is so censored as to be incoherent, and the way they combine sex and violence in the uncensored version I find hard to take.The story involves a magical boy who gains power to fight by sucking "soma" from a virgin's breasts. But that's not the problem, really. It's a strong concept, if you just accept it as myth and don't hate it for being fanservice.Chuu-bra is the most unlikely show of all: about a girl who wants to help other girls wear the bras and panties that are right for their bodies, and starts an underwear club in her school. It's clear what the appeal is meant to be, lol. But in fact, the girl herself, and the situation, are interesting and quite well portrayed. I'm not a big fan of Chihara Minori's seiyuu work, but I think she does a good job here as the main girl. She makes her innocent and almost real. The show reminds me of Naishou no Tsubomi, overlaying its fanservice with some actual life-education.Ookamikakushi is the latest offering based on a story by Ryuukishi07, the creator of Higurashi. Strange town in the countryside -- check. Mysterious secret activities -- check. Dangerous-seeming loli -- check. Creepy male character caressing the young male protagonist's leg -- hey, wait, that's something new. It does seem like other Ryuukishi07 tales, but as with them, the story might actually have some interest. And there is something to the characters. Too bad the drawing, animation, and story-telling are so lame.Omamori Himari at first sight seems to have nothing at all going for it, and yet even it is amusing, if you like fanservice and moe. Shindou Kei reappears as the magic loli. Koshimizu Ami is a warrior cat-spirit speaking old Japanese. And Nomizu Iori (Nymph in Sora no Otoshimono) does a nice job as the childhood friend. But Hirakawa Daisuke is unbearable as the wimpy, excitable lead. The humor feels stale to me. And the drawing and animation are second-rate.Now for a few more words about Dance in the Vampire Bund. I can understand why some manga-readers wish it had followed the manga more closely. I can understand why some people object to a show its loli appeal. And I can understand why some people find Shinbou Akiyuki's direction too busy.But if you can speed yourself up to the Shaft/Shinbou visual pace, this show is just outstandingly well put together. The first episode was pretty outlandish, and I wasn't totally convinced myself. But the idea was to create a light environment as a background for the serious events that will come. And the tone of voice Yuuki Aoi used in her first appearance in the show was just riveting: slow, childish, uncertain, arch. Then she came forth as the powerful vampire queen. These contrasts were the point of the episode.Episode two, as I've written before, was amazing. The opening sequence was a classic, with its colorful vague images, the butterfly and flowers, the crying eye, rushing up the red carpet, the music, the voices. The way the boy's voice was timed to the butterfly landing on the flower, and the way Nakamura Yuuichi repeated exactly the same tone the second time he spoke. It was symphonic. All the timing was sharp and strong, penetrating the heart like music. And we ended with a clear feeling of the memories of the queen, her sadness and love for the kind little boy, and her present confidence, pre-eminence and strength.Throughout the episode, we had timing and images that worked like these, if less powerfully. The very next sequence, in the classroom, is another example, working rhythms with the music, images, and voices. And creating a wistful feeling with Saitou Chiwa's voiceover, Yuki's gaze, and the "high and distant" Ennico Morricone-like music in the background.An important part of the aesthetic here is irony. Using contrasts of seriousness and humor to keep us just a little distant from the action. So that we learn to accept dramatic scenes like the finale of episode two, with its emotional crescendos, and not feel that they are overdone. For some people, this apparently doesn't work. It's a fine line, I admit. But the show walks it well for me.And I like the strength of the mythic situations. The mythic contradictions of the powerful child-queen who is not a child. Her knight-errant fated from birth to serve her. His forgetting his own nature -- and then remembering it in response to her cry of despair. The queen who is a part of nature (her face in the shrubbery), but who is vulnerable to the sun (the protective gel). Mina Tepes the direct descendant of the original Dracula, Vlad Tepes. And by episode three, we have the terrifying mythic situation of monsters among us.There are many mesmerizing images, works of art in themselves. These tableaux can emphasize something about a situation or a character and give us a chance to feel them, or get a sense of immediacy by focusing on a small detail. Here are some examples:I'm a fan of Shinbou Akiyuki's work, although I haven't been able to finish many of his series. I loved Bakemonogatari, but Natsu no Arashi left me pretty cold. The gentle moe of Hidamari Sketch didn't sustain my interest long, and the humor of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei isn't mine.What's the difference? The original material makes a big difference, and I did like this manga, at least into volume four. But I think the main difference may be the staff Shinbou has to help him here: he has a new assistant director (Sonoda Masahiro), a new animation director (Konno Naoyuki), a new writer (Yoshino Hiroyuki, who wrote Macross Frontier, Mai-HiME and My-Otome, and was assistant chief writer on Code Geass), and a new music director (Dobashi Akio). As far as I can tell, none of those have worked with him before, except for Sonoda, who worked on a couple of episodes of ef melodies, which Shinbou just supervised and didn't direct.I've gone on too long. In part, I'm trying to justify the show and my opinion of it to the many people who doubt its excellence. In part, I'm trying to understand why I like it, and convince myself. In that at least, I have succeeded.
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Great news for Macross Frontier and May’n fan as she’ll be performing LIVE in Malaysia in March. BIG☆WAAAAAVE!! Asia Tour 2010 will start at Malaysia on March 7th, and will continue to Hong Kong and Taiwan. For more information visit the links below http://www.mayn.asia/ FOLLOWING HER SELLOUT “BUDOKAN” CONCERT TO A CROWD OF OVER 10,000 – ONE OF JAPANʼS [...]
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The J-List crew had fun at our official company New Year's Party on Friday, consuming lots of good food and sake as we all officially promised to gambarimasu -- to do our best and work hard -- for our customers in the new year. Afterwards we went to belt out some songs at the "karaoke box" near the J-List office. I was amazed at the thickness of the karaoke song book on the table, which had grown over the past few years into a Shonen Ace-esque 800 pages featuring just about any song you could want to sing. Best of all for members of the otaku generation, the number of offerings from anime and video games at karaoke boxes these days is incredible, with every song from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Macross Frontier plus a heaping portion of Miku Hatsune tunes, too. I'd made use of karaoke ever since my early days of learning Japanese since it's fun, gives you positive social feedback and exposes you to lots of kanji words, but the number of anison (anime songs) to be found in a karaoke book in the 80s was nothing compared to the rich bounty available today. If you're interested in learning to sing some Japanese songs, we recommend the iTunes Japan prepaid cards that we sell -- most songs have karaoke versions available.Karaoke can also be a fun study tool -- you can even remember better if you how the song goes.
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