Griffon Enterprises doing another loli version, this time it’s Yuki Nagato from The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. At a scale of 1/7, Yuki would be released in January 2009. Oh, Haruhi Gothic Lolita is also having a re-release in January 2009 too, so those who missed her previously can preorder her again. Retailing at a price [...]
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"This is the 'Riot Tour,' and I'm going to get riotous. Let's start a riot!" said Hirano Aya at the beginning of the first in her four-concert tour of Japan.It seems they did. The fans in the pit were so riotous that at one point someone was pushed to the ground and Aya had to ask if they were okay.As you can see from the photos, she was pulling out all the stops.It seems to have been a highly successful concert. Fans posting on 2channel were thrilled, and said her live singing and performing were getting better and better.Even someone who said he thought her work at last year's Suzumiya Haruhi concert was "awful" said that this year she had risen to "average." Lol. Hard work is part of who this woman is.She's not doing big halls -- this one was filled with 1200 people -- but sales are good enough that they have added Yokohama (16 Oct) to the original three-concert tour of Tokyo (Shibuya, 24 Oct), Nagoya (30 Oct), and Osaka (14 Nov). True to her ambitious nature, she said she wanted to do bigger and bigger venues. Aya, who tears up easily in performance, said she was determined not to cry...until Yokohama. I believe, without a lot of justification, that her family home is around there.Aya acted as her own MC, and according to a report on Sanspo said at one point that Hello! Project producer Tsunku♂, with whom she worked on her recent single, told her to let the rhythm soak into her whole body when she performed. Reports on 2channel suggest that is just what she did. In the Sanspo report it says that she wore three different pink lame dresses, and sang 17 songs. The concert lasted about two hours, and was entirely her and her new band, which is called Goshasei. This name means "Five Chariot Stars" and refers to Auriga, the charioteer constellation.This is also a reference to the Nantou Goshasei, a band of fighters in Fist of the North Star, which is one of Aaya's favorite manga series. She has said she hung out with the boys in junior high.Reports on 2channel were generally favorable about the band, and posts said that the drummer and lead guitarist were both excellent. Aya herself has been featuring the band in recent blog posts.There was a special section set aside for women, and a couple of posts on 2channel mentioned being surprised at how many female fans were there. Some girls even posted. Set list:1. LOVE★GUN2. Bouken Desho Desho?3. MonStAR4. Aimai Scream5. Namida, Namida, Namida6. God knows…7. Lost my music8. Maybe I can't good-bye.9. NEOPHILIA10. Harmonia vita11. Hoshi no Kakera12. Unnamed world13. HERO15. RIOT GIRLencore:16. For You17. Yorokobi no UtaMost photos above are from the Sanspo report. Below are some photos from Aya's blog, showing the band, and the final rehearsal. The last photo is of her at a pre-concert mini-live for the media. Below are some photos from her week of rehearsals, including shots of her sleeping, and of her poor feet: because her shoes were chafing her heels as she danced, she went barefoot -- which was almost as bad.
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Daiki Kougyou is going to release the Nagato Yuki ( 長門有希 ) 1/6 PVC figure from the light novel/anime “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”( 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 ). Will be released in February 2009. Around 270mm tall, 8,190 yen. Oh cool, Nagato Yuki from “The Day of Sagittarius” (射手座の日)! I’m a little bit disappointed [...] Related posts:The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Nagato Yuki 1/10 PVC figure by WAVE WAVE is going to release the Nagato Yuki (...The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Nagato & Asakura PVC Figure by Sega Sega is going to release Nagato Yuki ( 長門...The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Suzumiya Haruhi non-scale PVC figure by Daiki Kougyou Daiki Kougyou is going to release the Suzumiya Haruhi...
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The Mainstreaming of Haruhi Suzumiya Honestly I don’t need to post anything about this but: Monti isn’t concerned that readers unfamiliar with manga conventions will be thrown off by references to Japanese culture, so there will be no translation notes to explain things like school uniforms or the term “moe.” “You will get it in context,” Monti [...]
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2 new entries from Daiki Kougyou are now ready for reservations ^^ Name: Nagato Yuki Scale: 1/6 Series: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu Release Date: Febuary 2009 Retail Price: 7,800 Yen Name: Kanu Unchou Red Ver. Scale: 1/6 Series: Ikkitousen Great Guardians Release Date: December 2008 Retail Price: 12,800 Yen Note: Only 300 pieces will be manufactured. Hobby Search is taking reservations for both of them as of [...]
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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. Ghibli Soft Fluffy Blankets (Jiji). That's right, we've got yet another new Studio Ghibli blanket for 2009, featuring Jiji the Cat, the delightful character from Kiki's Delivery Service. Now, these blankets aren't just soft and warm, they're so high in quality that your perception of Japan will change forever -- they're that awesome. Totoro Nap Pillow. We love Studio Ghibli's high quality Totoro products, and this year the company released two amazing "nap pillows" that are just perfect for catching some Z's on a Sunday afternoon. They feature the same soft construction as the other Totoro cushions we posted today, but have more support for your head for sleeping. Two different designs in stock. Ryoko Asakura & Expand Parts Set ~ Nendoroid-Series 044. Ryoko is a class president with a secret: she's also an android sent by the Galactic Agency to observe Haruhi and act as a backup Humanoid Interface for Yuki. This is a deluxe Nendoroid set that comes with extra parts for other Haruhi figures. In stock now! COSMODE 023 ~ Super Cosplay Magazine 23. There's nothing more fun than dressing up in your favorite anime costume, and this a new issue of the awesome COSmode, featuring hundreds of photos of cosplayers from Code Geass, Miku Hatsune, Macross Frontier, Lucky Star and much more. Character reference art shown, too, as well as a *pattern* you can use to make your own costume. Animage Oct 2008. A new issue of the popular anime magazine. Includes art and information from Code Geass, Gundam 00, Macross Frontier, Ikki Tousen / Dragon Destiny, Kannagi, and more. A gorgeous poster and Macross F document protector are included, too. Lucky Star Chocolate Cornet Cookie. A cornet is a French pastry popular in Japan, a roll of bread in the shape of a seashell, with chocolate pudding inside. Made popular by the Lucky Star anime, it's now legendary among otaku-zoku ("the otaku tribe"). Here are some coronet flavored cookies featuring the Lucky Star girls. This box is also suitable for giving as a gift. This great item is back in stock today! New Japanese Snacks. See other amazing Japanese snacks, too, including the amazing new Caramel Macchiato Kit Kat, delicious Omusubi (aka onigiri) mix for making delicious rice balls at home, and grape mochi, that heavenly traditional Japanese snack food that's been enjoyed by Japanese children for decades. Ninja Snack "Fuwa-Maru" Yuzu & Pepper Flavor -- Corn Puff Snack. Then, Tohato is back with their cool Ninja Snacks, this time a delicious corn snack dusted with pepper and yuzu, a unique citrus fruit from Japan with a strong taste. Check Pattern Cloth Based Bento Set ~ 2 tiers Bento Box & Chopsticks Set. Bento boxes from Japan let you do many things, including eating for less than buying from restaurants and controlling what you eat, which is great when trying to diet. Enjoy this stylish bento box w/included chopsticks and case, that's great for collectors. R2-D2 USB Hub. J-List carries tons of awesome R2-D2 items from Japan, and one of our favorites is the animated USB hub, which accepts standard high-speed USB 2.0 accessories and moves his head and makes sounds while you use your computer. The Japanese Tea Ceremony A.L. Sadler. One of the most mysterious aspects of Japan is the tea ceremony, called sado in Japanese, meaning The Way of Tea." (Note, if they called it chado then they're being cute, thinking that you as a foreigner won't know that proper word.) This is a great book filled with information on this aspect of Japan, all in English. COPIC Super Flat & Wide Marker ~ Black. When you really need to make a beautiful, thick line, we recommend the Copic Super Markers that we sell. DX Large Study Flashcards with Check Sheet. The Japanese are good at studying, a part of this is because of the tools they've evolved to help memorize better. Here's a large deck of blank flashcards you can use to memorize anything. Features "check sheets" that help you hide the information you want to quiz yourself on, too. "I Like What I Like" - Girl's Fitted. We love the unique kanji-themed T-shirts we sell, which feature fun messages in aesthetically beautiful kanji. One of our most popular shirts for girls says, "I Like What I Like, so Get Off My Back" (it's taken from the title of a BL game). If you have any hobbies others might not understand sometimes, this shirt will help you explain yourself! Now stocked in fitted girls' size XL, by customer request. Sake Bottles from Japan. In times like these, we all need to pour a stiff drink, and what better way to do this than with a traditional sake bottle and cups for two? We're restocking several popular items, including our Sushi Sake Bottle, our Happy Tanuki Sake Set, and more. Suzumiya Haruhi Official Fanbook. Great official Fanbook, filled with tons of art and information from the boldest and most interesting anime to come along since Evangelion. Back in stock today. Space Battleship Yamato Cosmo Fleet Collection -- Full Set of 5. I am a big fan of the old school Space Battleship Yamato, known as Star Blazers in the U.S. This is a great *full set* of the detailed Cosmo Fleet Collection, which gives you five awesome ships to display. Restocked Lucky Cat, Other Traditional Items. See fresh stock of this great Lucky Cat, who beckons good luck into your home or business. Also, see fresh stock of our Maiko Style Comb, Samurai Kabuto Helmet, Sakura Jelly Aroma Candle, and a great Working Yukata. Hello Kitty KIRA-DECO Items. "Kira-Deco" comes from kira (shiny, bright) and deco (the English word "decoration." We've restocked some incredibly cute items today, including the Hello Kitty digital camera case, pencil case and more! Renji Abarai, Rangiku Matsumoto Excellent Model Bleach Figures *Preorder*. A popular character from Bleach, this is Renji, recreated in incredible detail in 1/8 scale. Also, an incredibly beautiful figure of Rangiku, with the most amazing detail in her hair, robes and, er, other areas. Preorder both now. Mousse-chan Paper Clay, Signo JUMPOP Pens. We love the "paper clay" (kami-nendo) items we sell, enabling you to make the most amazing decorated cakes and other creations with the included clay and molds, restocked today. Also: Signo JUMPOP pens, the easiest to write with pens we've ever found! Princess Waltz *Preorder*. Princess Waltz is one of the most amazing games ever released in English, an epic story of princess who fight with swords for the right to become "one" with the prince of the kingdom (naturally you). This outstanding game has been declared "Golden Master" and will be shipping soon. You can still preorder this great title now and get free shipping! This massive game will come on PC DVD-ROM.
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Looks like Konata got herself boxed in somehow… You’ve seen the preview here, now you get to see the real deal! It’s the Goddess Suzumiya Haruhi-sama herself and she’s here to stay! Konata is pleased… Another impulse buy. I keep telling myself not to buy any haruhi related stuff because I already have this (which is my very first PVC [...]
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Over at Publisher’s Weekly Comics Week, I talked to Kurt Hassler of Yen Press and Joe Monti of Little, Brown Books for Young People about their plans for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, both the manga and the novels. The interesting part is that they are marketing the novels to the mainstream, not just the [...]
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Daiki Kougyou is going to release the Holstein Hanako ( ホルスタイン花子さん ) non-scale PVC figure from the original illustration by Tsukasa Jun( 司淳 ) . Will be released in January 2009. Around 210mm tall, 15,750 yen, castoffable. This post contains adult material, you need to be 18 or over to view it. Another nice PVC figure [...] Related posts:The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Suzumiya Haruhi non-scale PVC figure by Daiki Kougyou Daiki Kougyou is going to release the Suzumiya Haruhi...Ikkitousen (Dragon Destiny) Kanu Unchou Comic Vol.13 Cover 1/6 PVC figure by Daiki Kougyou Daiki Kougyou is going to release the Kanu Unchou...Burst Angel (Bakuretsu Tenshi) Sei non-scale PVC figure by Daiki Kougyou Daiki Kougyou is going to release the Sei non-scale...
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Stack of box and bubble envelope (? CMIIW).I think this is the biggest haul i received at a time ever. That's because i tend to order and ship 1 item at a time. But I'm also amazed with the shipment time. It took only 1 working week to arrive, eventhough i used HLJ's SAL shipping and PA's free Air Economic shipping. Normally those kind of shipment took over 3 working weeks. So... let's see what's inside.figma Yuki witch, Force Impulse, Burnout Paradise, and RnC Quest for Booty.Four items, each in their own package. The 2 bubble envelopes contained 2 PS3 games, Burnout Paradise and Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty. Those games are my brother's orders. I got Burnout Paradise with a bargain price, around USD 30 (normal price around USD 50), and RnC Quest for Booty for around USD 30 (it's the normal price). My bro's played RnC series and the last game he played, RnC Tools of Destruction, had been completely finished. The ending of that game is actually a cliffhanger, and you'll feel like you HAVE to buy RnC Quest for Booty to see the continuation.HLJ Box contained Force Impulse Gundam MG kit. It's also my bro's order. And once again, i also got it with a bargain price in HLJ for around JPY 3150 (not including shipment, normal price JPY 5500). The last PA box contained figma Yuki witch version, which is my order. Yeah, from these 4 items, only 1 is mine.Inside of figma Yuki witch, pretty wide, just like figma Fate.I'm gonna focus on figma Yuki for now, so don't expect too much with the games and Force Impulse. I first heard that figma Yuki witch was a festival exclusive item. But i think i was mistaken, a few days after that, i saw figma Yuki up for pre-order in Play-Asia. And so i ordered her without any hesitation. The only disappointment i got from this chance is PA is so slow in releasing this item. Almost everywhere on the net already mentioned that they already had their Yuki witch arrived, but PA still haven't released it yet. But in the end i still got her, and that's all that matters.So many small parts, make sure you keep them in safe place.figma Yuki witch has so many parts. Even figma Fate parts are still fewer from Yuki's parts. From witch hat, 3 halves of witch cape (1 for the right side, 1 for the left side for guitar, and 1 for the left side without guitar), 2 cup of tea, a teapot, a tray, 2 magic wands, 1 board, 4 promotion sticker, 1 guitar, Shamisen, and a couple of hands (usual 4 pairs of hands, 1 right hand with guitar pick, 1 left hand for guitar chord, 1 right hand for magic wand, and 1 right hand for the board) and the usual 1 set of figma base and 1 plastic bag. It's so complete, for almost all Yuki's role in the anime.Yuki and her tea set in "I'm an alien" scene.Remember when Kyon came to Yuki's room and told about those alien things? If you remember that scene, you must also remember this tea set. I don't know how many cups did Kyon drink that time. It's actually pretty hard to get a fully focused object in short distance photo, the depth of field and lens blur keep coming and haunts you.Photography Tips:Depth of Field (DOF) : a value of how focused an object is and how blurry the background and foreground is.A good photo must have nice depth of field. It must have blurry background, and focused object, to get the feeling of "this is the main object of the photo". But how to made this DOF and what are the parameters that affect the DOF value?DOF is about how focused the main object and how blurry the background is. The higher the blur level, the better the DOF gets. Here a schema on how DOF work:C ----Fc ----54321O12345C stands for Camera, Fc stands for focus point, O stands for object, and the numbers represent the blur level (the higher the number, the blurry the image gets). If you focused your camera to the object, things in front of the object and things behind the object will get blurry. The further the distance between the object and the things, it gets more blurry.There are 3 parameters that affect DOF:- Aperture Value (Av) : how wide the diaphragm of a lens opened. The lower the value, the focus area became more small. That mean the area that focused became smaller, and the other things will become more and more blurry. You can only set Av in certain kind of cameras like DSLR, prosumer, or pocket camera with M, Av, and Tv settings like Canon PowerShot.- Distance between camera and object : the further the distance, the bigger the focus area, that means if you shot an object from a far distance, there's a high possibility that it won't get a nice blurry background.- Focal Length : zoom length on the lens. The higher the focal length the smaller the focus area. That's why using tele lens (high focal length) will give you a nice blurry background.The hardest part of getting nice figure shot is how to adjust the DOF level. You have to get your camera close to the figure, so that means the 2nd parameter of DOF will be affected. The closer the camera, the smaller the focus area. That's why in the photo above, the tea set is somewhat blurry.For countermeasure, increasing Av is an option. But that also means that you have to prepare a tripod or a good light, because increasing Av means lowering shutter speed. Lower shutter speed means a higher possibility of getting blurry (shake) image.FYI, blur in DOF and blur in shake are different blurs. Blur in DOF called lens blur, and blur in shake called motion blur. Lens blur caused by DOF and the parameters i mentioned above. Motion blur caused by moving your camera while shooting (regular problem you'll find in photography world)."Do you want (to eat) Shamisen?"Yuki came with Shamisen, the cat that appeared in Asahina Mikuru no densetsu episode 00. I don't know what does this cat do anyway. Notice that shamisen in this photo are sharper than the tea set. That's because i put my camera in a further distance from Yuki, and i also reduced the focal length (used a wide length).Who'll win, Mikuru's beam or Yuki's magic?This is figma Yuki, witch version, so basically the main attraction of this figure is her witch cosplay suit. There are 2 version of the cape. The 1st version is this cape. The left side of the cape covers Yuki's left hand. Just the same as her pose in Live a Live episode. This episode is my favorite episode, just because of God Knows... But the main role of this witch came in the first episode (Haruhi's order) of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, in Asahina Mikuru no densetsu episode 00."subete wa GOD KNOWS!"This is the main reason why i bought figma Yuki witch version, the guitar. Yeah, God Knows rocks! And so does the Live a Live episode. I think I'll stick with this pose for a while. Yuki's so cool yet rocking with her guitar. Too bad i didn't bought figma Hatsune Miku. She came with a microphone, and i could use that microphone for Haruhi, and creating a legendary duo of Haruhi-Yuki singing God Knows!Haruhi got a friend (after being left by Nanoha), she's not alone anymore!Another figma means more possibility to create something great and creative. I'll stick with figma Hare-hare and Lucky Star dance. Maybe next up i'll also create a figma comics or something like that. So just look forward to it!
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