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In The Mood For Sushi

Sunday, June 18, 2017 / No Comments

Kyaaaaa, don't eat me! I am not for sale, and 49 yen is just overly dirt cheap for anything. Okay, I have digressed. Do you like sushi? If you do, please hear me out a little. If for some reason, sushi is your eternal foe, you are more than welcome to...no wait, just hear me out anyway! I mean, since you are already here, consider humouring me a bit. I am going to rant...no, talk about sushi.

It actually started as a joke, honestly. My friend and I were wondering how being rolled up like a piece of sushi would feel like, and suddenly the joke was on me. I had little time to react, and soon my friend was shoving me into this massive thing with her brute strength! Well, it did feel kind of cute, but not for long. It was surprisingly stuffy being rolled up! Anyway, speaking of which, sushi plays an important role (roll) in the lives of the Japanese people. Do you have a favourite sushi? I am going to tell you mine.

Look at all these mouth-watering inari! Yeah, inari sushi is easily one of my favourites. Sure, it might taste a little sweet to some people, but oh gosh...there is something about these tofu pockets that just gets me all the time! Hmm, I could just have these without anything else. Oh, do these look a lot to you? But if you want to be filled up, you definitely need more!

Who wouldn't be tantalised by something like this? I don't really eat sushi in such a fancy set-up though, since restaurants and such can be notoriously expensive. I usually get my fix from a sushi deli or the supermarket. Yeah, I understand that the flavours and such aren't remotely comparable, but to me sushi isn't something that needs to be extravagant to be fully appreciated. Ah, the tamago is another favourite of mine! I can't really identify the fish, but I have heard that the toro is good!

I beseech, do not ever attempt something like this. I know that it is quite the idea especially on a boring day, but unless you were born with a different set of mechanics that could deconstruct an act like this, for the love of sushi just slice the roll up into bite-size pieces! Your oesophagus will thank you for that.

Well, hello Sir...do you like your food served that way? No worries, I don't judge. We are all entitled to our preferences anyway. I am certain that sushi would taste heavenly on the human plate. Oh, I just like mine on normal plates. I don't think that I can handle the distraction. Do you know what I am saying? Sir, are you still with me here? Hello?

I might just stop by the conveyor belt sushi one day. It has been quite a while since I last had some sushi. When did you last have sushi? Are you going to have some today? Whenever that is, bon appetit! (^^)

Eccentrically Yours.

Written by J.Fluffysheep ♪

Summer 2017 Preview

Saturday, June 17, 2017 / No Comments

Summer is fast approaching, but in sunny Singapore, that means little, seeing how the weather has been mimicking the season since last December, with little respite in sight. The change in seasons also translates to an update in what anime titles are airing. The tentative schedule seems promising and I'll even have the privilege of catching some of these episodes as they air thanks to my upcoming trip to Japan. Some old favourites are returning with a second season while there's the usual host of manga and light novel adaptations. These are just a few of the titles that I'll be catching in the coming months but as usual, I'm prepared to be surprised by the seasonal sleeper hits and cult favourites.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu

An adaptation of the wildly popular browser game and by Ufotable of Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works fame, nonetheless. I'm looking forward to action-packed fight scenes, stellar CGI and attractive character designs. I haven't played the browser game but I do know that the swordsmen themselves are based off actual katanas, knives and other famous Japanese blades, much like Kantai Collection's anthromorphised ship girls. The previous Touken Ranbu adaptation by Doga Koba was a lighthearted, slice-of-life anime instead so for fans who prefer more violence and bloodshed, the upcoming Katsugeki Touken Ranbu will be right up your alley.

New Game!!

Speaking of Doga Kobo, I enjoyed their adaptation of the 4-koma manga centered around a group of cute girls creating video games. The second season will be much more of the same, with the promotional poster already screaming 'moe'. It also seems to imply that protagonist and newbie character designer Suzukaze Aoba will provide the inspiration for a new video game this time round. The rest of the staff from Eagle Jump will be appearing again so you can expect the same running jokes and hilarious interactions between the characters.

Fate/Apocrypha

Admittedly, this is my least favourite spinoff of Fate/Stay Night due to my unfamiliarity with the light novel series. On the flip side, I do know and like most of the characters through the mobile game Fate/Grand Order so I won't be blindsided when the fights break out. And fights there will be, due to the format of Fate/Aprocrypha's Holy Grail War featuring a total of 14 Servants duking it out compared to the 7 seen in the original Fate/Stay Night. Fate/Apocrypha features a brand new cast of Masters and Servants. Good news for those who're tired of seeing Lancer in his blue tights and Saber yelling 'Excalibur' at the top of her lungs.

Ballroom e Youkoso

I've recently reviewed the manga, having blazed through all 40-odd chapters already. I'm stoked that Production I.G is the studio handling the anime adaptation thanks to their experience in adapting sports manga. Kuroko no Basuke and Haikyuu!! have convinced me that they are more than up to the task of translating Ballroom e Youkoso's panels into fluid animation. I also hope that Production I.G manages to retain Takeuchi Tomo's creative use of watercolours, shading and blurred lines when the characters dance. Competitive ballroom dancing has not been tackled in anime and manga, at least in recent years so Ballroom e Youkoso is a breath of fresh air for the sports genre.

Kakegurui

One of my fellow writers reviewed the manga and I'm more than impressed by the stunning artwork. I'm reminded of Kaiji and Liar Game when I read the review and synopsis, thanks to the protagonist's compulsive gambling tendencies and tactical genius. I just hope that the games are as creative as the ones in Liar Game and that the stakes involved will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

Saiyuki Reload Blast

I've been a sucker for Journey to the West ever since I was a kid, lapping up various adaptations of the classic Chinese tale. Saiyuki provided a gritty take on the myth, showcasing a Tang Sanzang who smokes, drinks and gambles and a Zhu Bajie who is hardly fat and ugly. The manga is still running, having spawned a number of anime adaptations already. I've enjoyed each of these adaptations through the years and I hope the upcoming one will be just as entertaining. It's one of those things I just can't get bored of.

These anime are just a few that stood out while I was browsing through the Summer airing schedule. There are a few promising ones that I might have missed out on and heck, even some of the titles that I'm looking forward to might turn out to be duds. Discovering what's good and bad is half the fun every season after all.

Written by ET

Figure Unboxing and Review: Nendoroid Noiz

Tuesday, June 13, 2017 / No Comments

Nendoroid Noiz is the one I have paired with Aoba and also one of the two which I will be selling off. Before Noiz is gone, I'll like to review him and let this post be a reminder that I once had this Nendoroid in my collection.

The casted shadows just falls into the right place to make Noiz look so menacing~

Packaging

Front and back of the box and we see that Noiz is in his image color (green) and has a pose that is paired together with Noiz. In the official mash-up of the two, we get a mature Aoba and the typical Noiz, however, an embarrassed Aoba and the "erogaki" Noiz is quite a nice change-up too!

Here we can see that Noiz comes with three different faceplates, two different hair parts (with beanie and without), a number of limbs for posing and his all-mate. This isn't a lot but the three vastly differing expressions on the faceplates makes up for it sufficiently.

The Figure Itself

Setting the default faceplate aside, let's look at the more unique two other faceplates -- the smirking as well as the annoyed ones!

The dark, deep maroon lining the lips that GSC tend to use on male faceplates make them look manlier but sometimes make them look horrible too. This faceplate is a perfect example of how it is a success.

From the image you can also see how the beanie detaches into two parts so you can change the faceplate. Now, let's take a closer look at how the sculpting and painting of the figure looks like as well.

This badge is one of the things I love the most on this figure. It is so accurate and so Noiz-esque that it comes to a point where it gets hilarious. I like how there is a top gloss coat to make it reflect light just like how a normal badge would.

Zooming in on Noiz's attire, we see the use of a lot of greens which is Noiz's mage color. This is the same shade as the one that matches his backdrop (focusing on a scene in RhYme) that comes with the Nendoroid.

There are a lot of small details on Noiz outfit, going from the yellow badges on his tie and pocket, to the textured white bandages on his hand, and of course to the belt buckle. I would also like to draw attention to his bracelets which are in a glossy, darker shade of green, and has a texture actually sculpted on.

His shoes are very detailed also, with a lot of small and thin white borders framing the navy and green designs. However, the paint on his left shoe seems a little messy although the painting on the right shoe looks okay to me.

The back of Noiz's outfit also has a lot to offer. Going from top down, let's look at his beanie first. There is a realistic fold which causes the top of his beanie to flop slightly down, possibly also due to the weight of the string attached. Sadly, there are no creases in that region to show how the weight is distributed, such as creases where the string comes out from.

His pants show cubes of navy and green lined around to make his waist band, which has a different number from the official illustration. Initially, this caused an uproar among some fans but they quickly accepted the fact that it would be difficult to put more cubes of this size in there.

The pockets are in green too, which draws attention to them among the navy of the rest of the pants.

And now we have Noiz with his beanie off and in his annoyed expression. He seems to be telling us to stop taking pictures of him!

We see how the hair is all chunky and yet silky looking as it all sweeps out in one general consensus direction. The once-hidden piercings on his ears are now shown, and complement those on his face... although that is a little too many piercings for me personally.

We can contrast this to his other side where he comes with less piercings on his right ear.

The front and back glance of his hair which shows just how smooth it looks~

One striking problem of this Nendoroid is that there is paint transfer from his left thigh parts to the pelvic area of his seated bottom. This came with the Nendoroid when I first got it, probably due to GSC missing out on a plastic at that area to prevent paint transfer. Back then, GSC wouldn't send me a replacement part but I didn't take it too harshly since it couldn't be seen normally.

Though if you ever get a paint transfer like this in a prominent position, do try again and again to get GSC to listen to you (and don't give up like me!).

Usagimodoki (Noiz's all-mate) comes in two different sizes and they have their own stands to hold them up (so Noiz's Nendoroid has 3 stands in total). I opted to not use those for Usagimodoki and have them on the ground instead, with Noiz seated on it!

~ Reina-rin

Figure Unboxing and Review: Nendoroid Seragaki Aoba

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This is a Nendoroid which I had for quite some time already. I pre-ordered it when it was first released because that was the point in time when I was into DRAMAtical Murder and with Aoba being the protagonist, it's difficult to pass him up!

However, despite Aoba being one of my first few Nendoroids, I realized that I never actually spent much time playing with all his interchangeable parts, until I got Noiz. Despite so, after putting them in a relatively BL pose, I stopped collecting DRAMAtical Murder Nendoroids all together and never played much with these two anymore.

Recently, I got an offer for them which spurred me to get them from my detolf and the sight of them made me remember all the fun times I spent in the game itself~ So I decided to make this and Noiz's article before selling these two off. I know that they will be going to a better family to be loved and cared for better <3

Packaging
As usual, let's begin with the packaging.

It's not very clear in this image but the box is slightly damaged due to wear and tear, such as the fraying at one of its corners (image below). This isn't surprising since the item is about 2 years old after all, but I have always cling-wrapped my Nendoroid boxes so perhaps it is time to consider how to store them better since cling-wrap doesn't seem to be foolproof.

Going back to the box itself, this is the back of the box, which features Aoba in his different poses. This is quite common for Nendoroids then as well and has became a standard packaging nowadays,

Next up, the blister pack. Aoba doesn't come with a lot of items but those that he comes with are very useful. He has three faceplates, two hair parts (one with him wearing headphones), a second torso, changes of limbs, his 'Scrap' brain hologram, and Ren (his all-mate in dog form!)

The blister-pack for my copy has become slightly looser from how I remembered it as but that is also expected since it isn't brand new anymore.

The Figure Itself!

Let's take a look at the different parts he comes with. First one raring to go is his default faceplate and pose with Ren. Ren just looks so fluffy and cute~

Though, one drawback of Dmmd Nendoroids is that they come with many segmented parts (which is more obvious in Noiz's Nendo). What I mean by this is that their limbs can be made up of 3 to 4 parts instead of the usual 2. While this increases the poseability of the figure itself, it also makes it increasingly difficult to set up and this might be more of an issue if said parts are loose.

One very cute but annoying part Aoba has is the hood of his jacket which is a different part from his attire (image above). To put it in place, you have to balance it on Aoba's shoulder while pushing the neck joint into place. While this itself isn't daunting, the hood results in a loss in poseability as it reduces the angle Aoba's head can tilt upwards in, due to the chunky strands of his hair at the nape of his neck.

Taking this chance, I'll like to showcase Aoba in his alternative hair and body parts too. This hair is slightly different from the other one not solely due to the headphones but also the longer light blue strands draping down toward his chest.

Let's take a better look at this new hair part before comparing it to the other.

You can even see words on the headphones!

As you can see, the longer strands directly connected to the main back hair part, albeit the weird seam lines, On the other hand, Aoba's other hair part does not have that but instead have the longer strands directly sculpted and painted onto his navy shirt (image below).

And yes, that was how I posed my two Nendoroids!

Next, let's move on to Aoba's embarrassed faceplate, which is also our third and last faceplate for him. A zoom in on Aoba and we can see slight hints of the blush on his cheeks which make him even more cute. That side glance and small smile~

Using this opportunity, let's look at the sculpting for Aoba's attire. The headphones around his neck are peeking out ever so slightly but the compact size (as compared to the one on his head) makes it a very nice addition.

Dmmd prides itself on the puffy clothes which GSC pulled off wonderfully. The jacket looks warm and possibly even inviting. I want to try it on to see if it is comfortable enough for Aoba to wear it daily!

That aside, the buttons on either side are sculpted on wonderfully, and you can tell the size difference between the buttons on the main jacket and on the hood.

Focusing on the belt now, you see that it has a texture going all around and the belt loops are in place. Although the belt is mainly one flat color, it is topped out by many sculpting goodness such as the additional layer for the flap to make the belt look more realistic.

Here we get to see how accurate the brain symbol on Aoba's jacket is. I remember this being a very expensive and limited-edition jacket that some guys were robbing Aoba of but I cannot remember past that point :>

You can also see the difference in white shades of his clothes and his hood. Alas, the problems of having Nendoroids with white parts on display for a while... probably due to the white and plasticizer... Well, this is something that a magic eraser could easily resolve but not many places in Singapore stock up on those.

His shoes are all puffy too and this is retained in the Nendoroid and made to look a reasonable size as well. Aoba also has only one gloved hand, which has a circle cutout at the back of his hand and that is right there too.

However, there are some problems that the figure came to me with that was not addressed by me to GSC upon purchase, mainly because I didn't know how amazing their customer service was at that point in time.

Firstly, there the top of Aoba's alternative hair part has some paint scratch. If I knew I could ask for a replacement from GSC then, I would have gladly done it. However, in hindsight, this isn't that huge of a issue visually.

The second is some paint transfer at Aoba's embarrassed faceplate. This is something a magic eraser can easily resolve as well, but it probably wouldn't be much of a visual issue either since it would be covered by the hood of his jacket anyway.

The above two points are things to take note of if you have Nendoroids for quite some time.