After 5 months of living in an oriental dream, I find myself back in the dull, gray and dreary Kingdom, which some call the United Kingdom. In various states of dishevelment, unease and culture shock, I slowly begin to resume my English life and pick up a pen (perhaps keyboard in terms of a physical item. Yes, my (small amount of) readers. Nandeman is back

It’s been a while desho? Well to be honest, the reason I haven’t posted in a while is because I am a damned baka! It turns out I lost my plug adapter which would alow me to charge my UK camera, so I had no pictures and my posting without pictures would probably make people think I`m not actually in Japan and I don’t want people to think that (instead I will allow you to think I am paranoid, heh). Now, to further complicate matters, I have no intrawebs in my house (well I do, however, the host family makes me belive there is no internet despite the fact they have a laptop and I have seen them use the internet, although more about my daily life later) so I have to tap to the internet from a manga cafe. But fear not true belivers, I am here to grace you with a couple of poorly done pictures and my bizarre ramblings. Hope this entertains you in some way, shape or form. I also hope that someone is reading this, I mean, its been 2 months! Man Alive!

The Japaning is a series of posts I will make to inform the public about my first week in Japan where I was in Tokyo. Its not done in cronological order as Akiba was unfortunatly the last place I went to in Tokyo and it is not consistant at all, but I’m not that consistant of a person heh.

The stairway to heaven. Well its not a stairway and it goes downwards. This is the Tokyo Underground in the evening from the station in Asaka Mitsuke. The artificial stars where a great way for me to bask in the artifical glory of going to the great Akihabara. Unfortunatly, I didn’t get a whole day in Akiba, as the free adventure time me and the other students had was from 5pm to 8pm (although I decided to make this till 10:30 pm as Ｉts not everyday I’m in AKB, although it me be that way in the future.).

The station exit of Akihabara was crowded with men in denim and checkered shirts, also known as Otaku, my fellow people. I was easily assimilated into the crowd (despite my lack of checkered shirts, but I do tend to wear stuff from Uniqlow and thats pretty Otaku).

I recognized a lot of places from the coverage of the Otaku march many months ago. This bridge was one of the many covered places except this time it was not bustling with cosplayers and/or Otaku fundamentalists walking in the main road.  Photo quality I notice is rubbish, but thats what you get for taking pictures when walking fast.

The laox! However, densha otoko was not sitting on his rooftop like in the drama. I felt at home straight away just because of this landmark shop and its 4 letter name. In the afternoon since it was getting dark, you could witness the abundant sea of unnatural illumination in full effect.

Unfortunatly time was limited, if I had a whole day, I would explore every shop. And be asking random people what anime they are currently watching. I’ll be asking random people stuff next time I’m in Akihabara, as my Japanese is improving everyday. I had a chat with an old lady outside the convienience store the otherday.

One of the games on the posters, Arcadia Heart (the one with bishoujo) is actually in my local arcade in Kouchi. Haven’t played it yet in my local arcade. Haven’t played it yet but I will next time im there with 100 yen. The arcade also has  Melty Blood. How cool is that?

Gamers is better than animate. Far Better. From my knowlege of the animate in Kouchi, the shop is made out of fail and is only slightly decent. What I got from gamers you ask? 24 mangas including things like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Highschool of the dead, Getsumen To Heika Mina fanbook lucky star and one of the great manga works of this decade, Doujin Work. Its a shame I had very little suitcase space otherwise Id have bought some figures, but I had to carry like 30 mangas in my hand luggage I wore on my back, itai!! Also got some CDs, the singles for Zetsubou Sensei (im obsessed with the franchise), Doujin work and Lucky Star remix. Its a shame that dvds are so expensive in Japan though, I would have liked to get some special edition Welcome to the NHK dvds.  The “adventure game” section was pretty big and not very well hidden, I need to get some next time I visit Akiba, as they even had some classics like Kannon, it was like an adv game libary.

Lifesize Ayanami Rei cutout, thats something I would definatly buy! Speaking of Evangelion, I still havent got any UCC Coffee, not that I like coffee, but I do like rare cans with anime characters on them. Now, speaking of Coffee, that brings me to the next point, the maid cafe. I nearly got to go to one, despite the massive crowds but then another exchange student from my group decided he had a really bad headache and had to return to the hotel, our entire group nearly returned, but I decided to stay in AKB with my Danish pal Arnas (I’m very sorry if I’ve spelt your name wrong). But unfortunatly, the maid cafe, like all other ones at that time was full up… tales of woe.

Here is Arnas getting aquainted with a well known figure. Unfortunatly there weren’t any maids in the street, cosplayers or Idols. They would have definatly added to the Akiba experience. So if you want to see those kind of people (like I wanted to) the key is to not go on a friday evening. Go on a sunday or something. Ah a friday evening. Go on a sunday or something. Ah well at least I saw…

…This amazing Human Sized Mazinger Z! Sure its not lifesize, but its pretty fantastical. At the moment I am a huge fan of Mazinger Z and the works of Nagai Gou, the man is a fucking genious! I have one more Bunko of Mazinger Z to read before I move onto Great Mazinger. May God bless the super Robot genre. MAJIN GO!

Theres never a shortage of Robots in the Akiba.

Akiba is ever changing, as large construction works are becoming ever so frequent. However, I hear that one of these constructions will be another Mandarake acording to Danny Choo’s site.

I really wish I had more coverage, but I was so much in awe of the place I did ｎｏｔ remember to use the camera too much. I also wish there where cosplayers, maids and other kinds of madness on the day I went, but apart from that I had a brilliant time in the place for the couple of hours I was there. The key is to go with other like minded Otaku people or on your own when you go to Akihabara, as then youd go to all the right places and no one will be reluctant to go to a maid cafe, like some of the people in my group. (What they where so affraid of, I don’t know).

But I apologise for the poor quality of this post, although I won’t be doing Harakiri, I’m well sorry.

More coverage on Japan when I get to it, ill be sure to take a lot of pictures, and I plan on doing a few podcasts (don`t worry , ill make them easy to find and download this time unlike the last one). I`ve recently been documenting a fair amount of events on paper, so Ill always have something to write about. So everyone, have a good eeeevening, despite the fact its only 4 in the afternoon here in Japan.

Since my network is down as of late, I may as well post this now from my brothers computer, the only one in the house with fully operating interwebs. I’ll be off to Heathrow airport tomorrow afternoon, ready for my greatest journey, my 5 month exchange to the Japan. I’ll be spending the first week in Tokyo and defiantly trying to get to the sacred land, of Akiba. Anyhow, to make sure this post isn’t really short I will share with you the greatest anime opening I have ever seen in my 17 years of this earth…

Looking forward to your opinions on my previous “podcast” as I’m going to be making a lot more podcasts in Japan so feedback is crucial!

Lets see where a bottle of the highly acidic substance kick, 3 people and an mp3 player can get you. Within the metalic anime filled sanctuary of my room Alex of Arekusu no Sekai, Cameron of Otaku Blue and I decide to dable at constructing a podcast. This public saftey (not really) podcast features our thoughts on what Moe (萌) really is, our contempt of the word “GAR”, the effects of fangirl corruption, wonderfest and of course Megami magazine told in a way we try to make as amusing as possible. Its only a first try so their is room for improvement, but I enjoyed its creation so much that I feel the future of this blog needs more podcasts. So tell me what you readers and first time listeners think about it, your opinions will be very moe, I’m sure. http://www.mediafire.com/?cnmuineeymm

Good eeeevening every body! In todays tale, I will be exploring the advantages of cool things from Akiba and breifly delving into the world unhealthy, unknown supermarket brand drinks which are far from soft. Its a double post, you, dear reader have been blessed! (or cursed, depends on what you think of the blog really, heh).

Gift from Akiba

Recently legendary blogger Zer0 had partaken on a trip to Japan and during his stay passed the sacred grounds of Akihabara. Just a while ago, I was contacted by Zer0 through the wonder of email and he said something about sending a gift from Akihabara. This Saturday the gift arrived (Singapore airmail is very fast!), unfortunately due to problems with the English postal service, the package was brought to my door at 8:30 on a Saturday and due to me being fast asleep at the time and unable to give a signature, it was stored at my local holding office. The office placed a 4 hour wait, but by bizarre coincidence, the end of the wait would signal the closing time of the holding office on a Saturday… OTZ.

At about 9:40 this morning I got to the sorting office and received my glorious package! I was surprised that the postman didn’t just slip it through the letterbox, but I guess since its airmail they need a signature. I was so excited about this gift from Zer0 that I decided to open it at the sorting office instead of waiting till I walked home.

ゲーマーズのデジコ

I was pleased to see that this fine piece of merchandise featured Dejiko, popular mascot of the landmark store Gamers and character from Digi Charat (which was originally an abridged anime with the purpose of advertising Gamers). The original Degi Charat is an anime that I really enjoy and one of the first I started watching near the start of my Otaku awakening. So I was really pleased with this great key chain. I said it once and I’ll say it again キター！(Kita)

To me, the keychain defines the current moe/maid culture which is all the rage among many Otaku (myself included, bring on the maids!) in a humorous and perhaps super flat way. I noticed the Gundam V headset, which is a nice feature because its a strange adition to a maid outfit (although I’m not sure if it’s an accessory which appears in cosplay cafes). If you look closely, that isn’t green tea that shes serving, no, it is actualy Oden in a can (a fast food snack which I am hoping to find in my travels in Japan)! Dejiko appears to be schemeing something judgeing by the look on her face. To her right you can see the Kanji for Akihabara. Something Ironic about Akiba’s kanji is that each of them symbolize natural things such as Autum, Leafs and medows, yet this is the electric town!

ゲーマーズ　ｇｅｅｍａｚｕ　（ｇａｍｅｒｓ）　ご当地　（ｐｌａｃｅ? I think thats what the kanji mean, but I’m not sure about the “go”) キーホルダー　（ｋｅｙｈｏｌｄｅｒ）. It is a keychain, but I’m thinking of either attaching it to my bag so my Otaku status is noticeable in public or to my mp3 player to signify the kind of songs it contains, アニソン. Thanks a lot Zer0, I really like it! I’ll need to pick you up something from Kouchi when I’m in Japan in return, even I don’t know what I’ll find.

Although most of you probably do check out Zer0s blog already, I highly recommend it  to those who haven’t seen it yet.

Iron Kick

I’m a fond drinker of the stimulant drink “Red Bull” but the other day I tried something very similar at a friends house. Red Bull tends to get me energetic but after a couple of hours put me in an irritable mood so I tend to steer clear from it and only drink it when I can, but this similar drink merely drains me of energy after its stimulation wears off and tastes pretty much the same as Red Bull so its practically win win. The drink is known as “Kick” and is a drink specially made for the chain of UK supermarkets, Tesco. Since Tesco was just across the road from the post sorting office and I had heard that the drink was cheap I decided to pick some up on the way to the office. Managed to get 2 bottles at 1.50, which was a steal considering each bottle was one litre and one 250ml can of Red Bull costs 1.20.

Due to all of that “lovely” acidity regulator, articifial colouring, taurine and Niacin (I don’t even know what Niacin is but my guess is it Isn’t healthy) it looks like urine, but if you can look past this horrible sentance I have typed, it’s a pretty nice tasting drink. I decided to go for diet, but I fear for the contents of regular. Due to the drinks high caffine count, it can make me very hyperactive and allow me to talk for ages and ages, so it is a useful tool to use for calling talk radio (which is a hobby of mine). I belive it will be a useful tool for school, but when hyper I do occasionally act a bit flipant, so I’d probably get in trouble quite a bit. My energy is sure to crash and burn later, but I’m happy with the drink for now. I have a feeling I’ll have to drink a LOT of green tea to negate its effects…

…

Its a couple of hours later now and I’m posting this and correcting errors, and I feel like shit, I’m never drinking a litre of this stuff in a day ever again. It feels like I haven’t slept in 3 days, while this is self induced, just thought I’d complain because I enjoy complaining…. ^_^

I have 8 more days in the country and manga is very cheap in Japan, but the other day I kicked all reason to the curb and recklessly purchased me some overpriced Japanese manga. Today, I will be delving into the bizarre world of Neko Majin, a one shot Kazenban manga written and illustrated by Toriyama Akira (of Dragonball fame). Neko Majin itself is a parody of popular Shounen Jump manga, Dragonball. However instead of having an insanely strong young man as the main character, the protagonist of Neko Majin is an insanely strong cat.

Nekomajin is a kanzenban, meaning its print size and thickness is larger than that of regular tankouban manga prints. The cover features the 3 different nekomajin which appear in the manga. Nekomajin, Nekomajin Miku and my personal favourite, Nekomajin Z!

A prominent feature of fights in Dragonball is blast battles. Son Goku’s main blast attack is the Kamehameha (something along the lines of turtle blast/wave), Nekomajin’s attack is known as the Nekohameha. The first time Nekomajin uses this attack, he does it the exact same way Goku does in the epic battle against Piccolo in Dragonball book 16.

Apparently 28 different nekomajin exist.

Nekomajin Z is more of a parody of the second half of Dragonball, known to anime watchers as Dragonball Z.

Super Neko Majin Z! His fur sticks up on end!

Kuriiza, a parody and miniature version of the evil Freeza.

During my youth, I respected Vegeta as the ultimate “badass” he makes an appearance during NMZ chapter 3. He realizes he cannot beat nekomajin, so he fakes a phone call telling him he must return to his home planet. Their is no ring for his phone, but he claims that he is using “Manner mode” the Japanese equivalent of a silent ring (ah Vegeta, such a sore looser). On his way home, he claims he’ll never be in a gag manga again!

Nekomajin meets his match. The evil Usagimajin! The demonic Rabbit threatens to destroy a figure of Son Goku, Nekomajins idol, making Nekomajin unable to strike back!

Luckily Majin Buu appears at the last second, and defeats Usagimajin!! Despite the fact Nekomajin is obviously based off him, he appears in the manga.

What kind of parody manga would this be without the hero of Dragonball making an appearance?

Son Goku manages to be the only character in Nekomajin to defeat the cat! He does it through cheating, using a bushy plant to manipulate Nekomajin’s cat like instincts.

Neko Majin parodies the way people fight in Dragonball, the melodramatic feel of it, the characterization and is hilarious. We also get to see cameos of characters from the original Dragonball. Theirs something for Dragonball fans and people who hate it alike. As someone who grew up watching Dragonball Z, this manga truely is a treat.

Parking Attendant: This Zaku is Illegally parked (didn’t know the Japanese for illegally parked. Allow the brackets to show us this man is speaking in the Japanese).

Char: Oi!! Thats my Zaku!!

Sorry Char, one does not often care to acknowledge the mistakes of youth. Mistakes such as parking tickets.

Wondering what the above drawing (created exclusively in Microsoft Paint may I hasten to add) is about? Well it is to commemorate my first (and by no means last) viewing of the original Gundam 0079 movie. You see, the UK has a rather sparse selection of anime and for years my only glimpse of Gundam has been Seed and Wing. The original series is not licensed in the UK, and I had wanted to watch it for an age, for a long time my only window into the series was the variety of short clips on yotube. Or so I thought, turns out the European License holders “Beez” own the rights to the 3 Gundam films, which act as a condensed version of the series. As soon as I discovered these dvds where available, I ordered the first one.

When I first saw Gundam Wing in my younger days I really enjoyed it. But after watching first Gundam, I must say Gundam Wing is now a pile of crap to me. First Gundam is amazing. From the moment Amuro stepped into the Gundam core and stared into the menacing, piercing Zaku eye, he was faced with immense pressure. And I was faced with a work of genius. Gundam really illustrates the horrors of war, in a pretty graphic way despite it just being an animation. Hundreds of people are killed in the meaningless battle between Zeon and the federation and young men that are not even 16 have to step into the warzone and become soldiers with no prior experience.

Gundam may have exciting and stunning fight scenes, but it does in no way glorify war. At one point in the film our hero Amuro is reunited with his mother, at first she is overjoyed, but as he shoots an enemy soldier in a refugee camp, she is horrified by the prospect that her own son has become a killer. The mans own mother tells him that she is not proud that he is her son. Also the fight scenes are not always perfect as apossed to the sometimes boring predictable fights in wing, the Gundam gets damaged at times, the pilots aren’t always in the right shape or frame of mind and sometimes the protagonists *gasp* Lose fights! Something you just don’t see these days much at all.

The star of the show for me was the rival of the film. Char Aznable. Not only did he have no fear during the entire film, but he also had a legendary presence and some quality lines. It is no surprise that he is one of the most iconic anime characters in history. He managed to defeat the Gundam several times in the film, not only that but he avoided his own death many a time in the most non-cowardly of ways. To put it bluntly, Char is “badass”. But most of the characters in the film where likable in their own way, like Haro, the cute mechanical mascot of the series. And although Kai may be a coward, he can be pretty darn cool at times.

Despite the film being one third of the entire series, their where no visible signs of editing and it never became a chore to watch once, despite it being 2 and a half hours long. And it even managed to have a powerful ending (which is not only my favourite scene in the film, but in my opinion one of the greatest moments in anime history). My only issue with the film is that the brilliant (and retro funky) opening of the anime series was omitted, but sacrifices must be made for the greater good.

Before I end this long post, I will say that this film had some absolutely unforgettable lines! a few of my favourites -
“my dad never even hit me!”

” three times faster than a regular zaku”

“One never cares to acknowledge, the mistakes of youth”

and last but not least “IKIMASU!”

I certainly can’t wait to see the other 2 films in the series.

I’ll pretend it hasn’t been more than a week since I last posted ^_^. As I write, my amount of blog visitors exceeds 1000. For this I am glad that people have been reading this random verbal excretion of which I am the producer, makes me happy. Now to celebrate this golden landmark, I will present to you the final part of the Japan expo the journey and the stuff inside the expo(I would have presented it otherwise, but now its extra special. Also note that I have done the entire expo coverage not only slowly, but also backwards.).

Heres a shot of the group a couple of stops before we reached the expo. At the front we have Cam (also known as Otaku Blue) and from the right to the left we have Alex (Arekusu no Sekai) John, Ho and Michael. And if I wasn’t holding the camera, I too would have been in the shot.

Don’t ask why I took a picture of the Millennium (or rather 02) dome, I’ve always hated the place since my class trip their in year 5 of primary school, but it does look rather cool. Its the coolest looking waste of tax payers money ever!

Samurai Jack may not be anime, but it is pure entertainment. Pictured is a cosplay of Jacks antagonist Aku. Their were quite a few cosplayers at the expo, but none really too interesting. Haruhi and Naruto and Gothic Lolita coplayers are a dime a dozen (although I do like Haruhi and Naruto, don’t get me wrong).

The entrance to Excel. The expo drew near. We got their at about 10 in the morning, ready for a day of adventure.

A fair amount of snacks and drinks could be found at the expo such as cup ramen, pocky and Green Tea. However, food was not a priority for me so I spent most of my money on figures and other stuff… (Think Madarame)

A Shinai practice sword. I was going to get this, but it would have been a hassle to carry around. Although 18 quid is a good deal for a sword (think 36 dollars). However, for individuals with the force, that lightsaber would be a more exciting find.

As expected of any expo related to anime, their where plenty of figures. Many of them where decent…

These BoBoBo figures however, where not decent… So much wasted potential.

Poster of Char and Amuro. If it was for sale or unattended, it would have been mine. Seeds Kira was also in the poster, but I don’t care too much for seed. Speaking of Char and Amuro, I managed to get my hands on the original Gundam novelisation by Tomino. More on that when it arrives in the post.

Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society premiered for the first time in the UK at the expo. It was a brilliant film, but some elements felt a bit rushed. It was impossible to comprehend the opening 30 mins of the film however, due to the fact the volume of it couldn’t stand up to the noise of the rest of the expo (and to make matters worse it was the dub, so no subtitles). But after a while the attendant made the volume very loud. I was glad, but my eardrums… not so much.

Among figure buyers in the UK moe kei figures are very popular as they are in Japan. Here are some figures I don’t own that I felt the need to capture the image of.

I really should have got the topless Shimei (pictured above). But due to its unnecessary expense, I got a slight more clothed version. Speaking of topless, here is a bad pun on gunbster… (as a sidenote, I believe this Mon-sieur bome fellow is a good sculpter, however the one issue I have is the figures in this line of production are pretty brittle and easy to break).

If I were a girl, I’d definitly get that Haruhi uniform. But since I am a guy, ill settle with photographing it.

Eventually my wallet was empty and my ki was drained. I felt 3 in the afternoon was a good point to leave with my spoils. I’ll start with the non figure stuff. I managed to get hold of a replica Kunai, it proved very fun to mess around with in the house. I didn’t get much manga, as I’m moving from English translations to the original Japanese print, but I did get hold of book 5 of the print version of my favourite webcomic megatokyo (which is soon to be printed in Japanese by Kodansha). The Kunai marked the spending of my final 10 pounds. It is the reason I bought no food, :3

Now onto the figures. My personal favourite (and most expensive) is the nurse Shimei from Ikkitousen, its a bit out of character for Shimei, but I don’t really care… Its too moe for me to care! (萌え!!). The Rei on the left is an evangelion “candy toy”. It was boxed at first but my prayer to the god of Ayanami (one of my favourites of all time) was answered, chance was by my side. The Street Fighter figures are my first excursion into the brand “Pinky St” they are so Cute! and customizable, I need to get hold of the ones from Evangelion and Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo. Notice the chibi Saber and Shirou of Fate/Stay Night fame, a nod to my fate/stay night obsession.

So ends my expo coverage! It was very much full of false promises and a bit lacking (OTZ), but I hope you enjoyed it! I have learned never to promise coverage of anything. In the future the blog shall be as spontaneous as possible.

A while ago, my mate Cameron discovered that their was an anime shop close to our local area and not yet in London through means of the internet. Seeing this as an opportunity I decided we should go on a quest to find this shop or to see if the shop even existed in the first place. Their was a high possibility of a ghost hack you see…

In this intrepid tale, Alex, Cameron and I journey into West Wickhamian space, in search for the mysterious United publications. An anime and manga specialist goods shop. The fate of the world rests on us finding this shop (for ota goods) however, we are not sure if it is a shop or a warehouse. Or journey takes us to what seems like a secluded (and possibly evil) village in the countryside after about 2 hours. We search for the shop but with not much luck. This video chronicles our travels in shorthand format. Beware, it contains some bad language and talk of perverse nature and is rated I for immature. Enjoy our journey and see how it unfolds in the following video.

Please bare with my irritating voice, It doesn’t usually sound like that but I still have a cold. And yes, Hot tears of Shame is a reference to the blog of the brilliant Patrick Macias I suggest you check it out. Since today was an exception, a rather tiring exception, I will finish the mediocre expo coverage tomorrow.

At the Japan ex London expo their was a decent amount of Origami, it was a pretty prevalent feature. Some very fancy intermediate quality paper works could be seen. I didn’t get that many pictures it seems, but interesting stuff never the less. I managed to pick up 100 sheets of special origami paper for like 1 pound 50, which went to charity so it was well spent even if I am crap at origami.

The logo illustrates what it is, to the point. Unlike the UK Olympics logo (ouch). Thank God the name wasn’t abbreviated to the B.O Society.

The closest I’ve ever seen to paper food, apart from when I was a young lad in my first years of school and I believed that sugar paper was an edible substance. Ah the mistakes of youth.

Various reptiles, a more detailed frog then the simple origami frogs I have previous seen (I say simple but… the final picture will make you think otherwise). Whoever created that rose has cheated! It has a wire! It looks like the snake is about to constrict the frog. Foolish pekopenian creature, it is unwise to mess with frogs gero gero!

This must have taken hours of patience to make. Although if I had it in my possession I would be tempted to see if it could fly from my top window.

Yes that is indeed a chocobo! Wasn’t expect this at all but lets face it, final fantasy exists everywhere.

This evening I crawled the internet for Origami tutorials. I tried to create a crane at first but failed several times, one penguin and a couple of frogs. My diagnosis? Well a picture is worth 1000 words…

Cosplay at the expo was decent, but thats it. Nothing really stood out, it was mainly a sea of bizarre Goth Lolita conformity and the rest was the kind of thing you’d see at most events. So the next and final time I talk about Expo, I will be painting a verbal picture of what one can acquire at such an event.