キーーターー！Gift from Akiba arrives!

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…. ^_^

ねこはめは！！ Ｎｅｋｏ Ｍａｊｉｎ

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.

Angry Justice – Kidou Senshi Gundam

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.

It’s OVER 1,000!!

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.