 phoenix |  April 8th, 2011 After the release of Nendoroid Remilia Scarlet, Remilia’s little sister Flandre also got her nendoroid release. And since they are sisters, and that I’ve got Remilia already, I will just have to get Flandre as well to complete the pair. Just like Nendoroid Remilia Scarlet, it was only available from four different shops Niconico Chokuhan, Animate, Gamers, and Tora No Ana. And just like Remilia, I ordered from Animate and got it forwarded to me by Tenso. Now I’ve got two Scarlets with twice the vampire power!
Nendoroid Flandre Scarlet by Good Smile Company. (ねんどろいど フランドール・スカーレット). Original sculptor JUN (E.V.). Released on January 2011 with MSRP of ¥3,000.
 
Continue reading ‘Cute little mischievious vampire x2 – Nendoroid Flandre Scarlet’ »
phoenix | April 5th, 2011 Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu (涼宮ハルヒの消失) or The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi movie was released in theaters in Japan on February 6, 2010. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 19, 2010 and that was when I finally had a chance to watch it. Now of course together with the movie, there are merchandises released such as nendoroids from Good Smile Company. So far two nendoroids are released from the Disappearance movie – Nagato Yuki and Suzumiya Haruhi and I’ve got them both.
First is the main character of The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi. As much as the title say Suzumiya Haruhi, the main focus of the movie is actually on Nagato Yuki.
Nendoroid Nagato Yuki Disapperance Version by Good Smile Company (ねんどろいど 長門有希 消失Ver.) Original sculptor Ageta Yukiwo (あげたゆきを (マックスファクトリー)). Released on November 2010 with MSRP of ¥3,500.
Here’s the box Nagato Yuki comes in.
 
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phoenix | April 4th, 2011 I have to admit that I really like Kara no Kyoukai (空の境界). I’ve spent $565 USD to purchase all volumes of the Kara no Kyoukai Limited Edition DVD just about a year ago. Yet on hearing the news that on February 2, 2011, a complete Blu-ray box was released in Japan containing all 7 films and a new bonus chapter, I eagerly place my order on Amazon.co.jp. At the time Amazon.co.jp was listing it at 36,664 JPY + 2,000 JPY shipping making it a total of about $470 USD. Expensive, certainly. But it is definitely cheaper than the $565 USD I spent to get the complete set of limited edition DVDs. And since I should get better picture quality from the Blu-ray discs plus a nice Visual Chronical Book. I though it was a pretty good deal. Luckily it only gets better. Soon after, Aniplex of America announced that they are going to do a North America release of it. Right Stuf listed the item at $398.98 USD with free shipping. After looking at all the release information and compared pictures, I believed that the North America version will be identical to that of the Japanese release. So being adventurous here, I cancelled my Amazon.co.jp order and placed the order with Right Stuf for a $80 USD saving. Right Stuf shipped the item on February 8th, the North America release date. Unfortunately being out side of USA, I only got the item at the beginning of March. And now finally I’ve found some time to take some pictures of it.
Here’s the shipping box of the Kara no Kyoukai Blu-ray box. The box is identical to that of the Japanese version. The text and all that on the box are all Japanese. Seeing that, I finally can relax. I saved $80 USD and I got the same thing as the Japanese release. Great!
Continue reading ‘Kara No Kyoukai – Garden Of Sinners Complete Blu-ray Box’ »
phoenix | March 5th, 2011 Volks’ new Dollfie Dream body is named Dollfie Dream Sister (DDS) and it’s 50cm in height compared to Dollfie Dream Base Body II’s height of 60cm. The first two dolls release in this body is Touhou Project’s (東方Project) Hakurei Reimu (博麗霊夢) and Kirisame Marisa (霧雨魔理沙). I’ve been sportting Marisa’s DDS banner on my blog for some time now and of course I had Marisa ordered last year. The order for the Touhou DDs started on September 19, 2010 all the way to October 24, 2010. The doll is only being produced based on the orders placed. The price for the doll is ¥58,800. There’s also a short wig for Marisa at ¥5,040 and a Touhou Accessories Set at ¥4,725 available to be ordered during the ordering period. The Touhou dolls started shipping on February 25, 2011 and mine is among the first batches being shipped out. And after a week worth of waiting for the package to be delivered in Japan and then forwarded from Japan to North America, I finally got my first Dollfie Dream Sister doll.
So here it is, my quick unboxing of Touhou Project Dollfie Dream Sister Kirisame Marisa. Here’s what the box look like. Apparently the pair of ribbons that secures the doll to the cardboard carrier are both broken presumably during transport. But the doll is pretty tough. I don’t see any significant damage, so all is well.
 
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phoenix | February 14th, 2011 While this site is filled with a lot of Japanese collectible toys, I’ve got some other merchandises that’s made in Japan and is of a little collectible value (to some). I’m talking about Japanese knives. Now I’m not a knife enthusiast, but I do like a sharp knife may it be on the cutting board for cooking, for craft, or any other things that I do with the help of a blade. And of course I wouldn’t mind if the knife also happens to look good. Why Japanese knives? Well because Japanese knives are harder and retains their edge sharpness better than your typical knives like Wusthof or Henckels from Germany. Although I think German manufacturers are playing catch up with their product lines and have recently introduced new products with features previously seen only in Japanese knives. But like I said, I’m not a knife enthusiast, so I just stick with what I know and what I know that works. The other reason why I choose Japanese knives is that these Japanese knives that I purchased are all hand made by relatively small blacksmiths. This makes me really appreciate the art of making knives by hand rather than machine stamped production from large manufacturers. And I’ve always appreciated fine craftsmanship.
This first knife is a Tenmi-Jyuraku (天味寿楽) Damascus Santoku 180mm by Hiromoto. Santoku, or in Japanese 三徳 (loosely translated into Three Virtues), can be considered as a small version of the chef’s knife. I bought this one online from Japanese Chef’s Knife a long time ago. Today Japanese Chef’s Knife with their fast and cheap flat rate shipping service directly from Seki City – Japan’s knife capital, is still one of the places that I go to for Japanese knives. In fact I looked around in the local shops and on the Internet, buying from Japanese Chef’s Knife is still one of the cheapest and sometimes fastest way to get these Japanese knives.
 
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