HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing Everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Tying Fortunes for the New Year

Want to know more about Japanese Traditions for the New Year, check out Facts and Details.

My New Year Resolutions:

• A New Job
  
• Watch more Anime
• Keep Blogging
• Spend Quality Time with the Family
  

Nothing exciting, I know, but each is obtainable!

Final Fantasy X: Rikku 02

This is probably my last post for the year 2009, so lets make it... cute!

Rikku, the bilingual, 15-year-old Al Bhed, is a talented theif who is somewhat childish, but also very cheerful and optimistic. She loves her cousin Yuna dearly and wishes to stop her from going through with her pilgrimage. She also informs Tidus of Yuna's fate when she summons her Final Aeon.

So cute this Yuna! And intersting shoes I might add. I really like her outfit in X more than X-2. Awesome work!

Technorati tags: cosplay, holic, cosplayer, costume, role, play, roleplay, game, final, fantasy, x, rikku, 2009, cute, bilingual, al, bhed, talent, theif, childish, cheerful, optiimistic, love, cousin, yuna, wish, stop, pilgrimage, inform, tidus, fate, aeon, interest, shoe, outfit, x-2, awesome, コスプレ, コスプレイ, ファイナルファンタジーX, リュック, ユウナ, ティーダ

Apartment is Packed

Well, on Saturday, I will be having some friends stop over to help me pack. It has been a fun 9 years in Florida, but I guess it is time to move back home. All of this is due to the present economic climate - I really hope all those fucking Bank and Wall Street executive chock on their blood money.

I figured I give you a look at the old place right before it is all packed up. I have well over 100 boxes to load down stairs and into the truck. Some furniture, but nothing much as we sold most of it.

If there is anyone interested helping unload all this crap that live around Hagertowns, MD, let me know. I could use a few hands there.

Master Bedroom

Second Bedroom
Living Room

Living / Dining Room

This should be fun - NOT!

MY Favorite Anime of 2009

I know everyone has there opinions and may wish to add or remove from my list. These are ones that I actually got the chance to watch. I am sure there are several more that I have not seen that may be better. Well I don't fucking care because these are MY FAVORITES, so :P~~~~~~~~~

Best and Overall Good Feel Series: Gurren Lagann

This series had it all, sexy girls, fighting AND combining mecha, death, rebirth and the overall Good beats Evil theme. This show gave you a wide range of characters and played with your emotionals at any give time - who didn't cry when Kamina died?


Best Series for Girl on Girl Fighting and BOOBIES!: Queen's Blade

If you can think of a better series for all your D&D ECCHI needs, then let me know. Not the best writing, but who was actually following the dialogue? I mean honestly, what Anime has exploding Boobs?


Best Series showing off a Sport: Basquash!

This series had everything for any Basketball / Anime Fan out there. It had beautiful bomb shells and Mecha with a devastating side of Basketball fever to boot. I am not a sports game person, but this had me hooked until the end.


Best Anime for the Pervert inside us: Sora no Otoshimono (Heaven's Lost Property)

OMFG - this had me in stitches while watching it. This is a perverts dream Anime come true. Where will you EVER see flying pantsu - really flying panties! I loved it when poor Tomoki gets pummeled by Sohara (violence also prevails at times) for his acts of perversion. yea - and more boobies (my theme you see in all this).


Best Anime that features Talking Animals: Nyan Koi!

Actually this is something my wife would be interested in. I started watching this and had to stop part way as I want to sit with my wife and watch. It is funny to the point where you just feel sorry for the guy that is "cursed". Honestly, a guy that can talk with cats AND has to help them AND is allergic to them to boot.


Anime that cost me many $$ and my Son loves: Bakugan

Honestly, this is more expensive than Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! card collecting. With all those damn balls that morph to mini figures and the collector boxes and binders - sheesh, I need a second job just for this. My Son actually knows and sings the theme song!


With all that said, did you have a favorite that I did not note in this list?

Holy hell

This has nothing to do with anything except Shadz is in it.
And I have adamantium claws. No, I'm not a Wolverine fan =D


Nothing to do with CC itself, just a blog related thing.

200 HITS?! WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING WITH YOUR LIVES?!

Plus, CC hit 79 maps the other day. Everybody congratulate the game on such a milestone.

On that note, I'm going to dig up the earliest CC art I can find and post it here for Lulz.
Ok, not the earliest, but:

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: Terra and Ventus

Both sent by Master Eraqus to seek out Master Xehanort and his cohort, Terra and Ven are the main protagonists of the Kingdom Hearts prequel, "Birth by Sleep". Terra bears a striking ressemblance to Todomarishi Shinsen from Kindom Hearts II Final Mix just as Ven does to Roxas.

Alright, readers who keep sending this in can please stop now! Terra is cosplayed by Courto and Ven is cosplayed by Akusesu from Deviant Art; photographed by Tony Quan. Really wonderful work! Great job guys!

Technorati tags: cosplay, holic, cosplayer, costume, role, play, roleplay, game, disney, kingdom, hearts, birth, sleep, terra, ventus, ven, master, eraqus, seek, xehanort, cohort, protagonist, prequel, ressemblance, todomarishi, shinsen, 2, final, mix, roxas, reader, courto, akusesu, deviant, art, deviantart, tony, quan, photographer, wonderful, great, コスプレ, コスプレイ, キングダムハーツ バース バイ スリープ, テラ, ヴェントゥス, ヴェン, 留まりし思念, ロクサス

The USB Device for Gamers who are Single

While I was doing some research on another blog I am writing, I found this little electronic device. This is not that new, but still one of the strangest devices I have ever seen for a sex toy.

So the premise seems to be that this device interacts with the game designed by those that created School Days / Cross Days. Now depending on the games action, the "machine" will change its speed of it action.

Here is where they suck the money out of your wallet > The SOM is not included with the game - WTF! You will need to hand over about 45,000 yen (or 25,000 yen for the Puchi) if you want to get the real life experience.

YouTube Video

Source: Cartoon Leap | SOM

Hello!

Hey everyone, I know I haven't updated in a while orz, but I've gotten back to work.
Now, let's see...I had to completely redo Kumo's hair, which is finished. I started Jesse's characterset for the bombing mission, evented the intro for said mission, and drew three facesets, though I'm probably going to redraw Levi-again. F88K YOU LEVI~
Ahem~
I also created a video which I shall link at the end of this post. It includes clips from the new evented scene. Which, may I remind you, is MUSIC based- and timed perfectly. *smug smile*.
I started Levi's run frames because it was kind of necessary for the aeroplane mission, which is almost finished.
Ok, so here's some random stuff:

Strawberry Panic!: Okuwaka Tsubomi

This is probably the last unknown cosplay for the year. Wow, how long has it been since I started writing about cosplays? It's so nostalgic now that I think about it.

Anyway, pink haired girl with a black headband in an expensive looking school uniform... She's really pretty, and this is another image by photographer MPZero. I think I'll need to have sections for photographers too someday, but I have so many tags already that people might think it's confusing...

So! Any guesses? Please leave comments on this entry if you know who the cosplayer is or who she is cosplaying as!

EDIT: Thanks to FHead for commenting that she is Okuwaka Tsubomi from Strawberry Panic!

Technorati tags: cosplay, holic, cosplayer, role, play, roleplay, costume, anime, manga, game, unkown, 40, last, year, 2009, nostalgic, pink, hair, black, headband, expensive, school, uniform, photographer, mpzero, tag, confusing, guess, comment, blog, photobucket, コスプレ, コスプレイ

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!

Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season!

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

To Heart 2: Lucy Maria Misora aka Ruuko Kireinasora

One of the main characters of To Heart's sequel, Lucy Maria Misora is actually an alien who can communicate with animals. Being an alien, she has many strange mannerisms, like raising her arms and speaking out "ru" that later becomes a trend as a silly way of greeting people, and refering to humans as "u". She uses matchsticks as currency and writes in Egyptian hieroglyphs.

She's so cute! I really like her pink hair. It's not shocking pink like most. Thanks to Hiroyuki for emailing this!

Technorati tags: cosplay, cosplayer, holic, role, play, roleplay, costume, anime, manga, game, to, heart, lucy, maria, misora, ruuko, kireinasora, main, character, sequel, alien, communicate, animals, strange, mannerism, arm, ru, silly, greet, people, human, u, matchsticks, currency, write, egyptian, hieroglyph, cute, pink, hair, shock, hiroyuki, email, コスプレ, コスプレイ, トゥハート, トゥハート２, ルーシー, マリア, ミソラ, るーこ, きれいなそら

Chobits: Chi 07

It seems like a tradition now to have Chi as the one who greets everyone.

Merry Christmas, minna-san!

Technorati tags: nanao, cosplay, research, cosplayer, manga, anime, chobits, clamp, chii, tradition, merry, happy, christmas

Christmas Eve in the United States

We can rule out a White Christmas here in South Florida. Though we got into the mid 50's here this week, it is no where near cold enough.

My fun was shopping here and getting everything packed up and shipped out to the family. The largest shipment was for Japanese snacks as there was not much in Western Maryland to lend itself to that. My wife did finally find an Asian Market and they did have some of the snacks we like.

Other than that, it was Bakugan, Yu-Gi-Oh cards and DSi games for my son. I was able to get one figure that I will not see until I arrive next year (Post).

Here is hoping that Santa bring you all the wonderful stuff you wanted!


Did you get your Holiday Shopping done for your favorite Otaku and what were the items on their list?

One Piece Vol 56 Breaks Records

Well I have to say that this does not really surprise me. I myself love the show, as does my family.

As quoted by Japan Today, "The popularity of a manga comic titled ‘‘One Piece’’ remains unceasing with the circulation of the latest 56th volume put on sale this month totaling 2.85 million copies, marking the highest number for a first printing in the history of comic publications."

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda, has sold 176 million copies since the first volume was put out. It was based on the series that first started in weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It seems that it is read by just about everyone, no matter the sex or age as it seems to delight everyone.

Cover Art

Have you been reading or watching the antics of Luffy in One Piece?

Source: Japan Today

Late Gift - Queens Blade - 1/8 Risty PVC Figure

Since I have been looking at REALLY getting a new figure, I asked my wife if I could get something for X-Mas! I showed her what I was looking to get and it was on sale. It is also a more realistic figure that I have been looking to get into now.

I was able to convince my wife (because I said that it reminded me of her - no lie, it does) and she let me get it from Toys Logic (they call her "Listy"). Since this was over $50, they have a special that you will receive a free gift (see banner below). Even with shipping, this only cost me $85.

What sucks is that it is being delivered to our new apartment in Maryland. I will have to wait until I get up there to receive it - ARG!

Here are some shots of it from ToysLogic:

Has anyone already gotten her in there collection?

Do you think of the figure as more realistic that the anime?

Happy Holidays from Anime Network

I copied this from my email so everyone could see. It looks like Anime Network is giving us all a gift of free open access to their Anime for those of us that are registered. If you are not registered yet, what's the wait for?

Anime Network gives holiday cheer with FREE Anime!

From 4:00 PM CST on Thursday, Dec. 24 to 10:00 AM on Saturday, Dec. 26,
& again from 4:00 PM CST on Thursday, Dec. 31 to 10:00 AM on Saturday, Jan. 2
Registered Users can watch Premium Content for FREE!

BTW: Winter Solstice will take place today at 12:47 pm EST (1747 GMT). This will also mark the shortest day and longest night.

He Is My Master: Karauchi Anna 02

I forgot about this picture from Comiket, since I wasn't sure who she was at first, but I finally confirmed that this is from He Is My Master, Karauchi Anna!

Anna is actually bisexual and has a crush on Izumi. At first, she is attracted to Yoshitaka, but after Izumi's relentless efforts to make her stay away from Toshitaka, Anna mistook this as a sign of interest. She thus became one of Yoshitaka's maids in order to follow Izumi.

I guess it could be considered an honest mistake? Haha, thanks to Ojii-san for sending this!

Technorati tags: cosplay, cosplayer, holic, role, play, roleplay, costume, anime, manga, he, is, my, master, karauchi, anna, comiket, 2009, bisexual, sawatari, izumi, yoshitaka, nakabayashi, relentless, effort, stay, away, sign, interest, maid, follow, honest, mistake, ojii-san, コスプレ, コスプレイ, これが私の御主人様, 倉内, 安奈, 沢渡, いずみ, 中林, 義貴

Movie Review: Avatar

Movie: Avatar
Run Time: 2 hrs 41 mins
Rated: PG-13
Genre: Action / Adventure
Directed by: James Cameron
Story by: James Cameron

I went out with a friend to see this movie as the hype was just too damn crazy. We went to a 3:30pm show and was surprised by the okay turn out. I was figuring the place would be packed, but it was okay. We had gotten there a 1/2 hour before the show, so we had our choice of seats. Did I forget to mention that this is a 3D movie? They give you some glasses before the show which were of good quality - had a cool Blues Brother charm as well.

Enough about that, I bet you want to know about the movie?

> > > SPOILERS AHEAD < < <

Well the start is a little slow and not that much going for it. I know it was an introduction to why Sam Worthington's character (Jake Sully) was in the movie and why he was one of the Na'vi people. It is interesting how they do this as they make it a mind transfer from a Human to a Human/Na'vi hybrid grown in a lab. Sigourney Weaver plays Dr. Grace Augustine, the head Botanist on site. I liked her hard edge character and the way she despises Jake as he is a Marine, not a scientist. We see Jake Sully as a Na'vi and he falls for one of the natives named Neytiri which is played by Zoe Saldana.


We have several simple themes with this movie that we see in so many others. Guy comes with a certain mindset, then partway through the movie, his eyes are opened and tries to save everything. Oh, and he falls in love with one of the "natives" and has to save her and her tribe. There is also the theme that big business will destroy nature to get what it needs due to greed of the almighty dollar. Save Nature Dude and Dudettes!

This is over-shadowed by the CGI of the planet of Pandora that seem to use a lot of bioluminescence in the plants and structure of the planet. We find that the plants are linked together like on big live network. The creatures are also way cool with a huge rhino-type animal with a hammerhead, 4 winged pterosaurs and dog-like creatures. The Na'vi are blue and a much larger humanoids that us. They use primitive weapons, but are in tune with nature to the point that a tree-hugger would blush.

I was getting a little antsy while watching the movie. I had no idea that it was going to run so damn long. We got there at 3pm and the movie didn't end until 6:15pm. Make sure you eat and hit the bathroom before you come.

I found myself totally taken by the movie as it started to come together. As the story unloaded and the CGI kicked in, this became a great movie. The landscapes were awesome, the creatures were stunning and the characters in this movie really did a great job. I also want the computer displays they had in this movie as they were beyond cool!

Overall, this will be in my collection when it comes out. The visual aspects of this movie are over the top and in 3D is just that much more real!

YouTube Movie Trailer

To know more about the planet Pandora in Avatar, you have to check out Pandorapedia.

Overall: B

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children: Yuffie Kisaragi 02

Prone to motion sickness and hopelessly obsessed with the collection of mana, Yuffie Kisaragi is the daughter of the leader of Wutai who wishes to return her country to its former glory, and not a mere tourist spot. In Advent Children, she helps Cloud and Tifa in the fight against Bahamut SIN. There is also a prequel novella "Case of Yuffie" which details about how Geostigma pread to Wutai and what Yuffie did to find a cure to help her people.

Cute cosplayer and really awesome weapon detail! Wonder how she got it to look so real? Thanks to Kon for sharing this!

EDIT: Thanks to anon for letting me know this is~13idiotbox or "Ice" from deviant art!

Technorati tags: cosplay, holic, cosplayer, costume, role, play, roleplay, final, fantasy, vii, advent, children, yuffie, kisaragi, prone, motion, sickness, hopelessly, obsess, collection, mana, daughter, leader, wutai, wish, return, country, glory, tourist, spot, cloud, strife, tifa, lockhart, fight, bahamut, sin, prequel, novella, case, detail, geostigma, spread, cure, people, cute, awesome, weapon, wonder, kon, photobucket, コスプレ コスプレ, コスプレイ, ファイナルファンタジーVII, アドベントチルドレン, ユフィ, キサラギ, クラウド, ストライフ, ティファ, ロックハート

Hatsune Miku VN02

Looks like Max Factory and popular illustrator Nagimiso have done it again. They are releasing Hatsune Miku VN02 1/8 Scale PVC figure in June of next year. It will run under $140 USD and stands a little above 10 1/2 inches tall (270mm).

This figure is done with a bit more realism than we have seen usually. I have seen that I personally tend to be liking the more realistic figures now. They also take on a different color approach by using a vibrant green color for her. All in all, this is a must have figure for any anime collector. This is getting pretty high pre-order ratings on most ordering sites, so you better get on the boat now or miss out.


Where to Buy:
Hobby Search - $131USD
Play-Asia - $139USD
Hobby Link Japan - $125USD (by 01/06)
Hobby Fan - $139USD

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you