Manga Review: 20th Century Boys

20th Century Boys
Story and Art by Naoki Urasawa
Distributor: VIZ Media

I read a lot of reviews on this manga and live action movie. It was not in my main stay of manga that I read, but thought it was worth a shot. I did a short blurb about it on another post.

Cover to 1st volume

I have to say after reading the back of the 1st volume, I was sold. It was an interesting concept that I have never encountered before in any media. Naoki Urasawa is an excellent story writer and illustrator. Though this story would bounce from future to present to past and back again, it was done in a way that kept the story flowing. It is set up like a murder mystery, but with a 1950's science fiction twist.

You get introduced to the characters as adults while at the same time seeing them as young kids hanging out together. We learn about their friendship, their dreams and fears. Through this we learn of the symbol and how it may be linked to a friendship that once existed between them all. We follow Kenji who seems to be the focal point of the story and are slowly introduced to the "Gang" through his interaction. We see him trying to keep the King Mart running while trying to raise his sister daughter. In all this he is dragged into this mystery of a symbol and the "Mysterious Friend".

If you get any manga this year, you best add this to your collection. It is one of my favorites now and one that I am glad to have picked up. So if you do not have yours yet, what's the holdup?

Character Breakdown from the Manga

Here is an IMPORTANT page excerpt

Excerpt from Amazon:
"Failed rock musician Kenji's memories of his past come rushing back when one of his childhood friends mysteriously commits suicide. Could this new death be related to the rise of a bizarre new cult that's been implicated in several other murders and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all.

Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren't for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a gang of boys who try to save the world."

Guilty Gear XX: Bridget 03

I had initially though Bridget’s black costume was her- his original one since I’ve had two cosplayers having the same color scheme.

I was wrong. Bridget is blonde, not white/silver haired at all.

I had no idea how popular this character was in the cosplay world though. Beautiful cosplay and great work as usual! I wonder if the teddy bear is one of his weapons too?

Technorati Tags: cosplay, cosplayer, holic, role, play, roleplay, costume, guilty, gear, x, xx, black, blue, blonde, silver, hair, scheme, popular, world, teddy, bear, weapon, beautiful, コスプレ, コスプレイ, ギルテ, ィギア

Wacky Stuff from Japan, vol 3

Another installment of Wacky and Fun stuff from Japan.

Ice Cream, we all scream for Ice Cream. Now I know you are thinking, how can ice cream be wacky. Well it can be wacky if it is Wasabi Soft Serve Ice Cream. Yes, you read it right! The stuff that burns your mouth when eating sushi was turned into a soft serve ice cream. I know there are other flavors like Green Tea, Sweet Potato, Sesame, Houjicha (Roasted Green Tea), Citrus and Sea Salt to name a few. So not Chocolate. Plain Vanilla or Mixed (Chocolate/Vanilla) for them.

Full Range of Soft Serve

This is a follow up to my initial installment of Dekochari Bike with the Dekotora Trucks. Now these put our Monster Trucks to shame in the US. These are totally decked out in chrome and lights that would scare children as thinking they are monsters in the night. If you check out Wiki, you find that there are actually 3 different styles. The are called Retro, Kansai and Kanto, but not sure how the styles differ.

Dekotora Trucks

I know the first post had the "Girlfriend Knee Pillow". So here is the "Boyfriend Hug Pillow" for you lonely lovers out there. They even offer a variety of colors to suit your needs like Light Blue, Pink and Light Green. We all need a hug once in a while, so find a supplier and pick up all three colors.

Hug Pillow

Past Posts:
Wacky Stuff from Japan
Wacky Stuff from Japan, vol 2

Darkstalkers: Lilith Aensland

Lilith is a cheerful succubus who was original part of Morrigan's soul. She began to have consciousness 10 years after she was sealed away by her adoptive father, Belial. Although her feelings began to develop after learning more about her world, Makai, these feelings are more primal and primitive, only wishing to return home.

So her hair color's wrong, but you have to admit, she's a beautiful Lilith. I love the bat print details on her stockings. Wonderful work!

Technorati tags: cosplay, cosplayer, holic, role, play, costume, roleplay, darkstalkers, lilith, aensland, morrigan, succubus, soul, consciousness, decade, adopt, father, belial, makai, feeling, world, primal, primitive, home, hair, bat, demon, stocking, ririsu, vampire, hunter, コスプレ, コスプレイ, ヴァンパイア, モリガン, アーンスランド, リリス

PhotoFunia

While perusing through Danny Choo's site, I came across this link for PhotoFunia. I must say that I spent 45 minutes on this site having a blast. This site will take your portrait photo and place it into numerous photographs. It uses a face detection system and then masks your face into the photo. They even have some gif files that you can use which is even cooler.

I took a couple of my son's photos and had fun placing him in odd places and on peoples faces. He was on a billboard in Taipai, on a poster outside the Odessa Opera House and on a shirt that is being worn by Madonna. What he really liked was being Captain Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and as Jedi from the Clone Wars.

Now these are not hi-res pictures which is fine for a free service - yes it is FREE! They do average around 500 x 500 to 700 x 500 pixels in size. I think this is a great size to print and send to family.

So if you have some free time and want to get a laugh at someone elses expense - you have got to go to PhotoFunia.

Here are some examples from the site:

Preorder: Queens Blade Special Edition Echidna

New pre-order from Hobby Fan from the Queen's Blade Franchise.

I was able to finally get original version of Echidna from someone a while back. You can check the photo shoot on my Blog. I know that all the other versions of her are the same pose, but this was too funny not to pass up.

I have to say that this is one of my favorite poses (bad thinking). On this version, you will note the goo from Mellona. So you do not have the snakes covering her thus making this the "Special Edition".

I was not sure that I was going to pick it up, but I think the crossed out eyes on the goo was funny. The coloration is also from one of the previous versions. I would of liked it better if there was also a change in the armor.

Specs on this Figure:

• Name: Echidna Special Edition
  
• Series: Queen's Blade
  
• Scale: 1/8
  
• Height: Approximately 170mm with stand
• Sculptor: F.S (?)
• Sold By: Mega House
  
• Distributor: Hobby Fan
  
• Release Date: Sept 2009
  

Front End View

Backend View

Basquash! Episode 5 Review

Previous episode: We left off with Iceman, Dunk Master & Sela playing a street ball game. Dunk Master (Dan) had just fired off the ball and it is bouncing around the city like a pinball.

We see the Princess wake up from a dream and now she is missing. Everyone is frantic to find her, but she has left the castle to see what she is feeling.

We open with "The Worst" winning a 3 on 3 on 3 street ball game. They are approached by Haruka to play a game with Iceman, Sela & Dan. We flashback to the game from last episode and the police are fast approaching. Even after 10 days, Dan is still upset that she stopped the game before the police got there. Haruka arrives and shows that everyone is now playing street ball and getting better at it than them. She tells them that they have to get back into the game.

Getting back on track

Dan is still upset about not finishing the previous battle (get over yourself dude). She lays down the law and tells them they will play a game that everyone can enjoy. They take all the Big Foot's including Dans Dangan-Go to be worked on - much to his dislike. He then ends up chasing Iceman & Sela to a rematch which he is turned down by both. This even makes him more upset about everything. Team "The Worst" shows up to challenge them. Then a scene where they are talking about the princess escaping and her sister (I am guessing) saying that she will be fine. We are taken back to the city where we see Flora fishing.

Where has Flora gone?

The Worst show up and "try" to tell Dan where the match will be, but he wants nothing to do with them. Dan then gets upset and gets in a fight with them and loses REALLY BAD! While Haruka wants to talk with the Mayor.

Looks like "The Worst" are pretty bad

Coco finds the Flora and offers her some food not realising who she is. Flora runs off and Coco tries to find her. Instead of finding her, she find her brother and immediately speeds away. Dan tries to talk with her, but bundles it up pretty bad. He has a vision and now wants to ride his Bog Foot again, but where is it. He bumps into his pet Spanky who tells him of his adventure which happens to note where the Big Foot are. He finds them and the upgrades which include a better communication system and controllers which resemble a basketball.

New Toys

We find that they took them to the Bad Zone to get the parts to upgrade. We then see the The Worst has shown up to play. Haruka is trying to get the Mayor permission to play Street Ball legally. But as it turns out, the kids start playing before she can finish. So the battle is on and the city shows up for the big game. The city is all lite up again for this and kind of surprises the players.

STREET BASKETBALL!

Scene cuts to Flora who is being hounded by some street thugs.She is rescued by one of The Worst players who throws a ball at the thugs. The Coca shows up after the fact to help. We go back to the game which is getting very exciting as Dan is telling his players where to head to. He is planning to pass the ball so as to score so they can win the game.

Coco and Flora are trying to catch up to the game "Baquaska . . .Baquaska . . Baquaska". Haruka is upset that she could not get the permissions from the Mayor as she wanted to start a Global Business with them.We find that the basket goal is actually a statue on the Mayor building - lets just say it is no longer there now! Thus ends the first game with the winner Dunk Master.

Keep reaching for the Moon!

We cut to a scene where someone from the Moon is looking down at the game. They wonder if he is the Legend?

Until next game!

50th Consecutive Post!

Hot Damn - I have been able to keep on this going for 50 postings in a row. Now I got to keep pushing to reach the 100th mark! Now to celebrate, I wanted to give everyone a fun slide show . . . and more reasons for me to keep going!

Now - lets bring out the party girls - yaahhhhhhhhhooooooooooooo!

Bikini Girls!

Ikkitousen

Taka Tony Artwork

Code Geass

Happou Bijin Artwork

You're Under Arrest


Queen's Blade

Transformer Headphones & MP3 Players

Found some more cool Transformer Gadgets that work! These seem to be older products, so I do not have any links for them to purchase from. I was sorry that I missed them when they came out as these would of been a nice addition to any one's collection. I did find several of these on eBay that are selling for about $30 and up.

Now you can transform and jam to the tunes at the same time. If you want to be private about it, then you can use the headphones to have some "me" time.

Frenzy and Ramble Headphones

Soundwave Blue MP3 Player

Soundwave White MP3 Player

Soundwave Black MP3 Player

Here is the newest MP3 Player featuring Bumblebee from the 2007 Transformers Movie. You can find it at Amazon for your pleasure and I am sure many other sites.

Bumblebee MP3 Player

Does anyone have any of these and if so how well do they work?

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Magician's Valkyria and Kaiba Seto

Now this is an interesting pair.

People who are familiar with the anime and manga Yu-Gi-Oh! will know that Kaiba's rival, Yugi, is the one who uses Magician and Spellcaster based cards.

So what's the Magician's Valkyria doing with Kaiba Seto in this photo?

I first thought the cosplayer on the left is Dark Magician Girl, but her staff is different, and so is her skirt. Good thing a friend of mine got to correct me before I actually posted this.

Anyway, awesome cosplay! This image is cropped and you can view the original here.

Technorati tags: cosplay, cosplayer, holic, role, costume, play, roleplay, yu-gi-oh!, yugioh, magician, valkyria, kaiba, seto, pair, anime, manga, rival, yugi, mutou, muto, spellcaster, card, trading, photo, photograph, photobucket, dark, girl, staff, コスプレ, コスプレイ, 遊☆戯☆王, 遊戯王, 武藤, 遊戯, 海馬, 瀬人

Onegai My Melody: Hiiragi Keiichi 04

The popular violinist who holds a deep secret, Hiiragi Keiichi was tired of life as it had nothing else left to offer him. Until one day, a little rabbit in a black hood offered him something he have never imagined: the chance to play a song that no human has ever heard before.

I didn’t think a lot of people would be giving me cosplay images of Onegai My Melody. Even if this is Sanriotown, the number of fans for this anime is quite limited. Thanks to Takuyaki-chan for sending me this picture! If anyone knows who the cosplayer is, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. Thank you!

Technorati Tags: nanao, research, cosplay, cosplayer, onegai, my, melody, violinist, violin, hiiragi, keiichi, life, kuromi, rabbit, bunny, play, song, human, sanriotown, anime, takuyaki, comment

FMyLife - You thought you had it bad!

Now kiddies, this is not a sight for you junior associates. So please get Mom or Dad's permission before going forth into the darkness.

FMyLife is a way to waste minutes in your precious life with witty banter about how screwed up your life is.


If you have not figured it out by now the "F" stands for "Fuck" (ooooo - you said a bad word!). Now I know that some of these may be made up - but who the hell cares, they are funny! They even have the posting broken down by categories: See All, Love, Money, Kids, Work, Health, Sex and Miscellaneous. So you can see they have something for everyone.

Here are some examples for you:

"Today, I heard my sister masturbating in her room. I took the dog around the block to get out of the house, and I came back to see her leaving her room . . . my electric toothbrush in her hand. FML"

"Today, my boss called me into his office to show me the web site of a potential business partner. When he began to type "virginia" into Google, it auto-completed his search with his recent search for 'virgin boy assholes'. I have to go on business trip with him tomorrow. I am a young guy. FML"

"Today, my boyfriend and I decided to try anal sex, When he was done, I turned around to see him holding a strap-on with a smile on his face and said 'Now, do me'. FML"

That is just the "tip" of what people write, so waste some time and brain cells and take a look. I sent this to my co-workers and we wasted the day trying to find the funniest one!

Manga Review: D.Gray-Man

D.Gray-Man
Writer & Artist Katsura Hoshino
Distributor: Shonen Jump

One of those that I was not sure of when I first saw it. There were some nice write ups and I got the first 5 volumes at the Borders Sale a while ago. I picked up more of the series at another 4 for 3 sale at Borders. Only one missing however is the 7th volume which I am having an issue finding.

Group Shot

So far it has been a great read thus far and I have gotten up to volume 6. I like the fact that it gives you hints along the way on the background of the characters. I also like the Question & Answer panel with a character at the end of each chapter.

SPOILERS - BEWARE

The main story follows the adventures of Allen Walker.It is Millennium Earl that is creating the Akuma to take over the world of man. Under the tutelage of one of the Black Orders Generals, he is trained and then sent to the Black Order to become an Exorcist.

Allen has an Innocent embedded in his hand and uses it to fight Akuma. His left eye gives him the ability to see Akuma that actually disguises themselves as human. Not a bad item to have in a fighting them.

Soon he joins the Black Order which is a secretive organization which aims to stop Millennium Earl and to save the souls trapped as Akuma. He meets several other Exorcists that like and dislike him while he is working in for the Black Order. One who actually despises Allen is Yu Kanda who is quite good with a sword. One of the cuties is Lenalee Lee who has a kick that can slice a house in half. Others are Lavi (with a really big hammer), Bookman (really weird bald guy), Komui Lee Chief Scientist (and Lenalee's older brother).

The Millennium Earl also has the help by the name of the Noah Clan. These are supposedly descendants of Noah (from the Bible) and are humans.

It is a great read and wild turns in each volume. The story keeps a good pace and gives you plenty of time to get to know the characters. If you have not picked this up, well you should. The reviews are right on the mark and cannot wait to check out the anime someday.

One of the Lower Akumas
History Lesson

Meeting of Allen & Millennium Earl

Shocking Secret Reviewed

Bleach: Abarai Renji

The shinigami with an eccentric personality, Abarai Renji is the lieutenant of the 6th Division on Kuchiki Byakuya. He is often compared to Kurosaki Ichigo as they have similar personalities; the willingness to fight for what they believe in. Renji is nicknamed “Aka Pine” of “Red Pineapple” for wearing his hair in a ponytail that looks like pineapple top.

Ok, so Jin isn’t really wearing her hair/wig in the signature ponytail, and the tattoos are done in photoshop, but you have to admit, this is a very impressive cosplay of Renji. Wonderful work, Jin!

Technorati Tags: cosplay, cosplayer, holic, role, play, costume, roleplay, bleach, shinigami, death, god, abarai, renji, eccentric, personality, lieutenant, 6th, division, kuchiki, byakuya, kurosaki, ichigo, fight, belief, aka, pine, pineapple, red, jin, joson, ponytail, signature, photoshop, コスプレ, コスプレイ, ブリーチ, 阿散井, 恋次, 朽木, 白哉, 黒崎, 一護

Onegai My Melody ~Kuru Kuru Shuffle!~: Hiiragi Jun 02

In the second season of Onegai My Melody, Hiiragi Jun returns from overseas to continue his studies in Japan and like with his brother, Hiiragi Keiichi. While there, he develops a crush on Yumeno Uta who, unfortunately, rejected him several times, causing him to be depressed and become Kuromi new source of Dark Power.

It’s kind of sad that Uta rejected him and chose Kogure Kakeru instead. I think Jun and Uta would have made a cute couple, much better than Keiichi and Uta. Great cosplaying!

Technorati Tags: nanao, cosplay, cosplayer, research, costume, play, role, roleplay, onegai, my, melody, kuru, shuffle, season, second, hiiragi, jun, keiichi, overseas, japan, study, crush, love, yumeno, uta, rejection, depression, kuromi, kurumi, nui, dark, power, kogure, kakeru, cute

Inuyasha: Rin and Sesshoumaru 02

If you guys remember my entry back in April, I mentioned how Sesshoumaru found Rin's corpse after she was attacked by Koga's wolves. This would be the reinactment of that very scene, and Sesshoumaru is about to test his sword to bring Rin back to life.

The cosplayers picked a very good location for the reinactment. The original picter was croped though, and you can view the full size here.

Technorati tags: cosplay, cosplayer, holic, role, play, costume, roleplay, inuyasha, sesshoumaru, rin, koga, wolf, attack, scene, anime, manga, reinactment, test, photobucket, コスプレ, コスプレイ, 殺生丸, 犬夜叉, 奈落, りん

Food Critic: Burgers and Chips

Happy Fathers Day! Hope your wife took the kids away for the day so you can sleep, eat & watch the Boob Tub!

We had some family fun this past Thursday and I wanted to share it with you on this day. My wife also had a friend over, so we did a taste test with some Japanese snacks. We had Every Burgers, Frito Lay Tortilla chips (R=Restricted) and a Gokuri Peach drink.


So my wife thought it was cute how I had the food laid out with the shot glasses of the Peach drink. We had myself, my wife, my son & a friend of my wife try them out. Though my wife's friend could not eat the burgers because they were chocolate. We had a blast doing this and it was a fun family experience. So if you have time, please try something like this with your friends and family.


So the taste test comprised of the following food and drinks:

Every Burger: Little cheeseburger snack candies. The "buns" were a sesame short bread, the "cheese" was a white chocolate and the "burger" was a dark chocolate. It very much looks like a baby cheese burger.

Son: "Delicious" - can I have yours if you not going to eat it?
Wife: Tastes like Smores without the marshmellow
Me: Liked the sesame bun and the chocolate mixture.
Friend: Nada
Overall Rating: "B-" Not bad, but not on my next buy list

Frito Lay Chips: Was not able to find the name on the net, but it has a orange peel & spices on the white tortilla chip.

Son: "Spicy, Spicy Spicy" - can I have the ones you are not eating?
Wife: Has a citrus taste in the beginning, then the spices kick the back of your throat
Me: Like the citrus mix with the spicy after burn
Friend: "Awesome Dorito", the spice gets you in the end and clears your nose
Overall Rating: "A" Would get again if on the shelf

Suntory Gokuri Peach: A sweet white peach drink

Son: "I like it" - can I have some more . . . can I have some more . . . can I have some more?
Wife: very syrupy sweet peachy taste, can I dilute this?
Me: Not bad, bit thick sweet peach taste
Friend: Tastes like peach nectar and thick
Overall Rating: "C-" Not really what we were expecting, just too sweet and too thick

Japanese News on the Internet (in English)

One of the things I wanted to see was news from Japan. I wanted to be able to know what was happening and how much the culture really was different from the US. I was amazed how things were reported and how the US (or Obama) was viewed by another country.

One of the first sites I visited was The Japan Times.


One of the coolest sections is Life in Japan which has a great number of columns to read about life living in Japan (hence the title). They have one column called "Views from the Street" where they as a question and pick about 6 people who responded. They use a wide selection of people from "Gaijin" to natural citizens.

They also have a column done by a "Gaijin" married to a Japanese wife and what things he experiences. It is written by Thomas Dillon and titled When East Marries West. It is a good read and a fun & witty look at life in Japan from an "Gaijin's" perspective.

Another site I cam across was Japan Today.


They have a different layout and stories you may not find in The Japan Times. IThough they do not have a "Life in Japan" column, they do touch on more issues related to Crime and World.

What is interesting about the Crime section is the diversity of the stories like about a shoplifter (male), trying to walk out of the store wearing woman's shorts under his pants. The World section really dives into Obama sometimes which is something that shows me world views of our President.

If Technology and Gadgetry are more your thing, then I highly suggest making Akihabara News one of your favorites.


As noted by their site description: "Your Leading News provider on Gadgets and Hi-Tech stuff from Akihabara in Tokyo Japan and in other Asian Countries". Not only do they have the latest news on tech coming out soon, but also some of the coolest gadgetry for any anime fanatic to want of need. Some of the write-ups are short, but the photo details make up for that.

Question: What online news source do you read on things from Japan?