For does who doesnt know,“Spice and Wolf” (aka “Okami to Koshinryo”) is an anime series that is based on a popular light novel series by Isuna Hasekura and character design by Ju Ayakura. A winner of the Silver Prize at the Twelfth Dengeki Novel Price, 13 volumes have been published by ASCII Media Works (via Dengeki Bunko) and have sold over 2.2 million copies.

After Watching the BD, One thing that will catch your eye is how beautiful the artist backgrounds are. There is plenty amount of detail put into the art. From the walls of a building, the trees in the background, lush green or yellow lands, the wood, the ground, you name it…the artist definitely did a wonderful job on this television series. As for character designs, the designs by Kazuya Kuroda are quite faithful to Ju Ayakura’s illustrations.

Many television series tend to not have much time to add detail to an anime series but with Imagin Co. being a smaller anime production studio, they definitely put in a lot of work in bringing this world of where “Spice and Wolf” takes place to life. Its a shame Imagin doesnt produce much anime, since i kind like them. “Spice and Wolf” does have its share of action but action sequences happen once in a while, the anime series is definitely more plot driven. There is use of music that plays in the background but its more subtle than anything. To conclude, i must say that im very happy, being also a fan of this series, watching one of my favorite series on BD version was simply the best!

The reliable Nodoka, always supporting the K-ON club from the background.

With the second season well under way,”K-ON!!” has another figma release, This time it’s Yui’s childhood friend who is always there to help out when help is needed – Nodoka Manabe! She was released during the Summer Wonfes not long ago, Even thought not a favorite, i had to get her to add into my near complete K-ON! figma collection, I wonder if Sawako will be figmatise.

Nodoka doesnt come with anything special, Two expressions are included: A calming smile, as well as a worried face. She also comes with a hat and arm-band allowing you to recreate the look she had at the Culture Festival, when she dressed like a security guard.

As a bonus extra, a new face part designed for use with Yui is also included. Nodoka deserves to be displayed with the other band members from HTT – and now you can display them all together in which i am going to be doing along with Yui’s sister Ui!

Product Details

• Product Name figma Manabe Nodoka: Uniform ver.
• Series K-ON!
• Manufacturer Max Factory
• Category figma
• Price 2500円 (including tax)
• Release Date 2010/07
• Specifications Painted ABS&PVC posable figure, not to scale, approximately 135mm in height
• Sculptor Masaki Asai – Max Factory
• Distributed by Good Smile Company

The cute mermaid walking down the path of chivalry – figma Seto San!

From the anime “Seto no Hanayome” comes a figma of the profound and proud heroine Seto San, wearing her Isono 8th Junior High school uniform! I got her around april but forgot to put up her pictures until now ^^ Im generally picky when choosing figures (figmas) especially old ones, but after looking at other good reviews on her i decided why not get her =) she can teach me the patch of chivalry!

The figma is a standard edition even thought now its probably sold out everywhere. A long yakuza sword is included along with a scabbard that it can be sheathed in, along with her cat ears from episode 20 where she does her Nyaa scene ^^. whats great about Seto San is that an interchangeable part is included to recreate her mermaid transformation that occurs when she gets wet.

Had really fun taking pictures of her as you can do various poses, my favorite is with the cat ears and the Mermaid pose :3 so adorable! Its a shame Max factory didnt make more figmas from the series, it would have been great to have Lunar as a figma =D

Product Details

• Product Name: figma Seto San
• Series: Seto no Hanayome
• Manufacturer: Max Factory
• Category: figma
• Price: 2500円 (including tax)
• Release Date: 2009/01
• Specifications: Painted ABS&PVC posable figure, not to scale, approximately 135mm in height
• Sculptor: Masaki Asai
• Distributed by: Good Smile Company

And here is this year National Day song by Corrinne May. Such a heart warming song~

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGY5ff831B8

Since im stuck here for the next 4-5 years of my life in Australia studying i wont be able to attend the parade so if you are going to the Parade at Padang this afternoon and holding the flag, make sure to swing it like a mad person lol be proud! Oh and pop a bottle of champagne and watch the fireworks! Conserve your energy to celebrate national day instead of wasting it on the anti-singapore clan. They’re just plain jealous. HAHAHA. No matter what they say, singapore will still be the best.

First picture taken by williamcho

A Good Morning Company

Kagura Aya is from the popular dating simulation adventure game “Sekirara”, this special figma was released to the public during the winter Wonfes earlier this year, along with Hirasawa Ui. My friend who also got Ui for me, managed to get Aya as well but a bit more expensive, had to pay about 50$USD.

This special version of Aya includes the game Sekirara, i have yet to try it out since ive been occupied with other visual novels. The figma also includes a set of cups and plates in which follows the theme ”Morning Coffee” where Aya can make different poses with it. A tissue box in case you make Aya cry, or for something else….

Aya is simply gorgeous in my opinion as i love what she is wearing ^^ this innocent, exciting character is surely my favorite from the whole gang of Sekirara, The School uniform set of them are due too come out soon, with Aya coming out in end of september.

Product Details

• Product Name: figma Kagura Aya: Morning Coffee ver.
• Series: Sekirara
• Manufacturer: Max Factory
• Category: figma
• Price: 3500円 (including tax)
• Release Date: 2010/02
• Specifications: Painted ABS&PVC posable figure, not to scale, approximately 135mm in height
• Sculptor: Masaki Asai
• Distributed by: Good Smile Company

Santorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the earliest settlements on what was formerly a single island, and leading to the creation of the current geological caldera.

A giant central lagoon, more or less rectangular, and measuring about 12 by 7 km (7.5 by 4.3 mi), is surrounded by 300 m (980 ft) high steep cliffs on three sides. The island slopes downward from the cliffs to the surrounding Aegean Sea. On the fourth side, the lagoon is separated from the sea by another much smaller island called Therasia; the lagoon merges with the sea in two places, in the northwest and southwest. The water in the centre of the lagoon is nearly 400 m (1,300 ft) deep, thus making it a safe harbour for all kinds of shipping. The island’s harbours all lie in the lagoon and there are no ports on the outer perimeter of the island; the capital, Fira, clings to the top of the cliff looking down on the lagoon. The volcanic rocks present from the prior eruptions feature olivine and have a notably small presence of hornblende.

It is the most active volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, though what remains today is chiefly a water-filled caldera. The volcanic arc is approximately 500 km long and 20–40 km wide. The region first became volcanically active around 3–4 million years ago though volcanism on Thera began around 2 million years ago with the extrusion of dacitic lavas from vents around the region of Akrotiri.

The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of feet deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110 km (68 mi) to the south, through the creation of a gigantic tsunami. Another popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis.-Wikipedia

My favorite island to be honest because it has this more exciting feeling while visiting, My daughters and i stayed at the Grace Santorini hotel for 2 nights, Great location as you can have a perfect view of the famous Santorini sun set in which is said to be know around the world. The hotel is also situated on a cliff right opposite the Big Skaros Rock, Back in the time where Santorini was was conquered by the Latin Empire. This Rock use to be a Castle where it was the key point of the island for trade etc, conquering the island from them was seemed impossible until a huge earthquake hit the island causing the castle to collapse, ending the reign of the Venicean. There is still a few left over of the castle in which youll see in some pictures below. Behind the Skaros rock, the greeks built a church in which its hanging right off the cliff, Kuddos to the workers that managed to build it.

Anyway i had a great time, managed to have some great shots with my daughters, managed to meet up with all my past co workers in the hotel and my good friend from south korea. =) hope you enjoy watching the pictures and sorry for the big batch of it!

List of Arc in respective Order:

• Vol 1 : Hitagi Crab
• Vol 2 : Mayoi Snake
• Vol 3 : Suruga Monkey
• Vol 4 : Nadeko Snake
• Vol 5 : Tsubasa Cat
• Vol 6 : Winged Cat

The cover illustration is drawn by Akio Watanabe in which inspired companies like Good Smile Company and Kotobukiya in making figures of the respective characters. You readers must be wondering about the price huh, well yes i can confirm that these BD a bloody expensive,I dont even know how i managed to save up for them. It seems the BD sells well, according to Youtaiju Bakemonogatari vol.6 Limited Edition BD sold 51,000 copies in its first week where as DVD sold more than 21,000. Since i got myself the Limited edition, the packages comes in a nice clear slipbox that houses the folder containing the blu-ray, miniposters by artist VOFAN and booklet, and cd.

Bakemonogatari Vol.1 Hitagi Crab [Blu-ray+CD Limited Edition]
The blu-ray is fairly barebones in terms of content: it has the two episodes, the original ops and ed animations that were shown on the tv broadcast, and a commentary track for each ep that has two of the voice actresses for the show speaking in character and commenting on the various goings on of the episode. There are no subtitle tracks or other extras. The episodes look great in HD and sound fantastic as well. The cd has the op song ”Staple Stable” in both long and karaoke versions, along with an Atogatari where Kamiya Hiroshi (Araragi) and Chiwa Saito (Senjougahara) talk about their experiences working on the show.

Bakemonogatari Vol.2 Mayoi Snail [Blu-ray+CD Limited Edition]
The blu-ray is similar to the previous release. This volume collects the episodes in the Mayoi MaiMai arc with the redrawn scenes for the official release. The quality is once again great, no complaints about how this anime looks or sounds in HD. Extras on the disc consist of the original TV broadcast previews, a no-credit op, and the no-credit version of the last episode. Once again, the humorous character commentary returns with Hanekawa Tsubasa and Hachikuji Mayoi doing the honors. The cd “Kaerimichi (帰り道)” has the full version of the op used in the arc, a karaoke version, and the Atogatari where Kamiya Hiroshi (Araragi) and Katou Emiri (Mayoi) talk about their experiences on the show.

Bakemonogatari Vol.3 Surugu Monkey [Blu-ray+CD Limited Edition]
This volume collects the episodes in the Surugu Kanbaru arc with the redrawn scenes for the official release. Again the quality is great. Extras on the disc consist of the original TV broadcast previews, a no-credit op, and the no-credit version of the last episode. The cd “ambivalent world” by Miyuki Sawashiro has the full version of the op used in the arc, a karaoke version, and the Atogatari where Kamiya Hiroshi (Araragi) and Sawashiro Miyuki (Surugu) talk about their experiences on the show.

Bakemonogatari Vol.4 Nadeko Snake [Blu-ray+CD Limited Edition]
The blu-ray is, as usual, excellent in terms of audiovisual quality. One particular thing of interest for people who followed the tv broadcast is that the 10th episode here has a lot of redrawn and new scenes where the broadcast had plain cuts. Extras on the disc consist of the original tv episode previews for 10 and 11 and a commentary track done in character by Hanazawa Kana (Nadeko) and Sakurai Takahiro (Meme). The cd “Ren’ai Circulation (恋愛サーキュレーション)” by Kana Hanazawa is the same deal as the others so far in the series, with the full OP song/karaoke versions and Kamiya Hiroshi (Araragi) and Hanazawa Kana talking about their experiences working on the show.

Bakemonogatari Vol.5 Tsubasa Cat [Blu-ray+CD Limited Edition]
Same deal, excellent quality, Some scenes were re animated in better tbh. Extras on the disc consist of the original tv episode previews for 12 and 13 and a commentary track done in character by Horie, Yui (Tsubasa) and Hiroshi Kamiya (Araragi). The cd “Sugar Sweet Nightmare” by Yui Horie is the same deal as the others so far in the series, with the full OP song/karaoke versions and Kamiya Hiroshi (Araragi) and Horie Yui (Tsubasa) talking about their experiences working on the show.

Bakemonogatari Vol.6 Winged Cat [Blu-ray+CD Limited Edition]
Sixth and final Blu-ray release featruing episode 14 and 15. Limited edition includes bonus CD with the main theme and original soundtrack of “Tsubasa Cat.” I havent seen it yet but i am sure in BD version its going to be a great experience!For now i need to recover the spending i did on this, to make things worse, Kizumonogatari will probably be on my get list for Blu-rays, Bakemonogatari is my 2 BD collection after The K-ON!. Overall for any Bakemonogatari fans, this is a worthwhile package to get.

She has been posed in the classic pose she always takes just before shooting off her famous “railgun” attack – holding a coin ”King slot” and not ”King slut” lol, in her one hand whilst staring ahead with an imposing, albeit rather attractive pose. The figure also comes with the popular “iron-sand sword” that appeared in the anime, which can be held in her other hand, allowing for a slightly different display option.

Birbiri has been manufacturered by Good Smile Company and sculptured by Ken Yokota. She is my first PVC and im very happy to have her =) i think i have made a good choice, plus she is one of my favorite characters!

This set also comes with a pedestal and donations box which is based on the stone paving of the Hakurei Shine. It allowing you to recreate even more of the girls daily life in Gensokyou!

Very happy to have this, i like said, they are simply adorable, also being a touhou fan i thought these petite being limited edition was a must in my growing collection =) This set was only available through Otacute, quite pricy but it was the only one, BTW the Touhou set 2 is up for pre orderes for those who wants to get there hands on it =)

Manufactured by Good Smile Company, The set is sculptured by the no other JUN（E.V.） and the petite with no stands included is approximately 65mm in height. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures i took of them, inspired by gsc_mikatan ^^