Otaku Dan: The Life of an Anime Fan

Nagi Gallery

2009-07-10T01:32:00.006-04:00

I really did not have a post ready for today. What you are getting is one of my back up 2D girls post. This 2D girls post will be featuring both Nagi from Kannagi and Nagi Sanzenin from Hayate no Gotoku. I hope you enjoy this filler post.

Bleach Season 3 Box Set Review

2009-07-09T00:02:00.006-04:00

When I was out doing some grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, I saw the brand new Bleach season 3 box set. I thought that this box set was not going to be out until August. I decided to treat myself to it due to the fact that I already own the last 2 season box sets and I'm a fan of the show. lets check out this review.

Even the inside of the box set cover has artwork

The DVD extras have improved drastically. In my previous season 1 and 2 reviews, I pointed out that every disc from their corresponding box set has the same extras. This time, they have different trailers and production art for every disc. However, physical extras have taken a turn for the worst. In the past, the box sets included posters, sticker, and "limited" edition trading cards. This box set only has 2 post cards .

If you also bought this box set, I want to know if you got the same post cards as I did or are they different?

The artwork for the box set is just covers for the single volume DVDs

If you are going to but this box set, buy it at Wal-Mart or Amazon, the price is $34.99 U.S. dollars. I have seen this box set go for at least $50 U.S. dollars at other major stores. The one thing that does disappoint me is how frequent the box sets are being released. It use to be every 6 months but thing time it was almost a year.

Kararu-chan's First Post

2009-07-08T00:01:00.004-04:00

Hiya! Well, this is new for me. I've never blogged about Anime. (Yes, I do capitalize the word Anime. I do the same with Manga.) Anyway, the only blogging I've ever done is about my own life and how much I suffer. -tear drop- Moving on... I decided in a way for me to introduce myself on here would be to show off my super, awesome, mad drawing skills. -insert smug smile- Okay, the pictures are not perfect, but they are "show off" worthy.

See? Didn't I say that I have super, awesome, mad drawing skills? lol

All my posts will be posted on Wednesdays.

Sincerely,

Look, A Package

2009-07-07T00:02:00.006-04:00

Today, I was excited because for the first time in months, I bought a newly released figure. For those who are new to my site, I rarely preorder figures and at the moment, I'm hunting down old figures. When I saw the mail carrier with my package in hand, I was happy.

Let's take a look at what I got

I got Revoltech Airi from Queen's Blade. I'm my opinion, Airi would have to be one of the cutest characters from the show. I'm going to be honest, I like her maid outfit and she looks great in it.

I know that this post was somewhat short but I have something pretty cool for tomorrow. By the way, I will have a photo shoot of this figure.

Nelliel Photo Shoot

2009-07-06T00:07:00.000-04:00

You should all know by now that I'm a fan of Bleach and Banpresto. When I learned that a Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck figure was coming out, I was pretty happy. I was going to preorder her but I simply forgot. Thank goodness I found her at Metrocon for $20 dollars, due to the fact that most online stores were sold out or she was being sold at a very high price. I'm going to have to say that the quality of this figure is superb when compared to past Banpresto figures. Well, let me quit my chit-chat so may enjoy these pictures.

obligatory pantie shot

My favorite picture

The Conduit Review

2009-07-05T00:04:00.005-04:00

If you notice, I did not make a post yesterday. The reason behind that is because I playing the brand new shooter for the Wii, The Conduit. There was a lot of hype behind this game because it was awarded the best shooting game on the Wii by IGN back in 2008. That is like being the best at being mediocre.

Story:
You play as Michael Ford, an agent who saved the president from danger and they make you into some super agent. The Earth is invaded by aliens and there is a terrorist organization is making some mind control chemical and you have to stop them. The "interesting" thing is that the U.S. government screws you over and you end up joining the terrorist. Oh yeah, there's some stupid technological orb you use for stuff.

Graphics:
there pretty good for the Wii.

Controls:
AAAGGGHHH. Let me make it clear, they suck. You are forced to use the Wii remote and nunchuk, that means certain actions you make will get the character's camera angle jammed. I wish that they could have the option to use the classic controller or the Gamecube controller.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is good for a first person shooter game on the Wii. High Voltage(the company who made this game) tries to make this game different by adding puzzles. These puzzles are fairly easy and somewhat forgettable. The action elements do feel easy but what I do like is that the difficulty curve will spike up out of nowhere.

Multiplayer:
This game does not have co-op and I'm glad it does not. It does have online multiplay and that is where most of the fun comes from. You can spend hours playing different game mode and leveling up you ranks.

Final Thought:
The Conduit does have somewhat of charm to it due to it's one of the few fun FPS games on the Wii. This game is lucky that it came out only for the Wii because if it was released on any other console, it would have sucked. If you have $50 dollars to spend and 10 hours to kill, The Conduit is the game for you. Come to think about, I should bought MadWorld instead. Damn it.

Dating as an Otaku

2009-07-03T00:04:00.008-04:00

If you guessed by the title, I'm currently dating a very nice girl. How we met was interesting, she attended the blogging panel I hosted at Metrocon. Every single time our eyes would meet, I would lose my train of thought. After my panel was over, I gathered some courage and asked her if she wanted to hang out with me for the rest of the day, she said yes. We talked and had a good time. When the day ended, we exchanged cell numbers and emails. We did some more talking and we confessed to each other.

I personally think it's better to date someone who is into the same hobby as you because they already understand were you're coming from. I have dated women who are not anime fans and let me tell you, it's a pain. I pretty much tell them to piss off because if you can't understand my hobby, then they won't understand me. I have actually have not been watching that much anime since I have been her dating this girl. It seems I'm losing my otaku roots, lol.

By the way, my girlfriend is going to start writing posts here once a week. So, how is the dating scene for you?

Summer 09 Anime Season is Here

2009-07-02T00:03:00.008-04:00

The brand new summer anime season is here. Starting this week, many new shows are going to be airing in Japan. The summer anime season tends to be weak when compared to spring. However, I think this summer is going may be a little different.

What I'm going to watch:
Spice and Wolf 2
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

What I may watch:
NEEDLESS
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou
CANAAN
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

I'm disappointed that Cobra: Rokunin no Yushi was removed from the list and it will air in 2010. That was the only anime I was looking forward to this season but at least I still have Spice and Wolf 2. I may do episodic views of Spice and Wolf 2 and/or Umineko no Naku Koro ni this season. So, what are you going to watch this summer anime season?

Early July Preorders

2009-07-01T00:03:00.015-04:00

Today is the first of July and you know what that means, all the new prefigure are up at Hobby Search. You should know me by now, in this post I'm listing the best and the some what interesting figures that any figure collector and anime fan should get. Let me just say that there are some nice figures for this month.

actsta: Subaru Nakajima by Good Smile Company. This figure is coming out in November for the price of 8,867 Yen.

Ryomou Shimei by Alter. This figure is coming out in October for the price of 6,460 Yen.

Nendoroid Raspberyl by Phat Company. This figure is coming out in September for the price of 3,167 Yen.

Nendoroid Saber Lily by Good Smile Company. This figure is coming out in October for the price of 3,167 Yen.

Nendoroid Riannon by Good Smile Company. This figure is coming out in September for the price of 3,167 Yen.

Nendoroid Arawn by Good Smile Company. This figure is coming out in October for the price of 3,167 Yen.

Shishido Akiha and Shishido Akiha Happening Version by Wave. Both of these figures are coming out in late November and they each cost 3,610 Yen.

Kannagi Itsuki and Shimoyama Mutsumi Miyazawa by Wave. Both of these figures are coming out in late November. Kannagi is going for the price of 3,610 Yen and Shimoyama is going for the price of 3,800 Yen.

Mari Illustrious Makinami Plug Suit Version by Wave. This figure is coming out in late November for the price of 4,180 Yen.

Red Stone Lancer by Orchid Seed. This figure is coming out in October for the price of 7,057 Yen.

Yuzuhara Konomi Amaloli by Orchid Seed. This figure is coming out in November for the price of 6,695 Yen.

Figma Shamal Knight Version by Max Factory. This figure is coming out in September for the price of 2,533 Yen.

Holo by Alphamax. This figure is coming out in late October for the price of 13,110 Yen.

What I'm Preordering from this list is Shishi Akiha Happening Version because I like this variation of that figure and the price is great. I want to get Nendoroid Saber Lily and Raspberly but not right now, maybe in the future. I personally find the actsta figure line interesting because I can say that is the future in figure technology.

The is one figure I did find disappointing, Holo by Alphamax. The pose is great but her face is a little off and the price is way too high. If that figure was made by Alter, then it would have been great. So, what are you going to preorder from this list?

Censorship and Manga

2009-06-30T00:02:00.008-04:00

You all know that I'm big manga fan but there is one thing that rubs me the wrong way, censorship. We all know that manga in Japan is mostly uncensored which is cool but in the United States, it's a different story.

Just look at all those parental advisory logos

When is come to the United States, it is up to the companies to decide it they are going to edit stuff out. Viz media is well known for censoring nudity(Claymore), really extreme violence(Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) and any religious references(Full Metal Alchemist) from their manga. I know that Viz has a policy to censor their manga just so they can reach a wider audience and to meet the demands of some mega-stores like Wal-Mart. However, Viz did try releasing an uncensored version of Dragon ball but it was not successful.

Tokyo Pop and Dark Horse do release their manga uncensored but at a small price; they use a parental advisory logo on the front cover. I know that book don't have an actual age rating system so they adopted the P.A. logo from the music industry. I personally find it to be a double edge sword, the reason why is because it does inform the parents of what their children are reading but at the same time it's very annoying. Old Tokyo Pop and Dark Horse use P. A. sticker which can be removed but it may damage the cover. Newer Tokyo Pop makes the P. A. logo part of the cover artwork which bothers me.

I really hate that sticker.

The real reason why companies censor manga and use the P. A. logo is to cover their butts from being sued. In the U.S. people will sue for anything. I can imagine some angry mother suing a manga company because little Bobby saw some "disturbing" images in manga at the bookstore. So, what do you think about this topic?

Figma Tsuruya-San Maid Ver. Photo Shoot

2009-06-29T00:02:00.009-04:00

It has been over a month since I have done a figure photo shoot. I'm doing my return to the scene with Figma Tsuruya-San School Festival Maid version by Max Factory. I was originally going to get the regular version of Figma Tsuruya-San however, I was captivated by the cuteness of this figure. I do like that this figure brings some great accessories but to keep them on the tray, I had to use glue dots. What I notice about both variations of Tsuruya-San is that if you are a hardcore figma fan, you would have to buy 2 of each. I say this because the first Tsuruya-San brings Emiri's head and the second one brings a hair piece made for Mikuru, meaning that you need a body meant for those parts. Well, let me quit the chit-chat and give you this great Photo shoot.

"You like them big, don't you?"

My favorite shot

If you are interested in buying this figure, Hobby Search is selling her for 2,261 Yen.

Cleaning Figures

2009-06-27T00:04:00.009-04:00

If you have been reading my tweets, I posted that I found Portrait of Pirates Series 4: Nami Version 2 for a low price. She was being sold at a high price but I managed to haggle the price down due to there was not box and the figure was covered in scratches. When I got home, I did some further inspections. Those where not scratches but paint that got rubbed on her.

I used some cotton balls and rubbing alcohol to remove some of the paint. The paint that was hard to remove, I use my trusty orange box cutter. I slowly and carefully peeled away that unwanted paint.

With a little bit of work, she is good as new

I'm happy that I made the decision to get this figure because she is very hard to find at a cheap price nowadays. If you are planning to clean a figure in that sort of way, rubbing alcohol works well but you must use a little force. Don't be afraid that some of the original paint comes off.

R.I.P. My Computer

2009-06-25T00:02:00.012-04:00

We gather here today to morn the pasting of an very special friend. This friend has been there with me during the good times and bad times. I knew he was going to past away due to old age but I was not expecting for it to happen so soon.

My Computer
12/2/04 - 6/24/09

I'm currently using my sister's crappy desktop for the time being(until I steal it from her) and I won't be able to make posts every day. It seems that I have to buy a computer soon.

Metrocon 09 Loot

2009-06-24T00:02:00.000-04:00

I have not bought anything anime related in the last couple of months. When I got to Metrocon's vendor's room, I had to wait in line for about an hour. When it was finally my chance to get in, I saw heaven's door. What you see below is the treasure I managed to acquire this year.

Figures:
Figma Tsuruya-san cultural festival maid version
Figma Rin Tousaka
Max Factory Haruhi Suzumiya
Banpresto Neliel Tu Oderschvank
Megahouse Nami version 2(the one in the bag)

Manga:
Battle Club vol. 1-6
Old Boy vol. 1 & 2

Anime:
Berserk complete collection
Ergo Proxy complete collection

I did not spent as much money as I did last year, but I'm pretty happy with what I got. I pretty much focused on figures, anime, and manga. I did buy more manga than anime because Borders had 20% off on all manga. I did notice that ADV did have a stall but they where only selling discontinued anime and manga for a very cheap price but nothing got my attention.

This is to one thing I hate after shopping

I may do a couple of figure photo shoots, if I don't feel lazy. That is it, this is my last post that is Metrocon related until January of next year.

Cosplay at Metrocon 09

2009-06-23T00:02:00.008-04:00

Since you all know that I was at an anime con, I took pictures of some great cosplay. This year I did feel a little lazy when it came taking pictures. I'm sorry that some of the pictures are little blurry, I just did not have my tripod and some people bumped into me. Enjoy.

Metrocon 09

2009-06-22T00:06:00.007-04:00

For the last few days, I was attending Florida's largest anime convention, Metrocon. Let me just say I had such a great time but I'm so tired right now. So many awesome things happened at this con and let me tell what happened from the start.

Friday:
I left home and drove for about 3 hours. I got to my hotel around 10:00 AM and calmly waited to register. While I was in line to get my badge, I met some really cool people and hanged out with them during the con. I did some shopping and spent A LOT of money there. I did some volunteer work(human traffic cone) at the vendor's room. Late in the evening, I hosted my Gundam panel. That panel was so much fun and I had a blast. Special thanks to my 2 co-hosts, you guys helped me so much.

Vendor's room

Saturday:
I woke up at 5:00 AM because my right leg from the knee down was in so much pain. It must of been from the driving, all the walking, and standing I did the day before. The pain did not wear off until around noon. My blogging panel went very well but not that many people attend it because my panel has schedule at the same time as the highlight of the convention, The Metrocon cosplay chess match. I did met the sweetest and nicest girl at the con, she was one to the few people who was at my panel.

This was the Cosplay Challenge contest, making a costume in 10 hours is incredible. My hats off to the finalists.

Gaming room. I liked how they set up the room, instead of hard plastic chairs, it had some really comfy couches.

This year's badge

not much happened on Sunday, it was mainly parents taking their really young children to the con. I ended up leaving early due to the fact that I was feeling very tired. This year's Metrocon was so much better than last year and I so much fun. I made the decision that I'm going to be attending next year's Metrocon.

Camera Mounted Reflector Tutorial

2009-06-21T00:03:00.015-04:00

I was looking for a special reflector that can be mounted on a camera. I did find some but they are pretty expensive and it was only for DSLR cameras. I found a pretty sweet DIY Camera Mounted reflector over at Tsuki Board. All you need for this little project is a Styrofoam plates, masking tape, pen, and a boxcutter.

This is pretty easy to make this reflector, just figure out the diameter of the lens and cut. After you're done cutting the hole, use the masking tape to hold plate reflector on the camera.

It took me 3 tries to get the right size

This is the final product. Sorry for the crappy picture, I had to use my old camera for the shot

Without reflector

With reflector

If you can see in the pictures above, it does work very well. Since now that I'm using a light box, this helps a lot by removing unwanted shadows. So, do you find this tutorial helpful?

Chinese Dress Gallery

2009-06-20T00:01:00.009-04:00

What is this, Otaku Dan made a post even thou he is away for 3 days. Did he pay someone to do it or did he master the black magic spell Bloggera. Nope, I scheduled ahead of time 2 posts for my great readers. As you can tell by the title, this is a 2D girls Chinese dress gallery. I hope you enjoy.

Happy Fapping

Gone to Metrocon 09

2009-06-19T00:07:00.006-04:00

By the time you are reading this post, I'm gone to Metrocon 09. I have been waiting for this anime con for about a 6 months and it finally starts today. I have not bought anything anime related in a long time so when I step into the vendor's room, I will be in heaven.

If you are attending this con and you want to meet me, just find the guy who has the same bag in the picture below or you can visit my panels.

Let's talk about Gundam
Date: Friday 19
Time: 9:00 PM
Panel Room: 18

How to create an Anime Blog
Date: Saturday 20
Time: 1:00 PM
Panel Room: 19

While I'm there, I'm going to take a lot of pictures of the events, cosplayers, and things that interest me. The down side to this is that I'm not taking my laptop with me because she very delicate and I'm going to be missing the final episode of K-ON!. I'm going to be back home in a few days, so see you then.

Hyping Anime

2009-06-18T00:04:00.008-04:00

I recently picked up Macross Frontier. I wanted to watch it when it was popular but there was too much hype around it. I'm the kind of person who waits for the hype of an anime to die down before I watch it. My reason behind that is when something is getting so much hype, one already expects something from it but if it does not meet those expectations then one feels shorthanded.

I have met people who end up hating an anime just because of the hype it's getting even thou they have not seen it. I understand why someone would hate an anime because it did not meet their expectations but hating for being popular makes no sense.

Here is a random picture of Alf holding a cat

Maybe that's the reason why I tend to blindly pick a new anime to watch because I have nothing to expect from it other than for it to entertain me. So, do you listen to all the hype of an anime or do you ignore it all?

Getting Ready for the Fall

2009-06-17T00:03:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I went to my college to register for the 2009 fall semester. I'm did it early this year because last year I did it late and could not get some of the classes I wanted to take. My schedule does suck a little when compared to the previous semesters.

What sucks about this semester is that I have a class that starts at 5:00 PM and ends around 8:30 PM. The lucky thing about that is that it is only once a week. It seems its going to take me a little longer to graduate because for the last few years, there is one class that I have to take and it is only being provided in another campus. It would be an hour and half drive for me just to take an one hour long class, 3 times a week. I'm hoping that by my spring 2010 semester, that class is provided in my campus.

I may just move an apartment closer to that other campus and finish my college career there. After Metrocon, I'm going to buy my really expensive books. What I am looking forward to the fall are the ladies(the ones that are into my hobby). I have to be a little bit more social because I don't want to be known as the quiet guy who looks like he's scheming something. So, for those who are still or going to college, have you registered yet?

Banpresto is Alright

2009-06-16T00:02:00.003-04:00

I believe that one of the most underrated figure line would have to be Banpresto. Banpresto is a Japanese development firm that focuses on prizes for UFO machines and they are currently owned by Bandai. With so many expensive figure in the market and a crappy economy, Banpresto is a cheap alternative.

This is the only Banpresto figure that I have and I like it

Banpresto have a gashapon feel to them because they come in small box and you have to do some very easy assembly. The quality is not the greatest but it's ok. The one thing I don't like is that most of their figure have the same round black base but even that can be overlooked. I bet you are wondering how much they cost, the starting is 1,450 Yen.

The one thing that you should not pay attention to are the preview pictures because they tend to look ugly. When you finally have the figure in your hands, it looks much better. So, do you own any Banpresto figures or are they beneath you?

Shintaro Kago

2009-06-15T00:05:00.003-04:00

I was recently looking for new Junji Ito manga to read. While doing that, I came across some Shintaro Kago manga. I have never read any of his manga before, I thought he was a horror manga artist but I was wrong. Shintaro Kago is really a guro manga artist and now I can't remove those images from my mind.

This is the only mild image that I found of an example of his work

Kago's work very interesting even thou most of his manga series contains very graphic extreme sex, gore like there's no tomorrow, and other screwed up things that I don't want to mention. I think people would be calling him a sick f*ck if he did not add a social satirical twist to his manga. What I do like about him is that he plays with the manga panels layout, his art style is great, and breaks the fourth wall in a artist fashion. Below is a list his manga that I recommend to read and to stay away.

Recommend to read:
Multiplication
The Big Funeral
Hara Kiri
Blow Up
Everything's Peaceful

Recommend to stay the hell away from because it will destroy your mind:
Drafting a Water Goddess
Head Prolapse Elegy
PowerPlant
Fetus Collection
Mr. Urashima
Olympics in Front of the Station

If you are planning to read these, all I can wish you is good luck. So, should I stop reading obscure manga before I do some serious damage to my mind?

A Tired System

2009-06-14T00:33:00.006-04:00

A few days ago, when I was rewatching Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, there was a weird sound coming from my TV. I thought it was my subwoofer that got disconnected. When I was checking the cables, everything looked just fine but mistake I pressed the reset button. The sound was coming from my PS2.

I opened up my PS2 and found out that it was overheating due to the fan's motor burned out. Luckily, I have an extra PS2 that does not read discs but the other parts work just fine and I replaced the fan. This is not the first my PS2 broke down, many years ago the disc tray got jammed and I had it repaired. I was a little sad to know that the first video game system I ever bought with my own money almost died. If you have notice, I'm the type of person who will repair something until it can't be repaired anymore.

My DS lite has been acting up as well. For some reason at times it will not read the game cartridge and I have to blow air into the slot. I wonder what it could be. So, what do you do when your electronics breakdown?

K-On! Episode 11 Review

2009-06-13T00:06:00.018-04:00

This is the second to last episode of K-On! and it was great. This episode starts out being funny and wacky however it takes a turn on drama street.

The episode starts out with everyone reminiscing about the last School festival they performed at. Just like last year, Ritsu forgot to turn in the performance application. While filling out the application, the club realized that they don't have a band name and they were passing around name ideas. Somehow they get distracted when Yui mentioned that guitar has not been working right.

Yui has never changed the strings of her guitar. Azusu Asked Yui if she evens takes care of her guitar. Yui does take care of her guitar by......................

Sleeping with it

and dressing it up

The girls decided to go to their local music shop to have the strings changed. Mio gets distracted by some nice left handed basses(which in the real life, they are going to sell like hotcakes).

When the shop keeper got Yui's guitar in his hands, he thought it was a vintage. When the guitar was getting fixed, Yui said the funniest thing, her guitar is getting deflowered.

Finally, Yui gets her guitar back but there was a small problem, she thought the service was free. For her to get her strings changed, it costed her 5000 Yen and she had no money with her. luckly the music store is owned by Tsumugi's family and the service was free.

By the way, Yui's guitar is called Gitah

When they were leaving the store, Ritsu went to fetch Mio. Mio was somewhat acting like a child because she was intrigued by those left handed basses. In the struggle to get Mio out of the store, she fell. Ritsu came up with the idea of getting a tea but Mio turned her down because she is meeting up with Nodoka and Yui tagged along.

blah blah blah

Look who's spying on them

Ritsu did somethings that really annoyed Mio and they started yelling at each other.

Azusa used her cuteness to stop the hostile atmosphere and it worked. However, the damaged was done and Ritsu left early.

This is the first time we get to see Ritsu having an emotion other than happy and hyper

A few days have pasted and Ritsu has not attended school since that day. They start talking about getting a replacement drummer but Tsumugi was against it and she knew that Ritsu would be back.

Mio when to Ritsu's classroom to say she is sorry for what happened. At that moment, Yui and Tsumugi had great news for Mio, Ritsu was sick for all those days. After school, Mio when to visit Ritsu and there was a heartwarming scene.

she looks so cute

You know what, let me retract that previous statement

Mio stayed until Ritsu fell asleep

She back and full of power

But she forgot to turn in the application and the deadline has pasted. Nodoka convinced student council president to give them an extension because their club leader was sick for the last couple of days.

We are back to square one, they still don't have a band name and took to long to pick a name. Sawako snapped named the band.................

After School Tea Time

This is the first time that we get some actual drama from this anime. I have always wonder the dynamic of Ritsu and Mio's friendship. Even thou her yell and tease each other, they are still great friends.

Previous Episode Reviews
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10