New ZHiME OVA is 'Overloding' w/ 'Syphilis' and Win

So I hope y'all have watched S.ifr as this post will contain some spoilers. If you don't get the Syphilis part well, if you watched S.ifr and just listen to the characters say Sifr's name. It sounds like an attempted engrish Syphilis at times...to me, maybe I'm high ^^. Either way, it just makes me laugh almost everytime i hear them say..."See/shee-fuu-ruu". Or you can associate it w/ the yuri that goes on :P.

So yeah, episode 1 was amazing w/ good combo of fanservice in all categories: action, comedy, boobs (fuck yeah lena, no thank you Sifr), some drama, yuri, homages. Hisayuki, you are definitely my hero. Great job as director and really dug Lena using the Lofty Crimson Jade/Ayane robe [which I showed from the novels oh sooo long ago (1/NSFW), (2)]. Love the ED credit image w/ old and new charas.

The DVD arrived today and even though I watched it thrice yesterday, I gave the DVD a go w/ 2 more viewings. Thus, showing how much I'm loving it. However, Sifr is killing me. She's too annoying, first viewing was okay but it grated on me in the subsequent watches. She's too much like Arika (not that I hate Arika mind you) and they're not related...wtf, so don't give me that she passed it down bullshit as S.ifr is an afterthought of the series. But I'm just hating her as she's 'copying' Arika's charm.

SO, yeah, DVD is your standard stuff, there's no FP or LE. Standard DVD only and the booklet doesn't contain any new concept art that the official site and other sites have shown you save maybe for Lena in Lofty Crimson Jade robe.

As you can see, I also got the 舞-乙HiME Dream Box from last month. The box is kinda boring to look at. Chipboard quality. It houses 3 DVD cases.
The fan disc doesn't include an insert of any kind. The ZHiME movie doesn't inlcude a booklet but houses a pack of postcards featuring the R2 covers.


The ZHiME Zwei movie is the same. Just postcards of the R2 covers but has 2 extra postcards that were promo images during Zwei's release.

That's it for now, next post I'll show ya the otaku stuff I got over the past couple of months I've been away for. Nothing too exciting I guess.

"Change" is good

Just some more 'hints'.

Busy as ever

Unlike Yoko in this post, who's relaxin'. Well, first I want to wish all a Happy New Year, Happy Chinese New Year and Happy Valentine's Day since I haven't posted for almost 2 months. Been occupied with life y'know. If anybody cares (I'm sure there isn't), I've been busy w/ my fiancée picking the 'date'. Yes, it's happening this year.....(!!!!). Not only that, we bought a new house (a single house, 3 bedroom). Yeah, I'm excited and scared. It won't be finished until late summer when we move in.

So the reason why I've finally decided to post today is cuz there's a new holiday today in Canada (specifically the province of Ontario) called "Family Day". Thus, I had the time today to make a quick post. I hope to make some posts a bit more frequently, but it's hard to say. As in the past several months, I'm not really watching any anime, but still purchasing Japanese geek related stuff ^^. If this post is any indication, I'm sure you can guess what I got recently ;). I hope to make a post on some stuff I got before and after Christmas. You won't see games though, as that's been too much :P. With My-Otome 0 ~S.ifr~ coming out this week, you can be sure that the biggest/greatest My-HiME / My-Otome / Hisayuki Hirokazu fan will make a post ^^. Though I've been floating around posting a couple of scans on CHN forums. Anyways, hopefully I'm lucky and will get the actual DVD this week.

All I want for Christmas is two ...

Just wanna wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. The lack of pictures is mainly due being busy w/ parties and gift exchanges. I'm also getting lazy now at scouting for Christmas images :P. So anyways, currently at my fiancée's place for dinner tonight and tomorrow, will be going home for dinner @ my place. So hope y'all have a safe and happy holidays. Enjoy.

Oh 舞!

So Wii game of the week is....no game. Didn't get a Wii game this week since I'm not interested in any upcoming Wii games till Smash Bros. I'm going back to my 1000+ DS game backlog and just started FFXII Revenant Wings and DQ IV (JP). And yeah, I already finished Trauma Center 2 and RETUC. However, I did get some anime & manga items this week. Pic shown in the end.

Anyways, this post is a continuation of my orgy some weeks ago. This time, I'll cover the HiME/Otome/Hisayuki stuff. First I'll cover the My-HiME & My-ZHiME My Collection book.

The book is 160 pages and basically, if you own the previous HiME/ZHiME artbooks, guidebooks etc, then this is essentially the same but updated w/ some new info. It's the most complete (so far) of guides since it covers almost all the novels, comics, games, figures and other media formats that the "Mai" franchise has been released. It covers Mai-HiME, My-ZHiME and My-ZHiME Zwei. Production sketches are included but they're all old as they've been featured in the DVD booklets and other books before. Only the Yuna+Mashiro-Child is new as that's not even in DVD 4. Some ppl may find the prototype sketches of My-HiME to be new, but it's very old as those images were floating around before the show aired (and later some were put in the guide mooks), oh yes I got them way back then ^^. The gallery section is small for each franchise is small, and does contain a few artworks that has not been compiled in a book before (ie. Hisayuki figure packaging art, clocks, jewelry etc.). It's only a handful. However, there is ZERO new artwork (aside from the cover) that yours truly has not seen before this book. So, if you're a casual fan of the series, it's a pretty good guide to get you caught up. If you're a mega fan like me and own basically almost every print of the series, then not much is new. the Destiny section contains artwork from chapters published in キャラの, and few from anime mags, for those wondering. All in all a decent book.

The My-HiME Destiny novel...I haven't read it due to having zero time and limited JPN skills. What I can tell you is that it contains a few artwork exclusive to the novel like the other HiME/ZHiME novels. All artwork is done by Sankichi Meguro (artist of the novels and one of my fave artists as I've been following her Teizokurei Daydream art for years). The only Hisayuki work included are the old design sketches of Mayo and Shion.

Now for Queen's Blade Claudette. Well, as I mentioned before, I got this book only cuz she was designed by Hisayuki Hirokazu. So, it's just like the first Queen's Blade book Rena, interior action pic art is done by another artist. Very gratuitous, demeaning and yummy shots are shown. Not bad not bad.

Just wanna show off how I displayed my Zwei figs.

Finally, this is what I got this week, as mix of old and new. Animes are all R1s and include Paprika, Burst Angel OVA and El Hazard The Magnificent World (cheap re-release). Then there's UDON's Sakura Ganbaru mangas 1 & 2. Cover art is done exclusively by Omar Dogan. I would've been happier if they had included the original Sakura Ganbaru covers by Nakahira Masahiko.