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.