Category Archives: Anime & Manga

Gashapon Madness – Misato my Love

The other title of today’s post should be – I love figurines. I have tons of them. Not all of them anime/manga mind you – but I have quite a few (even if they all are in boxes b/c I’m lazy and have yet to you know, unpack them after we moved houses a year and so ago…)

I digress. Today’s post is about – bum bum bum! GASHAPON!!!1

I don’t usually go crazy over toys, but I really, really like these and they arrived today. In fact – I just finished putting them together about oh, maybe thirty minutes ago?

The Figures:

gashapon-group

Above, you see from left to right: Kisaragi Honey (from re:Cutie Honey), Misato, Rei and Asuka (All from Evangelion) And I picked up all of them from Mugentoys.com :D

Now then. Let’s talk about them!

Kisaragi Honey:

kisaragi-honey

re:Cutie Honey was ironically the first Cutie Honey series I watched. I missed out on all the references, I’m sure. But it was one mini series I adored to bits and pieces (which is odd for me considering there was like one male cast member…very odd for me.).

So, when I saw this figure of Honey I had to have it.  Especially when the pose comes from the incredible opening:

Rei & Asuka:

asuka-rei

Rei & Asuka from Evangelion are a new one for me. Normally my brother’s the one collecting figures of these two. But – I finally found a set I thought was adorable.

There’s not much more to it than that for this one – I love winter gear and they’re cute.

Misato:

misato-pose

However – the piece de’ resistance had to be this figure of Katsuragi Misato. Misato has always been my favorite character from Evangelion and I have been looking everywhere for a figure that really grabbed me. This one – it grabbed me.

sexy-misato

Let’s face it – this figure is sexy. I love everything about it from the pose (the foot on the footstool? Love.) to her jacket hanging off her arm. And she looks amazing next to my laptop on the desk.

misato-computer

Or even on the computer! She looks amazing everywhere~

Rodimus-Prime

AHH!!! Oh no! Rodimus Prime2 is jealous that he’s no longer the favorite figurine! Whatever will I do!?

Oh wait! I know:

rodimus-date

There we go. Now Rodimus is happy because he’s got a pretty lady on his arm. She’s way better than that Arcee girl.3

Other:

And just for fun, here’s a couple pics of the other Anime/Manga figures I have hanging out on my desk:

shelf-1

shelf-2

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief waste of your time. Thank-you.

  1. Gashapon figures are random vending machine figures. Think of those quarter machines in super markets that give you a random little toy in an egg – only they’re actually nice and worth more like $3-20+ dollars depending on the figure.
  2. Revoltech Hot Rodimus as seen detailed here.
  3. Arcee x Springer forever.

Baccano or The Magical Murder Train

Baccano was described to me as “The Magical Murder Train” by my brother (the nickname created in his anime club).

I honestly can’t think of a better description. Well, aside from “Incredibly convoluded and intertwined plot with a giant cast” – but it’s all good. In fact, it makes giving a review of the series rather difficult. When the plot of a series is piecing together a series of scenes told from about 20 different points of view in order to put together a complete event, pretty much telling you anything about the plot could ruin it.

Baccano is interesting in that it is told in a very complex fashion. I can’t even begin to imagine watching this series one episode at a time. But as stated earlier, you basically have 3-4 interconnected storylines told over the course of 16 episodes from the points of view of about 15-20 characters. It’s intense, but worth it.

Besides, it involves a train, a whole bunch of senseless violence, idiots, crazy people, at least three-four mafia families, alchemists, cultists, chicks with knifes, fights on moving trains, immortals, regular joes who scare the crap out of immortals, guys in oil drums with cement,  and more couples that are matches made in heaven than you can shake a stick at. Oh, and did I mention the mysterious Rail Tracer?

Though, one of the characters put it best – Baccano has no main character. Which means the point is – words just won’t do Baccano justice. Just watch it; it’s worth it. (Unless graphic violence is disturbing to you; then you might want to skip this one – it’s well, let’s just say seeing faces shoved into a railway from a moving train and bones sticking out from a hand that was ripped off isn’t that uncommon…).

The point? Go watch it and have fun – get ready for one heck of a train ride!

Kuroshitsuji Episodes 5 and 6

Shinigami + Chainsaw = Win

Shinigami + Chainsaw = Win

Let it be known, that I knew I was going to like Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) the moment I saw the description. It has everything in a show that I love from handsome men, to ditzy maids and staff, to a mature bossy 12 or however old he is Lord of the house. And just to top the cake, Greil (Madam Red’s Butler) is voiced by Jun Fukuyama. Which all on its own is all sorts of win. I love that man. *cough*

But most of all, my favorite storylines are ones that involve loyal servants. I love stories that feature Knights/Samurai defending their lords and Butlers fall along the same lines. In this case, it’s a little different as it’s yet to be seen what Sebastian’s true motives/feelings toward Ciel really are, but the fact he will be a loyal servant to the end has become very clear.

And his OCD tendancies towards cleaning and getting dinner served on time while killing gangsters with forks helps a little two. But that’s the stuff that fed my need for fanservice (gorgeous butler serving his lord faithfully) and humor (Episode 4. Watch it.). The only thing Kuroshitsuji was missing, was that almost-tear jerking moving scene that connected me to the cast and guaranteed I’ll be watching the episodes as they’re released.

Episodes 5 and 6 have fufilled that purpose. And because I’ll be discussing them in a bit of detail, spoilers below the cut. :) I recommend you watch them first. Though! I did throw some screen caps at the end of the post if you just want to skip the text and see those and come back to read later after you’ve watched. ^^

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Salty Dog V

Salty Dog V is apparently out.

*foams* I’m going to a convention this weekend – I hope they have it. T_T

I had been waiting for Minekura Kazuya’s next artbook…and now it’s out. It has the latest artwork for Saiyuki Gaiden and that alone will make it worth the purchase. This woman’s artbooks are pure gold. *hugs her one lone Salty Dog II* I really need to buy the others…but in due time. This is the artbook guaranteed to have all the Hazel Grosse & Gat goodness; so it’ll come first.

I love you Minekura Kazuya.