Jakarta Toys Fair 2017 Field Report

 Last weekend i happened to attend this Toy Event in Balai Kartini as i come to Jakarta last week for some errand. Jakarta Toy Fair is a yearly toy convention in Jakarta where the local hobby stores gather up and sell both Japanese and Western Toys. In terms of Display the convention got some nice stuffs considering companies like Lego and Bandai also participate the event. As for the shopping experience i find most of the stuffs sold in the event are rather pricey though there are some rare stuffs around if you are willing to pay for it. I am rather surprised that Bandai didn't raise a fuss at the event that there are vendors selling bootleg stuff. At the moment I find Jakarta Toy Fair still needs improvement to become a noteworthy event but i believe it will get better next time.

Jakarta's Infamous Governor Ahok Figurine up for preorder!

Hot Toys Everywhere!

Daizengar Mecha Musume!

Indonesia's Kamen Rider called Satria Bima X which actually looks cool even though i dont follow tokusatsu

My catch from the event!

Capcom Figure Builder Mizutsune

 With Monster Hunter Generation release it is bound to happen that the flagship monster will get figure treatment though i never thought Mizutsune had a good chance for its figure to be made. Slated for may release with over 12000 Yen price tag with two different versions. Normally this amazing lineup cost around 6000-8000 Yen price range but i still wonder why Mizutsune fetch such a high price. In MH Gens, Mizutsune or Tamamitsune is one of the 4 Elemental Flagship Monster representing Water Element. This Fox wyvern is capable of producing bubbles from its skin which helps it to pull off fast and elusive maneuver as well as trapping hunters with it. Personally i think Mizutsune's theme is the best from the Elite 4 and considering 2 of them already got a figure treatment is still wonder if Gammoth and Astalos will catch up? Nevertheless they will eventually get the smaller version eventually.

Starting SRW Z 2nd Playthrough

 Wow it has been like almost six years since the last time i played SRW Z! I guess i was in the mood to play this game once again as a preparation for the SRW V arrival and hopefully managed to finished it before i got my copy. Since i used Setsuko for my first playthrough, this time i used Rand who pilots Gunleon which Gaogaigar would look like if he changed job to healer. For the second playthrough basically my units roflstomped anything that they encounter so far due to generous amount of carryover money. To this day i still wonder why Banpresto decided to abandon such nice platoon system that SRW Z had.

Nadesico SPM Hoshino Ruri Figure Review

 Hail to the Queen of Moe! Though seriously i think Hoshino Ruri is the fictional character who starts the Moe trend in Anime Industry whether intentional or not. I like Nadesico series despite its flaws and thought it could have been something more than wasted potential and thats the reason why i decided to get this Hoshino Ruri figurine. Due to her status as Queen of Moe, Hoshino Ruri surprisingly got a lots figurine for her outnumbering other characters from Nadesico by far margin mostly garage kits and out of all renditions i choose this version since it portrays Ruri's character good enough despite being an ufo-catcher grade figurine.

 In Nadesico Hoshino Ruri was one of the Ship Crew of the Experimental Nadesico Class Battleship and mainly handles the Ship's Supercomputer Omoikane. Her Personality is cold and distant at first but she opens up more to other crew members with the help of Akito and Yurika. In Prince of Darkness Movie, Ruri eventually command her own Nadesico Battleship and more cheerful compared to her version in TV series. Being the youngest crew in Nadesico and the youngest ,Ruri is very talented Hacker capable of hijacking other Battleships or Electronic mainframe. She is also probably the youngest Ship Captain in mecha series because anything in anime is possible. In SRW she is very solid Battleship commander with very cheap "Disrupt" seishin which drops all enemies accuracy by half in a turn.

 For an Ufo Catcher grade figurine Ruri Hoshino sculpt looks superb enough though its limitation is very obvious compared to Premium Grade Figurine. The PM Figure version is one of the few version that have Ruri in her captain uniform considering majority of the figurine had Ruri doing cosplay stuff. I still wonder why out of many renditions for Ruri Hoshino, none of major Figure making company like Alter or Kotobukiya made Ruri's figurine which appears to have a lot of followers. I will definitely get Black Sarena one day to display it beside Ruri's figurine one day and might as well consider the Nadesico Battleship model kit too.

Sakura Taisen 3 - Is Paris Burning?

 Ever since i get into Sakura Taisen series, the third installment on Dreamcast always caught my attention with such a gorgeous visual which was no small feat in its time.  So 6 months ago i finally gave Sakura Taisen 3 a go which instantly become my favorite installment in this Dating Sim/Mecha strategy series. And now i decided to write an article about this game after clearing 4 out of 5 heroines route. While Sakura Taisen was not really well known in the west, it is no doubt a legendary series in Japan. However you need to play the game to find out why the series is highly regarded in its homeland. I hope that this post will be helpful for those who want to get into Sakura Taisen.

Sakura Taisen 3 Character CG

• Erica Fontaine
• Glycine Bleumer
• Lobelia Carlini
• Hanabi Kitaoji

Sakura Taisen 3 Character Endings

• Erica Fontaine
• Glycine Bleumer
• Lobelia Carlini
• Hanabi Kitaoji

Pygmalio

 I am sure that i have read this series before when i was a kid which was translated as Dragon Pygmalio but this manga is definitely amazing classic Fantasy title. Named after the Greek Tale, Pygmalio is the classic tale of young hero braving ordeals to save his loved one. In the series a young prince named Kurt journeyed through the world to defeat a powerful demon named Medusa who turned Kurt's mother into stone statue and as the story unfold Kurt's quest turns out not to be a simple one. While the drawing style looks childish, the series did the storytelling department really good especially on the tragedy part. While i less Kiddy fantasy series myself Pygmalio is no doubt awesome old school fantasy. Probably Popolocrois which is kinda similar to Pygmalio is based on this series and i still wonder why such amazing series never got great anime adaptation. Nevertheless you wont regret reading this manga if you enjoy fantasy series.

Sakura Taisen 3 Erica Ending GET!

 It's like 6 months since i finished my first run of Sakura Taisen 3 starting with Hanabi and i suppose my procrastination is terrible. At long last i managed to finish Erica Fontaine's route who is the main heroine of the third game and this makes only Coquelicot left to be done. Since Erica is the Main Heroine, her route is slightly more unique and just like Sakura in the prequels, you will tend to rack up a lot of affection points with her LIPS. In my opinion Erica in the game feels like an unfinished piece of work since i can see the direction the game devs tried to go with her character but for some reason they stopped halfway with her Backstory. Erica would have been an amazing pure maiden archetype but in the end what we got is somewhat Weabooish hyperactive Klutz. But still Noriko Hidaka pull an amazing performance as Erica and her singing voice is just wonderful. I will probably write the Sakura Taisen III article within this month without clearing Coquelicot's ending since it take too long already. I hope Sega does come up with something special for 20th Anniversary of the series which Etrian Odyssey type of game seems to work quite well for Sakura Taisen.

Yami's Top 5 Female Seiyuu

 Might as well wrap up the end of 2016 with another Top 5 blog post and this time it is about my favorite Top 5 Female Seiyuus. Since i mostly watch mecha series most of my favorite seiyuus contribute a lot for the genre. In general i admire Female Seiyuus who can sing well and has no need to rely on Moeshit character to prove their talent. So probably you will see the seiyuus in my list are able to play strong willed female character type in general and most of the series they are well known to play are from early 2000s thus you wont see any recent popular female seiyuu in this list.

君の名は - Your Name Movie

 Managed to watch this movie along with friends recently and it is very satisfying ride for sure! I have been seeing this movie being praised a lot by many people and this movie definitely deserves it. Kimi no Na wa or Your Name is a teenage drama movie with a highschool boy and girl accidentally swapped bodies as the main premise of the story. The movie's storyline is minimalistic but able to deliver very powerful emotions and make use of every moment really well. But what makes this movie special that it is a very good coming of age movie making myself miss my teenage years. Lastly Kimi no Na wa is probably a fresh breath to the stagnating market of Japanese animation and i hope the animation industry could reflect upon themselves with this movie. Makoto Shinkai have solid reputation in his field before but with Kimi no Na wa, he definitely establish himself in the public. Makoto Shinkai may be nowhere to Miyazaki at the moment but one day if he could consistently pull quality stuff like this this movie, Makoto Shinkai will remembered by people as Miyazaki's equal. I think i will look into Shinkai's stuffs more now and on the body swapping theme this movie really reminds me of Remember 11 Visual Novel which explore deeper using the premise.

Tale of Sea King / Kaiouki

 Another Hidden Gem manga that instantly becomes my Top-10 Manga list! While i get into Masatoshi Kawahara's work through Shura no Toki, i would say his Tale of Sea King or Kaiouki is easily his Magnum Opus. Just to tell how great the series is, i bothered to get the complete locally translated set just because the english translations are really slow. If Legend of Galactic Heroes taken place into medieval settings with liberal dose of Naval Battle then we have Tale of Sea King! Kaiouki's story is all about the adventure of an enigmatic man called Fan Gamma Bizen who belong to a tribe famous for their seafaring abilities who also happen to be the captain of one of the eight infamous Black Ship in a medieval setting that had relics from futuristic civilization. Throughout the story Fan Gamma with his wits and charisma accompanied by his loyal crews encounter many Great people and fight many battles both land and sea.

 What makes this series especially good apart from the similar Quality that it shares with LoGH is that Fan Gamma is one heck of protagonist. You won't see any character development with him but you will get to see Fan Gamma showcasing his awesomeness. While your average Shonen protagonists rely on their brawn to solve their problems, Fan Gamma uses his wits and charm to solve his even though he is strong in his own right. Starting from winning his enemies heart to become his allies to fighting Armies with Gunpowder weapons merely with medieval weapons. Kaiouki span over 45 Volumes while it takes a bit slow for the story to build up, the ride is very satisfying. I guess the only flaw with the manga is that it rather lacks of world building due to the strong presence of the main characters but seriously not many shonen manga able to reach the caliber of Kaioki. It is unfortunate that the english scanlations are rather slow for this title and i still wonder why such great series havent got any anime yet.  Even if you dont like Naval Battles, Kaioki is very good epic adventure manga even though the fantasy theme is rather dry.

Ys Origin announced for Vita

 It has been Five years since i played Ys Origin and i have to say really glad that the game will be ported to Vita and PS4 soon. Slated for February Next Year, DotEmu will be the one that handle the western release for Ys Origin port. While Falcom series are usually handled by Xseed i suppose DotEmu's port would be good enough considering they handle Ys port on Itunes. While Ys Origin is not my favorite Ys title since i prefer the ones with Adol, it is very solid entry to the series considering it perfected the game engine used in Felghana and Napishtim not to mention the overall music score from this game is one of the best in the series too. I can't say i am too surprised with the announcement considering most of Ys Title can be accessed through Vita and Origin just complete the set. I wonder if Origin will come in Physical copies but i think more curious with the extras that will come with the port.

Hauls from AFA SG 2016

 Since this is my first time attending AFA i suppose i purchase too many stuffs on impulse from my shopping spree and spent like around 200 SGD in 2 Days visit. Compared to SMASH! AFA definitely have more things to purchase since they have some actual good bargains hanging around. I acquired my loots pretty evenly from Vendors, Artist Circle, Lotteries, Showbags and Freebies. From my acquisition this year i managed to get the Frame Arms Girl T-Shirt from Janken contest on Kotobukiya booth which fleets in a moment. 

 
 Spent like 65 SGD for One Figurine and 2 Nendos. Bought Miku Acute Version since i dont have any vocaloid figurine. Bought Two nendoroids from La Tendo despite never a big fan of the lineup but for $20 each it was a steal. The Two Nendoroids are Cryska from Muvluv and Mirai Suenaga from Danny Choo. Not a follower of Danny Choo but might use the props.

 Bought two showbags from AFA and glad not to buy more, While $15 for each Showbag is still acceptable the content in general are mostly unusable. I dont think even the Showbags sold by the bigger vendor worth the price tag.

As i mentioned earlier i spent quite abit on Ichiban Kuji which are some kind of paper lottery. Each tries mostly cost around $10 SGD depending on the series and Pokemon seems to be the most popular one for this year's AFA. As for me i tried Neko Atsume which i did 6 tries though my luck is not good on this one.

 From the Artist Circle all i get is Tamamo's poster and some Gundam Badges. Fortunately there is at least one Circle selling mecha stuff. While i am not a big follower of Gundam i supported the circle so that they continue their passion on mecha and perhaps they will make more stuffs other than Gundam.

From this year's shopping lesson i will probably shop smarter and might as well raise my budgets for next year's AFA.

Super Robot Taisen (SRW) V Original mecha and character revealed!

 Abit late but recent Dengeki Hobby issues had revealed the Original Character and mecha for upcoming SRW V for Vita and PS4. The original protagonist mecha is called Van Grey which looks like Dakka oriented original. On the first glance, the design is a straight rip from Linebarrel with bits from Armored Core 4 and perhaps a dash of Gundam 00. The Head fin definitely gives out really familiar vibe

 As for the Original Protagonist for SRW V they come as a pair it seems. The male protagonist is named Murakumo Seiji while the Female one is Kisaragi Chitose. So far nothing other than the name has been revealed so far. But the male protagonist gives the impression of Adult version of Koichi from Linebarrel with tanned skin where as the heroine seems like your token eyecandy.

 I find the recently original design for SRW is rather a miss for me i suppose it has to do from the departure of the homage of older mecha series as the newer designs feels completely different when compared to SRW OG mechas. Unlike G Generation Genesis, SRW V is definitely a day one buy for me. For your interest the game will come in two different flavors, regular and deluxe edition. You are paying over 10000 Yen for the vocal version of each series theme which may or may not appeal to you.

Anime Festival Asia Singapore (AFASG) 2016 Thoughts

 Abit late writing this post up due to a bit busy short after my return but i am glad that i managed to attend this year's AFA. I have been yearning to go to this convention ever since i was in Sydney and probably AFA is one of the reason why i went to Sydney's SMASH in the first place. For this year's Anime Festival Asia i attended two out of three days and find out AFA is rather different than my expectation for better or worse.