Plinius

  Another hidden gem of Historical Manga that is overlooked by me until recently and this one is another high quality work. If you like Thermae Romae, this one will not disappoint because it is made by the same mangaka, Mari Yamazaki who is one of the few Japanese mangaka that had intimate knowledge about Roman civilization.

 Taking place during the middle reign of Emperor Nero, Plinius is essentially a biography manga for Pliny the Elder, one of the leading figure in natural science in his time. Through this character you get to see Rome Empire during its height which is a rarity for this medium. Compared to Thermae Romae or Cestvs series, Plinius strength lies in its wide coverage of Roman Civilization life that only high budget movie or TV series could rival. To me what Plinius did the best is its Depiction of Rome which fleshes out the inherent flaw of the City that caused it dubbed as Sin Cit. The original manga spans over 12 Volumes and so far only 4 Volumes are translated, but hopefully the translation will catch up someday just like Thermae Romae. Seriously Mari Yamazaki is another top tier mangaka who is worth following because she is another mangaka that i can think of apart from Urasawa who follows the path of Osamu Tezuka.

Persona 3 Nendoroid 1863 Makoto Yuki

  Things finally come into full circle for Persona series in Nendoroid lineup! took compared to Figma, but Persona 3 Protagonist Makoto Yuki made it as the last Modern Persona series Nendoroid. Nendoroid Makoto Yuki is scheduled for October 2022 release with 6100 Price tag, slightly more expensive compared to his compatriots probably due to weakening Japanese Yen.

Nendoroid Makoto Yuki accesories pretty much mirror the Figma counterpart with an extra Tarot Card and it is kinda lackluster for its price. Seeing the recent movement on Shin Megami Tensei series i think it is a good moment to re-release HD version of Persona 3 to follow up SMT 3 which got Figma Hitoshura recently as well. I think Nendoroid Makoto Yuki could use a companion like Thanatos or Elizabeth to accompany him for an extra selling point for this personal favorite Persona Protagonist of mine.

Kurogane no Linebarrel RIOBOT EX Linebarrel

 I think it has been more than a decade since we got something from Kurogane no Linebarrel series and Sentinel planning to release one heavy duty stuff for one of the better modern mecha series. There have been plenty iterations of Linebarrel before but Sentinel goes big and released the Heavy Armor variant of Linebarrel dubbed EX Linebarrel. Scheduled for May 2023 release, Riobot EX Linebarrel is going to be sold for whopping 50000 Yen which is as expensive as Sol Gravion.

I didn't noticed this version of Linebarrel except that it is apparently the Ultimate Version of Linebarrel exceeding Linebarrel Overdrive. From Its Aesthetics, Linebarrel EX is a heavy melee unit equipped with tons of Blades to the point of overkill and Vardant still have better extent of agility compared to this version of Linebarrel. As expected from Sentinel, Riobot EX Linebarrel is unreachable for regular collector yet again. It is highly likely that GSC will release some moderoid for this series at some point but i personally prefer if they can make some action figure for this underrated Mecha series.
 

Sengoku Komachi Kuroutan

 Oda Nobunaga always make popular choice as Sengoku Period manga and this rather new entry took an isekai spin on it. If you have been following Nobunaga no Chef, you will find right at home with Sengoku Komachi Kuroutan! The manga premise is about a Highschool girl from Agricultural school who somehow find herself stranded in Sengoku Period and in a strange turns of event ended up serving Oda Nobunaga. Using her knowledge from modern world, the heroine attempts to make a better place for the populace she is in charge of while at the same time strengthen the dominion of Oda Clan with her inventions. Unlike most Sengoku period manga, Sengoku Komachi doesn't shy away from alternate take of this rather colorful period of Japan history. 

 I think the primary goal of this manga is to showcase how Oda Nobunaga reacts with modern technology to the extent that are even very hard to swallow for people of the period. Simply to say Nobunaga is portrayed to have excellent adaptability and make good use of these novelties which is the way the manga justify how this particular Daimyo to be the most influential person in his period. The main heroine herself is quite likeable as she is not milksop and had a good sense of reality which majority of isekai theme protagonist lacks most of the time. At this time Sengoku Komachi is still far from being concluded but its potential is good enough for me to keep a close tab on it.

The GATTAI Mugen Gattai Gurren Lagann

  A surprising entry for Guren Lagann but a welcome one nonetheless! Recently there have been some movement for Guren Lagann series indicating something will be up for the series once again. Sentinel did their part with Riobot Guren Lagann costing whopping 32000 yen and then GSC followed up with Mugen Gattai Guren Lagann which appear to be better bargain. Scheduled for November release with 24900 Yen price tag, Mugen Gattai Guren Lagann feature 8 Ganmen robots including Guren Lagann that has awesome gimmick of combining into one Giant Robot.

At one glance Mugen Gattai Guren Lagann reminds me of Bandai's particular combiner robot from Doraemon and Disney series, serving as better application of the concept. In terms of design this version of Guren Lagann are somewhere in between Guren Lagann and Arc Guren Lagann. As long as Guren Lagann unit articulation is good enough, Mugen Gattai will be a valuable collectible for the fans considering Sentinel's pricing are pretty much unaffordable except for High-end dedicated collectors. I am quite sure Bandai will have something in response for this move by GSC since their last contribution for the series were SRC and NXEdge.

Arknights Nendoroid 1859 Saga

 A strange choice for the next Arknights Nendoroid release, but against all odds the Higashi Perro Vanguard operator Saga got her Nendoroid treatment way before other top Arknights waifu candidate. Scheduled for October 2022 release, Nendoroid Saga will be sold for 6800 Yen.

 As usual Arknights Nendoroid fall on slightly more expensive price range probably due to licensing fees that Hypergryph demand and Saga's accessories is rather lacking for its worth. Nendoroid Saga comes with her Naginata and bowl of Natto Gohan as her accesories as well as her ecstatic face expression which is typical of a Perro race. Saga made her appearance in Arknights 1.5th anniversary being the featured 6* Operator along with Dusk. Saga played a minor role in Dusk's storyline being another outsider apart from Rhodes Island operators who are stranded in Dusk's painting world. This is the exact reason why Saga is a strange choice for GSC to release its Nendoroid first because Arknights still have other plenty 6* Operators to work with such as Skadi, Angelina, Bagpipe or Nian but in any case the doggo operator got lucky somehow.

 In terms of gameplay, Saga is a low cost Vanguard operator with solid DP generating ability and good offensive capability. With her S3, Saga realy shines when deployed in intersection tiles as she is capable of dealing spammable AOE damage in 4 directions which works well against grunt unit swarms. The only downside is that she will constantly spam gibberish lines related to food when activating the skill due to airheaded nature of Perro race. Anyway, Saga's Nendoroid is easy skip for me since i am still waiting for Skadi which is due for a long time already.
 

Hexagear 1/24 V-Thor

 I haven't paid attention with Hexagear series for quite a long time but the latest entry catches my attention for sure! Hexagear is Kotobukiya's original lineup that put more emphasis on combined arms mecha. Featuring 1/24 mechanised soldiers and beast mecha as the bulk of the lineup, the latest entry of Hexagear is a humanoid robot called V-Thors is fresh breath of air for this lineup. Scheduled for August release, Hexagear V-Thor will be sold for 8480 Yen.

 While Hexagear had some humanoid robots in their lineup before such as Bulkarms, V-Thor literally break the mold for its kind. V-Thor sleek design combined with giant katana weapon exudes protagonist mecha aura which even put Frame arms design to shame which also reminds me of Genji from Overwatch. From its aesthestics, V-thors appear to be Elite infiltration mecha unit that specialise in targetting high value targets. Hexagear V-Thors would have been a huge steal had it include a 1/24 Pilot unit but its beautiful design had made up for its price tag. If Kotobukiya is insightful, they could utilize this V-Thor mold for couple more variant

Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 Moderoid Madox-01

 A surprising entry for the Moderoid lineup but a welcome one nonetheless! Hailing from OVA series in  during the Mecha Golden Age of late 80s, GSC announcing Moderoid for Power Armor Madox-01. Moderoid Madox-01 is scheduled for September 2022 with 7200 Yen price tag.

Madox is quite a big deal in mecha world because it is one of the Shinji Aramaki works who is famed for his power armor designs like Megazone23 and Mospeada. Madox OVA series itself is rather forgettable since the storyline is basically a teenage boy tried to impress a girl by hijacking a prototype power armor and shoot down bad guys. As bad as the plotline goes, Madox-01 is a very beautiful mechanical design and probably Aramaki used Madox as the base for Marauder Armor in Starship Trooper Invasion CGI movie. Since Moderoid is a model kit, this version of Madox is easy skip for me though i am willing to wait for some action figure. If Madox could make it, i think Garland or Mospeada have a good shot in Moderoid Lineup too.
 

Genshin Impact Nendoroid 1795 Venti

 Genshin Impact is one of the hottest piece of IP since 2020 and the hype is still going very strong with merchandising department up until now. After Aether and Lumine, the first playable Archon character, Venti makes it as the first non main character from Genshin to make it as Nendoroid. The mischievous drunkard Bard is scheduled for September 2022 release with 5500 Yen Price tag. 

  For over 5000 Yen price tag, Venti comes with Skyward Harp Bow and his harp as the accessories which seems lacking but Goodsmile definitely will not able to fulfill all demands from the initial batch. Over past one year for some reason Goodsmile are unable to produce several of their products in large quantity which heavily affect Nendoroid Lineup including Genshin Impact's Aether and Lumine.

In Genshin Impact, Venti or Barbatos is one of the 7 Archons in Teyvat, controlling Anemo element and preside over Monstadt region. In the Mondstadt story Arc, Traveler assist Venti in restoring Sanity of his Dragon companion named Dvalin who went insane due to lingering poison and machinations of Abyss order. As an Archon, Venti's personality is very carefree and lacking of responsibilty, he is often seen being drunk in a Pub owned by Diluc. Venti is very famous due to his ~Ehe~ moment which made one of the most memorable moment of Paimon in the game. In terms of Gameplay, Venti is very popular due to being one of the best Crowd Control character and often used in competitive lineup for Abyss floor. Personally Venti is one of my target character as i happen to own Skyward Harp and need a worthy user for the weapon, though i am conflicted with Venti since there is a future Hydro bow-user named Yelan who seems to provide the same role with him.

 In any case i am still waiting for Waifu characters like Ganyu, Eula and Raiden to get their own Nendoroids which is just a matter of time.

Uma Musume Pretty Derby SHF Tokai Teio

 Uma Musume Pretty Derby was a huge hit in Japan last year and recently had celebrated its 1st Anniversary with generous gifts for the players. Since early this year the merchandise for the series had picked up its momentum and around this time Bandai finally joined in with SHF lineup. For the initial release, Bandai is releasing SHF for Tokai Teio and Rice Shower while GSC probably got license for Goldship and Mcqueen. SHF Tokai Teio is scheduled for July 2022 release with 6300 yen Price tag.

  Bandai's SHF lineup tend to fall on affordable price range especially for main kamen rider characters, but Uma Musume's pricing is slightly higher since i think Bandai try to focus the face sculpt quality to match up to Figma Standard considering bishoujo character had been a long term weakness for Bandai. For its 6300 Yen Price Tag Tokai Teio comes with generous amount of expression face plates sufficient enough to replicate poses for Umapyoi Densetsu, one of the most memorable song from the series.

Tokai Teio herself is one of the Uma Musume that was given the main heroine spot in the Pretty Derby along with Special Week and Silence Suzuka during the initial release. Prior to the game itself, Teio already had some major role in the anime series even becoming the lead heroine along with Mcqueen in the Second Season. Teio's character is basically an energetic young Uma Musume who possess great potential and aspire to reach the same fame of her idolized mentor, Symboli Rudolf. In the anime series, Teio ultimately fails to follow her Mentor footsteps but reached her own height of fame through her own path. In the fanbase Teio is sometimes depicted as Yandere due to some of her interaction in the game. 

Personally i think Teio's SHF would be quite decent since Bandai seems to be determined to improvise their sculpt for this lineup considering they are also getting license to make SHF for Special Week and Silence Suzuka to complete the starter trio.

Arknights Nendoroid 1810 Saria

  Representing Rhine Lab, Saria finally joining Arknight Nendoroid series though she could have made it earlier. Scheduled for September 2022 release, Nendoroid Saria will be available for 6800 Yen. I suppose Hypergryph valued their IP that much that the merchandise tend to fetch relatively high price tag until this day.

In Arknights, Saria is a Vouivre 6* Healing Defender and one the best core member whether it is for Normal Missions or Contigency Contract. She is one of the most valuable operator for her ability to Heal Party members as Melee unit or Debuffing Boss units so that your main DPS can shred them to pieces. IIRC in Arknights Lore Saria was Rhine Lab Security Team Leader who defected to Rhodes along with Silence and Ifrit due to questionable experiments commited by Rhine Lab. Saria's might not be the most waifuable Operator in Arknights but she still got some good waifu potentials with those wholesome fanarts of her with Doktah. I really hope Angelina and Skadi will show up soon with their Nendoroids.

Choujuushin Gravion

 Masami Obari is one of the most influential talent in Mecha Genre and there was a period of time the man tried to make a name for himself by making his own anime series. Among his original works, Choujushin Gravion is arguably one of the Obari's works that are easier to get into. Gravion is essentially the culmination of Obari's experience handling Yuusha series. Overall Gravion is pretty much a Generic Super Robot series as it can get, excelling in Styles but lacks in substance which had been Obari's most glaring flaw.

The first time i was exposed to Gravion was from SRW Z which is more than a decade ago and to be honest SRW had better opportunity to make the series shine compared to the anime. Several things that are unexpected for me with Gravion Anime series are that Gravion's Final Form only show up for few minutes in the last episode and The main protagonist's elder sister relationship with Sandman.

In any case Gravion is still a fun ride if you look for mindless Super Robot action and its lackluster storyline is still better than Gridman.

Ichigeki

 

 A good Samurai-themed manga that had its translation finished recently, if you like samurai manga like Vagabond or Blade of immortal then Ichigeki might pick up your interest. Taking place in turbulent Bakumatsu period of Japan, Ichigeki narrates a story of a group of warriors recruited from peasant class tasked to fight against Satsuma warriors who made defiant stand against Tokugawa in Edo. In terms of storyline, Ichigeki offers nothing particularly flashy within the sword&sandal genre, but the manga managed to capture the brutal and bleak nature of that particular period of Japan perfectly with its 47 Chapters.

If i had to pick the best part of Ichigeki, it would be the main character Ushigorou. The character is very well made for a short manga, a person who come out on top against every odds by relying his wits and win even against skilled Samurais despite his peasant background. Usually Bakumatsu period Samurai manga tend to revolve around Shinsengumi which is quite overdone by this point, but Ichigeki is an exception. This manga is definitely a good read if you look for some newer realistic Samurai manga with no supernatural aspect considering most of these types tend to be covered extensively in old school style.

Fate/Grand Order Figma 560 Berserker Miyamoto Musashi

 

 I thought this would be released later around mid of the year but Miyamoto Musashi made it back to Figma in her Summer version! In her 2nd Ascension, Figma Berserker Musashi is scheduled for December 2022 release with 9500 Price tag.

Just like her Saber Figma version, the 2nd Ascension form is still the way to go for Berserker Musashi since it has the best balance between Style and Functionality with 1st Ascension being rather plain while 3rd Asc is way over the top. Out of summer SSR Servants, Musashi's summer version can be considered to be one of the more absurd design which worked out the less. In short for her summer outfit, Musashi had a cowgirl bikini getup and wield twin gunblade which is kind of ridiculous but suits her free-spirited character nonetheless. Surprisingly Max Factory went quite tame for Summer Musashi considering she is designed to be one of the most well endowed female servant in FGO.

 In FGO, Musashi is an AOE Arts Berserker Servant who made her debut last year on Global server during 4th Summer Event. Compared to her Saber class, Summer Musashi lacks staying power due to her berserker class weakness but capable of wiping out high level mobs when given proper support. Summer Musashi will be the premier Farming DPS choice when Castoria coming out during 5th Anniversary around August this year. I will be looking forward to Summer Okita Figma which will be a good candidate for GSC Summer Exclusive like Summer Mordred last year.

Uma Musume Pop Up Parade Goldship - Uniform ver

  Just like the Nendoroid series, Goldship also spearheading the Uma Musume lineup for Pop Up Parade series. Pop Up Parade Goldship is scheduled for July 2022 Release with 3900 Yen Price tag. From what i see, the School Uniform version of Uma Musume are based on the R* Support Cards from Uma Musume game. I have the feeling that the Uma Musumes Racing uniform will be reserved for Premium PVC like Kotobukiya's Prototype for Teio thus the Prize Figures will be getting the School Uniform only. 

On the other hand the affordability of Figure lineup of Uma Musume will allow non-main Uma Musume like Urara or Mejiro Ryan to have an opportunity for getting a Physical representation. I will be keeping close watch with Banpresto since they have some plan of releasing some Uma Musume figure in their School Uniform versions.