Arknights 1/7 Skadi Elite 2 Version

  It feels rather random that Kotobukiya able to make a figure out of Arknights series but they did and their first pick is no other than the Orca Waifu operator, Skadi! The 1/7 Scale figure is a straight faithful interpretation of Skadi's Elite 2 Illustration from the game. Kotobukiya 1/7 Skadi is scheduled for October release with 17000 Yen price tag which is just about the price for a medium range Scale figure nowadays. 

 In Arknights, Skadi is a Bounty Hunter from Aegir with mysterious past who debuted in Arknights first event quest. Recently the Chinese version had revealed more of her past and introduce her alternative 6* Supporter class which had a nuance of Cosmic horror. Interestingly Skadi's artworks in Arknights is made by an Indonesian illustrator named Alchemaniac, a testament that Japanese does not monopolize the 2D style animation anymore. 

 There is a good chance for me to get this figure since Skadi is my main reason of playing Arknights despite her underwhelming performance as Guard operator compared to other 6* Guard OP and i still keep her as the secretary to this day. With her level of popularity, i believe Skadi Summer and Alter version have a good shot of getting a Prize figure or Nendoroid and i think fans will even welcome more of Skadi's alternative class.

Ano Hana

 One of the few popular anime series in early 2010s by general anime community that really live up to its reputation. Usually Coming of age series are associated with joyful stuffs in general, but Ano Hana went with tearjerker and a really good one too. If you are able to finish this anime without shedding some tear, then kudos to you! considering Ano Hana is comparable with Clannad when it comes to this department.

 The premise of Ano Hana is about a group of teenagers who used to be inseparable close friends but drifted apart after a tragedy befell upon one member of the group which costed her life. The main character, being struck hardest with the tragedy made himself into a shut-in and apparently the only one who is able to see the ghost of his dead friend. Throughout the anime, the main character attempted to reunite now estranged group of his old friends to help their ghost friend to move onto afterlife and gain some sense of closure for themselves in order to move on.

Compared to Clannad, personally i feel that Ano Hana hits harder because Clannad still bother to give some good alternate happy ending while the parting message of Menma for the main protagonist is simply a critical hit with no brakes. With the quality of its writing, Ano Hana resonates toward the adult viewers quite well considering it is very good at evoking the sense of nostalgia of the simple and younger days of childhood. With this strong point, Ano Hana easily put itself onto the ageless anime category and the story will still remain relevant in 10 years to come. I think i will visit True Tears at some point since this series is mentioned along with Ano Hana when it comes to tearjerking anime.

Uma Musume Pretty Derby

 Making myself dig even deeper toward the Gacha Hell as i gave Uma Musume Pretty a try, it seems that i should consider quitting as Shikikan. The Second Season of Uma Musume is really good that it manage to make me bother to give the game a try which is still in Japanese until this time. Uma Musume Pretty Derby turns out to live up to its hype as the game dominates the Japanese gaming market by the storm after Cygames released the game early this year. To put it simply Uma Musume is a Hybrid Simulation Bishoujo game which mixes Moefied Horserace, Idols and training simulator which works out quite well somehow and not to mention the production value is Top Tier for a Gacha game. 

 In this post i will try to give some general guide to make the game easier to comprehend with the language barrier, but the game is easy enough to comprehend if you have basic knowledge of Japanese.

Giant Gorg

  A Rare Gem of 80s mecha series and a showcase what Sunrise could do with the genre if they don't make it for Toys Commercial. Giant Gorg is an adventure series which featured Mysterious Mecha named Gorg as the plot device. Instead of typical mecha series that action where the protagonist mecha fights monsters of the week, Giant Gorg falls more on the adventure side. The story of the series take place in a remote island in pacifict where a boy name Yuu tried to uncover the mystery of the island with giant mecha Gorg served as his guide, while fending off private armies of Giant Evil Corporation whose leader had interest on the Relics of advanced civilization relics that lies buried within the island. 

 Giant Gorg is one of the few series that use real-life setting in a mecha which is hard to pull off  considering you only get to see one sided affair between Giant Robot and Modern Military vehicles and it sticks at that level. Nevertheless Giant Gorg did well on the storyline which is quite an achievement for early 80s and the Mecha itself Gorg, exudes a presence of strength to be reckoned despite relying on its own fists most of the time . But obviously Giant Gorg was rather way ahead of its time for 5 years or more considering the consumer market was not ready for this kind of mecha series in early 80s which resulted the series faded in obscurity. In any case if you really want different kind of mecha experience, Giant Gorg worth a try.

Uma Musume Pretty Derby Second Season

  I had expected Uma Musume second season would capitalize the momentum made by the first season and made improvements from it, but for once this is one of the few that exceeds expectation. For the second season, Toukai Teio and Mejiro Mcqueen took the lead as the starring heroine role and create even more touching story of friendship and rivalry. With the success of First Season,  Cygames probably had more liberty for the story formula of second season and certainly make something good out of it to match the initial release of the game that had been delayed for quite a long time.

Unmei ni Ijiwaru (Fate is a jerk) - Tokai Teio

 With Teio who is a highly gifted Horsegirl as the Main Heroine, you would expect her story to reach the top would be a breeze but it was the opposite. With the high expectation to live up to and a Promise to fulfill with her rival Mejiro Mcqueen, Teio faced setbacks for the majority part of the 2nd Season. Compared to Silence Suzuka in season 1, Teio's struggle struck harder as faced consecutive hardships that crush her both physically and mentally to the brink that makes her almost retire. And things are not even easier for Mcqueen as she faced possibly even worse hardship. However both persevere in the end and Teio showed a miracle from her perseverance.

 Personally i am not that fond of Racehorse for anime theme as the activity are associated with shadier conduct of Elites to impoverish the lower class. While Uma Musume Pretty Derby probably overglossing certain aspect of the Entertainment, the second season could make a very touching story that resonates to many people to persevere through hard times like the current pandemic. In any case Uma Musume Pretty Derby second season is good enough to goad me trying the Gacha game which still only comes in Japanese version. As long as they keep the writer team of Uma Musume 2nd season, I think the third season should be well received and I think it is likely Daiwa Scarlet and Vodka getting the spotlight by that time. 

Uma Musume Pretty Derby Season 1

 

 Japanese animation had a knack of turning literally anything into cute girls. If they can turn Cosmic Horrors into cute anime girls, then racehorse is an easy task. Early this year Cygames gacha game, Uma Musume Pretty Derby stole the the spotlight featuring Horsegirls named after famous Race Horses as collectable waifus. Curious with the series, i gave the anime a try which was actually released back in 2018. Overall Pretty Derby is your typical Sports flavored cute kemonomimi girls doing cute things anime but the production value is high nonetheless and the take on Racehorses turned into cute girls works out surprisingly well. Uma Musume storyline follows the standard formula of the typical Japanese Sports Battle Manga where the gifted main protagonist which is Special Week for this one aims to be at the top of the sport, complete with overseas rival to be beaten, reflecting the collective unfulfilled wish.

 While i find Uma Musume fusing Idol business with Horserace to be rather weird combo, i do actually enjoy the race part since the passion is well conveyed. The first season probably took a safe route as the creator focus abit too much on main heroine, Special Week and her relationship with her best friend Silence Suzuka. As Special Week feels too vanilla due to her main heroine role, Personally i root for Mejiro Mcqueen, Grass Wonder and Teio which the last one really reminds me of Grani from Arknights. As of now i am moving on the second season which apparently feature Mcqueen and Teio in the spotlight and i think i could expect better with more liberty given from the 1st season success. If will definitely give a try if Uma Musume Gacha Game ever got official translation.

Yami Playing Monster Hunter Rise

  The main reason of my inactivity of past two weeks and i am really glad to be back into Monster Hunter verse once again with MHGU being my last MH Game in past few years. At first i didn't particularly care about this game, but being goaded by my old hunting buddies i had no choice but reciprocate the call. Being the truly new MH Title for Nintendo Switch, Monster Hunter Rise offers a solid new start for one of the best selling Capcom series to date. MH Rise begins with a very good first impression along with the best Questgiver waifus to date. In MHR, the Hunter starts in Kamura village which is pretty much improvised Yukumo village slapped with tons of Ninjas theme. There are so much to tell about the gameplay improvement mechanics but MHR, but notably those QoL enhancements from Monster Hunter World so no more stupid flexing pose when drinking potions! Also you get you own Dog companion called Palamute which you can ride to travel around the maps quickly which certainly make the Palicoes felt overshadowed.

 Overall Monster Hunter Rise provides a solid gameplay experience for Monster Hunter which sheds a lot of redundant baggage from previous generations. No doubt Monster Hunter as series is one of the few that managed to have consistent improvements throughout its iterations which is a great achievement for Japanese Console Gaming industry that has been slowly in deline. The only flaw for MHR would be its current limited roster especially on the low-mid range which is probably due to the game was rushed ahead 3-6 months ahead of its development, but at very least Capcom are still addressing this issue with constant update. While the G-Rank expansion will be coming eventually, MHRise content still worth more than its retail price despite its current roster is still about half of MHGU. At the moment i have cleared all village Quest and now slowly moving on the Hub Quests. Looking forward to get the Teostra set in this game once again!

Disgaea RPG

 While i thought my mobile game plate is quite full with 3 Gacha Game already, somehow i still managed to shove another one in, and this time it is Disgaea RPG based from Nippon Ichi's acclaimed SRPG series! I decided to give this game a try since my sister hyped about this game which got recent english port early this month. I remembered that Nippon Ichi back then was in dire strait when trying to release the Japanese version but fortunately made it through. If you are a fan of the console Disgaea series, you will find it right at home with Disgaea RPG as it still carry the spirit of Disgaea series despite its gacha format. The game is still a grindfest but still less then a chore for those who don't have time to grind in the console game anymore. I picked Valvatorez as my starter SSR since Disgaea 4 is my favorite among the title and waiting for Artina, Tyrant and Almaz eventual release.

While Disgaea is rather late getting into the Gacha mobile market, the gameplay has decent and its potential is sufficient enough to stay for a while. I don't really expect Disgaea RPG to be a top selling Gacha since the audience it caters is rather niche and the SSR rate are not particularly generous either dropping at 3% with no pity rate. At very least the game is quite dolphin friendly if you just want to spend a bit and not full on whale. 

The main reason i decided to throw some lot with Disgaea RPG lies with the potential it possess. The game has possibility to consolidate all of Nippon Ichi RPG series with Disgaea at its core, would love to see Makai Kingdom or Phantom Brave to make cameo appearance someday. Disgaea series remain to be one of the RPG series that has superb 2D sprite and this gacha game could make good reuse of the assets because a single game could only put in so much unit without getting bloated. From what i looked at the Japan version, Disgaea RPG managed to survive for two years so far so at very least i believe the english version will be around for a year.

Arknights Nendoroid 1598 Lappland

 As expected, the slightly crazy and obsessive Lupo Operator, Lappland chase after Texas after the latter get her Nendoroid treatment. With the Nendoroid Lappland release announcement you are now able to complete the Warehouse team consisting of Exusiai, Texas and Lappland. Scheduled for November release Nendoroid Lappland will be sold for 6300 Yen costing slightly more than Nendoroid Texas. Lappland's crazy expression will certainly complement Texas unamused expression faceplate.

 In Arknights, Lappland is a 5* Ranged Guard Operator who makes a good starter unit with the utility she brings into the field. While her sword design is rather weird, Lappland is one of the few melee unit capable of dealing arts damage with her skill and more importantly disable enemy ability with her strike which is a godsend when fighting against the pesky exploding spiders. In the storyline, Lappland is depicted to have unhealthy obsession toward Texas due to their times in crime family where they were at each others throat. What stands out from the Nendoroid version of Lappland is her Wolf Spirit accessory which is probably the reason why her Nendoroid cost 700 Yen more compared to Texas. While the pace is not quite as fast, we will still be seeing more Arknights Nendoroids in the future which likely be 6* operators which Angelina, Saria or Skadi comes to mind as the best candidate.
 

Space Runaway Ideon

 

 One of the infamous 80s mecha series made by Tomino that contributes to his moniker as "Kill em all" Tomino and Ideon no doubt serves as an important milestone for mecha series. My first exposure with Ideon was from SRW Alpha 3 where the GM God is the most powerful playable unit which had some nasty side effects if relying too much of its power. Space Runaway Ideon is easily one of the most depressing mecha anime out there as the main casts of the series tried to survive assaults by relentless enemy. 

 As a mecha series, Ideon is rather subpar with lackluster storyline, but the concept that it had is what makes Ideon noteworthy. Ideon's storyline is comparable to what happen if the story of Mobile Suit Gundam is just all about White Base getting chased by Zeons and nothing else. The concept that Ideon tried to convey however is interesting because it is about a destructive power that will consume everything in its path when two opposing sides endlessly fight in vicious cycle of hatred without giving a chance for peace. Evangelion and Shingeki no Kyojin is what comes to mind to series that had similar premise but each went with their own conclusions. As a mecha fans, Ideon is definitely worth a visit despite its weakness and personally i think it has some neat concept art that inevitably poorly executed. If you can't stomach the 38 Episodes slogfest, the movie should work i suppose but To Be Invoked definitely a must watch to see a proper conclusion of the mecha series that had GM God as its titular mecha.

Arknights 1/7 Exusiai Elite 2

 For once we are getting Arknights PVC figure distributed by GSC though this one falls on pricier side. The ever reliable pointman Sniper operator gets a 1/7 PVC treatment based on her Elite 2 Promotion illustration. The 1/7 Exusiai PVC Figure will be sold for 23000 Yen with November 2021 release schedule. I suppose the price range for this one is rather steep compared to the Arknights PVC Figure manufactured by APEX, but i suppose it has something to do with the products distributed by GSC Shanghai which cost extra compared to regular Japan release. In any case Exusiai Elite 2 PVC figure is a high end collectible for Arknights catered for those whale players and i will still wait POP UP Parade release for the series. As for Exusiai herself, she is a reliable Sniper operator who is belongs to the original Big 3 6* Operators but as of late, her performance is rather underwhelming due to prevalence of High armor enemies on later stages and the recent Rainbow 6 Collab Operator Ash seems to overshadow the Apple Pie Angel Sniper.

Shingeki no Kyojin manga finale

 One of the most popular shonen manga in the past few years has finally come to an end with its 139th chapter! I avoided Shingeki no Kyojin as the majority of the fandoms seems to be filled by edgy teens for otherwise a Shonen Manga series that had some good writing and particularly excel at emotional rollercoaster. The ending for Shingeki no Kyojin did not conclude with a high note, but it is still an acceptable one. Ultimately the atrocity that Eren carried upon himself as expected does not conclude the cycle of hatred between Eldian and the World, but it resets the playing field into a blank slate giving opportunity for both while the former still have an upper hand. At very least Eren's aim to save his friend's life still works.

 While the last chapter conclude majority of the plot, due to the rushed job nature it still leave some questions unanswered particularly Historia's baby father which is supposed to be a big deal. I think the finale was not in Isayama sensei full control as there many interests from all side and Kodansha definitely had a say on how the finale folded out. This is because Shingeki no Kyojin as a franchise are still worth milking and thus the conclusion are quite open-ended. I personally think one extra chapter could serve as good icing but i hope it won't lead to the same fate like Naruto with the Boruto debacle. In any case Shingeki no Kyojin still earn its place as a top tier shonen manga.

March 2021 Loot

 I think my spendings for Toys over past three months are quite overkill since i got myself a solid range of hauls in this time range. This months loot represents my collection target quite well which are balance of Mecha and FGO related merchandise with few outliers lies in between. The best catch of this month's loot is no doubt the SCM Sagittarius Aiolos which i had been looking for a playable substitute for the God Cloth version. I think i could cover reviews for the loots in this batch quite quick since i am planning a desert theme for future review which most would fit quite well. In any i really need to work on the Gundam Ensemble since the backlog has piled up to 4 volumes already.
 

Fate/Grand Order Figma 521-DX Okita Souji

  Max Factory is quite quick with this one, not more than 2 months after Figma Okitan, the vanilla Okita Souji followed up not to be beaten by her sister with a DX version no less. When the prototype was revealed, Figma Okita Souji is initially shown in her 2nd Ascension form which is the most appropriate choice for a 1/12 Action Figure when it comes. But Max Factory came up a good solution for Okita's Shinsengumi Haori which is one of the more iconic feature of this popular FGO Waifu servant. Figma Okita Souji will be scheduled for November 2021 release with 8000 Yen Price tag for the regular version and 10000 Yen for the DX.

 For additional 2000 Yen, the DX comes with the Shinsengumi Haori and another Katana as well as extra face plate. The Haori is made of Cloth Material which is the best choice when articulation is considered and should have good compatibility with other Figma and possibly Nendoroid Dolls as well. There are definitely rooms for improvement for more face expressions and Okita's Daishori pose, but probably that one will be reserved for Summer Okita Figma which had a good shot to make it as this year's summer exclusive. Nevertheless Max Factory definitely put their effort to make a Figma Product for Okita Souji to be an acceptable collectible for FGO fans. Hopefully Max Factory will give the same treatment for Lancer Artoria as well conisdering that one had even bigger stake.

Densetsu no Yuusha Da Garn The GATTAI Da-Garn X

 Ever since CM Corp went bust few years ago, Yuusha series has seen drought in new merchandises save for Gaogaigar and it was not until recent years that Manufacturers trying their chances with this classic Mecha series. In the past two years Bandai and Kotobukiya had released several Yuusha miniplas such as Minipla and Model kits, and now Goodsmile thrown in their lot with a bang with their product for the 3rd Yuusha series, Brave Legend Da Garn!

 This is rather ambitious project by GSC yet commendable as they are releasinga luxurious 25 cm Toy for Da Garn X complete with transformation gimmick under the GATTAI lineup. The Gattai Da Garn X will be scheduled for January 2022 release with 24900 Yen price tag. The Gattai Da Garn X comes with all of its main armament Da Garn Blade and Earth Cannon with the complete transformation gimmick for the vehicle mode which is a combination of Bullet Train, Jet Fighter and Police Car.

 The Gattai Da Garn X has the potential to be a worthy successor for the Takara's DX since the sculptor tried to have the Da Garn X proportion as faithful as possible compared to the Anime. The effort by GSC to lower the price as affordable as possible is very commendable because The Gattai Da Garn X would easily cost over 30000 Yen with its gimmicks and could have reached 50k if it is made by Sentinel. However the effort to lower the price comes with a cost as there are no Diecast materials for the toys and i think the articulation is probably compromised as well.

 In any case i sincerely wish The Gattai Da Garn X to be successful since it is necessary to pave out the future prospects of the Yuusha series. Because i would love to see other Yuushas like Fire Dagwon or Sky Goldran getting the same treatment as well. It seems that in near future, Da Garn X partner Gaon will be following up as well since Great Da Garn GX has been planned out ever since the idea for Da Garn X Toy was conceived. As for the next Yuushas, i think Mightgaine has a good shot too considering the prototype was shown a while ago.