Anime in 2009

3 out of 4 character from anime i watched in July 2009.

Even less than 24 hours, as i write this article, this year 2009 will reach its end and we’ll welcome a new year 2010. And here i am bringing you another recap post, it’s about anime in 2009.

Anime in 2009 could be good and could be bad. I myself have so much experience about anime this year compared to last year, since i devoted myself to anime more than games, figures, or even blog post in October (yeah, one of the reason my blog is in vacuum state is anime). I even ate 12 series in 40 days, while I was at my girl’s hometown. Except, most of the anime i watched were backlogged anime. In the past fall season, i tried to get myself watching anime “ongoing style” (download then watch). But The backlog anime and school projects didn’t let me do that. Instead, i got almost all of the season also went to my backlog list.

K-On and Saki are in my list.

Anyway, in this 2009 recap, I’ll put 9 worth to mention anime title because its goodness or its badness accoding to me:

• K-On!
• Saki
• Shangri-La
• Bakemonogatari
• Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
• Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu 2
• CANAAN
• Kampfer
• Seiken no Blacksmith

Let’s get in depth of each anime.

Moe moeeee…. Kyun!!!

K-On! is a controversial anime, just like Haruhi and Lucky Star. K-On is so popular that it could bring so many lovers and haters of this anime. I myself still enjoy watching this anime, because it got its own humor, music, and girls. Akiyama Mio is my favorite, and she’s still in the top row of my favorite character. I don’t know what you haters would think, but the fact that I’m enjoying K-On doesn’t change. How about you? Is this anime in your 2009 worth to mention list?

Moe mahjong!

Saki has more lovers than haters i think. This anime brought moe to serious mahjong table. Worth to mention in 2009? Yes… This anime made my day, and this anime even made me learn to play mahjong XD . My favorite from here: Takei Hisa. Saki could be one of the best anime in 2009, but i don’t think it would be the best of the best. The most controversial things in Saki is: IT NEEDS ITS F***IN 2ND SEASON!!!!

No more moe…

Shangri-La is IMO one of 2009 anime that needs to get more attention. The first episode gave you a girl who can destroy a tank with her boomerang. And then this anime gave you 2 transsexual, 1 little tomboy girl, and some other weird looking people. Yeah, this anime isn’t about character design or cute moe girls, it’s about deep story. Some of you maybe bothered with those 2 transsexual, but putting that aside, Shangri-La got a good story, believe me.

I love those two. XD

This anime wasn’t even on my list when the season started. But after seeing some art and asking my friends’ opinion, i put Bakemonogatari on my list, and watch it right away, since at that time, Bakemonogatari already reached episode 13. Well, you could say that I’m suddenly in love with Senjougahara Hitagi, especially after her “I love you” confession in Mayoi Snail ark. The anime itself brought a unique style of art and story. I guess this is also one of the best anime in 2009.

Only my railgun!

Before continuing, i should let you know that i just watched 3 episodes of this anime. But i knew it right away, this anime would be a great anime. Before Railgun, there was Index anime, but it seems that Index has lower screen time than Misaka. I myself already put Misaka as my favorite character from Toaru Majutsu no Index, and i think most of you did that before. So the airing of Railgun could be a great moment for you Misaka lovers. You could get action packed railgun action, yuri action, and some cute girls around.

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. I’ll be waiting for this.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya second season is i think the most controversial anime in 2009. While everyone expect too much on this, KyoAni gave them shit. I don’t know what was KyoAni thinking. They made this second season worth only 7 GODDAMN UNIQUE EPISODES!!! First they made a fake schedule, then they made EIGHT SIMILAR ENDLESS EIGHT EPISODES, and then they made only 1 arc worth of 5 episodes: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya. Is this anime worth watching? I don’t know… But KyoAni, also made us expect more Haruhi in MOVIE format: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. Will this movie bring us more tragedy? We’ll see in 2010.

Canaan and Alphard.

TYPE-MOON lover? Not really, I’m not a TYPE-MOON lover, but so far i enjoyed watching anime from TYPE-MOON visual novel: Tsukihime and Fate Stay Night. But CANAAN isn’t a good one. CANAAN did bring a good shoot out action in the first episodes. But next episodes? No… it worse. CANAAN filled with some weird characters and deep heavy story. Not sure if i didn’t enjoy this because i don’t understand, but the fact doesn’t change: i don’t enjoy this anime, so this anime is a list of disappointment in 2009.

Yuri, action, and ecchi.

To tell you the truth, i only watch this anime only for 2 episodes. I tried to guess what’s inside. Don’t know if it’s worth mentioning in 2009, but Kampfer brought me my favorite genre: Yuri. Kampfer content is easy to guess: yuri, harem, ecchi, action, and some moe stuffs. Standard stuffs for otaku. Is it great? You decide…

It’s anime about sword and blacksmith.

Once again, i only watch this anime only for 3 episodes. I can’t say that this anime is a good anime. But to tell you the truth: it’s fun seeing Cecily Campbell being bullied by Luke XD . I still don’t know what or how the story’s going but surely, Seiken no Blacksmith could be one of the let down in 2009. Still want to watch it? Me: I’m going for it. How about you?

Also waiting for episode 14 and 15 of Bakemonogatari: continuation of Tsubasa Cat.

Well, that’s it for the anime recap! Expect for the last post of this year: figure recap, coming up tonight! So… see you later!!

Games in 2009

Less than 48 hours, this year will reach its end and we’ll welcome the new year 2010. So it’s time for me to do some recaps. I’ll go with my games in 2009 first, mainly for PS3 games. Let’s see… I have been playing PS3 for 1 and a half years. And after doing some counting, the number of games i have so far is 23 games (excluding some I’ve sold).

Some cuties in Hot Shot Golf.

So in this 2009, you surely though that i bought more games than last year, since last year i only had my PS3 for half year only. But surprisingly enough, i bought less game in this year, compared to 2008. Maybe because i got my hands full on figure and anime more than games. Anyway, here’s the list of games me and my bros bought in 2009, chronologically:

• Golden Axe (my 2nd bro): bought around the first half of 2009.
• Valkyria Chronicles (me): first half of 2009.
• Eternal Sonata (me): first half of 2009.
• Burnout Paradise expansion: downloaded around first half of 2009.
• Hot Shot Golf (my 1st bro): bought in July 2009, in his trip to Singapore.
• inFamous (my 1st bro): bought in July 2009, in his trip to Singapore.
• Oblivion (my 2nd bro): bought in July 2009.
• BlazBlue (me): bought in August 2009.
• Cross Edge (me): bought in August to September 2009 (soon after its English release).
• Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time (my 2nd bro): bought in October to November 2009 (also soon after release).

Nice? I don’t think so… Some nice titles were released in 4th quarter of 2009. And because of my financial condition and school projects, i held myself back from buying those games.

Polka! The worst character in game battle wise, but she’s one of my main party character.

Next is about what games I’ve finished in 2009. As i remembered, there were not much games I’ve finished in 2009, since this year is filled with school projects and anime for me. So here’s my list:

• Golden Axe: finished a few weeks after bought.
• inFamous: finished a few weeks after bought.
• Valkyria Chronicles: took more than half year to finish it.
• Eternal Sonata: went super fast with my bro after i left it untouched for some months.
• RACF A Crack in Time: finished quickly, a pretty short game for a Ratchet and Clank game.

First battle of Cross Edge, with Morrigan, Yuuto, and Mikoto.

Short list huh? Yes… And this list leave another list: “Still playing it list”, here goes:

• Eternal Sonata: Encore mode, 2nd playthrough, re-run, whatever you name it.
• Cross Edge: i reached the end of 1st world and met Etna and Prinny. Still too far from end, but i left it for a month.

I also left a game ALMOST UNTOUCHED: Need for Speed Undercover. Don’t know why, but i didn’t feel like playing it.

I’d love to see these hot babes in action! Ayaneeeee!!!

Next, a plan to buy list, with the first list “available games that i want to buy”:

• Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2: i need to wait my wallet to recover from some damages. Will buy it in January 2010 for sure.
• Agarest Generation of War: the store owner offered me this and got interested. Will buy it in January 2010 together with NGZ2.
• God of War Collection (my bro): he’s into GoW games, so he want to buy GoW collection, since it’s kinda cheap. Will buy it in January 2010 with my 2 games.

And the 2nd list for my plan to buy list “not yet released wish list”:

• Final Fantasy XIII: I’m no longer a FF fans, but i think my bro will play it.
• Gran Turismo 5: my bro will get it for sure, he’s a die hard GT fans.
• God of War 3: my bro will get this too.
• Tales of Vesperia: if there’s an English version I’ll surely bought it.
• Ar Tonelico 3: if there’s an English version.
• Trinity Universe: if there’s an English version.
• White Knight Chronicles: the English version for my 2nd bro.

Hope 2010 will be a better year for PS3 games.

Aahh… Ridge Racer 7, so classic…

Oh, forgot to mention that I’ve sold 3 games:

• Ridge Racer 7
• Enchanted Arms
• RACF Quest for Booty

Sold each for IDR 150k (around USD 18). RR7 itself is already The Best version, so that price is around its half of the first price. Enchanted Arms was also bought in cheap price since it was a second hand game at IDR 250K (around USD 28). RACF Quest for Booty again was also bought in cheap price, it’s a small adventure and it’s cheap at IDR 350k (around USD 30).

Go Squad 7! Raep Defeat Selvaria at all cost!

So we reached a conclusion here, the best, the worst, and stuffs like that:

• Best games 2009 my version: Valkyria Chronicles.
• Best games 2009 my 1st bro version: Oblivion GOTY.
• Best games 2009 my 2nd bro version: BlazBlue.
• Worst games 2009 my version: Golden Axe (eventhough i never played it, decided only by watching).
• Worst games 2009 my 1st bro version: Golden Axe (he too didn’t play it, decided only by watching).
• Worst games 2009 my 2nd bro version: Golden Axe.
• Notable achievement 2009: my bro got Big Boss emblem in MGS4 (although MGS4 was released in 2008, he got the emblem in 2009).

Noel and her Astral Heat!!! Taokaka is over. XD

That’s it for the games recap! Expect more post about recap for anime and figures. See you!!

Christmas presents for me and from me

Early Christmas presents.

Christmas has passed, but i haven’t posted anything about Christmas present. Well, you could say that these presents are early Christmas presents. Yes… the presents are: iPod Touch 3rd generation 64gb and a 3.5” Western Digital HDD drive with 1.0TB of capacity. I myself bought these items around 2 weeks before Christmas, so they’re early Christmas presents.

Western Digital 1.0TB 3.5” Harddisk drive.

I barely have any disk spaces left in my current Harddisk. My disks are filled with giant development software and servers, like Microsoft Visual Studio, SQL Server, MySQL, Apache Server, Oracle, Java NetBeans IDE, GlassFish and Sun Application Server. Not only that, but i have a 500GB HDD full of anime. I do plan to use this 1.0TB HDD mainly for anime. Nice huh? I can’t say that I’m a full fledged anime fans and collector, because my friend Noel has THREE of this thing filled with anime and manga stuffs!

iPod Touch 3rd Generation 64GB.

Next, and the best item is: iPod Touch 3rd Generation with 64GB capacity. iPod Touch itself has already released more than 1 month ago, but the 64GB version just reached Indonesia at the first week of December. I already planned on buying this at November, but i never planned on buying the 64GB one. Initially, i planned on buying the 32GB version, but after giving a second thought on the price, i decided on 64GB. FYI, i bought this with IDR 3.9 millions (around USD 410).

Inside the iPod Touch: manua, USB cable, earphone.

iPod Touch did help me a lot in optimizing my idle time. I got a lot of “20 minutes wasted time” in my life, especially because of my part time job in campus as an lab assistant. So i just put all my anime in iPod Touch, and watch the episodes while i got 20 minutes unused spare time. Waiting is a pain in the ass, but iPod Touch made the wait better.

iPod Touch is supper thin.

iPod Touch got a nice design, and it’s waaaaayy thinner than iPhone. I myself never really know iPhone actual size, but after i bought this and made a comparison with my friend’s iPhone, i realize that iPod Touch is super thin.

Back side of the iPod Touch: cool!

The back side of the iPod is reflective. I can even shot my Teana Lanster by focusing my camera to Teana’s reflection on iPod’s back. Too bad, my oily hands easily made oil marks on the back. That’s why a week later after buying, i also bought an external case, to protect the back side, from oil marks and scratch.

Senjougahara Hitagi as the album art, sweet!

As Expected, iPod Touch isn’t just your everyday portable music and video players. I’ve downloaded some application in it, including: Facebook, eBuddy, Google, BlogPress for Blogger, Wikipedia, Photoshop.com mobile, and some other games. I also put almost all of my mp3s and some encoded anime episodes in my iPod.

Well, that’s it for now. More post coming, so see you!

Surabaya Toys, Games, and Comic Fair 2009 loots

Loots, again…

After having fun with my friends in Sunday, and continuing my projects today, i decided to get my blog running again. I did plan to fill this blog with at least 1 post per day, but too bad yesterday, i was too busy playing around and i didn’t get any time to make it. So yeah… Here it is… Continuing last post about STGCF '09, i brought you my loots from that event: Nendoroid Riannon and Nendoroid Nankyoku Sakura.

Nendoroid Riannon and Nendoroid Nankyoku Sakura.

Bought this from Wajuwa with fair price: each for IDR 400k (about USD 37). So they took me total: IDR 800k (about USD 74). Pretty nice buy, i didn’t have to take out too much money because they’re nendoroids. As i said before, there were not much good PVC around, if there were some, i already had them in my collection.

Nendoroid Riannon, my girl likes her.

Riannon isn’t my favorite character from the anime, Tears to Tiara. Bought her because my girl like it. At first i was against it, but after giving a second thought, i bought her. She’s cute anyway!

Riannon in 3 version: cute, action, funny.

Pretty much normal parts for nendoroids: Hat and the accessories, wand, Riannon herself with 3 faces: smile, action, and dizzy face, 2 pairs of arms, 3 pairs of hands, the base, and a magic circle. Talk about base, i guess nendoroid did get improved on this part. My Haruhi base was broken and can’t support Haruhi anymore. Yuki Base can’t even support her normally. But the latest nendoroid got better base.

Riannon is cute!

And here’s Riannon! Pretty cute eh? Yeah, damn cute. Oh BTW, did you notice at the Christmas special post? Riannon and Sakura Nankyoku were already there. Yes… I did these photograph a week before Christmas, but i was just too late to post this, that’s all.

Riannon magic!!

Dunno why, but i never really like to use my nendoroids for their action pose. I always like them in their cute version or funny version. It’s nendoroid we’re talking about, so they have to be cute! I usually use the weirdest face for each nendoroids display.

Riannon is funny!!

Now this is funny! I like this face, and currently displaying her like this. The weirder the face, the easier to make a good story out of it. Nendoroids like Sakura Nankyoku, Shana, Louise, and some other i forgot to mention has a good set of face.

And we move on to the next part: Sakura Nankyoku.

Sakura Nankyoku.

I never knew who’s Sakura Nankyoku or what anime she come from. I just bought her because I’ve seen a lot of Sakura Nankyoku photo. I like her funny faces, ahoge, and her “weird” equipment. That’s why i bought her! She’s funny, and nendoroid supposed to be funny!

Weird equipments, but funny.

She came with 3 faces: smiling face, a (o^o) face, and an angry face, 2 pairs of arms, a base, a pick, and a helmet. The helmet and the pick themselves are already a weird set of nendoroid equipments. To put on her helmet, you have to take off her ahoge, pretty funny. XD

You can make good story with her.

With Sakura Nankyoku’s faces and cuteness, i can make some good story. Sakura’s (o^o) face and her angry face made Christmas special’s story chapter 1 a good one. Other than that, i also have more story below, except i didn’t take my time to make a 4koma out of it.

Shana came and bullying Louise and Riannon.

Sakura saw it!

And she tries to stop Shana from bullying them. XD

My nendoroid army! Fear them!!!

Well yeah, that’s all my loots post. Lately I kept buying nendoroids from toys events around, since no more good PVC around. Then, i tried to gather and count them all, and i got 10 nendoroids at total. Nice? I don’t know… Optic as a figma fanboy got himself 42 figma, me? I’m not a nendoroid fanboy, but it’s fun to collect them, so 10 a nice number for me. XD

So yeah, that’s it for today! I’ll be back for more, so see you at the next post!

Surabaya Toys, Games, and Comic Fair 2009

STGCF ‘09.

Since Christmas Specials is over, it’s time to get back into normal otaku post. This time, i brought you an event coverage. This is Surabaya Toys, Games, and Comic Fair 2009. It was held in BG Junction, the same place i won a photo competition. Total running days of this event is 9 days, starts from December 5th and ended in December 13th.

This kind of events are getting worse.

I’m starting to get the feeling that events like this in Surabaya are starting to lose its popularity. These kind of events are no longer a good place for us otakus to do treasure hunting. In the first event ever, i could stand around watching these place in 3 hours. But now, I left this place less than 1 hour after i was arrived. I heard from Wajuwa’s owner that this event was some kind of backup event (plan B).

Plan B event.

I won’t ramble about how much American toys took away Japanese PVC figures place in the event. I’m here to focus on how they did an epic fail on plan A. As i said above, this event is somewhat a backup plan. The first plan was to held an event in PTC, just like Toy Magz Fair 2008. PTC is a good place for event like this, it has a lot of people coming, and PTC is one of the best shopping mall in Surabaya. They already planned to held the event there in September – October, but i heard they failed to negotiate with PTC management and that means they failed to get the place.

BG Junction is another alternative to held this event, it’s cheap, but this place is lame and low on people. It’s a worse alternative, but i guess they think that “this is better than nothing”. While they failed on getting good place, they still managed to get this event running, i guess that’s better than nothing.

Epic fail? maybe.

Back there, i still thought that the PTC event would still be held a week after this event. So i decided to went cautious and proceed carefully with the treasure hunting. After i met Wajuwa’s owner, i asked him about that PTC event. I was shocked after hearing his answer. He said that the event is cancelled and he explained the reason to me. Yes… it’s about the place. They didn’t get it so it was cancelled and this event was their backup plan.

The whole Shuraki for IDR 3.5 millions, around USD 300.

I think these figures on the photo above are the best treasure i could found. Five Shuraki, damn great! The problem is, you have to buy the whole set. The store owner didn’t sell it individually. Price? It’s IDR 3,5millions, maybe around USD 300. If you were there, will you get them all with that price?

Talk about treasure hunting, I remembered the first time i went on an event like this, i was very excited and could came everyday. It’s Surabaya Toys Festival 2007, i already had my SLR but this blog wasn’t here alive, so i didn’t have any coverage for the event. I came 3 days straight but only bought 1 item, i haven’t start seriously collecting stuff back there.

The next event was still from Surabaya Toys Festival, the 2008 version. The real hunting began there. I got 2 figures from that event. And continuing Toy Magz Fair 2008, with 4 figures as the loots. That’s one pretty crazy and i think that event was the event with best Japanese PVC figures around.

There were still more events held soon after STF ‘08, but they were pretty much disappointing events. And starting from that time, i never bought anything but figures from Wajuwa. Other following events were just total BS just like this event.

Wajuwa’s stand, filled with Japanese PVC as always.

Well, no matter what kind of event being held, Wajuwa never let me down. They always come with a lot of figures, a gold mine for us figures hunter. See photo above? There were a lot of nice figures (but i already had all the figures i like). I saw: Kannagi, Fauna, Gift Saber, Akashiya Moka, Haruhi Gekisou, Mikuru Gekisou, Unity Yuno, Alter P3 Mitsuru, Alter P3 Elizabeth, and some other old items. Nice, but i already had all the stuffs i want.

Wajuwa’s nendoroid collection.

At the side of the stand, Wajuwa had 9 nendoroids on display. He asked me which one you already have? And i said Kureha… Soon after that he opened the case and showed me all the nendoroid he had. I was interested in Kagamiku, Miku, Riannon, and Nankyoku Sakura. It was hard picking which one to bought between 4 of them. In the end i bought 2, expect the loot coverage in the next post.

Game club gathering.

This event had the word “Games” in it, so there were some games competition and gathering for Surabaya’s games club: Dugem (Dunia Game –Game’s World-). Tekken 6 was the popular game back there, so they focused mainly on playing Tekken 6 in PS3. There were also people playing unknown Wii games.

Well that’s it for this event coverage. Expect the haul at the next post. See you!!

Christmas Special part 3 ~ 2009

Christmas Special part 3, last part.

Hi and welcome back! It’s the third part and the last part of Christmas Special 2009 from sonicver2. Before we start, i have to inform you that this part doesn’t have 4koma. Too bad i have a limited time for the photo session, so yeah… other than 2 4komas, these photos are all i have left. So here it is, Christmas with the nendoroids!

Nendoroid’s Christmas!

I did this photo session yesterday, the noon before Christmas eve. Made the snow from PA’s foam. Those foams came with your PA package, so i took those foams out, make it into small pieces, and use it as the snow. Pretty nice result, except i didn’t have a better preparation for the photo session.

So who’s the cutest? I still like Kureha the most.

So how’s your Christmas? As i wrote this article, Christmas day is starting to reach its end (it’s almost 10PM), so yeah i can safely say that Christmas day almost over. In the Christmas eve, i went to church at 6PM, over at 8, and went to cafe with my family just to hang out for a while, got back at home at 11PM. Today, i woke up at 9AM, go to church (again) at 10AM, and over at 12AM. After that, i went to my girls place and go on dating until 9PM. And after got back at home, i started to write this.

Haruhi stuck on the tree.

I myself think that my Christmas is pretty normal, so how’s yours? I saw Adun was enjoying his Christmas with his Erika, pretty nice! While Anony was enjoying his Christmas with Kagami. Or Optic’s Christmas with his Botan? Or even providing us with Santa girls like phossil did? It seems everyone had their own partner to enjoy Christmas :D. Well no matter, i guess we would do anything to make ourselves enjoy this day.

Shamisen is also stuck on the tree.

No matter what are you doing, this day is always be one of the great day every year. So here i am again want to say: Merry Christmas!!

Anyway, the next 4 photos are done by my girl. She said these 4 photos are the continuation of my 4koma ch. 2. Enjoy!

Mikuru and Ryouko are posing in front of the Christmas tree.

They saw Riannon stuck on the tree.

I don’t know what happens here. XP

And all of the sudden Riannon and Shamisen fell down on the ground with Mikuru and Ryouko watching them.

Well that’s it for this Christmas Special! Thanks fo tuning in! Expect for another normal otaku life post. See you!~