Clean Up Duty

I was suppose to make this post two or so days ago but due to being stuck with Jury Duty have not had the time to write anything. Finally free of the annoying service for three years, I can do my once-in-a-lifetime (read: getting off my sorry lazy arse) purchase update for all the folks planning to rob me of my anime goods and other worldly possessions interested in my horrible spending habits.

Anyway, last week saw me receiving a lot of packages including Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ v4 LE, Comptiq Selections v2, Fate/Stay Night PS2 LE, Comic Himekuri Figure: Image Girl Black Dress, and Fate/Stay Night Swimsuit Rider from Alter. As I have said many times over in some way, shape, or form pending bankruptcy is always fun and unfortunately goes hand-in-hand when your secondary job career in life is being an anime fan.

Probably why no one does it as their main job career of choice ^^;;

As always, click on any photos for the full sized version. Above photo is of the recent purchases, which also included a Tsukino Azusagawa Yakitate Japan PVC and Mai-HiME v6 not previously mentioned. And for those curious, yes my Ignis has started to lean too

Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ v4 LE box, front box cover featuring Hiromi Otama, the school’s volleyball captain voiced by the fine Megumi Toyoguchi.

Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ v4 LE box, back box cover which is also the cover image for the actual DVD case. Features everyone’s favorite underdog heroine Mina Yayoi (girl on the right) and her BFF Shana Nagi Momo Aikawa (Rie Kugimiya does her voice).

Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ v4 LE included figure, this time around Hiromi Otama. Eight in total if I remember correctly; gotta catch ‘em all!

Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ v4 LE front DVD case cover.

Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ v4 LE DVD and booklet.

Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ v4 LE booklet backside. If one didn’t know, one of the cooler features/extras of the Tokimeki OL DVDs are all the booklets’ backside being mini-posters of the featured cover girl of the month/release. Wish more releases were like this!

Impulse buy thanks to Mangaoh. Comptiq Selections v2 features all things Fate/Stay Night, specifically information and goods related to the recently released PS2 version of the game. Honestly the only reason I bought the magazine and incurred the $40USD lost was for the four “sticker posters” included. Was it worth the money? If you’re a fan of Fate/Stay Night or TYPE-MOON, yes, yes it was

My favorite, btw, has to be Rin and Saber in Chinese-style dresses. Good stuff.

The actual Comptiq Selections v2 magazine and box that included the four sticker posters and promo DVD (which I’ll get to in a moment). For the actual content of the magazine, it seemed pretty standard fare to me as it talked about the game, characters, had interviews with both the seiyuu cast and production staff, and art done by various famous(?) artists in the anime/TYPE-MOON realm.

The included DVD was nothing special. The only thing worth noting was a DVD “quality” video of the OP from the PS2 version of the game. Everything else was promo videos of other F/SN related products fans of the series already have seen and/or own (for example, F/HA OP/CM).

The TRSI order I mentioned in my previous entry. Full Metal Panic: TSR v1 was free while Mai-HiME v6 was the actual order. It may seem small but that is only because the other items in the order are currently back-ordered (Mai-HiME v7 and Haruhi v1 LE for those interested).

Fate/Stay Night [Realta Nua] LE for the PS2 (and PSP). Actually haven’t had time to really play either game, but it was nice having character voices for 90% of the game for the bit I did play. Oddly enough, actually have to enable the narrator’s voice as it is turned off as default (i.e. any lines actually spoken by Rin/Shirou are not voiced unless switched). Internal narration is not voiced however, which is kind of disappointing to me but understandable as Shirou’s seiyuu would probably have no voice if he had to read all the narration.

Haven’t touched the PSP game at all, which is basically a port of the same game included as one of the extra features in F/HA but fully voiced. Looks interesting but seeing as I sucked at the game when I played it initially and I never use my PSP nowadays, odds are I won’t be playing for awhile.

Also included, as noted in the top right of the photo, is a miniature Saber figure. There’s actually a full set of them with the other characters given out in various magazines pimping out the game. And as much as I am a decent F/SN fan, there’s just no way I could drop all the random cash to pick up the rest of them (with shipping and handling and the various release dates, could be around $100+USD).

For those interested in the game, unless you’re a hardcore or financially stable fan, I would suggest getting just the regular edition instead. The additional PSP game, however fun it may be, and Saber cup bust just isn’t worth the extra $30USD which could be spent buying a volume of the R1 DVD release or the recently released Revoltech G2 Saber toy.

Tsukino Azusagawa and Comic Himekuri Figure: Image Girl Black Dress PVCs. For the Tsukino figure, I can only recommend the awesome TASTE for better photos. Much to say, the figure was worth every penny I paid

For Himekuri, I recommend the figurine photographer GOD super rats. While his photos is of one of the variate colors available, his photos do the figure the justice it deserves. Simply put, the Himekuri line is probably one of the best starting figure a budding figurine collector could buy. The quality of sculpt plus low price point (TRSI + 10% off GotAnime = under $20USD) ensures one does not have to break the bank to enjoy a good quality figure… well, that is unless you have issues with small chested females of the 2D variety.

The monster Swimsuit Rider figure from Alter. The above shot was taken for comparison; the background monitor is my 24″ LCD while the Saber figure on the left is from the same line of Swimsuit F/SN figures Alter has been releasing. As one can probably tell, Rider is HUGE.

Rider taken out of the box. It’s good Alter does keep the figure relative to scale, which I think the Swimsuit Girls of F/SN are at 1/7, as Rider is suppose to be one of the taller characters in the series. It definitely would have been weird if she was head-to-toe in height as Saber, whom is actually one of the shorter characters in F/SN.

Overall, while not offering as many accessories as Saber, Rider makes up for it in the shear awesomeness of her size and general sculpt. I’ll have to say, while I know jackshit about figures and quality, Rider is probably one of the finer figures I currently have in my collection. I have no real rhyme or reason to state that as such, but just that my gut feeling is telling me so…

… though I do admit I’m a little afraid of one thing. Rider’s hair feels like it can break if one manhandles the figure too much or accidentally drops it (which knowing my luck, I’ll do). Then again, such worries come with the territory if you’re a figure collector so I’ll deal.

Before I forget, I should add one humorous note about the figure. When my mom got a look at the figure, she admitted it looked pretty nice (she off/on collects dolls)… and had big boobs. I think she also said something about wishing hers were that big back in the day but it probably would have been an issue as she got older…

… humorous, yes. Also proving my family is way too open and embarrassing, definitely :aorz: