Lucky Star, One Piece, Utawarerumono, and My Hime

As far as DVDs go it's been a slow month. I went on a small rightstuf.com shopping spree and picked up some new stuff. I started Utawarerumono a few weeks ago and I liked it. I don't think it's going to be something I'll ever re-watch again, but for $5 a volume I really don't care too much. I picked up the remaining four volumes of the series and plan to watch them soon.



















It seems like it's been awhile since I've bought a Lucky Star DVD. I believe all six have been released as of this writing and I've just got around to buying number five. Now, even though it's not officially out until tomorrow, rightstuf.com shipped out One Piece season 1 part 4 a bit early. I was really impressed with the third collection that I had to get the fourth as soon as possible. Collection 3 is easily my favorite, not counting number four as I haven't seen it yet. Also from righstuf.com I picked up all the My-Hime DVDs.




































Unbelievably, I was able to get all seven My hime DVDs, including the artbox, for only $24 at rightstuf.com. If that's not a deal I don't know what is. I really like the box, it's nice. Well that's all I have to show you this time. Thanks again for reading and take care.

PVC review: 1/7 scale Haruhi Suzumiya Beach Side (Kotobukiya)

As many of you know this PVC was the first I ever purchased. There were three things that drew me to this particular PVC. One was the fact that it was the main character from one of my favorite, if not my favorite, anime series. Another reason was its inexpensiveness; I believe I paid $59.90 not including shipping costs which, if you've ever bought a PVC before, is about twenty dollars less than average. The final thing that drew me to this PVC is the risque pose; Haruhi in a bikini? Sounds good to me! Haruhi actually comes with a removable shirt already on and it took me a fair amount of time to figure out how to get it off (you're supposed to pull her head off and lift the shirt off).

Now because this is indeed my first PVC I don't have much to compare it to, but I feel that this PVC was done well considering what it is. Her hair has been painted a perfect brown color and looks very realistic. In fact, her entire head has been done very well. The rest of her body is a bit harder to discuss because she's not wearing much so there's little I can say about it. Her skin has been painted a typical flesh-like color that one would except, and her bikini is a dark, almost black color. To be honest the figure is a bit boring as there isn't much going on here. In my opinion I think Kotobukiya is relying on sex appeal to sell this figure a bit too much, and my opinion is further reinforced by the fact that this figure sells for a bit less than others in its class. In fact I ordered Tamaki from To heart 2 and she is in an almost identical kneeling position and that PVC is going for $84.90 at play-asia.com. There is one other thing that takes away from the PVC a bit and that would be the base. Kotobukiya has used a cheap cork base for Haruhi to kneel on and when I touch it I feel I could snap it with ease. I'm not sure if cork bases are a standard for Kotobukiya because if they are that will definitely be a factor I take into consideration when buying another product from them.

When all is said and done I'm happy with this purchase; for the price I feel it was worth it. I'd definitely say that this a good PVC for me to start out with. If you like Haruhi, you like girls in their swimsuits, and you don't mind a figure that's a bit plain then this should make you happy. Now as I stated in the previous post, I'm going to be judging each PVC in a few categories: Paint and craftsmanship, packaging, price, and finally likability.

Paint and craftsmanship: 8/10
Packaging: 8/10
Price: 8/10
Likability: 7/10
Overall: 31/40

I would recommend this figure to anyone who likes Haruhi and is looking for an inexpensive PVC for whatever reason. As of this writing you can no longer get this at play-asia as it is sold out, but hlj.com has this in stock for $58.96 not including shipping. Now no review would be complete without some pictures. I took the liberty of taking a couple shots (with a camera phone, sorry) from a few different angles so that you can get a better idea of what the figure looks like. I've also included a picture of the cork base for you to look at. Thanks for reading, take care.

PVC Reviews

Due to my new interest in PVC statues I will be reviewing each PVC I purchase beginning with the Haruhi beach side PVC shown in a previous post. I will not be starting a brand-new blog specifically dedicated to PVC reviews because PVC's are so expensive and thus I will not be buying enough of them to warrant a new blog. In my reviews I will be discussing a variety of things that come to mind when I look at the figure and will also be judging them on four different catagories: Paint/Craftsmanship, packaging, price, and likability. I will be posting my first PVC review later today or tomorrow and am due to receive another shipment of DVDs from rightstuf.com tomorrow, so keep an eye out for two new posts.

One more thing: I'll also be changing the background color because I feel the pictures I post are hard to see on the black background. If you think the color I choose isn't very good feel free to suggest a new one. Thanks!

Best Buy fails me!

I was really looking forward to taking advantage of Best Buy's 50% off anime titles sale that they were holding in select stores. Unfortunately the three closest stores are NOT having this sale. Now, there's really only one close Best Buy (about fifteen miles). In my entire state of Oregon there are only five Best Buy's and the two farthest from me are having this sale. Now that my little rant is over here are my acquisitions for this month.





































Eh don't expect too much from this post DVD-wise, I'm still hurting from my last spending spree! Let's see here, we have Utawarerumono, bought from rightstuf.com in the bargain bin. Vol. 1 cost me $5 and Vol. 2+artbox cost me $7; great value! Death Note vol. 9 purchased for $13.77 with my 10% got anime discount plus the "soulful savings" deal they had going on. I finally got around to getting the next Naruto filler set. They're O.k. but nothing too exciting. Naruto went for just $27! Rounding out Bleach's Soul Society arc with Vol. 15; and the movie "The girl who leapt through time."

























Another four Naruto manga were released this month. Got them for under $5 each at rightstuf.com
























This is my very first PVC. Haruhi stands, or rather kneels, at 15cm's. She comes with a removable shirt that I took off <_< and put back in the box. Since then I've pre-ordered two more PVC's from play-asia.com Including a 30cm Konanta from Lucky Star! Unfortunately she won't be released until Jun 30th, so it's quite a wait. Well that's it for this post. I'll be posting again a few days after payday (lol). Thanks for reading, take care.