We had a three day weekend in Manila and I was caught by surprise when my mailman knocked at my door last Saturday telling I had a package. He gave me TWO big boxes of things. One box, we won’t be really concerned about, but the other… WHOO BOY! It’s too cute to pass up.
Let’s just say that last Friday, there’s a riot in Akihabara for something yellow and something cute. As announced sometime ago, those who will buy the Limited Edition of Moyashimon Vol. 6 will receive a 40cm A. Oryzae stuffed toy. Months ago, I was struggling between getting this or getting the DVD stuffed toy. The DVD stuffed toy was a palm’s width and when you press it, it says “Kamosuzo!” It was cute and all, but somehow at the last minute, I backed out and didn’t decide to buy it. On the other hand, there was that 40 cm. cuteness which I thought was too big for you to actually enjoy as a bacteria. Time came and went and I was supposed to cancel my order again at the last minute, but my reliable vendor has already shipped it. I was partially aghast, then thoughts of “Imma sell it when it arrives.” came to my head.
Then it arrived Saturday, just a day after its release in stores in Japan. YES!!1 I’ve got this huge box and when I opened, the cutest and LARGEST A. Oryzae just popped out and I can totally hear him/it screaming “Kamosuzo!!” It was too cute to pass up that I literally washed my hands and my face just to cuddle the BIG BACTERIA!
A. Oryzae was so cute!! He was so cute that all my thoughts of selling the damn bacteria just disappeared. Funny how it had a big big box for Oryzae and right at the bottom was the manga for volume 6 of Moyashimon plus a clear file that served both as book cover. Sweet. Really sweet.
A friend of mine has told me that I’m picky to buy mangas for because I always enjoy the limited edition stuff. Well, partially true. The Japanese have a knack for creating GREAT limited edition stuff. I mean, for a doll bigger than my head plus a manga and a clear file, that’s got to be the best 2,500 yen (1000 peso) buy that I have ever bought!! My word of advice, if you love a series too much and YOU KNOW they’re releasing something that is limited edition and it’s to your fancy, buy it without regret. It’s bound to be good.
I’m totally happy with my moyashimon buy! :3 Had I known moyashimon when volume 4 came out with those chibbi bacteria figures, I would have bought it. ><;; But this deal is good enough for me. I wonder if US Publishers would ever release limited goods like this with their manga. I’ve heard about the Naruto cabinet, but other than that, have there been fun ones released with the manga? The Japanese Nodame comes out with a special audio CD for their supposed ‘art book’ that contains feature on the music and stuff. Volume 18 came with a keychain. Hmm, I wonder when US would start having cool stuff like that. I might be buying more english mangas if they do. I’m such a sucker for stuff that way. XD
Popularity: 2% [?]
- This is why I love BK1 [↩]
I’m sure many of you are reading through Strangerataru’s Illustrated Guide to Weekly Shounen Jump. It briefly looks into the rich history of popular and significant titles in Shounen Jump. Upon reading it, I cannot help but feel completely nostalgic. Particularly even more nostalgic with regards to how Jump has ‘nurtured’ a fujoshi culture throughout the years. A lot of the titles mentioned in the article have been been important breeding grounds for fujoshis. Whether young or old, they all started somewhere. And many of these fujoshis would start their first doujins out of inspiration from a Jump title.
Feeling inspired, I’m writing a series of posts that looks into the relation of Jump’s top titles and how this magazines have helped culture a demographic that fantasizes their heroes as lovers. We’ll look at how Jump has unknowingly set fire unto the hearts of girls and made them grab their pens and wrote page upon page of parodies of their favorite Jump titles. Just like Strangerataru, we’ll look at it through the periods and see how they stumbled upon fujoshis, their nonchalance towards the culture, and eventually how they embraced and acknowledge their following. So, let’s look at it this way.
1. 1968-1979: Innocent Beginnings
2. 1980-1984: The Captain Tsubasa Fantasy
3. 1985-1989: Men and their poses and cosmos
4. 1990-1994: Move aside Son Goku, it’s all about Rukawa x Hiei x Kenshin. TOTALLY!
5. 1995-1999: You can’t shake them down.
6. 2000-present: Giving it up to fujoshis
To start things off, we’ll look at the beginnings of Jump and the beginnings of Fujoshi culture. And so our story begins in 1968 until 1979.
Popularity: 39% [?]
Well, I never had a chance to really read anything interesting lately because I’ve been busy at work and I’m far too exhausted at home to actually grab a manga and start reading. Although, in between watching some television series, my hands got to work — sanding, sculpting, painting, and polishing some customs for my dear fangirling heart. The need to be crafty took me over and in the end, I ended up creating possibly the two and only anime customs I’ll ever do for my collection.
For some while, I’ve been toying with the idea of creating some Nodame customs for my pinky:st dolls. I love Nodame to pieces and Nodame pretty much owns my reading and listening lately — like the past 3 years. lol. And yes, rabid fangirl much, the only series I’m willing to spend quite a lot on… not unless they’re releasing Kaworu Nagisa dolls… or something similar to that. But yeah, my hands likes to get busy and I ended up creating some Nodame stuff.
Nodame was made with the pink dress, piano bag, and mongoose mask. Chiaki, on the other hand came with his long-sleeved polo shirt, a suit, an orchestra suit, and a casual black shirt (that yellow stripe has been stripped!). I’m still asking my friends if they’re willing to give their violin cases. I’ve been tempted to have some toothpicks It was such fun creating it. Chiaki’s by far the hardest due to his hair and his face. lol. Before it was painted I was thinking “He reminds me of Cloud.” But I guess it all sorted out in the end. I have the kind face Chiaki and here’s the snarky faced Chiaki. lol. I KNOW! I feel like a rabid fangirl, but it’s true! Nothing beats having to play with your own Nodame and Chiaki. Mukyaa! <3
Perhaps the final straw of my Nodame fangirling was my weekend project. Actually I started this 6 months ago when I didn’t have a sewing machine yet. I was trying to handstitch Nodame’s bag. However, as I had to stitch larger pieces, it become more taxing. So I stopped until I managed to save some money for it. And well, yeah. The piano bag. Fixed and made, although on the wrong cloth, but still fixed for enjoyment.
Yes. My fandom and my hobby owns me. If this ‘crafty’ bug keeps up, as my friends bet, I might start making own Masumi already. lol. I hope not! Although I don’t mind!! XDD In the meantime, enjoy the other images I have of my Nodame customs. God, being a fangirl can be scary much. lol.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Last week’s highlight for me, other than receiving some great mangas from a friend (and my Touch OST! ;w;) is looking at the line up of Jump Square. To be honest, as much as I owe a lot of my fandom to Shounen Jump, recently, the titles in the magazine has gone quite stale. Maybe I just grew up. Young Jump is fine, but can be a little brutal on my end. Could Jump Square be just the right amount of adventure, humor, and maturity that I’m looking for?
The manga has quite a lot of things to look forward to. First would be 3nen Zgumi Ginpachi-sensei! After giving my heart and spleen to Gintama (and I think half my brain), this crazy spinoff of the series is definitely something to look forward to! 3nen Zgumi Ginpachi-sensei takes the characters of Gintama and puts them in a classroom setting. Gintoki is now Ginpachi-sensei and he usually leads the class in insane homeroom activities. It has been published as a novel, but I’m not so sure if this means that the novel will extend into a manga series now in jump square or it probably means that it will have some stories written like short novelettes for the series. I’m betting on the latter one since Sorachi is a lazy monkey. XDD So yeah, this is one reason to read Jump Square.
Next would be Gag Manga Biyori. Another genius of a manga short is making a comeback. The humor and crazy puns in this series is gold. Again, it’s old man’s humor and may involve some cultural studies, but its a great way in looking to what a gag manga is like in Japan. <3
The other mangas are still rather questionable as I really haven’t read them before (but they do look nice). Nobuhiro Watsuki will have his story, Another Tale of Frankenstein, continued here. I wonder if it will rise to Rurouni Kenshin. Takeshi Obata will be drawing again, but this time with Masanori Morita. I don’t know if this will be good or what but if a mangaka works with another mangaka (and without corporate intervention!) maybe… just maybe… Obata will definitely bring to life his New Hope award from the Tezukas. A new popular anime, Claymore, will also be in this magazine and might be the magazine’s carrying story. Yoko Kamio of Hana Yori Dango fame will be writing for the magazine as well. There is a ‘Tales of’ story released in the magazine too… so… it could be fun. Could be.
In short, Jump Square is trying to show that Shueisha’s line of shounen mangas is more than just Shounen Jump. The inclusion of Yoko Kamio might be there to even appeal to some mature female readers out there, perhaps in the same way that Yoshinaga Fumi writes for Morning. Could this be Shueisha’s answer to the popular Morning or Afternoon? Well, we’ll see on November 2 if they match up.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Fujoshis run wild because today is your holiday! Today we are celebrating Yaoi no Hi, an otaku holiday derived from the 801 combi that represents ‘ya-o-i’ in Japanese culture.
To celebrate things, they’ve released Tonari no 801chan2 in Akiba! Tonari no 801chan is a book based on the mangas done by Ajiko Kojima in her blog. Her comics are hilarious, but the book has more extras on 801chan’s crazy fujoshi antics. lol. I think a DVD with their stories will be released soon. September 5? The premise is the story of a guy who has a fujoshi girlfriend and how he gets by in getting along with her. There is also another novel, Fujoshi Kanojo, which has already sparked the interest of movie makers. lol. I guess the Densha Otoko craze has now turned to the fujoshi side.
Speaking of which, Mangacast announced before that Mediablasters is licensing “Mousou Shoujo Otaku Kei”. I had the chance to read the manga thanks to a friend and love it to the core. It’s the story about this guy who fell in love to this fujoshi. The fujoshi is… really weird to an extent. She’s quite hardcore with nothing but her pairings and her doujinshis at the center of her universe. How the guy tries to win the girl’s heart is hilarious! XD I learned a lot about fujoshi culture, and laughed my heart out when the girl said “Can you call me Shinji-kun instead!?” XD People curious about the fujoshi life should try getting this manga. Honestly, reading it is like listening in on how my fujoshi friends and I babble like mad idiots about our favorite series and BL seiyuus. It’s really nice. If you know the fanfare (e.g. Hagaren no Oujisama = overkill!! XDD) the series is a lot more fun. I wish Mediablasters does a good job with translating it. Although, I must say, even if they translate it, I won’t get to buy it because novelty titles such as this one rarely gets here. *sigh* otaku life is so hard on this side of the planet. I wish I lived a few degrees higher.
p.s. If you guys don’t know what a fujoshi is, here’s a great explanation! (yes! New site to troll!)
Popularity: 5% [?]
Gan on 
Goran Markovic on 