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Suisei no Gargantia

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Suisei no Gargantia (Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet) [翠星のガルガンティア] is an original sci-fi mecha anime coming in April 2013. The story is a collaboration between director Murata Kazuya [村田和也] (Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos) and scriptwriter Urobuchi Gen (Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero). Animation production will be handled by Production I.G (009 RE:CYBORG, Eden of the East).


Knowing only a life of constant fighting against an enemy known as the Hideous, during one furious battle Red and his humanoid mobile weapon are swallowed by a space-time distortion and he awakens on the long-forgotten planet Earth. There he meets Amy on the fleet Gargantia who helps him adjust to a peaceful life.

Main Characters

See what other characters live around Gargantia on the official character page.There is a poll embedded in this article.
PV1
PV2
If the above videos were eaten, try this Youtube search query.

Everything from the key visuals and PV looks good to me - cant wait to see it!
There is a poll embedded in this article.


You can find these key visuals, design sketches and more on the official website.













Some screencaps from the promotional material.








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Good Smile Company Release Dates

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At the new Good Smile Company offices to snap a bunch of the up n coming releases. First up we have Nendoroid Rin and Ren Append Versions - both will retail for 3,500 yen and be out this June.









Next up is Elf from Lineage 2 - will retail for 10,800 yen and also due to be out this June.







Nendoroid Houki Shinonono from Infinite Stratos. Will retail for 3,500 yen and due out this June.






Nendoroid Fujiwara no Mokou from the Tohou series. Retails for 3,500 yen and due out in June.






Next up is one of the IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Shibuya Rin figma - such a cutie! Will retail for 3,500 yen and be available at the Wonfes next month.
Folks who cant make the Wonfes can order at the GSC shop after the 10th of Feb.






Futaba Anzu figma - another one of the IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls. Will also retail for 3,500 yen and be available at the Wonder Festival next month. Again, if you cant make the Wonfes then she will be available for pre-order at the GSC Shop.







For Ultraman fans - Guren Fire - a Wonfes only item.


Looks like PVC but is actually soft vinyl.



From the anime series 'Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb' - Nendoroid Miyako is due out in June and will retail for 3,500 yen.







Looks like this years Nendoroid calendar 2013 features Nendoroid Mirai Suenaga!

If you are interested in pre-ordering any of these figures then check out the following trusted online retailers.


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Chitose Shirasawa Cosplay

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Its not been that long since I announced our new character Chitose Shirasawa and there has already been a cosplay of her - Angie from Malaysia cosplays at Comic Fiesta 2012.
The following photos taken by Razrig, shuichimeryl, Garion Photography, Kirostory and Sihan Chen.









And for those who missed the announcement - this is Chitose - the research and development girl who likes to stay in her lab.



And dont forget you can download the Photoshop file to make wallpapers and wot not - this chap made a Chrome theme!

All other Comic Fiesta related posts listed up below.


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Araragi Karen Figure

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Even if you are not familiar with the anime series Nisemonogatari [偽物語], if you like cute girls or steamrollers then you will like this figure of Araragi Karen [阿良々木 火憐] by Good Smile Company. She will retail for 11,800 yen and is due out this July.


Did you enjoy the Monogatari series? I know many people loved it and then some who thought it was odd. What did you like/dislike about it?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Photos taken recently at the Good Smile Company offices.


If you are interested in pre-ordering Karen then check out the following trusted online retailers.



















And this is what she will look like around your workspace - be prepared to make quite a bit of space for her ^^


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Tokyo Photos 3

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The third part of the Tokyo Photo series where I aggregate all the latest photos I've been posting to my Instagram account ( http://instagram.com/dannychoo ). While this series is called Tokyo Photos, I'm overseas for business trips nearly every month so it normally includes photos posted abroad. If you are not into Instagram then you can always follow these updates on my Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook.

Today we continue off from last time - I'm about to head to Penang from Kuala Lumpur where we had Culture Japan Night Penang (the biggest so far) and then off to Bangkok for the Thailand Game Show. Then come back to Tokyo after being a month away then end up being down n out with illness ><


Previous Tokyo Photo updates listed up below.



On the move again. Heading up to Penang. また移動!これからはペナン島へ。観光庁と打合わせに。


Culture Japan Night Jan 5th Gurney Paragon Penang 1-6pm. Look forward to meeting you!


On highway with the rest of the Mirai Convoy heading to Penang. みらいコンボイでたくさんのユーザーと高速でペナンに移動。


Mirai Suenaga and CJ Night in today's papers in Malaysia. マレーシアの新聞にみらいちゃんやカルジャパナイトが大きく取り上げている。ドールも!


海外のアニメアパレル最大マーケットシェア獲得目指します。Mirai hoodies soon!


ペナン観光庁x末永みらい。Interesting stuff soon re Penang Global Tourism x Mirai Suenaga.


How many of you use Line? Lineさんから色々頂きました!とういうことは公式のアレが?


Wa di gurney drive chiak ho liao leh. Noms at Gurney. ガーニーでもぐもぐ。


At Gurney Drive for dinner. If find me I buy you pohpiah. ゆきちゃんとガーニーで食事。


At Penang Intl Airport about to leave for Bangkok. ペナン空港で搭乗するところだ。バンコクへ。


Bankok touchdown. SIM and data get. バンコクタッチダウン。SIMカードを速攻入手。


Checked into our residence in Bangkok. バンコクのレジデンスにチェックイン。


Bangkok is an amazing city! バンコクはすごい街だった!


Noms in Bangkok. The tea is lovely! Wa di Bangkok chiak ho liao leh. バンコクでもぐもぐ!


Finishing off lunch in Bangkok then back to hotel to finish keynote. バンコクでランチ後ホテルで仕事。


TV filming done. Off to the factories. タイのテレビ収録終了。これから工場視察に。


At Bangkok's Chinatown. バンコクの中華街に来ています。


Akibatan x Mirai Suenaga (wip) . タイのオタクブログアキバタンとのコラボです。まだラフですが。


Thai food tastes better by the roadside! タイの食事は路上の方が美味しい!


Setting up booth at the Thailand Game Show. タイランドゲームショーでブース設営中。


Our booth for TGS day 1. うちのブースinタイランドゲームショー。うちのユーザーは思ったよりいました><


Thailand Game Show queues! タイランドゲームショーの入り口で人人人人人人。


Thanks for coming to listen to my talk at TGS! タイランドゲームショー講演一日目終わった。


Thailand Game Show hall. タイランドゲームショー会場の様子。


Bare oppai in Thailand. タイラランドで丸出しおっぱい発見。


I'm live on Japan Bravo in 30 mins on Thailand's Channel V. タイの生放送30分前!


TGS2013 day 2. Our booth is packed! タイランドゲームショー2日目。うちのブースはギッシリ!


Thailand Game Show hall is huge! タイランドゲームショー会場の様子。凄い人。


I don't think our stock will last too long >< 在庫はやばいです! タイのみらいちゃんファンは想像以上にいました><


On stage at Thailand Game Show with my girls. うちの娘達とタイランドゲームショーのメインステージに。


Just a few of the Mirai cosplayers at Thailand Game Show. タイランドゲームショーのみらいちゃん達のレイヤーはまだまだいました!


Poisoning the public with dollies in Bangkok. バンコクで大型モールでドール展示。これで一般人にもドールの魅力を!


Thailand Game Show floormap. タイランドゲームショーさんはすごくサポートしていただいている。


Moekana sold out at Thailand Game Show. もえかな数百パック完売。


No more liao. 完売御礼。


More Mirai cosplayers.みらいちゃんレイヤーまだまだいました!


Awesome cosplay at Thailand Game Show! コスプレコンテストも盛り上がっています!


みらいちゃんねんどろいどをよろしくお願いします!Mirai nendoroid out now!


My girls love local snacks. Thailand has beng beng too. うちの娘はタイ現地のスナックが好き。


ブース解体。610枚のシャツ、カードケースやポスターも数百個単位で完売。たくさんのみらいちゃんファンが買ってくれましたが殆どは彼女を初めて知った人。「可愛い」と「日本のもの」と言う理由で買っただそうだ。


Heading to post TGS dindins with Yuki and gang. タイランドゲームショー後の打ち上げに。ゆきちゃんも一緒。


Heading to floating boat market with Yuki. ゆきちゃんとお出かけ。ボートマーケットへ。


Thailand is incredible! At the floating boat market. タイのボートマーケットは凄い!


Bangkok Skydive. バンコクでスカイダイブ。


At Ancient Siam just outside Bangkok. Its lovely here. バンコク郊外にあるエイシエントシアムに来ています。素敵。


Last day in Bangkok. Yuki wraps up warm to prep for Tokyo snow. バンコク最終日。東京は雪なので、ゆきちゃんは暖かい格好で準備OK。


Boarding now. Love you loads Thailand and see you again very soon!バンコク離脱。日本に帰ります。一ヶ月ぶり!


Tokyo Touchdown. Snow everywhere! 東京タッチダウン。近所の雪はまだ積もっておる。


Ramen for my first meal back in Japan. 一ヶ月ぶりの日本。最初に食べるのはらーめん。


Ramen and gyoza in Tokyo omnom nom. らーめんと餃子もぐもぐ。餃子を食うたびに橘田さん思い出す。


綾瀬はづき先生がみらいちゃんを描いていただきました! Ayase Hazuki sensei drew Mirai Suenaga for us!


綾瀬はづき先生が描いていただいたみらいちゃんの裸差分をうっかりアップ。Nekkid Mirai by Ayase Hazuki sensei.


At the hospital. No look so good >< And no i dont smoke. Only passive smoking. 病院でレントゲン。


5 types of medicine. But I will complete that project before I kick the bucket! 5種類の薬。でもくたばる前にあのプロジェクトを実現してやる。


This afternoons workspace. About to get through a backlog of work. 今の机周り。


Moekanji. Pre-orders open soon. Japanese learning changes again. もえ漢字。近日予約開始。日本語の勉強法は再び変わります。


Dinner in Bangkok. Omnomnom. バンコクでディナー。


Banana case doubles as Nendoroid playset. バナナケースがねんどろいどの遊園地になる。


Japanese snacks om nomnom. えびせん&ねんどろいど。


Rilakkuma U like? りらっくま。


My niece's talisman to help her pass exams. Can get from shrines in Japan . Do you own any charms or talismans?


Testing Firefox mobile OS. The UI is made of HTML5. Firefoxの携帯OSをテスト中。


Testing the new full screen blackberry. I need to start making apps for this. ベーターブラックベリーをテスト。


At Telok Bahang with Yuki-chan. ペナン島の砂浜でドール撮影。ドールはマレーシアで人気になりつつある。


DmC Devil May Cry get. what games have you been playing of late? やる!


Evangelion chopsticks prezzie from Kotobukiya.


Tempura lunch in Tokyo. 天ぷらでランチ。


Mirai's rival Kizuna Yumeno in action. みらいちゃんのライバル夢乃きずな。


DmC in the evening. Good game so far!DmCは爽快感抜群!


Mirai Productions SDN BHD - our Malaysian branch setup complete. マレーシア法人設立完了。


How many of you recognize this character? 戸越銀座でパシャリ。


Lovely.


Spring cleaning. Sorting through lanyards. 遅れている年末掃除を。


Filling up the Mirai Mobile and heading to Kichijyoji. ガスを入れ吉祥寺へ。


At Sato Dai's for more meetings. He gave us Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell SAC and more. ストーリーライダーズ本社。


Awesome.


Negishi - the best place for Yakiniku. ねぎしが武蔵小山に店出したら毎日食うと約束するよ。


At the supermarket nabbing after dindins dessert. 東急でデザート見っけ。


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Mirai Music

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Have not really talked about it much before but I produce lounge music together with the Japanese group called vividblaze where the tracks have been used on all seasons of the TV Show Culture Japan.

We decided to put together a CD with all those tracks and so the album Mirai Music was born. We completed production of the CD mid last year but only found time to get it onto the distribution networks of late.

Folks outside of Japan can order the physical CD from AmiAmi for 3,150 yen. If you are not bothered about having the physical copy then you can buy on iTunes where you can also sample the music.

If you are feeling broke then do a search for "Mirai Music" + "vividblaze" + "mp3" on Google or Youtube and download it for free ^^;

First photo is of the whole package which as you can see comes with some nice booty.


The following videos contain music from the CD.






The CD comes with a sleeve like so.


11 tracks - I sing the chorus on Mirai Mechanism ^^;


The CD includes postcards of many popular illustrators who have doodled Mirai-chan for us. As the CD went to production last year however, the set does not include some of the latest illustrators like Iizuki Tasuku.


Mirai in Winter school uniform illustrated by Kobuichi-sensei.


Mirai in Summer school uniform by Mikeou-sensei.


Mirai in Summer school uniform by Choco Chip-sensei.


Mirai in Summer school uniform by Hagure Yuuki-sensei.


Mirai in her Solar Marine uniform illustrated by Piromizu-sensei.


Mirai in her Aqua Skin swimwear by Refeia-sensei.


Mirai in her Summer school uniform by DMYO-sensei.


Remove the CD from the sleeve to find the bog standard plastic CD case.


Design of the CD with a Moekana Mirai by Ikkyuu-sensei.


The booklet contains artwork from the Mirai Millennium universe.


Lyrics contain original Japanese language and romaji so that you can sing along to and learn Japanese at the same time.


This illustration from the opening of Culture Japan season 2.




The last two pages with our profile details and credits.


And here is the front and back of the booklet opened up.


Photo taken at an interview a while ago - vividblaze members Miho to my left, Okano to Miho's left and to my right is the guy who interviewed us ^^



And just to recap, the physical CD of Mirai Music is available from AmiAmi (shipping in a couple of weeks time), digitally on iTunes and Amazon or if you are feeling broke then search on Google sensei for the mp3 to download for free ^^;

If you want to use any of the tracks for videos that you make and distribute then feel free to do so at no extra cost ^o^


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Akihabara in the Winter

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The Japan in the Winter theme continues and today we take a look at the first place that I went to when I first visited Japan - Akihabara! Akihabara is another spot that you certainly want to stick onto your visit list when in Tokyo. Its filled with Electronics and everything anime and otaku. For those who are wondering - this photo article explains how Akihabara became what it is today.

To get to Akihabara, get off at Akihabara station on the JR Yamanote line.


Back in Akihabara during my 3rd(?) visit to Japan - t'was in 1995. These are what eroge looked like back then ^^;


This is how you know you have arrived at Akihabara station - when all the billboards become moe-fied ^^


Going to leave you with the rest of these photos as I continue to try and get through the backlog of posts that I owe you ><
These photos taken before Christmas by the way.























































The following photos are of the Hokousha Tengoku [歩行者天国] where the main Chuo Doori street is pedestrianised on a Sunday.

















And you can check out what Akihabara looks like in the Summer!

A list of the Japan in the Winter photo posts below.

And a list of Japan in the Summer posts listed up below.


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TGS13 Culture Japan Booth

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Photos of our booth at the Thailand Game Show 2013. It was our first time in Thailand and I was looking forward to experiencing the culture, learning new ropes and meeting new comrades.
I was invited to the Thailand Game Show to give a keynote talk and thought it made sense to have a booth at the same time.

It was difficult to gauge just how many readers and viewers of Culture Japan we had in Thailand. I thought we would sell at least 50 T-shirts over the 3 day event. But even though I expected to make a loss in terms of setting up booth, shipping merchandise and hiring staff, I was prepared to invest the money spent on everything to gain a new experience and learnings - experience and learnings which would not have come about if we just decided to do nothing.
More importantly however - it was crucial to make time to meet readers and viewers. I was not prepared for what was about to happen over the next 3 days.


I was completely overwhelmed at the response and support from folks in Thailand! We sold about 610 Moekana T-shirts and all our posters, Moekana and paper bags became no more liao.


We spoke to folks who bought stuff at our booth and found that about 80% of the folks didn't know about Mirai Suenaga but they thought she was cute from the illustrations so decided to pick something up. I then discovered increased incoming traffic from Thai search engines and BBS ever since.

From this experience, I realise that the costs of the booth should be considered as marketing costs as the exposure alone is worth the effort of setting everything up.


There were also a ton of lovely Mirai-chan cosplayers who showed their support! It was great to meet all of them - more photos further down the post. This is the lovely Tina!


Would like to thank our local Thai staff and Akibatan for helping out!




Setting up - the booth looked quite empty on the first day as customs didn't want to let our merchandise go. When they finally did, they charged us 80% import tax. We still managed to make a small profit after costs of booth, staff, shipping and tax though.


Mannequins were procured locally - I feel that the merchandise looks better than just on a plain hanger.





Bags opened and stacked helps speed up transactions at the till.






Our 3D menus ^^;





As we didn't expect many people to buy our stuff, we had no crowd control measures in place and it was chaos for a lot of the time ^^;


We had a doll display for folks to leave their daughters - it was like a day care center ^^;



Our Thai DJ Pok!



By this time, many folks started to receive their Mirai Nendoroid - did you get yours yet?



Tower O Mirai paper bags - something to do with the last bags ^^;



Meanwhile just outside our booth we spotted some Mirai cosplayers! I dont have their details or names though ><
If you know who they are then lemme know!





Together with Team Thailand - the cosplay team you saw at AFA12.


The new fun way to learn Japanese - Moekana.





MiraiClock3 for your Android and iOS device.


This is Marron as Mirai-chan!


This is Ruki as Haruka-chan.


And this is Ayami Sora as kanata-chan.


More photos of Tina.








Reporting in For Channel V Thailand - the recording can be seen below.


Caption that photo.








Naoki as Mirai in Winter uniform.





We use Square as our till to keep track of orders - would be completely lost without it.


All posters sold out!



















And the Thailand Game Show event photos are coming up soon!


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Thailand Game Show

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Photo coverage of the Thailand Game Show that took place between Jan 11 and 13th. I only knew of the existence of the Tokyo Game Show but never knew of the Thailand Game Show.

The Thailand Game Show has been running for quite a number of years now and is organised by celebrity Pongsuk Hiranprueck. Previous guests include Jam Project. This years Japan guest was me ^^;

While TGS does have some console game coverage, most of it is PC games - and a lot of that being League of Legends. I still have not got into PC gaming yet but I've been looking for a way for me to play online games with my readers. At the moment I try to get regular time with my PS Vita, PS3 or Xbox - but all of them have a friend limit.

There was quite a presence of Japanese anime in the form of cosplay and booths selling merchandise. Through our booth at TGS this year, we discovered that there was a high demand for Japanese content.

Comrades at HIVE were involved in some of the planning and they recommended me as a guest to Pongsuk which is why I was at TGS. I was asked to give a talk on MICE which is a strategy that many governments are trying to utilize to increase tourism. Through attending various events around the world and being involved in the planning of such events like Anime Expo and AFA, I gave some insight into what organisations should be doing to build their MICE experience.

The following video is of me reporting on Thailand's TV show "Japan Bravo" about TGS.


Anyway, I'm going to leave you with the rest of the photo coverage below - thanks to Akibatan for taking some of these for us!

There is a poll embedded in this article.

















































































More photos of our booth and info about our cosplayers lives here. Also thanks to Akibatan for taking some of these photos.


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Moe Heroes

Anime Cafe - why go to one?

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Anime you like? Food you like? Figures you like? If all you like then you will certainly want to visit the Good Smile Cafe in Akihabara the next time you are in Tokyo.
Here you can omnom on some lovely munchies while being surrounded by anime themes and Good Smile Company figures.
To get there all you need to do is to get off at Akihabara station on the JR Yamanote line and walk to the following location.
東京都千代田区外神田1-7-6
toukyouto chiyodaku soto kanda 1-7-6
[gmap=35.699586, 139.770389]


The Good Smile Cafe in Akihabara is a place that I frequent - we do broadcasts and hold Culture Japan Night Tokyo here too - check it out - tis an awesome place to be ^o^


Today we are filming with comrade Julie Watai - our multi talented actress and photographer.


I know that there are anime or maid themed cafes around the world but how about in your neck of the woods?
I also know that some of these themed cafes outside of Japan dont do too well - some of them close down after a short period of being in business.

What is the hook for you to regularly visit an anime themed cafe? The food? Atmosphere? Merchandise?
There is a poll embedded in this article.























































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Which Cosplayer would you like to meet the most?

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The lovely cosplayer Enako cosplay's as Snow Miku at a recent event that took place at Kinokuniya in Bangkok. Comrades at Akibatan went along to take some photos for us!


I would love to invite Enako to ome of the events that I'm involved in like AFA and Anime Expo.
Which cosplayers would you like to see at one of your local events? Does not have to be Japanese.
There is a poll embedded in this article.







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Twin Tail Day

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Twin tails you like? if so then its time to celebrate - today is officially Twin Tail Day in Japan.
The Japan Anniversary Association has officially declared that Feb the 2nd is "Twin Tail Day" (ツインテールの日)


The Japan Anniversary Association websites explains how today became to be "Twin Tail Day."

The explanation mentions that the hairstyle is admired worldwide and how titles like Sailor Moon and fashion brands have been spreading the appeal of the twin tail. The reason why its Feb the 2nd is because of how 2/2 (Feb 2nd) overlap with each other donating the Twin Tail.

...Sounds like a good reason to celebrate the bodaciousness of twin tails!


There is even a website to promote and feature the wonderful world of Twin Tails - most of it covers only 3D girls at the moment though.


I always keep up with what goes in in Japan through Twitter Trends and discovered that I should have been celebrating all day today ><
But folks in the US still have a day ahead of them to break out the champaign.

Folks in Japan have been celebrating by drawing a load of twin tail girlies - check out this search query.


The Twintail website has been asking us to spread the joy of twin tails and I thought I'd do my duty. This first set of photos is of the lovely Sano Hinako-chan. More photos of her live here.











The next lovely twin tail is Kenmochi Sakura-chan who works part time at Starbucks!
More photos of her lives here.








I love 2D twin tails too and here is my fave - Haruka Suenaga! This is her in Summer Uniform.


Haruka in Winter Uniform.


Haruka in Solar Marine Uniform.


Haruka in Bikini Battle Gear.


And here is Haruka with her big sister Mirai Suenaga and comrade Kanata Hoshikawa.


All these wallpapers and photoshop files are available for you to download for free to make Twin Tail Day cards for your family and friends.


There is a poll embedded in this article.


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Ayase Hazuki

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Am delighted to announce that Japanese Illustrator Ayase Hazuki-sensei [綾瀬はづき] took time out to doodle our Mirai Suenaga for us! I've always been a fan of her work and was delighted when she said she could make time for us ^o^
You can see some of her work over at Pixiv - a word of warning and some of it is ecchi.

As for the first image - wallpaper lives here!


Ayase-sensei has been active in the eroge scene for quite a while now - Kamidere is one of her recent titles featuring some really cute girls!


And here are the 2560px x 1600px wallpapers for you which include Mirai's sidekick Retrokyu.
First up is Retrokyu and Mirai in her Summer uniform. High-res wallpaper here.


Retrokyu and Mirai in her Winter uniform.
High-res wallpaper here.


Retrokyu and Mirai in her Solar Marine uniform.
High-res wallpaper here.


Retrokyu and Mirai in her bikini.
High-res wallpaper here.


Trying out some wallpapers with different layout.
Mirai in her Summer uniform. High-res wallpaper here.


Mirai in her Winter uniform.
High-res wallpaper here.


Mirai in her Solar Marine uniform.
High-res wallpaper here.


Mirai in her bikini.
High-res wallpaper here.


You can also get the raw psd file for all the variations of mirai-chan illustrated by Ayase Hazuki-sensei complete with logos.
Inside the PSD file you will find layers for various facial expressions and all her uniforms. Feel free to use for non-commercial purposes (wallpaper/stickers etc).

Maybe you can make some wallpaper and upload to devientart or pixiv!
Would be great if some folks can make some Android, iPhone, iPad and other wallpapers too! If you do then just provide a link to http://mirai.fm when uploading - then leave a link in the comments below to your work. Cookies available for folks who come up with exceptional designs!

More photoshop files of Mirai and our other characters listed up below.


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Setsubun

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I was supposed to post this yesterday but didn't get the chance. Many folks across Japan were celebrating something called Setsubun [節分] which is pronounced "setsu-boon."
The reason why I completely forgot about it is because Setsubun is not a national holiday.

The kanji for Setsubun is "節" and "分" - coupled together they mean "Seasonal division" and originally refered to the eve of each season. These days however, Setsubun is usually used to refer to the beginning of Spring and commonly celebrated on the 3rd of February.

The first photo is taken at our local Tokyu supermarket. You can see some devil illustrations around the Setsubun corner where they stock food stuffs eaten on this day. You can see a blue devil holding a bat to hit roasted beans being thrown at it.
It is said that as seasons change, evil spirits come out to play - beans are thrown outside ones house to ward off the evil spirits. During Setsubun, somebody will wear the mask of a demon while other family members throw beans at him/her and shout "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" [鬼は外! 福は内!] meaning "demons out! luck comes in!"

It is also customary to eat some of the beans thrown outside to bring in the luck. This is why many of the products in the Setsubun corner are made of beans. Today's Sukiya had a special beef bowl served with beans in it. However, one should only eat as many beans as their age +1. If you are aged 21 this year (like me) then you would eat 22 roasted beans which would endow you with good fortune.

In the video below, you can see some demons making little kids cry - kids retaliate by throwing beans at em.



Continuing from January - today I share the February of the Moe Calendar a few days late ><
The large wallpaper sized version lives here which should also be good enough to print.
Eiji gets to play the demon while mirai-chan gets to throw beans at him ^^;


During Setsubun, the main food stuff is Ehomaki [恵方巻] - the sushi roll that you see pictured above. It is eaten as a good omen - this one above would ward off calamity and keep all family members in good health.


At our local shopping arcade, there are huge queues of folks picking up a load of Ehomaki.


Marukaburi [丸かぶり] is another word for Ehomaki - folks for who for whatever reason can become one just by sticking their head through the hole.


How much of the Japanese can you read in this photo?


And here is the typical devil. Folks who want to be pelted with beans should simply print these and cut em out - images from Enjoy Tokyo.







And yes - dolls celebrate Setsubun too - photo posted by Yamada over at Tsubuyaku.fm.


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Nakano Broadway in the Winter

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Continuing with the Japan in the Winter theme. Its so cold right now that there is still clunks of snow dotted around my house. Located in the West of Tokyo is a ward called Nakano which is home to the Nakano Broadway shopping complex. While you can get hold of a load of anime, manga, idol, figures, doll and doujin stuff, Nakano Broadway have a load of Mandarake stores where you will find some of the more rare goodies.

To get to Nakano Broadway, get off at Nakano station on the JR Chuo and Sobu lines and the Tozai line.
[gmap=35.70689,139.66566]


Going to leave you with the usual wall of photos while I go and get on with some other work ><
Nearly forgot to mention that these photos are taken before Christmas.















































































And you can check out what Nakano Broadway looks like in the Summer!

A list of the Japan in the Winter photo posts below.

And a list of Japan in the Summer posts listed up below.


Find out more about the Culture Japan girls >>>


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Kotobukiya Kuroneko

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Folks who are not so familiar with anime always say to me - "Why do all anime characters all have big oppai?" But remember - folks who dont get it dont matter - folks who get it *do* matter and you and I know that anime caters for all tastes as demonstrated by Kuroneko from Oreimo!

1/7 scale Kuroneko is currently up for pre-order and is due out next month from Kotobukiya. Retail price is 7,140 yen with more nitty gritty at Kotobukiya.


These photos taken recently at the Kotobukiya office in Tachikawa.


If you are interested in pre-ordering Kuroneko then check out the following trusted online retailers.


So who do you prefer?
There is a poll embedded in this article.





















And this is what Kuroneko would look like around your workspace.


Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>


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Rapid Prototyping and You

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Today we are going to talk about Rapid Prototyping - techniques and technology which allows us to quickly develop physical products from 3D data.
Much of this technology is available to us mere mortals and allow us to develop and produce products that could someday change the world.

You know - I really like dolls. I like them so much that I've always wanted one of my own mascot character. I did ask a few manufacturers but nobody was interested in making one - so I decided to make them myself just like my line of T-shirts ^^;

Introducing a doll of my mascot character Mirai Suenaga which we have been working on using Rapid Prototyping. For a first attempt I think she's kinda cute ^^;


Not sure why but there are many BJD (Ball Jointed Doll) doll manufacturers in Korea. I was there for a bit last year to learn more about various doll manufacturing processes and visited a few of the makers including SQLabs. It was on this visit where I started to get the idea of producing my doll using CAD instead of traditional manual sculpting. Many of the Korean companies sculpt their dolls using CAD (Computer Aided Design).


I decided to base the looks of my doll on the illustration of Mirai by Japanese illustrator Iizuki Tasuku-sensei. We took the illustration of the eye and stuck it in a resin. I generally prefer my dolls to have resin or acrylic eyes instead of printed eyes.


And this is what she looks like! Its my first time making a doll so the first attempt is certainly nowhere near the level of the other doll companies ><
There is so much to learn including material properties (expansion/shrinkage/strengths etc), breaking points, friction calculations and the list goes on - but Google sensei is always there to help and we'll improve as we go along.


Eventually I decided that we would do everything in 3D. Sculpting it by hand would have taken close to a year and any changes would have been an absolute nightmare. Just imagine I wanted to shrink or expand everything by a few %!


The software we use to sculpt the body is ZBrush which is typically used for movies, games, and animations. Its a great package for sculpting and perfect for making a shapely doll body which is very very important.
See how it was used in movies such as Tron and Avatar below.



Once the body is sculpted, we cut it up!


Now that all the parts are cut up, we can focus on making each piece fit together in a way so that it can be articulated. I decided to make the oppai Mirai sized ^^;


Then the data is imported into 3D Max for various tweaks and to make sure everything moves and fits together.


While I did use 3D Max many moons ago, my Art Director Pinax did the modelling while I supervised the aesthetics, movement and development flow.


The face is mostly generated by a system that we created using morph targets to generate faces ^^ This over here is a test which shows 5 main targets being the two eyes, cheeks and mouth with a bit of texture mapping. We can move the targets around manually or enter numerical value to modify the look of the face.


This is an example of the morph targets in action - the head on the far left is an extreme example with huuuuge eyes ^^;
From now, when we want to make new faces, all we have to do is change values and 3D Max will do the rest - no more sculpting!


If you take a photo of yourself and mirror one side of it, you will notice that you look like an alien as both sides of our face are different. This rule applies to dolls too which is why many computer generated dolls look odd. When faces are sculpted in 3D, in ost cases, one side is sculpted and then just mirrored.

Our system purposely makes both sides of the face look slightly different - just like a human. Faces sculpted by hand will naturally be different on both sides - so if you ever make a face in 3D then take note!

As for our system - I'm thinking that maybe we should distribute it for free so that you can make your own faces too. But need a way to do it so that you dont need 3D Max which costs 3 arms and a leg. All you would then need to do is print the data, sand down, spray and do a Face Up. Face Up is the term used to paint a dolls face.


The face is the most important part of the doll. It is said that 80% of doll buyers decide whether to buy a doll depending on the looks of the face alone.


As the face is the most important, we make sure that we go overboard with the amount of polygons available on the surface for a smooth finish.


We made the hands using bones meaning that we now dont need to sculpt hands again - all we do is to move the bones around and after a few tweaks its ready for printing.


Using Netfabb to prepare the data for printing. All pieces have to fit within a certain area depending on the printer being used.


The output is an STL file which is short for STereoLithography that is widely used for rapid prototyping and computer-aided manufacturing.


We use an Envisiontec Ultra rapid prototyping machine to print the parts. The video below introduces you to the technology.


And the following video goes into more detail as to how the parts are printed.

The bits that you see attached to the hands are called support structures.
How the printer works is that a DLP (Digital Light Processing) projector projects a slice of the 3D model downwards onto a bath of liquid resin which contains a built plate. The area exposed to the light hardens and the build plate moves down into the bath by about 0.2mm where the process is repeated until the model is complete.
Depending on the shape and because the model is built on a plate, support structures have to be created to support the weight of the model. You can read more about this process at Wikipedia under Photopolymerization.


The finish is very smooth but not babyskin smooth and if you look closely at the thumb you will see some staircasing (stepping, steps). The resin is easy to sand though. many of the printing companies (including Envisiontec) claim that the surface requires little or no treatment - not so as you can see from the following photos.
Still, the resin is easy enough to work with so I'm not complaining ^^;


The support structures can be easily snapped off by hand - the remaining bits have to be snipped off and sanded down.


This is the bottom half of the leg. The bigger and heavier the parts are, the bigger the support structures become.


Putting together the arm.


Whenever we print models, we always make sure that large objects are hollowed out or it becomes prohibitively expensive - there is no point paying for resin thats not needed inside the model anyway. This can easily be done in 3D Max using the Boolean Subtract Command - the video below explains how this is done.


Torso with support structure...


...and after the support structures have been snapped off by hand - the rest need to be snipped of and the surface sanded down. Using some techniques from my old Gundam tutorial, the surface will be made babyskin smooth.


Support structures are usually added by whoever is doing the printing for you. Even though many of the 3D printers are developed outside of Japan, Japan has many 3D printing services as you can see from this search result.
Most places also state the price too. All these parts cost me about 100,000 yen to print.

I had a look at printing services outside of Japan and most of them are "contact us for a quote" and never state the price.


The support structures inside the torso turned out to be thicker than I imagined.


When removing support structures, always be careful when snipping as they fly all over the place.


I designed the oppai to cover up the split between the torso so that it would look good in a bikini. This type of joint also allows for dynamic poses too.


And this is Mirai-chan's head - very light sanding needed.


Coming along nicely ^o^


Now to place all the parts together to see if everything fits.



If I wanted to make different bust sizes, all I need to do is model them in ZBrush and convert to STL format then print.


Sitting pose. Designing a doll is a challenge to strike a balance between articulation and aesthetics. Which is more important to you?
There is a poll embedded in this article.


Disassembled and time to sand down the surface and apply a primer.


Messy workspace ><


And this is what my Mirai looks like after sanding down, priming and a few cans of spray paint. The surface looks a bit blotchy due to some dodgy sanding work though ><
The eyes were made by a friend out of resin - I just passed her the illustration of the eye. The Face Up done by another friend too.


At this stage, I think you can tell that I'm being slightly mum's the word about the nitty gritty. I will give you more details when the bird lime is right.


And this post outlines the other type of rapid prototyping that is available to us - was made for me when filming Culture Japan season 1.


While we are on the subject of 3D, I thought I'd dig up some of my old 3D Max projects. This image is my first ever render after studying the basics of modelling, shadows, lighting and reflections. Kinda embarrassing piece of work to look at now but we all got to start somewhere ^^;

I took Japanese and Korean language at university so didn't have the chance to learn computing academically. Luckily I had the help of search engines to help me learn 3D Max from the internets ^o^


I played with 3D Max for quite a bit and my skills slowly started to improve over time.


This is one of my jet fighters - the 4 onboard engines enable it to travel into deep space. Here it is in liquify mode out running the explosion of some nebula or something - one of the engine ruptures as it tries to escape ^^;


I called this piece "V-Clone" as it was based on my favorite ship design being the Vic Viper from the Gradius series.


At this time, I got a bit better at rendering explosions - as you can see, I like the ship-trying-to-out-run-exploding-something-and-engine-ruptures theme ^^;


Not to scale ^^;


I liked the V Clone so much that I would use it to travel back to the UK.


I called this piece "slipstream" referring to the tunnel of light that the V Clone is passing through - I remember it taking me absolutely ages to do! Then one day it turned out just the way I wanted - the sense of achievement turned out to be one that I still remember this day - a sunny Saturday morning just before wifey called me over to the living room for lunch ^^;


I posted my 3D work back on this site many moons ago and also rendered some of the UI in 3D too. It was this work that got me a job at Job Dragon which lead me to get a job as Website Manager for Amazon. If I didn't learn 3D Max or share my work online, then my life path may have been very different indeed.

I always encourage folks to spend time learning in their own time from the Internets and sharing their work online - it always always leads to new friendship and opportunity.


At that time I also shared the model data for my 3D max work - and I think I should share the data for my Mirai-chan doll too ^o^

As for the other thumbnails - many of them are cheesy composites of my wife and I in movie style photos - but working on them helped me learn the ropes of photoshop.


Here is another example of some 3D renders I done that I used in the UI of the website. After a while, the content started to increase meaning that this layout became unscalable ><

Anyway, what I wanted to convey in this post is that it does not matter what line of work or schooling you are in - you have absolutely no excuse not to start learning additional skills and you can do so easily from the Internets. Once you have gained new learnings, make sure you share them with others on and offline as it always brings about new opportunities.

This post mainly covered 3D design and rapid prototyping - now that you know what tools available to you, why not try your dab hand at making something that could maybe change the world. Dont rely on anybody making it for you - go and make it yourself!
If you want to mass produce then as long as you have the data then you can easily make moulds - be it injection moulding, cast, slush or whatever.

If you need cash, then maybe try crowd funding on Kickstarter - or go and get yourself a job in a restaurant as a waiter just like I did to make cash.


Here again you can see some of my dodgy sanding work around the back of the head ><
As I mentioned earlier - I'm a newbie when it comes to developing dolls but am learning new things every day so that I can continue to improve her joints and wot not.
Its taken us 4 months to get up to this stage which is a pretty short development cycle - all thanks to technology and an amazing Art Director onboard ^o^

But there is also another ingredient - passion. If you are passionate about something, you can make it happen because once you make it a need - you *will* make it happen.
It does not matter if nobody around you believes in what you do - just as long as you truly believe in yourself.

Anyway, I'll keep you in the loop with progress on my Mirai-chan doll and hopefully will be able to introduce you to her at the next anime event that I attend ^o^

If you doll owners have any feedback on design or pose-ability then drop a note below ^o^


Now that you know what tools are available to you - what do you want to try making?
There is a poll embedded in this article.


Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>


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Akihabara Shops 4

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Here is the latest instalment of Akihabara Shops where we take a look at the inside of some of the popular stores to see what the latest trends are in the otaku and anime world.
To get to Akihabara, all you need to do is to get off at Akihabara station on the JR Yamanote line and get off at the Electric Town exit.
[gmap=35.69855, 139.77259]
All previous installments of Akihabara Shops is tagged "akihabarashops" and listed up below.


And all previous Akihabara related photos are listed up below.

This is the Electric Town exit at Akihabara. If it does not look like this when you get out then it means you are on the wrong side - that other side has the Gundam and AKB48 Cafe.


Yodobashi Camera Akihabara - the one stop for all your electronic and otaku needs - drop by if you dont have a lot of time on your hands to go around. Tis located at the map below.
[gmap=35.69878, 139.77473]







METAL GEAR RISING - who's getting it?





Evangelion eye drops.





This shop has sold the most Tenga in the whole of Japan.


Sega Arcade Center - filled with not only games but UFO Catchers which have a load of exclusive figures. Have you managed to get anything decent from these machines?




In Akihabara you will also find food that is too cute to eat.





Taito Station Game Center - filled with more UFO Catcher goodies.




Dont forget to look down the back streets of Akihabara too.


How are you enjoying the series of Senran Kagura?




Moe-fied wine...


...and Moe-fied snacks.










Trader3 - the used game and DVD store located on the map below.
[gmap=35.70138, 139.77193]











In any one of these places, a maid, cutie girls or school girls will give you a massage or do mimikaki (ear cleaning) for you...
I personally would suggest that you spend the money on some 2D material which will keep you company at home instead.




Stairs in Japan are cooler.


Cute girls everywhere in Akihabara!





New title from Koku-sensei - Hapymaher due out Feb 28th. Girls very cute and very ecchi.





128GB SSD's for 11,980 yen. Hows does that compare to your neck of the woods? I swapped out old HDD's for SSD's and the difference is astounding - feels like completely new machines!









New feng title - Chisana Kanojyo no Sayokyoku [ちいさな彼女の小夜曲].


Sofmap Akihabara - cute girl overload of both 2D and 3D variety ^^


A load of up n coming eroge including Lovely Cation 2 by Iizuki Tasuku-sensei.





Ultimate Madoka by GSC.


Another stop for your doujin needs - Comic Zin.




And thats it for today - next one either next week or the week after ^o^


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Japan Anime Job

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Up until now, through postings on this site and introductions that I've personally made, I've placed readers and comrades at companies in Japan such as Amazon Japan, Apple Japan, AmiAmi, Good Smile Company, Rinkya, J-List and more.

Today we got another job opening for yet another lucky person to join the ranks at J-List who are forever expanding their operations.

About J-List

J-List was founded in 1996 and has been an extremely successful venture, serving over 500,000 customers and bringing unique products to people outside of Japan. We strive to promote understanding of Japan through popular culture.

The company is based in Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, a small city of 200,000 located on the edge of the Kanto Plain near Tokyo (about 2 hours away by slow train, 45 minutes by Shinkansen). It is a nice city with many cultural points of interest, one of the lowest cost-of-living ratings in Japan, and fast access to mountains for many fun activities including hot springs.

This is Peter Payne - the big boss of J-list. A comrade who lives in Japan who I have been working with for many moons now. I previously placed a reader at his company and now he needs your help again. The opening is for a product description copywriter and customer support assistant. Your work will also involve various tasks using Photoshop, such as preparing product images and creating simple web banners for advertisement.

Requirements

  • Effective and professional writing skills, and the ability to efficiently create descriptions for products. Fast touch typing skills are a plus.
  • Knowledge of popular anime and/or manga series, especially currently airing and trending series, as well as a familiarity with the international fan community.
  • Knowledge of anime, manga and Japan related memes, particularly those created by websites such as Pixiv, 2ch, Nico Nico Douga, and 4chan would be preferred.
  • Familiarity with Photoshop and the ability to manipulate scanned product images.
  • Japanese ability equal to JLPT level 2 or higher.
  • Only accepting applications from native English speakers who are already in Japan with a legal work visa. Upon employment, future sponsorship and extensions will be made.

Salary

Base salary is initially 240,000 yen-260,000 yen per month depending on experience, plus twice-annual bonuses based on personal and overall company performance, with annual raises and flexible vacation time. Additionally, a company car will be provided (gasoline and related expenses are not covered), along with assistance in acquiring an apartment.

How to Apply

Download this application form and once filled in, send it along with your resume directly to Peter at peterpayne[att]gmail[dott]com.


And as for that resume - I've uploaded my previous resume for you to use for free - you can download it from this post.


There are many resume templates that you can download from the Internets but I thought I'd share a tried and tested resume format that got me jobs at companies like Amazon and Microsoft and interview/job offers from Google and Apple - which I turned down to go to Microsoft ^^;
Anyway, the word file for the my CV is in this post - feel free to use it.


Going to leave you with some photos taken around the fun environment at the J-List offices.
If you are applying for the postion then good luck! Buy me a Cafe Mocha from Starbucks if you get the job ^^


Just wondering though - what sort of job would be your dream job?
There is a poll embedded in this article.























Read more about Mirai Suenaga >>>


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