My recent trip to The Big Apple (New York City) during Christmas (hence why there’s no Christmas post -_- as I had no internet access) added couple more items to my collection. For some reasons, I didn’t bother to get 2010 calendar but visiting New york, there’s one place that I must visit. It’s Kinokuniya japanese book store. It’s something that we, otaku in Canada, are hoping to have it here and will continue to dream that one day, Kinokuniya will open branch stores here in Canada.

I only bought 2 items from Kinokuniya…surprisingly.  The first one is Kobato (こばと) 2010 calendar for ~$30 . Kobato is my new favourite anime for this fall season and it’s just because she reminds me so much of Sakura from Card Captor Sakura and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. I scanned each month image for your enjoyment ^^.

If you want the original scanned versions, click here to download. I would appreciate if you link back to my site when you use any of these images on your site ^^.

It must have been a Clamp day or something because I spotted an art book ‘All about Clamp’ which lists all anime/manga series by Clamp for the last 15-20 years. I got it for $28.80 which is a good deal imo because it’s quite thick.

Related posts:

1. 2009 Hobby Expenses
2. Anime Expo 2009 Loot
3. Saber…..Saber……Saber……and……Saber

This is a cushion cover of Saber Lily. She has a nice pose and her look is simply to my liking ^^.

The other side of the cushion cover has different pose/image of Saber Lily. Her pose/expression is not necessarily my type but it’s Saber Lily

I bought 2 cushion covers and the other cushion cover shows the original Saber. The magic circle on her background looks great.

The other side shows Saber Alter version. She has the usual pose as Saber Alter and her expression is obviously the ‘don’t mess with me’ type ^^. Too bad that they only show a bit of her sword.

The key chain/strap was not in Zenical’s post but I saw it when I went to Hobby Search page so I might as well pre-order since I could actually use it for my keys.

Now, the T-shirt has a similar pose with the first cushion cover above and the color quality is not as good as I expected it would be so I am slightly disappointed with this one but at least I have an additional cloth to wear at anime conventions ^^. More loots to come this month ^^.

Related posts:

1. 2009 Hobby Expenses
2. Preorder: Nendoroid Saber Lily by GSC
3. Preorder: Saber Lily and Nanoha by Alter

I realized that I am little bit late posting my loot post from AX 2009 but hopefully you guys still find this post entertaining. It already has been a month since I got back from Anime Expo 2009 and time seems to go much faster than before ^^;; which is somewhat scary. To be honest, I did not buy a lot at Anime Expo because I knew I would have a lot of expenses when I moved to my new place. I thought I did not buy a lot but  Istill spent at least $300 for goodies. All the photos were taken at my new place as you already probably notice from the picture above; the floor is different because my old room was all tiles ^^. Note that this post is definitely NSFW due to bare ‘eyes’ showing from the dakimakura that I got.

I bought Dengeki G’s Festival April Issue from Kinokuniya booth at Anime Expo. I really love their booth because they were selling a lot of magazines like Dengeki. I don’t really read it but love the goodies that comes with the magazine as we all do ^^. Do you buy those magazines for the sake of the goodies that come along with it ? In this April issue, I got Estel Freecia mousepad (too bad it is not an oppai mouse pad ;p), a keychain and a dakimakura of Feena Fam Earthlight.

This dakimakura only has one side because the other side is just blank ^^ but it is still a nice loot for something that comes free with the magazine ^^. As for the texture of the dakimakura, it is not as soft as the one that usually cost us around $100 and has two sides (the normal one and the ero one).

My next loot is Dengeki G’s Comic Festival 2009 spring and the front cover shows Otome and Yume, two of my favourite characters from Da Capo II. Just like Dengeki G’s Festival, it also comes with a free dakimakura of Asakura Otome which is one of the main reasons I bought it.

The Asakura sisters are both just adorable. What’s your favourite characters from Da Capo II ? I am sure there are a lot of Circus’ fans out there ^^

I couldn’t get enough of Da Capo apparently since I bought another Dakimakura featuring Otome and an unknown character. Can anyone tell me who the girl on the left is ? The right girl must be Asakura Otome (correct me if I am wrong) but not sure who the girl on the left. I am guessing it’s one of the character in the eroge because I have never seen her in any of Da Capo series.

I may be into Da Capo especially Asakura sisters but I still remember who my favourite character of all time is. I bought this Fate/stay nights Saber Portraits which contains a lot of nice pictures of Saber. My previous Saber gallery post contains a lot of images from this art book.

As I was lurking around at Kinokuniya booth, I saw this nice visual collection of StrikerS with Subaru stand-pop inside. I could not resist and it sure didn’t take me long before grabbing it.

And of course , when I was about to go to the cashier, I saw another StrikerS Visual Collection with Nanoha stand-pop. Does anyone know if there is one that comes with Fate stand-pop or even Signum? ^^;;

This is the free goodies that  I got when  I was at the dealer room at Anime Expo. Most of the stuff came from Manga Gamer booth and every time, I went inside, they were giving these free items. The BlazBlue one, I got it from the Aksys booth.

All the loots above is something that can be purchased quite easily especially if you happen to have Kinokuniya book store in your area (T.T we need one in Canada). Below loots are something that worth more in my opinion even though they only cost like $12-$20 but I doubt I will ever have a chance to get these again.

Yuka Kayura, one of the illustrator of Da Capo II eroge and the creator of Asakura Otome, was giving out a drawn sketch for $20 each at Manga Gamer booth as I already mentioned during my AX 2009 Day 3 coverage.

I asked her for Asakura Otome sketch since she is one of my favourite characters in DC II. I was given a number and told to come back within one hour to pick it up.

After I picked up my Otome sketch, I asked her for Asakura Yume sketch and was told to come after 3 hours to pick it up because she was getting busier with other request. Both sketches were personally signed by her and I was so friggin happy ^^. They both are priceless loots in front of my eyes and $20 for an original sketch is more than worth it ^^

My last loot from Anime Expo 2009 is an Afro Samurai sketch ($12) by Takashi Okazaki with his signature. I had to wait for at least 1 hour before it was my turn to get his signature. It’s definitely another priceless loot in addition to my Asakuras’ sketches.

Below is my total expenses break down for this trip. I have to say that it has been quite a pricey trip for me especially the hotel part since I didn’t share a room with anyone and even though if I did, I don’t think they can handle my snoring lol.

Related posts:

1. 2009 Hobby Expenses
2. Saber…..Saber……Saber……and……Saber
3. みなさん, ただいま ^^

Image via Gelbooru

In preparation for Anime Expo 2009 and its overloaded Japanese guest of honours, I bought some merchandise specifically for signing purpose so I guess you can call this as AX2009 pre-loot ^^. The Japanese guest of honours that will be my main target for signatures are Yosuke Kuroda, Daisuki Ishiwatari and Morning Musume.

S-Cry-Ed complete DVD set, Guilty Gear Isuka and Morning Musume latest CD, Syou ga Nai Yume Oibito

Yosuke Kuroda is one of the original creator of S-Cry-Ed manga and I still can recall how much I love the series when it just came out 8 years ago. Check out the first episode below. I am feeling nostalgic listening to the OP song.

Meanwhile, Daisuki Ishiwatari is the original creator of Guilty Gear fighting games on Playstation One. He is also the voice actor for Sol Badguy. Does anyone play this game ? I used to play Guilty Gear Reload a lot back then.

Last but not least, Morning Musume is the most succesful (arguably) all girls group in Japan and well-known for changing their members around. Their latest CD/single is Syou ga Nai Yume Oibito and  3,2,1 Breakin Out! , AX2009 official theme song, is also included in the CD.

Morning Musume Latest Single

Aren't they all cute ? ^^

Listen to their 3,2,1 Breakin Out! freshly ripped from my CD ^^ below
[audio:3_2_1_Breakin_Out!.mp3]

In addition to above guests, there are many other well-known Japanese guest of honours so check out my previous post about AX2009 Japanese guest of honours

Related posts:

1. みなさん, ただいま ^^
2. Anime Expo 2009 Online Pre-Registration is available
3. AX2009 Japanese Guest of Honours

My recent loot from March and April is Yami from To Love Ru and Holo from Spice Wolf both by Good Smile Company. Yami costs me 5,881 Yen + 3,200 Yen for shipping. On the other hand, I got Holo for 6,785 Yen + 2,400 shipping. For some reasons, the shipping is cheaper and it may have something do with the shipping revision that Hobby Search did. Yep, that’s right, 1 figure per month and I have nothing coming this month, although, I will have 2 figures in August, Fate and Black Rock Shooter where both cost me arms and legs. Ugh so not looking forward to

I am trying really hard to save $$$ to get my own place (still living on someone’s basement currently ^^;; and planning to move out) but impulse buying always gets the best of me every time. Maybe I should bring lunch to work save $$$ even more ^^;;. Hopefully I can control myself during Anime North convention this month.

Related posts:

1. Recent Loot
2. My Akatsuki Mishiro just arrived ^^
3. January and February Loot