@Minerva: That’s great! ^^ Yeah, $40 is more or less the going-rate for it including shipping and handling… since most of the time the bid starts at at least 1500~2000 Yen.

I can recognise Hiragana, Katagana (but Katagana took me quite a while to remember) But I’m on very basic level when it comes to the language. It is definitely easier to read the actual Japanese manga than on screen cos I have to concentrate really hard on the text in order to decipher it and my eyes and brain can hurt lol~ I can read Chinese, so sometimes I can guess the meaning of the Kanji but Japanese Kanji often has different meaning from the Chinese counterpart, although they can look almost exactly the same.

I think we can’t help having some expectations considering the scale of conventions are like in Japan. Baby steps! Baby steps! We might get there but I’m not so hopeful about BL here tho’. Anyway, don’t worry about BL ^^;;; I’m not an expert either. I was attracted by one of Ike Reibun’s one-shots about sexy love between yakuza men. Plot-wise, to be honest, was quite typical BL fare. Nothing fantastic ^^;;; In terms of saving $$$, perhaps it’s good not to get back into manga lol~ Have fun with the games! Fan disks are shorter and less time consuming in general… suitable for busy folks like us :P Yep. Comi-comi ships overseas using EMS ^^ They’re the top choice for recent BL items.

The last figma I ordered was… limited edition Suzaku. I think some of the recent ones were cute but not must-haves. I’m learning to better control my spending. The latest action figures I received were the Kingdom Hearts Sephiroth and Cloud. I think Megahouse’s GEM series of figures are lovely. They managed to capture the character’s facial expression perfectly! Gintoki looks great! I find their Lelouch release rather awesome too. But I -MUST- try to stick to no PVC rule. Or I’ll be seriously broke (as if I wasn’t already) (T_T)

Hahaha good for ya! BL figures have quite good resale value, don’t they? XD I guess I’ve learnt to expect “free-stuff” when I buy Japanese anime items. Like DVD/ CDs/books, there’s the so-called first press/limited period editions etc etc… all just part of a great marketing ploy to make us go crazy with the credit card swiping and preordering x_x As for Shounen Sunday Zetsubou-Sensei, it’s okie not to have him. I’ll live… but I’ll still consider getting him if he is cheap. Oh~ I’m going to Ikea during the weekend too. Planning to eat their signature Swedish Meatballs and our localised jumbo sized fried chicken wings kekeke.

I ordered some Seiyuu sheep counting for better sleep series LOL~ And The Sky Crawlers and Toward the Terra anime OST along with a book whose release date is in September. I’m considering getting Soul Eater Best CD too but waiting for a sale. I don’t put up posters anymore so I don’t buy them but I received a few along with the CDs I ordered, like Code Geass Best collection CD and Miyano Mamoru’s Break CD ^^ Nice to have but~ no space/frame to display in.

More pics are always better hehehe. Anyway recent listings were kinda boring, isn’t it? There aren’t any upcoming releases that make me go WOAH I MUST HAVE ‘EM! This shopaholic is feeling lonely XD

Totally! I really like his blog and the pictures he takes. A new give away already though, show your desk lol. There’s some interesting ones out there. Fun to see all different kinds of desks, which makes me want to change mine :(

Ah I see! Hmm I own some Japanese ones, can’t read em yet though. Can you read yours? xd Can’t wait till I take those classes, I’ll be finally able to read my manga! Aside from the English ones :P
It’s true though, scanlations often beat the licensed stuff. I used to read alot of scanlations as well, but it died out for me at one point @_@ Not sure when but quite a long time ago..years really ._.
Ah what manga is she famous for? I still have alot to learn from you when it comes to BL stuff :P

Mhm I see. Though it looks like the anime culture is much bigger in Singapore really. So I wouldn’t expect less on a con. It’s like, you go there with a goal you know. You want to buy certain things and then you end up disappointed if they don’t have it. Well that was the case for me, since I saw Naruto/Bleach at every stand -_- Really disappointed me..there’s so much better series out there, I also think they should come with a wider variety so people who like less popular stuff also get what they want. On the other hand, they might think it won’t sell so they won’t bring it, understandable..sigh, this is tough xd I did see some BL manga though, lucky xd No goods but still better than nothing at all~

Hm I don’t mind H-scenes. I’d love to see em really xd lol. Will definitely check this out as soon as I’m not as busy and beat from work :( Comi-Comi is working for me now, thanks < BL galore !! They ship overseas right?

Action figures are cute. They’re coming with new figma again. I still don’t see any that I’d like! Probably for the best..I’d be broke anyways xd. Did you order any new figma, since you like em and love to play/pose em? :3
Not sure if you like Gintama but this Gintoki figure is sexy :( Seriously..I never expected a Gintoki PVC ! Are you getting this too?
Gah speaking of Togainu no Chi figs, I got to sell em xd -happy- The money goes to a new cabinet, going to Ikea on Thursday and see if they got anything nice <3 I’m so excited!
Hm magazines are fun really, especially if they come with goodies. That’s what I like about Japan, they love goodies too lol. I subscribed to a Dutch Anime magazine couple of years ago. It was okay but they usually did reviews and boring contests, no goodies..so I unsubscribed cause it just wasn’t worth the money. But something like Animage or Megami looks far more interesting.

Yay pics :3 You owe me some lol! Mugs are the best really :P My love for em is still overflowing xd. Ordered a K-ON! and Maria Holic mug. They are adorable, can’t wait for em ^^

Ohh TM Revolution has such a nice and strong voice yeah! I keep saying I’ll look into it and I really will, need to write this all down though ._. sigh..busy busy lol.

Ah the Shounen Sunday figure right? The Sensei figure looked nice for it’s price. Tried eBay or Yahoo Japan yet? xd
Bah I know how you feel, I canceled alot pre-orders too. I actually feel better about it, since they aren’t things I REALLY want..I just wanted to ‘have’ em ._. Terrible really. But now I’m honestly trying to only get what I truly want! Some figures which is a total surprise cause I’d never thought of getting any new ones ever again. Though I ordered a bunch of Hitman Reborn posters..*sigh* couldn’t control myself! This is the last time I’ve bought posters :( No frames at the moment to hang em up anyways..
Which CD’s are you getting? -curious- CD’s are always fun and worth it. Music is really captivating and stays with you in your mind, cd player, iPod etc.. lol!

I got some new stuff in, will take pics next time :( -lazy-

Danny definitely looks like he’s working smart and playing hard ^^ Very inspiring!

Nope, I haven’t bought local/overseas English version manga before, only Chinese and Japanese ones ^^ I read complaints by fans that English scanlations often beat the official licensed ones in terms of translation quality :P Chinese ones seem ok… little typo issues but unless we compare side by side with the Japanese version and have a good command of the language, we’re all probably none-the-wiser. I placed an order for Ike Reibun’s new manga at Comi-comi. I like her drawing style. But it would ship later in June with an upcoming BL game “Lucky Dog” I ordered.

Mmm… Glad you had fun at the convention! XD So far I’ve only attended one local Anime Fest last year. Pretty good quality cosplays too. But no guys in dresses hehe… I think we can expect mainstream stuff to dominate these conventions but I think if we compare the popularity of manga/anime in our countries, we do have more selections available. However, NO BL items in sight whatsoever. Probably too sensitive for local authorities and the exhibitors probably don’t want to risk getting into trouble.

Lol~ for a start, you can try the fan disks of BL games. They’re lighter on the brain and easier to understand *_* Kichiku Megane R Fan Disk is pretty enjoyable. The mini typing game was hilarious. Maybe you’ll like to read up a little bit on the character backgrounds but it doesn’t really matter if you don’t. I enjoyed Bokura no Renai Shinrigaku Fan Disk too. Lots of H in many variety *cough* I have no problems loading comi-comi. Try this link: http://www.comicomi-studio.com/home.html

Ah~ I prefer action figures, cos I can play with and pose them XD but I made some exceptions and bought the Togainu Military Akira and Shiki statues during a sale. Ah~ Kotonoha is a pretty girl hehehe… Mmm, so far I haven’t placed any new figure orders. I’m determined not to get carried away since I made a number of regretful purchases in the past. Must save some $ for a Japan trip next year too! XD Anyway, I already have a lot of preorders (which you’re aware of) lol so yeah… I don’t usually buy magazines. It’s typical with anime/manga/seiyuu pics and info. I only bought this issue for the free Kuroshitsuji poker cards. There’s a few pages of setting artwork for the anime too, so it was a bonus.

Work and life in general has been keeping me very busy too. Haven’t been able to update much for the past 2 weeks. I’ll shelve the Zetsubou sensei project for the moment. As for the mug I bought, I’ll probably use it as a pen/stationery holder on my desk XD I’ll post pics soon.

Gackt is always good XD, L’arc~en~Ciel (Gundam 00), TM Revolution (He sings many popular anime opening songs! Soul Eater, Dgrayman, Sengoku Basara. Such a powerhouse voice for a tiny guy ^^) There’re many awesome bands and singers out there but I don’t fangirl over them anymore, so I don’t exactly have many recommendations that are really current.

And latest update. Pre-orders are up till September now -dead- I understand how you feel. I cancelled a few preorders before but so far I haven’t regretted the decision very much (only slightly for one item, a Zetsubou Sensei figure which is now sold out everywhere. But I’ll live lol~) I’m still considering if I should cancel some of my CD preorders but probably will decide when the release date is nearer.

Those towels are so cute. I guess it would be ashame to wash em yeah since no one knows what will happen! Well I thought maybe if I see a really nice towel that I want, I’ll buy one eventually. For now..not really :x
Thank you very much for that tool site. I had no idea such a thing existed! Very handy indeed, which got me thinking..and then decided ‘Oh right..there’s always Yahoo Japan..duh ._.’ So I got some stuff there again but it’s Golden Week so they won’t ship it out for another couple of days :( I did end up buying other stuff on eBay. I’m terrible xd

Yeah people collect the strangest things anyways, so we shouldn’t be surprised that those alien things actually get bought xd.
His old room is nice too, totally! He’s in a commercial now, pretty neat. He sure is living the ultimate life (well looks like it rofl).

Ah Chinese huh. I had no idea :x I guess you haven’t bought any of their English manga yet? Kinda curious how the translations are. I’ve spotted so many typos and whatnot in US ones. Makes me wonder who the heck is doing all that! Do you plan on getting any manga anytime soon? I went to Animecon 2009 here in The Netherlands. Decided to go on Friday only, not the whole weekend. I’m glad really since this was the first BIG con I’ve been to (been to a smaller one before). Lots of manga available at this bigger con. But oh boy the waiting line for the dealer area was so long! Glad we got in pretty fast though. Then again, I was looking for particular stuff and didn’t find any of the things I wanted..simply because it was all so mainstream and nearly Naruto and Bleach merchandise ONLY! With some expections here and there but it was hard to believe that there was no One Piece merchandise at all. And no Hitman Reborn stuff..I don’t think I saw any Sailor Moon stuff and I totally expected some but wow! Nothing @_@ So I ended up only getting the AIR Movie DVD and Kanon complete DVD :x Got my hopes up too high I guess xd But neverthless..the cosplays were enjoyable as in, I had a good laugh seeing guys in wedding dresses and skirts!

Got the same issue here, my friends aren’t really into anime. More into gaming. I don’t mind but it would be nice to have someone to talk to about anime and everything that comes with it. Glad there’s the internet and lots of people who seem to be interested and just want to share their hobby with eachother.
I understand though. Lots of people here think that ‘cartoons’ are for kids as well. And when you explain anime, being Japanese cartoons and all, you get the odd look xd But you know what I’m talking about anyways! It’s just a shame that they label it as ‘kiddie’ while it’s not all that childish.

Gah I forgot about aarinfantasy! Ofcourse :( I will sign up this week. Guess I’ll start with some games and then move onto drama cds if possible. I bet they are fun to listen to yeah with all the sex talk :3 yum, BL~ Hahaha! And thanks for the comi-comi site! Forgot about that as well..you should see my bookmarks, so many unorganized and then I forgot what I bookmarked ._. Gotta sort em, sigh.. *checks site..* Wait it doesn’t work :( what happened?! ._. Does it work for you?

Agreed! HLJ needs a point system, but don’t think they would. They make alot of money so probably no need to give discounts to customers rofl. Greedy bastards :(
I just don’t like how things get sold out so fast..or discontinued..or put on back order..ugh. It happened to me so much, that I’m basically forced to check HLJ on a daily basis and order stuff as soon as possible :x
That statue is very nice indeed. Tempted aren’t you? xd Haha, get rid of your no-statue policy :P There’s alot of nice figures coming out soon. You better get something nice! Today I ordered Kotonoha Katsura by Kotobukiya at HLJ. Nice promo pics really. Too lazy to link you one though, sorry xd *sleepy*

Hm I don’t order magazines. Is Animage fun? The april one is sold out lol :( I was thinking of getting a Dengeki G’s Festival magazine whenever a new one comes out. They come with amazing gifts = yay!
You got a mug?! Picture! I’d love to see it :D Mugs are so cute right? Would you use em? I still can’t decide if I want to or not..

Thank you, I’m pleased to be here xd very fun! Guess I should be reading about blogging a lil more before starting one. I won’t be all that busy for a while (I think..) so maybe I can pull it off!

As long as you have fun doing the shoot, that’s all that matters :D And you can do so much with Zetsubou sensei! He’s silly anyways, you can think of something nice xd.

Ah so that’s how Miku is so popular. No wonder if others can make the music too, no doubt it would be popular! But a Gackt version..gosh, that’s really silly xd. Do you like Gackt? I don’t really know his music, I heard like one song or something and forgot the name of it. Was pretty nice though. Sigh, I need to get more into Jpop/rock xd Got any recommandations?!

They are lovely! The prints on em are high quality and very beautiful. I’d drool on the Hibari mug but then it would get..quite..sticky..but yeah, my love for mugs is big!
I got some other stuff in, will make pics sometime soon. Share your new thingies too! I’d like to see your obessions lol.
Gah pre-orders up till August *faints* I know your pain ;_; Though pre-orders are horrible don’t you think? I had over 20 items on pre-order and ended up canceled some..due to lack of money x.x Wanted to get the Little Busters! and Clannad character dishes. They are adorable..but oh well! I gotta remind myself that I should only get what I REALLY want. You know that feeling right? xd

I have a couple of moyashimon hand towels and mini hand towels but I don’t use them cos I don’t want to find out if they spoil easily XP Mugs are great cos they don’t depreciate like towels do. As for ebay, I haven’t bought any figures before. Try using this tool to check for negative ebay feedback ratings since ebay doesn’t display those anymore. It may help you decide if you want to order from a seller. ^^

Crazy indeed. Those alien figures. And they look small and cheap too ^^;;; But maybe they are considered rare finds among figure connoisseurs. *shrugs* I’m mainstream when it comes to figure collecting. XD I just checked Danny’s latest post. I guess since he’s hiring another person, he can’t have the whole room to himself already. I still prefer his old room tho’.

Our local manga publisher started out licensing and publishing only in Chinese. This is their website. But I think they’ve started to publish English versions now. I think from the publisher’s point of view, something rated G/PG has a wider audience than something that has a higher age restriction. Economics $$$. I think the shops can also get into trouble (fines?) if they aren’t careful about selling restricted items to minors.

Most of my friends are not into anime or manga. They’ve either “outgrown” them or were never interested in the first place, so the topic wouldn’t really come into our conversations, so naturally none of my friends would know about my BL interest. The few who watch anime occasionally would know my fangirl obsessions over seiyuus or cute anime bishonens lol~ but that’s about it heh. No wonder people think fujoshis live in their own world. I kinda agree XP *sweatdrop* General views about homosexuality here are still relatively conservative too. Japanese anime is more common in Asia, so we don’t get the “anime = hentai” kind of looks here as much as you do but BL is still relatively underground.

Hmm, most of the time, after telling clients it is Japanese anime, they’ll have a deep-in-thought ah~ I see kinda of expression and then the conversation ends there in awkward silence *sweatdrop* So that’s why I don’t bother anymore. Life for an (adult?) otaku would be so lonely without the internet cos we’re still kinda expected to outgrow “cartoons” when we get older here.

I think it’ll be good to start with BL drama cds that are based on licensed or scanlated manga so that you can read along and learn what they’re talking about. I think my listening improved a lot after getting into drama cds. But be-warned! The first words you’ll pick up will probably be all the H and sex talk hahaha *hides* If you’re looking for BL games, sign up at aarinfantasy forum. I buy my BL games from comi-comi.com ^^ They ship by EMS. I also picked up a couple of titles from Mandarake and yahoo auctions using crescent. I’ve not played eroge/hentai game before, only BL ones.

HLJ would’ve been perfect if they had a points system. They also have items that are not always available in other stores ^^ like clothes and accessories for 1/6 figures. The wave figures look very well-made ^^ little wonder you placed your order! I have a no-statues policy, so I try to keep to it or I’ll be spending so much more than I already am. I’m tempted no doubt. Look at the impressive hair of this statue from Harukanaru!!!

Did you order the April copy of Animage? It comes with a free pack of Kuroshitsuji poker cards! Very lovely. I just got mine yesterday. I’m also starting to notice glasses and mugs cos of your obsession lol~ My Togainu mug also arrived today! I haven’t unwrapped it yet. (^///^)

You’re definitely welcome here hehehe. Well, you don’t need HTML knowledge for blogging. Just get an account with wordpress.org and you can start immediately ^_^)b But if you want to customise your blog more, some HTML knowlege would help.

Haha xd ‘wanted to do BL things’ that’s hilarious. You should totally! Photoshoot :3
An idea had been brewing since I received my Zetsubou sensei last month but I should plan it out properly. Cos after all the setup and preparation, it may just turn out to be lame x_x and disappointing.

Well, Miku is a character created for a singing voice system software that you can use with a Yamaha keyboard. There are many original and fan music videos created by users using this software and it contributed a lot to her popularity. There’s even a gackt version of this software! That’s why I’m hoping for a Gackpoid figma or nendoroid but it seems quite unlikely probably due to licensing issues. Check out a short post I did: Kichiku Megane x Gackt.

Wow those Reborn mugs designs are cool! I like it that they cropped and captured their expressions with impact. I love the T-shirt too XD And yay Sensei! Ah~ I saw your near otakukai figure XD She’s a cutie! Well, if it is any consolation… I have preorders all the way up till August. *dead*

Hmm I don’t own any towels yet, but some do like nice so I was wondering maybe I should buy one. But yeah no idea if they are good quality, I think they are since Cospa has nice stuff usually. Kinda expensive still though for a towel but it’s a collectable..thing. Lol!

About the bootleg issue, I’ve been searching for Hitman Reborn figures by Yujin. Man..eBay is flooded with bootlegs and some sellers look trustworthy with respectable feedback, barely any negative feedback. But they are located in Hong Kong :x What do you think? Try or no? xd

Haha yeah those weird alien figures pop up nearly daily? Lol! And they are freaking expensive too :P Yet most of em are sold out in only a couple of minutes! Amazing for such ugly figures LOL.

True that, I can’t imagine living in a cramped otaku room honestly. Ofcourse it looks fun but not tidy at all! Danny’s office is nice indeed, he rearranged it though, did you see that? It looks quite spacious now. He’s hiring someone to work for him, must be a dream job for any of us out there!

Hm may I ask what language the local manga is ? I’m not too familiar with Singapore :( But I’d like to know, so do tell!! Haha xd
Though what a shame if they edit things in the manga. Do you still buy em even when editted? Maybe they should just put an age rating on the cover? :x Not like it would hold down minors anyways, but then it’s your own fault for getting a trauma lol!
Ah so none of your friends know that you’re interested in BL? :o May I ask why you rather keep it to yourself, apart from the fact that it’s porn I guess lol. I think here it’s not as a big deal since The Netherlands allows gay marriage and such, though that doesn’t mean there’s no discrimination. There is ofcourse, but it feels like it’s more natural here that there’s straight and gay people. So I think that’s why it’s being accepted more easily. I like BL too, probably haven’t read/seen as much as you but my friends do know about it. I don’t mind since it’s nothing I should be ashamed of, porn is porn..no matter what gender is starring in it hahaha :D Is what I think :P

Yeah it’s a fact that we are still the minority when it comes to enjoying our hobby. I learned from it as well, like looking back at your own experience with those clients..if they look weird at an object or whatever, I explain what it is and that it’s my hobby. I won’t start about it out of nowhere, only when people ask me personally or like I said before..when they look oddly at something rofl. Cause I remember in elementary when I told my buddies about ‘Japanese cartoons’ they would say I’m nuts, lol. Except for the boys because they loved Dragonball Z and I’d discuss it with them. Now then I was a little kiddo, so I figured out later that DBZ isn’t my kind of anime LOL. But it’s fun to think back, plus it was one of the few anime they broadcasted here, so there wasn’t much to discuss with friends at the time when it came to anime. But honestly, I’m an adult now..so whoever asks me about my hobby, I will answer truthfully ofcourse, just..I won’t mention ‘I LIKE YAOI!!’ out of the blue. Actually..most people, first thing they would say is (from past experiences) ‘Oh, those Japanese cartoons?’ Or ‘Oh Japanese cartoon sex right? Hentai right?!!’ It’s fun to see how people don’t have a clue about anime and just assume you watch hentai LOL.

Not familiar with drama cd’s. I thought of picking up some but couldn’t decide..and then the idea faded away rather quickly xd But it’s something I will definitely do when I’m going to start my classes, along with BL games. I have a hard time finding BL games though..downloadable ones :x same goes for any kind of eroge game. I’m not a great googler lol. I’d also love to BUY BL games, just looks like there isn’t many places to get em from..and using Crescent for all that..bye bye wallet xd

The posters caught my eye right away! They also caught my wallet right after that LOL. Ugh, I fall for these traps daily :( Pre-ordered a bunch of other stuff, the Furude Rika and Hanyuu (Higurashi series) figures by Wave look real good on the promo pictures, so I ordered em right away!
But yeah that’s what I dislike about HLJ..stupid order stop! I missed out on stuff before cause of that, so yeah I learned my lesson and if I find someplace else to order, I do that! HLJ is my most reliable source though, so easy and don’t have to pay for pre-orders right away.

Yeah DPD is awesome but I think it’s limited to certain areas only, not sure actually..but it’d be nice if more sites used that shipping method with the same rates ofcourse..

Blogs are fun and interesting, so that’s why I’m sticking here if you don’t mind hahaha! Your way of writing is entertaining, I don’t think I could be as fun xd Plus my English isn’t flawless, that’s quite an issue to me but oh well~ Though, do you need any HTML knowledge for blogging?

Haha xd ‘wanted to do BL things’ that’s hilarious. You should totally! Photoshoot :3
You have a ton of cute figma and Nendoroid, so you’re bound to get inspiration sometime :D
Hm can you explain to me what’s so great about Miku? Or well..what made her so popular? Isn’t it an cyber idol or something…who sings? I read something like that, but couldn’t really go with the hype..not my kinda thing :(

I promised pics of my loot, came in on the weekend. From left to right; One Piece mug friend sign|Hitman Reborn mugs Tsuna, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Hibari Discipline Committee and Vongole Family mug! Soul Eater Excalibur T-shirt and Itoshiki-sensei !! Believe it or not, I pre-ordered MORE mugs lol..I love em ;_;
And since my storage area in the cabinet is cramped.. There’s so much more stuff behind all that ;_; Aahh!

Mandarake International has a couple of drama CDs but the ratio is probably 1: 100 on the Japan site and they’re usually not the ones I’m looking for. Yeah some of those trading figures are strange (or ugly) and look like aliens, right? They can also be quite expensive. I wonder who collects them ^^;;; I feel the same way about checking daily too *shakes head* We’re shopaholics. XD

I think those otaku rooms are too cluttered (you can’t even see the wall or floor hahaha) but I’m quite impressed by a few very well-organised ones. I like Danny Choo’s office space very much.

English manga generally cost about S$5-S$8 more cos they’re imported from the US. Local versions are cheaper :) but they practice self-censorship. If they think certain scenes might have problem getting approved by our censors (violence, nudity, bad language and other questionable/extreme content), they may just remove or replace it. I buy mainstream manga/artbooks from bookshops if they’re cheaper than online stores. I always spot new merchandise online first then do a comparison keke. As for BL stuff, I only buy them online. Shy XD and partly cos my BL interest is a closeted thing that I can’t share with my friends ^^;;; I don’t want to be caught dead buying pr0n (yeah I think many Yaoi can be considered as such) by clients/aquaintances either *_*

Most people don’t get anime and it is pointless to try to explain to them. “Adults who watch Japanese cartoons” lol~ are still a minority. I met a few clients with raised eyebrows (out of curiosity?) over my Akizuki Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto laptop wallpaper in the past. It looked something like this but I photoshopped the background to make it big enough as horizontal wallpaper. Can you imagine having to explain BL? *dies* I can understand your dad’s reaction.

I gave away or sold most of my older manga too ^^ kept the ones I liked the most. I also thought the same thing when I bought Japanese manga then. Besides reading manga, one good way to learn Japanese is to listen to drama cds. It helps you remember words and pronunciation better. Playing BL games is good for listening and recognising/reading kanji too lol~ XD If we don’t collapse from bloodloss, that is.

My, my… Kuroshitsuji posters are sexxaay and Little Busters collection are great value. Sometimes after HLJ does an order stop, the item may go immediately out of stock after it arrives, so it is safer bet to order elsewhere unless you don’t mind taking the risk XP

Wow that’s awesome :O and 10 kilos is a hell lot of weight for 5 Euros!

I surf occasionally and read other blogs too. I started this blog cos there’s a lack of BLCD reviews and fell headlong into blogging figures and other stuff too. Yeah why not start a trend? Don’t worry about the writing. You’ll find it easier to blog as you go along, especially since you’ll be sharing your views about what you love!

Thanks to Itsuki x_x I spiralled down the Haruhi figma collection swirl. Anyway I wanted to do BL things to him and Kyon (like SuzaxLulu) lol~ but their “relationship” wasn’t as inspiring/intense as the Code Geass boys. Well, let’s keep our fingers crossed for Clamp and Junjou figma! X(^_^)X Nendoroid Miku is uber popular but I didn’t buy her (reverse hype? But I have her figma) ^^;;; I have Nendoroid and Figma Rin and Ren tho’. I ended up pre-ordering the recent Nendoroid Kagami Miku instead. I want to shoot my Nendoroids too but… need inspiration hehe.

For most things it’s easy to pick out the bootlegs, but some..you just aren’t sure right? :x Like for example there’s tons of eBay shops in Hong Kong who sell nice things. It says it’s a legitimate item by official companies and such..also their eBay feedback is usually around 99.6% or a lil higher, not many negative feedback as well..still hard to purchase from em. I’d love to but..don’t want to end up with bootleg things like you said :(

Hm I thought Mandarake had alot of doujin cd’s? I didn’t spot any drama ones. Usually there’s a whole load of doujinshi, some figurines and weird trading figs or gachapon. Not sure what they are LOL. But it’s always good to check daily right? In case you find something awesome. I’d regret it if for example I didn’t check today and miss out on something ;_;

Jokes like that are fun xd It does get you thinking though. If I had a true otaku room, I can’t imagine what my friends would say lol!
I was wondering, are most manga in English there? :x Because those are more expensive (usually) than the local language ones. But maybe also cause you’re closer to Japan than I am, you’re bound to have more options when it comes to buying merchandise in actual stores. Do you go down town at all or do you purchase everything online?
Though you say you’re shy, is that why you don’t BL stuff in actual store? xd Not too long ago I went to the American bookstore here, hadn’t set foot there in years .. I told you about that xd so yeah wanted to check on stuff, saw Junjou Romantica vol.1 and 2. And bought both ^^ I was with my father and he said ‘What kind of manga is that?’ and I replied ‘It contains boy-love!! :D’ He only looked strangely at me and made this face ._. ..Oh well LOL.
Don’t know if I mentioned before but I sold most of my manga couple of years ago, only kept the ones I really wanted and I have some Japanese ones..which I can’t read yet LOL. Bought em for when I was going to learn the language xd finally this year I’ll be taking Japanese class at a language institute rofl.

Mhm honestly I always thought I should buy DVD’s but since it’s not my cup of tea..yeah I just didn’t. But you’re right. So I picked out some DVD’s and ordered the AIR TV series + Movie, Kanon complete set and Clannad Season 1. I love Visual Arts/Key so yeah xd Haha. I have some Ghibli DVD’s though! :) Though I’m officially crazy and went on another ordering spree (please lock me up with no computer near me LOL) went for Kuroshitsuji posters and some Little Busters posters.
HLJ had an order stop on both of em and I’m impatient lol.

Ah yeah if you buy small things then EMS is expensive. I guess even Mandarake understands then that you’d request SAL. You know I’m extremely happy that whenever I buy from Archonia.com (I don’t order from em as much as before) but they have this shipping method called DPD, delivery time is usually within 5 days and it only costs 5 euro, package may weight within 10 kilo’s I thought. Now that’s cheap..and fast.

Do you read other people’s blog? I do sometimes, it’s probably how I got to yours haha. I was looking for something and ended up here :P But you’re right. Many figurine blogs or sites dedicated to figs only. I wish people would review other stuff too besides figurines and DVD’s. I did see some mugs here and there but not a blog dedicated to it. Hey maybe I should start a trend here :P Hahaha. I’m not blog material..wouldn’t know what to say and where to begin @_@.

Nice way to determine what to buy and what to pass on! The Haruhi figma look cute, I can see why you’d buy the whole set. It would feel incomplete otherwise right? xd Plus now you can make em all do the Hare Hare Yukai dance :P Like it hasn’t been done already LOL :(

:D Haha I figured you’d think it’s a nice idea. I surprised myself with the idea xd Great thing you e-mailed Max Factory. Never came to my mind to do that!! And to support you I also e-mailed them (including CLAMP Figma ;] ). Two people have more power than one :3

You got him so soon! So you should let him play with your other Nendoroids :P I’ve seen some really cute photoshoots which got me thinking and I’d love to try something similar. Seems like that Hatsune Miku is really popular among the Nendoroid and Figma craze. I see lots of photoshoots starring her. Very cute!

If only there was a way to make sure items on eBay were legitimate. I’ll really upset if I paid full price for a bootleg. That’s why I always try to buy from Japan sites. Checking Mandarake everyday has become a habit but I don’t make impulse buys anymore. But if they had more CDs listed, I think I might. Their drama CD product list on the English site pales in comparison to their Japanese site. Although they entertain enquiries about their Japanese site only items, they don’t always oblige when we request for them. It depends on who was handling your query ^^;;;

My friend was joking that all those figures will be my dowry when I get married Lol~ Indeed, when manga became more common, it should be cheaper, right? But ours only became more and more expensive *sweatdrop* Maybe there’s a licensing requirement that the price must be tagged to the Japanese rate? Nowadays, we have many comics shops and 2 Kinokuniya book stores. So if you like most mainstream manga, you’ll be spoilt for choice. And to think we only had bootleg manga and only 1 shop carrying licensed translated manga when I was a student XD That’s nostalgic but that very first shop is no longer in operation. We can also find BL manga on sale here if we look hard enough (our govt doesn’t want to encourage homosexuality, so technically speaking, these items are often banned or censored). Anyway, I’m shy (~lol~), so I only buy them online.

Buy the DVDs if you really like the series. Isn’t it interesting how there’s so much guilt involved in our hobby and we keep thinking we’re not buying enough? If we were never exposed to fansub/scanlation in the first place, I guess we would never have to feel this way. Sighs~ But there’s no turning back now.

Yeah I tried my luck with Mandarake cos shelling out an extra 10~30 bucks for EMS shipping for a very small package of clear folders or CDs just don’t make rational sense if I can help it. Seems cheapskate lol~ but I used to buy like crazy, so every buck counts T_T;;;

Figure collectors seem more common since there are more figure blogs around. Maybe there are also collectors like yourself but they don’t make posts of their mug collections? From the way these mugs and tea cups get sold out and reissued, I think they are very popular goods too. ^^

I used to buy Figma and other goods as long as I liked the design but now I classify them as must-haves, nice-to-haves and to-be-classified. Otherwise I can go open a figure shop already XD And I wouldn’t have bought the whole Haruhi gang of Figma if I didn’t see Itsuki Figma. I liked his smiling face a lot and ended up buying everybody cos they have to be a set right? “Sucker!!” *points at self* Sighs.

WAH JUNJOU FIGMA WOULD BE AWESOME!!! I’ll definitely get them all *_* You inspired me. I just sent an email to Max Factory and asked them to make Junjou Figma XD Opps I forgot to mention Clamp figma. (Maybe my white angel wants to prevent me from spending too much lol)

It’ll be nice to have a few of the same nendoroids cos they have up to 3 different faces that you can display in. All of them are so cute! But reality bites ~$$$~ =_= I preordered Sensei when he was first announced. I got him around last month hehe. Invest in a good camera ^^ You’ll have a lot more fun shooting your collection.