Mistakes of Youth: The Blog (Powered by EXCELLENCE!)

…and I will give you some real quick reviews on all of them!!

MaxFactory 1/8 Mikuru School Festival Ver.

MaxFactory is known for their quality, and this figure is no exception. At first I found the face sculpt to be kind of awkward, but then I realized that was only due to the fact that Mikuru never ever looks this happy in the show. If I had to say anything bad about it, it’d be that taking the headband thing that was already on her head off to put the cat ears on is kind of hard, and the figure isn’t castoffable. I mean seriously, these panties are beautifully rendered, why must MaxFactory tease us so? The panties on the castoffable Atelier Sai figures suck.

In my mind I like to think that Mikuru thinks long and hard about what kind of panties to wear each day, on the off-chance that she will get lucky with meKyon.

Random Primula trading figure

I don’t know much about trading figures, but this one seems pretty ok. Yeah, the paint job isn’t the greatest and the eye detail is weak, but it’s a small little thing that looks good from afar. And hey, it’s cool to have a dainty little girl making a sand castle right there on your desk so you don’t have to sneak out to a beach and watch the real ones do it from a distance!

CharaAni Limited Edition Kaede Fuyou

I was originally going to get this version off of Yahoo Auctions for 1000 yen, but it was early in the morning, I forgot how to bid, and by the time I came to my senses the auction was over. So, I instead opted to get this limited edition version for 6000 yen. I kind of had to warm up to this one. Yes, it’s Kaede, so that’s like 99 out of 100 points right there, but the face sculpt for this one kind of bothers me. I’ve since gotten used to the sculpt, but if I had skills I’d paint some more stuff in the eyes or something.

If I ever see the original version floating around I’ll pick that one up, too.

Random Kaede Fuyou Trading Figure 1

Man, this one is so fucking hot. The best part about this one is the legs– they’re carved out so beautifully that I could lick them all over. Her body is also totally amazing too, and I just love how Kaede looks in that dress, especially the way her boobs come out. If I had to complain about this figure, I’d complain that the kneeled version of the legs weren’t included, but that’s not the figure’s fault.

Random Kaede Fuyou Trading Figure 2

And this is the hottest figure I got today. I just love how this one comes together, from the flowing hair, to the sexy “yes dear~” expression, to the hot hot dress, to the soup ladle that tops it all off. This incredibly sexy housewife looking pose embodies everything I love about women, and as such I totally love this figure. And damn, whoever sculpted this one gave Kaede some nice tits.

And that’s it for tonight! Welcome to the family, girls!

Original Post

Will write a rant when I don’t feel like crap.

In the midsts of my Shuffle! merch buying frenzy some months ago, I came across this “Clear Sheet Collection” over at CDJapan. I noticed that of the fifteen “clear sheets” available, two of them were rare images that I really wanted highres copies of (Kaede in naked apron and Kaede in maid outfit) and a quite a few others were images I liked but didn’t have highres versions of. Though, there was a catch: of the fifteen images available, the most you could get from each set was twelve, so you’d be missing out on three of the images no matter what. But despite that little hang up, I snatched this up without a thought and hoped for the best. After a few weeks, it finally arrived at my doorstep (gogo SAL shipping.)

Turns out my luck wasn’t totally horrible like it always is, and I at least got one of the two rare images I wanted. Alas, Kaede in a maid outfit seems forever out of reach, save for bad Yahoo auction pics. If anyone has that one, I’d love a scan of it. Anyways, on to the review…

This “Clear Sheet Collection” is really just a set of transparent pencil boards with various pieces of Really? Really! promotional art on them. Of the fifteen offered, only five of them are the same old recycled art you’ve seen everywhere, with the other ten being rarer images. So, no matter what kind of batch you get, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get some good stuff.

And what good stuff this is! Aoi Nishimata is in top form here with a bunch of cute Kaede renderings along some hot Primula, Mayumi and Sakura action for good measure. Hiro Suzuhira makes some brief appearances with a few Asa and Ama pics, but is mostly absent from this collection considering she apparently left Navel a while ago due to health issues. If I had to say anything negative about this set (aside from the fact that you miss three of the images >:((( ) is that the transparency thing seems pretty pointless. All it really does is make the art look faded, which isn’t a good thing. However, if you’re like me and tape up pencil boards, these look decent against a white surface. They’re also good to collect in an album of some sort!

I’d recommend these to any serious Shuffle! fan such as myself, but good luck finding them now. CDJapan is out, and I have no idea where else they’d sell these. Your best bet is Yahoo auctions, probably. In fact, I should go there right now and see if anyone is selling the Kaede maid “clear sheet”!

Bonus

As a distinguished member of the interwebs, I’ve decided to scan some of the rare images for my fellow otaku. I’ve uploaded all of these to danbooru (18+), but this blog post has a better scan of Naked Apron Kaede. Get ‘em while they’re hot!

Hay guys, I’m 20 years old today!

All I really want is

…and maybe some money to get the latest Megami, or a new bag.

Also, instead of happy birthday, let’s all sing OKKUSENMAN!

After a very stressful yesterday/last night, I finally have a sexy working version of XP running on this machine. It took blood, sweat, tears and the help of many great men. Thanks go out to Rob, Randall and Chase for helping me get this sucker installed.

It works great! It feels just like my old computer except for Photoshop starts up in 5 seconds and nothing slows down ever. The real test of this machine’s power will come in the form of some epic Photoshopping (which should happen today or tomorrow), but as of right now things are more or less perfect! The only losses from all this were Dell’s little mini-view thing, but that didn’t do much but look kind of cool and space-age-ish anyway, and my Hizashi no Naka no REAL save game. Well, it’s not really a loss since the harddrive on my old PC is still intact and I probably backed it up but I have no idea where to find it. Any fellow lolicon out there have ideas? Alternatively, a full save file would be good… I could never get past 75% complete…

Normal comicing/blog posting will resume shortly~

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Original Post

Before I say anything about the comic, I’d like to call the latest issue of OTAKU USA to your attention. Don’t be fooled by the family friendly Dee Bee Zee cover, since this is most dangerous issue yet. Yes, most dangerous. Daryl Surat may find issue with me labeling it as such, but hear me out, ok? See, normal issues of Otaku USA are simply dangerous since they are overseen by the most dangerous man alive, Patrick Macias. What makes this issue the most dangerous are the various forces that have come together to bring it into existence. It starts off with Clarissa giving a Shuffle! review, which is pretty fucking dangerous in itself– but that’s not enough to make it the most dangerous. What makes this the most dangerous is the fact that this guy and I are in the same in the book at the same time, while forces like Daryl Surat rule over the rest of the pages with an Iron Fist. Yes, you can feel the flames as you touch this burning, blazing publication of HOT BLOOD and MOE PASSION. So go out and BUY IT already. Shit, I haven’t even read it, but I can assure you that your mind will be blown into the outer reaches of space. But that’s not all! The Internet tells me that issue 7 will be even more dangerous than this one. I won’t give any details, but chances are I’ll be in that one, too. I should be writing under my real name, though.

Anyway, enough about Otakus and USAs, on to the comic. I think I’ve reached a new level of Comic Writing in this one, since I actually allude to shows without mentioning them by name. Sure, this writing is still clunky compared to the streamlined Penny Arcade, but we can’t all be legends. For those who don’t know, this comic makes reference to Zettai Karen Children and Kure-nai, shows which are both very good in their own ways, so if you haven’t watched them yet– do it now! I really like the art here. Sure, Tina’s stare in panel 2 is frightening, but the rest turned out pretty well. The backgrounds are even good! So yes, really happy with this one.

One thing I’d kind of like to make clear with this one strip and all others is that this webcomic is not the self-insert comic that 4chan and others would like to think it is. I mean, I’m as much Rets as Tatsuhiko Takimoto is Satou. I don’t write this pretending that I’m in there, I just push my experiences and views onto my character, since it’s easy to write what you know. Hence why Rets’ apartment is similar to mine and the fact that some comics take place in real locations around Boston. I mean c’mon, I’m not shameless enough to make a character that’s supposed to be me hang out with a girl who dresses the way Tina does. If this was realistic, it’d be two guys talking to each other, like every other webcomic about geeky things. But, you know, I like drawing girls! They’re a lot more fun to draw than boring guys. Also, if this was true wish fulfillment, the female character would look more similar to Nagi-tan… or Kaede-chan, but she isn’t really an otaku.

In further comic-related news, Patrick Macias and I recently had a discussion, and this discussion was published in the Japanese magazine Ascii Weekly. As a result, I’ve gotten the attention of the Japanese otaku, and it seems at least one of them is impressed by my knowledge, which makes me quite happy. See, I got an email from a senior otaku who really liked the comic and thought I had the Japanese fan scene down pretty good. Also, another guy from the mag can be found commenting here. I don’t have scans yet, but Macias promised some, so I’ll post them if/when he gets them to me.

The spring season is pretty great. I’ve finally waded through all the crap and found a good 10 or so shows I’m happy with. Full impressions can be found here. I’m mostly happy with my picks, though chances are I’ll drop Allison and Lillia. It’s way too corny for me to stomach.

Anyway, I’ve gone on for long enough, so I’ll cut it off here. Finals are finally over, so now I’m going to kick back and relax in a big way until I go back home and start on my summer job. See you all next week!

So apparently after a lot of fan yelling FUNi’s going to put out a box for The Best Series Ever. I was kind of bothered that DVD 1 lacked a box, but I had other things to be angry about so it didn’t phase me too much. A box is splendid news, though, and I hope they do a good job. By that I mean I hope they don’t pull an ADV and just put random pretty pictures all over the place.

Ideally the box will have pictures of either a) Kaede doing house work, b) Kaede naked or c) both

JESUS CHRIST CAT EARS OH GOD

Less cat ears but Kaede is still cute as hell <3 

Man, these things are being re-released. Which means they were released once before. I feel like such a fuckup for not knowing these things even existed. I guess I’m too used to looking for Shuffle! merch on Yahoo Auctions and forget that normal stores carry stuff, too. But I sure as hell ordered them this time around! Now if only I could find the Visual Fan Book anywhere, given it has epic works of art like this.

I think this post needs a Kaede CG :3

Guys, remember this?

Well, I’ve finally coloured it. Woop woop.

So, today I was bored during my New Media New Markets class. While teach was spouting off nothing in particular, I was googling for things. One of the things I googled for was Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Under “images”, I came across this curious screencap.  I’ve recapped it since the original had a watermark.

This is from episode 4 of the first series. Just fresh off skimming episodes of Shuffle! Memories, I noticed an interesting parallel…

I wouldn’t put it past Shaft. It’s just such a good seiyuu_joke. And subtle, too. I didn’t even notice it when watching the episode.

Or maybe I’m thinking too hard.

…for freezing while I was in the middle of shading. And I didn’t save. Ugh. So I had to do the comic shading again. Man, like I said, I really need some upgradez. But such things cost money. Sigh.

I’ll make a real post soon, I promise. In the middle of spring break, and trying my best to relax (most attempts have been thwarted by The Family, lol.) Anyway, since I literally have nothing to do today I’ll just lay down and do nothing. Or fill out some job applications. Maybe both!

Here’s a picture

Three blog entries for the price of one! While reading off these titles, I want you to imagine them on Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei styled title-card illustrations. Hell, here’s some BGM while you’re at it!

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Dear Japan please be like normal people and write “HOW TO USE” guides for things that aren’t notebooks of doom, thanks

Unless you’re a totally new reader to this silly and horrible internet journal of terrors (hi!) then you’ll know that I have something of an affinity for bishoujo dakimakura covers. They’re wonderful little things in that they allow us lonely geeks to feel loved by girls, who in our mind, CARE, unlike the cold-hearted-serpent-women of the real world. Due to the nature of these things and how often they’re used, chances are they should be washed almost as often as your normal bedsheets and the like. Most commercial pillowcases come with an info-card, usually giving you the material it’s made out of and sometimes even washing instructions. For the most part, these can all be dumped into the washing machine and be taken care of on the delicate settings. Limited, event-only covers are another story, though.

It’s a psychological problem more than anything else. My two Kaede pillows, both event-limited items won through heated battles on Yahoo auctions don’t come with these handy info-cards. Sure, if you put them in the wash they’d probably come out just fine (and they’d probably stop smelling just like me) but they could also come out as white sheets like what happened to one of the guys in this thread.

The Internet Itself (read: Cortana) has told me that hand-washing is the safest bet, and I’m inclined to agree with him. I’ll probably do just that today! But seriously Japan– INSTRUCTIONS. You, better than anyone else, should know just how passionately us otaku use these things.

Edit: I looked on the inside of this one after hand-washing it and noticed there was a little tag on the inside that said it was 100% polyester and machine washable. lol. I’ll throw it in the machine next time, then. Not sure about the other one, but I’m sure the machine wouldn’t hurt it either… I guess I’ll actually wash these often then woo!

———-

I think child porn is horrible but don’t take away my LO

You’ve heard this all before, but news makes it worth mentioning again. Ok, so Japan has no law against the possession of child porn. Yeah, that’s pretty bad. I’m totally cool with all that shit getting hit with the ban-hammer. Though, this certain quote from the article worried me quite a bit. You know which bit it is, but I’ll quote it anyway.

” But the Japan branch of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) urged Tokyo to beef up its laws by banning child pornography in manga comics, animated films and computer games as well as individual possession.”

Insert argument about how fake loli porn steers pedos off real children and how outlawing it would only make things worse here. I would also insert an argument about artistic freedom, but for the most part this stuff is straight up porn. The most artistic loli-porn I’ve seen would probably be Hizashi no Naka no REAL or any loli Naruko Hanaharu draws.

But yeah, don’t outlaw our cartoon-lolis, please? It’s not really hurting anybody when some guy jacks off to an Inuboshi tankoubon.

———-

Freak out freak out it’s Kotono Mitsuishi

Kotono Mitsuihsi is going to Animazment! Unfortunately I won’t be going since I don’t really go out of state for cons. However, I’ll probably get a buddy of mine to get an Eva DVD or something signed. Shame I won’t be able to meet her, though! C’mon Otakon, get some guests like these! A Yuuko Goto would be nice.

(In retrospect, this is the most meaningless blog entry ever)

To be honest, I was quite worried about watching Shuffle! again for the first time in almost three years. If you’re not already aware, I have something of an adamant fanaticism towards the franchise, but since the show’s conclusion back in early 2006, my passion for it has been kept alive through buying merch of questionable taste, playing the games with little knowledge of Japanese, and generally fanboying over it. Shuffle! Memories, a short recap of the show which aired in 2007 brought it all back to me in digest form, but I actually stopped watching that because I wasn’t a fan of how it was cut together. That, and I also called into question whether or not I still liked the series. Thankfully, upon completing this first disc, I can gladly say this show is just as wonderful as a I remember it being.

Story is, Rin Tsuchimi is the object of many a girl’s affection. His adoring childhood friend Kaede pampers him daily; his senior Asa teases him lovingly at every turn; the princesses of the World of Gods and World of Demons, Sia and Nerine, want to be his bride and a certain deadpan loli called Primula is inexplicably attached to him. In other words, he has quite the harem on his hands. These early episodes focus on introducing the cast, the world in which they inhabit and then they get started on fleshing out each girl one-by-one come episode three. It’s pretty standard harem/bishoujo game adaptation fare, but its beauty lies in the execution.

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The first episode is as good as I remember it, which is to say it’s just that– good. See, I wasn’t completely taken with the show until they got to the episode where Kaede gets sick (SO MOE.) The first episode doesn’t really need to be much more than that though, as it does a good job of easing you into the world and the characters. Asread’s animation is very good here– nice and fluid, but as usual in some cuts you can tell they really are green behind the ears. It does however move a lot better than Minami-ke ~Okawari~.

Funimation’s work on the DVD is a mix of QUALITY and quality. The first sign of QUALITY is when you see KyoAni’s name pop up in the opening logos. Looks like Kadokawa sent them the same sequence of logos Bandai uses on the Haruhi DVDs, but they forgot to cut out the KyoAni logo! Aside from that, the sub work is fine, if not a bit robotic. It seems there were more than a couple of occasions where things like “it is” and “this is” could have stood to be contracted for the sake of flow. Also, for the first time, Funi overlayed the Japanese credits and titles with English ones. They usually do a multi-angel thing, so that when you watch it in Japanese, you get the Japanese text and vice-versa. This could just be because Power DVD may not like multi-angle things? I don’t know. Then again, my Tsukuyomi DVDs work fine on PDVD… I should test this on a real DVD player. The extras are minimal– trailers and textless opening/ending. Menus work well. Besides the QUALITY subs and the bit with the logos, the DVD is fine.

A better review will follow. This is just a first impressions of sorts. Will end this post with a digest version of the best scene in the episode. Incidentally, it’s also the opening scene.

WHY IS SHE SO PERFECT?!

“OOC FANART BANZAI”, by the way.

~

Update

Why didn’t I do this earlier?

YEAAAAAH. 3/4 projects fuckin’ COMPLETED. I just got ONE MORE to do tomorrow, and some dumb paper, and I am more or less DONE. Past that, I just have two exams, one of which will be a super easy Japanese test, and the other will be an Art History test which won’t require more than 2 hours of half-assed studying. Then I am DONE and finished with art school FOREVER, as next semester I will be a COMMUNICATIONS MAJOR. YEAH. FUCK YEEEAAAAAHHHH.

And now, Kaede.

I need to get some toilet paper. Time to see if that CVS really is open 24 hours…

(sorry, GuroRanger, I just had to use that line…)

Actutally taken 2 days ago, because at the moment I’m in New York (well, not really, but I will be when this post goes up.) Celebrated early since I was going to be away on the 10th. We did more than eat cake :3

~

Not just the usual LAWLS LOOK WHAT WEIRD THING I BOUGHT post. This is a proper review, somewhat influenced by Shingo’s recent review.

Anime dakimakura covers are truly wondrous things. They provide for us, the lonely otaku, companionship in the form of our favourite characters. I was sucked into these things about a year ago, when I bought my first dakimakura cover of Kaede Fuyou. The cover was a freebie that came with the game Really? Really! if you had bought it at a certain store, and featured Kaede on a bed with her clothes scattered and her bra pulled up, revealing a cute pair of breasts. I got it off Yahoo auctions for about 5000 yen. Since then, I’ve been addicted. I don’t have quite as much as certain individuals out there (the right people will know who I’m referring to) but my collection of waifu is steadily growing, with this second Kaede dakimakura being the newest member in the family.

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DreamParty has come to a close and already Kaede dakimakura covers are appearing on Yahoo Auctions. They seem steeper than I imagined. Only two have buyout prices (yahoo’s “buy it now”) which are between 19,000 and 20,000 yen. I’m not quite prepared to spend that much, so I’ll keep watching…

edit: Someone had one up for 15,000 yen which I figured was the best I could get, so I went for it.

http://www.project-navel.com/navel/news/events/index.html

Navel is selling a Kaede dakimakura cover at Dreamparty.

I will get it at all costs.

Now the more sane of you will wonder why I would fork over stupid amounts of money for what amounts to a piece of cloth with a girl printed on it. Well, let me tell you that it is WORTH IT. It is. It just is. For the LOVE OF MY LIFE, it is.

In the eternal words of Isao Sasaki, “Goodbye, my darling”

More than  ~200 votes would have been nice, though…

WE LOVE KAEDE

WE LOVE KAEDE

WE LOVE KAEDE

WE LOVE KAEDE

WE LOVE KAEDE

WE LOVE KAEDE

KAEDE FUYOU IS LOVE FOREVER

It is Kaede’s turn in Saimoe today. She seems to be doing well thus far, but she needs your support!

So, go read this guide, and vote already! SHE NEEDS YOU!

I accidentaly posted twice in excitement. I hope my vote isn’t invalidated :(

http://www.mistakesofyouth.com/01%20Kaede%20Fuyou.mp3

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