Devastation arrives to the world of CLANNAD

If you're a fan of CLANNAD that has already played the VN, then you'll know what tragic event is on the horizon in episode 16 of CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~.

If you've only been following the anime adaptation of CLANNAD, then be forewarned that there'll be spoilers on episode 16 of CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~ if you have not seen the fansub of it by whichever group you're following.


Today is a day I've been waiting on since first watching the CLANNAD anime in October 2007, the day where Nagisa Furukawa/Okazaki dies after giving birth to her daughter, Ushio Okazaki. And KyoAni more than delivered in bringing you this scene that is guaranteed to make you shed tears of sadness.

They even went as far as timing the change in that variation of Nagisa's song to the exact moment of her last breath. I always thought of that scene as cruel in the VN, but here it's been levelled up with Yuuichi Nakamura's powerful performance as Tomoya Okazaki.

But I am pissed at KyoAni for keeping that upbeat Torch ending for this episode. What in the hell were they thinking?! We just saw Nagisa DIE for fuck sake, and you go and make a fucking mockery of it by playing that! Damn you, KyoAni!! Damn you for making me lose another bit of the utmost respect I had for you at that precise moment!!!

Speaking out on the fandub of Macross: DYRL?

Macross is one of the main well known franchises in Japan I don't follow a great deal. I buy the odd occasional toy here and there, but that's it.

I've never watched any Macross series (including Robotech) before picking up Macross Frontier, which I actually enjoyed till I saw that rage inducing excuse they call a conclusion (DAMN YOU, SATELIGHT!).

Anyway, this post isn't about Frontier, but rather my incoherent thoughts on the Dark Heroes Entertainment fandub of the Macross movie Do You Remember Love?

A production that has been heavily pimped by my mate Time Lord on various internet forums.


It should be known that I'm not the biggest fan when it comes to dubbed Japanese anime. However, I decided to bite the bullet on this one and watch it nonetheless.

Ol' Timey will get a kick from reading this bit, but I'll have to grudgingly admit I was pleasantly surprised at how incredibly well done the fandub was. The only real criticism I had toward it was the lack of English subtitles for the Zentradi spoken language scenes in the online streaming version I watched on YouTube.

In closing, I would class this as something I could recommend wholeheartedly without seeing the original Japanese release beforehand. Although I will grabbing their downloadable WMV version (with English subtitles) for when I watch it again with an audience this weekend.

Confusing Nanoha for Minato, or vice versa

Before anyone questions me on it, the answer is no. I'm not intentionally pimping this figure of Nanoha Takamachi by GSC.

If I somehow manage to gain GSC a few extra sales as a result, it'll be purely a coincidence!


It's just I couldn't help noticing that this particular figure of the White Devil could additionally be marketed as Minato Nagase from Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka.


Take a look at them for yourself. Their hairstyles are basically the same, the colour of their hair is a pretty close match, and they both have eyes shades of blue to their eyes.

Were they twins secretly separated at birth? All evidence is pointing to that verdict.

Master to All Evils of the World? I'd welcome her!

I got a delivery in the post this morning from eBay seller rosarybox, and it was the Alter made figure of Sakura Matou in her Battle Dress from the visual novel, Fate/hollow ataraxia.


Now as you may know from reading my visual novel reminiscence post, I've never actually played Fate/hollow ataraxia. So all my knowledge of Sakura is from the Fate/stay night anime and of course, the VN.

In the anime I found her to be an annoying, stubborn and somewhat clingy character that got in the way of my much loved Saber and Rin screentime. In retrospect, I was too quick to judge her.

A lot of her tragic back story was missing from the anime, and it wasn't until I started the Heavens Feel route of the VN where I understood her more as a character, that my opinion of her truly changed.

Seriously, she became all likeable and yandere when staying with Shirou. Rider improved as a Servant with Sakura as her Master. And you can't forget the sheer unbridled awesomeness of her killing that detestable asshole Shinji, and then succumbing to the darkness within!

Classics Commanders standing tall

I'm sure everyone in the Transformers fandom knows of the awesome City Commander set by FansProject. And given the fact I'm known to be madly obsessed with black repaints, the Shadow Commander set.


Now wouldn't you agree that these guys look amazing together? Although I'd naturally say Shadow Commander is the nicer of the two.

And I know they said it weren't going to happen. But I'd love for them to release that Powered Commander set so I can complete the Trinity of Commanders.

The main purpose of this post is to basically serve as a public thank you to TFsource for sending me a replacement head for my Shadow Commander when I discovered the initial face accessory was missing from my set free of charge.

Our Journey through the Decade has begun!

Kamen Rider Decade has now officially begun its run in Japan, and I'm bloody ecstatic about it!

I would watch the first episode in RAW Japanese, but I can't be arsed. So, I'll be patiently awaiting the release of TV-Nihon's fansub of this legend in the making.

I've already seen the opening, and to be honest I'm not totally feeling it. Its good don't get me wrong. But there's a slight lack of oomph to it that Justiphi's, Next Level and Break the Chain had in my opinion.

Anyways, I'm sure it'll grow on me the more I listen to it. The one thing I am certain about however is that I WANT the DX Decadriver, and possibly the DX Ridebooker to go with it.

Man, just hearing those classic Heisei Rider SFX on that belt sold it to me.

Kamen Rider Kiva continues to Break the Chain?

Kamen Rider Kiva is now over for me thanks to TV-Nihon's fansubbing of this fine series.


It wasn't perfect, and it did have some major plot flaws. But it was still a great show to watch for the past year. If only for the sheer brilliance of Otoya Kurenai.

I also think what really set Kiva apart from other Kamen Rider series I've seen was the ending.

• Taiga somehow managed to botch killing Maya with his Jacorder.
• Nago magically got his eyesight back and married Megumi?!
• Wataru got an unexpected visit from his future son, Masao Kurenai.
• And a new Fangire threat from the future appeared out of nowhere.

Who'd have thunk it?

S.H.Figuarts presents Kamen Rider Yu-ki

I think I should take this as my official confirmation of the Souchaku Henshin toy line being layed to rest by Bandai. Which is a shame, as I really enjoyed collecting it over the years.

What brings me to that conclusion? Well, all I ever see now are new S.H.Figuarts popping up for pre-order (like the recent Kuuga figures), or seeing new exclusive S.H.Figuarts announced.

The latest of these said exclusives is Kamen Rider Yu-ki from the Saraba, Kamen Rider Den-O: Final Countdown movie that was released in Japan last year (I'm still waiting for a subbed version of that).


The figure looks like it'll be interchangeable so you can have Yu-ki in either Skull Form or Hijack Form. It's a pretty neat feature if you ask me.

If you're interested in buying this guy, do try to get your orders in with whatever proxy service you use before March 16th. Otherwise you'll be stuck using eBay to acquire it.

Getting teased with photos of Saber Lily

Several painted prototype photos of GSC's upcoming 1/7 scale Saber Lily figure can be seen on Mikatan's blog.

Although Saber is one of my favourite characters. I'll have to admit that the backstory behind this Saber Lily incarnation of her is quite the mystery to me. Hell, it took me long enough just to get the ins and outs of Saber Alter.

All I know is that she made her debut in the Capcom developed video game, Fate/unlimited codes, where she was also released as a special bonus tie-in figma to help increase sales for the PS2 version of the game.

Pre-ordering information for this lovely looking figure should (hopefully) be appearing in the next few days. So the only thing left for me to say is... ME WANTS IT NAO!

UPDATE 23/01/2009 - Good Smile Company have added a product page for Saber Lily ~Distant Avalon~ to their website. The price tag is a tad steep though at 9,800 Yen.

Welcoming Kotori Shirakawa into my harem

Chiwasu~ I guess you could say that the newest addition to my figure collection is a bit special. Why? It's because I finally received this lovely Max Factory made Kotori Shirakawa figure I ordered from United Publications.


Now if you're one of those living under a rock folk who don't recognise Kotori Shirawaka. I'll tell you she's one of the main heroines from D.C. who gets screwed over by the siscon.

To be honest, I didn't mind it so much in the visual novel, as I could easily avoid the mehtastic Nemu route (even if it was the canon end). It's not like I hate Nemu or anything; I just find her irksome.

But fans of the anime weren't as lucky. We were forced to accept the Nemu route as canon heading into D.C.S.S. (which is widely known for the poor treatment of Kotori). Plus there's that small matter about Nemu being the Asakura sisters' grandmother in D.C.II.

Ah well, here's to hoping that Kotori will be treated better in the D.C.if OVA.

Subaru Nakajima gets the Alter figure treatment

The StrikerS series of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha might have been full of total lacklustre for the most part. Which was annoying after the epic awesomeness of its predecessor, A's.

Even so, it did have at least one thing I liked, and that was the blatant GaoGaiGar homage character who went by the name of Subaru Nakajima. Hell, just watch her raging fury in episode 17 to see why Nemmy likes Subaru.


So it was pleasing to discover that Alter will be making a figure of her as their next Nanoha release. The only trouble for me now is finding the cash to buy her when she comes out in June.

Cheerleading Haruhi and Mikuru? Go figma!

Max Factory sure love doing their Haruhi branded merchandise, whether it be scaled figures or figmas.

Speaking of figmas, we'll be getting another release of Haruhi Suzumiya and Mikuru Asahina come March.


The main draw this time is that they'll be wearing their cheerleader attire!

I'll probably buy both of them at some point, as the figma range is one of my favourite toy lines to collect (with the exception of the Tsukasa Hiiragi figma, cos her initial attached left hand broke when I tried switching it for another).

Nemmy's reminiscence on visual novels

If you asked me a year ago if I'd be spending most of my free time playing visual novels (a.k.a. eroge if you wish to be anal over it), I might have seriously considered laughing at you for asking such a ridiculous question.

But then for some reason or another either through sheer boredom or a simple whim (I can't remember which) I decided to play one so I could see what was so special about them, and the rest is history (except on TheTF.net where it's usually regarded as Nemmy going off on one about some bloody obscure Japanese thing again).

Thinking back, I believe the first one I played was Tsukihime. And I guess the reason for choosing it as my introductory VN was that I had already seen its anime adaptation, but never quite understood the whole 'there is no Tsukihime anime' standpoint from the fans.

After roughly a week or so, I had completed all of Tsukihime (which was incredibly awesome by the way) and got the Easter eggs too. I then advanced onto the Tsukihime PLUS+DISC and Kagetsu Tohya before I set my sights on another TYPE-MOON classic. That being Fate/stay night, a VN I'd been contemplating on trying ever since I watched the anime, and took a keen interest in the umpteen figures of Saber (notably Saber Alter) I've seen online.

Well, if we skip forward a bit from there, that'll take us to about the end of April and my completion of the Unlimited Blade Works route. At that time I was kinda vexed that I couldn't continue into the final route called Heavens Feel, as it was still in the early translation stages I think.

So, with nothing worthwhile to occupy my boredom (besides watching anime and toku) till mirror moon released their patch for Heavens Feel. I patiently passed the time by playing Melty Blood: Act Cadenza, and other VNs like ChaoS;HEAd, CLANNAD, Narcissu, One, planetarian and True Remembrance.

Although it should be shamefully noted that when the patch came out in November; I enjoyed so much, that I finished the entire route in less than a week! It also changed my opinion of Sakura Matou, who I always wrote off as annoying.

Nevertheless, once that epic piece of awesomeness was finished. I began seeking out other VNs for me to enjoy. And that's where Bible Black, Crescendo, Da Capo, Ever17, Kana ~Little Sister~, Princess Waltz, Saya no Uta, Snow Sakura, Wanko to Kurasou and Yumi Miru Kusuri come in.

I also attempted to play Fate/hollow ataraxia, Kanon, School Days and Tomoyo After. But I gave up cos they haven't been fully translated into English, and I'm not too fond of using the AGTH and ATLAS translation method.

Which finally brings us to where we are now, as I still need to finish off Utawarerumono, Discipline and Brass Restoration. However, I've gotten somewhat sidetracked recently in playing Umineko and Edelweiss.

Kicking things off with Kamen Rider Decade

Just so there is no misunderstanding over the content here. I'm not someone who actually enjoys talking about their personal life, as the past is full of memories I would sooner forget. Which means I'll be using this blog primarily for my escapism through hobbies.

Anyways, for my first post here I'll be uploading the two promo videos (subbed by TV-Nihon) for Kamen Rider Decade that begins airing on January 25th in Japan.

After watching these short promos, I can honestly say that I'm really looking forward to Kamen Rider Decade (which is more than be said for Shinkenger). Hell, just the thought of being able to see some of my favourite Heisei era Riders again is too exciting for words!

UPDATE 24/01/2009 - Found another promo video for Kamen Rider Decade. This one however isn't subtitled; not that you'll need them to understand the pure badassery on display.