Is this the last we'll see of CLANNAD?

The CLANNAD anime has officially finished with the recap filled episode 24 of CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~ which was surprising better than I thought it'd be.

Seriously, KyoAni did well in recapping the happenings of the last 44 episodes of the main story into roughly 20 minutes or so.

They did it using the means Tomoya telling Ushio the story of "how I met mama" and even showed after she fell asleep that he retained some vague memories of another world where Nagisa died, he fell into a depressive slump, getting reunited with Ushio, enjoying life with his daughter, having her fall ill and later dying, and finally the 'something' that brought him to the happiness he has now.


We did get some new animation at the end with Tomoya, Ushio and Fuko in the forest behind the hospital. It wasn't a bad way to end the series, but I would have liked that Kyou route I was hoping for as I doubt KyoAni will ever do as a OVA now.

Their next series announcement at the end was for something called K-ON! I don't know if I'll be interested in seeing this series as I've never even heard of it before.

Nevertheless, CLANNAD is been apart of my anime viewing schedule for the last two years and it'll feel weird not seeing it anymore. I still remember deciding to check this series out on a whim when Death Note was still airing in Japan at the time.

I'm glad I followed that whim as it posistively resulted in me getting interested in Air, Kanon and other KEY works in general.

The Nega is strong in this Den-O

After getting my Project BM! Nega Den-O yesterday. You can probably imagine my delight upon the discovery of an S.I.C. version of Nega Den-O is in the works.

S.I.C. Nega Den-O will be sold as an exclusive through the Tamashii Web Shop.

I know its just a simple repaint of Den-O's Sword Form. But I just can't help loving Riders which are twisted versions of the original design like Ryuga, Dark Kabuto, Nega Den-O and Dark Kiva.

The little beauty is due for release in June, and I'm going to do my damnest to get him!

I'll be the one in a Riot if I don't get this Fate

Of all the characters from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS that Alter have been making into figures. This one is easily my most wanted of the bunch as Fate Testarossa played a major part in drawing my eye to the Nanoha franchise to begin with.

Their newest figure is of one Fate T. Harlaown with her Barrier Jacket in New Sonic Form wielding Bardiche Assault as either the Riot Blade or Riot Zanber.


Again, this is another figure that is due for release in August.

Ugh, I'm still pissed that I haven't managed to obtain Alter's previous Fate Testarossa as I consider it to be one of the most awesome and impressive figures that I've ever seen.

And with that in mind. I will not be missing my chance to get an order in for their newest figure of Fate!

I'm feeling rather happy right now!

I just received my newest haul from Fan2Fan today. It was quite a big haul too as it took two boxes to ship it all over from Japan.

I'll break the run-down of what was inside them into three parts - Kamen Rider, Anime figures and Transformers.


These were the Kamen Rider items in the parcels.

• S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Kabuto
• S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Gatack
• S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider 1
  
• S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider V3
• S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Caucasus
• S.I.C. Masked Rider Den-O Gun Form & Ryutaros Imagin
• S.I.C. Masked Rider Den-O Rod Form & Ax Form
• Medicom Project BM! Masked Rider Nega Den-O

These were the Anime figure items in the parcels.

• Alpha x Omega 1/8 Klan Klang Micron Ver.
  
• Medicom Project BM! Zero (R2 Ver.)
• Revoltech Danboard 7-Eleven Ver.
  

And finally, these were the Transformers items in the parcels.

• Henkei! Henkei! C-09 Lambor
• Henkei! Henkei! C-10 Cybertron Streak
• Henkei! Henkei! C-11 Ironhide
• Henkei! Henkei! C-14 Ratchet
• Henkei! Henkei! D-05 Destron Octone
• Henkei! Henkei! D-06 Galvatron

Not a bad haul if I do say so myself!

Wave show their love for Kyou too

I kinda knew in advance that Aoshima were doing a figure of Kyou as I saw it in the prototype stage.

But today after browsing Ami Ami for new items as I do quite regularly. I found another figure listing for Kyou Fujibayashi. Only difference this time is that the company behind it are Wave.


She isn't due out until August. But I'm already set in wanting to order this one more than the Aoshima one.

I'm glad Kyou is getting new figures by various companies, as she was a favourite of mine in the VN and the anime.

But after Kyou there is another CLANNAD character I'd like new figures of, and that's Tomoyo Sakagami.

And my reason for that? Well, she is the main character I've used as my signature and avatar on nearly every forum I'm a member of barring the TheTF.net.

Gift's King of Knights goes Limited Edition

I had only spotted this on the off chance. But it appears Gift will be selling a Limited Edition variant of their Saber figure as a Gift Online Shop exclusive.

The figure is due out in May. However, it doesn't look like they'll be taking orders for it before April 4th.


Like the WonderFest exclusive Limited Edition of Saber Alter that I own. This Saber figure have her long haired look that you don't see too often on her.

And now that I've seen this, I want it. Such is the woe of being a collector of anime figures.

At least the figure market is giving Kyou some attention

Kyou Fujibayashi may have gotten screwed over by KyoAni, but it seems the same can't be said for Aoshima.

Our neglected dictionary throwing tsundere will be getting two figure releases by Funny Knights (never heard of them before) in June. A standard Gym Clothes Ver. and a Milestone Ver. variation with furry animal ears and a tail.


One thing that interests me about this figure is that she has been designed to sit on the edge of your computer moniter.

I wouldn't do that with mine if I got her. But I think it's an amusing way for displaying a figure in my book.

Tatsulot picked the wrong day for a Fever

I finally received my Henshin Kaiten Brace Tatsulot from HobbyLink Japan.

I know I should be more happy about it. But a little something called Umineko Episode 4 got in there first.


I've only given it a brief testing to see what its like. And from that I can already say the only shortcoming about Tatsulot for me is that the damn brace straps need to be more big kid friendly in length!

Other than that, I love the sounds this guy makes. Especially that over the top roar you get from pulling his 'Fever' head four times in succession.

The first patch for Umineko Episode 4 is out

After nearly a month and a half since my finishing Episode 3 of Umineko. I can now begin playing Episode 4, Alliance of the Golden Witch.

The Witch Hunt have released their first partial patch which translates Chapters 0 through 9.


The patch did give me some trouble at first because it wouldn't load the game properly. Although the actual reason for it wasn't the patch itself, but rather my install of the game that was stupidly missing a huge chunk of the sound files from it.

That little cock up has also given me the realisation that I've been playing the last three Episodes of Umineko with missing content in the sound department!

Roddy's Place is reborn as The TF Asylum

I was planning on pimping this earlier, but I've been busy watching Masterforce among other things.

Anyway, for those who haven't followed the recent happenings in the forum world. One of the forums I frequented known as Roddy's Place is now no longer active. The reason for this is due to ForumArena suffering a "catastrophic error" while preforming a server upgrade.

This epic failure has basically killed Roddy's Place along with several other forums stone dead as stated by Time Lord in this video announcement he uploaded on Youtube.


So from the ashes of this demise, The TF Asylum has risen.

I'll be there of course to help 'em rebuild the things that were lost in the old Anime, Toku and Manga section like the Kamen Rider Decade and Samurai Sentai Shinkenger series discussions.

All that's needed now is for new members to come and make the new forum thrive!

Hitting deluxe pay dirt in the ASDA sale

Thanks to a massive stroke of luck, I was able to obtain Universe Classics Ironhide, Sideswipe, Silversteak, Galvatron and Acid Strom from ASDA on the very last day of their sale.

Yeah, I know already got Ironhide and Galvatron not too long ago. But they were going for £6 a piece instead of the usual £13, so I thought it was worth having doubles.


And now for my thoughts on the three toys that are new to me. Two of which were given to me as presents for Easter.

Acid Storm is better looking now I actually have it. The colour scheme still reminds me of Robot Masters Wing Stun. And it should be said that this guy has tighter joints than most of my other Classics Seekers.

Sideswipe is alright, but a little fiddly to transform. But now that I have him, I'm feeling kinda interested in having a Universe Classics Sunstreaker to pair him with.

Silverstreak is probably my favourite of the three. Although trying to transform the doors without them popping off can be a tad annoying. And his head does look weird on that giant block for a neck.

Kyou got screwed out of her route again

For the 23rd episode of CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~ we're getting Another Story. A story set one year before the start of CLANNAD and that meeting at the bottom of the hill.

Here we have Nagisa nervously beginning her third year at school, while Tomoya begins his second year hanging out with his buddy Sunohara. The delinquent duo are hard at work on their latest punishment task for trying to leave the classroom through the window.

Kyou is less than happy about the situation as she's been asked to keep tabs on them because she's the class representative. This little meeting was the duo's first official trade of introductions with Kyou Fujibayashi, and quite possibly the first brief hint towards Kyou's VN route.

Meanwhile at the Furukawa Bakery. Nagisa has returned home and tells Akio about her first day in the third year. He decides to give his daughter some advice on how she should make friends in class by using wacky methods. This discussion obviously backfires on him when he badmouths Sanae's bread.

Now we're return to the school where Nagisa is still feeling nervous, and Tomoya is taking a nap on the grass. Kyou finds him and tries to wake him up while dropping further hints about her VN route when Sunohara appears and confronts her. After Sunohara correctly guesses what was on her mind, he receives a memory erasing punch for his trouble just before he could spill the beans to Tomoya.


On the way home from School, Nagisa meets a couple of girls who invite her to do a spot of window shopping. They get Nagisa to try on some clothes and then decide to play a joke on her. When Nagisa arrives home afterwards, she and Akio have another talk regarding the making friends subject when Akio gets careless and insults Sanae's bread for the second time this episode.

Next we have our first proper viewing of the Fujibayashi household. Ryou is doing her fortune telling with Kyou and kindly informs her of what fate has in store for the following day. But that hope was quickly shot down by Sunohara and his cunning love letter plan.

Kyou finds Sunohara's love letter in her locker and thinks it's the real deal after Ryou's fortune telling. Sunohara is happy that she fell for it, but Tomoya is thinking otherwise.

We then see Nagisa entering her classroom and missing out on a chance to bond with her classmates when they're discussing the Big Dango Family.

We now switch back to a visibly flustered Kyou who believes something good will come from the love letter. But after being given the run round by Sunohara and Tomoya several times, she soon discovers the pair in the act and sends them to hell!

Shortly after that trip. Sunohara decides to vent some stress with another prank due to his failure with Kyou. When the time came to include a message inside the prank, Tomoya is the one who writes it because Sunohara was getting overly hyped on weird thoughts of them being a duo.

The prank is set at the entrance to the school with no-one being stupid enough to actually spring it. Well, no-one expect for Nagisa who probably suffered a mild concussion for her curiosity. She does later recover in the infirmary and leaves with a new friend as a result.

At the end of the episode we see Kyou and Ryou having a little talk about the problematic duo while taking a bath. Sunohara starts work on his love letter 2 plan to use on Kyou. And Nagisa is happily telling Akio and Sanae about her new friend, and then thanks the message she kept from the prank by Tomoya for giving her courage.

And I'm finished! Man, I sure wrote a lot there.

Anyway, the next episode preview showed it'll be a bloody recap offering. I feel cheated here as I'd have liked to have seen KyoAni animate Kyou's route as a final send-off.

Hell, they could have done Kappei's route as he got totally screwed over by not appearing in the anime at all!

The Waitress and Maid tag team enter the figma ring

Max Factory's newest figma offerings were officially listed today.

I won't say I'm entirely happy about seeing more Haruhi figmas, as I'd rather see other series get some focus. Although I still think they're a billion times better than that retina burning Billy Herrington figma.

Anyway, the next releases are Fighting Waitress Mikuru Asahina and Culture Festival Maid Tsuruya.

Both are due out in May, and will come with accessories to customise earlier Haruhi figma releases.

Replaying Onikakushi-hen with a Matsuri makeover

I've already finished Onikakushi-hen of the Higurashi VN. But now I have a reason to replay it thanks to this patch I found on /jp/.

What the patch does is basically take the original Onikakushi-hen and change it to look more like the Higurashi Matsuri PS2 port by incorporating the character sprites, CGs, music and voices from it.



One sight flaw to this patch is that it isn't compatible with the full game of Himatsubushi-hen I have installed on my PC. Which would normally result in you having to install the Onikakushi-hen DEMO to use it.

However, I discovered a little workaround so it'll work using my install of Himatsubushi-hen.

All I did was create a new folder in my higurashi4 folder. Copy the contents of the patch into it. And then copy over the arc.nsa, icon and default font files from the full game translation patch folder and that's it.

I can now run this patch as a standalone program without needing the actual DEMO itself.

AOHell woes and Transformers blues

While everyone else in the Transformers fandom is happily enjoying the start of Transformers Animated season 3. I'm stuck with a goddamned shitty AOHell connection that's taking fucking ages to download anything!

I haven't even been able to watch the bloody thing on YouTube because it only loads about 3 seconds of video in advance. Just how fucking typical is it that fate decides to punish me now for my Higurashi viewing marathon?!

Despite being extremely pissed as hell about it. And rightly so as it has also delayed my getting the latest episodes of To Aru Majutsu no Index, Maria Holic, Kamen Rider Dragon Knight and Power Rangers RPM. I'm sightly pleased as one good thing arrived in the post for me today.

The Complete Takara Collection DVD box set from Play.com.


Although I own the previous individual box set releases of this. I just had to get it because one of my Masterforce discs went walkies somewhere. Which really pissed me off when I found out about it.

Ugh, my only saving grace was that I got this for £17.99 and it has Transformers Zone included in the deal.

Getting an Ironhide from a Time Lord

Today I received a Universe Classics Ironhide from a Time Lord passing though.

Yeah, I know I made that sound weird, but it's the truth. Timey offered to check out a local ASDA for me as he was in the area visiting family, and then brought the new acquisition to my home personally.

Although we didn't meet face-to-face, I still appearate what he did.


As for the toy itself. I actually think its quite nice barring the crappy weapon thingy, his shrugged head and that awful Allspark blue colour Hasbro love using.

Why did they have to use that colour for his face?

Why is her name now Asuka Langley Shikinami?

The second of the new Rebuild of Evangelion movies, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance is going to earn itself a lot of hate for doing this. Unless there was a valid reason for it; I think it's a completely stupid thing to do.

In case you haven't figured out what I'm talking about. Take a look at this.


It's a piece of advertising for the new movie. So you're probably wondering where's the problem with that, right?

Well, other than confirming that the new female character will be called Mari. It also states they're changing Asuka's name from Asuka Langley Sohryu to Asuka Langley Shikinami.

If her name has been altered, what else are they going alter about her? Asuka is Asuka, and if you try to mess with that fact you are only ruining everything that makes her who she is in the series (and to the fans that either love or hate the way she presents herself).

You can't be mad at this happy ending

We're finally here at the end of CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~ (well, the main story of it anyway). I know one thing, I never thought I'd be done with this on Friday the 13th of all days.

The revelation of the girl and the robot was handled nicely and tied into the miracle event almost perfectly. I can hardly find fault with the work of KyoAni on this particular part of the VN.


If anything I'd say they improved on the original ending by showing how the other characters are getting on with their lives instead of just Tomoya, Nagisa and Ushio.

• Kyou is still a kindergarten teacher with her pet Botan.
• Ryou got her dream job as a nurse.
• Kotomi is off travelling the world.
• Sunohara learning to drive with difficulty.
• Mei matured well over the last five years.
• Tomoyo doing what Tomoyo does best.
• Yoshino truly enjoying his music.
• Akio and Sanae living life as usual.
• Yukine and the gang are still hanging out in that bar.
• Nishina and Sugisaka leading their cosy little life together.
• Misae and Shima continue to look after the dorm.
• Koumura lives out his well deserved retirement.
  

And lastly we see the epilogue with Fuko and Kouko walking around, having fun and sniffing out a special someone in the forest near the hospital.

Even though there are still two episodes remaining. I feel sad that this anime is ending because it has been a real highlight of my viewing for the last couple of years.

Keiichi and Hayate get their fill of water related fun

I think you can safely say Higurashi is a new favourite of mine.

I just finished watching the rest of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai after I got through most of the episodes last night (I hope the upcoming anime for Umineko no Naku Koro ni can hold my attention like this did).

And with that series done, the next item on the list was the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei OVA.


The first of which features the misadventure of Keiichi and the magical swimming trunks he borrowed. I'd say this battle was lost to him the moment he forgot to bring his own!

There were further antics by the waterside this week as Hayate no Gotoku!! started the second series with a OVA filled with your usual displays of fan service.


This is one series I'm going to enjoy seeing again when it begins for real in April.

No amount of training could save Hibiki from that end

I had put it off for a long time, but I've now finished my 8th Heisei Rider series in Kamen Rider Hibiki.

It was an very interesting series to watch from beginning to end in spite of my doubts on it being too different from other Rider series I've seen.

Although after the episode 30 mark there were many changes that made me feel I was watching another series guised as Hibiki when it went from being mysterious and charming to having the usual display of questionable comedy and drama issues.


The one thing that annoyed me most about the latter half of the series was the addition of Kyousuke Kiriya. The guy was a complete and utter arsehole that should have been devoured by the Makamou on their first encounter.

It's no wonder people originally hated the idea of this actor being cast as Yuuto Sakurai in Kamen Rider Den-O.

Ah well, all that's remaining for me now to finish Kamen Rider Kuuga before Kamen Rider Decade completes his journey of destruction through the nine worlds.

Asa-senpai gets more love with her instant growing hair

Kotobukiya are quite the crafty bunch for doing this when they'd already released a figure of Asa Shigure to compete with the Asa Shigure made by Alter.

I was fine with it at first because the only other figure I've seen of her (and the other heroines from SHUFFLE!) on the market looked terrible.


But that's not important as my main point here is can you spot the alteration they made with this figure?

They basically took the existing figure and made a Special Edition version of it by giving her that long hair appearance from the latter part of her VN route and Really? Really!

I should have seen it coming, but I didn't even consider that possibility once.

My broadband connection is still crying from streaming Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Can you remember me saying I've never watched any of the Higurashi anime?

Well that statement is no longer true as a few days ago I decided to watch the English dub of the first series on YouTube, and ended up finishing the entire thing in about three days.

Hell, I think I actually broke a new personal record with Higurashi by watching 15 episodes of it back-to-back in a single night (and then I got bonus points by having my mum there to see it all with me).

I credit this feat down to the appeal of the Sonozaki twins, as their story interested me (and my mum) the most while watching the anime. Although the prize for being the most creepy would still go to Rena (with Shion a close second) as I didn't get creeped out that much by Mion, Rika and Satoko.

To cut a long rant short, let's just say I liked the anime adaptation enough to download the other Higurashi series and OVAs.

The Warrior joins his Master in a new battlefield

To accompany the Universe Classics Galvatron I bought recently, I now have this Universe Classics Cyclonus which I got from Play.com.

I was planning on buying just the Henkei version of this guy, but I'm kinda running behind on that range thanks to our shitty exchange rates and rising prices. So I broke down and got this one to tide me over as I'd probably never open the Henkei Cyclonus if I did have him in my possession.


Anyway, I'm very pleased with this toy.

The transformation is great fun. All of his joints are nice and tight (which is more than can be said for the floppy arm Galvatron). And the colour scheme is nicer in person than it was in the photos I saw before his release.

One sight downer though would be his left hand being a solid closed fist with no hole for his Targetmaster partner, Nightstick.

And speaking of Nightstick, he's quite the highlight of this package. You can either have Cyclonus wield him as a normal gun, or like in The Headmasters series where the Targetmaster can Target On! and become a gun hand.

Personally, I'm going to have mine doing the latter because I think it's cooler.

Wake Up to a cheap Tension Fortissimo

HobbyLink Japan are having another wave of clearances on Kamen Rider Kiva items. And like the Sagarc Belt I picked up from the last one, I'll now be grabbing myself a Tatsulot at 75% off.

How can you say no to the thing that caused Wataru to shun his Garulu, Basshaa and Dogga Forms in favour of a shiny new Emperor Form from episode 24 onwards?


While its going for under seven quid, there'll no way in the hell I'm saying it!

CLANNAD gets a further dose of devastation

I had guessed it last week, and if you can recall the sadness you felt from episode 16, you'll know what you'll need to brace yourselves for in CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~ episode 21.

Ushio is suffering from a condition that's almost identical to that of her late mother, and Tomoya is finding that very hard to deal with. He quits his job to look after her as the condition continues to worsen as time goes on with no visible signs of recovery in sight.

At this point he's willing to do anything for his daughter, but the thing she wants most is another trip with her papa. He does eventually try to fulfil that wish, and starts the long walk to the train station.


However, they never reach their destination as Ushio collapses on the way and later dies in Tomoya's arms. So once again fate has dealt him another cruel card in order to break what's left of the broken man.

After that we're whisked away to the Illusionary World where the girl and her robot friend are facing a similar hand of fate. Although they didn't reveal the big connection between the two worlds in this episode, you might have already figured it out if you were watching carefully enough.

The final moments in this episode were again a flashback of that beginning scene from CLANNAD episode 1 where Tomoya is still contemplating on whether or not it'd be better to let Nagisa live her life without him.

I already know his answer from playing the VN, but how well will KyoAni adapt this for episode 22? It'll be a miracle waiting to happen.

Humans and Curses are fearful enemies in Higurashi

I marked the beginning, and this now marks the end of my playthrough of Onikakushi-hen.

This was my first proper look into Higurashi as I've never watched any of its anime adaptations. But I can say after playing this arc that Rena Ryuuguu is probably one of the most creepy characters I've ever come across.

Just seeing that glazed over look of her eyes coupled with the eerie music is enough send you shivers!


It all started so well with the hijinks of club meetings and penalty games. You couldn't imagine that everything would crumble so easily once the dark secrets of Hinamizawa begin to trickle out and cause a steady flow of suspicion and paranoia to build in Keiichi towards his friends.

The creepiness level to me was surprisingly higher here than it was in the first Episode of Umineko. God only knows what Watanagashi-hen will be like once I to get to play the translation patch for that arc.

And aside from all the creepy things, there were a lot of funny things to be found too. From the early parts of the main story to the mini-games and out-takes in the omake section, this VN is sure to have something that'll make you laugh.

Go-Onger gets another black mecha repaint?!

When was this EX version of DX Ganbaru-O (a.k.a. GunBir-O) announced? It must have been fairly recently as stores like Toys R Us and Ami Ami have the thing listed for a June release.


Although its a nice looking repaint. It's also kinda lazy that Bandai have done nothing more than give Birca and Carrigator matching colour schemes with Gunpherd.


But being the guy that I am, I'll still give in to temptation and buy it so I can combine it with my DX DaiShogun to form DaiShogun G6.

This toy is Slick even without the Oil

The second of my bargain fiver Transformers is here, and it's well nice.

I'd even go as far to say that Animated Oil Slick is probably one of the best transforming bike toys I own.


Hell, this toy is cool enough to rival my much raved Super RHF AutoVajin. And that is something I thought I'd never say about any bike Transformer.

The Gift of a new Saber Lily

Several photos of Gift's new Saber Lily figure were posted by someone on Figure / GK within the last day or so.


And like the other Saber figures this sculptor has made, the main bone of contention from the fans is the look of her face. Which does look pretty weird on a representation of Saber I'll admit.

It'll probably be awhile before this impressive garage kit is released as a PVC, but I'll be eagerly awaiting that day so I can add it to my Saber collection.

This isn't the way I wanted Powered Commander

When I first saw the news that the Powered Commander armour set by FansProject was finally getting a release, I was actually pleased because I've been wanting it for ages.

But then the reality of it being a limited to 500 exclusive for TFcon Toronto sank in.

I hate convention exclusives at the best of times. So the chances of me obtaining this are now practically less than zero, and that fact has really pissed me off immensely.

Why couldn't you release the thing normally you fucking cunting bastards!

UPDATE 02/03/2009 - Added the new promotional image for the Powered Commander exclusive.