The much anticipated pair of custom Evangelion Rei Stratocaster and Telecaster from Fender Japan which I mentioned here is finally on auction in Yahoo! Japan. But before you get all excited about wanting to bid and win one of these, I’d like to point out that with a little less than a day left in the auctions (ends 12th Dec 09), the price of the Rei Stratocaster is currently at 9,082,000 YEN ($100,000.00) while the Rei Telecaster 7,756,000 YEN ($86,000.00). No, your eyes are not deceiving you…the bidding on the Rei Stratocaster is already up to a little over $100K! You could almost buy a (cheap) apartment with that money!
So I guess most of us mere mortals will just have to sit back and let the Evangelion fanatics with deep pockets to fight it out. Any guesses how much these will end up going for?
An animation titled Window of The Heart, which was created by a Chinese company and co-produced by the Communist Party propaganda office is allegedly too similar to 5 Centimeters Per Second, which is a critically acclaimed animated film by Makoto Shinkai. And judging by the comparison screenshots above (top is Window of The Heart, bottom is 5 Centimeters Per Second), it seems like many of the scenes are just digitally manipulated versions of 5 Centimeters Per Second.
The Chinese however, claimed that it’s a completely original work. The film is supposedly aimed at adolescents and includes positive messages.
Personally, I believe that there are very few concepts and ideas which are truly original these days, and imitation exists to a certain extent on most everything. However, there’s a line between borrowing ideas and taking something, altering it and calling it your own. In this case, I think the creators of Window of The Heart just might have stepped over the line. Why couldn’t they just adopt the story? I’m sure there are lots of talented animators in China who’re capable of creating the anime. What do you think?
By the way, do check out 5 Centimeters Per Second if you haven’t watched it as it has a really good storyline and absolutely fantastic animation.
Yes, Play-Asia is currently having its Summer Promotion now. They’re giving away 20% discount on all in-stock items with the exception of items stocked within the last 30 days. The catch is you’ll have to make the purchase with a Visa card. Ha..it’s a good thing I have myself a Visa. Just go bug one of your buddies to let you use their Visa if you haven’t got one. Tell them you’ll share the loot with them. This’ll be a great time to pick up some older items. Some items I have on my Buy List:
I seem to remember there were quite a few other items I wanted to pick up a few months back but I can’t recall what they were now. Gah..should’ve put them in my Watchlist! Now please excuse me while I go hunt for them before they’re snatched up.
Whoa…these are really cool figures from Usavich, which is an animated short produced for MTV Japan by Kanaban Graphics. The Usavich anime revolves around two rabbits, Putin and Kierenenko and their adventures in a Soviet prison. Some episodes can be quite funny indeed. Do check it out if you haven’t already done so.
But what we’re going to be featuring today isn’t the anime but these very cool figures of Putin and Kierenenko from FREEing.
Putin and Kierenenko are both large figures, standing at approximately 40cm (16″), and the best thing about these figures: they dance! Yup, they dance..just like in the beginning of each episode where it always starts off with Putin dancing on the bed accompanied by that wacky music in the background. In the case of these figures, Purin will be swinging his hips to the music while Kirenenko will be cleaning his shoes - both to the familiar background music from the show. Absolutely fantastic!
Both figures are available in December for about 12,000 YEN ($120) each. These 2 clowns are absolutely must-haves for me. Will these be in your buy-list as well? And are you a fan of the animated short?
The Five Star Stories is a manga created by Mamoru Nagano in 1986 but it still enjoys an almost fanatical cult following up to this day, and the series is still ongoing. An Anime based on the manga was released in 1989, and will now see a re-release in Blu-ray format. It will retail for 5,460 YEN ($55) in Japan and is set for a November release. It’ll be interesting to see the extras that will be included in the Blu-ray release. I might pick up a copy for myself if I can find one and the extras are worth the asking price. The anime was a bit of a dissapointment compared to the manga, but hey it’s still The Five Star Stories.
I have no idea how I managed to let this one run by me, but I have yet to pick up this absolutely delicious PVC representation of Akashiya Moka from the manga and last year’s anime Rosario and Vampire. Is this one of THE most stunningly gorgeous PVC figures you’ve seen or what? I don’t pick up PVC figures all that often, simply because they’re not quite my thing, but I do buy the ones which I think are exceptional and I think this Akashiya Moka Awakened Ver. figure is one of them. That reminds me, I should do a photo review of one of my other favorite PVC figures (which is still safely sealed in her box), the 1/8 Revy figure from Alter. Revy is of course the no-nonsense gun-toting babe from Black Lagoon.
Anyway, before I start to stray, this post is all about our blood-sucking vixen Akashiya Moka here. And behold her awesomeness in all her plastic glory! Also visit Good Smile’s page for more nose-bleeding pics.
I’ve previously written about a 1/1 Full-Scale Gundam that was being built in Shiokaze Park at Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the the Mobile Suit Gundam animated television series.
Apparently, work on the behemoth has finally been completed and there was a Grand Opening Ceremony to commemorate the event! From the looks of the pictures and videos, it must’ve been an awesome spectacle. The 1/1 Scale Gundam will be on exhibition at the Shiokaze Park until the 31st of August, but for those of us who aren’t fortunate enough to witness it in person, I guess these pictures and videos will have to do. Enjoy!
This should be great news for the millions of Gundam fans out there. Between 11th July to 31st August a full-scale Gundam statue standing at an imposing 18 meters tall will be on display at Shiokaze Park in Tokyo’s Odaiba to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the the Mobile Suit Gundam animated television series.
Work is already underway to build the statue and the completed Gundam statue is expected to weigh nearly 35 tons, and will be able to move its head and emit light or mist from 50 points of its body.
If only I could make a trip to Tokyo for this rare sighting. For a Gundam fan, this is like spotting a glance at a living dinosaur in a museum! What a sight! There are more pictures from The Mainichi Daily News site. [via Mainichi Daily News]
What we have here today is a SH-06A NERV phone courtesy of Sharp and DoCoMo, and is scheduled to be available sometime around June/July. This awesome phone will sport features like a unique Nerv exterior decoration, 10MP CCD camera with LED flashlight, a 3.3” WVGA LCD, as well as a customised Evangelion GUI. In keeping with the Evangelion theme, this uber sweet phone will also come with customised ring tones and wallpapers.
Judging by the picture below, the phone will come packaged in a nifty brown box, as well as a few bonuses like the 50% Be@rbrick, a very unique carrying case (which is shown to the right of the Be@rbrick), as well as some sort of Nerv Manual which I’m assuming is just the phone’s user manual but made to look like some classified document.
Damn, if only this phone could work outside of Japan. I’d buy this just so I can pretend I’m some Nerv officer speaking to Misato!
This’ll be a great time to pick up some older items. Some items I have on my Buy List:
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