neko's thinkbox

Yah, as predicted, I got too comfortable after my two Venice trips, my DS kept me pretty busy too (I will soon rant about that shitty FFT A2 here), and the backlog grew bigger and bigger: as of now, I need to watch/blog over ten episodes, and report about the two trips as well…

But today, as I got yet another package, I thought I could start clearing up my long backlog by brag posting about my recent acquisitions. Got a few CDs lying around for over two months!

---

Excuse the bad lighting and colors in some of the pics ~.~; I’m not really Photoshop-savvy, so I usually go with what Auto Contrast and Auto Color give me. (I try to tone down the very vibrant colors though…)

Err, where do I start, what did I get first… Ah yeah. So, following my Super Butter Dog post, I got that Inu ni Kuwaesasero album from eBay for very little money. (It’s being re-released now, heh.) Tracks 1, 2 and 5 are great songs, and 4 (CHEEBA-CHEEBA) is just random and funny.

Sonna yatsu wa inu ni kuwaesaseeeeeerooooooo~~ (Feed him to the dogs!) I know I’ll be getting more SBD soon, if my wallet allows it. Yay for 500en coupons at cdjapan.

---

Next, another CD. And it’s something I really didn’t see coming.

Yes, it’s Hatsune Miku. I don’t know if I ever said it here on my blog, but in IRC I used to dislike anything coming from Miku, like the LOLrebel I am. Well, I didn’t like the robot-like voice, and the heavy vibrato in her voice (which most doujin circles leave untouched in their songs, a shame). But when I first heard Last Night, Good Night, I was bluffed. Not only is it an awesome song, but the voice doesn’t disturb me at all! And when I heard the other songs of the Re:package album, I freaked out.

It’s not your average doujin Miku album: it’s commercially released by Victor Entertainment. Granted, it’s not the first nor the last one, but livetune did an awesome job in sculpting Miku’s voice in such a way that even haters like me would start loving it. 1. Adding offset voice track(s) to smooth note transitions, mask Miku’s tinny voice and her mispronunciations, and 2. altering/removing that annoying vibrato of hers.
I liked that album so much I had to order it (actually it was because there were only two LE’s left at cdjapan, which came with a “caramel case” (probably those holographic reflections on the case or something)). And I’m not disappointed at all. If anything, track 4 (Shooting Star) sucks a little, because the melody sounds weird at times.

---

Ah, err… lost in Miku-ism. What else… Ah, let’s get lewd for a little bit. Here’s Hako (box).

Know Artificial Girl 3 (or any of the other AI Shoujo games)? Well, Hako is Illusion’s newest game, which is pretty similar in functionality, except that your girl lives in a box (hence the game title, Hako). Dressing them up, having good fun with them, also apples, etc. Pretty interesting premise. Well, I wasn’t really interested in buying the game but since preorders came with a zomg Limited Edition figurine, I thought I should just get it. I expected something bigger, though…

…sure, it’s cute… somewhat. But it’s only 6 cm tall… I don’t think it was worth the money. Oh well, at least I’ll be having some fun with the game nevertheless. >:3

---

Another ARIA T-shirt arrived! This time, it’s the Aria Company.

Hahi! It fits perfectly! I feel totally hazukashii in it. No pics of me wearing it OF COURSE. But next summer, I’m so going to walk around in Venice with that T-shirt (or the Himeya one), see if anyone recognizes it :P Sadly, I canceled the Orange Planet T-shirt order, because 2 T-shirts already cost me quite a lot of money, and because then I could allow myself to order a great bargain at HLJ: Parfait.

---

It was 70% off or so (it’s still on sale!), came very cheap in the end. And it’s a cute figurine, too!

Nothing to complain about Parfait at all. It’s clean and detailed, and it’s even taller than all of my other figurines! I’m glad I got it, even though I don’t know Heartful Memories ~Little Witch Parfait 2~… Guess this is yet another blind buy of mine, heh.

(Thought I should do some outdoor photos, but it was starting to snow yet again, so I couldn’t try again with the flash…)

---

Aaaand finally! The figurine I thought I’d never ever get…. Phantasmoon! I had always thought it was long sold out (at least it was on Hobbystock), and when I saw it on HLJ… I gasped. (shit, colors look weird on some pictures…. grrr)

I don’t need to describe how cute it is, do I? And as you can see on the pictures, no imperfections at all. The base is very solid and stable too. (The outdoor pics were obviously taken before the Parfait pics… never tried those. I believe they look great, except for the poor lighting… what do you think? I should remember that for my next figs.)

This completes my Arcueid trio: Normal, Last Arc and Phantasmoon. Though perhaps I’d need a Neko-Arc fig or plushie to make it really complete…

---

Phew, what a haul. The arrival of Phantasmoon motivated me to assemble a second shelf I bought long time ago, because I was already running out of storage space on my first shelf. So, after reordering stuff in my room (which was also a good opportunity to clean it once in a while xD), I finally managed to provide a decent place for my figs.

There’s even space left for the next figs that should arrive next month: Shiki, Miku Figma and Index… GAH, my wallet. The financial crisis in the world hit me as well these days, as I had to pay more for a stronger Yen (it used to be 1eur~150y, now it’s 1eur~125y)…
Once I’ll be in Venice, I suppose I won’t order any more stuff before long…

Wish HLJ would have some kind of “frequent shopper” point system, like cdjapan or Hobbystock… cause I order so much stuff there, but I get no bonuses at all T_T