Vinyl Collection...!!!

This blog is not exactly only specified to anime and manga, even though all the previous posts have been about manga. So I want to bring up another passion of mine that I work on and off depending on my money situation, my toy collection!!!

I don't mean stuffed animals or action figures...well it is like a combination of both I guess, I collect vinyl toys that are like action figures and stuffed animals in a way, I guess the best way to describe it would be the texture and style of an action figure, but sometimes the style and look of a stuffed animal.

Vinyl toys are japanese toys that are modeled after animes and other random things. There are plenty of different kinds of toys there are large models, small models, black and white, multi colored, mobile models, and standing models. 

There are no specific models I aim for because I like a majority of the models I have seen when I go through stores and markets like Frank and Sons.

Right now I have around seven models, four of the models are from the same collection another two are from the same collection as well, and the last one is a random model I found. I have the TofuBot, Mozzerella, Bulleto, Latte, Miruku, Labbit, and Munny. 

(picture follow what I listed ahead)

The milk themed vinyl toys are all part of the same collection from the Tokidoki site (http://www.tokidoki.it/shop/) now even though most people think that this is for girls, but I love the art that these toys are based off of and I don't really care what people say. 

Most of these toy prices are based off size, artist, and design. I still remember that a model that I wanted to get what about $150 and its around the same size and the Bulleto model I have which was only around $30.

Well as I increase my collection and discover new artists who create models I will post more about it.

Volume 2: Yotsubato!

So I decided to continue my posts on Yotsubato! This is the continuation of the Yotsubato! series volume 2 to be specific. The plot of volume 2 is just a continuation of the everyday life of Yotsuba. 

"Yotsuba & Drawing"  (よつばとおえかき "Yotsuba to Oekaki

"Yotsuba & Revenge" (よつばと復讐 "Yotsuba to Fukushū

"Yotsuba & Cake" (よつばとケーキ "Yotsuba to Kēki

"Yotsuba & "No Bother"" (よつばとどんまい "Yotsuba to Donmai

"Yotsuba & Pools" (よつばとプール "Yotsuba to Pūru

"Yotsuba & the Frog" (よつばとかえる "Yotsuba to Kaeru

"Asagi & Souvenirs" (あさぎのおみやげ "Asagi no Omiyage

Volume 2 begins with Yotsuba trying to draw her dad's friend Jumbo, but unable to draw him on paper she tries again on the street in front of her house. As she draws Jumbos outline it ends up looking like the outline of a murder victim. (>.<) After finish drawing she meets a new friend Miura chan who is Ena's friend, if you remember Ena she is Yotsuba's neighbor. So Yotsuba, Ena, and Miura decide go to the park to draw together

 

The next chapter shows how easily children are influenced by the media. Yotsuba, Jumbo, and Mr. Koiwai are watching a gangster movie together and suddenly Yotsuba runs out the room and gets a water gun. She starts to shoot everyone around and reciting lines from the movie she just watched.

 

The next day Yotsuba is playing at the neighbors with Ena and Miura. Ena's Mother suddenly decides she wants to eat cake and send the three girls to go buy cake for all four of them. This chapter really highlights Yotsuba's quirkyness when she suddenly starts singing a cake song, and yelling OLE every so often. 

Chapter eleven focuses on a new concept Yotsuba learns "Donmai" which translates into "no bother". Mr. Koiwai takes a nap due to several days of work and lets Yotsuba do anything she wants. Yotsuba starts wandering around the house doing random activities, towards the end of the chapter she draws all over her fathers face and than tries to erase the ink by rubbing mayonaise on his face. The last line she says is "Donmai" and she falls asleep next to her father.

One day Mr. Koiwai found some coupons to a water park, Jumbo tries using this as a chance to get closer with the eldest Ayase sister. When the eldest sister is not able to go, they end up going to the community pool instead. When they arrive at the pool we discover that Mr. Koiwai, Jumbo, and Fuka can't swim, but Yotsuba is an exceptional swimmer. Yotsuba tries to teach them to swim, but her teaching ability failed.

Its either been a day or a few days we are not exactly sure, but we see Yotsuba near a field with a net and a sun hat. Miura sees Yotsuba and asks what Yotsuba is doing. Yotsuba says she is looking for frogs as she goes to the next field, she suddenly slinks back behind Miura. Yotsuba sees a bird repellent thing which is similar to a one eyed person, Yotsuba even refers to it as a person by saying "That guy is looking over here". So a few minutes pass by and Yotsuba catches a big frog and brings it to show the Ayase family. She arrives at the household and tries to show Fuka, but when she refuses Yotsuba takes the frog to Ena instead. After a while Miura shows up with the bird repellent on her head like a mask, she walks upstairs and starts scaring Yotsuba. Ena decides that its unfair and takes the frog to scare Miura. Miura scared witless grabs hold to Yotsuba, Yotsuba freaking out still grabs Ena's favorite teddy bear and tries to whack Miura off, but as she does the bears arm starts to tear. The second to last page has all three of them screaming at the top of their lungs and the last page is Asagi on a beach relaxing.

So the last chapter of volume2 is actually not focused on Yotsuba. This chapter is actually dedicated to Asagi, she just came back from her vacation and the whole chapter is pretty much just the family talking about different things and souvenirs. Yotsuba makes a brief appearance at the end of the chapter, to get a small souvenir from Asagi.

So that's the end of Volume 2, there 8 volumes in total so 6 volumes to go I hope these summaries make you want to read the  manga on your own. (because honestly I think its a lot more enjoyable to read it yourself at least once)

R.I.P. Satoshi Kon

So it has been about a month since the death of director Satoshi Kon, and I wanted to high light some of the titles he created that I personally thought were interesting. Mr. Kon directed a total of six animations, five of the animations were released from 1998-2006, but the last animation will be released posthumously soon in the year 2011. The animations are as listed: "Perfect Blue" (1998), "Millennium Actress" (2001), "Tokyo Godfathers" (2003), "Paranoia Agent" (2004), "Paprika" (2006), and "The Dream Machine" (2011).  Although he released five animations, I have only viewed one of the animations "Paranoia Agent".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-anabfAg06U
Paranoia Agent is about a designer Tsukiko Sagi, a shy character designer who created a popular character, Maromi the pink dog. Tsukiko is under pressure into creating a new character who is as popular as Maromi. As she goes home one night she is attacked by a kid on skates with a bat. Keiichi Ikari and Mitsuhiro Maniwa, two detectives are assigned to the case, but think that Tsukiko is lying until a second attack is reported. 
As the story progresses several more people are attacked by the assailant, who is appropriately named "Bat Boy". More and more people become aware of "Bat Boy", although the only people that get attacked are people who are in crisis. As time goes by one of the detectives become obsessive about the case of Bat Boy.When Tsukiko is confronted again by the bat boy she realizes that he is a figment of her imagination that she created due to the stress she received from work. When she finally admits the truth behind the lie, "Bat Boy" finally disappears. 
I think one of my favorite points about Satoshi Kon's works are the psychological factor that is played on by him. In several of his works an interesting plot is highlighted by a psychological view that the main character encounters and fights with. 
I do want to one day see all his works, but two of the works that have me captivated with recently is Paprika and The Dream Machine. Paprika has an idea similar to the recent film of Inception, with people going through the dreams of other people. I will provide a better summary of it when I watch it in the near future. I am also anticipating the release of The Dream Machine. I think it will be interesting to see his final work. 

Volume 1: Yotsubato!

Yotsubato! volume 1 was a great beginning of a simple manga, I mean this truly is simplicity at its best. There is no complex story line that makes the reader think constantly about what will happen next, for Yotsubato it is all about going with the flow. Wherever Yotsuba goes and whatever she sees is what that chapter focuses on and although it sounds boring, its not. The whole series is based on the experiences and relationships that Yotsuba gain through each of the chapters. Things like imitating a movie character, and going to the zoo become mini adventures filled with amusement and wonder. Of course, Yotsuba being a five year old makes everything funnier, because she has the mindset of a child going on. 

There are seven chapters in the first volume of Yotsubato! 

1. "Yotsuba & Moving" (よつばとひっこし "Yotsuba to Hikkoshi"^?)
2. "Yotsuba & Manners" (よつばとあいさつ "Yotsuba to Aisatsu"^?, "Yotsuba & Greetings")
3. "Yotsuba & Global Warming" (よつばと地球温暖化 "Yotsuba to Chikyū-Ondanka"^?)
4. "Yotsuba & TV" (よつばとテレビ "Yotsuba to Terebi"^?)
5. "Yotsuba & Shopping" (よつばとかいもの "Yotsuba to Kaimono"^?)
6. "Yotsuba & Cicadas" (よつばとせみとり "Yotsuba to Semitori"^?, "Yotsuba & Cicada-Catching")
7. "Yotsuba & Rain" (よつばとおおあめ "Yotsuba to Ō-Ame"^?, "Yotsuba & Rainstorms")

The story starts out with Yotsuba and her father, Mr. Koiwai, moving into a new neighborhood. The two of them arrive at their new house and meet up with Mr. Koiwai's buddy Jumbo. As Yotsuba helps her father move in, she suddenly starts exploring her new surroundings. As the day goes on she meets her new neighbors the Ayase sisters. The rest of the volume has her experiencing broken locks, running out of the house in her PJs and puts her neighbor Ayase Fuuka in embarrassing situations. As the day progresses she learns about air conditioners and the problem of global warming. This is especially funny because the story introduces the problem of global warming (usually a topic meant for older generations) to a five year old. The next day she and her father meet the mother of the Ayase family and get a free television from the family. Also Jumbo (Mr. Koiwai's buddy) meets Ayase Asagi. As the week goes on Yotsuba and her father go to the department store to buy some necessities that they needed around the house. Its funny to see Yotsuba go around the store hiding in a cupboard, asking "what is this?", and falling asleep on the display bed. At the end of the day they visit the local shrine and see the beautiful view of their new city. The following day Yotsuba grabs Ayase Ena and goes cicada hunting with Jumbo. Yotsuba proves that being young does hinder certain activities when she is too short to reach the cicadas on the top of certain trees. Jumbo helps her by picking her up and she catches her first cicada, a big kuma cicada. After catching a few of the flying bugs, they go back to the Ayase household and went to show Ena's mother. As they got into the house Yotsuba released all of the cicadas into the house. Asagi comes in and yells who did this, Jumbo points to Yotsuba and yells "IT WAS HER". Yotsuba ignoring the rest of everything going out, goes and picks up the kuma cicada that she caught and showed Ena's mother. After Ena's mother grinned and quickly said "yes, yes" , Yotsuba raised the kuma cicada in the air and yelled, "YAY".

The last chapter of the first volume is very significent in my opinion. Fuuka learns a little bit about Yotsuba's past and wonders more about it, but Mr. Koiwai says that everything is "OK", "That girl's able to enjoy anything and everything, Yotsuba is invincible."

Stress

So lately I have been going through a lot, with five classes and work outs almost everyday. For the last two weeks I have had two tests already and I am trying very hard to keep  my work out schedule consistent, and addition to working out I am trying to fix my food intake. Just last Thursday all I had for the whole day was a fiber pill, a multivitamin pill, a bottle of water, and a jamba juice smoothie, overall I consumed maybe 500-600 calories for that one day which is a lot less than a normal person does.
People all have different ways of relieving stress, some play games, some go out with friends, and you don't me to tell you that there are infinite possible ways of relieving stress.
For me lately I have been reading some easy to read, light hearted, and simple manga. These manga are usually based on comedy, they have jokes and gags that are simple, but can still make almost anyone laugh. There usually is no story or plot, it is just some characters hanging out and living their lives out.
I have determined that these are my favorite two mangas to read when I feel the need to relax:
Yotsubato & Ichigo Mashimaro
Both of these manga have no main plot, but have cute and lovable characters. The chapters are usually short and have some kind of gag going on.
Yotsuba is a little girl with green hair and has an odd perspective of the world. She and her father just moved into to a new neighborhood, Every chapter Yotsuba learns a new experience through her daily life. This is basically a look into life through the perspective of a little kid. Yotsuba learns about things like department stores, riding bikes, and many more other things.
Ichigo Mashimaro is about four girls in elementary school, and a high school student. Each of the girls have a different personality trait and have a funny way of interacting with each other. There is Nobue Ito whose the oldest of the five girls, Chika Ito whose best trait is being utterly average, Miu Matsuoka who has an infinite amount of different costumes and has somewhat of a screw loose, Matsuri Sakuragi the youngest of the girls and is extremely shy, and Ana Coppola who is half japanese, half english and has a hard time figuring which nationality best represents her. The five girls go through a normal lifestyle hanging out usually in Chika's room and talking about random topics that spark interest for that certain day.
Reading such simple stories could bore certain people, but to me simple jokes with no complex story relaxes me and helps me think "You know life is simple sometimes"

BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad.

Beck is an American songwriter / singer, but he is not the Beck that I am trying to bring up. The BECK I am talking about is the music manga by Harold Sakuishi.

BECK is about a young boy, Yukio "Koyuki" Tanaka, an average junior high student who becomes interested in   music due to his chance encounter with Ryūsuke "Ray" Minami, a guitarist. As Koyuki learned more and more about rock music, Koyuki was discovered with a beautiful singing voice that shocked anyone who listened. Ray decided to form a new band with Koyuki, after Ray's band sells out to become a band based on the looks and not the sound of the members. Koyuki entranced by the world of music joins Ray's band and they gather three more members. The band consists of Ray as lead guitarist, Koyuki as rythem guitarist and back up vocals Yoshiyuki Taira as bass, Tsunemi Chiba as main vocals and Koyuki's best friend Yuji "Saku" Sakurai as  drummer. The band is named Mongolian Chop Squad.
There are two stories that stack on each other, the second story is based on the bands road to being discovered and reaching the top of the music world, but the main story is based on Ray's past and the history behind Beck (Ray's weird, patched up dog) and the mysterious Gibson Les Paul by the name Lucille, a guitar with bullet holes on its body. 
This story is intense and filled with so many obstacles that try and prevent the band from reaching anywhere in the music world. The story does not follow the usual "good guys always win" scenario that seems common in many manga, the band goes through a lot of trouble on the road to the top. Sakuishi really shows the underground music scene and the actual issues bands go through on their way to getting discovered. Mongolian Chop squad go through member conflicts and corporate shit listing, but the band keeps working to push through it all.
BECK, is a 34 volume manga and a 26 episode anime, and it is said that in 2010 a live action film based on the original manga is released.
BECK has an intense storyline that really has its moments, at times it will seems slow, but it always seems to snowballs when the story seems the most peaceful. The story has many interesting turns, introducing lots of new characters and revealing more and more of the mysterious past of Ray, Lucille, and Beck.
The characters all have their own dreams that they want to fufill and the members really work to support each other's dreams. At times there are plenty of conflicts when the members disagree with certain issues. At the end of the day the band becomes a family and really become the support that each member needed during their lowest points.
I will post more on BECK when I reread the 34 volumes, watch the 26 episodes, or see the live action. >.<

Football Season!!!

Well I decided to do my first blog post today, and coincidentally it is the start of football season. So I thought it would be a good reason to talk about my favorite sports manga: Eyeshield 21.

FOOTBALL SEASON?!?!

So Eyeshield 21 is a sports manga written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata, the reason why this is my favorite sports manga is because the manga is based on american football which in my opinion is a pretty rare sight in the world of sports manga, which is overpopulated by the constant repeat of baseball stories that always end with a baseball team aiming for the Koshien (The Japanese nationwide high school baseball tournament). Although as time progresses we see that there are dozens of sports used for thousands of manga titles: baseball, basketball, soccer, track and field, kendo, swimming, tennis, rugby, and many other sports that seem to escape my mind at the moment. Now although an american football manga is still seen from time to time, I can not lie it is not the rarest sports manga I have encountered. The strangest and most unique I, myself have encountered is a manga about rhythm gymnastics, but back to american football and Eyeshield 21

Eyeshield 21 is a manga about the students of Deimon high school who hold the same dream of playing american football at the Christmas Bowl (the Japanese american football high school championship game). The manga starts with the introduction of the manga's protagonist the small and weak Sena Kobayakawa, the big and gentle Ryokan Kurita, and the cunning and demonic Yoichi Hiruma. Although a typical american football team will have around eleven players, the Deimon Devilbats only have three. The entire manga is put through different arcs which eventually lead to the Christmas Bowl. Throughout the story the Deimon Devilbats find teammates and rivals as each game is played. As you the main characters meet their friends and rivals there will be showdowns to look out for ,and even though I would talk more about the story itself and reveal all the spoilers I already know, but I feel that is for another time. 

The manga has lovable characters that grow throughout the entire story becoming better players and as you read the story you start to cheer for certain players as they fight through their hardships and work towards their goals as individuals. Inagaki did a great job combining the world of american football with the wackiness and comedic features of a manga. Players will have special moves and be able to do things that may not exactly be possible in real life, but at the same time Inagaki did do an extensive research on american football and brought all the rules and regulations that real american football has. 
If a person loves american football they should definitely try reading this manga, if a person loves comedy they should try reading this manga.
Eyeshield 21 has also been converted into an anime movie and an anime television series. I am not completely sure, but I am about ninety five percent sure that the manga series has been translated and licensed in the states, but it has been dubbed which would be the one downfall to buying it here in the states. However, if you can't read Japanese theres not much choice in the matter.


I will provide future posts that go more into depth of the story and reveal parts of the plot and characters, but for now I think I will end this post hoping that more people will check out Eyeshield 21 and quote my favorite character “We didn’t come to beat our enemy. We came to slaughter them!” “LET’S KICK THEIR ASSES!!! YA----HA!!!!”

The Deimon Devilbats

Sena, Kurita, and Hiruma