28 Dec 2012

D-Arts Charizard Preview

After Tamashii announced for pre-order of D-Arts Mewtwo, today I get good news that Tamashii officially present D-Arts Charizard, a fire dragon from Pokemon series.

The price for this figure with approximately 150 mm tall is about ¥ 3990 and will release in April 2013.
A set of D-Arts Charizard will include set of base effects, body content, set fire.

After Digimon series, now D-Arts really come to Pokemon series and the issue for the next pokemon D-Arts is Blastoise and Venusaur. Just wait for the newest information from Bandai.

If you interested, you can order it at CDJapan

D-Arts Charizard Image Preview





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15 Dec 2012

Top 10 Best Selling Manga in Japan 2012


At the end of 2012, as usual I give list of Top 10 Best Selling Manga in Japan. Like last year, Eiichiro Oda manga's One Piece still become the champion and the runner-up surprisingly Kuroko's Basketball can beat Naruto manga and throw Naruto to third position.
Here is the full list of Top 10 Best Selling Manga in Japan 2012 that cover sales November 21, 2011 to November 18, 2012.


  1. One Piece (Author: Eiichiro Oda ; Publisher: Shueisha) with total sales 23,464,866 copies.
  2. Kuroko's Basketball (Author: Tadatoshi Fujimaki ; Publisher: Shueisha) with total sales 8,070,446 copies.
  3. Naruto (Author: Masashi Kishimoto ; Publisher: Shueisha) with total sales 6,495,240 copies.
  4. Space Brothers / Uchū Kyōdai  (Author: Chūya Koyama ; Publisher: Kodansha) with total sales 5,413,899 copies.
  5. Fairy Tail (Author: Hiro Mashima ; Publisher: Kodansha)  with total sales 4,128,665 copies.
  6. Kimi ni Todoke (Author: Karuho Shiina ; Publisher: Shueisha)  with total sales 4,039,715 copies.
  7. Silver Spoon  (Author: Hiromu Arakawa ; Publisher: Shogakukan)  with total sales 3,603,710 copies.
  8. Hunter X Hunter (Author: Yoshihiro Togashi ; Publisher: Shueisha)  with total sales 3,439,839 copies.
  9. Magi (Author: Shinobu Ohtaka ; Publisher: Shogakukan) with total sales 3,437,182 copies.
  10. Bakuman (Story: Tsugumi Ohba ; Art: Takeshi Obata ; Publisher: Shueisha) with total sales 3,211,191 copies.

The "old" manga Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi is back to business with come to 8th position for this year. Kuroko's Basketball and Space Brothers manga is the rising star for 2012, it seems get impact from the anime adaptation release.

If you want to know the history of best selling manga in japan for past 3 years, you can visit 2011, 2010, 2009.

Source: Oricon via ANN
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7 Dec 2012

Kokoro Connect

Genius. That's what occurred to me to the author after watching this anime, really "weird".

It has a storyline which if examined only ordinary school life, but the depiction growth of each character is very strong with ideas and unique ways. That story ideas of this anime different from the other slice of life anime, use something supernatural but not overwhelming and the results are very good. The conflicts are very precise and will make the audience become curious about what will happen in next time. One more advantage of why I love this anime, there are many things that can be lessons in the real world, a lot of "quotes" that can also be used as motivation in life.

Type : TV Series
Episodes : 13
Status : Finished
Aired : July - September 2012
Genre : Slice of Life, School, Drama, Romance, Mystery, Supernatural
Studio : Silver Link

Synopsis
Taichi, Iori and Inaba are friends since Junior High School and when come to Senior High School, they back together. There, they do not enter any club but they instead form "Cultural Researcher Club" along with two new friends, Aoki and Yui. Finally they were familiar and friendly but actually they are not as close relations as it looks. Their relations and friendships so interests and be an object of for something calling itself a "Heartseed". For no apparent reason he was "interferes" their relationships with a mysterious phenomenon by swapping souls among the five of them at random, with the disorder their life becomes abnormal, their characteristics growing, and how with their relationship??


Story : It has a unique storyline and original, have strong character development (10/10)
Artwork & Animation: I think this series smiliar with K-ON artwork, simple but nice views, keep it nice and feels different views of the fashion style of each character, the depiction of the environment is also good. (8.5/10)
Music : Opening and ending sounds blend with the genre and story (9/10)
Seiyuu : With some experienced voice actors, drama in this series feels good (8.5/10)
Overall : With unique ideas this anime really brings life to each character, growth of each character so realistic to displays how someone would react and solved problems in friendships nor life (9/10)
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Another

Ever watch Final Destination?! If so, in general this series it can be said this series is Final Destination anime version.

Type : TV Series
Episodes : 12 + 1 OVA
Status : Finished
Aired : Dec 2011 – Mar 2012 + May 2012 for OVA
Genre : Mystery, Thriller, Horror, School
Studio : P.A. Works


Lifted from a horror mystery novel written by Yukito Ayatsuji, this be one of the horror genre aniem which enough to make the audience carried intimidating atmosphere, not because of ghosts or other supernatural beings. Broadly smiliar to the plot of his novel, at the beginning of the story emphasizes the mystery and at the middle to late emphasis on the thriller and horror.

Synopsis
In 1972, a Middle school student of Yomiyama North in class 3-3 named Misaki is very popular among friends and even teachers, suddenly died of unknown cause. Many outstanding issues about how the death of Misaki, then students and teachers in her school acting strange, they think Misaki is still alive even on the day of graduation Head of school is providing a special chair for Misaki.

Spring 1998, Koichi Sakakibara transfers into North Yomiyama Junior High School and was in class 3-3 where he met someone strange girl with an eye patch on the left and the that girl looks ignored by all of his classmates. The day before he went to class 3-3, Sakakibara also accidentally saw a strange girl with the same appearance in the hospital who was a classmate, Mei Misaki. After Sakakibara entered, the class hit the mysterious death of myth, death would deprive everyone associated with class 3-3. So, what is the cause behind all of that?

Storyline : At first glance it looks like the cheat Final Destination but it is not entirely the same. Mystery indicated is good, quite complex and may make audience curious, also the story so difficult to predict. (8/10)
Artwork: When it comes to character, as usual PA Works has a good artwork (8.5/10)
Animation: The movement and behavior of each character is not so dynamic, pretty stiff, even some moments that look weird. Animation bloodshed in this anime is also pretty good and is not suitable for child. (7.5/10)
Music: This anime Opening is performed by Ali Project with Densen Kyoumu / "Nightmare Contagion" and its Ending "Anamnesis" by Annabel. Selection of song fits perfectly with the feel of this anime. (8.5/10)
Voiced by: Most of the main cast is filled by the usual or supporting seiyuu mediocre but their perform is pretty good. (7/10)
Overall: The mystery is quite complex and unpredictable, genre mystery horror anime fans still worth to watch this series. (8/10)
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3 Dec 2012

Top 10 Best Selling Light Novels in Japan 2012

The list for Top 10 Best Selling Light Novels in Japan 2012 has released. Not surprising, Reki Kawahara light novel, Sword Art Online become the top on the list and Accel World become the runner-up.

Here is the full list:

  1. Sword Art Online (Author: Reki Kawahara; Illustration: abec; Publisher: ASCII Media Works) with 2,764,454 copies sold.
  2. Accel World (Creator: Reki Kawahara/HIMA; Publisher: ASCII Media Works ) with 1,033,906 copies sold.
  3. Kotenbu (Classic Literature Club) Series/ Hyouka (Creator: Honobu Yonezawa; Publisher: Kadokawa Group Publishing) with 767,236 copies sold.
  4. Mahōka Kōkō no Rettōsei (Creator: Tsutomu Sajima/Kana Ishida; Publisher: ASCII Media Works) with 696,322 copies sold.
  5. Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index /New Testament: A Certain Magical Index (Creator: Kazuma Kamachi/Kiyotaka Haimura; Publisher: ASCII Media Works) with 686,467 copies sold.
  6. High School DxD (Creator: Ichiei Ishibumi/Miyama-Zero; Publisher: Fujimi Shobo) with 654,224 copies sold.
  7. Haganai: I don't have many Friends (Creator: Yomi Hirasaka/Buriki; Publisher: Media Factory)  with 620,972 copies sold.
  8. Oreimo (Creator: Tsukasa Fushimi/Hiro Kanzaki; Publisher: ASCII Media Works) with 544,507 copies sold.
  9. Oda Nobuna no Yabō (Creator: Mikage Kasuga/Miyama-Zero; Publisher: SoftBank Creative) with 450,794 copies sold.
  10. Listen to Me, Girls. I Am Your Father! (Cretor: Tomohiro Matsu/Yuka Nakajima; Publisher: Shueisha) with 447,053 copies sold.
The popularity of SAO light novel seems can increase fastly because the popularity of Sword Art Online anime adaptation that released on July 2012.  Not just SAO, but maybe also that happen to Accel World and Hyouka light novel that get big impact from the anime adaptation.

Source: Oricon via ANN


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