[ figure of interest ] anarchy stocking

character : Anarchy Stocking
series : Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
producer : Alter
official page : [ click ]

\ FLY AWAY NOW FLY AWAY NOW FLY AWAAAYYY /

god my oh ! more awesome stuff coming our way this september, as the godly figuremaker alter will be releasing the much awaited superior anarchy sister that had us waiting for [ not so ] long ! simply put, our september has never been this awesome, and here at +ophanium we definitely couldn't wait for said month to arrive for her to be delivered to our doorstep - later being put onto our sacred altar of waifus display shelf so to be worshiped and idolized upon x3

clad in her fantastic [ magical ] angel outfit which fully flaunts her extremely fabulous dynamite figure [ dem ti- *shot* ] to maximum effect, and further complemented by her flowing hair that simply added more life to her sculpt, there absolutely aren't any reason for us here not to consider on burning our dearest wallets for her. not to mention those loose stockings and DEM THIGHS oh oh ooohhh~*

standing at approximately 200 mm in height, angelic stocking is currently open for pre-orders from your preferred figure retailers at the price of 9420 yen, inclusive of tax.

saki : achiga-hen episode of side-a : early impression

SAKI : ACHIGA-HEN EPISODE OF SIDE-A
studio : Studio Gokumi
director : Manabu Ono
serial run : April 9, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : 12
hime's priority rank : 05
zange's priority rank : 05

saki returns with an equally exciting side-story this spring, again helmed by the same director [ ono manabu-sensei ] who once directed the parent series back in 2009, as well as returning chief animation / character designer masakatsu sasaki-sensei to further give in the familiar feel and look to the sequel. also, another thing to note of is that achiga-hen is currently being produced by studio gokumi as opposed to studio gonzo which oversaw the production of the original series then.

on early glimpses, achiga-hen gave out stark resemblances to the original main series in terms of look and feel, as well as how its story has progressed so far. that said however, the sequel went and took a much rapid pace in its storytelling, possibly to conform with shorter serial run this time around [ compared to the original tv series, achiga-hen has been set to run for half a season of its parent series - hopefully with a proper continuation to the main storyline to follow soon afterward ] - which might otherwise put a toll on behalf of character development, though.

and speaking of the characters, we gotta write it here that achiga-hen's characters were as adorable, interesting and engaging as the main series' was; for the sequel has magnificently fitted itself with a cast of lively and upbeat characters - most of which has won our hearts out in an instant [ such as in the case of shizu, ako and kuro - as pictured down below ]. not to mention the side story as well provides us the audience a chance to take a peek at the different side / perspective of the mainstream saki character through achiga-hen's point of view

the main subject of interest for the series - that is the mahjong game of course - has yet to maintain a spotlight to itself, having being slightly sidelined by the introductory phase of the sequel. not that it's a bad thing either, but hopefully we'll be getting some intense mahjong drama on the loose from future episodes to come. and hopefully the mahjong drama this time around will be just as intense and as grandeur as how it was then. oh the excitement !

as some of you may have already seen and notice, achiga-hen shares the same look and visual presentation / quality of its predecessor, most notably through the return of its chief animation / character designer as mentioned earlier. thus, fans of the original tv series can already sigh in relief knowing that achiga-hen will be just as visually pleasing and adorably cute as the mainstream saki was then :3

hyouka : early impression

HYOUKA
studio : Kyoto Animation
director : Hideaki Hatta
serial run : April 14, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : 21
hime's priority rank : 01
zange's priority rank : 01

a great start it was, hyouka has magnificently set forth a level of its own this spring with a neatly outstanding first episode aired recently, even rivalling the seemingly omnipotent quality of fate/zero which has since lost its number one spot on our spring 2012 watchlist to hyouka, sadly xD . and thanks to the fact that it is currently being produced by kyoto animation, this series absolutely won our greatest attention of all this season given that our team were a collective of kyoani-fags at core :D

moving on, hyouka opened forth with a highly delightful first episode, nearly reminiscing us to when suzumiya haruhi no yuutsu first made its episodic airing debut on japanese tv; the opening narration by the leading male protagonist of hyouka [ of whom interestingly is voiced by the same seiyuu who once did tomoya for clannad tv ] for example has kept us reminded to that of kyon's, not to mention both the settings and the atmosphere of hyouka from its opening moments simply led us to recall our memories of suzumiya haruhi no yuutsu's first episode from then.

the first episode of the series further captivated us with the introduction of its first three primary characters, with the intriguing female lead chitanda eru fast catching up to our interest in an instant with her ever curious personality and her knack of [ unknowingly ] 'forcing' others [ depicted through a surrealistic scene where she went on bewitching the other party with her beautiful, glowing purple eyes ] into resolving the mystery she had up on her interest, despite the others' heavy reluctance at first.



frankly speaking, the overall visual presentation quality for hyouka was another great reason for us to become highly enamored over the series. the art and animation were both breathtaking and fantastic, with a quality befitting that of a high-budgeted animated movie production - something that is to be expected from kyoani, as usual. the character designs mostly borrowed its cues from many of kyoani's earlier productions, most explicitly k-on ! and the second season of suzumiya haruhi no yuutsu, so to write.

haiyore ! nyaruko-san : early impression

HAIYORE ! NYARUKO-SAN
studio : Xebec
director : Tsuyoshi Nagasawa
serial run : April 9, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : 12
hime's priority rank : 02
zange's priority rank : 02

(」・ω・)」うー！(／・ω・)／にゃー！

officially the series we've been looking forward to greatly this season, as the entirety of our small team here were already in deep favor of the parody-tastic net animation series from then - while hime being head over heels at cthuko ever since, given our boss' deep affection for anything yuri and morally deviant, so to write.

having dropped upotte ! [ well, hime was the only person in our team who was caring enough to be watching the series until it was dropped from our list of recent ], nyaruko-san remained as the only xebec-produced series to still be standing high and mighty on our spring watchlist, thankfully for its highly absurdist nature, and its overly hilarious take on the cthulhu mythos in general [ slightly better-tasting than demonbane's pokings at the very lovecraftian lore ]. its comedic content were pure gold, and for certainly is the series' ultimate selling point aside from its fantastic cast of characters.

as mentioned in the second paragraph above, another key strength to nyaruko-san lies within its characters, most particularly the ever-deviant lovecraftian gods themselves who has yet to fail in winning our hearts out with their mischievous, wacky personalities. their very presence and actions were immersively engaging, excellently giving in plenty of life and highly upbeat mood and atmosphere to the series.

the art has improved greatly from when it was a series of net animation [ should be obvious of course considering the format and studio factor of both series in question ], and thank god nyaruko-san wonderfully received the better end for its [ character ] designer choice, with upotte ! getting away with the short end of the stick.

sankarea : early impression

SANKAREA
studio : Studio Deen
director : Mamoru Hatakeyama
serial run : April 5, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : 13
hime's priority rank : 06
zange's priority rank : 06

SANKA REA OF THE DEAD

it was kind of interesting to learn that studio deen is producing two zombie-related series for this season, eventhough that other series is more of a joke, and that both korezon and this series here has nothing to do with archetypical apocalyptic scenarios [ almost unique to the zombie-horror genre ] such as those found in highschool of the dead for example. also, brace yourself for some quality necrophiliac content this spring, not to mention that some of you our dearest readers might fall for this unlikely fetish without realizing, maybe :D.

anyway, sankarea currently is one of the more interesting / highly promising entry this spring 2012, particularly in the drama / romantic genre. the story went off on a good start, and the characters each stood out well with their respective quirks and personality, from my perspective that is. the female lead rea, for one has managed to provoke the emotional side of me greatly with her tragic life and upbringing, and the gruesome fate which befell her at the end of her life as the rea she was prior to her 'rebirth'.

of the two studio deen-produced titles this spring, sankarea currently in hold of the better production value between the two - and perhaps against every other series produced by studio deen of recent years. the character designs were reproduced for the anime to my greatest approval, as well as the overall art and visual direction / execution for the series which i saw through as one of studio deen's finest, again, in recent years. not to mention the expressive + immersive voice works by its seiyuu cast, neatly complementing each their respective characters' presence within the story.

all in all, we at +ophanium greatly recommends for sankarea to be listed on your watchlist this spring, for it is one of those spring series with the highest potential and a promising future ahead, as long as studio deen doesn't screw it up like how they did with a number of their series from then :D

fate/zero 2 : early impression

FATE/ZERO : SECOND SEASON
studio : ufotable
director : Ei Aoki
serial run : April 7, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : 13
hime's priority rank : 03
zange's priority rank : 03

BERSERKER 01, FOX TWO FOX TWOOO-

definitely the series everyone's been looking forward to greatly this season, including myself, fate/zero returns with a great start, resuming from where it has left last fall 2011, and with a brand new OP from kalafina to add in more exquisite flavor to the series. all in all, a season worth of wait was worth it, and ufotable once again has lived up to the expectation i had over them since for the series. if only the original fate/stay night anime were as splendid as fate/zero's, oh how i wished.

the whole [ continued ] fight with caster's cthulhu [ or whatever demon it was ] doesn't stood out much for me, especially with gilgamesh's reluctance to participate in the one-sided battle - which i saw through as mere cowardice on his side after all those grandiose, crap talks he has made prior. the actual fun, however, came in the form of the mad dog berserker hijacking one of the fighter planes sent to vaporize the monster, and his lengthy dogfight with gilgamesh high above the skies.

caster's demise was an excellent one, so to say, for it saw one of saber's rare display of excalibur, not to mention a splendid collective effort between the three servants; broskander enclosing caster-cthulhu in his reality marble ionian hetaroi while the rest of the alliance devising a strategy to bring down the monstrosity, and lancer's honorable sacrifice of his gae buidhe to free saber of its curse.

overall, an awesome start it was, and hopefully this would guarantee the level of quality and excitement that is to follow in weeks to come.

kore wa zombie desu ka ? of the dead : early impression

KORE WA ZOMBIE DESUKA ? OF THE DEAD
studio : Studio Deen
director : Takaomi Kanasaki
serial run : April 5, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : 10 ? [ according to MAL, that is ]
hime's priority rank : 04
zange's priority rank : 04

ALL YOUR BUTT ARE BELONG TO SARASVATI-SAMA

nice jab on the zombie-horror titling trope, studio deen. so anyway, to be frank, i don't have much to write on the sequel here since it's obviously a carbon copy of the first season - in each and every aspect of it, so to speak. however, my previous first impression post for the first season was overwhelmingly stupid [ i was too drunk while i wrote that, i guess ? ] and thus i've made a decision to submit in a more justified entry this time around, to proper honor one of my favorite comedy series of all time.

as with the parent season which preceded it last winter 2011, korezon 2 [ for short ] was never short of its comedy gold. in fact, things are getting just as hilarious [ if wasn't any more hilarious ] now that the series has begin to tackle in a couple of new running gags - some of which were expanded from those that was brought up late in the previous season [ i.e. : sarasvati's growing love for ayumu's butt ]. as usual, these gags are being manipulated to the highest degree possible, and sincerely i find it hard to hold myself from cracking in laughter over them.

another thing i would like to note here is that there seems to be significant character development / growth in some [ if not all ] of the series' characters, most prominently the vampire ninja trio - seraphim, sarasvati and tomonori - with the latter two being the ones with the most development to date. this, and the inclusion of a new character [ yousei-san ] + kyoko's return has further doubled in my weekly excitement for the series indeed.

there hasn't been much change nor improvement made to the series in term of its visual presentation aspect [ more likely there's zero change / improvement at all ], and the chara design still looked as if they were adapted from a visual novel instead - which is nice btw, despite being typical much. oh, and the art can be pretty inconsistent at times, but this should be expected from studio deen, of course.

acchi kocchi : early impression

ACCHI KOCCHI
studio : AIC
director : Fumitoshi Oizaki
serial run : April 6, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : ?
hime's priority rank : 11
zange's priority rank : 11

NYAAA~

so here goes AIC and their fetish for cats / nekomimi again. that aside, i personally find this series to be fun and entertaining while some others may otherwise disagree. as always, it's all down to a matter of personal taste and preference, and acchi kocchi seems to be the type / kind of anime i would usually dig myself in; free-spirited slice-of-life that doesn't take itself too seriously yet worth all the time i've spent on it.

the charm of acchi kocchi mainly lies in its leading female character tsunmiki tsumiki; the konata-look-alike with pre-installed nekomimis which would pop up under certain situations, and of whom apparently had god tier skills when it comes down to arcade games [ as revealed in episode 02 ]. the ongoing premise of the series was that she's constantly trying to get her feelings through to io, the male lead of whom she had a crush on, yet oftimes her attempts would otherwise stray into some other path instead.

the production and presentation values for acchi kocchi were great, from my perspective that is. the art's neat and clean, with a resulting upbeat, cheerful feel and look that's very pleasing to look at. the chara designs were filled with the level of cuteness once seen in mayoi neko overrun, only acchi kocchi's had twice more moe factor stirred into its recipe. the animation on the other hand were fluid and smooth, complemented with strong and lively voice acting performance from the seiyuus. all in all, this one could stand on the same par as lucky star should AIC properly focus on their job this time around.



to sum it up, acchi kocchi definitely is one of the best choice for those looking for some light entertainment this spring 2012; its story can be easily digested as is, while the lively and upbeat characters yet archetypical characters helps liven things up with their fun and quirky personalities, adding plenty of life to the mood and atmosphere of the series.

tasogare otome x amnesia : early impression

TASOGARE OTOME X AMNESIA
studio : Silver Link
director : Shin Onuma
serial run : April 8, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : 12
hime's priority rank : 07
zange's priority rank : 07

i initially believed that this would be a supernatural horror series - one that would carry upon the horror legacy left by another from last winter, only to came into realization afterwards that it's a supernatural romantic comedy series instead, with elements of mystery to spice things up. that aside, the current spring block certainly is the season of occult this year, with titles such as this, sankarea and haiyore ! nyaruko-san being present among it's setlist for this part of 2012.

tasogare [ for short ] provides quite an interesting glimpse into the 'daily life' of a ghost, one who has been haunting its place of death for many centuries uncounted. while most of us were already accustomed with the myth of ghosts being mischievous, malign entities bent on inflicting curse or trauma towards the still living, yuuko-san - the resident ghost of tasogare - otherwise is just an amnesiac lady ghost who is seemingly bored and lonely [?] for being around quite too long. not to mention she's quite resourceful with pranks that would later lead into the creation of several urban legends within the very school ground.

moving on, the overall presentation aspect of the series were quite shaky at times, but mostly stick on par to what silver link would usually offer nevertheless. tasogare's art direction for the most part of it were dark and melancholic, well befitting of the overall mood, feel and atmosphere of the story - and further complemented by its character designs which well suited the air and nature of the series best. on a slightly unrelated note, yuuko-san's design without fail has reminded me of yomi-neesama of ga-rei fame - the more reason for me to fall in love with her yes sir yes.

helmed by the same director responsible for the success of baka to test to shoukanjuu and its following sequels + my personal tearjerker favorite, ef : a tale of melodies while being produced by the same studio of the former [ bakatest ], i for one will be expecting for tasogare to be standing on the exact same level [ if not higher ] as the two mentioned, and for onuma-sensei to playfully incorporate his SHAFT-like touches on this very series as well much as he did with bakatest and c3 previously.

medaka box : early impression

MEDAKA BOX
studio : Gainax
director : Shouji Saeki
serial run : April 5, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : 12
hime's priority rank : 10
zange's priority rank : 10

AH ! MEDAKA-SAMA

being produced by gainax was a solid enough reason for me to stick my nose into this particular series, and besides, i kinda like it when my kaichous were ambitious females who'd rule like a boss while her subjects and enemies alike were fearing her greatly. such elegance must not be left unchecked by me, of course. oh, and not to mention, i find it hard to believe at first that medaka-chan is being voiced by toyosaki aki, another fine surprise for me from the series, indeed.

so anyway, medaka box is yet another entertaining series that has managed to caught the attention of my ani-radar this spring 2012, and one of the many staple series on my watchlist of present. being of gainax production, one can safely look forward to exaggerated action scenes and other visual absurdities the studio was well known for [ can already be felt and seen from the first episode, yeah ] - thus, the more reason for me to tighten my interest over this very series here.

it was loud and proud, exactly the way i love em, hell yeah.

okay so what makes medaka box appealing much to me was the namesake character herself, kurokami medaka of whom best regarded as a 'superhuman' since she was a kid - according to the many characters present in the story -; her proud and mighty personality stood really well within my interest, as with her notorious devotion in serving the student body as its supreme leader, regardless of whether they are supportive of her cause or not [ even the hostile ones gets treated in the same fashion as her believers ]. her words and actions, for the most part of em, were sights to behold, definitely.



coming from gainax, the animation is just as how i expected the studio would come with; it is smooth enough to catch up with the action element of the series [ not as fluid as j.c. staff's though, which otherwise is god tier ] while giving off the same raw and exaggerated feel native to the studio. there are many still shots to compensate for the budget, however, which has slightly toned down the aggressive feel of the studio - yet wasn't disruptive enough to foil the visual fun of the series.

sengoku collection : early impression

SENGOKU COLLECTION
studio : Brains Base
director : Keiji Gotou
serial run : April 6, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : 26
hime's priority rank : 08
zange's priority rank : 08

MY NOBUNAGA-SAMA CAN'T BE THIS MOE

sincerely, i won't lie. this could possibly become my favorite take on the sengoku period-related-material to date, and i really mean it.

perhaps one of the most underrated series of spring 2012, sengoku collection [ or sencolle, for short ] nevertheless is a fun and entertaining series much in the same vein as nekogami yaoyorozu, kemeko deluxe ! and penguin musume heart, for me that is. and contrasted to the nature of its base material, sencolle is more upbeat and lighthearted, perfect for those who were looking for a more laidback and relaxing stuff to entertain themselves with after a long hard and gruesome day at work [ or study ].

the story premise is simple and highly reminiscing of others in its genre [ dog days and sengoku otome, for example ]; some may refer to its storytelling as repetitive / redundant but either way i'm fine with it as long as the writers knows how to manipulate the story in ways i find appealing and entertaining - which works really well in the case of sencolle. frankly speaking, the plot / story are head-on predictable, yet still it holds a certain charm strong enough to keep me glued to the series for the entirety of its run.

what i have come to love the most about the series was its leading female protagonist, nobunaga - a moefied, gender-bendered version of the notorious sengoku period figure nobunaga oda - the man that was feared for his brutality back in his prime is now a headstrong, chivalric female samurai leader bent on finding ways to return to the world she once belonged to. and i find it quite interesting to keep track with her [ and her samurai companions ] growing contact and experience of the modern world, while trying her best to understand and coup with the alien culture that is surrounding her in the present.

another aspect of sencole that i fell in love with so much is its colorful art and visuals, which are very catchy and highly pleasing to look at. the character design, for one, are simply well done; it is fresh, neat, upbeat and youthful, giving off a highly positive feel and look to the series without fail.

accel world : early impression

ACCEL WORLD
studio : Masakazu Obara
director : Sunrise
serial run : March 26, 2012 - ongoing
episode count : 24
hime's priority rank : 09
zange's priority rank : 09

WELCOME TO THE GAME

i wasn't much a fan of sunrise works to begin with [ there are those which i watched and liked, but that's very few of them though ], but somehow i got drawn into watching this due to the numerous positive feedback it got from some of my twitter and blogger friends when it first aired. so i decided to give it a try out of curiosity, and before long i got suckered into the series much to my own surprise :P

accel world basically is a sci-fi drama build on the same foundation as the matrix, where humanity has begun to assimilate itself with technology - more specifically the digitally augmented and virtual reality - the latter of which in turn provided an ideal haven for many reality escapists, such as the male protagonist himself. that said, its story primarily deals with the basic aspects and emotions of normal teenagers; fear, anxiety, anger and such - elaborated in a milder recipe for those who're kinda new into stuff such as this.

contrary to my initial assumption of the series, it didn't take long for accel world to grow itself into me; the story went off on a nice start and took its pace well without wasting any moments loitering around elaborating on stuff totally unnecessary to the baseline plot, further added with its contrasting yet strangely complementing male and female protagonists - the latter of which i had come to fall in love with dearly. there are parts of the story which didn't work well for me, however, but not much as to hinder my watch of accel world, well, for the time being.

presentation wise, the animation quality for the series stood at your standard sunrise fare, which is good given that accel world relies heavily on the action and the drama to keep itself going. the art and design however weren't any remarkable nor specially appealing - to put it clearly, easily forgettable -, but are still nice and good to look at.

to love-ru darkness : tv anime confirmed, oad to be bundled with manga

it was announced earlier at anime content expo that xebec will be producing another television sequel for the to love-ru franchise, and just recently further confirmation was made - now including a separate oad that is to be bundled with the fifth volume of the manga which will be released on summer / august 17th this year.

[ source : yaraon ! | to love-ru blog ]

sonicomi : a brief, early impression

ソニコミ / SONICOMI ~COMMUNICATION WITH SONICO~
producer : Nitroplus
release : 2011
preliminary score : ****

in case some of you were wondering why there has been very little posts / updates made on this blog as of recent [ aside from my usual lame excuses ], we'll i've been busy with my work as a photographer for sonico ww. yeah right, okay so i've recently picked up the game last march and is currently being hooked up with it since, and frankly speaking, this is one of the best and most interesting visual novels i've gotten into in a while.

as some of you may have known, sonico is the mascot character of nitroplus - and currently is the main selling point [ and pit of gold ] for the company due to her attractive character design [ dem ti-*shot* ] and moetastic personality [ you'll agree with me on this should you've already played the game ]. well the game's basically revolving around her - as an aspiring gravure model - with you [ or us ] as her photographer + personal consort. not to mention that the visual novel / game features partial 3D environments so having an up-to-date graphics adapter is a necessity.

as far as i've gotten into the game, sonicomi offers quite an interesting visual novel + gaming experience comparable to visual novels / games such as utawarerumono and choukou sennin haruka just to name a few [ well i haven't played much of hybrid visual novels anyway ], most especially with its highly interactive, action-laden photo shooting game that as well let you experience how it feels like to be a gravure photog - given that you know how to work your way around in a japanese-only game. another highly important note is that coordinating sonico's poses through each photoshoot itself is a crucial aspect of the game, which would lead you into its multiple endings based on whichever direction you had chosen for her gravure idol career.

aside from the awesome and highly immersive photomissions, sonicomi is mostly built as a visual novel with added features [ aside from just reading them texts and choosing the right choices ] that requires you to pay extra attention to the titular heroine; there are times when physical and eye contacts will matter greatly - and the way you treat and carry your day-to-day interaction / communication with sonico will further impact your chance of getting more lovey dovey with her at certain points in the game. oh and btw yes you can touch her particular pair of assets if you so desired ww.

[ jiiiiiii~ ]

as far as the plot / story is concerned, i must say that i am delightfully entertained and amused by it [ albeit myself having limited understanding in written japanese - i am still struggling with kanji ]; especially since i am still in the mood for a romance between an idol and her producer / photog whatever, much thanks to the idolmaster anime which aired last year. that, and sonico's bubbly personality is so extremely moedorable enough to get me glued to the game while ignoring my commitment to this blog in total.

[ sonico x madoka ]

all in all sonicomi is a fun game - eventhough i haven't finished it yet - and i sincerely endorse it to those who haven't tried it yet. still i gotta write it here that it's a pity that you can't save randomly in sonicomi like in any other visual novels. anyway, i will try to post my final thoughts on the game once i have finished the game later, as long as i didn't procrastinate when the time comes ww. oh and btw there were also several limited edition costumes to add further awesomeness into the game, including miku hatsune, makise kurisu and madoka kaname's.

p/s : i forgot to mention how much i loved its extremely catchy OP, superorbital [ click here to listen ]

[ figure re-release ] narika shihoudou

 
 


character : Narika Shihoudou
series : Beat Blades Haruka
producer : Alter
official page : [ click ]

ZOMG ZOMG THANK YOU ALTER, THANK YOUUU !!!1-

holy spirit of madoka in the heavens, another awesome surprise for us [ or more specifically, me, myself - raynie ]. and this time around, the godly figuremaker entity alter has announced that it's going to re-release the awesome, lolicious pinkhead narika-chan [ of choukou sennin haruka / beat blades haruka fame ] for a september 2012 release ! damn i sure am happy as hell at this moment now since i missed the chance to grab her up a couple of years then.

pre-orders' currently open for alter's narika-chan, and her price this time around would be 8190 yen - inclusive of tax. for those like myself who has missed out the chance to obtain her 4 years prior now is the time for you / us to do so =3





p/s : with this, i shall be crossing my fingers for her series companion haruka takamori to be re-released as well. YES YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN, ALTER !

[ figure of interest ] inori yuzuriha

character : Inori Yuzuriha
series : Guilty Crown
producer : Good Smile Company
official page : [ click ]

o' great spirit of madoka in the heavens, this 1/8 scale inorin by good smile company is so beautiful it moved some of us here into mild tears of joy.

finally the wait is over, as good smile company has recently opened pre-orders for this glorious 1/8 scale inorin for those who've been looking forward into putting this gorgeous lady here up on their shelves at home - and that includes us here at +ophanium, of course. not only she's a beauty, her carefully executed dynamic pose is a sight to behold - for the flowing design of her pose is an art in itself.

standing at approx. 170mm in height, inorin was sculpted to perfection by iwanaga sakuro-sensei - based on the original design by redjuice-sensei, in contrast to her figma which was otherwise based on the design by hiromi katou-sensei for the tv animation instead - and pre-painted in excellent detail to complement the beauty of her gorgeous, lovely sculpt.

set for a september 2012 release [ knowing good smile company, the actual release date might get delayed a bit further anyway, ww ], inorin is now available for pre-orders from your figure retailer of choice at the price of 7800 yen - inclusive of tax.

+ophanium's spring 2012 watchlist : prelude to first impressions

as always, before we went on with our usual first impression commentaries we would first like to post in a quick compendium list of the spring 2012 series of which we'll be keeping close track on - based on summaries / those that we have seen so far. as usual, these lists are subjected to future changes.

HIGHEST PRIORITY
description : these are the series of which we'll be following very dearly week after week without fail; a slight miss on one episode will possibly result in multiple head-desks on our behalf.
- hyouka ♪♥
- haiyore ! nyaruko-san ♪♥
- fate/zero ♪♥
- kore wa zombie desu ka ? of the dead ♪♥
- saki achiga-hen episode of side a ♪♥
- sankarea ♪♥
- tasogare otome x amnesia ♪♥
- sengoku collection ♪♥
- accel world ♪♥
- medaka box ♪♥
- acchi kocchi ♪♥
- yurumates 3D ♪♥
- koi-ken ! ♪♥

MEDIUM PRIORITY

description : these are the series of which we'll be following week after week without fail just like the priority set above, however we won't be giving ourselves multiple head-desks should we forgot to get ourselves updated on the new episodes of those listed here; in fact we'd rather marathon a number of episodes in a go- :3
- shining hearts ~shiawase no pan~ ♪
- eureka seven ao ♪♥
- upotte ♪

LOWEST PRIORITY
description : being the lowest priority set, these series risks themselves of being deported to the on hold / dropped list based on their respective performance[s]. however, we'll still be giving them minor justice by forcing ourselves to keep on watching them just to fill in the void left in-between the release of new episodes of the two priority set above.
- N/A yet

OVA / OAD / ONA / THEATRICAL RELEASE
description : this list mostly encompasses those retail / simulcast-exclusive series of our highest priority.
- a channel + smile
- kobato
- seitokai yakuindomo
- fate/zero ( extra )
- nekogami yaoyorozu
- amagami ss+ plus
- ai mai ! moe can change !
- kore wa zombie desu ka ?
- ura mirai nikki
- c3 cube x cursed x curious

WAITLIST / WISHLIST
description : those listed here were either sequels which we have yet to watch over the previous season they were continued from or just those poor underdog titles which has yet to be picked and subbed upon.
- N/A

+ LEGEND +
♪ = hime's watchlist
♥ = zange's watchlist

...

FAQ

Q : do you really watch all those listed on your watchlist above ? A : yes. well usually i would break down my aniwatch session into two; the weekly episodic watch and the complete full season marathon by the end of a series' run. at the start of a season block, i would often took my time and give each of these series' first / pilot episodes a try before i decide whether to put them on my weekly watch or the full marathon watch session, depending on their performance as well as the state of balance between the genres offered within a season.

[ cosplay ] sue : perrine h. clostermann

layer : Sue
character : Perrine H. Clostermann
series : Strike Witches
score : *****

it's been a while since we last feature sue-san and her cosplay, mainly due to her lack of [ non-original chara ] cosplay activities recently. thankfully, she had went cosplaying a couple of characters which caught our interest of late, such as her fittingly moedorable popura taneshima-get [ together with yun kousaka as aoi yamada and uri-san as inami mahiru ] and this cute and fantastic perrine-chan get of hers of course.

needless for us to write here, sue-san's perrine-get is a spot-on in each and every part of the character, though slightly lacking on the tsuntsun [ referring to her facial and bodily expressions ] aspect of the character - of which should added would've tripled up the overkill point for this already overkill cosplay. nevertheless, she has definitely done a really fantastic job for this cosplay of her here - namely on the tasteful execution of her costume, her outstanding character likeness factor and last but not least, the overall presentation value.

being one of her most devoted fans out there, we couldn't have been more proud of her, indeed.

[ image 1 to 12 are property of mpzero / image 13 is property of yuuro_an ]