Tis the season to spend

December 23, 2004 | 1 Comments

It looks like I find it hard to resist the X-mas spending mentality. But then again, I haven't bought anything much this year so I think it's well-justified :P. Anyway, I thought I won't see these stuff until after Christmas but they arrived earlier these past couple of days. First up is the limited edition of Rozen Maiden 1. This is probably the strangest first-press offer I've ever encountered. If you get the first-press, you get the nice box above, which is illustrated by Peach Pit. The box contains a digipack with with one disc and 5 empty slots for the upcoming DVDs. If you failed to get the first-press, however, you get the barebones DVD with Shinku on the cover. Here are some of the images:

First-pressed box
The front digipack
Free postcard

Now, does that mean when I buy the second disc, I should throw away the case and put the disc in the digipack? It seems kind of weird and not cost effective to me. Wouldn't it be better to release a separate version of the boxset when the entire discs are completed? Anyway, the disc itself is quite barebones in my opinion. You get two episodes in Widescreen 16:9 format. The quality is top notch. None of those over-saturated/dark areas of the online version. The menu is static but simple and easy to navigate with the postcard image of Shinku serves as a background. Then there's a creditless opening and ending included as extras. There's also an interview with one of the producers of the show inside a program called 'Anikuri'.

And then there is Kikansha Sensei. I was invited by a friend to watch this film at a film festival a couple of months ago. I'm quite pleased with it to the point I want to buy the DVD. The film was re-titled as Silent Big Man back then and is based on a best-selling book of the same name created by Shizuka Ijuin. It's one of those simple, laidback Japanese story and somehow reminds me a bit of NieA_7. The story is about a mute teacher who comes to a small island to teach a group of children. Along the way, the teacher must faced expectations from the children, prejudice from the people in the island, as well as his own past. Anyway, since the teacher is tall, the students decide to call him 'Locomotive teacher', thus the Kikansha Sensei title.

This film probably requires an acquired taste because some people may find it slow or boring. The story and resolution are very Japanese in style and there's no happy ending in sight (although the ending is not a downer either). The film also suffers from some flaws and plot holes. At the end of the film, for example, viewers still don't know anything much about the teacher. He remains a mysterious character whose full story we'll never see. Having said that, this is still a good film to see. The film's message about how wars normally begin as hatred in people's heart is conveyed quite well. This film is also full of many to-die-for Japanese panorama and setting. In a way, this is like GTO live action minus the comedy and the over-the-top story and delivery.

I also ended up buying a Fruits Basket CD mostly because of its collectability value. You see, the songs are recorded on an 8 cm CD. Why is that important you say? Well, to be honest, it's not important to anyone with rational thoughts and those who can control their spending. However, I go weak at the knees everytime I look at rare Fruits Basket items so all rational thoughts went out of the window when I purchased this. Did I say I bought this at 3am in the morning while I was half-asleep? Well, I did. And believe me, never ever do online shopping at 3am in the morning, especially when you're half-asleep. The things that I also ended up buying....Doraemon DVD....what was I thinking? *buries head in shame*

Finally, there are the manga. I actually had to buy them at Amazon.jp almost a month ago because Amazon.jp's delivery time, or for that matter any Amazon shop's, usually is very slow. True enough, the package didn't arrive until yesterday. Anyway, I ended up getting the fourth and fifth volume of Curry Naru Shokutaku. Obviously I am not patient enough to wait for the scanslation so I figured I'd get them especially since vol.3 ended in a rather nasty cliffhanger. If you think Makito and Yui had it tough before, just wait and see what's coming for them in these two volumes ;). In general, these two volumes are far more angsty than the previous ones. Of course that doesn't mean there is no space left for fanservice. Angsty or not, the fanservice is still there. :P

Another manga that I bought is Gakuen Alice vol.5. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to scan this one but the cover is that of Narumi. This turns out to be a rather busy chapter. *Spoiler for those who have not read it*. The Snow White school play is a riot. I never expected Ruka to become Snow White and Mikan to become the Prince. Then there's the dance party. It was amusing to see Nonoko and Anna running to Misaki-sensei right away when they see him. It's obvious now that Ruka likes Mikan since he looks really happy when he gets to dance with her. But it seems Hotaru likes Ruka too. Then there's the part where Persona reveals his face in Mikan's class, as well as the appearance of Mr.Bear creator. Anyway, it surprised me that the mood of the volume in general is quite light. That means the majority of the arc development started mostly in vol.6.

As usual, please do not link straight to these images from other sites/forums. If you are interested to purchase them, here are some of the details:

Rozen Maiden 1
Format: R2 NTSC
Price: 5000 Yen ($48.35 US Dollars)

Kikansha Sensei: Special Edition
Format: R2 NTSC
Price: 3800 Yen ($36.74 US Dollars)

For Fruits Basket
8 cm CD
Price: 971 Yen ($9.39 US Dollars)

Curry Naru Shokutaku/Addicted to Curry Tank 4
ISBN: 4-08-876282-7
Price: 530 Yen ($5.11 US Dollars)

Curry Naru Shokutaku/Addicted to Curry Tank 5
ISBN: 4-08-87631-8
Price: 530 Yen ($5.11 US Dollars)

Gakuen Alice Tank 5
ISBN: 4-59-218092-5
Price: 410 Yen ($3.95 US Dollars)

© memento 2003