Utahime Drama CD arrived!

Merry Christmas to me~ Merry Christmas to me~~~!

My stuff arrived in the mail two days ago, but today I finally opened the box! After getting through those blasted packing peanuts, I found this:

-some kind of small collectible card thing (we’ll talk about that some other time), a postcard, and the back of the cd. Oh~ it’s lovely still in its shrink wrap, finally something that’s brand new! But I soon peeled it off to take snapshots of the items (still no scanner, so that’ll have to wait). I love all the pictures of Maria, she’s one of my favorite Aki characters.

Just to recap, this is the front cover of the CD.

When I opened it up I was met this cute image:

Aww~!!! How adorable~! Simply precious.

Thomas here, during one of the more bittersweet parts of the story. The white CD is actually the bonus disc. There’s two discs, and the plastic thing holding them back to back flips like a page. When you take that into account, it’s pretty cool how the images are on the discs are in reverse.

Perhaps one side is the land of the living, while the other is a view from the land of the dead…

The inside of the booklet was pretty exciting. More color images and stuff. Like… a certain character I’ve never seen in color:

Like seriously! I have been wanting to see that image of the Emperor in color so badly! It’s a snippet from the image on the first pages of the manga. They seem to only be in color in the original magazine, back when it was first printed years and years ago. Believe me, I’ve tried SO hard to find out what issues it ran in, but it’s just too old. So to have the best piece of the missing color pages here and now, it’s like… wow!

Also, this was a surprise:

Kain is smiling… so brightly… I never expected to see that.

I listened to the drama cd for a bit while I type this, and I gotta say, I love it! Ok, so the majority of the time I don’t know what they are saying, but I can still tell what’s going on since I know the story. Yeah, its like a radio show or an anime without the… uh, animation. It’s nice hearing what the characters sound like, and finally knowing how to say Kain’s name.

Have any of you listened to the cd? Thoughts? :3 If you love Utahime, I recommend getting a copy. It’s been a lovely experience. <3

Kurofune Autumn 2012

:] Mine’s in the mail.

If you want a copy, one place to get them is at Akadot [link]

:< Sorry I haven't kept up with giving you snapshots of A*D. I can't seem to find the time while there's enough daylight for photos. Boo hoo~ :[

and btw…

Hey, does anyone do fanart for Angel’s Doubt (or any of Aki’s works)? You guys should link some in a comment. I’d love to do a post showing off people’s fan works.

{updated} We now interrupt…

…your regular programming with a breaking news bulletin:
{special edit below!!!}

Though it doesn’t appear to be a standard one, there will be an issue of Kurofune Zero coming out October 10th! Yes yes yes yes yes~~~ there is hope for the magazine yet~!

Screencap from publisher Libre online shop.

I don’t generally post news, but I’ve been waiting for any kind of sign that there’d be another issue to this magazine. Hopefully there will be a standard issue soon? I want new manga chapters… Y_Y

source: Shop Libre

EDIT: they updated the site to show the magazine cover~! for more reporting go here.

Angel’s Doubt chapter 9

Yay~! Chapter nine, chapter nine! Snapshots of chapter nine is what this post is all about. And insects, apparently-

Please be aware the above text is not a real translation. *is shot*

Ok, ok, enough nonsense for now. For those that read Angel’s Doubt from the tankōbon, instead of the magazine, I present to you… color!

While Force does get a nice spread on pages two and three (shown below), I prefer page one myself. I think it’s because thanks to the middle panel with scenery, you get the concept of space. From that, and how the characters are both actually looking at one another, you can tell how they are standing in relation to each other. The next two pages focus more on their individual expressions and feel kind of floaty as far as spacial depth.

Here’s some more spam of Force Caluanthes:

I like how casual he looks here:

Aki does another gag page in this chapter, with the repeating panels:

Oh Yoneda, you are too funny. xD

And yes, that is a bug that Eiri is holding. It seems Riku collects an entire bag of them. I wasn’t kidding when I said this entire chapter seems to be about insects. I also just noticed how tall Eiri is… o.0

Sorry I can’t offer more as far as what is going on in the plot, but eh, the pictures are pretty entertaining on their own after all. For those that read or looked over chapter nine, what are your thoughts? Do you have a favorite scene? :3

Auction nonsense~

Ok so this post is pretty much filler but I just felt like sharing my excitement! *squeals*

I won!
IwonIwonIwonIwonIwonIwon-
I WON~!!!! XD bahahahahaha~!

-this drama CD for Utahime, with a lovely little postcard:

Oh, and yeah, all the images in this post are blatantly taken from auction listings.

I’d been wanting the drama CD for awhile, but haven’t gotten around the buying it and the pile of things I want/need off Amazon Japan. I’ve never really listened to a drama CD before to be honest, but I’m thinking it’s like a radio show. I’m hoping that since characters in Utahime sing, I’ll get to hear what their song sounds like~! SO DON’T POST ANY SPOILERS FOR ME!! Ok? :3 I want to find out what it’s like when it arrives. Shh~!! No talking allowed. XD
No seriously I’ll %@$#ing kill you if you utter a single word about the cd.

So anyways, I’m glad I held off on buying it since I can’t resist a delicious postcard. Yum~~ soft pastel tastiness. It wouldn’t be much fun to buy the CD twice just to get it. (I already did that once before, so I have a duplicate issue of Kurofune.) When it comes home to me, I’ll be sure to give you guys a scan. It could be awhile though, since the deputy service that lets me buy this stuff, also lets me hold stuff at their warehouse for a few months. That way if I buy more stuff I can ship it all at once later, so I’m pinching pennies where I can.

And now! for stuff I wanted but couldn’t get (or rather, decided I couldn’t afford to begin with):

A mug promoting Kurofune Zero~! Isn’t it just dreamy? It seems Kurofune’s signature style is synonimous with Force’s usual flair. Not surprising, since he’s on the cover most the time. (I’m also sure he’s one of the magazine’s biggest selling points. Too bad he didn’t rake in more sales though… I digress.)

Oh~ what I would have given to have you~ …which was obviously less than what it costs to ship you overseas >_>;;

And I want this set of items:

…but again can’t justify buying it since it’s not like I don’t already have these illustrations on the books themselves. ARG but I want to see how the book cover looks on the book~! :[

Someone buy it and take a photo to show me, lol.

Oh well, I figure, if I can’t have it, I’ll just savor the photo of it. xD
I wonder what I’ll find next? Actually, I’m hoping the next thing to come around will be a new issue of Kurofune Zero. Seriously, its been since February! I hope the magazine hasn’t dropped off… I searched, but didn’t see any news on that. I think I read somewhere there’ll be an issue in October? (That would mean they only skipped the summer issue.) Well, I have my fingers crossed.

Angel’s Doubt Snapshots

Well, I tore up my place looking for my camera today. Now if I can learn some photography skills I’ll be good to go… except I got started anyways. Hehe, please bear with me. It’s also hard not to get sidetracked while doing this, flipping through issue after issue. >_>

Right then! So I promised I would take some snapshots of Aki’s series Angel’s Doubt as it appears in the magazine Kurofune Zero (クロフネZERO). Particularly the color pages that do not appear in the tankōbon (aka the reprinted manga volumes). Seeing as there have already been scanlations of the first seven chapters, I’ll be starting with chapter eight.

Now, this image has already been posted by a friend, but out of this entire chapter, it’s really the one that sticks out the most. So here’s my two cents~

Reading it backwards, lets take a look at the title page on the left. Force is wearing a flamboyant outfit (as usual), Riku is following close with a sunny smile (as usual), and poor Ziz is lagging behind- looking worn out and reluctant (…as usual). It’s a really nice perspective though, receding down a street in town with plenty of bystanders and scenery. You get to see our, ahem, heroes(?) from head to toe as well, which doesn’t seem to happen much. Force’s pants are awesome, being double-layered like that, and the looseness goes with his flowing jacket (and I love pant crinkles). I also can’t help but notice Riku’s legs (again pant crinkles <3); he actually looks taller and more slender in this drawing than usual. I'd have to go back and check, but I think aside from being a smidge shorter than everyone else, he tends to be drawn from a high perspective or something, making him look small and cute most of the time.

On the right page we have two panels of Force and Riku talking to a woman selling meats. I like how even though they are doing something rather ordinary, its interesting just because they are so extraordinary. Force is made complete with his signature sparkles radiating around him, while Riku is quite entranced with some hanging sausages. So entranced, in fact, that it just has to last for two panels. I can’t blame that woman for staring at them like that, haha xD.

Sorry this post is a bit dull, but to spice things up here’s a teaser for chapter nine :3

Hopefully next time the snapshots will be a better quality. I’ll be practicing (and blaming my camera a lot in the process, heh) so that the photos will be clearer.

Aki Collection 3

Today I’m finally uploading the last of this batch of scans. The prize and joy of my collection will finally be revealed, as well as the long story of hunting it down. First though, another scan of Force in his red suit.

I like this postcard because you get to see more of the drawing. (Gotta love ‘dem legs xD). As you can see from the grain in the image, this is not nearly as nice a print as the bromide. It also looks a little more washed out, but it looks fine for a simple postcard.

Now on to my favorite part. The hunt for the unseen image!

I can’t recall what website I was at exactly, since this was a few years ago, but it was all in Japanese and I ended up there from surfing one of Libre’s official sites. I used the unreliable Google Translate to give me an idea what the articles were about. I saw a blurry thumbnail of an image that looked very much like Force and Riku, and it seemed to say something about contest winners having access to the image.

“Ooohh?!?!? What is this?” Gasp! “Why are they so close? Huh huh huh?! I need this image!”
Try as I might, I didn’t get any results searching the net, and had to just wait and keep my eyes open.

Eventually some things popped up on Yahoo!Japan Auction. Like this-

and this, hidden in number 12-

I was like, “are you kidding me?! that’s all I get after a couple years?” I debated buying the little booklet, and tried researching what its contents were. I was highly doubtful there were any color images inside, probably just some artist notes or something. I did find a blog entry of someone that I think bought the book, but alas it was in Japanese and didn’t make any sense.

Well, come to the present and another, beautiful, listing came up.
It was awhile before it finally shipped its way to me.

*drumroll*

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Aa~~h, I am finally at peace.

So that’s it for scans for now. I will be making an effort to take some snapshots of the color pages found within Kurofune ZERO, so check back sometime for that. :]