Saki S2

So I wasn't planning on posting anything today since I still don't have my damn figs (you'd think it was Australia post on strike) but I just read that Saki is getting a second season. Fuck yes, I love me some yuri-fuelled mahjong with superpowers.

Unfortunately there's no indication of when it'll air; hopefully it won't take too long.

image from 2ch

In celebration of this news, have some WAI WAI.

Presumably it's taken this long to get the funding to properly animate Nodoka's breasts.

Having not read the manga at all, I don't know where the plot will go. One thing's for sure though - it took all of the first season for Saki and Nodoka to hold hands, so it'll probably be pretty slow going on that front.

A bomb, JC!

My exams are over, so I can take it easy again. I haven't been reading or commenting much on other's blogs for a bit now, but I'll make an effort to catch up on posts from the last week or so.

I don't think I did very well on my exams, not that I can blame anyone but myself, but I'm still hoping it'll all work out for the best. If I do end up failing them then I'll have some serious thoughts about dropping out, but otherwise I'd probably like to see it through to the end, even if just so the last few years don't seem like such a waste.

I was hoping either Rin or Racing Miku would have showed up by now, as a nice way to celebrate the end of the semester, but they're still MIA. I hope they're not somehow involved in whatever's going on with the Canadian postal service. There's no reason they should be, but from what I hear SAL shipments often end up on bizarre, fantastical trips around the world before getting to their destination so it might be possible. Unlikely, but worrying about pointless and improbable shit is what I do best!

I decided to preorder Deus Ex: Human Revolution yesterday. Since I'm not buying any figures this month, and probably won't buy any next month either, I decided to go full out and get the collector's edition. It comes with an action figure, the soundtrack, an extra DVD and an artbook, as well as an awesome box design and some in-game DLC.

obligatory

Overpriced, maybe, but I only >buy one or two games a year anyway. It'd be fair to say I've bought into the hype surrounding the leak on /v/, but I loved the first game and have replayed it many a time so I was already pretty damn excited about the prospect of another game in the series. The revelation that it may not suck arse (see: Invisible War) is just icing on the cake. The 23rd of August can't come soon enough.

Sorry if this is less comprehensible than normal; my brain is still a bit shot from the last week or two. I'm hurting for sleep too, but that's going to be the case for a while longer yet: the GSL finals are on this afternoon immediately followed by Dreamhack. Sleep's good and all, but so is Starcraft. Even if MMA is just going to stomp Polt 4-0.

Alter's Asuka Test Plug Suit ver.

I had intended to post this over a week ago, but it's been overcast (and freezing cold) for days on end, so with no decent lighting of my own I've had to wait for a bit of sun to come out again. I'm glad it finally has, because I've got Racing Miku and UBW Rin heading to me as we speak so I really can't put this off any longer.

I picked Asuka up off Amiami for a hefty discount, while everyone else was fighting over the Senjougahara figure that was also heavily discounted. Only a few days before that I decided I wanted to buy an Asuka figure, as I mentioned in a previous post, so this purchase seemed to be destined. Impulse purchases can turn out bad, but I'm very happy with this one - I think she looks amazing.

oh god exams

A package finally arrived for me yesterday, although all things considered it was actually pretty quick for SAL. Regardless, I took a few photos of my new Asuka figure yesterday, but they didn't turn out very well so I might have another go today.

I was toying with the idea of taking her out into the yard for some photos, since there's a spot against the wall with a few rocks that I think would go fairly well with her. There's a fair chance I won't though, especially today because most of my housemates are still home and it would be too embarrassing.

I hide my "power-level" pretty religiously - I know the prevailing attitude on many sites seems to be that you shouldn't do this and anyone who doesn't accept your hobbies for what they are is a bad person et cetera but I don't subscribe to this idea. It's all nice and idealistic, but I can't help but worry about what people think of me, even if "people" are just my parents and housemates.

There's quite a distinction between people thinking I'm weird for sitting in my room all the time, and people thinking I'm weird for sitting in my room all the time playing with girl toys. In my mind at least. At least the people I live with respect my privacy enough (or fear the state of my room enough) that they wouldn't just come into my room for whatever reason.

I'm pretty big on privacy. I can't stand the thought of someone coming into my room without knocking, or using my computer without my permission. I'm glad my family respected my privacy when I lived with them, although it didn't stop me getting pretty paranoid over things, especially with my computer. The few times I've had to let others use my computer, it's been a different browser (I keep Firefox installed for the once a year Mum wants to check a site quickly or something) with all other programs and folders closed, and I still hover around anxiously until they're finished.

I don't even know where I'm going with this. What are your views on privacy/"power-level" hiding? Even if the other party is limited to your parents. If you're lucky enough to live alone, just know that I'm very envious of you. I think the biggest motivating factor for me to get a full-time job would be to afford my own place of some sort. It wouldn't have to be nice in the slightest; fast internet and no one else living there would be the only two criteria.

Also, I probably won't be posting much for a couple of weeks (except maybe some pictures of my Asuka figure if I end up taking any I like). I've got my mid-year exams coming up, and getting kicked out of uni would mean losing access to the government handouts that are my sole source of income. And that would mean I'd have to cancel my Amiami pre-orders. So I'll be hitting the books for a while. Wish me luck.

Expensive Miku, cheap Miku

So I had a nice big thoughtful entry all written up and ready to post but, just before I hit the 'publish' button, I decided I didn't like it and deleted it all. I'm pretty tired, so my second attempt will be shorter.

cannot have

I hope we can all agree that the Magician Miku figure that was recently released is a fine bit of work. Unfortunately, it's a garage kit and was a very limited release, so you could be forgiven for giving up all hope of getting one for yourself. Don't worry though, there's still a few available here and there, such as this one being auctioned on Yahoo Japan - there's still two days to go, but the current bid is already a hefty ¥86,000. Painted or not, that's a veritable shitload of money. Maybe she'll be made into a PVC figure, god knows anything Miku-related is a license to print money.

As for the American Miku saga, be sure to buy Miku's first US single, "The World Is Mine", which is now available on iTunes and Amazon! The press release, which rather misleadingly made it seem like the song itself had only just been released for the first time, was published on Reuters about two weeks ago to no one's notice, and on various other bastions of journalistic integrity such as MTV to slightly more attention. Cue the weeaboo hipsters claiming to have liked supercell (as if they were some super obscure underground group) before they were popular.

ANN reported that the single peaked at number 7 on the iTunes charts, which seems pretty impressive, although the competition wasn't as fierce as you might have thought. Somewhere over the Rainbow charted higher, but The World is Mine did beat out the ever-popular Rasputin and Amazing Grace.

I also thought it was interesting that both Amazon and iTunes are asking 99c for the single, while it's being offered as a free download on supercell's own website. No doubt this whole process will be repeated sooner or later for Melt and Love is War - if people are willing to pay, it'd seem a bit silly not to.


I'm still baffled by the choice of song, and would have thought something that doesn't show off Miku's glass-shattering soprano potential quite so much would have been a more obvious choice, but what would I know. I  find the whole situation fascinating though, and will continue to keep an eye on it.

That's all. I'm going to sleep. Good night.

Plug Suit Asuka status: Dispatch from outward office of exchange. Maybe if I keep refreshing it'll get here faster.

Lethargy

Another wave of lethargy has swept over me, and I've spent the last few days doing more or less nothing. I think it's passing now, so I'd better take advantage of it while I can.

I-it's not like I WANTED to b-buy you or anything

I said in my last post that I was looking into getting an Asuka figure, possibly Alter's. Within a couple of days, the following things had happened:

• I looked at a few other possibilities, but preferred Alter's
• A post in the /fig/ thread on /jp/ alerted me to Amiami having a good sale on her (46% off!)
• Amiami emailed me to let me know that UBW Rin was going to be another month

By this stage, I was ready to accept that it was fate and just go for it. I had the money saved up for my May order anyway, and it even worked out cheaper (and I've got another whole month to save up the money for Rin). She's coming by SAL so I expect her any time between tomorrow and Christmas.

Korean clickan games and Chinese cartoon figures

I was going to post the other day but Blogger seemed to be having some issues. Not like I really had a lot to say anyway. It's been a pretty uneventful week, but the best is yet to come: only a few hours until the GSL finals! Earlier in the week I was at uni late, and the room cleared out a bit earlier than expected, so, along with two other guys in the class that follow the GSL, I decided to try and pull up the current game on the projector. It worked, and it looked amazing, but I only ended up watching the one game because the security guard kept coming past and looking into the room disapprovingly. I'm not sure if it was because we were using the room for non-uni purposes or because we were watching video games, but probably a bit of each.

Now I can turn gay for Tasteless twice as fast!

Today's games will be between InCa (P) and Nestea (Z). I'm hoping that Nestea will win but I'm mostly just hoping for some decent games rather than one all-in after the other like the last few seasons. They'll be streamed free at GOMtv if anyone's interested.

I decided to go through my figures and get out one of my first acquisitions to display for a while - I can't remember exactly when, but sometime late '08 or early '09 I got this Rei. I can't remember if she was my first figure or not (Garan no Dou Shiki being the other candidate) but I've had her for a while.

The reason I bring it up is that I've been thinking I'd like an Asuka figure to go with her, but I'm really not sure which one. I was thinking maybe Alter's Plug Suit Asuka, but I'd be interested in any other good Asuka figures you might know of. I won't be able to actually buy one for a while since I've got my May preorders looming, but I'd still like to have an idea of what I want.

Then again, perhaps I should be laying low for a while based on an ad I noticed on my blog recently:

They're onto me!

On mouseover, the URL appeared to point to Australian Customs' list of prohibited goods for import. The knock on the door will probably come any second now...

I've played a bit more Minecraft on the sever too, but I still never remember to take any screenshots. I might just leave it to HHH and NEET, who write better posts about it than I would anyway.