February 2023 Loot

 So parcels delayed by BPost and Customs have been coming in this month, and as such there are some nice items that have been on the way nearly 2 months now that have arrived.

And yes, that includes waifu material!

Let's see what I obtained this month in this short video:

And then we go to the regular links where I obtained it all:

Lunamaria Hawke figure: my waifu collection was expanded thanks to Mandarake.

Saintia Sho 15 and 16, Blue Period 12, Food Wars 6, Darling 7, My Hero Academia 33: these came with the monthly box from Archonia.

MechaTop goodies: I was send these as a gift from the creators of the game.

Gundam gachapon, Lunamaria keychain: these I found on eBay.

Pokemon blanket, Hawks, Denki: prizes I won over at the TokyoCatch crane game app.

So the shortest month wielded some good items for sure...

Terraformars volume 13 - Yu Sasuga and Ken-Ichi Tachibana

 Akari has awakened to his full potential as Michelle is gravely injured by the chinese "rescue" vessel Kuzuryu.

That was how volume 12 ended, and he seemed to be changing more into a moth as these powers manifested.  But what does it entail?  Let's find out in this next volume of the fantastic Terraformars series.

Akari wreaks havoc amongst the chinese soldiers, but just as he is about to be captured, lightning literally strikes like Adolf's attack used to do.  It turns out he is saved by a mysterious, naked girl.  It turns out to be Eva Frost from the Germany division, who held Adolf when he died and who is with her MARS rank 100 normally the weakest of the whole expedition.

But as a result of her MO, a special sort of asian Flatworm, she can regenerate herself, and obtained Adolf's electric eel powers as well as she fed on his remains during the regenerating cycle, making her one of the four targets for the chinese to improve the procedure even further when they get back.

Shokichi, who was buying the others time, is reaching his limit only to be saved by the two gravely injured, but blast survived, Joseph and Liu.  But while they reconsider their alliances, Akari and Eva try to bring Michelle back from the verge of death, only to be interrupted by two other chinese division members.  They prove harder opponents then expected, as Akari is pushed to his limit while Eva is overcome.  He manages to beat his opponent, but with his MO now exhausted he must face the other one only with his sword.  yaeko steps in, and together the three of them disable him.

But using an MO based on a zombiotic fungi, the crew of the chinese vessel has enslaved a troupe of Terraformars, who take the battered warriors aboard the ship.  Captain Shokichi discovers however that BUGS 1, the vessel of the ill-fated first mission, has gone from where it had landed.

The book ends with the arrival of Terraformars on Earth, seemingly having travelled there with the vessel...

Okay, now I need to grab issue 14 as soon as possible, as things are starting to heat up Earth side now as well...

The Quintessential Quintuplets volume 7 - Negi Haruba

 The cuteness continues as we tackle the next volume of this loveable series.

How will the girls adapt now that they are on their own feet?  And will they manage to bring Futaro back as their teacher?

Futaro and raina spend New Year's with the quintuplets, whom are trying to figure out a way how they can pay him to tutor them.  He agrees to do it "on credit" though, and they start preparing for the third term exams.

In order to relieve Ichika a bit, who is taking on extra acting gigs to pay for the house, the other sisters consider taking on jobs, while Futaro, now that his tutoring isn't paid, goes to work in a backery.  But Ichika comes into the store for some movie scenes, confessing to Futaro how hard it is to carry all the costs herself and that she does this for her sisters at the expense of studying.

Itsuki meets with their father while Nino, Yotsuba and Futaro are grocery shopping, but they overhear their talk.  It seems if they are failing the third term exam, they will be transferred to another school, but Yotsuba intervenes telling him they will succeed with Futaro's help.

But as Valentine's day approaches, Miku wants to make chocolates for Futaro, but is a terrible cook.  Nino decides to help her, and as Futaro likes her result, she decides to become the best of the sisters in the exams, building up her confidence to tell him how she feels.  But first, to relieve the last stress, they go to an amusement park together.

Yotsuba tells him she is the reason they transferred schools, as her sisters passed exams bu she failed, and they stood by her unconditionally.  For that reason, she really wants to pass the exams now, so she doesn`t become the reason they must change schools once again.

As we see how every Quint lives up in the final days to the exam and what drives them to try and pass, they actually manage to do so.  Nino meets with their father telling him they will try to remain independant a bit longer and getting jobs.  He doesn't seem to agree as Futaro comes to pick her up, telling him he will take care of his daughters.  As they drive off, Nino confesses she loves him on the roaring motorcycle.

Did Futaro hear this confession on the motorbike?  That is something we will have to see in the next instalment of this series!

The Haul Report 352

 Well this has been a lovely week!

Manga, figures, waifu merchandise... it is all here in this post.

Beginning with of course the waifu, Lunamaria Hawke.  A small parcel from Japan arrived containing a keychain of her, as well as some gachapon figures for use in MechaTop after I painted them.

But I also received my My Box for this month from Archonia, with some excellent volumes.  And I can continue reading Food Wars now for the next books as I scored volume 6.

A big box also arrived this week, containing loot I caught on TokyoCatch at the end of last year.  A lovely set of figures (though the Nino is for the trade pile, I already own a set of Quintuplets) from My Hero Academia for the collection, as well as a nice cosy and cute blanky... 

So this has been a very good week!

Gigant volume 10 - Hiroya Oku

 This is it, the final instalment of the battle between adult actress Chiho and the alien invading AI.

And we left in the previous volume as the spacestation was attacked by a nuclear strike, everyone seemingly caught in the blast.

 

According to analysis of the wreckage, her DNA traces have been found in the wreckage and she is confirmed deceased. Depressed by the loss of his love and their unborn child, he goes to her appartment, watching her movies as he comes across the disc of the initial time traveller she encountered.

When Mochi reappears, he finds the time travel device the dog swallowed.  He ingests it himself, in order to travel back in time and stop the professor that created the AI's from dying in an accident, saving humanity as a result.  But this also means he and Chiho never met and became a couple.

Years later, Rei has graduated and became a young, award winning star of a director.  He invites Chiho, no longer an adult star, for a role in his newest movie.  The movie actually tells the story of how they got together and how their love grew.  But as the filming goes on, she gets deja-vu ideas of the events.

She remembers, and the promise they made to each other as the filming ends, falling into Rei's arm crying of joy...

So that was actually a pretty cool ending to a manga series I liked.  The middle parts of the series where perhaps at time to bland, but all in all it was a good series, and the first one I decided to collect completely when rebuilding my collection.

Unboxing Archonia's february 2023 "My Box"

 Time for the monthly box from Archonia to arrive, and it contains some nice volumes once again.

Some new releases, some to fill in the series I have...

Let's see what is in it this time round!

So that is a nice little pile of manga, and some good reading material for the coming weeks.  At this rate, the mangatheque will be filling up nicely, albeit a year later then planned.

See you back next month for the following box!

Beer Test: Kerel Organic Beer

 In this beer test, I`m having a look and a taste of 4 organically made bio-beers. 

Though honestly, I can`t imagine what is not natural about hops and all, but heck, I guess it's a hipster thing...

Kerel is a brand of organic beers here in Belgium, and has a heap different ones in their range.  When our local supermarket ran a 2+2 promotion, I had Noshi pick 4 different ones, and now we are going to have a look at them with a detailed taste bud encounter hehehe.  Will they be better then regular beers?  Or will they taste "flatter" as a result?  Only one way to find out!  Schol!

 

Kerel Organic Pale Ale (5%, IBU 8)

 

 

Their mainliner, and I honestly must say that for me it tastes a bit to bland and watery.

 

Kerel Kaishaku (15%, IBU 28)

 

 

Okay, those numbers make it a monster!  But nope, nope, nope, NOPE, this reminds me more of those cough syrups from the apothecary then a nice beer for after work.  Didn`t like this in the least.

 

Kerel Saison (5.5%, IBU 22)

 

 

Well, it's theur special one apparantly, but I wasn't impressed.  Don't get me wrong, it's a sweet, floral beer but not uber wow or such.

 

Kerel Grapefruit IPA (4.5%, IBU 53)

 

 

IBU 53???  That must be one heck of a bitter beer. Okay, so I tasted it, and while not that extremely bitter as feared, I must say I liked this one quite a lot.

Having tasted now 4 of their line, I must say that in general I haven`t been impressed with this organic alternative.  I fear this is more of a hipster hype to be honest, then really good beer.  I`m not saying they are terrible, but they are very average compared to the advertising of them.

Unboxing an eBay package from Japan

 Today I am unboxing a small parcel I grabbed from eBay, and which quite amazingly flew from Japan to my front door in 2 days!

The contents? 

Some figures for MechaTop (let's go Gundam ZZ with this one) as well as waifu merchandise.

So this is quite a fun little parcel, and over the course of the year I do expect to order one or two times more some of those gachapon from the seller, as it is a quick service, shipping was alright considering how expensive that became the last two years anyways, and the models themselves where quit cheap.

Now to plan them into the painting line somewhere...

We reached 500 completed anime

 So, this is a bit of a milestone I guess.

With the completion of the second season of The Way of the Househusband earlier, I reached 500 completed anime marked on MyAnimeList, or MAL for short.

Not to shabby considering the "draught" for anime series here in Belgium between the end of Club Dorothee (when I was a wee little lad) and the coming of the internet and streaming options somewhere around 2010.

Add to that the serious boosting in series I watched as more came available through sites like Crunchyroll, instead of sticking solely to Gundam and Saint Seiya, but broading horizons, and the counter began racing upwards in earnest.  Considering older series counted like 52 episodes a season (like Gundam) or more compared to the 12 to 24 of nowadays, that has been a serious amount of watching.

Yes, it also include series for "Men of Culture" but I am not ashamed to admit I like watching those as well.  Heck, the infamous Bible Black even had a great and tragic story behind all the oppai in it.

So, now to go for the next 500, which should take about 7 to 8 years I guess if I really binge series like I did the past two years...  Meaning about a series per week, 1 to 2 episodes a day.  A pretty realistic number to be honest I guess.  But what makes me proud of myself, is that even if I didn`t like something, I never dropped a single series!

Now, back to the screen and work on that still immens Plan to Watch list along all the new stuff coming out...

The Way of the Househusband season 2

 Our favorite mobster tough guy is back in his second season of doing... household chores.

The series, while short, started streaming on netflix on the 1st of january, and Noshi and me immediatly tackled it.

Tatsu remains doing what he likes best, taking care of the household while his wife Miku goes out for work.  This leads him once again to a variety of seemingly awkward situations, as he can't put away his past while dealing with the everyday present.

 

 

Every episode consist of a couple of short stories, corresponding with that chapter in the manga.  Hence it gives a fun couple of stories each episode, even though there isn't a large storyline in it, though it has some sort of overarced feeling.

 

So wether it is going camping, joining a haiku club or judging how to make donuts, he does it all with his natural flair, even when he sprains his back (even though he thinks it was an assassin shooting him).

And it all get's sauced over with that excellent opening and closing music like in the first season!  The downside though is that it is only 5 episodes long...

Unboxing Lunamaria Hawke Destiny Heroine DX Figure

 Beginning of december, I received a notification alert from Mandarake that they had a Lunemaria figure in their used selection that I missed.

The condition read that the problems where with the packaging, so at 500 yen for the model, I immediatly swooped in.  It is only a box after all, and for a 1/8th scale, 3.86 euro was a steal.

So selecting airmail, and the necessary import duties, the model arrived the beginning of february.

The box indeed had seen better days though not at all a disaster, but let's unbox her and look at the important stuff, namely the actual figure!

 

 

This is definitly one of the more kawaii DX models of my Lunamaria, I love the facial expression on this figure and she will get a nice spot in the cabinet.

Super Mecha Champions Arthur (mini-kit)

 So, with Caramel now finished bar basing, it is time to start building the second of the kits of the Super Mecha Series.

And that is Rom's knightly mecha, Arthur.

 

Containing three runners of parts, a sticker sheet and the instructions on the inside of the cardboard packing just like with Caramel.

 

So we start with first building the central torso.  Normally, a sticker goes on the faceplate, but as I don`t like stickers at all, that will be painted afterwards.

As the two arms are then build, I opted for the version with the drawn sword instead of a closed hand, when the sword would then be mounted on the back of the model.  The other arm incorporates the transparent cloak, which will be fun to paint around afterwards *not*.

Next on the assembly are the legs for the mecha.  As I glue some of my parts (joints tend to loosen over the years), I first tried out some poses before deciding where to add some glue, and the position he will be placed in at the end when all is pieced together.

 

 

Now, with the body and all limbs ready, it is time to assemble him onto a base.

 

 

This makes him now ready to get painted.  A predominantly white mecha, that means the biggest sections where base coated in Cold Grey from Vallejo. 

Next, the other base sections where done with either Vallejo Black, or Vallejo Magic Blue.

And then came the hardest part.  Arthur has a lot of gold detailing, not present on the model, so using a 000 brush these had to be added with Vallejo Tinny Tan for the base.

This wasn`t the simplest of painting jobs on the smooth plastic armour platings, but it turned out okay if you ask me.  And in the second layer, I can start covering up some little things of those lines where needed, which is Sky Grey by Vallejo for all the parts that will become white.

That being done, it is time to do the other parts second layers, with Dark Rubber (Vallejo), Hawk Turquoise (Vallejo) for the blues and Brassy Brass (Vallejo) for the golds.

That making his second layer complete, it is time to start the touch ups in the third and final highlight.  The first and main colour herefore is Vallejo's Dead White.

Then the other areas are lighted in, respectively with Electric Blue of Vallejo, Necromancer Cloak of Army Painter and Bright Gold by Coat D'Arms.

So that is the model painted, now to do the "for now" basing, as well as adding a coat of AK matte varnish to the model.

And so Arthur stands ready to take the battle to the enemy in MechaTop, as I`m working out a stat card for the game as well.  But that is for a later post!

Terraformars volume 12 - Yu Sasuga and Ken-Ici Tachibana

 With a message out and unknown vessels Marsbound, things are heating up both on Earth and on Mars.

Because now that the betrayal of China is out, will the vessel inbound come for a rescue operation, or a cover-up?

Keiji and the engineers are saved at the last moment by Marcos and the others, as the chinese plan to take Akari and then flee Mars as the roaches have occupied and looted the annex.  But Joseph appears on the chinese vehicle to thwart their plans as the Japanese - Russian division comes under attack from rapidly evolved Terraformars.

The last battle for Mars is seemingly about to begin, as all the survivors are heading for the seaside, a place where any possible rescue operation is bound to begin from while Liu and Joseph engage in a deadly duel.  But then the chinese vessel breaches the atmosphere, and starts decimating the roaches out in search for the second, Akari.  They nuke the position of Liu and Joseph, as they are indeed trying to hide any evidence of a botched mission.

Captain Shokishi volunteers to become a decoy against the roaches so the rest can try to catch up with Michelle, Akari and the others.  But when Michelle is mortally wounded by the chinese spacecraft, Akari's true potential awakens...

So, let's dive into the next volume and see what that is about to bring!

The Quintessential Quintuplets volume 6 - Negi Haruba

 We ended the previous book with Futaro seeing the girl from five years ago back as he ponders in the park about what he is doing wrong.

So will she come into his life at last?

She reveals her name to him at last, Rena, and they set out to a rowing trip.  She wants to know what he has become in all those years, as he was to reinvent himself and study seriously after their first meeting.  But as sudden as she came, she is there to say her goodbye's, as she tells him they can't see each other again.

Futaro falls in the pond as she takes her leave, and goes to Nino's.  Here, he has a good talk with her, and he comes to understand how she feels towards her sisters.  He decides to adopt the Kintaro persona from the camp once again, to be able to provide closure, as she sees through his disguise.

The exams don't go well at all, and Futaro quits his tutoring job of the quintuplets, telling their father he should invest more personal time in them.  But after reading his final message to them, the girl's are adamant about getting him back, as they realise they have become smarter through his lessons.

In order to have Futaro continue to be able to tutor them, the girls rent their own house outside their father's seeming control.

So how will this fan out?  Let's see that once we begin volume 7!

Loki

 The God of Misschief is back in his own Marvel series!

After being killed by Thanos, it turns out he isn't dead after all.  Because somehow before that event he tricked his escape, resulting in a distortion of the timeline.

To that end, he is apprehended by Mobius, an agent of the Tome Variance Agency, who are out to rectify these variants.  This is done by removing them from timelines, in order that it restores itself to it's prime form.

But as a greater thread to the timeline is running amok, they offer him a choice.  Help them out or be erased from the timeline.  He accepts, and quickly finds out it is a female variant of himself, calling herself Sylvie, that is the issue.  As he escapes the TVA together with her, he learns that the agency isn't what it appears to be and that someone or something is pulling the strings behind the curtains.

He goes to look for it, and comes across a whole planet filled with Loki variants, some loyal to each other, others betraying them to get to the throne themselves.  As they are hunted by a monster in the clouds, who takes down several of them, he and Sylvie come to a mysterious mansion at the end of time.

Here they encounter He Who Remains, a variant of a scientist that discovered the whole intertwining timelines, and founded the TVA to prevent history and war from repeating himself.  But being stuck in isolation that long seemingly did have it's effects.

Now Loki and Sylvie must decide wether they believe and follow his reasoning, or will try to change the flow of time...

An amusing series for sure, and Tom Hiddleston remains glorious in the fallen Asgardian.  The series, counting 6 episodes, is a bit short though, but a second season is in production so this fan favorite character still hasn't sung his last notes in the MCU after all.

Nanny McPhee Returns

 A sequel to the amusing Nanny McPhee movie, we watched this 2010 family film back in Amsterdam.

While these aren't headliner films, they are amusing and easy on the eye for a lazy evening behind the tube.

Isabel is driven to the edge of her patience as she has to manage the farm and her kids at the same time while her husband is off fighting in World War 1.  They are joined by the two snobbish children from her sister as they are evacuated to the countryside, a rivalry between the children immediatly sparks.

Nanny McPhee arrives to help them out, and while the children first refuse to listen, she quickly starts teaching them important lessons with the help of her magical powers.  In the meantime her brother-in-law Phil tries to sabotage the farm, in order for her to sell it so he can pay off his gambling debts.  One of his schemes to do so is even create a false telegram telling her husband died in the war, but one of the children refuses to believe this as "he can feel it in his bones".  

They convince Nanny McPhee to go to London to the War Office, where the cousin's father holds a high position.  At first he refuses to help them, but after getting a lecture on how he is neglecting his parental duties, he decides to help out, they deduce the telegram forged.

As the children return just in time to prevent Isabel signing the papers, just as a german bomb falls in their fields.  They manage to defuse the bomb, but as they celebrate it is revealed that Isabel's strange boss Mrs Doherty is actually baby Agetha from the first film, who still remembers Nanny McPhee.  As the nanny takes her leave with her mission completed, Rory returns home, reuniting the family.

An innocent, enjoyable adventure and surely worth that time to watch if you just want to clay on the couch.  With movies like this you can't go to wrong after all.

Deadman Wonderland volume 2 - Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Jondou

 In the next manga I have been reading, we return to the Deadman Wonderland prison slash amusement park.

And Ganta still struggles with his fate as he desperatly tries to survive and figure out the truth of the Red Man whom he encountered at the end of the previous volume.

He ponders his new found power of using his blood as a weapon, when he learns there are more like him in the G ward of the prison.  He sets out to look by it, followed by a robot Warden Makina send after them to apprehend him.  But it turns out even she doesn't know about this G ward.

As the robot is about to take out Shiro, another inmate from G ward intervenes and destroys the machine.  They learn his name is Crow, and that all the inmates of G ward are so called Deadmen, people who can use their blood as weapons, a power called the Branch of Sin.

Ganta is taken to a hospital wing, where he learns not only that he is now part of an experiment to learn about these powers, but that he was framed by his lawyer at the trial, who is actually the master of the prison's Deadmen program.  The red man is indeed part of this as well, as he is officially called The Wretched Egg, and he is forced to duel Crow.  He wins through a smart rouse, but learns the price of the loser is donating a body part instead...

Meanwhile, Shiro and another inmate, the one that framed Ganta in the beginning when he arrived, are out to rescue him, but as Shiro is caught she slays all the guards in a gruesome manner, smiling as she goes...

So this has been a rather gruesome and hard volume once again, as we can't call this a calm series.  Onwards to the next volume!

The Haul Report 351

 It have been a few quit weeks, but parcels arrived this week and the collection grew again.

And it is a varied bunch for sure, whom will all be unboxed in the very near future on this blog.

Starting with this parcel from Mandarake, containing a bargain for my waifu Lunamaria Hawke as she was priced 500 yen.

Christian Bruni, the italian creator of the MechaTop game that allows you to use your collections to battle it out on the tabletop, send me a small gift.  Some figures for their upcoming second kickstarter for the game, I'll be painting these models soonish and then you will see them here of course in all their glory!

So that was a varied selection this week, and see you soon!

Terraformars volume 11 - Yu Sasuga and Ken-Ici Tachibana

 Time to get back to Mars and the intense struggle going on against the terraformars in the latest manga I have been reading.

And with Joseph now into the equation, how will the balance be shifting?

As Keiji and the engineers of divisions 1 and 2 are infiltrating the Annex II to get the radio working again, but they discover roaches inside not only wear the enviromental suits, they also destroyed Bao's duplication tank and the other suits the engineers where after.

 

The Terraformars are after Hong, the member of the chinese division that can unleash a bacteriological agent. Keiji and division 4's Xi Chun Li face off in front of the control room, but Keiji lives by the rule that he won't ever hit women.  He is stalling for time though, in order to allow the engineers to slip by and enter the terminal to unlock the systems.

They start a hacking effort, but as suited up Terraformar climbs into the room they are smashed aside.  Keiji decides to save everyone's life instead of running the hack further, and tackles the beast together with Xi.  The Terraformar seemingly has the Honey Badger as a baseline, making it a tough opponent that keeps on coming, but finally they overcome it.  They realise that one engineer stayed in the control room though, and she restores contact.

This allows her to send half a message for help out before it is broken short under the cries of a Terraformar, but the message also makes Earth find out that there is not one, but three vessels Mars-bound...

Who those belong to though, that will be something to find out in volume 12!

 

 

The Quintessential Quintuplets volume 5 - Negi Haruba

 The story continues of the poor tutor having to try and get five sisters through their exams...

And it picks up with Futaro still in hospital, with the quintuplets father actually paying the bill.

The quintuplets come to visit him as they are in the hospital for their immunisation shots, and he unknowingly gets a compliment from their father.  When Itsuki visits him, he starts getting the feeling that the girl he met and fell in love with all those years ago, and whom made him change his life for the better, might actually have been one of them.

Back at their place, he tries to figure out who had 0's in their tests, only to deduct they all failed on certain subjects.  He decides though to take Yotsuba out on a "date" as thanks for all the effort and help she provided him with at camp.  After a whole day, he asks her what she actually wants for herself, and they end up at a swing in a park, where the view in the evening is breathtaking.

But then study has to pick up in earnest again, as there is only a week left to the exams.  But an argument between the sisters heats up so hard, both Nino and Itsuki decide to leave the house.  While Nino goes to a hotel, Itsuki bunks down at Futaro's place, and he learns from her that before their mother remarried their current father, they actually lived in poverty as well because as a single mom she had to take care of everything, at the cost of her own health in the process.

The manga also has some small chapters that didn't go in the anime, like one where they had to babysit Ichika's agents babygirl, playing mommy and daddy much to the joy of Miku.  So another cuteness dripping volume, time to hop to the next book!