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Archive for the ‘Otaku’ Category

Berserker

Thursday, May 20th, 2021

Kentaro Miura, artist and writer, has died. He is world famous for Berserk, one of the greatest manga series of all time. He was only 54.

Miura was a master of both storytelling and art and through the 40 volumes of Berserk created an original and compelling fantasy saga that hooked millions of readers worldwide. It has spawned novels and films and anime series, and inspired countless other properties from manga to movies to video games. Berserk is currently still being serialized, and the story is unfinished.

As a lifelong fan of fantasy worlds Berserk grabbed me from the first moment I watched the first anime (which was released in the USA before the manga was translated). In time I would eventually own all the manga and various anime/movie series and I loved all of it. Much manga is disposable, forgotten about almost as soon as you close the book. Berserk is the very opposite – a work of importance that transcends it’s medium.

I don’t know much about Miura himself since he hid from the public eye and rarely gave interviews, and when he did he didn’t talk much about himself. But I’ve read him refer to himself as a massive otaku, and a manga fan from a very early age. He was apparently somewhat of a hikikomori as well (a shut-in) and enjoyed video games and reading other manga. The creation of Berserk was his life: he started in 1989 and rarely worked on anything else. Despite its length it’s clear the story was very considered and planned in advance, and I don’t doubt he had an ending in mind. In 2019 he said in an interview that the Guts and Casca arc ‘was over’ and that ‘the story is nearing it’s final chapter’, which would presumably have been the decades-long-awaited final confrontation between Guts and Griffith.

And now we may never see that happen, and I’m ok with that. Miura crafted a world so intricate and real that maybe it’s left to us – his readers – to imagine our own endings. Or perhaps we can imagine that it never ends, and the story continues forever, as Muira’s magnum opus will.

Rest in peace Kentaro Miura.

Posted in Art, Books, Otaku | 1 Comment »

Let’s Trade Cards (Part 2)!

Wednesday, May 19th, 2021

Time for some more trading cards from that random selection…

I’m sure I’ve seen Shrek 2 but I don’t remember it. These cards from 2004 are unremarkable but have fairly high production quality. I got one foil card (the last shot) but the set also had autograph and sketch cards available by mailing in rare redemption cards. Aside from the autographs, these cards are mostly worthless today.

These Bone cards (1994) are based on the comic and feature seemingly unrelated images of the (in my opinion) ugly title character. They’re boring and clearly of interest only to fans of the comic. Chase cards included an extremely rare ‘medallion’. The set is worthless today.

Back in 2000 when these Backstreet Boys cards were released the band was at the height of their fame. You’d think therefore that the company buying the rights to a trading card set would have done a better job that this awful set. The photos are blurry and ugly, the text on the back is trite and the stickers extremely boring. In my pack was one ‘chrome’ chase card which was as blurry as the rest.

Interestingly there seems to be quite a few different BSB card sets released in different languages, and some look of higher quality than these. So if the topic interests you, seek out a newer release 🙂

These Skeleton Warriors cards (1995) are based on a Saturday morning cartoon and feature some really, really bad artwork. I suspect it’s an early example of computer-assisted art but the character all look deformed and repulsive to me. I would have liked to have gotten one of the transparent or glow-in-the-dark chase cards in my pack, but alas was not so lucky. A well produced set crippled by hideous art.

Toxic High (1992) was a Topps set in the same vein as Garbage Pail Kids, and like those sets I hate it. The cards feature near-photorealistic artwork depicting gross-out topics related to (American) high school life. Funny if you like vomit or pee jokes I suppose. The card at bottom right has four stickers designed like yearbook photos. If they still stick I may use them on postcards!

Another from the ‘they printed anything in those days’ are these Guinness Book of Records cards (1992). It’s a soporific collection of stock artwork with pithy ‘records’ on the back. As a kid I may have liked this, but I’m guessing as a card set it failed utterly since I once passed on an entire box of these cards for under $5!

Posted in Collecting, Otaku, Trading Cards | 1 Comment »

Ramen 6: Finale!

Monday, April 12th, 2021

And so we reach the final ramen post. But I’m not eating ramen today, I’m making it. Specifically, this:

It’s a plastic model kit of a ramen cup! This was made to commemorate 50 years of Cup Noodle and lest there be any doubt…

It’s not edible!

Here’s the contents:

As with all Bandai plastic kits the engineering is astonishing, and the pieces went together easily and almost seamlessly:

I particularly liked the lettering, which was made of plastic rather than used a sticker:

That’s not to say the kit had zero stickers. In fact it has a lot, but they’re easy to attach and make the finished product look incredibly lifelike:

Here’s a shot of the contents (pre-cooking, of course):

And here I faced a choice. Display it with the contents showing, or attach the lid? I chose the latter, and the contents of my cup will therefore be sealed away forever.

Here’s a shot showing scale next to a toy car I just happened to have:

It’s a fantastic kit, and I’ll be keeping it on permanent display 🙂

Posted in Collecting, Crafts, Food, Models, Otaku | 2 Comments »

Let’s Go Sith!

Monday, April 5th, 2021

I made this:

It’s one of many new mosaic kits that LEGO has released. You can assemble one of three images, and I chose Darth Maul.

The instructions say to assemble the mosaic separately as nine tiled pieces with 256 studs apiece, but since this would require having all 12 colours going simultaneously I instead chose to do it by colour.

This way I saw it slowly come together as I worked, and I think I felt this method is much quicker than what the instructions suggest.

To be honest it wasn’t exactly fun, especially when I got to black. I had to place 877 of these identical black studs one at a time! My fingertips were aching when I was done!

All told it took a few hours over two days. Given the tedium of assembly and the (presumed) greater tedium of dismantling it I very much doubt I’ll ever make the other two designs!

It’s bigger and heavier than I expected (but does come with brackets for wall mounting) but looks good from a distance. It would have looked better using the smaller flat pieces rather than studs, but I can see why they avoided that since it would have made disassembly extremely difficult.

Overall it’s more of a curiosity that a success. I don’t think I’ll be buying any more of these, but it does make me more interested in designing a mosaic of my own…

Posted in Art, Crafts, Miscellaneous, Otaku, Toys | Comments Closed

Pullip Time!

Saturday, March 6th, 2021

KLS recently bought her second Pullip doll. “What’s that“, you ask? Time for some photos…

Here’s the first one she bought several years ago. Her name is Alice du Jardin and she was first released in 2012. She’s obviously inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and the text on the card that came with her makes that explicit.

Pullip dolls are hyper-accessorized collector toys for adults. They stand about a foot tall and as you can see have detailed clothing and lovely hair. The South Korean company that makes them releases a new doll every month and there’s well over 200 available now.

They’re slightly disturbing but also cute, and Kristin loves their clothes and hair. Alice has been on display for many years now in the room that has become Kristins work-from-home-office, and as an unbirthday gift to herself she bought a second Pullip:

Meet Midnight Velvet. She’s was also first released in 2012 and is the evil witch from the Snow White legend. Her headdress makes her about 6 inches taller than Alice, and the detail of her clothing is astonishing and possibly lost in these photos. (She has voluminous and detailed undergarments that aren’t even visible!)

The dolls are posable but obviously designed to be displayed standing since they include a stand. While the company is South Korean the dolls are most popular in Japan and a lot of the licensed ones are based on Japanese properties.

Oh, and they’re eyes move:

And yes, she’s got glittery makeup!

So now you know it’s not just me that buys crazy things! KLS has her own otaku interests as well. I asked her if she had any comment to add to this post and she said: “I’m not some creepy doll collector!” 🙂

Posted in Blog, Collecting, Otaku | 2 Comments »

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