I hate customs charges

Who is the true enemy of the UK-based otaku? Is it the high high prices of domestic DVDs? Is it the lack of range of what's available to us? Is it the general public that still think we're just here for the schoolgirl tentacle rape scenes?

No.

It's customs charges.



As always, click on the picture to see a big version of it....

A package with goods inside declared at $51 USD - it's a parcel from the USA - add on customs charges and handling (handling being the large part) and that's an extra *half the cost of the orginal package*. That's a tad excessive!

Angband for PSP

I just found a new game to play on PSP that might mean that it's not just my portable-Disgaea-console.

Angband for PSP.

Yay for homebrew! It needs 1.50 firmware to run, seems to run just fine, though. Remembering keys and navigating the mini-menu to each key is a bit of a trial, though.



I've tried it out and got as far as lvl 5, getting killed by "Grip, the farmer's dog".

FOE! FOE! FOE!

I'm going back to Etrian Odyssey; it's not as difficult and cruel! (3rd Stratum, training up my Ronin...)

I called my party in Etrian Odyssey "Angiband", you know... ^_^;;

EDIT: 2007-06-22, 07:35am
I carried on with Angband last night, got to about lvl 8 and then wondered how to do something... entered "?" to get to the help topics, read what was there, and then.... "Hmm." [presses "circle" a few times] [navigates through the alphabet to "Esc" a few times] [presses random buttons] ... I couldn't work out how to get out of the "help" section! [power off] what a terrible way for a warrior to go.

Also... *this game could really do with save points*! I mean, not wiping your player out completely when you die type saves. Officially. At least in the options.

[poke]

ooh, I think this character must come along a little later in Dr Slump than I've read up to... though its face is familiar...

Unchi

It's poo, it's pink, and it has its mouth open. And now it's a cushion.

Ummmmmm..... no thanks!

More tokusatsu stuff

Today I discovered:

The JAKQ vs Goranger crossover movie (it's under 30 mins long) on youtube. It's got subtitles! It's fun!

There are cute "dance lesson" videos of children performing the ED credits dances for Dekaranger and Magiranger!

Mahou no Mako chan

Oh wow, the group DAF (Denjin Anime Fansub) have released the first episode of "Mahou no Mako chan" from 1970. I checked their website and it mentions that they've dropped Candy Candy, though.

Quote:

The Candy Candy project is currently on perma-hiatus. We've gotten the series up to the episode 54 out of 115 but the circumstances surrounding the series are currently too prohibitive to continue work. Firstly, we are afraid that the angry authors might pull a legal action against us (just think of the French DVD disaster) and frankly, the next 30 episodes in the Candy lineup aren't very interesting to begin with. We could do a half-assed translation job but nobody would be satisfied by that. We might continue the project if we find more translators or if the authors chime in with their blessing for this free project.

Tokusatsu stuff

Over the weekend, I got to listen to my Gingaman & Go Go Five CD Super Hero Chronicle: Super Sentai Shudaika Sonyuka Dai Zenshu VI. It's lots of fun. It's got Masato Shimon (wow!), Ishihara Shinichi and Yamagata Yukio. And a guy that sounds like a cross between Yamagata Yukio and Ishihara Shinichi. My brother suspects they do the fusion dance and then go under a different name. ^_^;;

The elements the heroes use in Gingaman are Fire, Water, Wind, Thunder and Flower. And I thought... "flower is an element?" and didn't think it would be up to much.

But then I came back home, and got hit by the power of Flower on Monday evening. Oh, the tear ducts on my eyes were so swollen up that I could feel them when I blinked, and that made them more and more itchy.... I was completely defeated by the power of Flower. I fought it with Water in the shower and Wind by shutting myself away from it. Flower is a formidable force. But does that mean the enemies in Gingaman have hay fever too?

I have found a great tokusatsu show blog today. It's http://tokuraws.blogspot.com/ and it's got raws of all sorts of shows, even going back to Himitsu Sentai GoRanger!! *_*

HA! HA! Bar voucher (printoffable)

I found this voucher for a UK restaurant/bar chain:

http://www.hahaonline.co.uk/pdf/promotions/2161_voucher.pdf

It's £10 off any order for food over £20, valid Mon-Thurs 23rd May - 28th June.

Happy Shinji-day!

It's Ikari Shinji's birthday. You know, the main character in Evangelion...

Yes it's disturbing to think that people can celebrate the birth of fictional characters, I only remember this one because the Eva pilots share their birthdays with the seiyuu who performed them in the anime, and Ogata Megumi was my favourite for a long while.

Today we celebrate the birth of Shinjis all over the world, celebrating the fact that in order to be true human beings, we retain the right to scream a lot, run away a lot, avoid contact with people for fear of hurting them, and reject instrumentality. And we do this by standing round in circles, clapping, and saying "omedetou". ^_^;;

I'd tell you about the Ltd Ed version of the detective story (!) game Meitantei Evangelion for PS2 being at a silly price on Play Asia - not sure if it's the same as the premium box which retailed for stupidly large amounts of money but came with a pretty nice NERV logo watch... ... BUT! It seems to have sold out in the last hour or so.

So have a look at these silly Eva Angel hats instead. I don't know who in the world could ever wear these outdoors.

Ah, the greatest quantity of inappropriate merchandising for any anime ever, that series. And yes, that includes all of the Hello Kitty franchise!

I'm a videogame valkyrie (2)

Bwahahahaha! ^_^

I spent the weekend (and up to yesterday) visiting my boyfriend in Derby. And when I was there, I did some shopping. Woo! New territory!

Plus some stuff arrived from online shopping while I was away. ^_^;;

So, here's a new photo of the recent purchases I've made. (Everything from Atelier Iris 2 down on the left is counted as "old", so is Darwin which I'd lent to my boyfriend).



Most of the games probably aren't going to be very good, especially the TV/Movie/Comic tie-ins, and yes, I have managed to buy 2 volleyball games that aren't DOA spinoffs, in one trip.

I also bought a Namco JogCon for £1.99 out of random interest. I have a copy of Ridge Racer Type 4 further down in this pile of games.

The most expensive games here were Etrian Odyssey for the equivalent of about £20, The Sword Of Etheria for £13.51, Samurai Western for £11.29, and The Simpsons Hit And Run for £10. Tengai cost £8.99. Code Of the Samurai cost £8.99 (it was originally going to be released as "Samurai Police"). The rest of these games cost me between £2.50 and £7. Mostly £2.50.

I also got a CG-animation film called "Blue Remains" for £6.10 and the old Transformers Movie for £3. ^_^

I'm still playing Etrian Odyssey. I've gotten into the 2nd Stratum! Yay!

EDIT: I also bought Halo, Halo 2, Mechassault, and Voodoo Vince for Xbox in a 4-for-£20 deal the other week. They're not in any pics, though.