Dakimakura Review – Natsuru Senou from Kämpfer


Natsuru Senou from Kampfer Dakimakura Review

As expensive as dakimakura are – for rectangular pieces of fabric with a picture printed on them, anyway – I keep buying them. Here we have one of the main character of Kämpfer, and also probably the closest that this site is going to get to featuring a review of a hobby item with a dude.

Natsuru Senou from Kampfer Dakimakura Review

At first glance, Kämpfer appears to be about teenaged battlers duking it out in a struggle for secondary school supremacy, but it rapidly evolves into a romantic comedy in which fisticuffs serve only an ancillary role. The center of attention and affections is protagonist Natsuru Senou, a young man who awakens one day to find himself turned into a girl. If this were an American show, it would have spent half of the first season explaining exactly how and why it happened but as it is, the first episode spends scarcely more than a few sentences on Natsuru’s mysterious transformation.

Natsuru Senou from Kampfer Dakimakura Review

In addition to the biological concerns concomitant with a nonconsensual genderswap, Natsuru has to contend with a horde of amorous suitors, as it appears that the entire female student body of his school is homosexual or bisexual. He – she – is rapidly subdued and pimped out in various student activities, and while he’s – she’s – doing this, Natsuru has to fend off the advances of the main cast while trying to score with Kaede Sakura, with whom he is smitten.

Sakura is one of the school idols, and she falls in love with Natsuru. Unfortunately, it’s the female Natsuru she falls in love with and she – and everyone else – does not seem to realize that the female and male Natsurus – who go by the same name – are the same person.

Joining Sakura in her pursuit of the female Natsuru is Akane Mishima. Normally a meek, bespectacled girl who works in the school library, she transforms into a foul-tempered, foul-mouthed, gunslinging fireball.

Shizuku Sango is the student council president. Seductive, measured, and elegant, she sets her sights on Natsuru, twisting him around her finger and taking what she wants without asking, making her perhaps the coolest character in the show.

The last girl is Mikoto Kondo, Natsuru’s worldly childhood friend. She’s the last of the main cast to be introduced and the show tries to play up the mystery of her identity, but she sends postcards to Natsuru through all the early episodes and shows up in the ending and opening sequences from the start, rendering the innuendo rather pointless.

Natsuru Senou from Kampfer Dakimakura Review

This dakimakura is from Chara-High, who’ve also made dakimakura of Shizuku and Akane. It’s 150 centimeters by 50 centimeters in size and is made of polyester. It feels like many of the other dakimakura I have, or the tablecloth I sometimes use as a photo backdrop. If you’ve got any polyester garments, I suppose you know how this pillowcase feels.

Natsuru Senou from Kampfer Dakimakura Review

Being that pillowcases aren’t all that complicated, whether one likes a particular dakimakura is really going to be a referendum on whether one likes the images printed on them and I certainly very much like the pictures presented here. I prefer dakimakura that feature a front and back view of a particular character, but that sort of design doesn’t seem to be that common; instead, many dakimakura show a character in different clothing or in a state of undress on the reverse side. That’s one of the reasons I like this pillowcase of Natsuru a lot, since I gotta say, he’s got a great ass.

Natsuru Senou from Kampfer Dakimakura Review

Lots of fetishes being nailed here … maid hat, garter belt, striped underpants, toplessness … good stuff all around.

Natsuru Senou from Kampfer Dakimakura Review

Anyway, this is a great pillowcase, a bit showy but not overly so. However, I’ve got another dakimakura in the mail, one that is almost ineffable in its explicitness. Stay tuned!

Natsuru Senou from Kampfer Dakimakura Review

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60 Responses to Dakimakura Review – Natsuru Senou from Kämpfer

  1. LOL, imagine waking up and being turned into a girl, now that’s something.

    Interesting pillow case – if I were collecting these, I’d probably opt for a “front” and “back” type like you.

    I wonder what surprise you have coming in the mail…

  2. Marcucho says:

    wooow!!! i want to wake up being with a girl like her!! jajajaa.. look man

    good adquisition..

    Saludos!

  3. Chag says:

    Hmmm, is it bad sign if her armpit is the biggest turn-on for me? I mean, just look at it — it’s a freaking valley of untamed eroticism.

    …Good thing that the shield of the internet protects me from the cold stares of others.

  4. Aka says:

    If I woke up and had breasts that large I’d be incredibly disappointed. I’d much rather the smaller variety. Assuming I turned into a sexy girl like an anime would have me do, I’d never leave the house ever again. Unmarked packages would continuously arrive and music would eminate ceaselessly from my bedroom covering up any sounds I and these devices might make together.

    Er… I mean, nice dakimakura.

  5. Persocom says:

    Interesting dakimakura choice ^^ Kampfer was enjoyable enough for me. At least this Natsuru one doesn’t have a male image on one side and female on the other. I think I also prefer ones with a front side and back side rather than two different kinds of clothing. It’s more believable or something like that.

  6. Tier says:

    >> Visual Fanfare
    It would be, indeed … I’d probably spend the whole day jumping up and down.

    It will be a good surprise! I hope, anyway.

    >> Marcucho
    Haha, that would be quite nice. On the other hand, Natsuru can’t actually control when he turns into a girl (or vice versa, I think) so that could become an uncomfortable situation in a hurry.

    >> Chag
    Absolutely not, we all have our weirdo fetishes. Like Aka here, he likes small boobs. Weird, I tell you. Me, though, my fetishes are absolutely mainstream. Like my fondness for maggot-birthing hentai. That’s 100% normal, you betcha.

    >> Aka
    Ha, you think as I do. The only time I’d go out of the house would be to go to the supermarket, and the cashiers there would wonder why I only ever buy vegetables.

    >> Persocom
    I haven’t finished watching the show yet (I am so backlogged on anime watching), although I like it a lot, even though I don’t usually dig romantic comedies much. It helps that all the characters are pretty cute and that none of them are patently unlikeable. And it would’ve been hilarious if they put dude Natsuru on one side. I guess they figured they’d be better off selling pillowcases than making people laugh, though. We’re probably better off that way.

  7. GREW says:

    For me it’s still a guy.

  8. Shashin says:

    That’s one fine ass, I have to say. As for the tv show, I really enjoyed it, though the last two episodes were enough to make me rage.

  9. Marcucho says:

    what!!! she cant be a man!!!! …. mmm im afraid jakjakjakjakjak…. then …why did you buy a girl that in fact is a guy!!!dear god! jakjak… i cant live knowing that hahaha…

    Saludos…

  10. Tier says:

    >> Shashin
    I haven’t finished watching the show but I read some blogs that covered it. The ending sounds all kinds of hilarious to me; I wonder if the manga degenerated into slapstick comedy or not (I’m guessing not).

    >> Marcucho
    Cuz he has a great ass! XD He is actually a girl here (not a guy dressing up as a girl); while he was born a dude, he spends most of his time in the television show transformed into a woman. The anime studio surely knows what gets the viewers.

  11. DaSaru says:

    dude looks like a lady. ohwait dude is a lady. lol.
    lucky that he got turned into an attractive girl at least. 😛
    back illustration looks the greatest!

    i like the meek librarian.

  12. rq says:

    I think the Kampfer pillows are nice, the Shizuku one especially. Eager to see what your next pillow is.

  13. Iced says:

    I never finished watching Kampfer, but I think I was one of the only people who thought it was pretty funny. 🙁

    Either way, I think it’s interesting that you chose Natsuru over Shizuku and Akane. XD But I like girl Natsuru’s design a lot! You don’t really see a lot of anime girls (lol) sporting the spiky-ponytail look.

    Every time I hear about people getting dakimakuras, I wonder what it must be like just having them around (not to mention if other people see them? But I guess that’s something people already think about before they get something like this…). It’s obviously different for me, since I wouldn’t get them, but I mean… they’re pretty suggestive. XD You’re even starting to scare me about your next one, haha.

  14. Tier says:

    >> DaSaru
    I like the back illustration best, too. Wish my Itsuki Kannagi dakimakura had had a front and back view like Natsuru.

    Akane is cool … I like Shizuku best but all the girls in this show are pretty cool, actually.

    >> rq
    Yeah, they all look really nice. I would’ve gotten Shizuku if she showed a bit more skin but she still looks great.

    >> Iced
    I think it’s pretty funny, too; I wasn’t expecting it to be a comedy, I thought it’d be something like Ikki Tousen. I’m glad it wasn’t because to be honest, I’m not really sure I want to finish watching Great Guardians or Xtreme Xecutor right now.

    I chose Natsuru solely because of his ass XD Shizuku made a really strong case, though. And I agree about Natsuru and her hair … I like spiky ponytails, or ponytails in general. I wish more anime girls rocked ponytails. I mean, I like twintails but these days, they’re about as played out as a high-top fade.

    Hmm … well, I guess mine just sorta stays in the bedroom all the time … I suppose it’s like any sort of odd hobby acquisition and I guess it’s not too out of place with the hundred or so anime figures and the two foot-tall doll that I own. I do think that part of the appeal of dakimakura to me is their mildly taboo nature. Oh, and that I seldom see many English-language blogs with any sort of dakimakura coverage.

    I guess my next one isn’t that bad … I mean, it’s not like it depicts penetration or anything … at least, I don’t think it does, let me check the fingers on the illustrations, hmm …

  15. Shashin says:

    The backside is the main reason I picked up this cover myself. Debated canceling it after I got the Shizuku cover, as that disappointed me slightly. In the end it was that amazing ass that kept me with it. That and I already know what to expect in terms of the actual dakimakura scaling. I wish the Shizuku cover was showing more skin, but she’s still my favorite character from the show, and in general a badass, so I don’t regret it one bit.

    As far as the cover you have in the mail, I don’t think there’s any penetration. Maybe some spreading and fluid, but I don’t think there’s penetration. I just sent in the reply to invoice for the other stuff I have waiting, so I expect to put in a shipping request sometime next week myself. Can’t wait for the dakimakura covers I have coming. 😀

  16. BioToxic says:

    I didn’t mind Kämpfer; but they should really make one of Mikoto. She was my favourite but they kept messing up her animation whenever she appeared in an episode. She looks awesome in the ED with that bikini though.

    I’m interested to find out who this other Dakimakura you have in transit will feature.

  17. Tier says:

    >> Shashin
    Yeah, Shizuku ought to wear more revealing underpants I think. She doesn’t look like a girl who wears granny pants. She should’ve been smiling too, she looks sorta unhappy on that pillowcase but Shizuku strikes me as the kind of girl who’s always manipulating things and a frown doesn’t really look right on her.

    I got the pillowcase today; I guess there’s technically penetration if you count fingertips although it doesn’t go deeper than that (heh). SMJ shipped it pretty fast this time; I only put in a shipping request around three days ago, I think.

    >> BioToxic
    I bet they will; well, I hope they will, I guess. I’ve been sorta disappointed with how certain hobby manufacturers have left out certain characters from their product lineups (*cough* *cough*IRMA*cough*) but dakimakura must be relatively simple to manufacture (I assume, anyway), so it seems like the hardest part is getting an artist to draw the two pictures.

    This dakimakura is, hmm … well, I said ineffable and yeah, I’m not really sure how to describe it. It’s, hmm, detailed. When I unwrapped it and took a look at it I had to raise my eyebrows even though I’d already seen the pictures. It’s definitely, hmm … well, I’ll do a review of it sometime this week and let everyone judge for themselves.

  18. Shashin says:

    I agree with you, the front side facial expression doesn’t fit too well. I do like the backside expression, however. And I can’t wait to see the up close shots of the cover. I know from first hand experience that zooming in on the sample picture (even on the ones that don’t have a stupid sample bar of some sort coverings the goods) often doesn’t do the end result justice.

    As a note on my dakimakura adventures, I finally tried out two other cases on my pillow. The Tony C75 one, which feels much better on the skin than I originally thought it would, though I still like the other material more. And the Super Soniko cover that I decided I wanted to pick up, which uses the material I like most. Both covers fit pretty well on the pillow, but it did seem as if there was a bit more slack on the end than my Mio cover. In the end though, they didn’t stay on the pillow long, and I switched it back to Mio. >_>

    All of my SMJ invoices have been paid, so I’ll be putting in a shipping request. Which option did you choose? I’ve only gotten one order from them, and I used first class (was pretty expensive because I had an actual pillow in the order, so they sent a long box), but I got it within a few days. So I haven’t had any problems with them shipping previously. Did one of your orders take extra long in the past?

  19. Tier says:

    This new one feels pretty nice too, plus it’s got some stretch which is nice; sometimes it takes a lot of effort to get one on the pillow since it’s a tight fit.

    Hmm, which Super Soniko pillowcase is that? I always liked Nitro+’s mascot … shame that there don’t seem to be too many great figures of her.

    I rolled with Priority, which I think was the default. It ran a bit over $8 to ship, which I guess is a bit expensive for a pillowcase, but I figure that it’s not a huge expense given the cost of the dakimakura itself. I haven’t had any problems either, though it did seem like it took a few days for them to mail out one of my past orders (admittedly, I was anticipating that order a lot so it may have seemed longer than it really was).

  20. Shashin says:

    http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10099162

    All of mine have been pretty easy to get on thus far, only taking a minute or two. I’m sure I have one or two that I haven’t tried that may give me a pain, but the ones I really like seem to be of the stretchier material.

    They shipped my other order out pretty fast, and ended up billing me the day it arrived. Of course it could have been faster, because I was really waiting for it, but it was definitely satisfactory.

  21. Blowfish says:

    I was utterly let down by the whole premise of the Show.
    When I am watching a show thats called Kämpfer Im expecting girls duking it out and not some Lesbian Love Com.
    I think I dropped it after 3 or 4 epsiodes.

    I am amazed that youre able to ignore the fact that this is a dude even though hes technically a girl on the dakimakura bt still well its a DUDE! XD

  22. Iced says:

    I’ve only watched the first episode, really. XD What I thought was the second episode turned out to be the third, which is probably why I was so confused throughout the entire thing. The site I watch my anime on is pretty bad. But really, the show is pretty bad, too. 😛

    I…can’t say I really know what constitutes a great behind, so I can’t respond to that part LOL. I like ponytails, though! 😀 I’m jealous of everybody who can pull them off. And I quite agree with you about the twintails. But maybe part of that is due to the general assumption (that I’ve noticed, anyway!) that twintails = tsundere. It really depends on the character, but in general I’m not really a fan of that archetype. ;;

    You’re not talking about the Obama doll, are you?!

    But I don’t really see a lot of dakimakura coverage anywhere. Of course, I’m probably just not in the right places. That’s okay with me, though. 😛

  23. Tier says:

    >> Blowfish
    Yeah, I was expecting a good fight anime. Seems like there aren’t as many good fight anime shows as there used to be. Or maybe I’m just getting old and my brains are burning out.

    Ha, if dudes look like this, I can totally change my ways.

    >> Iced
    It’s not going to win any awards for sure XD I liked what I saw, though … it’s a fun show with some cool characters that doesn’t aspire to any pretense. That’s something that annoys the hell out of me these days, when a show is pretentious as hell, with all kinds of weird-ass vocabulary and high-minded characters that are irritating as hell. For some reason Fate/stay night is the first show that comes to mind as such.

    I’ve noticed that too, or twintails means a younger character. I don’t really like the tsundere archetype either … actually, I find it annoying as hell. I really miss the action girl archetype. Anime used to be all about action girls, now it’s about fuggin’ tsundere types and older sister types and girl next door types.

    Nah, the president is only 1/6 scale and is only about a foot tall; I’ve got this Yamato doll that I mentioned in a different post that is about 50 centimeters tall. Maybe I ought to do a quick review of it one of these days, but I’m not sure where I can photograph it because it’s so huge.

  24. Shashin says:

    Got two packages today: First my April Hobby Search order, with three figures and two dakimakura (Natsuru and Kanu from Shin Koihime Musou), as well as a second from SMJ Japan including an obscene seven more. >_>

    I’ve actually decided to leave a few in their packaging until I have more space, because I’m incapable of packing them up as neatly as they come packaged. But wow, as much as my wallet is hurting, I’m not disappointed with a single one of them. Actually, not entirely true.

    I’m a bit upset with the lack of detail in the nether regions of the dakimakura I linked previously from Syrup. It’s still very nice and I don’t regret purchasing it (even if I did overpay a bit), but there’s not so much as a slit. To someone else that might not be a big deal, but I’m a pervert, okay? Another has a character with boobs that are far too large for my taste, however, the large breasts are more than made up for with the facial expressions, front/back pose, and bodily fluids/finger placement. And it actually has some detail where it counts.

    Figure wise, I picked up my first Kanu figure of what I’m sure will be many if your blog is anything to go by (I actually do have at least two others preordered), the alternate version to the Daiki Kougyo Ryomo you reviewed, and military uniform Xecty. Sadly, the package was dented and ripped when it got to me, so I was terrified of what I might find when I opened the box. Overall everything was in pretty decent shape, but my Kanu box had a nice dent at the top. Oh well, I’m not a collector that requires boxes to be in pristine condition, though it does kinda suck.

    Hate to say it, but the figures are in the same boat as my unopened dakimakura. I just don’t have the space to display them currently, and I know I won’t be able to fit them back in the box the right way, so until I have more space available to me, unopened they stay. Just looking through the box though, I’m quite impressed with both Ryomo and Xecty. They’ll definitely earn a spot on my shelf once I have one.

    The Kanu figure is this version: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10105577
    Ordered it mainly because, once again, I’m a pervert. It’s darker, and thus harder to see through the box, but I’m not displeased with it. Once I actually open it up, I’ll have to double check the nipples, though. While I’m not positive that the strapping covering the breasts moves, I don’t see why it wouldn’t, and it appears to be slightly out of place currently. So I can see the nipples, but they don’t appear to be colored. I’m sure (I hope) that I’m mistaken, but we’ll have to see another day.

    Been entirely off topic within this post, so I hope you’ll forgive me. 😛 The Natsuru dakimakura was one that I’ve chosen to refrain from opening for the time being, as I have your wonderful pictures to look at, and it’s not quite as graphic as the ones I’ve chosen to open.

  25. Tier says:

    Haha, that’s awesome XD Sometimes I wonder what those guys at SMJ think when they re-pack the stuff their customers buy.

    Ahh, man, that’s unfortunate about the one from Machi Gurumino Wana – Hakudaku Niramireta Shitai. The explicitness is part of the appeal of these things. To not include that is pretty lame (especially when the source material is a raunchy porn game). The bondage theme is still good, though.

    I’ve got a bunch of unopened figures here as well … Psylocke, Alter’s Kanu Unchou, Rika Shiraki … got an Asuka Langley Soryu figure that I need to photograph but I’ve been lazy. I figure I’ve got 109 anime figure reviews here, I have the right to be lazy. I really like how Xecty looks; I was hoping that Kotobukiya would offer her through their domestic distribution channels but it appears they don’t do that anymore, which is a shame, since Kotobukiya figures used to be really cheap in the US.

    I’ve had a few boxes get kicked in (mostly figures I bought from Kid Nemo) but most of my stuff gets to me in good condition. I used to care a lot about the box condition but it’s not as important to me now that I have something like sixty or so boxes here with very little space for them.

    Ah, yes, I remember that figure … I had thought about getting it but I’m not familiar with Chara-Ani. I like the bondage theme there too … I was sorta hoping they’d make a matching Kakouen Myousai, since I think the character design comes from one of the mini-OAV extras from one of the anime series. It’d be unfortunate if the nipples aren’t painted but not too surprising, I guess … I’ve got one figure here that has that problem (a Volks figure, which is very annoying since I had to pay a very high premium to get that figure). I’m thinking I might just take matters into my own hands and paint them properly myself.

    It’s all good, I figure comments are good anywhere. I’ll probably be reviewing the Illust Guerrilla pillowcase next week … it’s always easier and faster for me to do a dakimakura review than a figure review and sometimes I’m too tired to do a proper figure photoshoot on a weekday.

  26. Shashin says:

    Yeah, I’d imagine it’s an interesting job for sure.

    Yeah, that’s one reason I really hate the sample bars that usually cover the goods online. I understand that they don’t want the wrong eyes to see it, they have to censor it to an extent, and all the other reasons that go into it, but it turns the process into a crapshoot: Will she have a detailed vagina or won’t she? In this case, I kind of assumed she would, because of the source material (as you mentioned) and because every other aspect of the cover was so damn erotic. Other than the smoothness between the legs, the detail is otherwise amazing. Also, at first I thought the material was the same as my Mio cover, but it’s even softer and a bit thicker; very high quality stuff.

    Rape isn’t something I’m into that much (excluding tentacles) but the tears, torn clothing, and shackles really do make the cover all the more erotic. That and I love the look of the character. I’ve always had a thing for chicks with exotic hair coloring (one of the reasons Ayane is my favorite DOA girl.) The darker red is definitely appealing and matches her eyes well.

    Yeah, I could understand not opening them after awhile, but my total is now up to 8 with 4 unopened. I picked up three of the Megahouse EM Queen’s Blade figures when they restocked on Hobby Search a few weeks back. I opened the first two, had some fun taking off the clothing without being able to put it back on as well as it came, and then figured the third would be more of the same and I’d rather not deal with the hassle at the moment.

    Yeah, being that I don’t watch [b]that[/b] much anime and haven’t played a lot of the series that these figures draw their inspiration from, much of the stuff I have preordered is based more on a like for the look of a character versus an attachment to them. I don’t have much experience with the Shining series (other than some Genesis play), but Xecty looks absolutely amazing. Going to be one of the first figures I open when I have proper display space.

    I’m still unfamiliar with most companies, so I’m willing to try everything once. Most of my guidance, when I’m actually checking versus impulse buying, comes for your reviews. As far as characters go, I’ve never watched more than a few episodes of Ikki Tousen, as I could only legally find the dub online and it was particularly grating on the ears, but of the characters I’ve seen, I find Kanu the most attractive, as well as the green haired chick (see, I don’t even recall names D:) Yeah, the nipples wouldn’t be more than annoyance, as I’d just display it properly clothed, but it’s lazy of the company more than anything. If you create a figure that allows the goods to be shown, you can damn well assume they’re going to be.

    Can’t wait for it. I’ve been checking YHJ every couple days for one myself. The last few they’ve only had a SK version (I’m sticking to the buy the best fabric available) and the one fwisy is selling. I’m sure it will pop up again eventually, though. I currently only have one bid up, but I don’t think it’s one I’m going to win, as my maximum bid (I’ve put in a manual bid to raise it, but it ends in 5 hours) is 4000 below the price the cover originally sold for. It’s not like I need to win it, as it’s another of the Mio cover I love so much, but I just eventually want to acquire a backup as it has become my favorite. >_>

    You know, you’ve mentioned quite a few times that you never see other English pages with dakimakura information/reviews, I should probably start a blog for them myself, as I probably have 25ish about now. It’s something for me to think about, and I might get around to it eventually, but I’m quite lazy when it comes to actual effort (despite the amount I check and post on this site.)

  27. Tier says:

    I’d never even thought about the possibility that a dakimakura might be printed in censored form; I always figured that if the promotional image were censored, that was strictly for internet purposes and that the actual article would be uncensored. I suppose I’ll have to keep that in mind when I go dakimakura shopping in the future. (Or, I could just buy Illust Guerrilla’s stuff, because it looks great and their love of, uhh, detail really shows in their work.)

    That’s pretty much the criteria I use for buying a figure; I don’t watch a great deal of anime either, although I follow a few anime blogs and have some general familiarity with the more popular characters. I also like to buy figures of more obscure characters; I’ve got this odd tendency to dislike anything that is mainstream, and I’m still kinda wondering why I own Miku and Mio Akiyama figures.

    The green-haired girl would be Ryofu Housen, I think. As I recall, the first season of Ikki Tousen wasn’t that great and I’m guessing that nobody expected the franchise to become popular, because when it did they replaced the creative staff for Dragon Destiny and the subsequent series.

    Yeah, I can never understand why companies offer a castoff or an option to display nudity and then compromise it by not painting it or omitting detail. Even worse is when they screw it up like Volks did with Kaguya Nanbu; you can remove the front of her dress to show off her breasts, but doing so leaves this big hole in her sternum, which makes the whole feature pointless.

    You know, I didn’t even check what material the one I got is made out of when I bid on the auction, I just went for the first one with a buyout price. It says “2Way” on the package label followed by some Japanese I can’t read.

    That’d be pretty cool; it can be a lot of work (well, as much work as you want to put into it, anyway) but it can also be a lot of fun. Plus sometimes people show up and clue you in to things that you might not otherwise have learned about.

  28. Shashin says:

    I was always wary of it, due to the censorship laws; actually I was pleasantly surprised to see any type of genitals on the dakimakura I acquired previously. So that built up my expectations a bit, and as this dakimakura appeared to be the most graphic, I just assumed that it would have some form of genitalia. But yeah, I’m thinking about picking up some of the other Illust Guerrilla dakimakura, too. They all look pretty nice, but the twins is definitely the one I like the most.

    I don’t have the same dislike for mainstream characters, though I do tend to like characters that aren’t necessarily in the spotlight. As for Mio figures, there have only been two of her that I’m interested in, both set to release in the coming months. After that, I’m not sure I’ll pick up another one of her. And for Miku I just want the two BRS figures (well, I already own one), though I’m still flip-flopping on whether to cancel the blade version or not; the main draw of the first for me was the incredible base and massive cannon.

    I’ve heard the name before, it was just never in my face enough for me to remember it. I’ll eventually get around to watching it, I’m sure, but it just wasn’t enough to hold my interest at the time. There was also a lack of boobies in the first couple episodes, and I’m pretty sure that picks up, so yeah….

    That’s a real shame. Kaguya Nanbu just seems to disappoint me when it comes to merchandise of her. I really liked her in Endless Frontier, but every doujinshi I’ve seen of her has had her breasts the size of melons. I realize that’s how she’s portrayed in the game, but still, I was at least one artist would reduce her cup size so that I may enjoy all of her other fine features. I’ve had a troubling experience with castoff clothing myself (other than not being able to properly put it back on.) My first figure was Chara-Ani’s Kurono Kurumu. Not because I expected it to be an amazing figure, but because she’s one of my favorite characters from the show (though Mizore edges her out.) The gym shorts are easy enough to remove, but I spent a good twenty minutes trying to get the shirt off. I now have other castoff figures that have made the process a breeze, but I basically tried to peel the shirt from the edges before giving up. So now the figure doesn’t look quite right. It could have just been me doing something wrong, but it might be something to consider when looking at Chara-Ani’s goods, as you’ve said you’re not too familiar with them.

    ☆2WAYトリコット(15,500円)

    NEW☆2WAYロイカ(13,500円)

    NEW☆スムースニット(12,500円)

    ☆SKスエード・サテン・ヴィエラ(11,500円)

    Is from the product page. Know the first is Tricot, whatever type of material that is, and is generally pretty stretchy. Next is Roika, once again, no idea what the material is. Smooth Knit seems to be the most common for mass release dakimakura (Amiami, Hobby Search, etc..) And then SK Suede, Satin, and Vierra?

    Ideally I’m holding out for one of the 2Way versions. I like the Tricot feel, but I’m also curious about the Roika, and hey, more expensive items are generally a sign of quality, amirite?

    Yeah, it seems like it would be a lot of rewarding work. I might get around to it eventually, though I actually have the most time available to me now. I know I do enjoy chatting with someone who is also into some of the perverse and misunderstood things that I am.

  29. Tier says:

    I like the Sheryl Nome one too, although admittedly that’s also because I’m a bit more familiar with her character than, say, the Touhou characters and I’m also a fan of the Macross series.

    I should probably qualify that statement by saying that I tend to dislike anything mainstream if there aren’t any apparent reasons for me to like it. I like Kanu Unchou for obvious reasons even though she’s certainly mainstream, so much so that I’m sure there are a lot of people who would be happy never to see another Kanu figure ever get made.

    Haha, I’ve noticed that with a lot of her fan art, too. Not that there seems to be a lot of it out there, curiously. And I’ve had some issues with castoff clothing and removable parts too, so much so that I don’t even mind sometimes now if a figure doesn’t have a castoff option just because I’m really lazy and I sometimes misplace parts. I probably ought to just put everything back in the original boxes for safekeeping.

    Ah, it seem sthat I got the second option down. Paid, hmm, quite the markup too. Oh well, that’s the way it goes. I haven’t put the pillowcase on the pillow but just from handling it while loose, it feels quite nice, although I don’t have a large variety of textiles here to compare it to.

    Haha, indeed, I have to admit that I wasn’t really sure whether the more explicit stuff I put up here would get any interest, as I think a lot of blog writers shy away from that. It is good to know there are people who like this sort of thing out there.

  30. Shashin says:

    Yeah, that’s a nice one. I just won an SK Midori-no-ko, at the opening bid price. Have to love when that happens. On the opposite end, I lost a bid on the C.C dakimakura that has the wonderful ass by 1 yen yesterday. It was an adult auction too, so there was absolutely nothing I could do but rage once I saw that I had been outbid by 1 yen. I’m only vaguely familiar with some of the characters (never had the pleasure of watching Macross); the only series I’ve watched that they’ve taken from is Saki. Everything else is either completely foreign to me, or I know of them. They just added two new dakimakura to their site, and I like them both. I saw one of them on YHJ last night, but it wasn’t up on the page yet, so I couldn’t see a sample.
    The Sheryl Nome cover was just posted up for 28000 yen, so I think I’ll pass on that one for the time being. >_>

    As far as more Kanu figures, I would say bring them on, as long as they’re of quality and a wonderful pose, but I have a feeling that the more Kanu figures there are, the less there will be of other characters that may not see a figure release. However, I don’t think that will stop the manufacturers who have made their name with Kanu figures from continuing.

    Yeah, it’s really disappointing. Maybe there’s a lack of hentai because the series is so considerably ecchi to begin with, but that doesn’t excuse it. I just like to see the goods, and then since I lack the space currently, I either put it back on, or struggle to do so and end up putting the figure back in the box half-clothed. The worst was the MegaHouse Ardra figure; I couldn’t get her back in the box properly for the life of me.

    Yeah, even if we were to win an auction for around the retail price, we’d still pay quite a bit of markup. But I’m sure both of us had paid far more than the suggested price and then the deputy fees on top of it. That’s actually one thing with the C.C dakimakura that’s pretty crazy. Most of the auctions I’ve seen for it have had a minimum buyout price of 25000, and there’s 1-2 available on Amazon.Jp for 40000. As far as I know, the original price was the average 100-15000. It’s surprising how high the price has become. On the other hand, I’ve been able to get a few for less than the original price (before any fees) or only a 1000-4000 difference. I should really look up the fabric name for my various dakimakura; I have at least 5 different fabrics with varying levels of softness.

    If I were to write a blog, I’d be sure to make it as explicit as possible. Though I guess I would try to separate the SFW dakimakura with the NSFW ones, trying to have two different sections so no one mistakenly sees something they don’t want to.

  31. Tier says:

    Ouch, yeah, I’d be pretty unhappy about losing out by 1 yen. And uhh, I think I’ll hold off on that Sheryl pillowcase at that price … I might be insane but I’m not that insane.

    Yeah, that’s pretty much how I think of Kanu … I figure there’s no halt to all the Miku and other Vocaloid figures, not to mention all those fuggin’ nendoroids, so I don’t mind that a character like Kanu is overexposed, given that I’m far more inclined to like her and her character design than, say, the blonde Vocaloid dude.

    I need to review Aldra one of these days … I think I’ve lost all her parts, though. I recall that she had a ton of detachable parts and I’m pretty sure I misplaced them, being that I left them on my drawer and looking over there now, they’re not there anymore.

    Yeah, anytime I go for something from odd channels like Yahoo JP or Toranoana, it’s almost always for something unusual or rare and I don’t mind paying a markup in that case. I think I actually got 1/4 scale Kenshin cheaper than what she might’ve sold for; as I recall, the unpainted, unassembled kit was something like 40,000 yen and I got the painted version for around 48,000.

    A great idea; there aren’t enough blogs that cover this sort of thing out there. About the only one I can think of is Moetry, which I’ve followed for a number of years but isn’t really a photo review blog, as the pictures are pretty small. Of course, there could be a ton more out there that I don’t know about.

  32. Shashin says:

    Then again, it’s possible that they placed a higher bid, and it’s more than I’d be willing to pay. Still, it’s a soul crushing loss, even if they were really willing to pay far more than I was; to lose by a penny is just terrible. You know, that price is pretty crazy, but I’ve paid somewhat close to that for a cover without really blinking. Granted I overpaid, but I’m still very happy with it. At this rate, I’m snatching up a bunch that I like a bit, but may not particularly love, for the average price if not a bit higher. I should stop buying ones that I don’t absolutely need, and save that money so I can pay a premium for those I must have, if necessary.

    I’m lucky in never understanding the appeal of nendoroids. I do have the Fate/Stay Night 12 piece set preordered, just because I like all the characters in the set, but that was my first exposure to them all. Other than that, I have no interest.

    I still have all of her parts, but I just took a plastic bag and put them all in it, and then stuck the bag and her directly in the box without any of the packaging. Her awkward position made is really hard for me to get her back in the packaging properly, so I just gave up after twenty minutes of frustration.

    I picked up a few doujinshi on YHJ that I couldn’t find on Mandarake, after weeks of searching; even after deputy fees, I still got a pretty good deal on them comparing to Mandarake’s average prices. Other than that, I’ve only used YHJ for dakimakura thus far, but have also searched for some figures. I’ve probably seen about a hundred or two doujinshi on Toranoana that I’d order if I could; I’ve managed to snag a few off Mandarake, but there’s still a lot I’d want. Not enough to pay SMJ to pick them all up, though.

    The internet is a pretty big place, so I’m sure there’s an obscure blog somewhere, but my search for ero figures led me here, without many other results popping up. As far as the blog goes, I’ll definitely have to keep my eye on it, as I like what I see.

  33. Tier says:

    I freaking hate nendoroids, which I understand makes me an oddity in the figure community. There was this one nendoroid of Rin Kokonoe that I absolutely detest, and it showed up all the freaking time in the figure.fm header banner. Fortunately that banner got removed when that site was redesigned and I haven’t seen that nendoroid much recently, but man did I hate it when I saw it.

    Yeah, I’ve been looking around for doujinshi that I want, and it’s hard to pare down my list to something that I can afford. Not to mention that I don’t know how much it costs to ship a dozen or so books; if it’s going to cost something like forty or fifty bucks, I don’t think I want to buy that much (or I guess I can go with SAL shipping if that’s offered).

  34. Shashin says:

    Heh, I don’t have the same passionate hate for them that you do, but I find it disturbing that one of them if often on the top 10 selling list for Hobby Search and various other retailers. I mean, I just don’t see the appeal. I guess being reasonably cheap causes everyone to buy them, but I’d much rather spend the money on a figure that isn’t deformed and has much more detail.

    I actually do have a bit of money set aside to spend, and though I was trying to cut myself off for the month, I recently wen through all the pages of D-Stage (some 239), making a list of everything I’d want. They actually have the Mio dakimakura available, as well as a few more from the circle, and some other nice ones I want to pick up. As well as about 30-40 doujinshi that I’ve wanted for awhile (well maybe only 10-20 that I had previously wanted), including the DOA Lost Eden series.

    I totaled up an order of everything I would get (keep in mind this is from 240 pages of items) and it would come to some 120000 yen. About half of that is in dakimakura, though. So I might just pick up the stuff I think will sell out, and then safe the rest for later. Either way, the commission SMJ Japan is going to make is going to be pretty obscene.

    As for the dakimakuras from eBay, as Tier mentioned they’re not legit; I am curious to how the print quality is though. The dude has 100% feedback, so I’m sure the majority of the people ordering don’t know a real one, or have lowered their expectations significantly due to the cheap price. There was actually one eBay account from China selling them for $40-80 a piece, and apparently the quality was pretty decent. I’m going to stick to buying the real deal, though.

    Also, I’ve started brainstorming names for my eventual dakimakura site, should I ever get to it. I’ve always enjoyed the Tentaclearmada name, and almost always get a laugh out of it when I open the page up. My creativity is rather lacking, so the only thing I’ve come up with thus far is “fondlepillow.com”

  35. Tier says:

    I think the cuteness also attracts people. I like cute when we’re talking about a normal-sized girl, but I don’t like cute when we’re talking about deformed characters. It makes my blood pressure rise and at my age, that’s not healthy.

    Haha, that’s awesome. I guess I could drop a ton of cash on hobby goods if I want to but I’m trying to keep discretionary spending down under a certain limit. I’m not being very successful with that, though. I’m not too familiar with D-Stage, but maybe I ought to spend a lazy work day going through Mandarake’s catalog and noting everything I’m interested in.

    I don’t own any bootleg dakimakura but they seem to be high quality, which I suppose is not surprising since I imagine printing textiles is really easy. I don’t cast aspersions when it comes to buying bootleg stuff – I’ve got a bunch of figures from E2046 and many of them are technically bootlegs – but I do like to get the real thing if I can.

    I asked a couple of friends for website names (since one of them actually coined the name Tentacle Armada for a World of Warcraft guild, which is where this blog gets its name). They didn’t come up with much, unfortunately; they like giant sea worms now since they recently read a news article about such a creature being exhibited at a British aquarium and most of the names they suggested revolved around that. One of them did suggest “Sleepy ” or “ Sleep,” which reminded me of a post I read on the Hobby Search blog where one of them wrote, “For good sleep, good pillow” while linking to some of the new dakimakura they got in stock. Other than that … yeah, I’m not that creative when it comes to names, either.

  36. Shashin says:

    Yeah, I agree. It’s the whole chibi thing, I guess. Which is okay in anime every now and then, but if I’m going to be shelling out money for a figure, I want the highly detailed representation of the character I like.

    I’m terrible at it. I’m more than capable of putting some money away and saving it, but everything else that I try to limit, I end up spending. With my crappy translations, as I understand it, D-Stage is kind of an intermediary between doujin circles and consumers. They have a page for commissions/listing stuff, so my guess is the circles send them some items, tell them how much they have and what they want to sell it for, and they sell it. Regardless of how accurate that is, they have a bunch of cool stuff.

    As for as Mandarake goes, I’ve done that. I probably have close to 100-200 doujinshi/books from them, and still have a folder with a couple hundred bookmarks noting the things I want. I probably would have continued with ordering doujinshi, but I got into figures and most of my spare money has gone to that and dakimakura, with the occasional doujinshi found on YHJ. I think I went through their entire stock available on the US site; at 100 items per page (including sold out) there was a couple hundred pages, and I just sucked it up and went through it all. Or maybe I only did that for items less than 5000 yen, as I don’t recall seeing a whole lot of figures. Was still a whole lot of pages.

    Yeah, the quality is probably fine, but I’d rather not waste the money taking the chance. I’ve seen people trying to sell shirts and such at marked up prices, only to have it be a crappy iron on. If I lose this current auction on the C.C. dakimakura, as I’m not wiling to pay more than $150 or so, I might be tempted to try a bootleg, but we’ll see. Years ago, I used to buy cheap anime on eBay, thinking it was the greatest thing in the world to be able to get a whole series for $50. I also remember ordering Gundam Seed when it was just starting to air in the US, only to watch through the whole thing with the worst subtitles I have ever been exposed to. I’ve smartened up, but looking back it was pretty funny.

    Heh, that’s pretty funny. I was a pretty heavy WoW play myself for a few years, and I could think of some of the great guild names either my friends or I came up with. I’m not too worried about a name yet, as I’m still just in the thinking about it stage. I could always cheap out and go something like dakimakurareview, but I’d like to do better than that if I can.

  37. Tier says:

    I guess I ought to add D-Stage to the list of Japanese retailers whose stuff I look through, then.

    Haha, that’s awesome. I’ve got … four bookmarks. I’ve been looking for more doujinshi recently, though. I’ve found a few on Mandarake and eBay that I want. Might wait until the next paycheck since I just bought a doll off eBay (Hot Toys’s Deunan Knute) and I just got a billing notice for a figure from Hobby Search.

    I’ve got this odd motivation for buying authentic dakimakura. The pictures are the most important thing, but one of the things that adds to their mystique is the price, since the real ones always cost a helluva lot and you’ve got to be a little crazy to buy one (let alone a dozen or more). If they aren’t expensive, they seem like a normal, humdrum, everyday item. I’m not sure if that makes sense, I’m sure that that seems dumb, but that’s the way I see it.

    I’m sure something will come to mind … inspiration can come from the oddest places.

  38. Shashin says:

    Yeah, I’d recommend giving it a look through. They have a good 20-30 dakimakura currently available for preorder/purchase. As well as a ton of doujinshi.

    I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned previously that I was never a really big digital doujinshi person. That’s changed recently, but it was always hard for me to get into, versus a movie or game. I immediately warmed up to doujinshi in general when I got my first physical one, and have been a strong supporter ever since. So I ordered a lot of doujinshi, and marked a lot more for later viewing. One reason I have so many marked is that I don’t particularly research it beforehand. There might be a couple that I download to see if I really want it, but if it’s only a couple bucks, and I really like the cover, I’ll go for it. This has led me to some really nice finds, but has also yielded the occasional scat or futa doujinshi (futa is okay, I guess, but scat not so much.)

    That’s one thing with Hobby Search that is a bit scary for me. To save money on shipping, I just bundle all my orders up by month, and then reconfigure if I need to. Recently, I just add figures and don’t select the payment method or anything, as I can add a few figures a day sometimes. But all my big monthly orders are set to credit card, so I check it frequently to make sure stuff isn’t going to come quickly in stock and then leave me with a several hundred dollar charge, that might bring me over the limit. Actually happened last month with my MegaHouse figures.

    I had ordered them the second I saw the restock, as I figured they’d sell out fast (as almost everything on their restock page does.) Took a few days for the order to go through, and about a day or two in Toyslogic charged my card for Collet. I scheduled a payment on my card, as it was pretty close to the limit, but it wouldn’t go in until the next day. Sure enough, Hobby Search emailed me saying that they needed to verify my identity as the card wasn’t working. Luckily I didn’t accrue any charges with my credit card company, and everything was fixed in a day or two, but it was still pretty scary. Now I try to pay down my card almost as soon as I make a charge. I’d use Paypal more often, but their conversion rates aren’t very favorable.

    Same here, I guess. I mean, sure there’s a chance the quality of the knock-offs isn’t as great, and that’s part of my reasoning for not trying them, but I understand that’s pretty unlikely. On one hand, it would be really nice to be able to load up on dozens of dakimakura for the price of a few, but something is keeping me from doing so. Granted it seems that only the really mainstream ones receive bootlegs, and I’ve kinda moved away from those into the more graphic ones from smaller circles, but I still do have my fair share of preorders with Amiami and Hobby Search for the mass market ones. I could probably pull up eBay right now and pick all of them up, months before some of them even release.

    So, I’m not sure if there was a SMJ error, or I just lost my first bidding war. Found a used copy of the Kanu black version, and I waited until the last minute to place a bid. It was immediately outbid, but luckily (though frustrating in itself) the timer was extended 5 minutes. So I placed another bid, and rode out the timer to the end. SMJ won the auction, but it’s showing up as lost on my account page. So I either lost a bidding war, or the way in which I bid (I had two pages open at the same time ready to place a bid, in case my first was outbid as it was) caused an error. If I lost a bidding war, it would have been nice to have some notice of it, so I could raise my bid accordingly.

    Yeah, I’m not too worried about it at the moment. Like I said, I’m pretty lazy, so there’s even a chance I might never get around to creating the site, but I think it would be a cool thing to do.

  39. Tier says:

    I probably ought to get a credit card, I use a check card for purchases but I’ve noticed that my bank has doubled the foreign exchange fee and I’ve heard that Capital One doesn’t charge for that. It makes ordering from Amiami slightly more appealing to me since they generally have the lowest prices and as they only take Paypal, I don’t get slapped with an additional 2% transaction charge.

    That seems most peculiar. I guess maybe if another SMJ user won the auction, that might explain the results but I’d think that the chance of that occurring is extremely remote. Maybe you can e-amil them or post on their forums and ask what happened; they seem to be pretty responsive.

  40. Shashin says:

    Yeah, Capital One charges pretty close to the actual rate. I use my credit card whenever I can. It’s actual a shame that SMJ does the same thing that Paypal does, using the actual rate -4. With as much as I’ve spent, I’m sure that adds up to quite a lot. Capital One denied my order with Mandarake the other day. Would have come to around 315, but instead I had to use Paypal, and the total was 322. Not the biggest increase, but once again, I’m sure it adds up.

    Yeah, was just a glitch in the system. It was updated after an hour or two, and the hurting was put on my pocketbook. They also accepted my special order, so I currently owe quite a lot. Makes me hesitate in sniping that C.C dakimakura back. And yeah, I’ve generally gotten a response within 2-3 hours, if it was during business hours.

  41. Tier says:

    That is most unusual. Or it seems that way, I guess, I’ve always just used a check card so I have no idea how credit card companies work. I’ve had my bank hold off on accepting a charge, but they usually give me a call to ask whether they should put it through.

    Ah, that’s good. And bad for your bank balance. I think that Kanu figure is one of those figures that is well worth the cost, given how nice it is.

  42. Shashin says:

    I got the invoice at like 2am, so I attempted to pay it once, and it took me back to the site, so I tried again. Then I got an email from Capital One saying there has been suspicious activity and such, and that I should call them as soon as possible. I called, verified that I was in fact trying to pay for something with the merchant, and they said now that I had verified the merchant, it would go through on the next attempt.

    It’s a bit strange that I had to go through all that trouble, because I’ve ordered a bunch of stuff through Mandarake before that I put on the card, for even more than what I was trying to do this time. Maybe it was because of the odd hour it was done at, but it’s still strange. Anyhow, I tried again, it didn’t go through, so I said screw it and emailed Mandarake to send me a Paypal invoice. They apologized and had sent a new invoice within an hour of me emailing them.

    Yeah, I’m a little wary because it’s a used figure, but apparently it was kept within a glass display shelf, and it’s better than paying $300 for it. I did end up buying the C.C. dakimakura, and I swear, that is the most I will ever pay for a non-nude dakimakura. Ended up taking all my SMJ deposit balance out, which is a real shame because there’s another I really want that only has a day left on auction. :S

  43. Tier says:

    I’ve had my bank call me to verify a purchase I made with HLJ, even though I’d been buying stuff from them for years. Most odd. (And it annoys the hell out of me that they blithely put through a couple of transactions involving an eMusic subscription and a purchase of Gevalia coffee that I didn’t authorize.)

    Was that C.C. pillowcase this one or another one?

  44. Shashin says:

    Gotta love it. Luckily I haven’t any false charges go though (as I haven’t had any false charges), but it’s great to see them hold stuff up. I’ve actually had it happen quite often with Capital One over the last few months, with all the Japanese retailers and such. Also, Hobby Search uses a credit card authorization company with a very long and random collection of letters for its name. I did a bunch of preorders all on credit card, so there was something like 11 $1 authorizations all from a company with a name like HALWOJFKJLAPAHF.

    Yep, that’s the one. It’s not the best dakimakura I’ve seen, and I’m not that fond of the character branding in the bottom (though it isn’t as bad as Shirley’s, from the same set), but I just couldn’t resist that amazing ass.

  45. Tier says:

    Haha, that’s hilarious; I imagine that had to look very strange on your statement.

    Ah, yeah, I remember waffling on that one. I was leaning towards ordering the Shirley one, actually, but I’m not really too familiar with the Code Geass characters so I decided against it. C.C.’s ass definitely was epic on that one, though; kinda an unexpected thing to find on such a skinny girl, but very nice anyway.

  46. Shashin says:

    They never appeared on my statement, but I had to have a talk with the fraud department. I also had to email SMJ, Hobby Search, and every other place I did business with; I knew the authorization was legit, despite the weird name, but I had no idea where it was coming from. Those two were the most obvious, as the number of authorizations was similar to preorders and purchases I had made.

    I’d recommend Code Geass to those who haven’t watched it. The way I see it explained most often is a mix between Gundam and Death Note, which is actually pretty spot on. The first season is great, and the second season is a bit of a let down, but the end that ties it all together makes it worth it.

    I obviously wasn’t into the hobby when it was released, but came across it a few months ago when I was looking through dakimakura on various blog postings. The second I saw it, I knew I had to have it; it was really just a matter of gathering the courage (or losing the brain function) to spend the type of money required to acquire it. This case, as well as a few others have taught me a valuable lesson. If I’m ever leaning even slightly on the side of purchasing something at release, and I’m financially able, to buy it. Granted only a limited amount of figures and dakimakura see extreme markups, there is always some, and it’s not worth the risk of paying 2.5x retail.

    On a funny note, Hobby Search restocked the red miko version of the Kanu figure yesterday. Thought about picking it up, but the black version had been the one I wanted. I probably should have taken the chance and tried to resell it, but I’m already quite deep into my pocket as it is. It sold out within the hour, of course, but I’m fairly confident I could have picked it up had I wanted.

  47. Tier says:

    Wow, that’s wacko. That reminds me that I’ve had some problems paying for orders at E2046 and B&H Photo recently … very strange considering that I’ve bought a ton of stuff from both places without any problems in the past.

    I read the Wikipedia article so I’ve already spoiled myself with the ending, unfortunately. I gotta admit that I have a tough time getting past the spindly male character designs. I actually have never watched Death Note or any of the Gundam shows, though I see figures from the former all the time.

    Haha, yeah, a friend of mine gave me the same advice (although admittedly, I think he and my other friends are very amused by the amount of money I spend as well as what I spend it on). I figure I get paid every two weeks but I’ll be having a lot of regrets if I miss out on something I really want. And besides, I don’t really need all of my brain’s functionality, anyway.

    Really? That’s amazing, I wonder where they got it from. The black version does have the benefit (or drawback) of having a more transparent sarashi design, whereas I think the red version is completely PG. It must’ve been a really happy person, whoever picked it up, since that seems to be quite the rare figure these days.

  48. Shashin says:

    Yeah, been some problems with Capital One lately. They’ve been a pretty decent card company previously, though. I actually think I may have to give them a call to see if they’ve denied any charges in the past few days. They haven’t sent me a fraud notice yet, but the I’ve received two SMJ invoices the last two days, replied almost immediately, and they haven’t gone through yet. Generally I get a paid notice within a few hours, or early the next day. I’ll give it another day before I email them asking what’s up, but then I need to free up some spending limit to catch a dakimakura that ends in a few days.

    I can’t blame you, though I don’t mind it all that much. Sadly, I continue to subject myself to terrible shows out of fondness for a particular series or genre. Of the last few Gundam series, one was pretty good, and the other I enjoyed despite being filled with angst… though the sequel to it was almost unwatchable. I’m rather easy to please, I guess – just as long as something is entertaining enough to pass a few hours.

    Pretty much. As long as you have enough money to cover all your bills, what good is saving when you want something now? There’s plenty of time to save, but that figure might be a couple hundred bucks if you don’t act now, and then who’s going to look silly when you have to pick it up on eBay?

    Yeah, I was pretty surprised to see it pop up. And even more so when I clicked the link for it on the restock page, and it was still listed as available. I’d say 90% of the stuff I click on the restock page is already sold out by the time I get to it, and for such a popular figure that has been out of print for a few years, it was a real shocker.

    In hindsight, I should have picked it up, as it’s still a beautiful figure, and I’m sure it would have complemented the other version well. What held me back was that even though I paid about the same for it (more after fees) used, it’s still a semi-expensive figure, and I have about 10 dakimakura coming soon that I still have to pay for. >_>

  49. Tier says:

    Yeah, I don’t have particularly high standards when it comes to anime, either. I like action anime more than the talky, slice of life, schoolkid anime that you see so much of these days, so if there are lots of cool weapons, explosions, and cute girls, I’ll be pretty happy. That’s pretty much the level that I enjoyed Evangelion on, I think. Speaking of giant robot shows, I have the feeling I ought to watch one of the Gundam series sometimes, just to get an idea of what it’s about, since it seems like Gundam is the paramount mecha show in all of anime.

    Yeah, that’s the way I’m operating now. Fortunately for me I think I’ve gotten most of the really rare stuff that I want, and the other high-priced stuff that I buy (mostly electronics) can usually be deferred until later.

    Holy cow, that’s quite a few pillowcases. Daiki Kougyou’s stuff always seems to run on the pricey side, although their best stuff is usually worth the cost.

  50. Shashin says:

    I don’t mind slice of life. I thoroughly enjoyed Wolf and Spice (though not sure if that’s how you’d classify it), and I love both Clannad/Kanon (more dramaish, but has some aspects of a slice of life, and can be pretty slow in pacing.) I got about three episodes into K-On! before I dropped it entirely; just didn’t understand the appeal, as cute as the girls were.

    For Gundam, I’d recommend 08th MS team. It’s newer than the truly old school, so you get better explosions, but I don’t think it’s as angsty as the newer Gundams. It’s only 13 episodes (I think), whereas others are 50ish and from what I remember the story is pretty good. Seed is good, but very high on the angst, and the sequel to it is terrible (but watchable as someone who enjoyed Seed.) 00 is one of the more recent, and it’s pretty good, but still somewhat angsty.

    Yeah, how quickly I’ve become an absolute sucker for dakimakura. :S

  51. Tier says:

    I don’t think I’ve actually seen a lot of slice of life stories. Actually, I’m not really certain what qualifies as a slice of life story (maybe Beck does? I think that’d be the closest thing I’ve seen to that). I think I saw a few episodes of Futakoi Alternative and Minami-ke without either show really making a great impression on me. I feel like I ought to watch K-On! one of these days, just to give it a fair chance, but it’s hard for me to get over how much I dislike the character designs.

    Angsty is not so good … I think I’ve had my fill of angsty anime shows (and video games). There are way too many angsty characters and not enough badass characters. That reminds me that I ought to get the Gurren Lagann DVDs sometime. If that is the least angsty Gundam show, then that is the one I will watch.

  52. Shashin says:

    Good point. I’d have a hard time defining it myself. I’d guess it’s a story that has less to do with exciting events and more basic life occurrences. I really don’t have much idea, though. Would GTO count as slice of life, or is that a bit too out there?

    Yeah, it can be rather grating, but there’s lots of cool robots and explosions if you can stick with it. You know, I watched Gurren Lagann recently, and didn’t really see what the big deal was. I’ve seen people hype it up as the greatest thing ever, and it was just kinda ‘meh’ to me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it well enough, but I doubt it will be something I watch again.

  53. Tier says:

    That sounds right. I don’t actually know what GTO is (Great Teacher Onizuka, maybe? I vaguely recall hearing something of that … very vaguely); that’s probably an indication that I really don’t watch as much anime as a lot of people in this hobby do.

    I’ll be honest, I’d really just be watching it for Kamina and Yoko, and I know what happens to Kamina already. Yeah, I had a similar first impression; I watched the first few episodes and was expecting something like Cowboy Bebop, with very high production quality, but I remember thinking the animation wasn’t all that great and I can’t even remember either of the theme songs.

  54. Shashin says:

    Yeah, Great Teacher Onizuka. If you haven’t watched it, I suggest you get around to it eventually. It’s a good amount of fun, and the main character is a bit of a badass, though not exactly in the muscle-y “I’m going to kill you” sort of way.

    I like Yoko, and Kamina was cool. It happens rather early in the series, and while the rest it good, it’s a bit lacking with Simon as the absolute focus. And yeah, the animation grows on you (just a bit for me), but I didn’t like the mech designs one bit, honestly. I realize they were going for a bit of absurdity, but it wasn’t a good absurd for me. After watching the whole series, I don’t get anything that makes me think of Cowboy Bebop, other than them both being set in space to an extent.

  55. Tier says:

    I will put that on the list. I think of Cowboy Bebop in the sense that every couple of years, an anime comes out that becomes immensely popular, like Haruhi Suzumiya or Evangelion or K-On! (I guess). Cowboy Bebop was the last really popular anime that I can remember before I stopped watching anime for a while, and Gurren Lagann was probably the most popular show of its time (though I don’t remember if it was broadcast at the same time as the Nanoha shows). I thought that Gurren Lagann would have high production values the first time I saw it, but I was sorta surprised that it looked fairly low budget.

  56. Shashin says:

    Ah, it just didn’t register in my mind because I didn’t know how popular the series really was. Everyone I talk to mentions it sooner or later, but I just didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Whereas when I think of Cowboy Bebop, I think of it as one of the few shows that really cemented anime in America.

  57. Cantan says:

    Can’t believe you spent all that money on a ladyboy… quite an attractive ladyboy, I might add – do like the reverse image.

    Haven’t really bothered with these myself, but have to ask – what’s the material, finish and quality like? (i.e. are they likely to rip, spoil etc) Have seen plenty of knock-offs and cheap immitations on Ebay (China again!) for about 1/10th the price and, whilst I wouldn’t dream of getting one of those – probably highly flammable and very abrasive on the skin judging from the furore over some of the kiddie toys made over there (and those are the legitimate ones), the price of the legitimate ones appear astronomical… would have thought anyone with a textile printer could knock something like this out for next to nothing.

    Have to ask though, once you have bought them, what do you do with them after you’ve photographed them? get the impression something like this would just get in the way if you left them out

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, what can I say, I can’t resist Natsuru’s charms, even though I know what he’s swinging below the belt. The quality, hmm … well, that can vary a bit, but the mass-manufactured ones I have are quite soft, relatively thick (thicker than the normal pillowcases I use), and fairly smooth; they feel a bit like a nicer, densely-woven T-shirt (I had some Armani Exchange t-shirts back when I was younger and they feel a bit like those). The Illust Guerrilla one feels quite a bit different; it’s very stretchy and very smooth, which I suppose it ought to be, being made partly from spandex material.

      I’m guessing the Chinese knockoffs are decent quality, since textiles are probably pretty easy to make. I’ve never touched one myself, though, so I don’t know for certain. I’m also guessing that the huge price on legit dakimakura are partly due to licensing fees, which of course no bootlegger is going to be concerned with.

      I put them back in the bag and store them in the drawer. I’ve only got one body pillow so I can only display one pillowcase at a time, and right now I’ve still got Nagomi & Sono on it. Unfortunately the pillow is so big that I usually keep it on my bed when I’m not sleeping and I move it to my computer chair when I go to bed, since I have so little space.

  58. Anime-person 123 says:

    Damn….What I wouldn’t give to be in an anime like this…..

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