The April ’08 edition of Hobby Japan has once again reached the hands of intrepid 2channers a few days early, and this issue is particularly rich with items sure to be of interest (and sure to be on display at Wonder Festival on Sunday): includes a new “Capcomaniax” line of Excellent Model figures from Megahouse, scoops on the next two CORE Queen’s Blade figures, repaint versions of two others, the latest from Goodsmile and Max Factory, news regarding the next round of Shuraki releases, details on Yamato’s sexy Ringo and Griffon’s sexy Ryofu, an elven archer from Yamashita Shunya, and much more – read on for pictures and item descriptions:

Word is in tonight from Cafe Reo that they’ll be handling distribution for the Vispo-sculpted, Sano Toshihide-designed Shiratori Amane PVC from G.J? eroge Anata no Shiranai Kangofu. She’s still being developed by Questioners, as our past reporting indicated; however it seems they needed the assistance of a more established company to actually bring the figure to market. Cafe Leo’s product entry gives her a release date of June 2008 at 1/6 scale (21 cm tall) and a retail price of 9,800 yen; the entry also states that the figure will be on display at the Cafe Leo Wonder Festival booth, so we’ll finally get some concrete angles on her beyond the tantalizing ones provided in official photography thus far. Promo image below:

Includes the new Range Murata PSE series figure we first saw in resin back at WF2007s, the demon girl vignette Tora was showing off at C73, Toy’sworks’ Kusuha Mizuha (onsen ver.), a “damage version” of Kotobukiya’s Narika from Choukou Sennin Haruka, a YUKI.N from Wave along with the Appleseed heroine and Asagiri Mai from Yoake, and an unlimited release of Yujin’s formerly limited Melty Blood Arcueid (Last Arc ver.).

This should be obvious if you’re viewing the site at our home base, but for those reading via a feed or aggregator somewhere, things are looking a little bit different around here today. We’ll be rolling out further features of the new site design over the coming days, but the bare bones are now in place – they’ll be tweaked as we find out just what works and just what doesn’t, but I think the new four-column layout is a change for the better. I’m excited to be moving into the new place and hope you are too – if there’s anything you’d like to see changed, added or removed, comments and questions are welcome! (no more)

HD site renewal in progress!

Zepy over at Canned Dogs has posted with the news that due to a change in licensing requirements, dealers planning to sell Hatsune Miku kits at Wonder Festival 2008 Winter have run into trouble, with their applications either being rejected or having responses so delayed as to make kit production impossible. This jives with what our survey of the event offerings shows – not a single Miku kit in evidence from any of the major sculpting circles (those with online presences, at least), which contrasts sharply with the bonanza of Miku offerings at WHF Ariake 17. Thus far the only Miku kit to be officially announced (that I’m aware of) is the one coming from Volks, who have a professional organization robust enough to handle the demanding requirements of the new system. The merits of such requirements can be debated, but the strong anti-derivative stand on the part of the Vocaloid IP is certainly a trend to watch. (no more)

Online bookshop Mangaoh posted a listing last night for a rather surprising item: Queen’s Gate – On wo Kaesu Mono Iroha, (“Iroha – She Who Repays a Debt”). This is the same Iroha featured in the Samurai Spirits – Tenkaichi Kenkyakuden SNK fighting game, and Queen’s Gate is the recently begun crossover franchise to Queen’s Blade that brings characters from other settings into the Lost Worlds combat book system (Moetan‘s Nijihara Ink and the original Niθ-designed Mon wo Hiraku Mono Arisu were the first two entries). I wasn’t expecting to see a bona fide fighting game character emerge in the series, but given her popularity Iroha certainly makes sense as a selection – I wonder if this means we’ll finally get a castoffable Iroha kit from Megahouse (probably not). According to the Mangaoh entry she’s scheduled to make her queenish debut on April 18th, at the standard QB price of 1,500 yen (64 full color pages, hardbound). Queen’s Gate Iroha cover image below:

Via Moon Phase Diary: according to an advertisement in this month’s Dengeki Daioh, sister magazine Dengeki Comic Gao is to see an indefinite suspension of publication, presumably beginning after this month’s issue (due out on the 27th). Several of the manga currently serialized in Gao will begin running in Daioh, including Venus Versus Virus, Wagaya no Oinari-sama, Kemeko Deluxe, ef – a fairy tale of the two, and Gurren Lagann; the others will presumably end or suspend their runs with the next issue of the magazine. It seems a bit odd that the magazine’s official site shows no sign of the move, so we’ll keep an eye out for the next few days to make sure this information is accurate. (no more)

Jun Planning put up a product entry on their official Hayate no Gotoku product site today for a Katsura Hinagiku PVC figure! She’s 1/8 scale (21 cm tall), comes with her trademark wooden sword, and is scheduled to retail at 4,515 yen (tax included) in June. In other Jun Planning Hayate figure news, their earlier announced Maria figure [PA] was on display at Chara City in Akihabara today, with both Ascii and Moeyo on hand to photograph her. Hinagiku images below:

More news from the pre-Wonder Festival prep room this evening, coming in from all sides as vendors make their last few bids to build hype prior to the event on Sunday. Griffon and R-Line both represent with color versions of the resin kits they’ll be selling, while Kaiyodo chimes in with a Revoltech teaser and Yamato lays down their display item list. Cospa redefines the meaning of the “Polo” shirt, Daiki coughs up a riskier version of their Kenshi-san PVC – and Inoue Takuya draws Al Ajif? … yeah, I didn’t know that was possible either. Read on for details:

Fresh from the pages of April’s Tech Gian magazine (on sale today) is the news that the Sunny Day (Cerberus Project) sculpted Komaki Manaka and Kusugawa Sasara from To Heart 2 are coming in PVC from Wafuudou Ganguten! Both kits are castoffable down to their lingerie (in the original resin versions at least, and likely in the PVC as well), and both clock in at ~19 cm tall, are listed at 1/7 scale, and both will retail at 6,640 yen – Manaka in May, and Sasara in June. Crappy magazine scan below:

Max Factory’s Figma action figure line was officially augmented yesterday with the unsealing for preorder of Haruhi (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu) and Saber (Fate/stay night). We reported on the details of the release back on the 19th, but now both figures are officially available for preorder around the internets and have been flung inexorably along the trajectory that will lead to their April release – no doubt a dramatic one, if the Nagato Figma was any indication. To recap, April is the ETA for both figures and Haruhi is up for 2,500 yen, with Saber at 2,800. High-res images below:

Online figure shops around the ‘net began preorders this evening for a black version of Daiki Kougyou’s Sanae PVC, based on the Vispo sculpt from Kotoyoshi Yumisuke‘s eromanga Shokunyuu 2. This version differs from the original in several ways, primarily in terms of coloration; I don’t think it’s quite as attractive as the Holstein pattern of the original, but she may appeal to some with the more bondage-themed look. According to Amiami’s listing she’s scheduled for release in May at 15,750 yen retail. Image gallery below:

We reported almost a month ago when Orchid Seed updated their official site with images of the two resin kits they would be bringing to sell at Wonder Festival 2008 Winter on February 24th, and yesterday evening they updated the product entries for both their Kanu Unchou (bikini ver.) kit from Ikkitousen and their Kazami Mizuho kit from Onegai Teacher with colored versions of the kits. Both are looking great, I must say – with her Ishiyama Satoshi sculpt the Kanu was perhaps a given (castoff now confirmed!), but it’s nice to see Mizuho looking true to her original design illustration as well. Note that while both kits will only be available in resin form at Wonder Festival, every single figure Orchid has ever sold as an “event exclusive” has eventually come out in PVC. Orchid’s galleries reproduced below:

It’s monthly Tech Gian release time again today (February 21st), and that means a whole boatload of movement on the eroge front – and boy does this month bring some big news! Speaking purely for myself, there’s something here to represent just about all of what I personally enjoy in the eroge universe, from the official site launch of a new game from a favorite artist, to the update of a new platform for fully customizable 3D girls, to an official expansion of the greatest story ever told in eroge – abandoning the hyperbole (and my pants, as I seem to have soiled them in the heat of excitement), here’s a look at the latest news from the pixelated lovemaking world:

Doujin music invades Osaka

Doujin music convention M3 (Music MediaMix Market) is holding its 10th anniversary this year, and in commemoration the event is being held in Osaka for the first time ever. It’s scheduled for March 9th from 11:30 to 4:00 PM at the GRAND CUBE OSAKA, which is apparently a giant robot standing in the middle of the city. The event catalog is now on sale, and a list of the participating circles complete with site links can be found here. If you have some time to kill and want to go on a musical adventure that list comes highly recommended; if you’re in the Osaka area and manage to hit the event, drop me a line! I’d love to hear how things go down.

Comiket 74 Begins Today

In the midst of all the furor over the upcoming Wonder Festival it’s easy to forget that there are things other than figures in the world, but yesterday at 1:00 PM the payment deadline for the C74 online application quietly came and went. I barely squeaked in under the wire, which means I now have an additional week in which to draw a circle cut and fill out the rest of the rather voluminous application. The event itself isn’t until August, of course, but for those planning to sell there it’s already started… for further information on the circle participant’s road to Comiket I’d recommend checking out our feature on the subject, imaginatively titled The Road to Comiket.

Cobra-Kai meets Cobra-san

Sculpting circle Cobra-Kai has updated their official site with a new mascot! designed by veteran illustrator F.S of Queen’s Blade Menace, Echidna and Mellona fame, she’s tentatively known as “Cobra-san” and is scheduled to become a garage kit within the year (we don’t know whether Toushirou or Y乙Ｊ will be on sculpting duty, but here’s hoping for a version from both :3).

Zen and the art of molten hot resin

Following a recent string of professional PVC releases Tandem Twin is in the process of producing his first proper garage kit in a long time, and he’s been dispensing almighty justice on his blog with a detailed explanation of just how the “garage” part of the kit is done. It seems to involve oden on a dirty stove, and Legos… I’m familiar with the basics of kit construction, but it’s always fascinating to see just how hardcore and generally gritty the process is. So much respect for the artists and artisans who are capable of such exacting feats of craftsmanship.

Kotakudotting

While in internet time this is already ancient history, those browsing the site over the past weekend may recall some slow patches and moments of unavailability. That was thanks to a little mention we got over at Kotaku, which apparently piqued a lot of people’s interest… note to self: review more semi-castoffable fighting game figures. Or not.

Despite its questionable newsworthiness that link-through got HD it’s single biggest access day ever – well over 10,000 unique visits (and hundreds of thousands of page views) in the course of just a few hours, which effectively kneecapped the server. I’ll be doing my utmost to avoid letting such surges disrupt the site in the future.

Ryofu castoff explained

There were some inquiries recently as to exactly how Yamato’s Ryofu Housen PVC could be cast off, so I thought I’d document the process here. Removal of the skirt is pretty easy, and just requires some tugging once the torso is separated from the hips. The jacket is trickier; the inner seam of the jacket’s right arm is made to split cleanly and allows the arm to be extracted without much trouble, but the left arm can give some difficulty due to the elbow. The seam over the left shoulder is meant to split, as is the inner seam in the crook of her arm, but that space is quite narrow and will require some determined tugging to yank the arm free. This will do little if any visible damage to either the jacket or the skin of the kit however, which is a testament to the consideration they put into it (knowing that we’d be taking the thing off anyway, no doubt). With careful manipulation no permanent damage to either part will be visible.

That’s about it for today, except a quick reminder that Play-Asia’s Year of the Rat discount sale is still going on, and there are a lot of great figures to be had at very nice prices – Clayz’s battle-damaged Ryomou Shimei at 50% off, for instance. :3 All purchase made at the above links will help support this site, so anything you do decide to pick up is much appreciated!

Wave unveiled a large chunk of their summer figure release lineup today, the most noteworthy items of which are certainly their Miko version Hiiragi Kagami and Hiiragi Tsukasa PVCs from Lucky Star. Both are non-scale (~14 cm tall) and expected to retail in late June at 4,095 yen each, with sculpts from Chizuru of Tsuru no Yakata; they’re also being offered together as a New Years-themed set and in an Amiami limited “roasted potato” set. These are the first proper PVCs announced of Lucky Star characters (though Nendoroid action figures and Petit Nendoroid trading figures are coming soon). If I were to guess why Wave announced them now instead of waiting for Wonder Festival it’s that they don’t want to be upstaged by other companies likely to announce similar figures at the event. We’ll keep an eye out for any such news, and have details on the rest of Wave’s summer lineup in tomorrow’s figure update. (no more)

In which the good, the better, and the best of the garage kit world are on display in various stages of completion at sculptor sites around the ‘net as they exert a last heroic effort to put the finishing touches on items going up for sale this Sunday at Wonder Festival 2008 Winter. This list isn’t totally comprehensive, but should serve as a nice appetizer for things to come…

Max Factory unveiled the next installment in their Haruhi figure series today in a post on the official Goodsmile Blog! It’s Mikuru in her waitress costume from the school festival episode, and comes following the similarly appointed Tsuruya-san. Details such as price and release date are still unknown, but we know the sculpt is from Max Factory veteran Chieri, and that like Tsuruya, Mikuru will come with cat ears and a tail as option parts. She’ll be on display at Wonder Festival so we’ll be sure to pick up further information on Sunday. In other Max news, the official Figma site and blog were updated with information on the next two action figures in the lineup: Suzumiya Haruhi (school uniform ver.) and Saber from Fate/stay night. Both are scheduled for release in April, with Haruhi at 2,500 yen and Saber at 2,800 yen; production is supervised as usual by Masaki Apsy (Asai Masaki). Full product descriptions are expected to appear online on February 21st. Images of the Figma kits below:

In today’s figure news: Goodsmile’s recently announced Nanoha PVC goes up for preorder, preorders are also up for Yamato’s Dynamite Keikaku Kanu (alternate color version) – who comes with spiky balls, Toy’sworks’ Miyamoto Rei comes with a soft chest part, Q-six’s Linda designed resin is available for order once again, Miku and Narika are coming in resin from Volks, and more! Wonder Festival is in five days and counting – stay tuned for further coverage, coming soon.

Kotobukiya announced their June release lineup today, including a couple of surprises – their collaboration with Alice Soft continues with the release of Sennin Narika, one of the heroines of the upcoming Choukou Sennin Haruka (Beat Blades Haruka) eroge. Also coming are a swimsuit-clad Suzu from Nagasarete Airantou, Natsume Rin from Little Busters, Hitomi from DOAX2, and perhaps most surprising, a Black Sarena plastic model from the Nadesico movie. Details below:

Figure news from over the weekend, including prize figure scoops from the Amusement Expo 2008, an update on Volks’ Muv Luv trading figures, a castoff look at Medicos’ Queen’s Blade trading figure set, a Gurren Lagann action figure from Kotobukiya, a review of the Tony-desigend, T’s System sculpted bloomer girl figure from E2 magazine, and more! Wonder Festival in six days and counting…

Another site we’ve had our eye on that’s been brewing behind the scenes for several months has finally come online: Akibanana. It opened last week around the same time as the new English Akiba Blog, and already has a decent body of a dozen or so posts online on topics ranging from Lucky Star and Haruhi to cat cafes and robot soccer. With the field of English language news and coverage of Akihabara-related events becoming more crowded I’m not sure where Akibanana will find their niche, but I wish them the best – those seeking a more detailed primer on the site can find it over at The FØØL’s Progress. (no more)

It’s been awhile since we last saw the PVC incarnation of a kit based on a Sengoku-series character, so I was excited when the PVC version of this Cerberus Project Sunny Day Mizuka was announced on Goodsmile’s website last year. While some at the time found her expression ghoulish I really liked the radiant energy I saw pouring out of the resin prototype and placed an order primarily for that reason. Several months later I can report that the finished version came out decidedly mixed, and more than a little zombified, sadly – read on for details:

A final figure item to round out the work week comes in the delightful news from Toy’sworks that they’re producing a pair of figures sure to catch the attention of a lot of fans who didn’t expect them (myself included): first up is a PVC rendition of Clare, heroine of the Claymore manga and anime. She’s scheduled for release in June at 5,800 yen, 1/8 scale (13 cm tall) and comes with a removable cloak and exchangeable face part. Next up is Miyamoto Rei, heroine of Highschool of the Dead, the pulp zombie horror manga by Satou Shouji / INAZUMA of doujin circle Digital Accel Works. She goes on sale in May, at 1/8 scale (12 cm tall) with “sexy body parts” and her trademark pole included; the elevated price of 7,800 yen reflects both the extra torso and the “castoff tax” we’ve seen emerge over the past year or so – a tax I’ll gladly pay, in this case. Pictures below:

A bonanza of figure news today, including word on new CC and Rena prize figures from Geass and Higurashi, a 1/4 scale Mylene Hoffman PVC from Daiki Kougyou, a pair of new Ikkitousen girls from Griffon (along with Disgaea’s Rosalind), new information on Kaiyodo’s Revoltech Fraeulein Idolmaster Amami Haruka, Queen’s Blade Cattleya uncensored, new QB trading figures from Medicos, a limited alternate color Sekirei series from Ganbo, new looks at a couple of figures in Orchid Seed’s lineup, and more!

We’ve known it’s been brewing in the wings for a few weeks now thanks to a link on the Japanese Akiba Blog site, but as of today it’s finally live – English Akiba Blog. Little is known about the spinoff beyond what can be immediately seen: it’s a direct English translation of the content of the Japanese side, with advertisements tailored to an international audience from Hobby Search (figures) and Himeya (eroge); who is doing the translations is unknown, but their tone is decidedly Engrishy. It’s hard to say what impact this will have on the English language otaku news establishment in the long run, but from the perspective of one Japan-resident blogger it’s clear there’s a major new player on the scene, and we’ll be watching this one closely. Update: I just received an email press release from the organization behind the new English Akiba Blog that sheds a bit of light on who’s working on it and to what end. Text of the PR follows:

A Valentine Visual Novel, in English

It’s Valentine’s Day, and you know what that means – a new visual novel release from Insani! I’m pretty sure that’s not what it means, actually, but one hardly needs an excuse to scoop the bounty that is True Remembrance. The game is a free (non-ero) download, fully translated into English, and produced in cooperation with its original creator, Shiba Satomi. If you like beautiful stories of the visual novel variety and are looking for something to keep you company on this confectioners’ holiday, why not check it out?

In other English language visual novel localization news, a new site called encubed recently opened to fill the reportage vacuum left by the demise of VisualNews (though the forum still remains). Those eager for information regarding the English language VN scene, by all means peruse their fine wares!

HD Revision Continues

We’ve been busy working for the past several days behind the scenes (and sometimes in front of the scenes, resulting in occasional site scrambling) on a renovation of the HD site layout, and I’m happy to report that work is proceeding well! Thanks to the tireless efforts of Jetfuel we’re shooting to have the revision complete and online by Wonder Festival, on Sunday the 24th.

Queen’s Blade Festival

The long delayed, long-awaited Queen’s Blade Yuumil combat artbook finally hit store shelves today, as did the second Bitoshi Gaiden volume (full color side story book / drama CD combo) Kodai Oujo no Sho, featuring the popular Menace as drawn by F.S and voiced by Gotou Yuuko. Akiba Blog has a preview of both books up, as does Moeyo (Bitoshi Gaiden, Yuumil). J-List is now stocking Queen’s Blade items, and while these two books aren’t in stock yet I’d recommend them for all your QB needs.

Druaga Anime Preview

Our first new look in awhile at the Druaga anime comes courtesy of the Tokyo Anime Center, who published an article last week with further information and a few new images, along with an official site update featuring sketches of the show’s Ugetsu Hakua-designed characters. Despite the Gonzo production credit this is one of the shows I’m most anticipating this spring, both for the Hakua designs and direction from Chigira Kouichi, who has directed most of what the studio can claim was anything decent, and writing from Gatou Shouji, of Full Metal Panic fame.

Valentine’s Day Eroge Updates

In honor of one of the calendar’s more dubious holidays J-List is running a special two-day promotional discount on Bazooka Cafe, the recently released chesty waitress-themed eroge from G-Collections and Trabulance! The discount applies to both download and package versions, applied at checkout. It’s a great chance to pick up the game, and with the free included Valentine Special scenario it’s never been timelier! :3 This is a game I’d heartily recommend to fans of Sumeragi Kohaku‘s voluptuous art, and well-endowed heroines in general.

Coinciding with Valentine’s Day, animated doujin game maker Tinkle Bell has provided Toranoana with a demo video for its new magnum opus, Tsukiakari no Raspberry. The video is available for download on Tora’s feature page via the button marked “Free”, and I’d recommend taking a look – the character designs won’t be for everyone, but the animation is almost freakishly fluid in a style that seems to meld genuine 3D work with AfterEffects wizardry in a truly unsettling way – it leaves me with a Disney aftertaste, though I think that’s the exaggeratedly animated facial expressions more than anything. The game boasts 4.7 GB of animation data, and will be available for purchase via download both at Tora and DLsite on March 1st. Oh – did I mention it’s a futanari game, and the sequel to Tsun-Dere?

Other Valentine eroge site updates include:

• Tailwind
• Saga Planets
• 130cm
• Yukari
• Kur-Mar-Ter
• Moe Tamago
• Propeller
• Etude
• Yuzu-soft
• Axl
• Fulltime
• Overdrive
• Sky Fish
• F and C
• Triangle

Year of the Rat Bargain Sale

Finally, there’s a “Year of the Rat” sale going on over at Play-Asia, and they’ve got a lot of great figure deals on offer – many for items we’ve reviewed at HD in the past. The full list of discounted figures can be found here:

All Bargain Figures

Some of the more noteworthy discount items include:

• Max Factory’s Shiranui Mai [HD Review]
• Megahouse Queen’s Blade Nowa (R1 Color)
• Yamato Doubutsu Nee-chan Momo
• Kotobukiya DOAX2 Lei Fang (bikini ver.)
• Chrono Gate 009-1 Mylene Hoffman [HD Review]
• Funny Knights Cream Koro-nee
• Max Factory POLO System Wendy
• Comic GUM Ikkitousen Hakufu (maid ver., black)
• Millennium Iron Maiden capsule figures
• Kotobukiya Yamashita Shunya Shouko-san (alternate color)
• Orchid Seed Miraroma Seihouin Erika [HD Review]
• Romando Nami SOS + love play unit [HD Review]
• Romando Nami SOS + love play unit (special color)
• Griffon Queen’s Blade Menace cold cast
• Toy’sworks Suzumiya Haruhi (gakuran ver.) [HD Review]
• Yamato’s Tandem Twin Amethyst
• Yamato’s Tandem Twin Wildcat
• Kotobukiya Utawarerumono Urutori
• Wafuudou Kousaka Tamaki (basketball ver.)
• Wave Kousaka Tamaki (bikini ver.)

One of the highly anticipated figures of the latter half of 2007, Daiki Kougyou’s Toushirou-sculpted Mai finally arrived on store shelves in late December. Fans of large scale figures had a lot to look forward here, but questions remained regarding production quality and precise specifications – the castoff issue was resolved awhile ago, but today we take a more intimate look at what Mai has to offer.

Yet another roundup of figure news from the past three days, including an uncensored look at Griffon’s new Queen’s Blade Reina PVC, a Revoltech Fraeulein Hatsune Miku hack, the progress of Brilliant Cut’s Spica PVC (successor to Uran), news of a special color version of Yamato’s Dynamite Keikaku Kanu Unchou, a Fauna reissue from Alter, a castoff look at Hobby Japan’s Ninjihara Ink (cosplay ver.), and a Wonder Festival news roundup – the catalog is now on sale!