2019 Holiday Haul #3 – Tokyo Otaku Mode Pickups

Hello all!

We’re back today with yet another holiday haul. Seems kinda weird to be sharing about more stuff I bought when I just underwent a huge “unhaul” on my collection, but worry not: all of the items in this haul will be kept nicely in my home.

Ready to see what I preordered from TOM many moons ago? Let’s do it!

It seems classic for me to begin a haul with a soundtrack now, so here we’ve got the OST for Free! – Dive to the Future. I love Tatsuya Katou’s work, you all should know since I’ve only picked up every single Free! OST ever. And I kid you not when I say this, but this third season OST just might be the best one so far! It helps that TOM had this discounted half the price, too. 🙂

Makoto Shinkai art books are a bit of a rarity here in the states, so I had to snag this import from TOM while it was on sale. This is probably the most gorgeous single art book I own, and not just for the content. The thick cardstock sleeve on the left slips over the actual book like an o-card would on a Blu-ray, and the book itself has bold blue foil printing on its cover and spine. All of the pages are printed on heavy quality paper, with the cover and back having a soft lined texture to them. It’s a beautiful little set!

Alright, time for some Fate stuff. Also another rare find in the states, this imported art book and little set of postcards are from Fate/Zero and The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II, respectively. I’m a sucker for anything Fate, so it was a lucky find when I found this hundred dollar book discounted for just $30! While I believe the bread and butter of the franchise’s beauty lies in the character designs, it’s cool to have background art from two of my favorite Nasuverse titles!

Attack of the Nendos!! Here we’ve got a beloved character from the hit anime, Miss Zoe Hange of Attack on Titan fame in all her badass glory. I love her expressions, they’re so cheeky. The cloak is also a fantastic touch. What’s left to say? She’s fun, gorgeous, and ready to fight!

Now, of course I wouldn’t send a scout into battle alone, so here’s a reprint that I was fortunate enough to pick up: the feisty, angry boi himself, Eren Yeager! Guys, these two look so cool next to each other. The strong peg stand allows for lots of mobility and possibly for poses, including these dynamic midair shots I have them posed in. Really happy to have my favorite characters from the series in Nendo form!

Oh no, now for my other trash favorites haha. I’m a huge SAO fan, ok? Especially for Alicization. In fact, the Alicization story is what made me like Kirito as a character, so when they put up the preorder for this guy way back when, there was no hesitation in ordering the bro clad in black. I think the SAO character style in general transfers really nice into Nendo form. No regrets here, especially when you see the next guy I picked up . . .

AHHHHHH MY HEART IT’S MY FAVORITE BOY EVERRRRR!!! Would you believe me if I told you that I only picked up Kiri cause he’d match his partner here? HAHA! He’s one of my favorite figures I own, I just love how they did all of his poses—and the icy rose vines, ughhhh, so beautiful! My favorite SAO character sits valiantly on my shelf next to the others, officially completing the Rulid Trio if you add in Alice from the previous figure haul. Love these three with all my heart! ❤

I love Eugeo lots, but we save the King of Heroes for last, of course. Guys, GUYS, here he is, Gilgamesh in all his Babylonia glory, just as the original legend depicts him. Well, sort of. Just like the Fate/Zero Gil (another fave figure of mine), this one featured the shimmering Gate of Babylon behind him as an extra piece. I find it so cool how this one contains a different set of weapons from his Storehouse of the Gods—they’re all staffs of varying styles, fit for this new Caster form he’s taken in the Grand Order story. He’s such an amazing Nendo, the pictures just don’t do our King justice!

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Well, that’s all I’ve got for now! I’ll have more Holiday Haul posts coming likely after Christmas cause, you know, gifts and such. But also who knows, cause another TOM packaged just arrived the other day that I’m just dying to show off bahahaha. Let me know if you’d like a closer look at any of the LTD ED sets, art books, or figures I featured in these past three hauls and I can totally do a separate review post on them just for you! I’d love to hear any thoughts on these pickups in the comments, too. Remember, ONLY but what will bring you happiness, and until next time, this has been

– Takuto, your host

A Fall Haul (Part 2) – Figures, Soundtracks, & Shirts || Amazon, Tokyo Otaku Mode, and More

Hello all!

Let’s not waste a minute of each other’s time and jump straight into things! This is the second half of my fall anime-related pick-ups. Be sure to check out part one here if you haven’t already, and without further ado, let’s dive in! And speaking of making a splash . . .

We’ll start at the top with some soundtracks. Adding to my Tatsuya Kato Free! OSTs, here are the soundtracks for The Bond and The Promise, as well as High Speed – Starting Days. LitaKino and I gab all the time about how great Kato’s work is, especially for Free!, and now I’m just waiting on the season three soundtrack to arrive in the mail! Oh, and here’s a random soundtrack (“Volume 3” to be specific) for The Vision of Escaflowne, which has some of the series’ most iconic works by Yoko Kanno on it.

The other soundtrack I picked up is technically a 4-in-1 for all of Sword Art Online seasons one and two by Yuki Kajiura. Y’all already know how much of a Kajiura fan I am, so picking this up was inevitable. What made me finally cave was seeing it for like $30 on Amazon or eBay, and when you consider that it’s basically four cours worth of excellent music, buying it was a no-brainer. It’s been my jam for the past month, and the set comes with a nice little full-spread illustration of all four arcs!

I’m someone who prefers subtlety when it comes to showing off my love for anime. Logos or silhouettes usually are enough for me, but I prefer an added creativity my anime shirts. One of my favorite purchases this month was this order of four shirts from TeePublic, an online graphic tee retailer that partners with artists and prints their designs on shirts. The site occasionally does these storewide discounts where all t-shirts are basically just $10, so it’s the perfect time to shop for otaku apparel. In the top left is a super retro-looking Evangelion-themed shirt with the show’s famous ED lyrics flying across space. Love the small details like the lance and the 5th Angel. To the right is a simple Ghost in the Shell tee inspired by the 1995 window scene. Clean and classic.

Bottom left is a fun Danganronpa x Starbucks blend which speaks for itself. (We proudly wear the queen across our chests, yes we do.) And the last one (and my personal fave) is this vintage-looking Ranma 1/2 shirt with female Ranma and P-chan in the center with Chinese design work around them. Something about the bright infrared and teal combo here makes this iconic duo so eye-catching, and because it is purposefully designed to look EXTRA anime and vintage-y, I totally love wearing it in public with a pair of black jeans.

Onto the Nendos! Up first is Phichit Chulanont from the popular Yuri!!! On ICE. I had no initial intentions of picking this figure up, but after seeing him sittin’ there all cute in the background of Simply Gee’s videos, I eventually caved in. What really helped, however, was that Amazon was having some of Good Smile’s Orange Rouge figures on sale, so this lil’ guy was only $27 once you add in tax. He looks so pleasant just chilling there with his selfie stick on my shelf, I just love him!

Here’s the other Orange Rouge I picked up from the Amazon sale. It’s the Uniform Version of little Kenma Kozume from Haikyu!!, and he looks absolutely adorable standing with the rest of my cat-related items on my shelf. Again, I wasn’t ever planning on picking this guy up, but for just $15 I couldn’t say no! The coloring in his hair has always drawn me in, and I’m glad he’s such a low-maintenance Nendo to keep up with.

Up next is Kino and Hermes from Kino’s Journey! Ahhh, this was such a long-awaited pick-up, and I’m so glad to finally have ’em in my collection. (You have no idea how quickly I added this to cart when TOM put up the re-runs.) This Kino is particularly modeled after how she appears in recent reboot, The Beautiful World, so the model looks really pretty with all its deep green shades. The dark teal ombre in Kino’s hair is really gorgeous, and with so many accessories to play with, there’s lots of posing options with this one!

Last but certainly not least for Nendos is Alice Synthesis Thirty from SAO Alicization, and WOW is she a beaut! Like with Kino, there’s lots of variability in posing. With her golden petals dancing around her, this figure can take up quite a bit of space depending on how she is posed. While I think they could’ve done a better job with the special effect petals, I’m really happy with how the armor and coloring turned out. (She looks so fierce!) And once she’s be together with Kirito and Eugeo, the Rulid Trio will be complete! ;_;

And the final figure I have for this haul is the “Age of Heroes” Shouto Todoroki figure. There’s nothing super special about this $20 prize figure, aside from the fact that I really like the face sculpt for this one. You might say he looks a little bland, and you’re not wrong, but I personally think he looks better than even some of the pricier Todoroki figures on the market. Anyway, here’s another one to add to the Todoroki shrine I’ve got building up, heh heh heh, and I don’t plan on stopping here!

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This second half is much shorter than the first, but I figured it was appropriate to divide it up anyway since the subject manner was so different. If you want me to get up and personal with any of these figures, let me know and I can make an entire post for them—same goes for any of the LTD ED Blu-ray sets I showed off in the last haul post! There’s lots to catch up on before winter gets underway over here, so I better end this before I get too carried away. Now just to clean all this up . . . oh the joys of having a collection, haha. ‘Til next time everyone!

– Takuto, your host