#mandarake
I am so behind on everything… ._.
Some recent stuff that arrived and has been sitting around, waiting to be processed! I just can’t seem to find enough time in the day to do all the stuff I want… so let’s take it one step at a time.
First pic – Silver Butterfly outfit set. The three different pieces can be used apart or snapped together, ie: the vest + the pants to form coveralls or the suspenders to the pants. I bought this primarily for Joce. My only gripe (and it’s not necessarily unique to SB) is that the suspenders are pleather, not real leather, so that’s a bit worrisome although they seem to be holding up okay so far.
Second pic – another beautiful bag by Antiquald Lucicca, this time in black. The quality was so nice on the other one I own that I was happy for the chance to get another. Contrary to the above set, they work in real leather, so this bag will last. I recommend their work!
Third pic & fifth pic – new glass eyes for Vincynt! These suit his Iha head much better than the old pair. Finding a good orange pair in the size he requires is tricky, so it was lucky to grab these. The pupils are much smaller, giving him a more intense stare. Not sure on the maker, sadly.
Fourth & sixth pic – new glass eyes for Joce, too, but I’m not 100% sold on them yet. The colors are wonderful and the quality is lovely, but the irises are larger than I was anticipating when in his head, giving him a bit of a doe-eyed moe-moe look. I’m not sure it does him any favors! I’m keeping them in for a while longer and see if the superior colors outweigh the iris size. I don’t know the maker here, either, which is a shame.
Seventh pic – black leather collar and wristlets by KABA, with frills. These are neat accessories, as expected. How much use they’ll get is anyone’s guess, but I do want to try them out on Vince. The effect might be interesting…?
Eighth pic – gorgeous wrap bracelet by OILSHOCK. I bought this on impulse, thinking I recognized it… spent days second-guessing myself because the listing pics distorted some of the details and made me think perhaps it wasn’t OILSHOCK after all… and it turned out my first instinct had been correct. I’m thrilled! I love their bracelets, and this one is already on Dom’s wrist. XD
More to come soon… I post more frequently to Instagram these days, so follow me there if you want, I dunno, actual doll photos once in a while. ^^;
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cutie….
Soo I went to Japan last week!
I’m not the best at personal writing, but I thought it may be nice to share my thoughts and experiences for anyone who is interested in visiting Tokyo themselves in the near future.
These are my personal thoughts and experiences, so take whatever information is useful to you! I hit up Akiba my first full day (still jetlagged, but there’s no time to lose when weebing needs to be done). Slight photo heavy under the cut!
Stores generally open at 10AM. It was on a Sunday, and people lined up early to get into the arcades, maid cafes, etc. The special thing about Sunday is that they close off the main road for a portion of the day, which turned the main road into a giant plaza.
Animate - The first store that I went to! It has general merchandise and gets progressively BL as you ascend ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) The top 2-3 floors had BL doujin divided based on popular series at the time. I got my Haikyuu tsum tsums at this particular Animate branch whereas they couldn’t be found at any other Animate that I went to. Each Animate branch in Tokyo carried different merchandise so it’s worth checking out each one!
AmiAmi - A figure store that took up 2 floors within a larger building. I’m not a figure collector, so I apologize if I misinterpret this store! Most of my attention was to find some Haikyuu nendoroids (found my Suga here!). The lower floor had new nendos while upper floors were retail price. I personally thought that the place was underwhelming for being a notable online figure vendor…It was disorganized so you had to dig around the shelves to find what you want. But here you are guaranteed that figures are new and unopened.
Mandarake - This branch carried vintage toys, CDs, books, etc. There may have been a section for doujin on the floors with CDs and books (I realized after the fact that Mandarake carried doujin after visiting its other branches) If so, I totally missed it because it was nowhere as obvious as other Mandarake branches I went to. Another place where I looked for Haikyuu nendos, here they are preowned and could be opened or unopened, you will just have to read the label~
Ultimately I found my Hinata and Kageyama nendos at a store called 駿河屋秋葉原店アニメ・ホビー館. Although they were second hand, they were unopened, which was good enough for me. I hesitated to purchase them the first time since they were a bit pricy, but I was glad I did because I couldn’t find them anywhere else. There’s a lot of smaller shops lining Akiba’s main road selling various goods, so it’s worth a day to explore and see what each store carries. This was the first time I owned nendos, so next time I plan to purchase through preorders… even in Akiba they were pretty hard to search for even for such a popular series like Haikyuu (probably no one is willing to give them up ;v;)
Toranoana - I believe this chain focuses on doujin. Branches A,B,and C are all next to each other. I only went into B since it held BL :^) The doujin they carry were mostly what was popular at the time (YOI, Touken Ranbu, Haikyuu, Otsumatsu, etc)
Akiba Culture Zone - A good place for more merch! The first floor has official goods while the floor space above are rented out to private vendors. You’ll see quite a bit of glass boxes for people to rent out to display any figures they currently own and want to sell.
Sega/Round 1 Arcades - Crane games that actually work! The employees even come over and help you if they see you struggling or if you want to change a prize item displayed on the side. Get ready to spend a lot of loose change here :’)
Legend says that Akiba is the mecca for anime. Overall, I think Akiba was worth a full day, but based on the fandoms I’m interested in, it wasn’t worth returning back for the duration of my trip. Although I did find the Haikyuu merch that I couldn’t find anywhere else, it didn’t end up being my favorite place. You would not find older titles here (coughFullmetalAlchemist). Akiba at the moment seems to be targeted more to the Love Live, idol projects, bunny girls, waifus… I got pretty desensitized by the amount of boobs and butts I saw by the end of the day lmfao. All the main shops had around 8 floors, so get ready to get some powerful calves. I needed the following day to recover since I never walked so much in such a long time sob
