Sweet Dreams

Thanks to Right Stuf's awesome birthday sale last month, I haven't had much money to spend on fun Sailor Moon merchandise on eBay, but I did manage to pick up a couple of things.



This is my favorite recent purchase! I remember seeing the Pegasus charm up for sale one time on its own, but somebody else ended up buying it before I could, so I was really happy to find this set. The two transformation brooches are actual brooches and the other three are charms. They're all really well made and heavy, not like most of the cheap gashapon charms I have.

( Read more... )

I also just won a Girls Memories Chibi Moon figure, but that hasn't even been sent off yet, so I'll just leave that pic for next time!

If you're curious as to what I bought from the Right Stuf sale: Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie DVD, Amagi Brilliant Park DVD set, Okimono Kimono (a book about kimono written by CLAMP's Mokona -- the artist, not the cute mascot), Toradora Bluray/DVD bundle, RWBY Volume 4 DVD, Black Butler Season 3 Bluray/DVD set, Death Parade Bluray/DVD set, and Aromatic Bitters (a manga by Erica Sakurazawa).

Man, I'm having the best luck with drawings lately. First I won a $25 gift certificate to Right Stuf in a Christmas giveaway on one of my favorite manga review blogs, then today I found out I won an Ice Cream Pluto Petit Chara from giveaway on Tumblr. How lucky is that? It's funny, though, because I've been trying to find that Pluto for sale on eBay with absolutely no luck, but now that I'm finally getting one, boom, there's two up for sale this morning. Oh, well, free is definitely better!

In other exciting news, the trailer for the new season of Sailor Moon Crystal was released, and it looks SO GOOD! I can't wait to see the premiere in April. (No word yet if it's going to be a weekly show or keep to the same bimonthly schedule as before, but since it seems to be airing on TV this time, I image it'll be weekly, which is great.)

I haven't gotten around to putting those Petit Chara Moon and Mercury figures up for sale at eBay yet -- need to get boxes so I can estimate what shipping is going to cost, so my current offer still stands until I list them -- but I've certainly been doing a lot of window shopping the past couple of days. (And some actual shopping -- picked up the Venus figure from the same set at a fairly decent price and currently debating the Tuxedo Kamen figure, which is more than I ideally want to spend, but it seems like he's the rarest so I should probably get it while I can.) Oh, man, I want EVERYTHING! I keep reminding myself that Christmas is coming up and I need to save my money to buy gifts (and possibly get some things from Right Stuf's annual holiday sale), but it's so hard! Just look at some of this stuff:

( WANT! )

Plus, a lot of other stuff! Man, I need to win the lottery or something.

In other news, Shirobako is AMAZING! Even though it was from the Fall 2014 season, which was the season that I watched a hundred shows, it somehow managed to completely slip pass my notice. I guess because at first glance it looked like one of those "cute girls doing cute things" type of shows, which I actually do tend to like on occasion, but like I said, I was already watching a hundred shows at the time. (Okay, more like maybe fifteen?) Anyway, it's actually not that type of show at all (although the five central girls are pretty cute). Instead, it's a semi-realistic look at everything that goes into making anime, and it's absolutely fantastic. It really made me appreciate just how much work goes into creating the shows I love, while also being quite funny and entertaining. In fact, I loved it so much that it's joining Kaleido Star, Death Note, Fruits Basket, Super GALS, and Ginban Kaleidoscope on my "Masterpiece" list. A definite "must see" if you're an anime fan!

Yesterday I finished watching the anime of Say "I love you" to determine if I wanted to take advantage of the current sale Right Stuf has on the DVD set. My final decision was that it was good, but pretty faithful to the manga which I'm already collecting, so there wasn't much point in buying the anime as well. That's not the point of this post, though. The thing I really want to mention is the opening theme. The first time I heard it, I thought it sounded like the singer/songwriter behind some of the songs in two of my favorite anime Fruits Basket and Princess Tutu, Ritsuko Okazaki, but I kinda brushed that idea to the side, since I knew that Ms. Okazaki had died about ten years ago and most anime OPs nowadays are intended to sell new songs. Well, curiosity finally got the best of me, so I looked up who sang the Say "I Love You" OP and it turns out it was a Ritsuko Okazaki song!

Even better, that's not even the only Japanese singer I recognized yesterday. Every year, I try to watch all the anime Christmas episodes I own (don't think I'll accomplish that this year, though), so last night I watched the Kobato. Christmas episode, followed by the two Card Captor Sakura episodes. It struck me that the singer of the Kobato. OP and the third CCS OP sounded similar, and, yes, it turns out they're both Maaya Sakamoto songs.

It's weird, since I usually don't pay that much attention to OPs/EDs, yet I was able to randomly identify two different singers on the same day. Granted, Ritsuko Okazaki had a very distinct style and voice, so it wasn't that had to tell it was her, but, still, I'm pretty proud of myself.

Finally, cold weather! I'm sitting here at my desk, drinking a steaming cup of hot chocolate, listening to Celine Dion's Christmas album, and contemplating wrapping presents today. I think I will. It just feels like a present-wrapping day!

Speaking of presents, I bought quite a few for myself during Right Stuf's 12 Days of Saving sale. ^_^ I still can't believe how much I saved! I only(!) spent about $300, but my savings added up to more like $550. That means I got everything for roughly a third of the combined retail price! Seriously, if you're an anime/manga fan (or need to find a gift for one), I definitely recommend checking it out. The sale ends this Friday, though, so don't wait too long.

So, what did I get?

Black Butler Season 2
El Cazador de la Bruja
Figure 17 *
Genshiken Season 2 *
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Cols. 1 & 2
Princess Resurrection Cols. 1 & 2 (They were only $9 each!)
Someday's Dreamers II Sora * (Squee! So looking forward to this!)
The Wallflower
Witchblade
Cross Game manga bundle (The entire series for just $62!)
Kimi ni Todoke Vol. 10 *

(Those marked with an asterix weren't actually a part of the holiday sale, but other than the Kimi ni Todoke volume, they were still a part of the usual weekly bargains. Actually got even better deals on some of those, especially on Figure 17. Thirty dollars for a $180 set? Yes, please!)

First off, Politically Incorrect is posted at dotmoon and FF.net. (I'll post it AO3 either later today or tomorrow; I didn't have time yesterday.). Decided just to post the whole thing as a long one-shot, since it really wasn't set up to be a chaptered story. If you read it before, I made a few really minor changes, but also added a One Year Later scene at the end that you may want to check out.

The reason why I didn't have time to post it at AO3 is because yesterday Mom and I went to the movies -- we saw Hope Springs, which was pretty good -- then did a little shopping. Of course, that meant manga for me! At Barnes & Noble, I picked up Sailor Moon Vol. 7, Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden Vol. 10 (finally, a new volume!), and the first 3-in-1 omnbus edition of Skip-Beat, which I've always wanted to read but thought was too long. Actually, I still think it's too long, but you know me, I'm always a sucker for an omnibus... *laughs* We also went to Half-Price Books. For once, though, they didn't have anything I was interested in, so I decided to satisfy my craving for bargain-hunting out-of-print manga on the Amazon Marketplace. I ordered Vols. 4 & 7 of Othello, Vol. 6 of Doubt! (all three missing volumes from series I bought previously at HPB), and Clannad: After Story Collection 2. (You may remember that I got the rest of the series for ridiculously cheap during Right Stuf's holiday sale last year.) Also bought some newer manga: Arata: The Legend Vol. 9, Kimi ni Todoke Vols. 8 and 9, and Kobato. Vols. 2-4.

So, yeah, I'm going to be in manga heaven for the next couple of weeks. ^_^

I'm getting really bad about doing my meme questions, so today will be another two-for-one. They're related anyway.

19. A manga/an anime that you disliked at first but came to enjoy later on

Hmm, this is a tough question. I guess I would have to say the manga series Phantom Dream did get a lot better later in the series. I didn't really care for it at all in the beginning. As for anime.... Maybe Gundam Wing? It was a bit of a struggle to get through the first half, but past the recap, I enjoyed it more, although I never really came to love it. It's a pretty average series.

20. A manga/an anime you started out enjoying but ended up not liking as much

Ah, this question is much easier to answer! I've already mentioned Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic in reply to a similar question from this meme, but for anime, it's gotta be Kare Kano. It was so, so good until the last couple of episodes! Unfortunately, the ending is so terrible that it's tainted the rest of the series for me.

Oh, man, so many great deals during Right Stuf's annual "12 Days of Christmas" saie. I already have over $150 worth of purchases I want to make! -_- Granted, not everything is from the sale, but a good majority is. I'll probably end up dropping one of the two most expensive sets from my wish list: Black Butler Season 1 Holiday Bundle ($36.99) or Soul Eater Holiday Bundle ($44.99). (Leaning toward dropping Black Butler, since the Soul Eater bundle is a better deal, comparing the per-episode cost.) Still, my wallet is weeping.

I just hope that the twelth day doesn't have anything else I want (unless it's the third Utena boxset I need to finish the series). I still have a couple of Christmas presents to buy! 

Some people like to celebrate the holiday by making resolutions. Me? I prefer splurging on anime. ^_^ I used up two of the three Visa gift cards I got for Christmas on orders from Right Stuf.

With the $75 card my sister gave me, I bought:
CLAMP South Side Artbook - I've been wanting a CLAMP artbook forever, and since it was in the Bargain Bin, the price was right. Unfortunately, they don't have the North Side artbook. Guess I'll have to find a copy at Amazon Marketplace.
Slayers OVA Collection - I picked up all five seasons of the main series thanks to that amazing deal during their 12 Days of Anime sale, and I've really enjoyed what I've seen so far -- I'm almost finished with the second season -- so getting the OVAs was a bit of no-brainer, especially at only ten dollars.
Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 of Hare + Guu - This anime is HILARIOUS! And since Netflix is missing some discs, buying them is the only way I'll be able to watch the whole serious. Too bad they didn't have Vol. 5, though. Guess that's another thing I'll be picking up at the Marketplace.
$1 Blind Box item - Eh, I had a dollar left on the card, and it'll be fun to see what I get.

And with one of the $100 cards from my parents, I ordered:
Kaze no Stigma boxset
Bamboo Blade boxset
Gurren Lagann boxset - I almost got Spice and Wolf instead, but Gurren Lagann has more episodes for the same price and I liked it a little more.
Keychain of Light from Death Note

Pretty nice haul for $175, right? I'll probably leave the last gift card for ordering stuff from the Marketplace.

Right Stuf is having their annual 12 Days of Anime sale, but there's not really much I want on the sale list. I mean, all four boxsets of NANA are on sale for about $24 each, and I'm kinda tempted to get them, but that's still about a hundred dollars for one 47 episode series. It would probably be cheaper to wait for them to come out with a complete series boxset instead.

I'm actually really tempted to blind buy The Slayers Super Bundle they're offering -- all five seasons for only $80. That's roughly about a hundred episodes! Talk about a great deal, and I've been wanting to see it forever. (It's forever in the "Save" queue at Netflix, so I haven't been able to rent it.) Still, eighty bucks is a lot to pay for a blind buy... 

There's also good deals on the Azumanga Daioh boxset ($25) and the El Cazador de la Bruja bundle ($30)... Huh, I guess there were more series I wanted on sale than I thought. (Not even going to mention all the series I want that happen to be a part of the separate weekly sale.)

Gah, I can't decide!

Somebody knock some sense into me.

So, Right Stuf is having a Viz sale, which is great, because most of the manga series I'm currently following are from Viz. I'm planning to order Arata: The Legend Vol. 2, Butterflies, Flowers Vol. 3, Rasetsu Vol. 5, and NANA Vol. 21, along with two two-volume completed series: Flower in a Storm and What a Wonderful World. (May also pick up the three volumes of Ooku: The Inner Chambers that are out, but I keep waffling about if I want to start a new on-going series just yet, even though NANA is now caught up with the Japanese release with no word on when it'll resume.) That's not the problem.

The problem is what is is in the Bargain Bin. Look at these prices:

Hell Girl boxset - $17.99!
Magikano boxset - $9.95! (No, that's not missing a "one" before the "nine". It really is a complete 13-episode series for under ten dollars.)
Red Garden Part 1 and 2 boxsets - $8.99 each, for a total of $17.98 for the whole series!
Suzuka boxset  - $11.99! (For a 26-episode series, to boot!)

Argh! So cheap, which would be fantastic if any of those titles were on my "Must Buy" list. Unfortunately, none of them are.

Yet I still want them! (Well, not so much Magikano. Despite the super, ridiculously low price, it's a really stupid series.) They're so cheap!

Somebody please tell me that I do not need to waste money on series I only kinda-sorta want just because they're cheap.

*strongly considers adding Suzuka and Red Garden to the cart anyways*