The Dis-Jointedzone

What’s in the box? 9

Optic — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:13:14 +0000

As you might have noticed, the lack of updates on site and activity in the blogsphere world this week has been very minimum, due to fact I had to finish up my 40hr working week in 4 days and at the same time prepare for my exciting Singapore trip coming this Saturday. ^^

Other than that, I still managed to poison myself in some way so here’s a little looty to smile about. :)

Hint: Tama-chan

1/8 scale Kawazoe Tamaki by Alter

Picked it up at Hobby Search Bargain Bin last week when I saw it listed there. As one of my favourite characters from my favourite series, it was a must GET!!! and it was either ‘now or never’. Considering she’s one of my favourite characters, you might be wondering why I didn’t get her in the first place? Well, during that time of her release I had to make certain cutbacks because I already went over my budget for the month and unfortunately she was one of them.
When my wallet was fat again, I was intending to put her in, in the rest of my others orders but I noticed from various online retailers (including HS) she wasn’t selling well or she never got ’sold out’ in this case. Judging by my analysis based on this case, I decided to wait and hopefully one day she will be put up for sale at a discounted price. Looks likes I was right again and I assure you, it’s not the first, second and third time as well. ;)

It’s just another reason why I can still keep going in this figure collecting hobby. xD

Music Monday Double ~ Aki Toyosaki – Love Your Life

Optic — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:58:21 +0000

This week featured Monday Double is the beautiful Aki Toyosaki by her debut single, Love your life. If your not familiar who Aki Toyosaki is then let me jolt your memory by saying, she is the seiyuu of Yui Hirasawa from the overly popular series, K-ON!. If you haven’t heard about K-ON! then you have been living under a rock.

Found out about this single not too long ago at Konadora’s Otaku Rantings while doing my blogsphere checkup. During that time, I was at work and youtube was blocked so I wasn’t able to watch the PV until I got home. Quite frankly, I didn’t know she had her own debut single until Konadora posted it up so this is the part where I failed. :(

Overall, I nice song with a beautiful and catchy tune. The animation in the PV brings a nice fit to the song as well and it just made me love it more.

Both Regular and Limited edition is still available but unfortunately the First Press is sold out. If you order the Limited edition, not only it comes included with the DVD of the PV but you get a nice photo as an external bonus as well. :D

Enjoy the PV.

Hope you enjoyed it as this is the last Music Monday until Nov. 30th. Most of you will know by now, I’m taking a well deserved break at Singapore and will be back on Nov. 24th. ^^

Music Monday ~ KOTOKO – Epsilon

Optic — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:02:53 +0000

With the release of KOTOKO 4th album, Epsilon no Fune, I can happily say, it’s one of KOTOKO best album to date and to be quite honest, it’s a big improvement compared to her 3rd. That is why she get’s featured on this week Monday moment.

The featured song will be her first track from the album, ～Epsilon～. What I love about this track is what I love about KOTOKO, her voice, hard pop-rock and trace all in one. Not only does this track delivers all the aspect I love about her and her music, the PV delivers why this track it great as well.
It’s sad to say, I only recently discovered the PV of ～Epsilon～by chance on youtube. I really thought there will be no new PV’s at all from this album but I guess luck was on my side and it’s fate that I was meant to find it. xD

The best bit about this PV I reckon is the high tech futuristic world I get to see because judging by the theme of the album, this is what’s it’s all about. ^^

Both Limited and Regular edition is still available at cdjapan so don’t miss your chance in owning one of KOTOKO best album to date. If this doesn’t tickle your fancy then may I suggest to look out for KOTOKO Anime Tie-up Best Album coming this December. I’m planning to grab both in one go. xD

Enjoy the PV. It’s F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C!!!

And for pleasure viewing purposes, here’s the behind the scenes making of the PV. I’m always interested in the making of PV’s and how it’s all done. ^^

First and maybe my Last amazon Loot

Optic — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:21:34 +0000

Received my amazon.co.jp loot yesterday. Thanks to DHL super speedy shipping, I actually received it Wednesday, a day before the estimated delivery date but since no one was at home during the day, it was sent back to the office and I had to re-schedule the delivery date the next following day.

If I decided to choose another title for this post, it will be called “The POISON Loot” because clearly each item inside is poisoned to me by someone in some way.

So to break it down:

Poisoned by Zenical
Poisoned by nat
Poisoned by myself. (Because I got too nosy)

As shown above, the following items are :

Yui Horie 空散歩日和 (SORASANPOBIYORI by Yui Horie)
Minori Chihara First Photo Book -Crescendo-
Hayate no Gotoku!! POSTERS!

HOCCHAN is so :3

Yui Horie 空散歩日和 was a book I saw Zen received last week and now I have my own copy this week. If anyone asked me if there was one item someone recommended me to buy in less than 12hrs from the time they received or posted it, then it will have to be this. I was instantly hooked from the preview of her post and curiosity got the better of me so I followed my heart instead of my head. :D
So basically Yui Horie 空散歩日和 is an A5 photobook. It includes lovely photos of herself at different places and her favourite items and possessions. Full with 128 pages of HOCCHAN goodness, I’m happy I got poisoned. (It pains me to say that last bit even though I am happy :P. ><) xD

The next 2 items was added in, to level out the ratio between total goods cost and shipping cost. I will explain a bit more down below when I get there but as you can already see, they are Minori Chihara First Photo Book -Crescendo- and Hayate no Gotoku!! POSTERS!.

I like this photo. ^^

Minori photo book was poisoned by myself as I was snooping around cdjapan. Before I had a chance to place my pre-order, it went out of print very quickly so I kinda not bothered to find it anywhere else. Now since amazon.co.jp has multiple copies (new and used), I just couldn’t help myself in adding it in, to balance that ratio out. Besides, I AM a Minori fanboy. xD

LOL

Hayate no Gotoku!! POSTERS! artbook was the last item that popped into my mind before I placed my order. I recall nat doing an outstanding review and since I’m a big Hayate no Gotoku! fan, it was a must get. Intentionally, I was gonna do an over-the-counter order at my local Kino store but since I haven’t had the time lately, I just added it instead. Doing the math in my head, it’s gonna work out cheaper overall so bundling into this order was the right choice than ordering it on it’s own.

Now the 2 downside I picked out in ordering from amazon.co.jp

Ridiculous shipping prices
The reason why I added those 2 items in, was to level out ratio between total goods cost and shipping cost because if I bought Yui Horie 空散歩日和 alone, the shipping price would’ve cost me 1.5x more than the item alone. I was so shocked my jaws almost fell out.
When I got the confirmation email for my order, I found they use DHL as their courier. My god, it all makes sense because DHL is one of the worlds more expensive shipping couriers. If I knew beforehand then I would’ve thought twice about making my order but what’s done is done. People who know me well, I hate paying for shipping and I always go for the cheaper alternative, SAL. Since they don’t offer EMS and they only offer ‘international shipping express’ I just got pissed when I found out it was DHL. ><
Damaged package.
As seen above, another reason why DHL fails me. So I paid 2x more than EMS just to get a damaged package in the end. Thankfully each item was wrapped up in good shape but really even SAL doesn’t fail me as bad as this. :/
It just goes to show, I prefer Australian Post over any other courier services. Not only they are cheaper, they do their job right.

So will this be my first and last order from amazon.co.jp? Most likely unless there’s another particular item I get poisoned again. ><
I’m just gonna finish it off and say, amazon.co.jp will be my last resort.

Look forward to all 3 reviews coming soon. I will try and deliver one out before I head off to SG.

So which one you want to see first based on the preview? xD

fripSide – only my railgun & ELISA – Dear My Friend -Mada minu Mirai e-

Optic — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:30:47 +0000

Breaking out of the Music Monday cycle just for this week, I decided to showcase one of the great OP & ED collaboration from this fall season. If you familiar with the title, then you should know its’ the OP & ED of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun!

Starting off with fripSide latest hit, only my railgun. To date, this one of their better singles from their career in my opinion. The song is very heart-pumping and techno based and that’s how it should be when starting off a series like To Aru Kagaku no Railgun!. While I’m on the same note, the PV was made dedicated for this series because you can see Misaka electrical beam and a Shirai cosplayer in the scene. The magician was great as well as it brings a bit of humor into the clip. xD

Hopefully, future singles will be just as good or better as I reckon they are on the right track in delivering more great singles.

Enjoy the PV

As for the ED, Elisa 5th single, Dear My Friend -Mada minu Mirai e-, has a nice ring to end of each episode. At first, I was not yet convinced but when the PV was out, it just won me over. Wow, it just made me love the song even more. Sometimes, all it takes is a PV to make me love it and I’m not just speaking about this single alone.

One of the best things about this PV is, it’s a very colourful PV. The electric keyboard on the beach and she riding a bike wearing those funky headphones and seeing those colourful balloons flying by just made me ‘die’ for it. xD

fripSide -- only my railgun is still available at cdjapan. Both Limited and Regular edition is available. Limited edition includes the DVD of the PV off course. Well worth it if you add a few more yen into your purchase.

Elisa -- Dear My Friend -Mada minu Mirai e- single is also available as well, both Limited and Regular edition. Limited edition includes the DVD of the PV so GET IT NOW!!!. xD

Enjoy the PV.

Small cdjapan loot

Optic — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:53:53 +0000

A small packaged appeared in my room yesterday from cdjapan. Surprisingly, I thought it will come today but it came a day early so it was better given the fact it takes 4-12 days using Air Mail to arrive after it’s been shipped. Looks like it took 3 days. :)

So what’s inside your asking. Well lets hit the jump to find out.

Hint: Yuki xD

Minori Chihara Live Tour 2009 -Parade- LIVE DVD

Only 1 item this time round and it is indeed, Minori Chihara Live 2009 -Parade- Tour on DVD. As you may recall in my previous post, the cdjapan autumn clearance sale was ending soon and her DVD has been listed there during the sale period and it was only at the last minute I decided to pick it up.
Another reason why I picked it up other than the fact, I’m a Minori fanboy and it was on sale is, I had a bunch of 500yen coupons with me from my past cdjapan purchases and since they were all ending soon, I decided to merge them all together and save myself the shipping cost so in a way, it was free shipping. xD

Back side of the DVD

So far, I only managed to watched bits and pieces of her LIVE but haven’t had the time to actually sit down and really enjoy it.
Since my Singapore trip is just under 2 weeks away, my schedule is gonna get slightly hectic as I will need to finalize my travel documents, money arrangements and finish off my projects at work before I leave.

First loot arrived, 2nd loot coming soon. ^^
Checking the status, it’s currently in transit via Hong Kong. @_@