Drawing for Disaster

On 11th March a major earthquake has hit Japan's main island (Honshu) on an unprecedented scale, followed by waves of tsunamis that caused even greater damage across the coastline. This results in a significant loss of lives, damage of properties, as well as ongoing nuclear accidents in Fukushima prefecture.

Japanese artists of anime, manga, and game industry have been doing drawings to lift the mood up and giving good will to those who are suffering from the natural disaster, as picked up on Gigazine. A few selections of well known artists are posted in this post.


http://www.shonenjump.com/j/images/message.html
Toriyama Akira's drawing of Dragon Ball


http://plixi.com/p/83922907#
Higuchi Shinji's poster of rolling blackout in a very NERV style from Neo Genesis Evangelion


From Yukimura Makoto, manga artist well known for Planetes


From Urasawa Naoki, manga artist well known for Master Keaton, Monster, and 20th Century Boys.


http://p.twipple.jp/wnLeF
Ito Noizi's drawing of Suzumiya Haruhi


http://twitpic.com/49cpb0
Tatsuro Iwamoto's drawing of Ace Attorney characters.


Imaizumi Kenichiro's drawing of Ookami


http://twitpic.com/4919q1
Nakoruru drawing by fighting game character designer Shiroi Eiji


http://twitpic.com/49cpb0
Yokota Mamoru's drawing of PreCure and Kamen Rider characters.


http://twitpic.com/49tzzq
Inoue Takehiko, manga artist well known for Slam Dunk, is drawing a series of smiling character pictures to cheer up the people who are currently suffering from the earthquake. His latest works can be found on twitpic here.


http://twitpic.com/49br0g
And last but not least, even though this picture is not featured in Gigazine, Okawara Kunio, mechanical designer best known for Gundam, has also drawn a picture of Gundam holding a Japanese flag.


Image from BBC News

Let us hope for the best for those who are suffering in Japan (as well as others that are in turmoil in other places), and if possible do whatever we can to help them.

Info from Gigazine
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MegaHouse G.E.M. Series Himura Kenshin figure preview

MegaHouse's G.E.M. Series is planning to release 1/8 Himura Kenshin figure from Rurouni Kenshin to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the TV anime series.




Full body and upper torso shots.


Closer look on Kenshin's default face and hair


A short haircut version is available as seen in the last scene of the TV series


Battousai version (swappable face and ponytail), with sharper eyes and a more serious look on the face


There is also a limited version of Kenshin available for pre-order.


Back view


The Battousai face for this limited version has only one scar, as seen throughout the prequel movie Tsuiokuhen.

The normal face and the other hair parts that come with the normal version are available in the limited version as well.

Both versions are scheduled to be released in late June this year at official retail price of 6800 Yen, or 7140 Yen with 5% tax included. Both are available for pre-order on Hobby Search (Normal, Limited) and AmiAmi (Normal, Limited).


My sister is a big fan of Kenshin, and even though she's not big into collecting figures, seeing a new Kenshin figure sure got her excited. Now the problem is for her to choose which one to get, since she's not planning to get both. You know, like clothes, choosing between colours is a big problem for girls when they go into shopping mood, and this is no exception ^^; Well, she also has the ANA Unicorn to consider this month as well ^^;

All images are from Hobby Search
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Ginza

Felt like going back to some of my photos from my trip to Tokyo back in June last year. This time it's Ginza.

Ginza is a high class shopping area with a lot of department stores and big brand flagship stores, and many are of Western brands as well.


Apple building. Very Apple style I must say.



Stunt man performing a still action pose on the street. I like his "wind-blown" tie which is deliberately held in such position.


A crowd of ladies taking pictures of the man "in motion" with their phones.


At the big crossroad between Harumi-doori (晴海通り) and Chuuou-doori （中央通り）.



Found this Hakuhinkan Toy Park (博品館 Toy Park) on our guidebook so we thought we would pay it a visit.


A race track on top floor of Hakuhinkan Toy Park.


Gunpla of HG 30th 1/144, MG 1/100, and Mega Size 1/48 Scale of RX-78-2 Gundam on display.


Final Fantasy XIII Play Arts action figures on display.


Other Square-Enix Play Arts action figures on display.


The Yamaha building in Ginza. Its unique outward appearance sure takes my attention on it while walking down the roads.


The Wako Building (和光) in Ginza. It is one of the most well known store for Wako retailer, as well as a symbol of landmark in Ginza due to its appearance and history.


A kouban (交番) in Ginza, which is essentially a police box.



Walking down the roads in Ginza.


Afternoon tea: Mucha flavoured cake with ice-cream.


The Sony Building in Ginza. Lots of latest electronics and gadgets on exhibition in the building. Too bad most are supposedly for Japan only, with a small shop section on the top floor for overseas customers.


One side of Sony Building. The small cafe where I had my mucha cake can be seen on the second floor.


Ginza, an ideal place for ladies with a lot of money to spend, but perhaps not so ideal for everyone else who fall out of that criteria ^^;

My sister had to meet an old school friend in Ginza, so the rest of us decided to stroll along the streets in Ginza before meeting up again.

Ginza sure is a high class district. Unless one is going for a shopping spree with the high brand stuff, this is probably not the place for one to go, but there are a few exceptions like the Sony Building and the Hakuhinkan Toy Park that one can spend some time too. Speaking of high class my cousin saw a driver having to escort a lady in kimono to a vintage Mercedes-Benz, while bending his back so that he is below her height all the time before she sits down in her car before driving her away. Not something one gets to see every day for sure ^^;;;
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1.2.3.4.GO.HA.N! (K-On! figma mod)

I haven't blogged about figma modding for some time, especially of yui_style (or just Yui), a Hongkonger who has modded figma Lacus Clyne and summer uniform version of figma Shana in the past. While he has admitted that he has not done much modding recently, he did manage to pull off one for the 5th WonHobby PhotoCon (第五回ワンホビフォトコンテスト), an annual photo contest held by Good Smile Company & Max Factory.

And his chosen work for entry is from a scene in anime K-On!!, depicting the band girl's last live performance for their school festival during their high school years. More photos after the jump!

The Making:

According to yui_style, careful cutting is required so that he can make this process 'reversible', should he choose to do so one day.


The clothes. Yui has noted that he made cuttings at the back of the t-shirts to make them easy to wear and remove.


Mio with the shirt on. The arms are of figma Ein's, which are originally bare so this makes less work required.


The HTT star logos are apparently only 1cm long at this scale, and are transferred to the t-shirt via heat transfer.


The background requires 16 A3 papers. Yui originally tried 9 but that wasn't enough, so he had to make it even bigger. (This truly is humongous...)


A group shot of the girls as posed for the entry shot


Pianist: Tsumugi


Drummer: Ritsu


Second guitarist: Azusa


Bass: Mio


First guitarist: Yui


Another group photo with a different pose for Yui


The first photo again, which was the image used for the photo contest entry. The light source from the top right and the highlights on the metallic parts (e.g. the microphone stands) are done by Photoshop.


The scene is based on episode 20 of 2nd season (which is named K-On!! with an extra exclamation mark in contrast to the first season). Image is from Random Curiosity


In fact, this is the one that won the Gold Prize for the 5th WonHobby PhotoCon! My hat's off to him for his effort! Picture is taken in Wonder Festival 2011 event earlier this month, as seen from official figma blog


yui_style has said that he hasn't done figma modding for more than a year, and due to laziness and a lot of hard work required he had to rush this project a bit in order to meet the deadline for the photo contest. In his afterthoughts he commented that he specially chose to reliven the moment where the girl band was performing "Gohan wa Okazu", with the main character Yui in the centre of the highlight. The title "1.2.3.4.GO.HA.N" comes from a line from the song during the chorus.

I'm not sure whether he will do anymore in the future (most likely for future photo contests if he chooses to continue), as he has focused more on other hobbies nowadays (some really expensive ones) ^^; Nevertheless I'm glad that he managed to pull it off at the end, and even winning the 2nd price for the contest!

Source from yui_style's original blog post, as well as his forum post on OurToysLand (aka OTL)
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