Paper-based loot from Japan!

In comparison to my previous visit, I did not buy as many anime-related goodies. A break-down of the paper-based loot above:

- Vampire Knight Artbook
- Hakuouki Clear Folders
- Hakuouki – Okita Souji Key-ring
- Hakuouki – Okita Souji Stickers (yes I am Okita obsessed *__*)
- Hakuouki – Saito Hajime Bag Holder
- Hetalia Axis Powers Poster
- Durarara Poster
- Dengeki Girl’s Style October issue

The Dengeki Girl’s Style magazine came with a special booklet, packed with information on the new Hakuouki game (Hakuouki Reimeiroku)! I am not sure whether anyone is playing the game or has played it already… If you have, how do you find it?

Hijikata is too pretty... *_*

From a quick browse through the booklet,  the game is set before the previous games and the protagonist is a guy named Ibuki Ryuunosuke. The story follows that Ryuunosuke’s mother intended for him to become a samurai, thus he had a very strict upbringing. This led him to dislike samurai in general. After his mother had passed away, he travelled to Kyoto aimlessly. On the way, he got mugged and beaten up (why is he so weak when he had received proper samurai training!?); got rescued by someone who belongs to a ‘aspire-to-be samurai’s’ group and was forced to tag along with them. The group is somehow linked with the Shinsengumi and that is how the protagonist gets all close and personal with our favourite bishies! Some screenshots from the booklet after the cut.

Since it is focussed on the samurai-spirit and ‘bro-hood’, not sure whether it is lovey-dovey at all ;;^^… Or is Hakuouki getting the bl treatment!? Just ordered it yesterday so let see how it goes!

Take me to Tokyo!

Official English link for the show here. This weekly program is all about Japanese fashion for girls, made by girls! It is presented by the ultra cute singer and actress Beni and the very handsome and CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHY HE DOES NOT LOOK 40+ ojii-san-like Ikki Sawamura. I think they make a great combo! Beni is trendy and young, whereas Ikki looks cool and is up for the show, but he knows NOTHING about fashion and often makes a fool out of himself! He makes perverted jokes and says things that are inappropriate.. just like an ojii-san ;;^^.

Anyway, back to the program! The topics that the program has introduced so far include:

Tokyo Girls Collection Spring 2010

Gothic Lolita

Hime Gyaru

Men’s fashion

All-things-sweet jewelleries

Shibuya 109 (a super-popular shopping centre in Shibuya)

(Some of the videos are in Chinese because it is being aired in Hong Kong as well as Japan)

Watching Tokyo Kawaii TV makes me want to shop non-stop in Shibuya, Harujuku and Shinjuku! Shopping in Tokyo is amazing! They have so many cute clothes and accessories~ Moreover, everything fits me perfectly since I have a small build and I am tinnnny! Me miss Tokyo ;w;…

Definitely give Tokyo Kawaii TV a go if you want to get more information on Japanese fashion! You can watch full-length episodes (in Chinese) here.

Images from the official website and J2 website.

Mixed-sex onsen is not something of the past: we still get them nowadays! All the onsen hotels I have stayed in before contain mixed-sex onsen! I DID NOT want to go to one at all! If Souji were to come with me then that would be a different story XDD;;.

Hijikata’s line – “Just get in there! … I will close my eyes.”

He tries to act all strong and manly, but he must be way too embarrassed to deal with the situation properly ;;^^. He is blushing in the sticker! It is so rare to see him blush in the game, which makes the sticker an instant collectible~

Saito’s line – “Why is it mixed-sex… You are probably troubled by this.”

Typical Saito’s reaction XDDDD! I just want to pat his head and squeeze him~

Onto the bath salts themselves! Hijikata’s bath salt is scented with cherry blossom and Saito’s bath salt is scented with lavender. Hijikata’s one turned the water into a baby-pink colour, whereas Saito’s one turned the water into a cloudy-white colour.

Hijikata's cherry blossom bath

Saito's (not yellow but cloudy-white) lavender bath

Both were great in my opinion! Hijikata’s bath had a mild scent of sulphate, which I wasn’t really used. Otherwise the bath was wonderful! With the pinkness and the sweetness of cherry blossom, I felt like I was being spoiled like a princess~ Saito’s bath was similar to other lavender baths that I have had before, except the beautiful cloudy-white colour. The colour made a huge difference in my experience: It was as though I was back at an onsen in Japan~

For now, my preferences are Hijikata > Saito > Heisuke. Saito and Heisuke are really close though! I will review Souji’s bath salt and Harada’s bath salt next week.

Have you tried anime-related bath salts before (the ones that come with freebies)?

About Hijikata

Hijikata is the deputy leader of Shinsengumi. Along with the leader (Kondou), they manage daily tasks, plan and execute battles and represent the interest of the whole of Shinsengumi. Since he is the one who makes the big decisions for the team, he is more calm, rational and mature than the rest of the Shinsengumi members. However, as the story progresses and Shinsengumi’s fall becomes imminent, Hijikata loses his cool. With the protagonist’s help, he manages to stay strong and maintain Shinsengumi to the best of his ability.

He is responsible, friendly and honest (maybe a little too honest at times): the perfect man to merry in my opinion! His prettiness exceeds all bishies in the game and he is often used in adverts to pull more fangirls into the franchise… ;;^^

Due to the fact that Hijikata is the main male lead, his route is the longest out of all: a total of nine chapters. It tracks the fate of Shinsengumi, whereas for the other routes, the bishie and the protagonist leave Shinsengumi at some point during the game. Also, Hijikata’s route solves a lot of questions revolving around the protagonist. Even if you don’t have interest in him (is that possible *gets kicked*?), I would still recommend you to go for him so that you would understand the main plot better.

Hijikata’s Route

Will go through the main scenes in Hijikata’s route and spam you with pretty CGs~

A typical otome game opening where the male lead threatened to kill the protagonist. The protagonist was walking about in Kyoto; some bad guys tried to cause her trouble and two blood-thirsty ‘Ratsetsu’ came along to kill everyone. Shinsengumi arrived at the scene just in time to save the day! Well ideally that should be the case but Hijikata held the protagonist hostage because she had witnessed the horror of ‘Ratsetsu’: an existence that Shinsengumi was trying to hide. The scene was a little too convenient and conventional. I just ignored the details and enjoyed Hijikata’s (aka the beauty) serious expression ;;XD!

Fatherly-like!

After the protagonist explained why she was in Kyoto all by herself, Shinsengumi warmed up to her and she was accepted into the team gradually. In one occasion, Shinsengumi went out to celebrate the successful completion of a big job. Everyone ordered yummy food, drank good sake and had fun. The protagonist wasn’t in a good mood due to suspicions around her that she might be the one who got in Shinsengumi’s way in one of their jobs (it was not the protagonist, in fact it was her twin brother Kaoru who interfered). She left the room and our beauty came to look for her!

He comforted her, then talked about the good old days while over-hearing everyone having fun. Since they were not living in peace anymore, he must had tried to take the scene in and enjoyed it while they still had the chance. He has such a gentle expression in this CG! Just like a father watching his children ;;XD!

Similar to Souji’s version, Shinsengumi was under attack by the blond bishie who wanted to steal the protagonist in order to have babies with her. Hijikata came at just the right moment to block the blond bishie’s attack, while embracing her gently and praising her for creating an opportunity for him to strike back! We have two beauties fighting both verbally and physically for the protagonist! In the end, the blond bishie decided to retreat and come back for her later. Hijikata released her immediately and concerned himself with the injured Shinsengumi members. He was probably too embarrassed to face the protagonist directly after that embrace!

"Father! Please forgive me!" XD;;

The protagonist began to take on more jobs for Shinsengumi, but she felt that she was not doing enough. In this scene, she begged Hijikata for her to help out more. Hijikata couldn’t help asking whether she was planning something cunning… I would think that if someone were to kneel in front of me asking for more work ;;@_@! I thought that the protagonist was too desperate here…

Nevertheless, I love this CG very much! There is a certain sense of sexiness and dominance in the way that Hijikata holds up her chin *_*! An alternative view of the CG is that of a daughter begging his father for forgiveness! Either view makes me toki doki… Ahhh I think I am turning weirder and weirder by the day…

During a tough battle, Hijikata had to leave Kondou with the protagonist. She was given an order by Shinsengumi’s deputy leader: to protect Kondou at all cost, but she was not allowed to die. Afterwards, Hijikata’s sword touched with the protagonist’s, which made a clear metallic sound. He wanted that action to be a testimony that he will definitely come back and they will meet again. The protagonist replied that she will protect Kondou and will not die (initially she wanted to use herself as a shield if Kondou were attacked by enemies). We can see Hijikata’s gentleness here! He must have known what the protagonist was planning to do, so he was trying to show that he cared while respecting the protagonist’s decision.

In the end, Kondou had to sacrifice himself to save everyone in Shinsengumi. Hijikata was in despair, turning himself away from the protagonist. He looked to be in pain… The person who he wanted to protect with his life had been used as a bait to lure the enemies away. The protagonist wanted to comfort him so she hugged him from the back, while explaining to him that Kondou had done this because he cared for Hijikata and he wanted him to live on… Since Hijikata lived his life to follow Kondou, he felt that he had lost his soul without Kondou’s presence. It was heart-breaking to see Hijikata losing it! With Miki’s amazing voice-acting, I could feel his pain and his anger in the hopelessness of the situation. I started to fall for him from this scene onwards…!

After a hard battle with the blond bishie, Hijikata had injured himself severely. They retreated from the battlefield so that he could recover and regain his strength. Even in his fragile condition, he got up and began writing. The protagonist nagged him to rest but of course he refused (now who is the child ;;^^)! She put a coat on him to keep him warm. Hijikata thanked her without any sarcastic comments which shocked the protagonist. She was surprised at how gentle he was! Afterwards, Otori was telling him off for rushing off into the battlefield when he should had stayed behind and controlled the situation at the back-end. Hijikata apologised and asked for his forgiveness. This was again very strange: it was unlike him to retaliate without fighting back! It seemed that he was becoming more gentle and started to appreciate what he had more…

Near the end of the game, Hijikata watched his comrades Sannan and Heisuke turned into dust before his eyes. They had turned into ‘Ratsetsu’ and used their power too much, which ate their lives away. Hijikata didn’t say anything but held their hands as they gave their last words about how proud they were to belong to Shinsengumi. Hijikata tried to act like nothing had happened and scowled  them for what they had said. Before they disappeared, Sannon directed them to head north. By drinking the water there, it should lessen the effect of being ‘Ratsetsu’ (by then both Hijikata and the protagonist have turned into ‘Ratsetsu’). Heisuke urged Hijikata to not lose the opportunity to live. After they were gone, Hijikata just sat there silently without shredding a tear. Probably he was crying inside. As usual, the protagonist cried his share of the tear as they left the place…

Hijikata headed north to lead the resistance there. He left the protagonist for two months, but she managed to make her way back to his side. He was shocked to see her! Later that evening, he embraced her suddenly while declaring how much he had missed her.

“I know exactly how long you have left me…” (Awwww he must had counted the days!)

“I have always been supported by you. Without you by my side, I realised how hard it was to go on by myself.”

“I must have been saved by you somehow…”

The protagonist expressed that she wanted to take away some of the burden from him. Hijikata’s reply made me blushed!

“I just want you to be by my side.”

He doesn’t sweet-talk like Souji. However, I like the fact that he relied on the protagonist so much! It is as though they both clung onto each other in order to survive. In Saito’s and Souji’s routes, the ties between them and the protagonist were strong, but not to the extent that they wouldn’t be able to live without the protagonist. Even though Souji is my favourite, I support Hijikata x protagonist pairing the most! Souji is mine after all so I can’t give him away XD;;!

The night before the final battle with the blond bishie, Hijikata wanted to tell the protagonist to not leave him ever again, but she beat him to it ;;^^. Then he started to confess his feelings for her.

“You are the one who I want to protect the most…”

“After I have done all that I could for Shinsengumi, I thought that I wouldn’t care if I die.”

“It’s not like I wanted to die. It’s more like I have lost the will to keep going.”

“But now I have found it again. If you were with me, I believe that I would want to continue to live.”

The protagonist began to cry again…! Hijikata hugged her tightly and kissed her, which confirmed both of their feelings for each other.

“From now on you have to stay by my side whether you like it or not!”

I really really like the strong, honest and caring Hijikata! In the beginning, he seemed cold and uncaring. His character had developed so much that you couldn’t help but admire his strength as he dealt with the most difficult situations!

Final battle! Our beauty managed to kill the blond bishie! It was at this scene that we found out where the title ‘Hakuouki’ came from: it was the name that the blond bishie gave to Hijikata.

I hope it will be happily ever after for them!

In Hijikata’s good ending, the war was over! Hijikata and the protagonist went out to see the beautiful Sakura. The protagonist commented on how beautiful the flowers were and how much she liked them because they were so similar to him (Our beauty is as stunning or perhaps even more stunning than Sakura *_*). We had another lovey dovey confession again.

“I like Sakura too, because they are similar to you.”

“Recently, I have became a little afraid of the end.”

“I love being with you. I have thought about how good it would be to be with you forever.”

“If I were to leave you you would cry straight away, so I will try my best to not leave you.”

The protagonist started to cry again because she feared that their remaining days together would come to an end soon.

“… You belong to me right?”

“Therefore it is my job to stop you crying.”

The protagonist smiled at his gentle comment and replied that he belonged to her too, so she had to support him no matter what! He laughed and admitted his defeat. Isn’t that such a sweet ending? I really want to believe that they live happily ever after, until they are old and all winkle-ly. It is probably not possible due to the fact that Hijikata had used up so much of his life to unleash the power of ‘Ratsetsu’… Nevertheless there is definitely more hope here than in Souji’s ending!

Going to finish off with another fan-made video! Hope that you have enjoyed it ^^!

Saito’ route next if you guys are not bored of Hakuouki’s reviews already? Hope that you guys don’t mind me talking about it so much ;;^^!

Salami and spinach pizza with A LOT of cheese!

St Peter Basilica - one of the grandest buildings I have seen!

Inside St Peter Basilica

"The School of Athens" - adore all the art in the Vatican!

Trevi Fountain - went there three times for the whole trip

Game-wise, I have finished the routes of the three main characters in Hakuouki: Souji, Saito and Hijikata. I have heard that in Hakuouki, the first character who you chase tend to be your favourite character, no matter who you chase afterwards. This is true for me. Souji is still my favourite but both Hijikata and Saito are really close ;;XD! All three routes were good, with each route giving the player a different experience since the characters are so different from each other. An analogy would be having a kingdom ruled by Hakuouki characters! Hijikata would be the king: responsible, mature and fatherly-like. Saito would be the protective, loyal knight and Souji  would be the strong, bad-mouth and sometimes childish prince! Wouldn’t it be cool to have some sort of fan-disc with all the characters in a fairy-tale setting, similar to the Garnet Cradle fan-disc?

Watched Hakuouki anime episode one and two! The animation is surprisingly good! It can’t really compare to the quality of the game (you can’t really with Yone Kazuki’s art ;;^^), but it is good enough. It follows Hijikata’s route in the game (he is the male lead after all), so if you want to know what happens in the game without playing it, watch the anime! The story progresses rapidly: episode two ended with the start of Ikedaya Jiken. Does anyone know how many episodes will be released this season?

Hijikata (aka the black-hair beauty) is used again to attract fangirls ;;XD

Moving away from Hakuouki but would probably come back to it absent-mindedly later, slowly crunching my way through Arcobaleno and started on Vitamin Z today. Mid-way through Kaname’s ending in Arcobaleno and just past the prologue in Vitamin Z. Similar to the Alice series by Quinrose, Vitamin Z is unconventional and wacky! The characters are SO sarcastic that it makes me laugh while playing it XD;;! I am looking forward to playing more of it! It is definitely a good break from Hakuouki’s seriousness!

Wacky characters and nice art, just my type of game~

Will take a bath now then work on the summary of Hijikata’s route~ Stay tune!

Images from Hakuouki Anime’s Official Site and VitaminZ’s Official Site.

First up – La corda d’oro aroma lamp:

La corda d'oro aroma lamp

It comes with twelve small bottles of essence oils of different flavours, one for each character. I suppose that there is a bowl inside the lamp for you to pour the oil in and the heat will vaporise the oil to give off a nice aroma. I guess Koei wants to brainwash the fans more into the La corda d’oro characters by smell! Although I wouldn’t mind that at all! I really want to know what Kaji’s oil (named Princess Bouquet) and Kiriya’s oil (named Ocean Breeze) smell like…! More information on the lamp here. It’s yours for 12,500 yen (approximately $140) – so expensive for a lamp!

For something less expensive, La corda d’oro concentrated perfum is available for 2000 yen (approximately $22):

La corda d'oro concentrated perfum

Each flavour is associated with a chase-able male character in the game! The previous perfume must have sold well for Koei to release a similar product. For me, it is difficult to resist getting characters’ goods if I really like them! In a way, I buy to support the character ;:XD (despite knowing that the companies just want to squash money from fans).

Kiriya’s perfume! My most-wanted item in the list ;w;! I am a sucker for anything that smells nice as you would have noticed from reading my previous entries.

Other wanted items include La corda d’oro hairband:

And La corda d’oro mini clear files:

You can drool at all the goodies on the official Neoromance Festa 11 website. Have you ever come across event-only goodies that you can’t get easily?

My Hakuouki bath salts arrived last Friday! Ordered them two weeks ago from Animaxis. They were a little slow but they packaged my items very well, with bubble-wrap over my bath salts and a cardboard used as a support (the usual over the top Japanese packaging ;;^^).

There is a bath salt set for every chase-able male characters in Hakuouki. Each comes with a different flavour:

• Hijikata Toshizou – Cherry Blossom
• Okita Souji – Aloe
• Saitou Hajime – Lavender
• Toudou Heisuke – Jasmine
• Harada Sanosuke – Yuzu
• Kazama Chikage – Camellia

Each pack comes with two packs of bath salt and a sticker for their respective character. The sticker has a comment that the character makes before you take a bath *sweat drops*. I didn’t buy the set for the stickers: bought it mainly because of curiosity and yes I know that I browse on the net for Hakuouki goods too much ;;;;^^.

Tried out Heisuke’s pack tonight! His sticker says “It’s… It’s okay! I will definitely not look that way!”. Are you sure that this product is all-age? I wonder what young girls would think of the sticker that comes with the bath salt… It’s dodgy right? Or do I have a dirty mind?

Dumped a pack into my bath and the water turned into this light yellow colour. The colour nor the smell was strong. Maybe I will try putting two packs into my bath next time.

Excuse my yellow photo ;;^^

The faint smell of Jasmine was so relaxing! I have never had a bath with Jasmine bath salt before so it was very refreshing. Since I am not really into Heisuke so his comment didn’t make me toki doki when I was having my bath (I think that’s the purpose of the sticker). Next time I will try Hijikata’s Cherry Blossom flavour bath and see if his comment makes me toki doki *_*.

Have you got sold into random anime goods just because you like a series?

Found an amazing fan-made video of Durarara X Hakuouki! Two of my favourite series together, love it *_*~

My table now! My old laptop broke down last year so I have replaced it with a iMac,  hence the lack of update on PC Otome games. I would need to install XP on my computer so that I can play Bloody Call and finish off Kuni no Alice. My Nendoroid Sebastian and Zetsubou Sensei are on my desk to keep me company and collect dust. One of my all-time hobbies is taking photos of random things with my DSLR. I will probably add a page in 26 Hours with my figurine photos some time next week.

Apart from Hakuouki (which pretty much dominates my life now, as you can see from my PSP screen ;;^^), I have been reading the book “The Road” when I commute to work. Half-way through it now. It is so sad! I want to stop reading it to prevent myself from knowing what will happen to the poor boy and his dad… Also I am following the Japanese series Ryoma Den produced by NHK. Highly recommend it if you enjoy seeing bishie (Fukuyama Masaharu) dressed in traditional Japanese Yukata *o*!

A video showing some filming footages for Ryoma Den below.

Do you have other hobbies apart from ACG/playing Otome games?

Excuse the bad quality @_@

I am very looking forward to FF13! Some people complained that the story and gameplay are linear, but this is good for me because I am too lazy to use my brain after work and during weekends ;;^^. Can’t wait till Tuesday evening! Are you looking forward to FF13?

After work, I shopped for clothes and had a vanilla cream puff at Beard Papa! Beard Papa is similar to Krispy Kreme, but instead of making doughnuts, it does cream puff of all flavours. It is originated in Japan and it has opened many stores around the world, such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and New York. I was pleasantly surprised to find one at Central London yesterday! Have to get one to remind myself of the summer back in Japan~

Yum!

More information on Beard Papa in the video below.

Have you tried Beard Papa’s cream puff before?