Just recently, the 4th MikuMikuDance Cup has ended.. This is where people uses their creativity to create some of the most amazing MMD videos ever following one of the three categories chosen by the tournament organizers. Winners are then selected through a point system on NicoNicoDouga.. It is so good to see wonderful and even epic MMD videos..

Well, here are the top few favourites from the whole list~

「Chaining Intention」 PV (*by MasatakaP)

「東方でマイケル～Smooth Criminal～」 (*by dancho-P)

「Confeito Star」 (*by ショ大河P)

「つなわたリフティング」 (*by 6666AA-P)

「papermoon」 (*by アルカ, koishi, gomezP)

「METSU☆ミクさん」 (*by ふと-P)

「Reimu Shift Change “RED ZONE”」 (*by kiyoP)

「UTAU事件簿-All Starts are the “M”」 (*by inaphon)

I hope you all enjoyed the videos.. I will most probably be posting up the results soon.. ^^

Everyone was pretty much excited when the “Bad Apple!!” PV went live, using the Stylized Shadow Art to show most of the characters in the Touhou series.. Then we get to see the PV being done this time using Laser Art style, which was pretty much amazing.. But now, it gets even better when you made the whole PV using Stop Motion… Yes, someone did it, frame by frame~

Well, I don’t have to say much.. Just watch the video.. All I could say is that I love the part where lighting is used to simulate the “lights” in the PV itself.. Enjoy~

Bad Apple!! PV [Stop Motion]:

EDIT: We forgot to mention that the stop motion was also featured shortly in a CNN news report:

Thanks, ieka!

Over a week ago on the 27th October 09, a very unique Touhou PV was released by a Nico user Anira which was simply a huge hit itself.. The PV titled “Bad Apple!! feat. nomico” is so epicly nice that since its release, the video views on NicoNicoDouga has already surpassed the 1 million mark views (1,128,000 views when post was done. ) with almost 400k favorites.. Yes, it is very hard to reach such a high mark in a short span of 1 1/2 weeks..

It is so amazing that the doujin circle Alstroemeria Records, responsible for the Touhou arrange of Reimu’s BGM, “Bad Apple!! feat nomico” in their August 2007 LoveLight album, blogged about the video at their website. So what is so good that it made alot of people, Touhou fans or not go crazy over it when there are already a few PV variations out there before it? Well, for this PV, it uses a very stylish shadow art composition, having beautiful shape transitions to illustrate different touhou characters throughout the shortened version of the song.

Before I carry on with the post, I would like to present to you the video itself, with subtitles included.. Enjoy~

“Bad Apple!!” PV 【Stylized Shadow Art】 (Subbed):

Original video at NicoNicoDouga can be found here (Need Nico Account)..

I honestly love this PV very much.. Its very nice to see some of the Touhou characters “dancing” along with the song.. Another thing I would like to point out is that the Touhou characters looks so realistic and human-like which some people says it creeps them out.. I don’t mind it at all as the movements feel so natural in a sense that it makes it unique.. Now for those who wish to know the lyrics to the song, I’ve done so here neatly, both in Romaji and in English (for translation sake)..

“Bad Apple!! feat. nomico” Lyrics:

Japanese (Romaji)	English
Nagareteku toki no naka de demo kedarusa ga hora guruguru mawatte Watashi kara hanareru kokoro mo mienaiwa sou shiranai?	Even in the midst of flowing time, oppression spins round and round. I can’t even see the heart that’s leaving me, didn’t you know?
Jibun kara ugoku koto mo naku toki no sukima ni nagasare tsuzukete Shiranai wa mawari no koto nado watashi wa watashi sore dake	I can’t even get myself to move, slipping through the cracks of time. I don’t know anything about what’s around me, I’m just me and no more.
Yume miteru? Nani mo mitenai? Kataru mo muda na jibun no kotoba Kanashimu nante tsukareru dake yo nani mo kanjizu sugoseba ii no	Am I dreaming? Or seeing nothing? My words are useless even if I speak. I’m just tired of being sad, I should go on without feeling anything.
Tomadou kotoba ataerarete mo jibun no kokoro tada uwa no sora Moshi watashi kara ugoku no naraba subete kaeru no nara kuro ni suru	Even if you give me the words I’m at a loss for, my heart just won’t pay attention. If I can move, if everything changes, it will go dark.
Konna jibun ni mirai wa aru no? Konna sekai ni watashi wa iru no? Ima setsunai no? Ima kanashii no? Jibun no koto mo wakaranai mama	Is there a future for someone like me? Will I still exist in a world like this? Is this painful? Is it sad? Not even knowing myself.
Ayumu koto sae tsukareru dake yo hito no koto nado shiri mo shinaiwa Konna watashi mo kawareru no nara moshi kawareru no nara shiro ni naru	I’m just tired even of walking, I don’t even understand people. If someone like me can change, if I change, it will turn white.
Nagareteku toki no naka de demo kedarusa ga hora guruguru mawatte Watashi kara hanareru kokoro mo mienaiwa sou shiranai?	Even in the midst of flowing time, oppression spins round and round. I can’t even see the heart that’s leaving me, didn’t you know?
Jibun kara ugoku koto mo naku toki no sukima ni nagasare tsuzukete Shiranai wa mawari no koto nado watashi wa watashi sore dake	I can’t even get myself to move, slipping through the cracks of time. I don’t know anything about what’s around me, I’m just me and no more.
Yume miteru? Nani mo mitenai? Kataru mo muda na jibun no kotoba Kanashimu nante tsukareru dake yo nani mo kanjizu sugoseba ii no	Am I dreaming? Or seeing nothing? My words are useless even if I speak. I’m just tired of being sad, I should go on without feeling anything.
Tomadou kotoba wa ataerarete mo jibun no kokoro tada uwa no sora Moshi watashi kara ugoku no naraba subete kaeru no nara kuro ni suru	Even if you give me the words I’m at a loss for, my heart just won’t pay attention. If I can move, if everything changes, it will go dark.
Muda na jikan ni mirai wa aru no? Konna tokoro ni watashi wa iru no? Watashi no koto wo iitai naraba kotoba ni suru no nara [rokudenashi]	Is there a future to come out of this useless time? Will I exist in a place like this? If I wanted to tell you what kind of person I am, the words I’d use would be "good for nothing."
Konna tokoro ni watashi wa iru no? Konna jikan ni watashi wa iru no? Konna watashi mo kawareru no nara moshi kawareru no nara shiro ni naru	Will I exist in a place like this? Will I exist in a time like this? If someone like me can change, if I change, it will turn white.
Ima yume miteru? Nani mo mitenai? Kataru mo muda na jibun no kotoba Kanashimu nante tsukareru dake yo nani mo kanjizu sugoseba ii no	Am I dreaming now? Or seeing nothing? My words are useless even if I speak. I’m just tired of being sad, I should go on without feeling anything.
Tomadou kotoba wa ataeraretemo jibun no kokoro tada uwa no sora Moshi watashi kara ugoku no naraba subete kaeru no nara kuro ni suru	Even if you give me the words I’m at a loss for, my heart just won’t pay attention. If I can move, if everything changes, it will all go dark.
Ugoku no naraba ugoku no naraba subete kowasuwa subete kowasuwa Kanashimu naraba kanashimu naraba watashi no kokoro shiroku kawareru?	If I move, if I move, everything will break, everything will break. If I’m sad, if I’m sad, will my heart be able to turn white?
Anata no koto mo watashi no koto mo subete no koto mo mada shiranai no Omoi mabuta wo aketa no naraba subete kowasu no nara kuro ni nare!!!	I still know nothing about you, about me, about anything. If I can open my heavy eyelids, if I break everything, turn black!!

Before a PV is made, there is usually a planning stage which in this case comes in a simple video filled with simple hand-sketched storyboard playing along with the song itself with a message left by the uploader “MMM” asking someone to make a PV out of this.. The author had various ideas, which were, for most parts, followed accurately in the final product above.. Original video at NicoNicoDouga can be found here..

Here is the simple yet interesting video..

“Bad Apple!!” PV 【Original Storyboard】:

Here is the Coloured Animated PV made on it..

“Bad Apple!! PV” 【Colour-Animated Ver.】:

If you ask me, the Stylized Shadow Art version is still one of the best so far for a Touhou animation.. ^^ Before I end this epic post, I would like to leave you with another version, this time using Laser Lights.. Hope you like it..

“Bad Apple!!” PV 【Stylized Laser Art】:

Source:  Kazenomise

Just last weekend, the Chara Hobby 2009 event was held at the Makuhari Messe International Convention Complex.. There are some new and upcoming figurines that the some of the companies have made and I would say that they are a Must-Get for some people like the one above for example.. XD

Alot of websites have already done their coverage on the event.. I’ve gathered some of the pictures they took of the event and without further ado, I shall post them here for all to see.. Enjoy the pics..

I shall await the B★RS figurine from Good Smile Company (GSC) that I’ve already pre-ordered and also the Alternate version which will be announced very soon I hope.. =3

Not to forget the Hatsune Miku “VN02″ figurine by Max Factory..

Via Wcloudx, Moeyo, Akiba Hobby & Hobby Stock’s Blog.

After a few days of blogging, I finally found some free time to review the last of the figurines that I’ve got from the Anime Festival Asia 08 (AFA08) event.. Well, you have seen my short review about the Sega Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin a few weeks back (Click here to read the entry..). Now it is time to review about the Alter Tsuzaki Aoba and the mecha she is piloting; Moribito TYPE2.. ^^

The original price for her is about 6500 yen which is about SGD$100 but during AFA08, she was sold at only SGD$50 (which later reduced to a good price of SGD$40).. I got this chance since I watched the show back then..

Tsuzaki Aoba and Moribito TYPE2 are actually from a manga series which later became an anime series called Jinki;Extend.. It is about two girls who end up piloting giant humanoid robots called “Jinki” (which translates to “man-machine”)..

Here is the OP of the show:

Well, let us begin with the review then.. So I was pretty impressed with how neat and tidy the figurine + the mecha were packaged inside the box.. They are also arranged nicely so that people will be impressed when they open the flap of the box..

I took a good look at the 1/8 scale Tsuzaki Aoba and I fell in love with her.. She comes in her torn and tattered “plugsuit”, showing that she just came back from battle.. This makes her look more manly than she is.. xD

Front-view shot of Tsuzaki Aoba..

However, the suit looks like it is integrated with Tsuzaki’s skin, making the whole battle-worn effects abit weird.. At least that is compensated by her pose and her MOE face.. ^^

Front-view of Tsuzaki Aoba..

Side-View shot of her..

Rear-view shot of Tsuzaki Aoba..

Well, her base is quite simple; black in style which allows Tsuzaki to take the attention like most figurines do.. Her leg is nicely detailed too with abit of shine..

Well, what makes this figurine special (and expensive) is that she comes together with her mecha during the Venezuela arc, Moribito TYPE2.. Well, its not even 1/100 or even 1/144.. Since its not stated on the box, I will just say the scale is about the same as the SD Gundams, though the head is not that big.. xD

I would like to hand it to them, the mecha really looks very detailed, down to it’s edges.. The mecha comes with 2 blades, one for each hand, a rifle and a shield.. Due to time constraint, I’ve only managed to take pictures of it weilding the 2 blades..

Seriously, they both look quite good together though I prefer the mecha to be slightly bigger than the current one.. Apart from that, I simply love them very much.. ^^

Though I can add that Moribito TYPE2 is more than meets the eye.. xD

Caught red-handed.. Now I know why the mecha is made that small.. XP

Well, thats it for this review.. I hope you enjoyed the shots I took using my N82.. I am still amazed at how clear the pictures are even under dimmed lighting.. But I would prefer having a dSLR camera of my own to take some great shots.. I wonder if my current pay is enough.. =3

Well, as for now, I would like to take a good rest and prepare myself for a good run in Dead Space… That game is totally awesome.. ^^