So let me explain. I had an office before, where I kept my computer and my manga because the room that I had had very little space. I took these pictures mainly for the contest (long since over, congrats to the winner!) and also, to remember how the office looked before I moved. Now I’m nicely settled in my new bedroom, which holds all my Otaku loves and posters, but that’s for another post!I’m usually not so messy, but there are occasions when I use my manga as reference for some of my drawings, I tend to leave them scattered around and just… leave them there XD My Haruhi-chan manga is open to something with Itsuki and Kyon. I can’t read japanese, but I enjoy the cute art <3 Love the little series that they had going on Youtube, though they removed the epsodes in a week. Hopefully us on the East Coast will get the dvd with subs eventually! Also, on the side there, you can see my laptop, which I call Onigiri. She’s tiny, compact, and provided many a distraction during my second semester at Rutgers <3

This is my main computer (which, oddly enough, has no name) You can see my two figmas (to date) Suzaku and Lelouch from Code Geass. I fool around with them now and then, though I can get too paranoid about how I treat them. They seem so fragile to me, since I have no other figmas to compare them to. I’m always scared they might implode on impact of the floor XD My friend loves Sailor Mars, and I love Sailor Jupiter, and I found them laying around the other day, so I decided to put them up near the desk to symbolize us! Anyone that knows us would think it’s kinda weird, considering she looks more like Jupiter and I look more like Mars, but that’s how we roll. The Sakura doll is from my best friend who lives in Australia, she sent it to me for Christmas, and she’s been close to me ever since! The Tsubasa doujinshi is from one of my art muses, Kaoru-chan. I look through it probably once a day, I love it so much. Right next to it is a picture I completed with one of my original characters, Rosello DuPoint. More on him later.

You can’t see the DS screen very well, but it’s playing Professor Layton and the Curious Village, my favorite video game (…that is, until Layton 2. PLEASE NINTENDO! E3 IS AROUND THE CORNER). It’s a puzzle game, something that’s kept me entertained for hours with not only the game play, but with the characters, their designs, and the animation. I used to doodle them absolutely everywhere, as you can see there in my little notebook! I love manga, and Tramps Like Us is probably the one that makes me feel good all around, something that I can’t compare to any of my other series that I have (even Yu-gi-oh) I feel like I’m reading an actual book or watching a soap opera, it’s wonderful! The art is kinda special, but it grew on me very quickly!

These are the posters on my wall. The Shugo Chara one is my favorite, the paper is very good quality and it’s glossy and just… I love looking at it X3 It came with an art book <3 Everything else came in a magazine, and the Professor Layton ones I printed out myself.

On the far right, I used to keep pictures of random cute girls I found in the magazines and posted them up by my art corner. I loved the design or just the colors, it made me sad that I didn’t know their story or the artists. Now the pictures hang right by my desk, so I can refer back to them as much as possible!

Also I had a random space where I would post up some of my own artwork mixed with one of my best friends’, Bonn-Fox. She sent me the Shrine Maiden picture (the good one up there XD) She’s really good, I was so happy that she sent me some of her sketches, adn this one was all colored and so pretty I didn’t want to just leave it in the folder, so I put it up. The rest of the pictures, I did. If you asked me why, I couldn’t really tell you. They aren’t especially good or anything… the only special ones are Satomi and Wazie, my original characters. The pictures on the wall of them are actually the first pictures I drew of them ever, and from there started my slow ruin XD

Just a close up of Onigiri and a few more of my posters. And there is my pen/pencil/marker basket. Comes in handy whenever I need a writing utensil. Once again, you ask me why I did this, I couldn’t really tell you why. I saw this basket at a crafts store for like a dollar, and I loved the design, so I got it. One of my best purchases <3 You can see a bit of my art corner.

When I was down in the office, I had this little corner where I put all my art supplies, and I would go there whenever I wanted to draw. Too bad I made it during exam time, which was when I was the most busy with everything EXCEPT art. It went to waste -_- I used it once, when I drew my Rosello picture, and it was wonderful, though a pain in the butt because my music was nowhere near me, so I had to keep getting up to change it. That board was where I put my special items when I still lived in the dorm, adorned with yet another picture from my lovely Bonn~ And a photoshoot thing I did with my Laura Button, Lucky Star style!

I can get pretty messy when I draw. When I was in higschool, I used to just need a pencil and paper, and my Faber Castel’s. NO MORE. Now I use sharpies, prismas, copics, crayons, regular colored pencils, white paint, guache… well, a ton of crap XD It’s nice though, when I sit down to do a traditional picture, all those elements come together and I need to find a way to make it all work. The Rosello picture was my first try, and I’m gonna be doing it again, since I loved how much it came out! That picture up there is my fox girl, Vixena Foxhood. She used to represent me a lot before, but I’m slowly easing back in to her. I drew her in my work uniform. Kinda secret: at one point, going to work seemed like a pain to me. I know I should’ve been grateful for it, but after a while, it just bored me and I was upset about it. I was going to give in my two weeks notice, but the day that I decided to do that, I drew Vixena in my uniform, and suddenly… nothing seemed so bad anymore. I’ve had a lot of wonderful experiences at the Cafe, and I can’t wait ot have more. I look at that picture everytime I leave my room and look forward to a brand new day.

Hehe, see? I was always inspired whenever I sat in my little corner, my way out of this world. Had my Tsubasa art book out because out of all my art books, it’s the one I refer to the most. Sadly, the binding seems to be breaking ;-; I’m gonna have to buy another one I can use to display and the broken binding one to keep referring to. Also, you can see a Yu-gi-oh picture I finished in one of my sketchbooks! You can see how much fun I used to have here, haha!

Close upu~ That tag hanging from my light was my nametag from my job when I worked at Victorias Secret (one of my temporary obsessions~) Hehe, learned how to measure le bewbs <3

Haha, the star of the show! I know some people like to pose their figmas with pictures they take to spice them up, well I don’t use my figmas (my paranoia of them breaking gets to me) I use my little keychain of my Bakugan, Drago. My little brother is obsessed with the stuff, and I watched one episode of it, and DAMN. Funniest thing I ever saw, and my love for this dragon just grew. When I saw a keychain of him, I bought him on the spot! Now he goes with me everywhere. You’ll be seeing more of him, I promise. And there’s my phone, and the wallpaper is of my and Bonn’s characters, Vix and Box. You’ll be seeing them later too XD  And of course my Yami plush <3333 He sleeps by my bed cuz I’m too scared to actually sleep with him (can you tell I’m petrified of breaking anything?!)

And a close up of the art books I own. You’ll learn very quickly, I’m a nut for these things. Thank God for New York City being close by where I can get my fill of them. I do have a rule though: If I haven’t seen the series, I don’t buy the art book. I broke my rule with the X art book, though I don’t regret it. Easily my most expensive art book, but the art is to die for. Oh, I’ll go on ranting about the books, I’ll stop here. Pictures of my actual room are coming up! There’s a lot more space now than there was before.

Bye nee~

Fruits Basket Viridian Collections

Well, I went out and I bought the new Viridan Collection today, just to see if it was any different from the original Viridan Collection. I was confused as to why they were releasing yet ANOTHER Viridian collection, since the first one didn’t come out too long ago, but once I got to Best Buy, I realized why. This is a review of the Viridian Collection, NOT a review of the Fruits Basket series. Perhaps I will do that another day because Lord knows I love Fruits Basket ;-;

Original Viridian Collection

First is first: the disc contentes are EXACTLY the same in both collections. They’re both the same length, have the same menu screens, and the second collection doesn’t have any new features or anything. The only thing different is their design, so that’s what I’m going to cover. The original Viridian collection comes in a box that’s almost like cardboard; very durable and you can tell it’s made from good material. The art work on the cover is new, and I think it portrays the characters nicely, in a simplistic and delicate way.

Side View

Included are four discs, each disc with it’s own cover. You can get an idea of the thickness of the box by it’s side view.

The art on the covers of each disc are unique to the box set, I believe. It’s hard to find any real Fruits Basket images online, despite the series being so popular. Usually there are only screencaps form the anime or edited pictures from the manga, so it was nice to see some new pictures.

The discs themselves have the original art from the single discs that were released before the box set came out. There was a complete collection before this one, and if I remember correctly, that one was around 95 or so at Best Buy. It came with as OST and character songs and the single dvds compiled in the set. This Viridian collection cost 50 dollars without tax, so I decided to go with this one instead last year. I love the slim packaging and the beautiful pictures <3

Ah, my favorite part of the discs <3 These images are beautiful, I wish there was some way to take them out so I couldn hang them on my wall ;-; They’re the inside of the covers, and when the discs are put away, it covers up half the image. All in all, the original Viridian Collection is optimal for true Fruits Basket nuts, speaking solely on quality and the amount of product you get for the package. You can still find it online at www.bestbuy.com, but I think you can only find it at select stores.

Second Viridian Collection

The reson I say this is because one look at the new collection, and I knew what was going on. The anime industry must be getting hit pretty bad in this crisis (I have no idea how; I think otaku are the least likely of people to cut back spending. Most of us are fueled by our passions and will spend regardless if there’s a crisis or not on certain items, anime included x3) because once I got in to Best Buy, I looked at the section where Fruits Basket was supposed to be, and the original Viridian collection was gone, and they had plenty of copies when I last checked. They must be switching it out with this copy, which you can tell right off the bat is made with cheaper material and has only two disc covers. The cover has artwork that doesn’t look as nice as the original, and is made from cheap cardboard (the glossy kind)

I was debating on buying it as soon as I saw it; I was expecting… I dunno. Fruits Basket is so immensely popular that seeing the series in this packaging just got me angry. I got it anyway because it really is my favorite anime series, and having back up discs to the ones I have now was a good idea (I’ve watched the Hell out of my original discs XD)

The disc covers, I gotta say, are gorgeous. I am biased toward these boys, really, they are gorgeous, and the images really capture their faces well. I haven’t seen this image of them floating anywhere, so that was an added bonus!

The original discs don’t have any real back images, just descriptions of the episodes on each disc. These were limited on space, but I gotta say, I like the design of these disc covers over the original ones. Tohru in the yellow dress was used again, as you can see from above.

The designs for the second collection are more modern, and I prefer them over the original ones, though they could have done better with the chosen images. So all in all, I would have to say, if you manage to find the original Viridian collection, buy it over the newly released Viridian Collection. Or, if you’re a hardcore fan of the series like myself, buy them both, just to have the backup discs XD But there is absolutely no change in the disc contents. They have a total of 26 episodes, the menus are all the same, as well as the extra features. The original Viridian collection goes for about 50 dollars, and the second one is being sold for 35.99. Cheaper price for cheaper quality in packaging.

Fruits Basket Viridian Collection

I really love how I go months without updating and then I go and do 2 posts in one day XD But I saw this on Toylet.net today and I found myself a bit ticked.

Fruits Basket, I would have to say, is the most adorable anime I’ve ever seen, and is my number 1 favorite anime. I had no money in my account last summer after I moved back home from Pennstate, and I was hankering to get the Fruits Basket Viridian Collection, which was technically the first anime I really liked. And thanks to a babysitting gig, I saved up the fifty I needed, and I snagged it from Best Buy! But it was this one:

Fruits Basket Viridian 1

I love my Fruits Basket Viridian Collection, and it was the first anime I ever bought, and the only one for a while. But what ticks me off is that they released, yet again, a Viridian Collection! I have the funds to get this one as well and not have it hurt my wallet too bad, but I think if you’re going to re-release something, at least add some new features or behind the scenes things! Or re-release it for a ten year anniversary or something! I have no clue what this would mark, and according to certain sites, it’s the same exact length and there’s no word of anything really different fromm the previous release ._. I personally like the cover for the first one, the one I have. The newly released one… eh. It’s cheaper at 35 bucks at Best Buy, and the original Viridian is 50 still. Since it’s so much cheaper and I love the series so much, I’m gonna buy the new one too, and I’m gonna review it and see what the big differences are! If there are any at all. If there isn’t anything new, then I just got myself more Fruits Basket just in case the discs I have go bad ^_^ *cynical*

I’ve been missing for quite a wihle, huh ^^; NO MATTER. I will continue this as if I started yesterday harhar! First update after my hiatus includes the new Nia Dollfie pictures that just sprung up from http://ameblo.jp/blog-dd/ I’ve never been a fan of dollfies, I just never saw the appeal with them. But when I saw Nia I fell in love! She looks so pretty ;-; Mind you, I’m not jumping on anything to get her, for the most popular reason that other don’t just snatch up dollfies. Not willing to dish out like 500 bucks for a doll. Maybe later, not now. I remember I said the same thing about figures, but I have my Suzaku and my Lelouch figmas at home that I love and cherish and greet every time I go in the room ^_^ More on that little story later, just wanted to put out an update to show that I’m still here <3

Yes, this is that book that is in an annoying clam shell and you can’t look through it before buying. It’s pretty pricey too, and I couldn’t find a single preview or anything online, so I decided to buy one and make one myself, for those who aren’t sure if they want to buy it or not.

Here’s the cover. I got the one that had the series I already knew and loved so there wouldn’t be any… surprises. I’m going to be a bit biased, considering that I am a CLAMP fan <3

So you open it up and you see a small gallery of art from xxxHolic, and sadly, besides a few other colored images, that’s pretty much all you get. At first glance, I thought this would be like, an art book, especially looking at the price, but it’s not. There is a small interview with CLAMP about where they talk about Yuko and Watanuki.

Here’s a tiny goody, it’s an image they didn’t put out to the public, but it comes exclusively in the book.

So this is what you get when you actually get down to it. Though I’m a CLAMP fan, this disappointed me a bit. I wanted more art and less background.

Haha, there’s wonderful Yuko and her disaster ridden face!

And then we go in to the section for Legal Drug, an unfinished story by Clamp. I just finished reading the third and last one they came out with, and really, any CLAMP fan should pick it up. The characters are very familiar, and are quite similar to Watanuki and Doumeki.

Except they’re a bit more… forward with each other, haha!

You get the background on them and it follows the format the xxxHolic section went in. Really nice if you’re a fan of the series!

Then it goes in to a small interview with CLAMP about Legal Drug, just like xxxHolic. I love reading how they talk, how they agree and how they disagree all in one discussion! I think that was the neatest part of the whole book.

Then there’s a fan comic by Kazuki Yamamoto, an artist whose series runs in Weekly Shonen Magazine. He draws CLAMP and it made me pretty happy. We don’t know much about CLAMP, but this guy’s actually seen them, and had champagne together, apparently! I think this is as close as we’ll get to seeing them.

I’M SO JEALOUS. I want to drink champagne with CLAMP ;-;

Then we get a fan comic by CLAMP themselves! Not as amazing as it sounds though ;-; Very cute drawings that are kind of remind me of Kero from Cardcaptor Sakura, but you know… it’s no Tsubasa. And I love their cute little chibi versions ;0; You can tell the girls were having fun when they made these!

Two interviews with the editor of Chobits, Cardcaptor Sakura and The Legend of Chun Hyang. They share their experience of working on a team with CLAMP. That’s pretty much the end of the book. Not a lot of material, more background information, and of coarse some lovely words from CLAMP themselves!

The book came with three Chess Pieces: Yuko from xxxHolic, Fai and Mokona from Tsubasa. I was lucky that the one book that had the series I loved also had my favorite characters from the other series! I believe Yuko is the only anime female I found to not be… like the other ones. She treats Watanuki like a man slave. I love and adore her.

Yuko telling Fai and Mokona to go do something. Too bad they probably aren’t as willing as darling Watanuki. Wanted to get an angle for Fai so you can see his coat.

A close up!

Fai by himself. This is the closest to anime figures I think I’ll ever get, so I probably had more fun than necessary, haha!

Cute little Mokona. I can’t tell which one is the boy and which is the girl, but from the sub, I think the black Mokona is the girl and the white one is a boy.

and wrapping up the post is Yuko!

Overall, this book is good if you’re a fan of the series listed, so you can get background info on the series. But it’s not an art book, and for most, probably not worth 20 dollars. But hey, if you’re a fan, go ahead and splurge, the cute drawings of CLAMP are reason enough!

Also, I have a deviantart account that I just put up, and I’ll be putting up artwork there as well. Here’s to a good time ~<3