Kalafina & angela ~ awesome photo of them from Anisama 2014 :)

angelaと実は仲良し！？ 海外公演でご一緒する方が多いのかも？ 尊敬するKalafinaの Wakanaさん、Keikoさん、Hikaruさんと。 #また俺ハーレム pic.twitter.com/VBEwvhLLqG
— KATSU (@angela_KATSU) August 30, 2014

Two of my favourites!!! :)

Kalafina and angela in the same photo from a tweet from angela's Katsu.  He just tweeted it and I happen to be going through twitter.  Cool!!!

Okay... enough fan girling... I have stuff I need to get done. :(  Enjoy the photo!! :)

Ieiri Leo ~ 純情 (Dragon Ball Z Kai OP single) - unboxing

I shot these photos last week actually but I just couldn't find the time to do them.  I have have also shot photos of Ieiri Leo's "a boy" concert BD release but that'll have to wait a bit.  Maybe tomorrow or later in the week, we'll see.

Aside from the blog, I have added another obligation to my busy life :P and I also really need to work on tutorials on Nuke and I really want to get better at drawing, so I really do need to work more on some digital painting or something similar but it's all talk if I don't actually go and do them.  So I'll still be updating the blog, it is still a major interest for me but I may not be as active as I was a month or two ago.  Let's hope I can hold it all together. :P

Okay, enough about me, let's cut to the chase. :)

First up PHOTOS!!!! :)

      


The above are the photos of the Limited Anime Version release.

      

The above are photos of the CD+DVD Limited Edition.

Here are the tracks that you get on each of the limited editions.  You'll also find links to CDJapan next to the titles of each version.  This is for the convenience of those who wish to pick up these singles at the webstore that I usually use.

Limited Edition A (CD+DVD)  CLICK ME
CD :
01. 纯情 
02. For you
03. a boy (Acoustic Version)
04. 纯情 (Instrumental)
05. For you (Instrumental)

【DVD】
「纯情」Music Video
「纯情」MV Making
「a boy ～3rd Live Tour～」ダイジェストムービー

(Anime Version) Limited Edition B CLICK ME
01. 纯情
02. 纯情 (Instrumental)
03. a boy (Acoustic Version)
04. 太阳の女神 (Acoustic Version)

Aside from the "junjo", the CDs also include the coupling song "For You" and acoustic versions of "a boy" and "taiyou no megami".  While "junjo" isn't my favourite Ieiri Leo song, I still like it enough.  And I actually think that the singles are also worth picking up for the coupling song and the acoustic versions of "a boy", "taiyou no megami".  While "junjo" is a fast paced pop-rock number, "For You" is a very sweet ballad.  Both songs show case Ieiri's talents quite well.  She's really quite able to sing in several genres quite well indeed.  She sounds quite the rocker in songs like "junjo"and really sweet in songs like "For You".  Good stuff from Ieiri.

There is a 3rd version of this release.  This is the Regular Edition and this is the track-list.

Regular Edition (CD) CLICK ME
01. 纯情
02. For you
03. 太阳の女神 (Acoustic Version)
04. 纯情 (Instrumental)
05. For you (Instrumental)

The best way to get the best bang for your buck, if you don't want to pick up all 3 editions is to do what I did and just buy the two limited editions.  This way, you'll get all the tracks and also get the DVD.  While I really do like Ieiri Leo, my wallets don't run so deep and I already spend a ton of Kajiura Yuki,  FictionJunction and Kalafina releases and the occasional angela release so if possible I don't pick up all versions of Ieiri Leo's releases.

Anyway, I also took a few screen captures of the DVD so that you can see what you will get on the DVD.  I didn't bother to do screen captures at full screen since the DVD resolution is no longer considered high and even if I captured it at full screen, it still wouldn't look that good and take up more unnecessary storage space.  So I captured them at the original resolution.



This is a screen capture of the menu page.


 

Two captures from the making off video.

 

And two more from the digest which includes an interview with Ieiri and snippets of her singing in one of the lives on her tour.

Also, here is a preview version of the MV for Junjo.  This is an official release, so there should be no danger of it disappearing from youtube. :)



And here's a clip from her appearance at the Rock in Japan Festival.  It's a short clip of her singing "For You" live.



I wish that SMEJ will do the same for Kalafina's videos.  Seriously, I know I'm not the only one that fell in love with Ieiri Leo through YouTube.  I also got to know Perfume and KPP through YouTube.  Ah well... at least ufotable's latest vidoes for FSN Unlimited Blade Works aren't region locked.  Something to be grateful for. :)

Okay... I need to go sleep now.  That's it from me for today. :)  Hopefully, I can blog a bit tomorrow and the day after too.

For now... Oyasumi. :)

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works ~ Archer character CM online

Been busy, as usual. :P  It's not all work related though, which is nice.  I went to the Singapore Night Festival on Friday and it was very cool.  I would like to blog about it a bit but we'll see.  I have a lot of stuff I need to get done. :P

For now, here's a little heads up.  ufotable has made available online the 2nd character CM for the FSN: Unlimited Blade Works series that will begin telecast on 4th Oct. :)  And once again, it's not region-locked.  I'm really happy that at least ufotable is listening and not region-locking these CMs.

Check it out:



source

It's still previewing "Ideal White" by Ayano Mashiro.  Usually, Kalafina's songs only get previews much closer to the telecast date of the anime.  So we might be in for a little wait. :(

Anyway, enjoy this little clip from ufotable as we wait for this pretty highly anticipated anime to begin telecast. :)

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works ~ Rin character CM online

source

Arrrrgggghhhh... I forgot to write about this.  ufotable had been tweeting for a while about the release of this CM but I didn't have time to write about it.  Since PV3, ufotable has been making these videos available to international viewers as well.  After they go on air in Japan, ufotable will also make these videos available on youtube WITHOUT regional restrictions.

THANK YOU ufotable for listening to the moans of all your international fans. :)

The first character CM is of Tohsaka Rin and it also previews "ideal white", the new OP by Ayano Mashiro.

Of course the one I'm really waiting for is this:

Kalafina's ending theme. :P

Okay... I really have to go now.... bye!! :)

Madoka Magica: The Movie Akuma Homura & Kyubey ver. (e-MOOK)

Check this out.  This e-mook will be released sometime in August and I've already pre-ordered it.  I love this anime and my favourite mahou shoujo from this anime is Akemi Homura.  So how could I possibly resist. :P

They've actually released several Madoka Magica e-mooks before and I was close to picking up one when I was in Japan last year because I just didn't like it enough.

This one though looks really cool to be because I really like the simple silhouette graphic of Akuma Akemi Homura on the black tote bag.  I really like it and so I ordered it. :P  I've a friend who's travelling to Japan in September so I'll get her to carry it back for me. :D  Same me some shipping. :D

  

The above are photos of the A3 size poster, a sheet of stickers and the close-up of the name at the side of the bag.

There aren't many copies left on CDJapan.  I wanted to write this up a few days ago but I was too tired, at that point in time I think they had 15 copies but now there are only 3.  So if you want to order this from CDJapan too, don't take too long.

Here is the direct product page link for those who want to order it from CDJapan.

Madoka Magica: The Movie Akuma Homura & Kyubey ver. (e-MOOK)

CDJapan has another e-mook from the movie on their website.  I prefer the e-mook of Akemi Homura but some people may like Mami and Nagisa more. So here you go.... :)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Movie) Love! Mami & Nagisa ver. (e-MOOK)

Okay... I'm out of here, off to do other stuff... probably a little bit of a late night too.... またね!! :)

Kalafina ~ heavenly blue (Aldnoah.Zero OP single) - unboxing

I've been pretty busy at work again, hence the lack of updates.  Kalafina's been in the news a lot lately, at least a lot for Kalafina, but I'm not really keeping up that much.  Too busy with work and work related stuff.

I've got some things I would like to get to tonight too.  So I'll quickly do this Kalafina unboxing and maybe write up another unrelated post right after this... maybe. :)

Let's cut to the chase. :)

I forgot to shoot a photo of the postcard that comes free with the purchase of the single from CDJapan. Unfortunately, there were only limited numbers of this postcard and they are not giving them out any more.  I don't really have time to shoot a separate photo for the postcard, so this will have to do.  If you want a proper scanned photo of it, CLICK ME to go an earlier post which has this picture.

Okay, here we go:

  

Here are the photos of the cover of the single tray digipak packaging for this single.  As usual, I shot photos of the single with the plastic wrapping on and off.

  

There is an booklet included in this release.  There is no pocket or holder etc to hold the booklet in there, it's just placed there in the middle.  That booklet contains the storyboard of the opening animation for the Aldnoah.Zero anime.

So instead of printing the lyrics and the credit page on a separate insert booklet, they printed it on the digipack itself.

I don't know about the design that's printed on the CD itself.  I'm not really loving that orange....

   

The above are some sample photos of the storyboard insert booklet.  I didn't shoot many because I actually shot this before I dashed off for work this morning and I was in a real hurry.

I'm really quite happy that they gave us the storyboard for the WHOLE opening animation.  That's really cool.  When they announced that they were going to give us the storyboard in the insert booklet, they released a sample page of the storyboard.  I wasn't sure then if it was only going to be just a few pages or the whole storyboard.  So I'm really pleased to find out that it's really the whole thing.  That's so awesome. For me, it made it all the more worth it for me to buy this single.  I didn't really need to since I already have the song "heavenly blue" from the THE BEST "Blue" album.  The only additional tracks that I get would be the "heveanly blue ~ instrumental" and the "heavenly blue ~ tv size" tracks which aren't really "must haves".  I have to confess that I am a big Kalafina fan, hence, the purchase of this single.  So I am happy, very happy, that at lease I get something quite worth getting in my book. :)

The booklet is 26 pages long, not including the cover and the back.  You only get one coloured illustration from the anime and that's on page 1. After that you get 24 pages of pure storyboard goodness. :)  It's actually kind of fun to watch the opening animation against the storyboard. :)

 

 

Finally, aside from that you get the usual leaflet that gives the buyer information about joining the fanclub as well as info on their lives etc.

That's it.  If you're looking of photos of the trio, you won't find it in this release.  But if you're a fan of the anime, if you like storyboards, if you don't already own the song and if you like the song, then I think this is not a bad purchase at all. :)

If you wish to purchase this release, you are welcome to use the web-store that I buy most of my stuff from. Here you go... click the link below. :)

Heavenly Blue LE CD

Okay... I think I'll try and write another post real quick. :)