Manga Time Kirara Magika Vol.1 2012 July Issue

This post is dedicated to the Manga Time Kiara Magika magazine which is a comics magazine that's devoted to the Mahou Shoujo Madoka anime.  I haven't had too much time so haven't really tried reading too much of it.  I read a couple of pages though and the thing that I will have some trouble with is the Kanji.  There is no furigana which is painful for me because there will have to be a lot of dictionary checking.

I realised that I should have shot more photos but the magazine was one of a number of things I shot photos of one hot Wednesday afternoon and I think I wasn't really thinking by the time I got to it, hence, only three photos.

Well, still with 3 photos, I think you can get the picture of what kind of a magazine it is. :)  It's really more or less a collection of comics, something like Shonen Jump or something similar.  The only thing is that this entire volume is dedicated to the Mahou Shoujo Madoka franchise.  This issue starts of with a short announce of the first two movies of the planned three movies for Mahou Shoujo Madoka.

The majority of this magazine is in black & white.  There are several full coloured pages in the beginning.  There is a two page time-line of the events that take place in the anime and CD Drama.  Then there is a three page interview dedicated to Aoi Yuuki, the seiyuu for Kanome Madoka.  That's followed by another 3 page interview with Akiyuki Shinbo,the director of the anime.



The rest of the magazine is mostly made up of various comics.  The majority of the pages are in b&w but there are several full coloured pages scattered throughout the magazine.  Some are serialized comics, some are 4 panel comics and some are one-offs.

As usual, I got my copy from CDJapan.  Here is the direct product page link for those who wish to buy the manga.

Minna no Uta June 2012 Magazine - Kalafina's "moonfesta"

I hope to blast through a few "un-boxing" posts today. So first up, a really simple one.

I had some expiring points at CDJapan, so I ended up ordering the Minna no Uta magazine that included "Moonfesta".

As expected, it's mostly a score book. Usually, I don't buy the score books but I made an exception for this because it's Kalafina of course :) and also because I really didn't know what to do with my expiring points.

The Minna no Uta magazine contains the scores and lyrics of the newly released Minna no Uta songs and some of the older Minna no Uta songs too. The first section of the magazine dedicates a page or two to the singers or vocal units that sing the newer Minna no Uta songs.

My main interest in this release, is Kalafina of course. Kalafina gets two pages. There is a short interview with the girls from Kalafina about "moonfesta" and about the animation. I wish I could translate it properly but I'm not skilled enough in Japanese yet. :(  Someday... someday I will get there. :)

The photos of Kalafina and Kajiura Yuki are file photos. There are also photos of the set and props used in the animation.

Included in this release is also the score for "moonfesta" and a lyrics page accompanied by some b&w photos of the props/set from the animation.



This isn't a must buy, in my opinion. But if you want the score for the song, then it's really not a very expensive buy especially if you're going to bundle it with something else you're already going to purchase to save on shipping.

I got mine from CDJapan. This is the link to the product page.

Next up, I think I'll do a Mahou Shoujo Madoka related unboxing first and then the Mahou Shoujo Madoka Key Animation Note artbook vol.3 and if I get through both quickly enough, maybe even something else too. :)

K... later y'all. :)

Kalafina "to the beginning" Live - concert goods

Going to keep this short and picture heavy because I would like to try and do at least vol.3 of the Mahou Shoujo Madoka Key Animation Note artbook.  However, I also have a few administrative things I need to take care of so I may not be able to get to the artbook tonight... if I can't, I'll try and do at least vol.3 tomorrow.

I would also like to write up more about my Japan trip and the "to the beginning" Live itself but that may take awhile because I know I'll be pretty busy at work as well.... so we'll see. :)

Anyway here goes.... :)

There were a number of items for sale at this particular live.  As usual, I got one concert t-shirt and the concert pamphlet.  I rather liked the charm strap and did consider getting stickers too but going to a live in Japan is already expensive enough for me, hence, I usually will limit my concert goods spending to a certain amount.  So in the end, I decided not to get the charm strap and just settled for the t-shirt and pamphlet.


© Spacecraft

Here are the photos for the t-shirt.



I rather like it that they are still keeping to their medieval European inspired themes.  The shirt itself is a not too thick which is good for me since Singapore is hot pretty much all year round.  It's also not too thin.  I felt that the white t-shirt for the Red Moon concert was a little too thin for my liking.

Here are the photos for the concert pamphlet.



This almost squarish pamphlet isn't quite as elaborate as the two most recent Kalafina and FJ concert pamphlets but it also cost less.  The cover uses gold letters and trimming and is rather glossy and has a very slight texture which is very hard to catch in a photo.  The photos inside are nice.  There is an introduction written by Kajiura Yuki.  Each of the vocalist gets a one page almost full length shot and a one page interview.  There is also a two page b&w spread of the trio in Malaysia during the AFA Malaysia and one page dedicated to the band members.



As far as I know, none of the concert goods are available on sale online at this point in time.  When they do come up and if I'm paying attention, I will update this post with links for those who would like to buy these goods.

Alrighty... that's it for me for now. :)

unboxing posts - coming soon :)

I didn't think it'll take me so long to post over 400 photos of the recently concluded Japan trip on facebook.  After sorting, labelling, tagging and replying the tons of messages I got since last week, some how it's evening already.  Hmmmm... I still have a ton of "unboxing" photos and posts that I would like to put up soon.

I may do the Kalafina "to the beginning" merchandise post tonight or may do the Mahou Shoujo Madoka Key Animation Note Vol.3 and Vol.4 posts.  I also have photos of several other books and the Nanoha psp game photo done already.  Just need to write posts for them soon.  Lisani vol.9 also has several pages dedicated to Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina and I would like to post those up too.

However, it's almost time for dinner and I still haven't touched my Japanese homework... really need to try schedule the time properly for tonight.

Oh... I found out yesterday that I got my first film credit. :)  I'm quite happy about it.  So far I've already worked on 6 films.  On some of them I only did one shot or partial shots so I don't expect or hope to get credits for those.  But I did work on one film for an entire year but got no film credit for that.  That was my first major project too, so I was understandably a bit disappointed about it. There were just too many artists that worked on the film and not enough space for all of us. :(  But I'm over that already. :)  I wasn't even thinking of film credits when one of my heads told me that I was one of the lucky ones who got a film credit on this film... I'm rather happy about it. :)  I told my parents who were really happy about it too and we're going to watch it together. :)

Okay... I'm going to go off now... time for dinner... but hopefully I will have at least one un-boxing post up tonight.... btw, the Mahou Shoujo Madoka Key Animation Note artbooks come packed with some awesome stuff.  I think fans of the series would like the extras that come packed with vol.3 and vol.4. :)

K... going now... later. :)

p.s. 11pm - in the end, I got too lazy to do anything constructive. :)  I ended up watching 3 episodes of Miyabe Miyuki 4 week SP specials.  Pretty good stuff, got hooked on the first episode and after that, I just could not stop.  Hmmmm.... someday I hope my Japanese will become good enough that I can read these novels.  Going to bed now... getting tired... maybe I'll do some of these posts tomorrow.... oyasumi :)

Kalafina's Moonfesta LE w/blu-ray - unboxing

おまたせしました. =)  I ended up watching telly with my mum for most of the day after she returned from a medical check-up.  I have been away in Japan for about a week and so busy at work, we've not had much time to watch telly together so I thought today, it would be nice to hangout with her for about half the day.


Alrighty, let's cut to the chase. :)  Here are the unboxing photos for Kalafina's latest single, Moonfesta.


 

This is a pretty standard release.  The packaging is all pretty standard stuff.  I do like the cover though as I find this to be one of Kalafina's brighter and less mysterious covers.  It's kind of pretty and more graphical then their usual covers.

The free postcard that is sent out with all First Press releases from CDJapan is the same regardless of which version you get.

Once again the LE blu-ray version has the Hikaru solo photo in the insert.  I must admit that I'm a little bit disappointed by that.  While I really do like Hikaru loads and loads but, of the three, Keiko is still my favourite and I would have liked the insert to be Keiko or even Wakana since the to the beginning single already featured Hikaru in the insert.

We've all heard Moonfesta by now so I won't dwell too much on the song.  The Minna no Uta song and the accompanying stop-motion animation has received a fare bit of air play on NHK so most Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina fans should have heard the song by now.

The song that is of greater interest with this release is the b-side single Yane no Mukou ni.  Kalafina sang this song for the first time at the "to the beginning" Live at the NHK Hall on the 16th July and I was part of the privilege group who heard this song for the first time.

I love Yane no Mukou ni... I loved it at the Live and after listening to the CD, I still really love it.  The song opens beautifully with a piano intro before the violin kicks in followed by Hikaru's lovely solo and then a ton of awesome Kalafina harmony.  Keiko's fans will be pleased that she gets a solo bit. :)  She sings the second stanza.  All the girls get bit and pieces throughout the song that highlight their strengths and the harmony is really beautifully written and wonderfully performed.  Yes, structurally this may not be too different from what Kajiura Yuki has written in the past but structure is merely a skeleton and the way Kajiura has dressed this song is quite simply beautiful.

My first reaction when I heard it at the live was just how stirring the song was.  I really am not sure what the lyrics mean at all.  My Japanese is really not that strong and I read better than I speak and listen so I really didn't have a clue what they were singing about at the Live but I didn't need to understand to feel emotionally moved by the song.

This single is probably Kalafina's brightest single to date.  Moonfesta is a happy song that feels like a European folk song that is sung and danced to at festivals.  I don't really have the time to work through the lyrics for Yane no Mukou ni so I still don't understand what it means but the song is very moving and the best word to use, in my opinion, is still stirring.  I can't help but feel emotionally move in a very positive way in this song.  It makes me feel like running in the sun with my hands wide open.  I really, really like Yane no Mukou ni and at this point in time, I actually prefer it to Moonfesta.  I am just so happy that I got to hear it live.  The song sounds even more epic live.  I was almost moved to tears listening to it at the live and I've never heard the song before that.

As usual, if you can afford it please buy their CDs not just to support Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina but also the music and entertainment industry.

The CDJapan links to the different versions are below.  You are free to use them if you wish.

Limited Edition with Blu-ray
Limited Edition with DVD
Regular Edition

p.s. if anyone has the rip of the 10th July BayFm Kalafina Club... could you please send me a link or something.... I forgot to download it before I left for Japan. :( :(  Thanks.

p.p.s I have also finished taking photos of the to the beginning live T-shirt and pamphlet and several Kalafina / Kajiura Yuki related items and also finished taking the photos for the Mahou Shoujo Madoka Key Animation Note vols. 3 and 4 as well as the Nanoha PSP game.... lots and lots to write about... including AFA Malaysia... yikes... need more days off. :)  Will try and get them all up in slowly over the next few weeks... fingers crossed that work doesn't kill me first. :)

Kalafina's Moonfesta - arrived

My Kalafina "Moonfesta" single arrived by mail today. :)

I'll do an unboxing later. There is a ton of unboxings that i hope to do today and in the coming days. The trip was very good and although quite tightly packed at points, I still slept in a lot and mostly managed 7 hours of sleep on most days. I feel refreshed enough to blog more. :)

i would also like to complete my Japan trip posts... lots of missing bits but i think i kept a better account this time round because of the data SIM card i was using. it made it reasonably priced for me to be online and uploading so many photos.


I ate my favourite roast duck noodles for brunch today... yay!!! :) Almost missed fedex and my parcel with the Moonfesta single... lucky the guy was very nice... he waited at the door as he tried to call me on the phone.

k... i will be back with an unboxing post later... meanwhile i want to drink some coffee and have some things i need to take care off before i will have time to take photos and all. :)

edit 730pm:
Looks like my unboxing post will have to wait... am busy spending time with my parents. :)  Family comes first. :)  I have shot a ton of photos though and hope to have at the very least this Moonfesta post up by tonight... cheers :)

Japan trip 5 - Tadaima

i am home!!! here is my usual "Tadaima" post from the cab. :)

lots to write about... but for now... some rest. :)