Sakura Miku: Bloomed in Japan Nendoroid Pre-Orders Reopen

12 / 8 / 144 / 18 / 15

When I first saw images of an updated Sakura Miku Nendoroid on my Twitter feed, I took a look, thought, “Wow, that’s cute!” and promptly forgot about it. I completely missed the fact that in addition to being the 500th Nendoroid release, she’ll be the first Nendoroid to be made in Good Smile Company’s new Japanese factory. Imagine my surprise when I found out that preorders had opened on the day of the announcement, only to sell out a few minutes later!

Luckily, Good Smile Company has reopened preorders for those who missed out on the initial batch, but it will likely still be very limited, so order yours while you can! Preorders close on December 24th, or when preorder allocation numbers have been reached. Like many limited releases, Sakura Miku: Bloomed in Japan is only available from Good Smile Company’s official online store and limited to one per customer, meaning you won’t want to miss out on this one!

Since the second batch of preorders is listed as shipping out starting in April 2015, rather than March 2015 like the initial batch, it seems likely that GSC did not initially account for such a high demand. That, or they wanted a lucky number of fans to get their Sakura Miku: Bloomed in Japan Nendoroids before everyone else!

While GSC has already done a Sakura Miku Nendoroid before, at number 274, it’s a little outdated in terms of the quality of the sculpt and paint job when compared to more recent Nendoroids. While her outfit and overall design is generally very similar, such as the cherry blossom pattern on her hair and pink uniform, the Bloomed in Japan version has a lot of new extras in addition to some general improvements. I particularly love the tricolored dango, because I’m a food nut.

This expression is too cute to resist! I love the closed eyes and triangle mouth, which is much smaller than the original version. Keeping in mind that these photos will vary somewhat from what the figure will look like in person, it seems like the Bloomed in Japan version has a more pastel pink color scheme and more impressive transparent hair than the original. Of course, you can’t miss the brand new braided hair piece she gets this time around!

Well, the moral of the story is that once I found out how limited the initial preorder allotments were, I couldn’t stand the thought of missing out on this adorable Nendoroid, so I promptly secured myself one as soon as preorders were open again. Do you like the new design, or prefer the old version? Let me know in the comments!

Swooning Over Kira Miku Lesson and Animal Food Stationery

5 / 30 / 144 / 18 / 15

I have many eccentric hobbies, but I don’t think I’ve ever quite let on about just how obsessed with stationery I am. My theory is that for someone who likes cute things from Japan, stationery is one of the cheapest and most easily accessible ways to get your kawaii fix. Whether you’re into character good such as Sanrio or a popular anime series, there’s no end to the notebooks, stickers, and other paper-based goods available!

It’s no secret that I’ve been a little bit obsessed with Hatsune Miku/Vocaliods recently, so when I saw the above stationery series, I knew I needed one of everything. The Kira Miku Lesson series marries Miku and her Vocaloid pals with a lovely pastel palette, rabbits and bears, and a variety of musical instruments. All of my favorite things!

First up is this adorable Hatsune Miku clear folder. I don’t even want to get into how many of these folders I have, and the sad fact is that I barely ever use them. But you can’t deny how cute this one is! Sometimes I just display them on my wall when I don’t know what else to do with them.

Kira Miku Lesson clear file folder back detail

The back is plain aside from this fun little electric guitar. I love all the little details like the bow on its handle!

One can never have too many notebooks though, right? As you can see, this has the same central Miku design as the folder above, but for some reason I had to have it. It’s a bit of a shame that aside from the cardboard design attached to the band that goes around the notebook, it’s actually pretty plain.

Kira Miku Lesson Hatsune Miku notebook inside page design 1

Kira Miku Lesson Hatsune Miku notebook inside page design 2

But wait, the pages inside have two different Vocaloid designs on them! That totally redeems this notebook in my eyes. There’s nothing I hate more than a notebook with a cute design on the outside that just has plain pages on the inside. Of course, though, that makes me not want to write in it for fear of “ruining” it…

Kira Miku Lesson Miku and Luka sticky notes with fish

Now, sticky notes aren’t nearly as common as notebooks and folders, so this was a really fun addition to my Miku stationery shopping spree. I’ll tell you right now, out of all the available sticky note designs, I chose this one solely because of the fish. I’m not sure why they stuck the smaller sticky notes to the larger ones, as if/when I want to actually use them, I’ll ruin the first pink sheet featuring Miku and Luka when I go to remove the fish ones. A small caveat, but it’s still a shame!

Kira Miku Lesson Vocaloid friends squishy stickers

Finally, who doesn’t love a good sticker? These stickers are especially fun they’re “squishy,” which basically means I have absolutely no idea what to put them on.

Kira Miku Lesson Vocaloid friends squishy sticker closeup

If you’re anything like the crafter Frainyxo, though, you might use these stickers to create resin charms! I hate the idea of “wasting” cute stickers like these, so when I saw she made an adorable heart-shaped charm featuring the dancing Miku at the top left of the sticker sheet, I knew I had to have it. Now I can stick these stickers on various things to my heart’s content and sleep soundly knowing I’ll have at least one of them for the long-term.

Next up are these utterly amazing food animal stickers I got in Japan last June but never got around to writing about! And you can bet your betting object of choice that, nearly a year later, not a single sticker is out of place. It’s sad, really, the life of a collector…

Japanese animal food McDog stickers hamburger dog

The great thing about having a scanner in this modern age, though, is being able to scan in things like stickers and save them forever. Am I starting to sound creepy yet? Seriously, for unique things like these, I can’t bring myself to actually use them until I’ve “catalogued” them in some way. The idea of sticking one on something and “ruining” it forever is too much to bear!

More importantly, though, how awesome are these stickers?!

Japanese animal food Bird 32 ice cream parakeet stickers

Bird ice cream! I love how each series is a spoof on different famous fast food chains. Can you guess them all?

Japanese animal food MOF burger cat hamburger stickers

Japanese animal food bunny donut stickers

If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be the Bird 32 Ice Cream, but the bunny donuts are also great! Who am I kidding, they’re all adorable. And would you believe each sheet was only $1? Talk about a steal!

I’m curious, do you like seeing pictures of my stationery? I certainly have a ton of it, so if that’s something people would like to see more of, I can certainly oblige! It would definitely be the motivation I need to scan in more of my collection…

Chic Pixel YouTube Channel Update

5 / 9 / 144 / 18 / 15

Most of you are probably aware by now, but in case you’re not… I have a YouTube channel! I’ve always found it much easier to express myself in text versus standing up in front of people or, in this case, on camera, making starting a YouTube channel perhaps the scariest online endeavor I’ve undertaken yet. But as they say, practice makes perfect, the show must go on, and video is a whole new world just waiting to be explored!

This is the face of someone who loves what she does

In the future, I’d like to do a post here every time I upload a new YouTube video, but I’ve been rather slack about it lately, so I thought now would be a good opportunity to remind everyone that I’d like to think of the channel as an extension of the Chic Pixel site, but by no means a replacement. If you like the kind of things I post here, I’m sure you’d enjoy the videos I have to offer! But if video isn’t your thing, don’t worry, I’ll still be writing regularly, and the vast majority of my content will continue to be written. I’m not going to beat around the bush, though – the views on my videos are painfully low at the moment, so do please consider checking them out!

The main series I’m focusing on at the moment is “Apricotsushi Samples,” where I try all manner of exotic Japanese treats and film my (sometimes) hilarious reactions on camera. And since I love Japanese packaging, you can be sure there are lots of gratuitous “packshots,” too! My latest episode is a weird one indeed:

I just love that someone thought to themselves one day, “You know what would be cool? A toy toilet bowl that kids can drink out of!” I actually still have my pink toilet sitting on my shelf, currently occupied by a little plastic Sylveon. I might actually do what the package suggests and plant something in it at some point!

Now, back in March I received an OyatsuBox Japanese snack subscription which was packed full of Japanese snacks and candy. After reviewing it, I did what any sane person would do – sample every single thing in the box! If you’re curious to see what was good and not so good, this episode of Apricotsushi Samples is for you:

Finally, you may remember how I was swooning over the Japan-only Hatsune Miku lottery that Family Mart did during the month of March. My host mother was kind enough to enter the lottery a few times for me, and I recently received the fruits of her labor. If you’re curious to see what the Hatsune Miku lottery items look like up close or what a typical package from my host mom looks like, it’s all here:

With that, I think we’re just about up to date! My goal is to get into a regular routine where I upload a new episode of Apricotsushi Samples a week, and any other videos as the opportunities arise. I’m having a lot of fun filming and editing them, but it’s a lot of work I’m not accustomed to, so if you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

Finally, there’s the little issue of nomenclature. I can’t decide if I should brand the channel with the Chic Pixel name, or use some variation of “apricotsushi” (the user name I go by on social media) in the title. What do you think? Do you have any fun channel name ideas I might have overlooked? Let me know!

Japan Envy: 2014 Spring Good Smile Kuji Merchandise

3 / 6 / 144 / 18 / 15

I don’t know about you, but my jealousy towards Japan comes in waves. During certain months it seems as though there’s practically nothing swoon-worthy in the way of limited or exclusive merchandise that makes me curse the day I chose to move to Australia over Japan, while other seasons make it impossible to ignore all of the awesome-looking collaborations and campaigns. This is probably related more to how often I seek out such things than the actual frequency of which they occur, but this year there seems to be something special about spring…

Now that I’ve finally had my “Miku fan” switch turned on, I have the potential to be exposed to approximately 150% more adorable campaigns and tie-in merchandise than ever before, which, as you can probably imagine, is great for me, but horrible for my wallet. Today I’d like to talk about one such recurring event that I only became aware of recently: the Good Smile Kuji.

You may recall that Good Smile Company does a lot of figures and are well-known for their Nendoroid and figma lines. In addition, they make countless character goods, and twice a year they hold a “kuji,” or lottery, for Vocaloid fans to try their hand at winning a number of adorable items, including some exclusive figures. This spring’s lottery starts on Saturday, March 8th at 6 pm at Family Mart and Tsutaya stores around Japan, and is chock full with awesome looking prizes:

Graphic ABS figures – 6 designs

Vinyl bag and charm set – 4 types

Rice bowl set – 4 types

The first and greatest thing about the Good Smile Kuji that you need to know is that you’ll win a prize for every ticket you buy. For a mere 762 yen plus tax (approximately $8), participants are guaranteed one of these items! Purchasing a ticket gives you the chance to stick your hand in a box and pull out a slip of paper that will have the a letter from A to H written on it. These letters correspond with which prize you’ll get! For letters like the ones pictured above, you’ll only be able to choose one design out of all of the available options per ticket.

Design tote bags – 2 types
Family Mart designs pictures on left, Tsutaya on right

Tulip piggy bank – Rin-chan version and Ren-kun version
(2 types)

Nap set (neck pillow and eye mask)

Here are the next three prizes, thus concluding the “less exciting” tier of items. I would say “less rare” because I assume they will be much more common than the limited edition figures coming up, but I have absolutely no idea what the win ratio for any of these might be. I’m going to assume the graphic ABS figures (H) will be the most common since there are so many of them – that way people will at least be able to pick different designs when they get duplicates.

It’s interesting to note that the design tote bags (E) are the only ones that will be different depending on whether you go to Family Mart (a convenience store) or Tsutaya (a film/music/game rental store). Based on the designs shown, which store would you head to?

Hatsune Miku school uniform version figma

Hatsune Miku school uniform version Nendoroid

Now for the big ticket items! (I’m not going to apologize for that expertly-played pun) Considering the A prize is the Nendoroid and not the figma, I’m going to guess that that’s the rarest item. They’re both pretty adorable, don’t you think? Though Hatsune Miku has been made into numerous figmas and Nendoroids, the various details such as her glasses and headphones make these two pretty unique. But that’s not all…

Hatsune Miku school uniform special color version Nendoroid

One lucky person at each store will win this alternate Hatsune Miku school uniform version Nendoroid! To get your hands on one, you have to be the very last person to purchase a lottery ticket at a participating Family Marts or Tsutaya. Which do you prefer, this or the regular color?

Finally, those who purchase 5 tickets will be entered into what I suppose is considered the real “lottery.” The prize is a special tapestry illustrated by KEI, which will be given to only 390 people in the whole country. I suppose it’s safe to guess that it will feature school uniform Miku in some form, too? The below image by KEI is the inspiration behind the school uniform Miku line and is also being used to promote the kuji event as well as the Miku Loves Family Mart 3rd Campaign: Fun Spring Music Festival (wow that’s a mouthful), so I bet we’ll be seeing a variation of the same illustration on the tapestry, too.

I have to say, if I were to enter this lottery, I’d actually be pretty happy with any of the items! My least favorites are the graphic ABS figure and the nap set, but they’re not exactly bad, and I’d be pretty stoked to win any of the other prizes. If I had to pick a “must-have,” it would definitely be the rice bowls, tote bags, and, of course, the Nendoroid. She even comes with a little piano!

Sadly, the likelihood that I’ll ever get my hands on most of these items is probably pretty slim. Luckily for folks like me, though, many resellers will be pawning off the Good Smile Kuji merchandise in the upcoming weeks, months, and even years! But be careful – the figures, in particular, will go for insane prices at first, but they should settle down to something more reasonable in the upcoming months. I wonder if I’ll still be pining away over the school uniform Miku by then!

Bonus: It’s only vaguely related, but this illustration and logo for the Family Mart x Hatsune Miku Menu Development Project kills me: