Catch-Up Corner: Monster Hunter Madness!

I’ve been pretty heavily saturated in Monster Hunter-related things lately, so instead of the regular Catch-Up Corner mishmash, I’ve decided to keep this one Monster Hunter-themed! First, to finish up my week, I spent the majority of the weekend working on my very own Felyne hat:

handmade Monster Hunter Felyne felt hat

I have to say, I’m surprisingly proud of how it turned out! I got a sudden bolt of inspiration while I was out grocery shopping on Saturday, and proceeded to pick up the required felt materials from my local Daiso so that I could draft up the pattern and get it sewn over the weekend. Since I don’t have a sewing machine, it was all completely sewn by hand, which meant it took pretty much the whole weekend to finish. For the curious, all of the face details are glued on with fabric glue, but the ears, hat seam, and hemming is all sewn.

I originally got this idea because I wanted to make some kind of prize for the Monster Hunter event I’m holding this Sunday (stop by if you happen to live in Brisbane!). Since this first one turned out so well, I think I should be able to finish a second one by then!

Monster Hunter Compilation "Re:" Mix Chiptune album cover

Next up is a really cool event that is scheduled for while I am in Japan! Capcom is releasing a Monster Hunter chiptune remix album titled Monster Hunter Compilation “Re:” Mix Chiptune and will be hosting a launch party on July 20th at 2.5D in Shibuya! (very close to where I’m staying) While I was originally very keen to go, they will be streaming the whole thing live on the night and tickets cost $20 to attend, so I just tune in from the comfort of my dorm… I’m also embarrassed to say that don’t really recognize any of the Monster Hunter music in the song clips provided on the site! Even so, it still seems like it could be a cool event, and those of you who don’t live in Japan should mark your calendar so you can watch the livestream (starting 6:30 am on the 20th, Eastern time).

UPDATE: Whoops, I got the date completely wrong! It was on the 3rd. Oh well!

Monster Hunter Frontier G receptionist Nendoroid

Finally, there was one last announcement this past week that combines my love of Monster Hunter and Nendoroids: a limited edition Nendoroid will be released with the premium edition of Monster Hunter Frontier G! I know next to nothing about Frontier G, but it’s basically a Monster Hunter MMO and has never been released in English. The Nendoroid is modelled after the G-class quest receptionist, and though she certainly has a unique design, I don’t actually find it all that appealing… I guess I should consider myself lucky, as I wouldn’t want to import a premium-priced copy of Frontier G, anyway!

Making the Kracie Popin Cookin’ Kuru Kuru Takoyaki Kit

Phew, filming and editing videos is hard work! It’s nothing like writing, which lets me take time to collect my thoughts, put them down on virtual paper, and come back later to edit as necessary. It isn’t even comparable to podcasting – though I can do little to edit the way I’ve said something if it comes out sounding dumb, at least in podcast form I can be sitting in my pjs sipping a hot cup of coffee as I record, for all you listeners know!

Video, on the other hand, is brutal. I’m conscious of how I both look and sound, and even after I’ve recorded everything to my satisfaction, the editing process takes twice as long as it does for a podcast. Basically, this is a long-winded explanation for why I’m so late in uploading a new episode of Apricotsushi Samples! Hopefully with each video I’ll get slightly better at the whole process to the point where I don’t feel so preemptively exhausted every time I think about doing a video.

On this week’s episode, I finally get around to trying the Kracie Popin Cookin’ Kuru Kuru Takoyaki kit! I was very apprehensive about this one (is it actually supposed to emulate real takoyaki?), but since I got it in a shipment from Candy Japan, I had to give it a shot. Give the video a watch to see how I fared…

The video clocks in at nearly 10 minutes, so I’d really like some feedback on it, if you get through the whole thing! Is 10 minutes too long for a candy kit like this? Should I cut out some of the steps in the making process? These are all questions I ask myself in editing, as I tend to think that 10 minutes may be a little too long to sit and watch a YouTube video, but if you prefer the level of detail I’m providing for the whole kit process, please let me know.

Finally, stay tuned for my 100 subscriber giveaway! I’ll be announcing it in an upcoming video, and it’ll be chock full of fun Japanese snacks, so you won’t want to miss it!

Apricotsushi Reviews: Japanese Treats

Are you sick of Japanese snack subscription services yet? I know I’m not! It’s really exciting to see so many different subscription services pop up that are all about providing Japanese candies and snacks to people around the world. If Japanese treats are your game, you’ll be spoiled for choice: there’s OyatsuBox, Candy Japan, and now the aptly-named rookie Japanese Treats is joining the ranks!

If you’d like to see me ooh and aah over everything in their very first subscription box, check out my unboxing video above. Japanese Treats is $22/month, and since that price includes shipping anywhere in the world, it’s very competitive (Candy Japan and OyatsuBox are both $25/month). All up, this month there were 11 different items, which I think is very generous!

Like OyatsuBox, Japanese Treats provides a sheet which each order that says the name and a short description of each item. These “cheat sheets” are very helpful for those who can’t read Japanese and aren’t familiar with the different snacks, so I’m really glad they include them!

Now let’s take a closer look at each of the different items included in the box!

I just love character goods (if you haven’t noticed by now), so I was especially excited to see these Disney Pakuncho chocolate cookies. Not only is the box covered in Mickies (and a lone Donald!), but the cookies themselves have Disney characters printed on them!

These character rock-paper-scissor cutouts on the back of the box are super cute, too. As for the cookies themselves, I don’t expect them to taste much different from Koala’s March or Hello Panda, but I’m fine with that.

Now, I’m familiar with the delicious chocolate-covered biscuits shaped like bamboo shoots known as Take no Ko no Sato, but I’ve never seen them in this kind of packaging before! I love the design, and I know they taste good, too! One thing to note is that the sheet Japanese Treats provided calls them Kino no Ko no Yama, as it’s possible to either get these or the same type of cookie in a mushroom shape, which are called Kino no Ko no Yama.

I can tell these Japanese snack subscription providers really want to please the folks who are into the internet-famous Japanese candy kits, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise to see this Nigi Nigi Osushiya-san sushi gummy kit in my box. The peach and lemon-flavored gummies are meant to look like pieces of fish, and you combine them with the banana-flavored “rice” gummies to make little sushi! I actually bought myself one of these already, so I think I’ll include this one in an upcoming giveaway.

These may look like regular plain animal crackers, but I just love the package! Honestly, if the people behind these services just picked snacks with fun packages, I’d probably be happy regardless of what was inside! Maybe I should start a subscription service like that…

I just love a good pun, don’t you? Well, these calcium-fortified grape-flavored candies are called Ju-C! Hah! As you can see from the package, Ju-C has been around since 1955. They don’t show up very well in the photo, but I like the little animals circling the left end of the container. I can’t wait to try them!

Kyabetsu (cabbage) Taro here are flavored corn puffs covered in nori, which, funnily enough, do not actually have anything to do with cabbage. The frog mascot Taro looks pretty sharp in his policeman outfit, don’t you think? I’m told these are quite popular in Japan, but I’ve never actually noticed them!

I think this has to be the highlight of the box for me! At first I thought these were just soda-flavored hard candies, which is nothing particularly new or exciting, but they’re actually candies that you mix with water to make soda! As you can see from the package, there are five different flavors, and it encourages you to mix them to come up with even more. I think these are going to be a lot of fun to try, so I’ll definitely be doing an Apricotsushi Samples video for them!

These Chocobi chocolate puffs are actually Crayon Shin-chan themed, so that actually makes two character goods in this month’s box! They also come with one of 20 different stickers, which is always fun. I must admit I see these quite often locally and I’m not a massive Crayon Shin-chan fan, but I’m still intrigued to see how they taste.

Finally, we have Dondon Yaki, which I received in a previous OyatsuBox (they’re really good!), some pudding-flavored bakeable Kit Kats, and ramune fortune telling candies. The fortune candies actually look a lot like pills, but each one is labeled with something different (“sports,” “love” etc.). When you pop them out it tells you a your fortune. Japanese Treats has a blog post with translations of all the different possibilities so you can see how you fare!

I’m sure a lot of people would be really excited to receive the bakeable pudding Kit Kats, and believe me, I was too! My enthusiasm was only slightly dampened by the fact that 1. I bought 2 large bags a couple of weeks ago from Jlist and 2. my oven is currently not working. I like that they give you two so you can try baking one and have the other fresh if you desire. I’m so bummed that my oven is broken… I really want to try them!

There you have it! I’m really impressed with Japanese Treats, as they are not only very reasonably priced, but they ship their boxes quickly and offer a great selection. If they continue to offer 10 or more items for $22/month, this may make them the best deal out of all the Japanese snack subscriptions I’ve reviewed so far. I’m really looking forward to seeing how they develop over the next few months!

Catch-Up Corner: Schick x Attack on Titan, #PuzzleMonth Update

I don’t think I need to reiterate my love for weird Japanese collaboration campaigns, but in case you’re new around here: I love Japanese collaboration campaigns! Even if it’s a collaboration featuring two products/franchises I’m not really interested in, a limited-time promotional campaign always catches my interest. Luckily for me, however, this new crazy Japanese campaign features Attack on Titan, an anime that, while it had its issues, I quite enjoyed when it aired!

I can’t say I’m as big a fan of shaving hygiene, but this Schick x Attack on Titan campaign is amazing. They even have a series of three promotional videos on their website with dorky redubbed anime footage with tons of funny voiceovers! The real purpose of the campaign, of course, is to get people to buy Schick razors, so they’re offering six little Attack on Titan figures which will be packaged in different razor products:

I’ll admit, I wouldn’t be adverse to owning a little Levi holding shaving razors instead of his usual weaponry! Schick is even offering razor stands with more realistically-proportioned Mikasa and Levi figures. Poor protagonist Eren has been kicked out of the limelight, I guess!

I still have time to decide if I’m going to seek out one of the cute mini figures or not…. But even if you can’t get your hands on them, I highly recommend poking around the official website for this collaboration if you’re looking for a laugh!

Pretty pleased with that score. #PuzzleMonth pic.twitter.com/8m5G4UsXLv
— Adam Lee (@Shiroth) June 2, 2014

Since June’s Community Game-Along theme is everything puzzle-related, I’ve been trying to get in a few puzzle games whenever I have a few free minutes. As always, it’s great to see everyone joining in the fun! So far, I’ve played a little of Tetris with Card Captor Sakura: Eternal Heart (it’s just like the title says, Card Captor Sakura Tetris!) and some of the new PS Vita rhythm puzzle game developed by Arc System Works, Magical Beat. I also reviewed the iOS puzzle game rainblocks, which is free to play and both looks and sounds great. I highly suggest checking it out if you have an iOS device and would like to try something for #PuzzleMonth!

Finally, I still have one code left for subaku for iOS to give away! Head over the the June Game-Along information post to see how you can claim it!

Catch-Up Corner: E3 Announcements and Japanese Treats Subscription Service

Phew! It’s already the start of a new week here in Australia, but I’m going to squeeze a Catch-Up Corner in before the clock strikes twelve in the last area of the world where it’s still Sunday.

Since this past week was all about the big E3 conference in the gaming world, I couldn’t help but tune in to some of the news and streams. For the most part, E3 doesn’t really feel like an event that caters to someone like me, but I was really impressed at how Nintendo came out guns blazing to announce a bunch of interesting titles and produce the most fun “conference” of the big three. I’m sure everyone has had their fill of E3 news and recaps (I know I have), so here’s a few quick favorites of mine from the show:

Splatoon (Wii U) – First of all, what a charming idea! Splatoon is a third-person “shooter” that pits cute little squid children against each other in paint splattering fights, and I couldn’t be more charmed by a game. I just love the premise of hurling paint to “claim” territory, and the fact that the characters can transform into actual squids to quickly traverse the area is such a neat mechanic. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this would sell me on a Wii U, but I’d definitely pick it up if I had one.

Fantasy Life (3DS) – Long have I awaited the day that Level 5 would announce a localization of Fantasy Life, their Animal Crossing-esque life sim/RPG for the 3DS. I could very well have purchased the Japanese version, but it’s always great to see interesting titles like this get an English release. The game will be out on October 24th, and I definitely plan on grabbing a copy.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (PS4 & Xbox One) – I have rather mixed feelings about this news, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t one of the more exciting announcements to come out of E3. Fans have been clamoring for an English version of Final Fantasy Type-0 (PSP) for ages, but I had pretty much given up hope and even have a copy of the Japanese version sitting on my shelf from my last trip to Japan. An HD release sounds like the perfect way to bring it to an English-speaking audience while still keeping the game on relevant platforms, but I just don’t understand why there isn’t a Vita version like Square Enix did for Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD! I’m most definitely not buying a PS4 or Xbox One anytime soon, so I think I’ll just have to stick with the Japanese PSP version. It’s great news for those with the hardware, though!

On the video front, I’ve posted an unboxing of a new Japanese snack subscription service, aptly named Japanese Treats! This is their first month, and I have to say, I’m really impressed with the initial selection of goodies. Please do check out the unboxing video to see what I got, and you can expect a full review of their service this week!

… And now I enter crunch time, as I’ve got a seminar to do on Friday! After that it will be relatively smooth sailing until I head to Japan on July 12th!

Shop Spotlight: BeagleCakes Art & Illustration

I’m always excited to find a new artist or crafter, so I was thrilled to learn about Maggie Tsou and her adorable brand BeagleCakes!

What I love about Maggie’s style is it’s unique while at the same time having a definite kawaii Japanese-inspired aesthetic. She specializes in illustration, but her Etsy shop stocks everything from super cute stickers to miniature acrylic sweets accessories.

Maggie was kind enough to send me a sample selection of some of her hand-cut stickers, which you can see above. All of them are really adorable, but I especially like the band-aid, chubby brown cat, and ghost cat on the right! I can’t wait to stick them all over my stuff.

 

The stickers arrived surprisingly quickly – though I was given an estimate of 3 weeks for them to arrive, they came within a week and a half! Maggie was really pleasant to communicate with, which is always a bonus when shopping at a small business, in my opinion. Her prices are very reasonable, too, with a stack of 12-15 stickers of various designs running only a few dollars. Needless to say, I highly recommend her Etsy store! Here are a few of my favorite items:

Puppy and bunny cupcake stickers!
Alpaca stickers!
Painted wooden kitty keychain!

She has many more items available, such as sketch and illustration commissions, tons of adorable stickers (including Sailor Moon ones!), and lots more. Be sure to follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr to stay updated on her new products! She has stores on both Etsy and Storenvy.

Apricotsushi Reviews: The Man of Tango

When I first saw the cover of Man of Tango, I was sure it had to be bara, or gei comi, a genre of manga distinct from boys’ love (hereafter BL) due to it usually targeting a gay male audience rather than women. The author, Tetuzoh Okadaya, however, is most definitely a woman, and more importantly, she was explicitly approached by an editor to write a BL story, which resulted in The Man of Tango. I’m always excited to see BL that shakes up the genre (that’s what I’m writing my thesis on, after all!), so her unique style combined with her comments about being inspired by bara visionary Gengoroh Tagame had me very excited to see what The Man of Tango had to offer.


The Man of Tango is a one-shot manga about the life of tango aficionado Angie, a man that despite his deep passion for dance has never been able to awaken his true spirit, nor find a life partner. But since this is BL, all that changes when he meets Hiro, a nondescript half-Latin, half-Japanese businessman who soon finds himself drawn in by Angie’s charms. Angie reminds Hiro of his home and youth, but not all of his memories are positive. Hiro soon finds himself opening up to Angie in more ways than one, simultaneously being drawn into the mystical world of tango and gay romance.

First, I have to point out that The Man of Tango does a lot of great things that you don’t see in BL very often. Aside from the love-it-or-hate-it art style, it’s one of the few BL stories I’ve read that prominently features a female character who isn’t being used as a catalyst for disaster between the male couple (usually in the form of a third love interest, jealous ex, etc.). Instead, Angie’s tango partner and roommate Bene is a warm, appealing female supporting character, which is most welcome as a breath of fresh air in the otherwise male-dominated BL genre.

Of course, the other major draw of The Man of Tango is in the subject matter. It’s clear that Tetuzoh Okadaya appreciates the art of tango, and I felt like even I learned something about the art, or at least had a greater appreciation for it, by the end of the story. I also loved the fact that both of the male protagonists are older, with Angie being in his late thirties and even sporting some facial hair (though I suppose you could say that’s a Latin stereotype). The story is also appropriately mature, though it borders on dark, especially when delving into Hiro’s childhood, so those looking for a happy-go-lucky romance may find it too heavy. Personally, however, I really enjoyed the more mature themes.

It’s the fact that The Man of Tango does so much well that makes the areas where it stumbles all the more frustrating. I am never a fan of the “but I’m not gay!” line appearing in BL, but The Man of Tango takes it to an extreme by also having Angie take advantage of Hiro when he is drunk (see above image), making Hiro’s subsequent revelation that he has feelings for Angie and has already engaged in X-rated activities with him not romantic in the least. Not only did Angie’s sexual advances on Hiro when he is inebriated make me dislike him, but Hiro’s constant “I’m not gay, but I like you!” admissions felt especially juvenile when compared to the other issues the story tackles, which made me dislike him, too. So, in the end, while I enjoyed a number of the overarching themes of the story, both male protagonists were obnoxious and the story did not convey the feeling of a great, timeless romance by having a relationship building out of a non-consentual first sexual encounter. I’m not saying that non-consentual sex has no place in a mature storyline, but in this case, it just wasn’t handled in a satisfactory manner (in fact, it wasn’t even regarded as non-consentual by any of the characters).

The Man of Tango may not be for everyone, but I still think it does a lot of interesting things and I hope to see more from Tetuzoh Okadaya in the future. Most importantly, let’s see more older protagonists, mature themes, female side-characters, and interesting art in BL! I just hope we can move past non-consentual sex and “only gay for you” shenanigans sooner rather than later.

Disclaimer: A copy of the manga was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review