I’m planning to do a roomwear-style shoot with her (and proper lighting) soon… but that doesn’t mean a lot;;

When I started becoming interested in DDs last year, I found myself drawn to this particular girl… I eventually found a decent deal for her on y!Ja, fullset, but stained. I spent some time cleaning her up, and finally now she gets some time in the spotlight~

Because Rin is the oldest sister of the group… she also got a bust upgrade… XD

Rin is such a natural model… I’ll have to spend some more time with her to determine her personality. What lies behind that sly smile…?

うふふふ~

Now that everyone has been introduced, (at least in photos, if not in story) maybe I’ll try to put together a family photo…

Marisa wants to make sure I haven’t forgotten about her – those bangs need a trim for sure, but it’s a bit cute to see her here with that smile and messy hair…

Still getting settled, but trying to pay some attention to my girls when I can~

I’m attempting to do a 365photo thing over at my personal blog lately since that’s about all I have time to do these days… this is today’s shot! (Please ignore the ratty wallpaper in the background, I will eventually do something about that OTL)

Oh, but wait, what’s this? I thought Saku’s head had been sent off to get remakeuped? Then who’s in all pink…?

[ Apologies to all DD people I haven't been keeping up with (which is basically everyone) - there are some pretty major changes going on in my life right now and I've had to take a little break for the moment, but I plan to come back to active status in the next month or so! I hope to squeeze in a swimsuit shoot before summer is completely over, at least... orz; ]

The illustration on the cards I had at AX were done by my lovely friend Yuki~

She is currently open for commissions and charges a very reasonable rate (too little, in my opinion!) for her gorgeous work~

I’ll probably update this blog’s layout using chibi Saku relatively soon…

(Makuharu Hongo [幕張本郷] station)

To expand upon this subject a little bit, I’ll provide my personal experiences with the card along with any knowledge I have about it.

I first obtained my Suica in 2006 during my study abroad session in Chiba prefecture. Other classmates were getting Suica 定期(teiki) – a commuter pass version of the card. I didn’t need it since my daily commute was on the Keisei line, but I wanted to get a Suica anyway, because it seemed neat

The way you obtain the card is as follows: after choosing a JR machine that supports Suica, you select that you want to buy one, and give it 2000yen. 500 of that goes towards the card itself, and 1500 can be used freely. You can charge up your card whenever you’re at a machine using increments of 1000, 2000, 5000 or 10,000 yen, and there doesn’t appear to be a limit – I remember seeing ads for using Suica at the airport for domestic flights so clearly they want to encourage lots of use.

Suica has come a long way since 2006 – back then, you could primarily use it on JR lines and at certain convenience stores that accepted it. Now, you can use the card on many of the subway lines in Tokyo (but not private lines! Please be careful! Anything that is not part of the “Tokyo Metro” system, for example Tokyu lines, will not accept Suica!), the Keisei lines, and even in other regions of Japan! I was a little confused about this, but apparently Suica can be used in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, etc) where you would normally need an ICOCA or similar pass for the same functionality. This makes buying a Suica even more convenient! (Note that you can only buy Suica at JR East (Tokyo and surrounding areas) train stations even though you can use them elsewhere.)

Moreover, Suica cards do not expire unless you don’t use them for 10 years. That’s right. Even if you only go to Japan every 9.9 years, as long as you use your Suica once you’re all set! I tend to go to Japan about every other year, and have used the same Suica I bought back in 2006.

Money does not disappear from the card if you don’t use it, either. I believe you might be able to ask for the remaining balance left on the card if you turn the card in at some point, but I’ve never done that, so I’m less clear on the process.

Suica is a contactless card, which means that you merely need to keep it in your wallet, or passcase, and hold it over the sensor – no need to take it out and feed it through the ticket gate. Additionally, there are gates set up just for paying via Suica, so your travel is that much speedier! For people who are living in Japan, and depending on the model, Suica can even be added to your mobile, so as long as you have your phone with you, you’re all set! (Again, I’ve never done this, but I’m well aware of its existence. It’s possible this version of Suica draws from a bank account rather than a card which is charged every now and again.)

Many stores accept Suica as payment – if they do, you’ll see a clearly displayed payment sensor with the symbol for Suica on it. Usually at least one of the convenience stores in a JR station will accept Suica. This is a great way to use up your remaining balance, if you want to, and can be pretty useful if you run out of cash while away from your home base.

Even if you’re only in Tokyo for a stay of about a week, if you ever plan on coming back, I’d recommend buying a Suica card. Without Suica, you need to make sure you have cash (sometimes small bills, as ticket machines may occasionally not take 10,000yen notes) and you need to keep track of a tiny ticket stub which is easily lost.

JR’s english info page about Suica

After watching the first episode or so, I decided to jump right into reading the original work, the visual novel that was released by August.

Our feisty main female protagonist, Sendo Erika, is vice-president of the student council at Shuchikan Academy….. and also a vampire!

Although Erika and Iori are both vampires, there’s one important difference – Iori drinks blood directly from humans, but Erika refuses to feed on the people around her, insisting that it’s not elegant. She instead gets her fix from blood packs, drinking from a glass with a straw.

Oh right, the male protagonist. (Rarely seen, although he’s almost always present and is actually voiced…) Our eyes and ears are those of one Hasekura Kouhei – a teenager who has spent most of his life moving from one place to another due to his parents’ work. He hasn’t made any really close friends because he always leaves within a year of meeting people, and so only creates superficial ties with people which are immediately broken upon him leaving.

Once his parents were going to move overseas for work, he sought out a high school where all students lived in dorms, thus preventing him from needing to move before graduation in two years. Incidentally, this school is also on the island where he spent the longest amount of time earlier in his life. During that time, he came to know a pair of sisters, Yuki Kanade and Yuki Haruna. When he runs into them, they’re eager to rekindle the friendship they had as children.

He also makes friends with Hachimandaira Tsukasa, a guy in his class who sleeps through school a good portion of the time, more likely than not because he spends most of his after school time working.

The three of them start a tea party ritual in Kouhei’s room, which continues for most of the year but often decreases in frequency once the individual routes start up.

The remaining two girls with routes are Tougi Shiro, an underclassman with looks that might place her squarely back in middle school…

and Kuze Kiriha, the mysterious ice queen.

Eventually Shiro and Erika join the original quartet in the tea party ritual on occasion, making it a full house.

Aside from the discovery of Erika and Iori’s vampire nature near the beginning, the game focuses largely on everyday school life – Kouhei going to class, doing work in the student council, preparing for the sports and culture festivals… Fortune Arterial has a strong “everyday” type feel to it, which I quite enjoyed, and made the supernatural elements all the more interesting.

The sports festival is the branching point for individual routes – the choices you make right after it affect whose path you will enter.

However, even after you enter individual routes, you’ll still encounter the rest of the girls, and it’s worth going through all the routes to see everything your favorite characters have to offer. Besides, if you want to get 100% CG completion and proceed to Erika’s true route, which answers all unanswered questions up until that point, you’ll need to at least speed through the other girls’ to unlock them.

However! Completing all the routes does not mean you need to start from scratch each time! Fortunately FA is not an Endless Eight type scenario – even though you can start from a save after the sports festival, the events that follow vary greatly depending upon which route you enter. Each time gives you a little more information on how the overall pieces fit together, culminating with the final route, which completes the puzzle.

FA is at heart a dramatic, emotional story about five girls overcoming their individual problems, but it also includes a lot of humorous elements to offset the heavy moments. From jokes between friends to the over-the-top antics of Kanade and Iori, there’s no shortage of light-hearted entertainment throughout the game.

Fortune Arterial is largely told from Kouhei’s perspective, however, occasionally the reader will have access to “Another View” – a portion of the story told from another character’s perspective. These are not limited to the five main girls, but also Iori and Seiichiro (Shiro’s older brother), as well as another mysterious character…

This technique allows the reader access to information and thoughts they wouldn’t have otherwise, playing solely through Kouhei’s eyes. Without it, there are portions of the story that would always remain a mystery, or would be forced to be exposed through unnatural conversations between characters. It’s not an uncommon technique for VNs, but it’s utilized well here and doesn’t interrupt the flow or pacing of the narration.

Aside from the choices presented to the reader after the sports festival, there are very few other choices throughout the game, and even less that actually have a lasting impact on the plot. This makes FA feel more like a novel, and less of a game, which is perfectly fine with me as I entered into this looking for an interesting, emotional experience, which is exactly what I got.

The musical score nicely complements the mood at all times, and I find myself going back to the soundtrack to enjoy reliving the experiences I had while reading FA.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely! Unfortunately… there doesn’t appear to be a group that’s translated the entire game and released a patch. This is understandable, considering the amount of text it contains – the introduction, six routes, and some extra scenarios! If you can manage to get through the game with a machine translator, I’d suggest giving it a try, although without some solid Japanese knowledge to begin with there may be a lot of missed nuances – machine translation of Japanese to English tends to be hit or miss, especially when colloquial Japanese is used.

How does the anime compare? Since I’d say FA probably takes at least 40 hours to complete, with no speed reading, at just 12 episodes the anime is obviously a seriously condensed version of the game. Additionally, the anime focuses on the main route – Erika’s – as its main plot. While it does include elements from the other girls’ routes, it’s not quite the same as going through each story individually and getting to know each of the girls on an intimate level (and I’m not just talking about the ero scenes, mind you XP). If you liked the anime, I’d definitely recommend you check out a more thoroughly done source, such as the manga or light novels. Of course, my number one recommendation remains the original work, but I realize that’s probably the most difficult for non-native speakers to deal with.

My favorite characters? Probably Erika, Kiriha, Iori and Tsukasa, in that order. Although we don’t learn much about Tsukasa’s background, I consistently enjoyed his contributions to conversations XD It’s possible that after reading FA, some people might come to dislike Iori, but I came to like him more and more over time.
Seiichiro and Shiro and probably sixth and seventh place for me, followed by Kanade and then Haruna somewhere at the end. It’s not that I disliked her per se, but she never really grabbed my attention the way other characters did. Her route was my least favorite.

If you’re curious, I played through the routes in the following order:
Erika → Haruna → Kanade → Shiro → Kiriha → Erika (true)

I tend to play through such things with the main, then least favorite back to most favorite, knowing that I’d have to go back to Erika at the end. With Kanon, I played through least favorite to most favorite, with the main route (Ayu), as my last.

Beyond what I’ve written here, I don’t want to reveal too many large spoilers about what happens in the game, but if you watch the anime you should find out most of the important ones~
Of course, you’re welcome to ask me any questions directly about the game, and I’ll answer them, if not here, then through e-mail or twitter DM

Somehow this turned into a whole session with all three girls, however…

I feel like Marisa has kind of a Haruhi vibe going on with this wig…


I can’t put my finger on it exactly…

It looks much nicer on her in person than it does in these photos, though.

oh well, I enjoy experimenting with wig colors :3

Saku was next, but no matter how I positioned her she kept being in the dark ><

I’m not sure if this is a result of her hairstyle…

Poor girl just couldn’t get any really good shots…

ごめんね、サク （（（ T_T）

Mio turned out to be the star of this photo session, without question.

So many gorgeous shots…

I occasionally think about swapping out her eyes, but this grey is just…

Since she was still dressed for fall/winter, I had her at least take off the parka.

So cuuute…

how can you not love that sweet face?

sigh…

In order to not end up with any duplicates (or wigs that are too similar to ones I already own) I decided to pull out my wig box and try some out to refresh my memory.

Mio ended up being the model because both Saku and Marisa are perfect just as they are right now… XD


Gyaru Mio? This is a Leekeworld wig in Babybrown which I bought for Aryanna over a year ago now, I think. It’s kind of big on Mio, but I like her in this style~

how about redhead Mio? This is a K-starr wig, I believe, bought years and years ago for a Dal that I eventually ended up selling… XD;

Kind of feels like an Ariel wig, doesn’t it…

reminds me of Yuu a little bit… XD This is a Luts wig, which came as a freebie when I ordered Aryanna back in 2005. It’s crimped, and I didn’t particularly like it, so I tried a fishtail braid to mix it up a bit.

unfortunately the bangs on this wig are just… x__x not sure anyone will ever wear this wig permanently without some serious waxing or something of those unruly bangs

w-what’s this

that wig looks really good on you, Mio!

… *ahem* this wig is another Leekeworld, in a color that they no longer sell, which I bought back in 2005 for Aryanna, so it’s also kind of big, but managable because the heavy braids (which reach well below her waist) hold it in place pretty well.

I didn’t go into this planning to change Mio’s default, but…

I might have to…

I initially discovered this pillow on jlist months ago, but couldn’t bring myself to buy it because I wasn’t sure if I would like it.


Seeing it in person, I instantly had to have it XD
The front has a picture of Yui’s Giita, and the back…

has pink polka dots and..

a picture of Yui~!
There’s also another version with Giita on the front and blue stars on the back with a picture of the whole group, I think.

Closeup on the print – pretty nice quality

「けいおん！」

The other K-ON! item I picked up was this Super DX plush Yui.

Her head is huge! XD

I’ve seen K-ON! deformed plushies before, but all of them looked too off to me. Somehow this one managed to satisfy my picky nature… XD;

helps that she’s wearing her summer uniform, too~

I actually bought a couple more things, including some strawberry cake kitkats and a bizarre pink bunny-devil…