The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Manga Review Blurb

Somehow I doubt there are too many anime/manga fans out there that don’t somewhat know the plot summary of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya but…just in case…real quick.

Plot Summary

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is about a high school boy named Kyon (you see the series from his perspective) who as a kid (like most children) loved stories of aliens, ghosts, villains, etc…. And like all children when he grew up he was a bit disappointed to realize that such things do not actually exist. He has long since abandoned such childish fancies and contents himself with a normal life. But in high school he encounters an energetic, beautiful, and angry young girl named Haruhi Suzumiya who still has not given up on experiencing the paranormal in her lifetime! She announces to the class thath she has no interest in ordinary humans and that all aliens, espers, and futuremen should come and see her. Kyon accidentally befriends her and is forced to start a club with her, the SOS Brigade!

New Camera!? Lighting Help!?

So I got an early Christmas gift from the boyfriend and it happens to be an AMAZING new camera, the Lumix DMC-TZ5K (from Panasonic)! I don’t mind that I got my Christmas gift early, the timing of when Christmas gifts doesn’t really bother me in situations where the person could really get a lot of use out of the gift if given earlier. Hell my sister got her Christmas gift weeks ago, she wanted some of those Ugg boots and wanted to wear them before it started snowing (ironic, yes I know). The great thing about this camera is that it has a good anti-shake system. I actually used to take about 100 pictures of each figure with the old camera just to get a few crisp pictures. My old camera served me well and initially cost a lot more (bought it about 3-4 years ago) but this one is soooo much better! I just love it when such superior technology is sold for so much less!

Prototype Images That Don’t Show All

I quickly learned in the world of figures…that prototype pictures often lie, more often then not the lie makes the figure look better then it actually is. Either the quality of the figure seems a lot better, or there are bases and stand pegs that are omitted in the prototype images. Occasionally I have had situations where the figure actually looked far better in person then the prototype pictures gave them credit for.

Dark Saber (Fate: Hollow/Atraxia) Alter

This is Dark Saber from the game Fate: Hollow/Atraxia, you may also be familar with Saber from Fate: Stay/Night. I’m actually only guessing she appears in this outfit in the Atraxia game. I’m afraid I only know Saber from the anime Fate: Stay/Night and this outfit was certainly not worn in that series, maybe the game? The figure is by Alter and was unique because I believe the Retail Price was quite low (for Alter), initially she retailed at about $40 and I believe I bought her for only $30 several months ago from one of my stores. Since I’m a Saber fan I was very pleased to find such a reasonably priced figure of her.

Admitting Defeat

So I’ve been collecting figures seriously for a while now and I finally got some (shall we say) intervention 😛 . I don’t know how many people keep an eye on my pre-order list but I’ve taken out A LOT of stuff. Although I still clung to a few pricey items, because BY JOVE I will have a complete Haruhi FREEing bunny collection! I more-so went through and cancelled all the smaller items that end up adding up to a lot of money (figmas, nendoroids, etc…). I also grabbed figures/items I started to feel unsure of as more information was released about them.

2nd Haul of November

I got this haul a few days ago but didn’t have time to post it cause of school work. BLAH! Well my Finance final is done and over with. Only 1 more final and 1 presentation to go this semester! This will probably be my last sweet haul of this month. I should add I also recently got in Pokemon Diamond (hell ya only $20 on Amazon) and the first volume of the manga Black God, which aren’t pictured. Going clockwise I have Blanc Neige by Kotobukiya (version 2), the Miku Figma by Max Factory, Noir Clalaclan by Kotobukiya, Mitsuru from Persona 3, and Elwing by Kotobukiya. I had always thought that Elwing’s name was spelled Elwyn, guess I was wrong. I adore my Kotobukiya Shining ladies, I now own 9 of them. But oddly enough I don’t display them all together because I think some look better in different spots. This Blanc Neige is next to Kureha on my top shelf and Elwing is hanging out next to my Gothic Lolita Haruhi figure.

Your Figure Pet Peeve?

Sometimes figures can do almost everything right and yet you still don’t buy them…why? For me it’s usually because they have one of the few features I can’t stand in figures. For Example this figure of Karen is from a series I actively collect from, she is from a company I love and is almost perfect in every way! She is wearing dark colors with soft flowing grey hair and an amazingly eye catching red sash, not only that but she is currently on sale at my favorite figure store. So what is the one thing about her that makes it so I can’t buy her? CAMEL TOE. I just can’t stand to see Camel Toe, maybe it’s because I’m female and seeing it makes me realize how uncomfy her outfit must be? or maybe because I am female it just doesn’t appeal to me in a sexy way? Well anyway I dislike seeing them in figures. I should note that on Karen having a camel toe is part of her character design and is on most (if not all) figures of her.