A parcel from Volks, the Japanese company that creates the Dollfie Dream dolls, recently arrived on my doorstep. Had actually ordered these parts well over a month and half ago, but it took longer than usual for Volks to complete and ship out the order.

Filled to the brim with the parts needed to assemble a normal skin type DDS, hope to soon put these parts to good use.

Of course, one critical component is still missing, so might take a while before it all comes together into a new Dollfie Dream. Also plan to shop around a bit for the right wig and eyes, might even indulge in acquiring some more additional DD wardrobe items.

In the meantime, still have many more photo captures of my various Dollfie Dream to upload and share with you, so look forward to them soon!

Much like with “Gatchaman Crowds”, “Kimi no Iru Machi” is one of this season’s new series that didn’t really capture me, despite the show looking rather decent overall.

Adapted from the “君のいる町” romance manga, its author Kouji Seo also wrote “Suzuka”. Read quite a bit of “Suzuka” when it was published years ago and also watched the anime adaptation, unfortunately the “Suzuka” anime never really lived up to my expectations; causing me to ultimately give up on it.

Since the manga already spawned two OVA episodes last year, this new televised series jumps right into the middle of the manga’s story timeline, around chapter 80. With the OVA having raced through so many chapters, wonder if the anime’s pace will be similarly fast.

Animation by studio Gonzo was alright in the opening episode, though nothing stellar. The overall animation style felt rather nostalgic, compared to other current series this show feels almost retro.

Considering other series grabbed my interest much more, don’t think that I will follow the “Kimi no Iru Machi” anime, though I just might pick up the manga.

Initially didn’t plan on picking up “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku”, but on a whim decided to try out the show and quickly found myself watching all four already aired episodes back to back.

Adapted from the original “帰宅部活動記録” manga by Kuroha, the story revolves around five high school girls, all member of the ‘going-home club’ which is dedicated to having fun doing leisurely activities, silly conversations or indulge in downright ludicrous shenanigans.

What makes “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku” an enjoyable comedy for me is the combination of the high school club setting filled with oddball characters, absurd humor, verbal jabs and retorts, all divided into multiple comedic segments per episode, much like “Seitokai Yakuindomo”.

Each episode being comprised of several small comedic segments, does mean one might not enjoy all of those different segments. In fact, while I have really enjoyed the show so far, each episode had at least one segment that did not find as humorous as it could have been.

Although “Seitokai Yakuindomo” relied heavily on ecchi humor, “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku” forgoes such perverted innuendo for more generic comedy and absurd situations. Nonetheless, this show too is filled with tsukkomi or ‘straight man’ retorts by Natsuki, similar to those by Tsuda and Suzu in “Seitokai Yakuindomo”.

Another distinctive element where “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku” sets itself apart from similar series like “Nichijou” or “Daily Lives of High School Boys”, is in its ability to mock itself and frequently breaking the fourth wall.

In its first episode already, “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku” breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges itself as being a fictional anime, for instance in the scene after ojousama Claire’s introduction, Natsuki retorts she mustn’t use up so many frames because of the show’s limited budget.

In the fourth episode the imaginary wall with the viewers is again broken down, one of that episode’s running gags is how the show might change its vibe or genre to keep the viewers’ attention. A rather clever stab at some other anime series that do undergo sudden changes to attract more viewers.

Overall animation by studio Nomad is quite good, though there are obviously scenes which are better cared for than others, the visual style used here is rather different from the studio’s other works like “Kämpfer” or “Sola”.

Although the overall voice acting is just fine, do personally feel that for some characters the chosen voice talent is not always a perfect match for that character type.

Experienced this mostly for ojousama character Claire, while Senbongi Ayaka delivers a solid performance, she alas just does not sound like the typical ojousama as portrayed for instance by Kotobuki Minako who voiced Tsumugi in “K-ON!”, Itou Shizuka as Luvia in “Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya”, Satou Satomi who voiced Aria in “Seitokai Yakuindomo”, Kitamura Eri as Kanade in “Mayo Chiki!”,…

Most of the voice cast do not seem to have much other roles credited to heir name yet, like Yuuna Mitsuki who voices too-cute Karin, Aiuchi Sae who voices Botan or Kobayashi Miharu who voices Sakura.

Young Kido Ibuki delivers a nice performance as Natsuki, she also voiced Akiko in “Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne”.

If you’re looking for a nice comedy with lots of absurd humor and verbal banter, definitely give this show a try!

The society for the study of traps… err, modern visual culture is back! The original “げんしけん” manga by Shimoku Kio already spawned two anime seasons and an OVA, now the sequel manga gets its own anime adaptation as “Genshiken Nidaime”.

Rather enjoyed the first manga’s anime adaptations, so made time to watch this new anime and was rather interested to see one of its main plots focuses on trap character Hato.

All about current otaku culture, there is little surprise this franchise might feature a trap character (an impossibly cute girl who is actually a cross-dressing boy), especially considering traps have become an increasingly popular character type in manga, anime and games.

While trap characters have been rather popular as of late, “Genshiken Nidaime” really goes all out by breaking through the surface and overall illusion that is the female version of Hato, showing us much more about Hato’s motives, feelings and his interaction with the other characters.

The show uses its trap character and plot quite cleverly, considering it uses all the popular elements and tropes of a trap character, hamming Hato’s cuteness up for all its worth, as well as showing everything beneath the surface, giving viewers an interesting look into what lies beyond the illusion.

As such, “Genshiken Nidaim” has been interesting to watch since I do enjoy certain trap characters like Hideyoshi in “Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu”, Mako in “Minami-ke”, Ruka in “Steins;Gate” or reverse traps like Charlotte in “IS: Infinite Stratos” or Yumikura in “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai”, but the show also gave me pause for some introspection in what I personally find enjoyable about franchises with trap characters.

Undoubtedly there will be other fans of cute trap characters who feel the same way, in that their interest lies primarily -if not solely- in the illusion created by this medium that is ideal to render an irresistibly cute character who is claimed to be another gender underneath.

The illusion and the feeble hope the lie is real are the attraction, when it is shattered or pierced as it is in “Genshiken Nidaime”, it looses its innocent appeal. Luckily, this show makes up for it by elaborating on Hato’s motives, background and everyone’s interaction with him/her.

Most returning characters from the first “Genshiken” are voiced by different voice actors and actresses in “Genshiken Nidaime”.

Club president and mangaka Ogiue is voiced by Yamamoto Nozomi, she previously voiced Yukimura in “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai”, Tetora in “Joshiraku” and Nakajima in “Girls und Panzer”.

Cosplay afficionado Ohno is voiced by Yukana, she previously voiced CC in “Code Geass”, Ai in “Amagami SS”, Kuugen in “Wagaya no Oinari-sama”, Cecilia in “IS: Infinite Stratos” and Tessa in “Full Metal Panic!”.

Trap character Hato is voiced by two different voice talents, with the original male Hato being voiced by Yamamoto Kazutomi and the female version voiced by Kakuma Ai.

Uesaka Sumeri voices hyper Rika, she voiced Dekomori in “Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai”, Nonna in “Girls und Panzer”, Sora in “Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai” and Manai in this season’s “Fantasista Doll”.
Yajima is voiced by Uchiyama Yumi, she previously voiced Momiji in “Binbougami ga!”, Nagi in “A Channel”, Yamashita in “Aiura” and Youko in this season’s “Kiniro Mosaic”.

With all its references to other franchises and typical elements of otaku culture, the interesting plot about cross-dressing Hato, definitely recommend “Genshiken Nidaime” for those looking for a nice slice-of-life show about otaku life that also offers some extra depth.

Previously shared some photos with you of Atsuko equipped with a new set of eyes from Twin-Snow, took the opportunity to snap some more photos of Atsuko wearing some Dollfie Dream clothes recently acquired from Cool Cat.

Had gorgeous sunshine and cloudless days during most of July here, including some scorching hot days too, so a light halter top is a perfect fit for such summertime weather.

Although Cool Cat advertises this halter top fit for use on DD with L size bust as well as DDDy, it fits fine on Dollfie Dream with an M sized bust too, without looking loose or ill-fitting.
Of course the overall visual impact of such a halter top on a DDDy bust is more significant, so to speak.

Like most products from ‘Dandelion’ sold by Cool Cat, quality seems excellent and the fabric itself is quite nice. The front bow tie is a cute touch and it is small enough to make it a nice addition to the top without looking overbearing.

During these long summer days we get plenty of sunlight until late in the evening, so made most of these captures rather late during the day to get the warm light of the settings sun and some nice shadows. Shame on me for not having noticed for months that my camera was actually still set to the wrong time zone.

Will upload new photos of Yoko, Tsukiko and Shizuko soon.

You can see more photos of Atsuko and my other Dollfie Dream on Flickr.

Also known as “Valvrave the Liberator”, never got around to watching this mecha series when originally aired this past spring, even though the online buzz about it made me quite curious.

Considering it had been ages since I marathoned an anime, decided to free up time last weekend to indulge in a relaxing anime viewing session and sat through “Valvrave the Liberator” which turned out to be an enjoyable mecha action series.

Liked “Kakumeiki Valvrave” quite a bit, it was fun to see all the typical elements of the mecha genre brought together in such an action packed show. While it is nothing novel nor stellar, the show is also plagued with the typical plot-holes and inconsistencies of its genre, it is nonetheless an enjoyable, solid series.

While its use of tried and true elements from other mecha series like “Gundam” and “Neon Genesis Evangelion” may come over as a mishmash to some viewers, the mix did not feel off to me. Although do wonder if the overarching plot of Haruto and his comrades starting a revolution that while change the way of life for all of mankind may not be over-ambitious to pull off in such a short run.

Like most elements in the show, the characters too are default templates without any real surprises or novel directions for their development, this is true for the core cast from main lead Haruto to idol Saki or emerging leader Shouko, as well as the various supporting characters.

Saki is voiced by Tomatsu Haruka, she previously voiced Asuna in “Sword Art Online”, Lala in “To Love RU”, Ichika in “Ano Natsu de Matteru” and Anaru in “Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai”.

Seto Asami voices Shouko, she also voiced Chihaya in “Chihayafuru”, Konatsu in “Tari Tari”, Aoi in “Senki Zesshou Symphogear” and Lan in “Rinne no Lagrange”.

Bespectacled Aina is voiced by Kayano Ai, she’s tackled roles like Mashiro in “Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo”, Inori in “Guilty Crown” and this season she voices Kanae in “Tamayura ~More Aggressive~” , Karila in “Stella Jougakuin Koutouka C3-bu” and Lucy in “Servant x Service”.

Liselotte, who will likely appear more in the second season, is voiced by Toyosaki Aki, she previously voiced Yui in “K-ON!”, Yoshino in “Minami-ke”, Chitose in “Yuru Yuri” and Uiharu in “To aru Kagaku no Railgun”.

Yuuki Aoi voices Akira, she previously tackled roles like Tooru in “A Channel”, Victorique in “Gosick” and Madoka in “Puella Magi Madoka Magica”. Shapely teacher Nanami is voiced by Horie Yui who also voiced Naru in “Love Hina”, Millhi in “Dog Days”, Minori in “Toradora!” and Hanekawa in “Monogatari Series Second Season”.

Ending on a cliffhanger, “Valvrave the Liberator” is slated to return this upcoming fall anime season. Having enjoyed its first run, will definitely watch the sequel as am quite curious to see how it will all play out.

Type Moon gets it. When turning the serious member of a magical girl duo into a maid, complete with classical maid garb including white apron and headdress, the only proper result is of course a bevvy of yuri tinted scenes.

This week’s episode of “Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya” definitely delivered in that aspect. When Miyu’s true occupation as a teen maid in service of Luvia is revealed, Illya gets feverish again, feverish for maid love!

Like the audience, Illya is unable to resist the moe appeal of usually stern Miyu who becomes rather dere dere now that her secret is out. Illya all to readily succumbs to her desires and pins Miyu down, the maid falling victim to the silver haired girl’s yuri affections.

Type Moon seems to have a solid grasp on how to cater to the fickle but predictable anime fan, offering us such explosive nosebleed inducing scenes. I approve! A continuation of those scenes shall be the plot of some hentai doujin, personally do hope the anime will keep delivering such comedic and ecchi yuri scenes.

佐天-初春家にようこそ。It was an entertaining weekend for anime fans with a penchant for yuri, such as myself.

Next to the usual dose of endearing shoujo-ai in “Kiniro Mosaic” and ecchi yuri shenanigans in “Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya” with Illya being all over maid Miyu, this week’s episode of “To Aru Kagaku No Railgun S” chimes in with more subtle and suggestive scenes, but those were plenty for a delusional yuri fan.

Having encountered Febri, a lost little girl with nowhere to go, Mikoto soon sees Ruiko & Kazari take the cute blonde girl in, obligatory family themed scenes quickly follow.

While not as explicit as what occurred in “Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya”, the scenes of Ruiko and Kazari caring for Febri reminded me of “Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha”, where Nanoha and Fate took in Vivio, raising the girl together.

Of course I will be rooting for the Saten x Uiharu pairing to evolve in this direction!

Although it already arrived some time ago and have been putting it to good use since, had not shared any photos yet of the lovely Shibata Chair No.5 (burgundy) scaled chair from Volks.

Originally spotted this chair in snapshots from other Dollfie Dream owners like Wolfheinrich and quite liked its design. Was able to see one in person at the Dollfie Dream meeting with the comrades from Shadonia earlier in May this year, which convinced me to get one.

Discovered that this particular model is actually not available at Volks International and while it is for sale at Volks USA, unfortunately this meant its sale is restricted to customers residing in the USA, Canada or Mexico.

However, with the aid of Dollfie Dream comrade Wolfheinrich, was nonetheless able to acquire this Volks chair, for which my thanks.

Not only is this scaled chair a terrific piece to use for Dollfie Dream photography, the Shibata Chair No.5 is one of Volks’ more moderately priced furniture items making it an interesting alternative to securely display a Dollfie Dream compared to a regular Volks stand.

As a single seat chair, it takes up less space than the two seat chairs Volks also offers.

Of course Tsukiko is the perfect candidate to claim this seat with the お嬢さまor lady character am trying to imbue her with. For this first photoshoot using the chair, opted to clad her in a new outfit with jeans from Nine9Style, a sleeveless black top, belt and hairband from Cool Cat.

Considering its more classic style and Tsukiko’s dark garments, processed many of the photos using a preset filter in Adobe Lightroom giving them an antique look.

You can see more of my Dollfie Dream photography on Flickr.

After another excellent anime adaptation of the “みなみけ” manga by Sakuraba Koharu with “Minami-ke Tadaima” this past winter season, nothing better to enjoy the lingering days of summer than a new “Minami-ke” OVA.

Titled “Minami-ke Natsuyasumi”, this new OVA is all about summer! However, unlike most other anime whose summer beach episode is all about flaunting its female characters for all their worth, seeing the “Minami-ke” girls in swimwear comes second to the gags and crazy antics.

Save for Haruka who of course who looks like an irresistible bombshell in that pink bikini… if only she had been joined Atsuko and Hitomi too. A shame Mako-chan was missing from this day at the beach, it would certainly have lead to a few hilarious scenes like in “Minami-ke Tadaima”.

All characters save a few make noteworthy appearances though I do find the lack of screentime for Mako-chan and Touma rather regrettable, luckily my other favorite side characters Hitomi and Atsuko shared a hilarious scene.

Animation by Studio Feel is excellent, like their work on the “Minami-ke Omatase” OVA and “Minami-ke Tadaima” full season, they deliver the level of animation quality that a franchise like “Minami-ke” really deserves and offers viewers a consistent animation style.

It is always a pleasure to have these characters voiced once more by the voice talents that have delivered terrific performances before, most noteworthy Inoue Marina as Kana, she also voices Natsuno in “Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou”, Laura in “IS Infinite Stratos” and Yozora in “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai”.

Chiaki is again voiced by Chihara Minori who previously voiced Nagato in “Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu” and Anastasia in “Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!”. Satou Rina voices Haruka, she’s tackled roles like Kaoru in “Amagami SS”, Saki in “Genshiken Nidaime” and Misaka in “To aru Kagaku no Railgun”.

Kitamura Eri voices Uchida, she also voiced Karen in “Monogatari Series Second Season”, Yachiyo in “Working!!” and Miu in “Papo no Iukoto wo Kikinasai”. Yoshino is voiced by Toyasaki Aki, she previously voiced Yui in “K-ON!”, Chitose in “Yuru Yuri” and Uiharu in “To aru Kagaku no Railgun”.

Touma is again voiced by Mizuki Nana, who also voiced Fate in “Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha” and Saya in “Blood-C”. Morinaga Rika voices Makoto, she tackled roles like Kana in “Saki” and Souseiseki in “Rozen Maiden: Zurückspulen”

I vehemently hope there will be a new “Minami-ke” season sometime in the future, in the meantime, I’m sure will probably re-watch this OVA and “Minami-ke Tadaima” a few times.

暇ですか、静子ちゃん?
うん、一人でちょっとたいくつだよ。ヨーコお姉ちゃんと遊びたい。だめ?

Just a few photos of Dollfie Dream Shizuko from an evening earlier this summer, taking advantage of the warm sunlight.

Worked on styling her wig in such a way that the shorter strands on the side bangs curve in more, to give Shizuko a more realistic look when her head is tilted as else the neck will look unnaturally long.

For these photos Shizuko is clad in a ruffled skirt from Nine9Style, shoes from Dollmore and some random shirt had acquired on eBay a long time ago as it cost but a few euro. Opted for that shirt since it suits the L shapely bust well.

Still do wish Volks offered smooth bust pieces and would increase their range with a size in-between the current M and L busts.
Should be possible considering they made an SS bust especially for Chihaya from the iDOLM@STER. Then again, it surely all depends on the marketability of such parts.

もっと見たいか?
うん、うん、見たい見たい!
だーめ!

You can see more photos of Shizuko and my other Dollfie Dream on Flickr.

After the previous shenanigans when feverish Illya could no longer contain her passion for Miyu clad in classic maid garments, Type Moon and studio Silver Link strike again with a rather yuri tinted epilogue between the two magical girls.

When Illya wakes up the next day after the decisive battle in this first season of “Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya”, her drowsiness causes her to give a sweet kiss to Miyu who seems more than happy to receive the lips of her fellow magical girl!

Of course, comedic hilarity and other shoujo-ai silliness ensues with a love-struck Miyu sticking close to her new-found best friend, though it seems Miyu may have a different definition than Illya of what being friends is all about.

As a yuri aficionado, I support their love! Fans need not fear as they already confirmed that a second season, “Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei” has been green-lit for production.
More Illya x Miyu please~

With my latest Dollfie Dream plans taking a few unexpected turns, recently reached the final stages but was still lacking proper eyes to create the Dollfie Dream that fit the image I have in mind.

Shortly before Doll Show 38, spotted some photos on Flickr by Japanese Dollfie Dream comrade Tom Doll that depicted eyes created by Hisyo-Hisyo that would be offered for sale at the event. Especially the style and colors of type DP really appealed to me.

Noticing the blog link mentioned in the photos of these Hiyso-Hisyo eyes, soon realized these eyes are made by Chachakulan aka 蔵千代, the same person who created my Atsuko‘s DDH06 custom head.

Offered for sale at Doll Show 38, faced the challenge of trying to secure any. However, thanks to fellow Dollfie Dream comrade Haku1923, who was kind enough to pick up these two sets at the event, managed to acquire the Hisyo-Hisyo eyes. My earnest gratitude!

You can look forward to my DD girls sporting these gorgeous eyes soon!

佐天-初春家の日常。Continuing the trend set in previous episodes, the latest “To Aru Kagaku No Railgun S” offered fans even more heartwarming scenes of Ruiko & Kazari caring for Febri.

With Ruiko apparently staying at Kazari’s place to care for the little girl together, these few scenes showcasing simple occurrences of daily life are very much like those in “Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS” when Nanoha & Fate took care of Vivio.

Since the current arc in To Aru Kagaku No Railgun S” is an anime orginal story, it is unclear what fate will ultimately befall Febri and if they will somehow keep her in Ruiko & Kazari’s life.

Considering this may interfere with events from the Railgun manga and Index novels which are much further along the timeline, do fear that these scenes that are a delight to a yuri aficionada like myself will come to an end. There is still hope!

For Comiket 84, artist Kantoku from the circle “Afterschool of the 5th Year” followed up on their book published at the previous summer Comiket edition with the new ‘Check in Summer’ doujin.

The book not only prominently features Kantoku’s signature mascot characters Kurumi & Shizuku, but there’s also plenty of illustrations of Hiromi, Kanna and Kei.

As the title suggests, the book is all about summer and check pattern clothing, hence it showcases all these cute girls wearing summer outfits with check patterns, from classic yukata and cute dresses to bikini or hot pants.

Around 15 pages thick, “Check in Summer” has several full page illustrations that not only show Kantoku’s talent for drawing check pattern clothing and cute girls, but also show the artist’s terrific use of light and shadow.

Typical for Kantoku’s books for Comiket and Comic1☆, this doujin also contains a few pages with black & white line art and pencil style sketches of various illustrations that were featured in other publications.

For those of you interested in acquiring Kantoku’s C84 book, you can purchase it at Toranoana.

佐天さん!?何ですかこれ?!御坂さんと一緒に…どうして?
Ruiko! Why?! For a fling with Mikoto you would risk your true love with Kazari? Caught in the act with Mikoto by Kazari whose poor heart visibly shatters from sheer shock…

「また妄想の時間です。」

Silly shanigans using simple image editing aside, did have a few good laughs during that part from the “To Aru Majutsu No Index: Endyumion No Kiseki” anime movie.

This scene in the movie actually plays out with Kuruko spotting Mikoto, Ruiko and Kazari together in a family restaurant and of course she makes wrong assumptions about Ruiko having Mikoto listen to some music from her headphones.

Although it has its flaws -especially the sudden apparition of the space elevator felt a bit forced- overall the “To Aru Majutsu No Index: Endyumion No Kiseki” movie was quite good, with cameos by plenty of characters from the franchise.

A must-see for fans, the movie should also prove to be an enjoyable watch for those less familiar with the Index or Railgun stories.

Despite performing regular maintenance as well as having installed an SSD along the way, my main computer felt increasingly sluggish, especially when using Adobe Lightroom. Perhaps this is not unexpected for a six year old system from Intel’s Conroe generation.

When some time ago two of the memory slots on the motherboard failed, taking the installed memory modules with them, knew it was time to invest in new computer hardware. Luckily Intel had recently launched its new Haswell processor architecture generation.

Opted for the mainstream Intel Core i5 E4440, 8GB kit of Corsair DDR3 memory, MSI H87-G43 motherboard, Intel 530 series SSD and a Scythe Mugen 4. Built everything into my Antec P182 tower, keeping the Corsair power supply and data hard drives in service.

Purposely opted for the MSI motherboard as its features versus price tag was compelling. Invested in the latest Scythe processor cooler since I value their low noise operation and good performance, always been satisfied with the original Scythe Infinity/Mugen.

Hardware assembly was straightforward and went much smoother than some actions needed to perform after installation of Windows 8.1 to get everything to work properly, especially audio on HDMI.

あ、たいくつだよ。ね、月子は遊びたいです。こっちに行かないかな、月子と遊ぼう…二人きり~

Acquired several Dollfie Dream items from Cool Cat quite some time ago, including a long tie halter top in black. Intended to use it as a mix ‘n’ match item to combine with other gear into a whole outfit, but it was too tempting, just had to snap some photos of Tsukiko dressed in only that top.

Opted to pose Tsukiko such in the hopes to convey a relaxed, yet also sensual atmosphere. ちょっとエッチかも?

The pillows provided an excellent background piece, their purple hue a perfect color to accompany Tsukiko’s white body type and black clothing. The setting sun cast a perfect light on the scene, the window blinds creating pronounced shadows.

Felt confident to order black clothing from Cool Cat as have rather good experience with their items made by Dandelion, they seem to use fabrics that do not easily stain. Of course, only clad Tsukiko in it after having tested the cloth first to check that it really would not stain.

You can see more captures from this photo set of Dollfie Dream Tsukiko on Flickr.

Light novel series “Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Rabu Kome o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru” written by Kasukabe Takeru gets its anime adaptation by studio Diomedea, who are also producing the “Gingitsune” anime this autumn season.

Also abbreviated as “Noucome”, thought I’d give this romantic comedy a try even though had not really planned on watching this series when originally going over the fall season line up. After seeing the first episode, must say that I definitely will not pick up this show.

While animation by studio Diomedea itself is average and the voice acting is more than decent, the series main plot is downright ridiculous. As a viewer I found it impossible to enjoy this as a silly comedy, everything just felt like a poorly executed mash-up of default anime elements mixed with a nonsensical plot in the hopes of creating something worth watching.

The premise of Kanade being cursed with random choices where he is forced to choose what will become reality just falls in on itself by always offering choices clearly fit for the situation at hand, choices written to lead to a typical comedy or ecchi scene.

Unfortunately its characters cannot save the show either as they are neither compelling nor really entertaining. As such, will not watch the rest of this series and cannot recommend it to other anime fans. In terms of romantic or harem comedies with oddball plots, in my personal opinion, there are far better shows out there than this one.

From Windows Vista on, enabling Japanese input became much simpler compared to Windows XP where you were required to install the Eastern Asian Languages package to display Japanese characters onscreen as well as to enable Microsoft IME to type Japanese characters.

Had previously shared how to activate Japanese input in Windows 7 and how to enable another keyboard layout for Microsoft IME by changing a value in the Windows registry.

Like in previous versions of Microsoft’s operating system, a drawback of activating Japanese input in Windows 8.1 is that the default layout used by Microsoft IME may not correspond to the keyboard you are using.

To change the layout used by Microsoft IME for Japanese input, you can modify a value in the Windows registry. Will describe below how to change that registry value to activate the Azerty Belgian (Period) keyboard layout.
(The same method also applies to activate other keyboard layouts like Spanish, Russian or Thai.)

First, open the Windows registry editor, you can accomplish this by right-clicking on the Windows start button, then clicking on the “Run” option.

In the “Run” window that appears, type regedit in the ‘Open’ field and click on the “Ok” button.

The “Registry Editor” window will appear, there navigate to the folder containing the registry values for the Japanese input keyboard layout: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layouts0000411\

In that specific folder, select and double click on the line ‘Layout File’.
The “Edit String” window will appear, in the ‘Value data’ field enter the text KBDBE.DLL for the Azerty Belgian (Period) keyboard layout and click on the “Ok” button. Now exit the registry editor.

Alternatively, if you are using another keyboard, you can enter the correct .dll value for your specific layout in the value data field.

When you switch to Japanese input using the combination of Windows key + Space bar, your keyboard layout to type Japanese will have changed to the new value specified in the registry.

For your convenience, described below is a method to enable Japanese input itself in Windows 8.1, which has been simplified compared to Windows 7.

Right-click on the Windows start button, then click on the “Control Panel” option.

The “Control Panel” window will appear, there select and click on the “Change input methods” option found in the “Clock, Language and Region” section.

In the “Language” window, click on the “Add a language” button.

The “Add languages” window will appear, in the alphabetically sorted list of languages scroll down to the letter ‘J’, there select “Japanese” and click on the “Add” button. Japanese input with IME has now been added.

Changing between input languages in Windows 8.1 can easily be done by pressing the Windows key + Space bar combination.