Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

13 Responses to “Urgh More Haruhi Goods”  

1. 1 TedFox 85 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 6:06 pm

   Floor tiles when you buy your own HDB will be interesting.

   No selling for profit!

2. 2 Diego 8 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 6:31 pm

   Well, you could always send some of them over to me . . .

   I envy you guys over there in Singapore. Between Kinokuniya and the various specialty stores you’ve pretty much got every base in the merchandising field covered. Here in Manila, the only manga store even worth visiting pops up just once a year during the International Book Fair (it’s run by fans, by the way), the best bookstores keep running out of the better titles (I still can’t believe I missed out on Genshiken 7) and Japanese videos/music CDs are virtually unheard-of (unless you count the mass-produced rubbish that street pirates keep churning out, and I never patronise the stalls of those thieving bastards). I only managed to get my hands on Genshiken 6 when my mother and sister visited Singapore earlier this year, although a local bookshop did eventually carry it (at a much-reduced price but months after I’d finished with my copy). And as for figurines (or at least the top-quality ones), the closest I’d ever get to one is through this site. I’ve always had to resort to amazon.com/.ca/.co.uk/.co.jp (yes, I’ve done the rounds) for my animanga fix, but the shipping costs are astronomical and the import duties nothing short of scandalous (if the customs examiner botches the job - and they usually do - figure on double the original list price, easy). Naturally, online stores are not always reliable - I mourned for ages when amazon.co.jp stopped accepting requests for the first Suzumiya Haruhi DVD, just hours after I’d resolved to pre-order it.

   When I visit Singapore next year, Kinokuniya et al had better not disappoint.

3. 3 tj_han 1064 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 6:49 pm

   Diego: If you come over, just drop us a email and we can show you the places! Just bring loads of money if you want to. Haha. Anyway, I find it strange that a large city like Manila is so scarce of Japanese material. I saw on Animax, the thousands of anime fans there and surely there should be a market for these.

   How about ordering from reliable stores like HLJ or Amazon or CDJapan? These are very reliable. Though I’mnot sure about customs on your side. Shipping is very cheap for Asia. If it’s SAL, no more than a few hundred yen. There are quite a few filipino collectors I’m sure.

4. 4 RDrake 69 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 8:03 pm

   I’m already trying to unload my Haruhi artbook, so no takers here. I’ll consider trading though, if you’ll top up the difference in cash.

5. 5 tj_han 1064 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 8:13 pm

   A trade works only if you have something I want. And the only Haruhi-related item I want is Maxfactory’s 1/8.

6. 6 Zeroblade 132 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 9:15 pm

   I think that the reason why Manila has near-zero shops carrying anime goods and such is because importing is expensive as fuck, and so few will buy R2 DVDs and other such things (my foolish friends just buy pirated fansubs).

   @Diego, some shops here still do carry legit stuff. CATS in Greenhills carries old manga releases and R1 DVDs, a bunch of shops carry figs (including that Yagami Yuu one >_>) and other shops/bookstores carry magazines and other manga/anime-related merchandise. You just have to keep a really, really sharp eye for them.

   Oh, and Comic Alley is not to be trusted :V

   I’ve yet to see pencilboards here though. I NEED ONE NOW.

7. 7 Diego 8 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 9:59 pm

   TJ_HAN: I’ve just had a look at CDJapan’s website, and it definitely looks promising. I’ll be sure to consider it next time the shopping bug bites (which shouldn’t be too long now, with Christmas just around the corner).

   By the way, I found your blog a few months ago after sifting through the Google results for “Nagato Yuki”. One look at “Girl Power: Nagato Yuki no Kyoutendouchi” and I was absolutely hooked.

   ZEROBLADE: Thanks for the tip! I haven’t been to Greenhills in ages (my usual haunts are all in Greenbelt and Rockwell) but this is one lead that should be worth checking out. And you’ll be glad to know we see eye-to-eye on Comic Alley (although it does have its uses - one of which is to remind us that the good stuff is still out there, waiting to be discovered).

   I do have one pencilboard in my collection: a nice Chihara Minori/Hirano Aya/Gotou Yuuko specimen that came with the August 2006 issue of VOICE Newtype. I’d really love to get my hands on one with Nagato on it, though.

8. 8 Diego 8 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 9:59 pm

   TJ_HAN: I’ve just had a look at CDJapan’s website, and it definitely looks promising. I’ll be sure to consider it next time the shopping bug bites (which shouldn’t be too long now, with Christmas just around the corner).

   By the way, I found your blog a few months ago after sifting through the Google results for “Nagato Yuki”. One look at “Girl Power: Nagato Yuki no Kyoutendouchi” and I was absolutely hooked.

   ZEROBLADE: Thanks for the tip! I haven’t been to Greenhills in ages (my usual haunts are all in Greenbelt and Rockwell) but this is one lead that should be worth checking out. And you’ll be glad to know we see eye-to-eye on Comic Alley (although it does have its uses - one of which is to remind us that the good stuff is still out there, waiting to be discovered).

   I do have one pencilboard in my collection: a nice Chihara Minori/Hirano Aya/Gotou Yuuko specimen that came with the August 2006 issue of VOICE Newtype. I’d really love to get my hands on one with Nagato on it, though.

9. 9 hotchanbot 13 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 10:15 pm

   la tendo or kknm??

10. 10 tj_han 1064 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 10:23 pm

    Personally, I use HLJ only. But most are very reputable and shouldn’t have any problems.

    I can’t even remember what that Yuki post was about really! Other than that it had a lot of pictures.

    I have seen that pencil board. Saw that issue of Voice Newtype. Yuki’s seiyuu, Chihara Minori is quite pretty.

    And Hotchanbot, it’s at latendo and I bet they sold out. KKNM should be bringing it in as well.

11. 11 LianYL 589 comments Nov 18th, 2006 at 11:19 pm

    lol got those a long time ago. Reprint I guess.

12. 12 Eric 2 comments Nov 19th, 2006 at 6:25 am

    Diego, there’s a local store selling figures (and i found ou recently that you can pre-order) Try dropping by www.wasabitoys.com

1. 1 Anime Desho Desho? | Blog Archive | New Purchase: Newtype December 2006 issue Pingback on Nov 18th, 2006 at 11:29 pm

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