I have long been an advocate of buying legitimate, properly licensed anime/manga goods. I have seen the effect of bootlegs/piracy, seen my favourite artists shut shop because they can no longer afford to produce art, then to have it ripped off by people who are out to make a quick buck out of their work. Piracy is wrong people. There is no excuse for it. It destroys the industry. I’ve always been very diligent in ensuring nothing I buy was pirated, but this one case was me being too excited over something that just ended up being too good to be true. I have long wanted this figure, but it has...

If you’re serious about your manga as much as I am, you’ll also be concerned about how much you have to pay (since you’re buying so much in the first place.) So when a friend introduced me to BookZone for fantasy & science fiction related books, I was pretty amazed at how cheap their prices were… and it got me thinking… They mention on their website that any book an online book store sells, they can get in as well. Since their prices were far far better than all the physical stores I had seen here in NZ, I emailed and asked whether they could get manga in, and gave...

Fans of anime & manga in the Wellington region may or may not know this, but there is a new Borders store coming to you in the near future There is signage around the shopping centre ‘Capital on the Quay’ (on Lambton Quay) stating there will be a Borders (apparently in the area where the old Portmans store used to be.) Dates unknown, if anyone can help with this, much appreciated. Big thanks to LadyOrla for this information. Why is this such a big deal? Anyone who has visited the manga section at the Auckland Borders store will know just how much manga they stock (and a few artbooks...

It’s been a week since Auckland Armageddon 06, and it’s only now that I feel even up to writing about it. Physically and mentally I’ve been exhausted. Still tierd, but I’ve got the urge to write, so write I will. Be warned, long rambling entry coming up… The Friday was, interesting. My friend Jen and I spent most of the day traipsing up and down Queen Street. Unfortunately I’m not much of a window shopper, but because Jen lives in Wellington, I put up with it… at the detriment of my poor feet. We did over 10km of walking that day, from about 11AM to 5PM ~_~ We...

Whew! Auckland Armageddon 2006 is finally over! Although using the word “finally” probably isn’t appropriate, since I definately still feel quite hyped about it, even though I’m home relaxing in muh jammies drinking tea (although you probably didn’t need to know that.) This is just a brief heelloooo!!! to everyone whose visiting this website for the first time. Please please sign up for a free TypeKey account so you can actively take part and post your commentary on everything on this website I’ll have the photos and a full blog entry on the entire event up...

Title: 0.5 Like A Balance Life Second Mix Edition 0.5?Like a balance life 2nd mix edition (????) Artist: Range Murata Published: 15/07/2000 Publisher: WANI Magazine Content: Comes packaged in a hot pink thick cardboard box; two books, one called Databook and the other a loosely bound collection of prints housed in a hot pink cover. Databook contains: 63 pages in total; 13 pages of colour illustrations; 3 pages of colour manga; 8 pages of monochrome manga & sketches; 32 pages of black & white sketches; 5 pages of thumbnail images with notes; 1 page interview; Softcover Loosely bound...

Title: Fantastic! ?????????? fantastic!~?????????!~ (???) Artist: Tooko Miyagi Published: 03/07/2006 Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten Content: 87 pages in total; 66 pages of colour illustrations; 11 pages monochrome illustrations; 7 pages intro/title/ending/interview; 3 pages b&w notes & thumbnails; Softcover Extras: Single Sided Pull out Poster Cover Price: ¥1800 ISBN: 4-04-853918-3 Rate: Average Purchase: 12/07/2006 | Graphic Novel Cafe | NZ$49.99 Comments: This book is one I am sure many fans of Tooko Miyagi have been looking forward to, but I would strongly...

Title: Fabrica Theologiae Trinity Blood Illustrations THORES?????????????? fabrica theologiae(???????????) (???) Artist: THORES Shibamoto Published: 30/09/2005 Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten Content: 256 pages in total; 128 pages of colour illustrations; 110 pages of blank page; 18 pages intro/title/ending/interview; Hardcover Extras: None Cover Price: ¥8500 ISBN: 4-04-853867-5 Rate: Good Purchase: 06/08/2006 | Friend from Amazon Japan | N/A Comments: The cost of this book alone is scary to most. You’d have to be a dedicated collector of artbooks, or a fan of the...

Title Sweet Dreams Yamashita Shunya Works Sweet Dreams?????????? (???) Artist Shunya Yamashita Published: 02/08/2005 Publisher: Ohzora Shuppan Content 112 pages in total; 108 pages of colour illustrations; 4 pages of intro, title and ending; Softcover Extras N/A Cover Price ¥2200 ISBN 4-7767-9192-7 Rate Excellent Purchase ?? | Graphic Novel Cafe | NZ$??.?? Comments Yamashita Shunya was an unknown to me until I saw the cover for this artbook, Sweet Dreams. A beautiful strong warrior woman with a cute kitty at her feet, and a bright pink pink cover; how could you go wrong...

Title Togihime Zohushi No Ni (Masamune Shirow “Two-Sided Small Illustration Collection: Togihime Zohushi No.2 Small Folding Screen”) Artist Masamune Shirow Published: 21/07/2006 Publisher: Kodansha Content Comes with two fold out booklets, each presenting 16 unique never seen before images in a concertina /\/\/\ fashion. The black booklet contains the “regular” images, and the red booklet contains the ecchi version of most of the images in the “regular” edition, with two replaced with 4 being completely new images; comes with a slip of paper advertising...