Just A Few Figures from the Collection

Been pretty busy working on some shitty useless homework lately, but decided to take some time off to catalogue my collection of figures. This is but a partial collection - I doubt I will dig out the little gashapon or collectible figures that are kinda cute, but a pain in the ass to keep clean, nor the other full-sized figures which I have to take out of the boxes and assemble. I did however, photograph the figures currently on display. Probably need to get a digital camera soon - fucking phone camera is useless.

From the anime Fate/stay night, which is fucking overrated, I got these two figures, produced by clayz, on 50% discount each. The one on the right, Saber, is kinda meh, except you can probably put stuff into her hands (a wooden sword is provided). Dildo recommended. The one on the left, Rin, isn't half bad - bikini, pretty good facial expression. Would be pretty nice to display if I ever decide to take her out of the box.

The above two are of (left) Kasumi from the Dead or Alive series, and (right) some character design from Fate/stay Character Material (prolly some design of Arcuied, who gives a shit), called Eclipse. Got Kasumi at a used store since the figure is pretty damned popular, and I nearly fapped. Got Eclipse because of the pretty nice dress thing - not so fappable, but pretty cool anyway. Nice wand as well - probable use - dildo, I might say.

The next two are among my favourites. On the left is Rider, from Fate/stay Night (more specifically, Fate/hollow ataraxia, more fanboy shit), and I got her pretty cheap from Amazon. Bikinis are high on my fappability list, and the sculpt of her long hair is pretty damn good. Attachable book scores points too - intelligence is directly proportional to fappability. Might have high resale value, so no regrets. The one on the right (Alice Marvin from Pumpkin Scissors) however, doesn't seem too popular - I got her new, but fucking hell, it's going for much cheaper on online auctions. Fucking retards don't know when something's actually good. Chick with sword = good. Chick with sword in ball dress = excellent. Chick with sword whose dress can be removed to reveal white panties = fapfapfap. Doubt if resale value is high though.

Got this used as well, for roughly half the original sale price. Pretty popular as well. From some show where some married woman is a magical girl who can use magic, etc., the entire figure from body to costume and facial expression is pretty damn good. Quite fappable if I might say.
I'll group these two into the same paragraph, since they're of the same character, Iroha, from Samurai Spirits. Iroha herself is pretty fappable, but I got these figures because they were cheap. The one above was on 66% discount, and the one below on 50%. Facial expressions are pretty good, and the lower one's hips are pretty fappable if you look long enough. Iroha porn is also one of my favourites.

Meg from Bakuretsu Tenshi (Exploding Angel). I got this because the character was kinda hot, some teenage girl running around in high stockings and short pants, but the real kicker was what you could put in her hands. Not only is a sniper rifle included, with the appropriate parts, you could attach an M-16, rocket launcher, laser rifle - you get the idea. Other more mundane and strange stuff you could put into her hands include pencils, water pipes, dildos... penis.

Kanu Unchou from Ikkitousen. Got it used, for cheap price. Several versions with different colours exist, but this was the only one with black panties - oh my fap. Her blouse is removeable as well - tits galore if I dare take it out of the box. Might have pretty good resale value as well.

The last figure is of some dealer girl from an arcade slot machine game, Super Black Jack, called Rio. I have a pillowcase with her printed on it as well - I don't know why I'm drawn to stuff of her, but apparently porn of her is widespread, so I'm good. This figure was gotten for bargain basement price - the original price was over 8000 yen. Might have good resale value - who knows?

One thing worth mentioning - my favourite pillowcase. Can't sleep without it.
GODDAMN I LOVE NURSES. Will update with more nurse pillowcases when I get them.

That's just part of the figure collection. I'm planning to sell most of it one day, so hopefully I'll recoup some of the cash I spent on these decorations. Whether they'll appreciate or depreciate, that's another story for another day.

Witchblade - Entertainingly Painful

For the inaugural post on this blog which I'm probably not gonna update much anyway, I'd been waiting to move to my new place, grab a few new collectibles and then proceed to write about them as I stack them nicely on all my new furniture. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, and half my apartment is still filled with boxes containing all my collectibles.

However, after managing to pass my retarded Ethics resit exam, I found myself with a little time on my hands to get back to my backlog of stuff to do that had accumulated over the past year. One of them was watching Witchblade (the anime version). It originally aired from April to October 2006 if I remember correctly, however the subs being especially slow, I'd just stored them up planning to watch them later. Subs were finally completed in around April of 2007, but even then I didn't have the time nor the will to watch it, having so many other things to keep up with, studies included.

The anime version of Witchblade, from what I've heard, has a style completely different from the American originals, especially since the heroine and wielder of the Witchblade, Amaha Masane is Japanese. It started out pretty fine, establishing the mother-daughter relationship between Masane and her daughter Rihoko firmly, and how they settled into a new place, the relationship between Masane and her boss, her new job, the emergence of one of the antagonists and started to explore the whole deal with the Witchblade. This was done pretty well, although more character development might have been needed for the other characters. It seemed like the whole story was focused on mother and daughter - which would totally fuck me up in the end.

The beginning of the second half dealt with the discovery that they were not related by blood, the subsequent revelation of past history, and the emergence of a new enemy. It then proceeded to head into the final arc of the story, the culmination of everything.

Before I get into the meat of the thing, I just have to say that Witchblade, overall, is neither good nor bad. Character development is pretty poor apart from mother and daughter. Plot seems to proceed in arc-like formats, all leading indirectly to the ending. Fights are short and not detailed, so no luck for those watching it for the battles. Background story is, like many of Gonzo's (the animation studio) recent works, pretty generic, not fully fleshed out, and in general, kinda piss poor. Furthermore, there aren't any books telling any side stories, unlike several other series (not counting the 2 volumes of manga and novel - which tell of the wielders immediately before this current heroine and completely uninvolved in the anime). What really kept me watching this show was that I actually liked the protagonist and her daughter, which rarely happens whenever I watch these sort of generic shows.

SPOILER ALERT! So fuck you. The Witchblade's characteristics are as follows:

1. The wielder seeks out and fights the most powerful enemies, whether she wants to or not.
2. There is no way to remove the Witchblade except death.
3. The Witchblade takes a toll on its wielder and destroys them from within

Number 3 is hinted around episode 8, when one of the imitation Witchblades (Cloneblade, how original) destroys its wielder. Furthermore, there is no way to remove the Witchblade except death. In addition, Rihoko is revealed to the the most suited for the Witchblade - and making her fight is the last thing Masane wants. She has to keep fighting to make enough money for their future, and to prevent the Witchblade from attaching to Rihoko.

The self-destruction keeps getting hinted at even more as the story goes along, but I figure that as with generic series, they'll find some way to solve this problem with the Witchblade (e.g. imitations suck, and the Witchblade doesn't have that problem), right? After all, all generic shows have happy endings, don't they?

At episode 16 (the swimsuit episode) I start to get suspicious. There has been nothing up till then to indicate a cure, or that self-destruction can be avoided. Well, there's still 8 more episodes, I think, and keep going. At the very next episode, the final arc begins, and I start to dread it. Amane starts getting protective of her daughter, and plot continues regarding her boss (who at this point, is revealed to be the biological father of Rihoko, biological mother died earlier in the series), and it's revealed that Masane and her boss (relationship developed earlier on as well) are in love, etc. Biological father meets daughter, they all have a good time. I start to get real suspicious here - could it be that the creators are putting on all this to get us worked up and then use a deus ex machina to solve the problem of self-destruction so that they can all have a happy ending?

The plot proceeds, and my suspicions are validated - Masane is preparing her daughter's future (including getting the biological father/her boss to accept her), and trying to get Rihoko to accept the fact that she is inevitably going to die. At this point, I start to get the feeling that there will not be a happy ending. The feeling grows at episode 20-22, where Masane's body starts breaking down. At episode 22 where she tells Rihoko that soon, she would never be able to see her again is one of the most powerful scenes I have watched in recent memory. Along with the background music, I just couldn't take it anymore and fucking cried. I rarely cry to fictional stories - the most recent in memory being Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo and another being Armageddon (yeah the Bruce Willis movie), so crying, especially for a generic series, is kinda fucking embarassing for me. But over the next half an hour, whenever I went back to that scene to replay it, I just keep crying over and over, despite saying to myself WHAT THE FUCK BITCH. The fact that Rihoko's dream of living in a house with her mother will not come true hits me just as hard. The music and background sounds of the scene are not epic, but contribute to fucking me up even more. As a result, the end of episode 21, where they all take pictures, makes even more sense now - it was all Masane's swan song.

She had never wanted the Witchblade in the first place, yet via unfortunate circumstances, she has to be separated forever from the only thing she has - her daughter. True, the Witchblade had gotten them many things, money, discovery of Rihoko's true lineage - but did it really matter to the two of them? All they want to do is be together, and from the uncompromising whim of the Witchblade, they have to suffer?

However at this point, I still wonder - can they come up with a magical cure in the final two episodes to turn it all around? In episode 23, the penultimate episode, this is crushed swiftly as Masane returns home after a hard battle, and collapses. Her body has been eroded greatly by the Witchblade, and I momentarily consider that even if they manage to cure her, how would they repair her body?

The kicker is around the three-quarter mark of episode 23, when Masane discovers she can no longer taste food - meaning that she can no longer have one of her last pleasures, eating her daughter's cooking, which she had been enjoying throughout the entire show. I know at this point that there is no turning back, and as before, I cry my eyes out again. The preview for the final episode also beats the shit out of me - there is only silence and at the final moment, Masane calling out her daughter's name.

I spend some time after that thinking whether I should keep the last episode for the next day or just finish it off. I really wanted to not watch it and say "Okay, they found a magical cure in the final episode, like one of the other potential wielders of the Witchblade comes along and it attaches it to them instead." There's still this faint hope in the corner of my mind, yet with the happenings of episode 23, I know for sure this is not going to happen. So I start watching the final episode, 24.

And as I fear as much, there is no happy ending. After the first half where there is not a hint of a cure, I realize that using a deus ex machina to turn things around in the last 10 minutes of the show is something only a retard would do. And so I am totally mindfucked. The show ends with Masane saving her daughter from danger one final time, and Rihoko watching Masane's final moments, as she uses the power of the Witchblade to destroy herself and all those killer robots threatening everything (don't ask about the robots, not important), in a huge flash of light. Next to Rihoko watching, is her biological father. Rihoko catches a small ball of floating light in her hands - which turns out to be a seashell she gave her mother in episode 16. And so the show ends, Masane having rescued her daughter from the pain and suffering that comes with wielding the Witchblade, ensuring that Rihoko is never alone and her future is secure (cue: biological father, rich fucker), and having the final goodbye with her.

Sounds like a good ending, eh? Somehow it just made me feel like shit. Even though all the signs were there and the buildup to the tragic ending was crystal clear, the happy tone which Witchblade had sustained up during the first three quarters made me unable to accept that a sad ending was possible. I don't know if I would be able to rewatch Witchblade, going through the happy episodes knowing the sad ending would be torturous for me.

As I thought more about it, that might have been alleviated a little if they had inserted another scene at the end, showing what happened to everyone after the finale. If they had shown Rihoko having accepted her mother's death and taking Masane's assurance that she would `always be near her' to heart, then I might have been satisfied. However, they chose to end it right there at the final battle, with Rihoko, her father's and all the fates of the side characters unknown (yet another characterization and plot weakness, perhaps?). It's left me with no sense of closure. Masane dies, and that's it? FUCKING HELL.

All in all, I'm at a loss at how to feel about Witchblade. The buildup to the tragic end is certainly good - in fact if I rewatch anything, it would be the final few episodes - and somehow in a masochistic way I enjoy crying my eyes out at the sad scenes. However, the happy tone of the earlier episodes just don't seem to fit in with them at all. Combined with the not-so-feel-good ending, I'm a little dissatisfied. As of right now, I'm still sorting out my thoughts regarding Witchblade.

What does this have to do with my collectibles anyway? Well, last year when I'd only watched the first few episodes before deciding to store them up, I'd grown to like the characters quite a bit. Hence, it was collecting time. Mainly doujins (fanmade work - mine are all 18+), and figurines.

Sample cover of a doujin:
Yeah, she's got pretty big tits, quite clumsy, etc = good material for hentai. I even own a few of the real books, since Masane is quite the fucking MILF. However, now that I know the ending of Witchblade, can I actually fucking fap to a chick that I know is fucking dead? Furthermore, knowing that the stuff she went through in the final few episodes made me cry is enough to cut short my erection. Perhaps that's also another reason why almost none of the fanmade hentai manga is set in the later episodes - I doubt anyone would be able to fap to that, except some sick fucks. I am a sick fuck, but this particular one isn't one of my fetishes. If Witchblade had stayed a happy show, I would have been able to fire my cannon repeatedly without hesitation.

Next comes collectibles. I currently own this figure:
It's on the cheap side, but pretty good quality (from Alter, 2007 April). You can switch her hand with the Witchblade, and her tits are squeezeable - WTF! Pretty good.

And getting this one come October 2007, from Fine Scenery:
From the swimsuit episode 16, these figures can be displayed separately or together. Pretty good stuff, since the Masane one is looking pretty hot. Her tits should be just as big as they appear.

I also owned another figure of her when she transformed into the Witchblade form, but sold it off when I realized I didn't like the transformed version. Any Witchblade figures in normal clothing is fair game though.

However, this too has been thrown into chaos with the whole Witchblade tragic ending. All of the figures that I want/own/will own soon, are all set during the happy episodes. And every time I look at them I'll remember how those happy times turned sad, and of the ending without closure. What the hell am I gonna do? Do I just forget the whole Witchblade ending and pretend that it was happy the whole way?

In conclusion, I believe that the creators could have thought of a better way of ending what was potentially a keeper, just because of the mother-daughter relationship. Instead they chose to go the opposite direction, in which, while the sad scenes are really powerful, the ending just doesn't cut it. Wasn't there another way to end series? After all, apart from the illogically happy ending and horrifyingly sad ending, isn't there the middle road? Or was this sad ending where they got to say goodbye the `middle road' for the creators?

I'm still unsure of what to think about Witchblade, and I'm not sure I'll ever know. For sure, this is going to disturb me quite a bit for the foreseeable future.