Ooh, I was not expecting this at all! The results of the JLPT were made available today and I’m happy to say that I managed to pass N2! That’s another step closer to fulfilling my childhood dream of being (officially recognized as being) fluent in Japanese (and employment!).
3 Comments | 
Actar's Life | Tagged: hirazawa, japanese, jlpt, kawayui, language, n2, pass, yui | 
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Posted by Actar
It’s that time of year again and this year’s AFA was a pretty phenomenal one, if I do say so myself.
2 Comments | Actar's Acquisitions, Anime, Events | Tagged: afa14, Anime, aniplex, arai, asia, autographs, ayako, festival, hisako, honoka, horie, k, kanemoto, kawasumi, kenjiro, live, love, madoka, saber, satomi, tsuda, yui | Permalink
Posted by Actar
In a brilliant attempt to circumvent me running out of steam doing a day-by-day recount of my trip, this time, I’ll be writing just one post featuring only the juicy bits – Akihabara, Comiket (doujins) and more!
I’ll organize this post by sections that go in chronological order. At the end of the recount, will be a section that is dedicated to all the acquisitions that I got during my trip.
Without further ado, here we go!
(Warning! Image intensive and somewhat NSFW. Also, the changing aspect ratio of the pictures is due to the fact that a number of them were taken with different cameras.)
5 Comments | Actar in Japan, Actar's Acquisitions, Actar's Life, Anime, Events, Figures, Merch and Stuff, Movie Reviews | Tagged: akihabara, Anime, ano hana, artbook, bandai, book, cafe, chocolate, comic market, comiket, company, doll, doujin, doujinshi, evangelion, factory, fate, figure, figures, first, gaim, girl, good, hiiragi, homestay, homura, index, industry, k-on!, kagami, kamen, kotobukiya, lucky, lyrical, macross, madoka, magica, magical, mami, mandarake, max, movie, nanoha, pokemon, pokemon center, precure, pretty cure, pvc, railgun, review, rider, sailormoon, saitama, sakura, shizuoka, smile, star, steins;gate, suzumiya, takamachi, testarossa, tokyo, tomoe, tsukasa, washinomiya, wizard, yui | Permalink
Posted by Actar
Ah, Yui… she is undeniably popular and is always amongst the top in many K-On! character popularity rankings. However, she is usually bested by other fan favorites like Mio and Azusa. Putting aside the fact that Mio and Azusa are super-popular and have legions of fans, I suspect that Yui often falls short of the top spot because she has a reputation of being klutzy, airheaded and annoying to a fault. While this is arguably true to a certain extent, quoting the tagline of a famous toy property, I believe that there’s more to her than meets the eye.
In this post, I shall share with you why I personally find Yui to be the best girl in the K-On! anime series. As with all my opinion posts, you are perfectly free to agree or disagree with me. I won’t hold it against you. For more than a couple of months.
11 Comments | Anime, Articles | Tagged: analysis, Anime, character, favorite, hirasawa, k-on!, yui | Permalink
Posted by Actar
A quick look at one of the better movie premiums to be offered up for grabs during the release of the hit K-On! Movie.
1 Comment | Actar's Reviews Episodes, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: akiyama, Anime, azusa, band, bass, cagayake, company, doll, don't, drums, factory, figma, figure, fuwa, girls, go. maniac, good, guitar, hirasawa, k-on!, kotobuki, lazy, manabe, max, Mio, movie, mugi, nakano, nodoka, ritsu, say, smile, tainaka, time, tsumugi, ui, yui | Permalink
Posted by Actar
One of my all time favorite Anime, Lucky Star, is finally given the Blu-Ray treatment. Is it worth the astronomical price? Let’s find out.
1 Comment | Actar's Reviews Episodes, Anime, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: A's, akira, all, Anime, ayano, blu-ray, breaker, dvd, expensive, figma, figure, hell, hiiragi, hiyori, iwasaki, izumi, kagami, kanata, kobayakawa, kogami, konata, kuroi, kusakabe, lucky, martin, minami, minegishi, minoru, misao, miyuki, nanako, neesan, otaku, patricia, shiraishi, soujiro, star, takara, tamura, tsukasa, wallet, yui, yutaka | Permalink
Posted by Actar
LUCKY STAR IS GETTING A BLU-RAY BOX SET RELEASE!!! (^o^)
Release Date: 27th May 2011
24 episodes spread over 4 Discs
Bonus Disc 1 & 2 – Lucky Star in Budokan
Bonus Disc 3 – Special Features
– Non-Credit OP (lyrics included)
– Best Scenes
– OVA (Original na Visual to Animation)
– Lucky Star Channel at Shin Tokyo Circuit
– Lucky Racer Digest
1080i, 1080p, LPCM stereo (Japanese, English)
Subtitles (Japanese English)
Comes in an Artbox + 3 normal cases
Total run time: 1000 minutes
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UPDATE!!!
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Pre-orders are now up at AmiAmi for 10% off the MSRP at only 33,830 yen!
…and where ever Japanese Blu-Rays and DVDs are sold.
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Honestly, I think that this is a amazing, amazing release. Finally, one of my all time favorite series is getting a Blu-Ray release. I am usually hesitant when it comes to purchasing Blu-Ray releases of entire series due to the price. I’ve held off on buying the Blu-Ray releases of the Haruhi Series, Ga-Rei Series and Cardcaptor Sakura Series. However, I just cannot say no to this.
Besides holding great sentimental value for me, being one of the first series that actually made me ‘dedicate’ my life to Otaku Culture, the release itself looks really great.
First off, it’s Lucky Star in HD!!! The release also has ENGLISH SUBTITLES, okay special features and it even includes the Lucky Star in Budokan footage. I would have liked it if they had added more behind the scenes stuff (interviews and the like), but that’s just me.
I have seen many Ani-Song concerts including the Macross Frontier ones, Haruhi ones, K-On ones and of course the Lucky Star one. Out of all of them, I have to say that the Lucky Star concert was the best. It had the best staging, the best performances (yeah, the Haruhi one was really bad at times) and most importantly, the best feel. You could really tell that everyone was really into it, enjoying it and giving it their all. I was simply blown away by Shiraishi Minoru. Not only did he host the event and conduct the interview, he was still able to pull of an amazing performance. How that man was able to keep his voice going for so long I’ll never know.
In short, I myself really enjoyed watching the concert and definitely recommend every Lucky Star fan to watch it.
Oh, did I mention that the set comes with ENGLISH freaking SUBTITLES? Next up on my agenda, the Haruhi Blu-Ray set! (^o^)
6 Comments | Anime | Tagged: Anime, ayano, chapp, dolls, figma, figure, fuku, hiiragi, izumi, japan, kagami, konata, lucky, maiden, mama, martin, miko, minami, misao, miyuki, motteke, patricia, patty, sailor, saitama, sera, shrine, star, takara, tsukasa, uniform, washinomiya, yui, yutaka | Permalink
Posted by Actar
Want to get a replica from K-on! but don’t want to shell out thousands of dollars on their instruments? In my opinion, besides cups and Nekomimi, this is the best and most meaningful replica that is a must have for any K-On! fan.
Leave a Comment » | Actar's Reviews Episodes, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: after, album, Anime, azusa, cagayake, cd, figma, figure, fuwa, girls, go, ho-kago, hokago, houkago, k-on!, maniac, Mio, mugi, replica, ritsu, school, song, tea, time, yui | Permalink
Posted by Actar
Get ready to shead some tears and jam with the entire band as We finally arrive at the end of the figma K-On! line, concluding with none other than Azu-nyan!
3 Comments | Actar's Reviews Episodes, Figures, Merch and Stuff | Tagged: akiyama, Anime, azusa, band, bass, cagayake, company, doll, don't, drums, factory, figma, figure, fuwa, girls, go. maniac, good, guitar, hirasawa, k-on!, kotobuki, lazy, manabe, max, Mio, mugi, nakano, nodoka, ritsu, say, smile, tainaka, time, tsumugi, ui, yui | Permalink
Posted by Actar
Been playing for about an hour plus and so far have unlocked 15 songs, but I feel that’s not even half. (^.^;)
I bet you’re wondering how the game is. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
11 Comments | Game Reviews | Tagged: figma, figure, game, k-on!, Mio, mugi, nodoka, psp, review, rhythm, ritsu, sawako, ui, yui | Permalink
Posted by Actar
Actar's Otaku Life 