Nopy's Blog

Some of you may remember a post I made last year on whether to purchase one or both versions of a particular figure. The figure in question was of Ruri Hoshino, my all-time favourite anime character and unofficial mascot of Nopy’s Blog. Originating from the 1996 anime Martian Successor Nadesico, figures of her are extremely hard to find, which was why I was elated to hear that a company called Kurushima would be releasing two versions of Ruri, titled “Way Back From Bakery” and sculpted by Keiko. As you can see above, I bought two of these figures, one is the polka-dot dress version and the other is the pink-dress Miyazawa limited version. They come in exactly the same box with only a couple of stickers identifying which version is inside. Each figure retails for 14200 JPY, making them the most expensive in my collection.

Unlike most figures, which are made out of PVC, this line of Ruri figures is made out of cold cast resin. While PVC figures are generally soft and pliable, cold cast figures are hard and brittle, making them extremely fragile. Enough description though, below you can see my review of the actual figures.

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One of the things that I like about anime that is largely absent in western cartoons (or it was when I was a kid), is that it’s not afraid to kill off a character in order to drive the story. Sometimes these deaths make viewers cry, other times they create mobs of angry fans. Either way, they completely draw in the attention and bring out the emotions of any viewer, ensuring the series will always have people to remember it. Here are just 10 deaths which I thought were excellently done and helped make the series. The videos are the closest I could find of the actual scenes.

Note: I think this is obvious, but spoilers are below. If you haven’t seen but intend to see Mai-Hime, Death Note, Evangelion, Madoka, Nadesico, Gurren Lagann, Clannad After Story, Katanagatari, Code Geass, or Kodomo no Jikan and don’t want to be spoiled, don’t scroll down. Also, before anyone asks “where’s Spike?” I have yet to finish Cowboy Bebop.

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Yesterday I was overjoyed when I found out that a company by the name of Kurushima was releasing a Ruri Hoshino figure, and not just any Ruri figure, but one of her before she became a captain. If any of you don’t know who Ruri is, all you have to do is take a look at my banner, gravatar, or any of my profile pics. She has been the unofficial mascot of Nopy’s Blog since its inception and is my favourite character of all time. Unfortunately, the anime she comes from, Martian Successor Nadesico, is from the mid-90′s, so good figures of the younger Ruri are almost non-existent. Most of the ones I’ve seen of her are garage kits from over a decade ago.

With that in mind, it was only natural that I would purchase this figure of Ruri returning from the bakery in a polka dot dress without a second thought, even with the hefty price tag of 14200 yen. However, I am now faced with a dilemma. A day after this figure of Ruri was put up for preorder, another figure showed up on the front pages of my favourite online figure stores.

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So today I was bored and decided to rewatch an anime. With the seeming lack of good quality anime nowadays, I needed something that would keep me watching for several hours. The anime that immediately came to mind was Martian Successor Nadesico (aka Mobile Battleship Nadesico).

Nadesico first aired in 1996 and ran for 26 episodes with 1 movie that came out in If you haven’t been watching anime long enough to know of Nadesico, here’s a quick breakdown of the series from Wikipedia:

The series takes place in the year 2196 and Earth is warring with a race of alien invaders called the “Jovian Lizards”. To combat it, a company called Nergal designs a space battleship, the ND-001 Nadesico. While the ship is powerful and its crew consists of the top civilian experts in their fields, these individuals tend to have “some slight personality disorders”.

The primary protagonist, Akito Tenkawa, is a boy with a mysterious past; once a resident of Mars’ Utopia colony, he escaped its destruction by the Jovian Lizards and arrived on Earth, with no memory of how he got there but a terrible fear of the invaders. He hates fighting and only wants to be a chef, however, he is constantly called on to act as a pilot of one of the Nadesico’s Aestivalis – humanoid combat robots. While on board the Nadesico, Akito has more problems to deal with than just the Jovians; nearly all the female members of the crew, especially the vessel’s captain Yurika Misumaru, seem to be head over heels in love with him, though all he wants to do is cook and watch his favorite anime, Gekigangar III.
 

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