Mandarake Merch Madness: Part 2 – Untold Questions

And now we continue the merch post with figurines, yeah? Indeed, if you’re reading this and you haven’t read Part 1, you really probably should. Unless you don’t want to! That’s fine too. But yes, this second part of my Mandarake Merch Madness will be focusing on figurines that I got with my most recent order.

Right, let’s see ’em then! Well first, there’s a couple of things kinda figurine adjacent, well one’s an acrylic stand which is not a figurine but the second are Banpresto chibi-style figurines. The reason the pictures look different to the others is because the irl waifu took these to work to sit on her desk before I could take photos!

Sleepy Umaru acrylic stand from Himouto! Umaru-Chan.

Kageyama and Hinata Banpresto mini figurines.

Hey look! Things that aren’t cute girls! What a pleasant change of pace for this merch post! If you’re trying to make me feel bad for my cute girl obsession, it won’t work. And while on the subject of Banpresto mini figurines, we also have the four main girls from Yuru Yuri. Still in their boxes as I haven’t decided where to put them.

I swear it was just a coincidence that Akari’s face got obscured! Even real life is trying to make her disappear!

And now the main event as it were? The figurines? Well, let’s get one thing out of the way first, these aren’t the expensive bishoujo figurines that you see going for prices upwards of 10,000 yen. These are what are called ‘prize figurines’ called that because they’re usually used as prizes in UFO/crane games in arcades around Japan. It’s always funny because on the boxes they say ‘for use as prize in Japan only, not to be resold’, and yet there’s dozens of stores in Akihabara that sell them with impunity. Because they are prize figurines their prices are lower, but of course so is the level of detail. While I would love to be able buy proper expensive bishoujo figures, I personally can’t justify the price. I’d rather have 5 or 10 prize figures then 1 bishoujo figure, besides they’re all bishoujo’s to me 😉

…and what does bishoujo mean? Argh! don’t you ever listen! It means ‘beautiful girl’.

Right, okay, I get it now. So um pictures please?! Oh right! I won’t put much commentary between these pictures (just captions), as there weren’t any “surprises” like there was with some of the other merch from the previous post, these all came as expected and I’m happy with them all!

Rize from Is The Order A Rabbit?

Not sure on her name but she’s from the Monogatari series, which is a personal favourite, haven’t seen the season she is in yet but the price was exceptionally low on this one and I couldn’t pass it up.

Sengoku Nadeko from Nisemonogatari (Monogatari series).

Best girl Hitagi Senjougahara from Bakemonogatari (Monogatari series)

Mayoi Hatchukuji from Bakemonogatari (Monogatari series)

And last but certainly not least, a very familiar face, Kuroneko from OreImo.

Well that wasn’t nearly as troublesome as I thought it might be, I have expected some lewd figurines in their. Oh my no… the Yayoi Barnard Lutwidge figure I want is far too expensive for my budget.

*google Yayoi Barnard Lutwidge* Oh… oh my god what is she doing to that carrot! Why do you do this to me?! I didn’t make you Google it.

Tsk. Anyway that was the merch post, how do we want to go about wrapping these things up? I hope you enjoyed reading about all this lovely merch I got from Mandarake. If you have any questions or comments feel free to ask me, I’d love to hear what you think! Thanks for reading!

Mandarake Merch Madness: Part 1 – Untold Questions

Okay, what’s this then? It’s a merch post!

“Merch”, “Post”, is this some kind of weird ritual? Yes.

No, but seriously what’s going on. Don’t be difficult, ‘merch’ means ‘merchandise’ and post is what this is.

—kay, but what’s a “Mandarake”? Well it’s got nothing to with Harry Potter if you’re wondering.

I wasn’t but do go on… It’s a second-hand anime goods chain in Japan, it’s like a treasure trove of anime related goodies for otakus like me! Also, second-hand for Japan is basically like new, 90% of the things they sell have never been taken out of the box!

And I presume this means you bought some goods from them? A whole BOX of ‘em!

You could fit a person in this box!

That’s a big box! Ahem…

Always well protected, the more delicate items are individually bubble wrapped too.

Right-o, so get into it then! Full disclosure, a lot of these pictures will be of the items out of their boxes because, well, I was too impatient to take pictures of them in their respective box. I don’t know if this breaks some rules of unboxing/merch posts but give me a break, okay? I’m new here after all…

Fine, fine. Just get on with it! Okay, so prepare for a lot of photos, also I’m not really sure what order to display the merch in so I’ll leave the figurines ’til the end [edit: figurines in seperate post], and everything else before.

GET ON WITH IT! Right, so first off I wanted to get a new wallet. I’ve already got a re:zero one but it’s due for a replacement soon.

From: Is the Order a Rabbit?? Still in packaging because i’ll leave it in til I’m ready to change over from the old wallet.

What’s up next? Next is a couple of CD soundtracks! I have most of my music digitally but it’s sometimes nice to get the physical thing, plus the Amagi Brilliant Park one comes with a bonus DVD. Unfortunatley, Mandarake’s website isn’t the best about giving detailed information on the content of some of their products, and some things are just poorly translated, so as it turns out the DVD is of just one, 4-minute music video. But whatever it was cheap enough anyway!

Yuru Yuri Season 1 OST and Amagi Brilliant Park Character Song Collection + Bonus DVD.

4 minute long DVD, that’s got to be some kind of record for shortest DVD. Haha I doubt it, but yeah… Anyway while we’re on the subject of Amagi Brilliant Park. I got a stylus and a poster. I was a bit disappointed the poster was just a paper one as the site said ‘image board’ but again it comes down to translation issues and not very good pictures on their website. It’s certainly not a perfect system, but it kind of adds to the excitement of opening the items!

Amagi Brilliant Park, Isuzu Sento Stylus.

Amagi Brilliant Park full cast poster.

Buyer beware I suppose! It’s fine! Next up is a COSPA pillowcase for New Game! I’ve already got a bunch of COSPA brand pillow cases from the actual COSPA store in Akihabara when I went last year and I was so impressed with the quality when I got them home I bought another one! They don’t have a wide range of shows unfortunately, but they are double-sided with different images on each side!

New Game! Pillowcase, still in packaging until I buy a new pillow insert for it but you can see the two sides of the design on the paper beneath. Also it was a lot cheaper than the RRP, as some Mandarake items usually are.

When you said pillowcase I thought it was going to be something lewd… thankfully it’s only partially so with those bikinis… Did someone say lewd?! This next purchase was just because of how much it amused me, it’s an oppai drink bottle holder. It’s also from a series I’ve never watched before which I don’t normally do, but it was too good to pass up. Unfortunately, and I feel like I’m saying that a lot, but the hole to the bottle in the top is too small for most if not all water bottles, it might be able to fit a small coke can or bottle or beer, but I don’t drink either! Oh well, might have to just repurpose it into a pen holder or something!

Too late to say NSFW?

Yeah… why am I not surprised you bought something like that… My browsing habits on Mandarake generally just result in me putting in the titles of shows I or the irl waifu likes and seeing what comes up. A show we both like, but not love is Persona 4: The Animation, ordinarily I wouldn’t bother with merch for a show I just ‘like’ and not ‘love’, but when I showed her this she had to have it.

Teddy plush thing from Persona 4. And yes it’s a working zip and you can put things in it! Not much though it is very small.

Well that’s cute and wholesome! And now back to our regularly scheduled smut! Well, not the item itself, but rather the show (or visual novel, it could be from either). I was searching ‘We Without Wings’ and this item came up, it was vague in the description, it translated something to ‘towel’ and I assumed beach towel, but it’s not, it’s more like a velour (or microfibre?) throw blanket. And it’s very big, it takes up most of the single bed in my office.

Is Naru best girl? I don’t even know, that show’s so confusing. Regardless I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and size especially considering the relatively low price.

Mmm-hmm. Moving on… I broke one of my rules twice this shop, that rule being never buy things for show’s you don’t watch/haven’t watched yet. But I think this one’s forgivable, because apparently it’s a really good show? Also, who can say no to a cheap, brand new t-shirt!

Angel Beats t-shirt. Really good quality print, really poor quality photo. It’s pristine white irl but the photo makes it look worn.

I wouldn’t have thought Japanese sizes would fit you… WOW. I mean it is a little snug around the belly, but it’s fine. I’ll probably only wear it at home, and only once I’ve watched the show too. Anyway, next it’s time for Interviews With Monster Girls merch! I got 3 phone charms and a really cute phone case. One I thing I quickly learned while in Japan is that while they have a LOT of anime phone cases, only about 5% of them come in the Large size for iPhone plus sized devices. So of course while browsing the site I was thrilled to find one for Interviews With Monster Girls that fits my phone!

Bad lighting strikes again!

Kawaii!

Well this post has gotten longer than I thought it would be, should we maybe take a break? You don’t get breaks, but yes I see what you mean, it probably is a bit much for one post. Alright, take five and we’ll continue with figurines in part two!

Is The Order A Rabbit? – 20 Question Anime Review

What’s the show? Is The Order A Rabbit?

Huh? I didn’t order anything? No, that’s the name of the show.

Oh, okay, one of those anime show names that makes more sense in Japanese is it? Mmm, I doubt it. Pretty sure it means exactly the same in Japanese.

Right. So what’s it about? *Whispering* Ask me what time it is…

What, why? Ugh, fine whatever ‘what time is it?’ Time for another instalment of ‘cute girls doing cute things!’

Oh good, well what cute things are these girls doing? Running a café!

Well I do admit that does sounds cute… wait they don’t serve rabbit at this café, do they? No! Of course not, just lovingly prepared coffee and the usual accompaniments!

Then what’s the rabbit thing about in the title? The café that our protagonist Cocoa works in is called ‘Rabbit House’ and is run by the too adorable for words Chino!

This review isn’t going to devolve into you ‘squee-ing’ over cute girls again is it? So kawaii!!!

Dear god, we’re losing him already, err, um… so what else is the show about? Hmm, oh. Well it’s a slice of life anime, so not much!

That sounds like a negative. Then you obviously don’t watch enough slice of life! Cocoa and Chino are joined at ‘Rabbit House’ by Rize, gun wielding, army brat and all around best girl. There’s two competing cafes, where their other friends work, artsy Chiya who works at a more traditional Japanese looking coffee house and hard-working Syaro who works at an almost maid café.

Oh, so there’s like rivalries between the different café’s that strain their friendships and adds some drama to the proceedings? Nope!

Ah… hmm. So what is there about this show that we can talk about? Tippy-desu!

What… what is that? It’s Tippy! He’s a rabbit!

Ah, err, okay, sure. And he talks.

Not even surprised. And also he’s Chino’s grandfather.

Okay now you lost me. It’s true! He interjects occasionally to comment on Chino’s running of the café and laments the fact that he’s no longer human and is now a very fluffy rabbit!

And how is, well how everything of all that? You mean, how did Chino’s grandfather ‘die’ and become reincarnated as a rabbit? Your guess is as good as mine, they don’t explain it and haven’t even come close to in season two either. But does it really matter? I mean look how cute they all look!

Well this review went nowhere fast… You want a review? Fine! ‘Is The Order A Rabbit?’ is a show whose audience can precisely be quantified by looking at a picture of the main characters, if you went ‘dawww!’ you’re the target audience and this is probably the show for you. If you didn’t well then let’s face it your probably too busy watching 800 episodes of Naruto to even notice this kind of show even exists. It’s a character driven comedy, driven by characters whose comedy comes from their cuteness. It’s seldom laugh out loud funny but it’s warm and genuine and sweet and beyond criticism for someone who eats this kind of stuff up. So excuse me for just wanting to bask in something happy and nice instead of the unrelenting darkness that is the rest of the world!

I… uh, I’m sorry. Final score? Is The Order A Rabbit? I’ll order seconds, thanks. 92 out of 100.