A Look Inside My Anime Office

A look inside my Anime Office

animeoffice

For the past three or so years I’ve been working on turning the spare room in my partner and I’s apartment into what I’ve dubbed an ‘Anime Office’. Functionally its almost like a museum space for me to display my anime merch while also featuring a desk, chair and spare single bed. I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to things like this and so while it’s been about 95% complete for about 3 months now I’m only just now willing to share photos of it with the rest of the internet.

(Note: These photos were taken by the irlwaifu, while I provided lighting and direction. Also a couple of photos contain NSFW imagery but I’ll warn you before those photos appear.)

The first thing you see as you approach the room is the Japanese door curtain–or ‘noren’ as it is traditionally known. The curtain features Latifah and Sento from ‘Amagi Brilliant Park’, below it you can see a doormat featuring the main cast of ‘Is The Order A Rabbit?’ the latter of which was a particularly lucky find as it was the first time finding an anime themed doormat and it happened to be from one of my favourite CGDCT anime.

What wonders await beyond the curtain?!
Parting the curtain gives a sneak peak of the room, as well as the hideous carpet in our rental apartment…

One of the main focal points is the ‘Yuru Yuri’ bedsheet which I’ve re-purposed into a curtain or even flag of sorts, its made of a much higher quality material than the usual anime bed sheets (which are usually a rough cotton material) hence why the pride of place against the room’s actual curtain.

It’s a lot to take in all at once.

Immediately as you enter you see the bed which is currently occupied by four body pillows (dakimakura in Japanese) they feature–from front to back–Ruiko Saten and Kazari Uihara from ‘A Certain Scientific Railgun’, Amane Suou from ‘The Grisaia series’, Ginko Sora from ‘The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done’ and Rize Tedeza from ‘Is The Order A Rabbit? series’. (If there’s enough requests I can do a separate post featuring more detailed pictures/descriptions/information of any of the merch shown through this post).

Not much room in this bed!

To the immediate left of the bed as you enter is a wall filled with anime tapestries (wall scrolls) which are (usually) made of suede, supported by PVC rods and hung with string.  I’ve actually got about 3 times as many wall scrolls as seen here but these are my favourites. Occasionally I’ll switch out some for others to give a change of scenery but these are the ones that most frequently feature.

Again, if close-ups of any of these are required please make a request and I’ll make a separate post.

Immediately above the bed hanging from the roof is a single bed-sheet of Yami from ‘The To Love-Ru series’. It makes for an impressive sight while lying in bed.

Oh what a feeling, Yami on the ceiling!

From the bed the rest of the room can be seen though there’s a lot more to it than can be captured by a single photo. Nevertheless, here is a single photo of the view from the bed.

A lot going on, but it’ll make sense in a minute (maybe).

Perhaps the most visually eye-catching (if only from a colour and size perspective) part of the room is the wall-mounted blanket of Hachiroku from the ‘Maitetsu series’. Long story short, while on my most recent (February 2019) trip to Japan I discovered an anime girl from a series I’d never even heard of and fell in love so naturally I needed something equally impressive to celebrate her with.

Hachiroku in all her glory (with some random prize figurines beneath).

 

Occupying (almost) an entire wall directly opposite the leftside tapestry wall are a series of bookshelves which contain all my manga (the first four shelves–looking from left-to-right) my anime blu-rays (the next two shelves) and non-anime blu-ray TV shows (the final three shelves). Atop them are some ‘Monster Musume’ postcards that have been mounted in frames and some ‘Fairy Tail’ funko pop toys.

The desk itself, which sits between the bed and the bookshelves in the corner of the room has itself another bookshelf (a slightly wider one with anime DVD’s and anime art books and then the desk itself which is unsurprisingly adorned with many mousepads. (Second image is NSFW, also contains random photo of irlwaifu dressed as Umaru on my desk).

If this photo looks lower quality it’s because I took it myself on a different phone to the others.
What? You don’t have four mousepads on your desk?!

But my favourite part of the room (at least from a collectors standpoint) are my bishojou figures, encased in a glass display case in what is almost the centre of the room. (I’m going to spend a bit more time on this section than previous ones, also some of the figures are NSFW so there’s your warning).

The four-tier glass display case.
Top self; back row: Nana and Lala figures from ‘To Love-Ru series’ made by Alter. Front row: The girls from ‘Yuru Yuri’ in miniature Banpresto figures.
Second shelf; back row: Ryuko posable figure from ‘Kill La Kill’. Front row: ‘Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya’ figures of Kuro, Illya and Miyu. The latter of which are my absolute favourite thing I’ve ever bought.
Third shelf; back row: Sena and Yozora from ‘Haganai series’. Front row: Sonico from ‘Super Sonico’ (yes I took her top off, so what?) Plus ‘Senran Kagura’ mini-figs from a Senran Kagura DS game I found for cheap in Japan.
Bottom shelf; Just a bunch of prize figures from the ‘Monogatari’ series.

And that’s it for my Anime Office tour! I probably missed a few little things, but if there’s anything you want to know more about just leave a comment below and I’ll hopefully be able to answer your questions! Thanks for reading!

Whole room panorama.

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Laying Down The Law – ‘Amazing Stranger’ Episode 2 Review

Laying Down The Law – An Anime QandA Review for ‘Amazing Stranger’ Episode 2

amazingstranger2

What’s the show? Amazing Stranger, Episode 2.

And how’s this episode? You know what, kudos where kudos is due–this show is pretty unpredictable.

Oh yeah, how so? Well I haven’t seen a lot (a.k.a, any) of these ‘toys that come alive’ anime but I didn’t expect things to escalate as quickly as they did. The first episode had our male protagonist seemingly hellbent on making sure Nona not realise she was a “fictional” character in his favourite anime and a part of me thought it was going to keep up that farce until at least episode 9, but nope, episode 2 drops the bombshell on Nona that she’s a fictional character and, uh… she takes it surprisingly well! Or surprisingly sexist… I’m not quite sure…

*existential crisis intensifies*

Oh dear… what happens? Well after spending the majority of her free days watching television she comes to the conclusion that she needs to marry Haruto–why? Well because being a housewife means she can sit home, eat chocolate and watch more television all day without any guilt!

I’ve eaten those chocolates before! They’re okay…

Oof. But it’s okay because she’s savvy and self-aware and finds his “thin book” collection (a.k.a. Porn doujin’s of her) and decides to punish him for being an otaku pervert and… Yeah that’s all a lot of silly fun but uh…

What’s this “Uh…” what’s wrong? I called this show “unpredictable” earlier–which I stand by–but it’s also something else that I almost dare not say…

Best part of the episode.

What? What is it?! It’s kind of sitcom-y.

Oh no, that’s the same complaint you had about ‘The Quintessential Quintuplets’ isn’t it? Yeah… and I know it’s a kind of facile complaint, annoyed that something is “good” because it evokes a familiar Western sentiment. But I don’t watch anime for the familiar, of even the “unpredictable” familiar–I watch it for its’ subversiveness. And while this show has plenty of the requisite subversiveness I crave (I mean all the otaku references are an absolute goldmine!) the show feels a bit too safe for my liking. This isn’t an ecchi, it’s hardly even ecchi-adjacent–just because Nona wears a skimpy outfit doesn’t qualify it by default as “ecchi”. And much like the aforementioned show, I enjoy this show quite a lot but it’s yet to position itself as something truly subversive. And until it does I’ll just be left smiling politely and then promptly forgetting it once it’s over.

And she means with a real woman or fictional ones! She’s a strict one!

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Playing With Toys – ‘Amazing Stranger’ Episode 1 Review

Playing With Toys – An Anime QandA Review for ‘Amazing Stranger’ Episode 1

amazingstranger1

What’s the show? Amazing Stranger, Episode 1.

And what’s it about? Short version; otaku guy buys a ⅙ scale bishoujo figure of his favourite character from his favourite anime but turns out she’s a real girl–shenanigans ensue. Even shorter version; it’s like Toy Story but with anime and mild lewds.

Why the “short” version of the synopsis, aside from the pun considering the subject matter. Because it’s important to note while the show is pretty simplistic on the surface and can be reduced to a mere sentence. Even during the 12 minute run-time of this first episode, there’s a lot that happens.

That’s the show.

Right, so does that mean you’re going to give us the “long” version of what it’s about? So our protagonist Bouida Haruto has zero interest in 3D (aka, real life women) as he’s an obsessed otaku through and through. The show and the anime girl he is obsessed with are ‘Girls Planetary Investigation’ and Nona respectively. Things get off to a rocky start as he marvels over the craftsmanship of his new figure and then proceeds to undress her. Which the–up to that point pretending to be a toy–Nona is none too happy with and proceeds to riddle his couch with bullets from her arm cannons. In order to keep the nature of her existence from her (that she’s a fictional character in an anime) he pretends to be a professor affiliated with a space alliance from the anime and they strike up a truce.

I want her, erm, as a figure I mean. On my shelf. Ahem…

I could have probably done without the long version. Maybe, but I like that there’s already layers of deceptions going on–it adds drama to their ~relationship~. As well as that there’s questions about who Nona is and if in fact she is as Bouida presumes and is a toy brought to life (somehow)–or is actually a real person from a real galaxy “far, far away” who’s just managed to end up on Earth in the care of an obsessed otaku.

Anime girls are perfect, don’t @ me.

And what about the characters themselves? As this episode is basically just the two of them the real litmus test for whether you’ll enjoy this series is how the characters are and their interactions with one another. I think both Bouida and Nona are terrific characters; I enjoy the fact that Bouida is an adult otaku living by himself and not a high-school kid as could have easily been–it makes his connection to the 2D world all the more relatable (and all the more pathetic). Nona is all kinds of adorable and her 3D animation blends so seamlessly with the mostly 2D world around her. She’s also that great combo of confident and ditzy which makes her very endearing.

Otakus.

So final thoughts and recommendation for the first episode? I really enjoyed it, I thought it was funny, sweet and just a little bit naughty. I look forward to the kind of shenanigans they’ll get into in future eps as well as meeting the colourful cast of supporting characters that adorns the poster. I don’t really have a basis for comparison for recommending a series like this, but if you enjoy otaku-centric humour and want to see an “unconventional” relationship form between two unlikely characters then give this series a go!

There’s some sweet moments in this show. I’m looking forward to watching the rest!

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

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