Wallpaper Gallery: K-ON! (OPs and EDs)
This month’s wallpaper gallery brings you a range of images taken from some of the opening and ending sequences of K-ON!. Specifically, I’ve gone through Cagayake! Girls and Don’t Say Lazy from season one, and Go! Go! Maniac and Listen!! from season two. I’m sure I’ll add wallpapers from Utauyo! Miracle and No, Thank You once I’ve got the appropriate source material, but for now you can check out the first four.
Anime: Code Geass Gaiden Knightmare Frame Design
There hasn’t been much news about Code Geass Gaiden: Boukoku no Akito (Akito of the Ruined Nation) since the initial reveal (check out the details and trailer in this post), but a new issue of NewType magazine includes concept art of one of the anime’s new Knightmare Frame designs. It was designed by Akira Yasuda, who worked on the Knightmare designs for both seasons of Lelouch of the Rebellion.
iPhone: Custom Totoro Gelaskin
I had a white iPhone 3G and I was really hoping to grab the white iPhone 4 to follow it up, but with that version delayed with no specific release window I settled for the standard black version. A big part of that decision was the potential compromise offered by GelaSkins.com, who sell removable adhesive covers for just about every major gadget or device you can think of. I’m not a fan of putting covers or cases that add bulk or significantly change the aesthetic of the tech – especially with such a gorgeous piece of design like the iPhone 4 – but GelaSkins are, as the name suggest, a thin skin that can offer scratch resistance and augment the device without adding any bulk at all. Better yet, you can choose from plenty of existing designs (including licensed stuff like Marvel Comics) or upload your own images to create a custom design.
Wallpaper Gallery: Bakemonogatari – Suruga Monkey
For this month’s gallery I’ve taken a slice out of Bakemonogatari to bring you 95 high definition wallpapers from the Suruga Monkey story arc. Bakemonogatari has a great visual style that lends itself well to wallpapers, but the screen capture process is sometimes made difficult due to the often fast editing between shots that are a fairly distinctive element of the series’ style. Nonetheless, I’m pleased with how this gallery has turned out and it’s likely that you’ll see more Bakemonogatari galleries here over time. For now, I hope you’ll enjoy this one!
Wallpapers: K-ON! (Official Band Yarouyo ver.)
I was looking around for new wallpapers tonight when I came across the cover to the K-ON! Official Band Yarouyo CD. I loved the stark design and use of colour but the scanned image wasn’t really clean enough to use as any sort of wallpaper, nor is the layout necessarily ideal. Of course that’s no reason to give up on it, so I took to Photoshop, pulled the image apart, cleaned up and edited the pieces and put it all back together again to create wallpapers in a variety of shapes and sizes for use on desktops, iPhone, iPad and PS3. I’m really pleased with how it turned out! Of course, between these four versions you’ll probably find one that’s suited to just about any device you have in mind, so those labels are more like suggestions based on what I had in mind when I adjusted the layout. I’m more than happy for you to share these, but as I haven’t put any watermarks on these – I don’t like watermarks on wallpapers – I’d appreciate it if you gave credit and linked back here. Enjoy!
Loot: Anime Merch and More from J-List
After some delays caused by technical errors, I had a bunch of stuff from J-List show up at the end of last week. This order has been kind of a long time coming, not just because of the aforementioned delays (which were handled well by the J-List staff once I brought the issue to their attention, for the record) but because I’ve been eyeing off some of the items for a while, waiting to put them all together in a bigger order to save on shipping. I’m really pleased with everything that made it into the order, which covers a small cross-section of the pretty wide variety of products that J-List offers.
Anime Review: Black Rock Shooter OVA
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Black Rock Shooter‘s anime debut. If nothing else the franchise has become a great example of the power of the Internet, as original artwork and character designs by artist huke inspired a song by Supercell, which together have spawned an increasing variety of figures and merchandise and – at last – a 50-minute anime, released for free (with various subtitles!) in both physical and digital media. There’s no doubting that Black Rock Shooter is a phenomenon and this OVA has been surrounded by hype, but have animation studio Ordet succeeded in applying a worthwhile story to huke’s fantastic designs or is this nothing more than a lengthy advertisement to sell more merchandise?
Figure: Figma Haruhi (Chouyusha/Brave version)
Up until recently, my Figma collection consisted solely of two Haruhi Suzumiyas: the regular version and the summer uniform version. I’d often considered the thought of collecting all of the Figma Haruhis, but there was one thing that got in the way: the limited edition Figma SP-001 Chouyusha (or “Brave”) Haruhi. Without it my collection could not be complete, and I’d rather stick with just two than a collection that’s missing just one. Of course, the reason this very post exists is because I’ve managed to get Chouyusha Haruhi for a great price thanks to comrade Fabrice. I suppose this means I’ll be going for a squad of Figma Haruhis after all!
Anime on Blu-Ray: Evangelion 1.11 – You Are (Not) Alone
By now I’m sure all anime fans are well aware of the Rebuild of Evangelion, so I won’t waste much time with introductions here. All you need to know is that it’s a four-movie retelling and re-imagining of the groundbreaking anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s supposed to be a way for existing fans to see the series in a new way while also giving newcomers a more streamlined narrative. Let’s get straight into it to see what the first film, You Are (Not) Alone, makes of that aim.
Wallpapers: Evangelion 2.22 – You Can (Not Advance)
This month’s wallpaper gallery features 166 high definition screenshots from Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance, including plenty of Asuka and her Eva Unit-02 to make up for her (necessary) absence from my Evangelion 1.11 gallery. To make this large gallery a bit easier to digest, it’s split into three sections in chronological order:
