Darlo's World

Today a friend and I took a(nother) last trip to my beloved Nippombashi and DenDen town, in a quest to fill in some gaps of various manga series and such before heading off home. Stopping in Shinsaibashi on the way, we stopped off at the Mandarake for a quick nose. Though I mainly raided the shops supply of cheap さよなら絶望先生 (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Goodbye Mr Despair), I managed to score two bargains for the Nintendo DS.

狼と香辛料 (Ookami to Koushinryou, Wolf and Spice (refferred to as Spice and Wolf in the UK)), is an anime I first saw at the Leeds Anime Society. I was mainly entranced by it’s storyline that wasn’t set in Japan, but old Europe, and the fact that it uses early economics and trading as a continual baseline. ¬_¬ Yeah that may sound dull and boring to you, but shush, it was great. So not only did I manage to find a copy of the game (that I didn’t know even existed), but I found a special edition box set. I just checked the Spice & Wolf website to find it has a price of 7,770 yen (£54.33), however I paid a measly 2,940 yen (£20.56). I’ve just opened the box and found a ‘Horo voice in a bag’, an audio CD, and of course the game itself. Not bad.

My other bargain was partially based on something I bought yesterday (but forgot to blog about). There are two Higurashi (yeah I know, lately I haven’t shut up about the series) games on the DS which I’ve been wanting to get since I first noticed them back in September, but they were just too expensive. Well yesterday after dropping a 13.8kg box of books at the post office (which will take about 3 months to reach the UK), I found a copy of the second game at a reasonable price (with a 200 yen coupon I had) of 2,280 yen (£15.94), so scooped it up.

Fast forward to today where I find the special edition (Angel Mort) boxed version of the second game for a meagre 1,890 yen (£13.22). The cheapest I’d seen this edition was in the region of 5,000-6,000 yen (£34.96-£41.95), so let’s open her up and see what she holds inside …

We have the game (of course), a framed Shion & Mion card in an Angel Mort stamp card (might take a while for me to read what it says inside >_<), 2 Angel Mort coasters (one written in English: “Dear Customer, Welcome to my cafe. How lucky you are to have chanced upon this place. A place that will make your dreams come true. Have you found your favourite angel? If not, don’t worry. Keep visiting us, and you’ll find your one and only. Please enjoy yourself to the full. We are here to serve you. From, shop owner”), 2 sticker cards, an Angel Mort flanel/hand towel, a paper Angel Mort apron, and an Angel Mort Drama CD. Quite a haul really. You can see a picture of what’s inside on this forum page, though for some reason they got an extra amulet thingy.

So in buying this I was left with the predicament of having two of the same game. My choices were simple. I could either keep both games, try and sell one on to a friend (or eBay), or try and take the more expensive one back to the shop. Despite not knowing how refunds were conducted in Japan or if any etiquette was needed on my part, I opted for the last option.

After quickly looking up the vocabulary for returning something to a shop 返送 (hensou) and refund 払い戻し (haraimodoshi), I headed to the shop (open 24-7, or as is said in Japanese 4-6 (四六時中, shirokujichuu, open around the clock, 4 x 6 = 24)) with the game, the receipt, and what I hoped was the same carrier bag.

Normally in the UK getting a refund isn’t a very simple process. Well, I guess it is (as long as you’re not a prick to whoever’s serving you), but normally the shop will want you to fill in a form, give your address, wait for a manager and so on and so on. With this in mind I was somewhats apprehensive about the whole thing, especially as I still take a good 10 minutes or so writing out my address. When I approached the counter I explained that “I bought the game yesterday as a birthday present for my friend, but he already had it so I wanted to return it” (my usual blatant returning product lie ಠ_ಠ). The staff member then popped to the back and returned with another member of staff. She then checked the amount with me and returned my money with a smile. No paper to fill in, no signatures to sign, that was it … done.

I think I’ll be leaving these two games for the plane trip back, but in the mean time, here’s what I bought today (these will be added to The List at some point, along with the ones I bought that day we went to the Mother Cafe.

• DS Games
• ひぐらしのなく頃に絆第一巻・想　エンジェルモートお持ち帰りBOX
• 狼と香辛料　ボクとホロの一年　初回限定版

• Music CD
• Moment by Vivian or Kazuma

• Sound Novels (games)
• うみねこのなくの頃に　第一話 (also came with a very funky metal bookmark
• うみねこのなくの頃に　第二話
• うみねこのなくの頃に　第三話 (I already had this, but couldn’t remember which of the three I didn’t have)

• Manga
• Genshiken – book 6 (series complete)
• Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei – books 10 to 16 (series complete … for now)
• The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – book 5 and a one off special anthology
• Love Hina – book 0
• Akihabara Ichiman Chanel (1 off)
• Higurashi – the remaining books from the 罪滅し編 (tsumihoroboshi hen)
• Higurashi – the remaining book from the 宵越し編 (yoigoshi hen)
• Higurashi – コンプエース編 (comp ace hen)
• Higurashi – Book 1 of 5 of the 語咄し編 コミックアンソロジー (cohanashi hen comic anthology)

Ok, so right now I’m in a completely different mood to how I was when I wrote yesterday (aka – I’m smiling). I’ve just been having a great laugh for the past hour courtesy of the doujin (fanmade) Higurashi DVD I bought last weekend. While I’m not going to do a proper review of this, I thought I’d share my thoughts on it with you guys. Also, bonus points for anyone who can explain the term “shiggles and gits”.

Freett 18′s そのひぐらしのなく頃に (Sono Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni) is something I’ll definately take my hat off to. I wasn’t expecting much (judging from the box), and I guess to be honest I was right in that regards, but it’s definately the best DVD I’ve bought here. Huge points go to them for actually going and filming in (I’m guessing) 白川郷 (Shirakawa-gou), the village that the Higurashi village of Hinamizawa was based on as this really helped give it more of a Higurashi vibe. The major downside to that is that because it’s a public place, let’s just say they had more extras in the background (and at times in front of the camera), staring at the cast wondering what they were doing.

They followed the story from the first anime arch (don’t really like that term) where Keichi is introduced as the newcomer who doesn’t know anything about the atrocities of the villages shady past and for the most part follows it quite well. There are some changes to that original storyline and it seems to make Rika out to be the villain. Amusingly Rika and Hanyuu are always seen hanging around in the background, the most entertaining moment was seeing them have a fist-fight.

If I’m going to get technical about what I thought “could have been improved upon” (I didn’t want to say “was bad”), the sound was all over the place for most of the film where the audio seemed to have been recorded in post-production and (not too well) lip-synched to the video. Sound effects also seemed to play a major part with the frequent use of 蜩 (higurashi – cicada) cries in the background. Filming … beware of mirrors and other reflective surfaces. I had a laugh and a giggle seeing the dramatic moment where Keichi practices bat swinging talking to Mion … with Satoko and the camera man staring at the pair.

However, for all it’s faults this DVD was balanced by a sense of effort and fun that cannot be taken away from the film makers. Despite the fact it was raining for most scenes (camera man had an brolly, but hey I won’t complain), the cast were out there brolly-less enjoying what they were doing. I don’t think this, or the next two films they did, were meant to be taken seriously, much like Stephen Fry’s contribution to Little Big Planet. It reminds me much of whenever we made films and such back home, something I miss actually.

Though I would highly recommend this DVD to anyone who wants to see something made by determined fans to show their appreciation for something they truly love, I have no idea how most of you guys would find a copy since I found mine by shere fluke in a second hand shop in DenDen Town. Good luck though! In the meantime, here’s the opening to the movie.