#tsuruya plus

[figurecollection]

Rozen Maiden Garage Kit by Tsuruya☆Plus!

[megamidevice]

Suigintou, Barasuishou, Kanaria, Suiseiseki, Shinku, Hina Ichigo, Souseiseki (Couch Set ver.) • Rozen Maiden • Wonder Showcase Garage Kit by Tsuruya☆Plus!; sculpted by Mazaki Yuusuke

[recentanimenews]

The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya

By Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Ito. Released in Japan as “Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokkan” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

Been a long time, hasn’t it? In fact, this is my first time reviewing one of the novels, despite my Haruhi Suzumiya tag being filled with manga, 4-koma, and alternate universes. Not that this is a novel either. The first book to come out since 2011 is a collection of three short stories; one short, one medium, and one long. In terms of writing style and narrative voice, it’s a welcome return to form. Kyon sounds exactly like he always does, making arcane references to obscure topics in his metaphors while also professing to be the dumb one in the group. That said, I will note that anyone who is reading this wanting to see what happens after the Sasaki books, i.e. actual plot or character development, is going to find this quite lacking. There is a token mention of those books at the end of the final story, but for the most part that is not what Tanigawa is here to do. What is he here to do, you may ask? Tell us about Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr.

The first short, Random Numbers, features the SOS Brigade visiting shrines, and has the only Kyon/Haruhi ship tease in the book. It’s cute. The second short story, Seven Wonders Overtime, is the weakest. The Mystery Club brings news that the school has no “seven mysteries”, aka Toilet Hanako, piano that plays by itself, etc. The Brigade tries to think of interesting but explainable mysteries before Haruhi can create more dangerous ones. The final story is the longest, taking up over 2/3 of the book. Tsuruya’s Challenge is, as I noted before, a love letter to the early 20th century mystery writers who loved to create mysteries that were essentially puzzle boxes, and Koizumi and T (a new character, member of the mystery club and owner of a very short nickname) spend ages extolling their virtues to the point that readers may grow tired. After this, though, they get a number of emails from Tsuruya which tell anecdotes from her trips with her rich father and also have a secret inside them.

The book works best if you’re a fan of Tsuruya, adding a lot of background to her character while also keeping it essentially the same. (No, we don’t learn her first name.) I was also fond of T, who is a great new character, and her calling Kyon “Kyam” makes me smile. Given the nature of the final story involves both the cast and the reader figuring things out, I will not go into too much detail, except to say that there is a LOT of Koizumi and Haruhi theorizes for pages and pages. One of the two afterwords in the book is a tribute to the Kyoto Animation creators for the Haruhi anime who perished in the fire. I suspect that (plus possibly Endless Eight) has led Tanigawa to write a story that would be very, very difficult to film in a way that a) makes things interesting, and b) does not give away its secrets. Kudos to Andrew Cunningham, by the way – this must have been an absolute bear to translate.

This is a hefty Haruhi book (not counting the 10-11 omnibus, only Book 7 is longer), so readers are getting good value for money. Whether they appreciate that value is another matter. As for me, I’m just happy to see the author writing again. The series is left open, so I hope it is not another nine years before the next in the series.

By: Sean Gaffney

[kuipernebula]

Still torn on who the Slider is for the Haruhi AU

Really it’s between Yasumi or Tsuruya.

Tsuruya is more popular and well-known, with an iconic design and a rapport with the SOS Brigade. She is close with Mikuru - enough that I could feasibly make them GF’s so she’s also a branch of the SOS Polycule, i.e. the focus of the AU - and she’s generally weird already.

The problem is Tsuruya has such a specific weirdness about her, that is based entirely in it being unknown and far greater than anyone would expect from how she acts. For Example: Her family’s unknown occupation (possibly MIB) and the Oopart she and Kyon found and promptly vowed to never speak of again.

Unlike Tsuruya, Yasumi did officially join the SOS Brigade. Her backstory’s clean slate allows me to fill in the blanks for a slider, plus she could also fill a spot as a branch on the Polycule, as Mikuru’s GF. (Thinking about Snow Mountain Syndrome, she easily could stand-in for Mikuru’s implied attraction to Haruhi, without the Dirtiness of how Haruhi treats Mikuru.) And she’s really cute - her iconic Smiley Face Barette is just very good.

But she’s... mostly unknown even by fans, despite having an adorable design. Also her age was a Whole Thing - she was a First Year introduced when the cast was in their Second Year (Mikuru in her Third), and at the end of Surprise told Haruhi she was “actually a Middle Schooler” to explain why she couldn’t actually join. But she also didn’t exist so like, I feel reasonably justified in just making her a first year and being done with it.

[projectjagaimo-blog]

Explore the drug stores in Japan

When coming to Japan, one of the most exciting things to do is shopping!!(well, it applies to your every new journey:) Japan’s market is famous for various open-shelf cosmetics products in the drug stores, not only beauty care but also different sort of medicines. You may get confused when choosing especially when there’s a language barrier, so I’m going to introduce you some of the most popular, high-rated products in the drug store that you can find easily in Japan.

(Fr. Google Images)

There are a lot of brands of drug stores and Matsukiyo is one of them, the photo listed below are all taken from the Karuizawa store-right next to Tsuruya, and the prices of certain types of products may vary between different stores.

1. UV care/ Sunscreen care

Anessa, a sub-brand from Shiseido is undoubtingly one of the must-owns sunscreen product. As it written on the package, it’s SPF value is 50+. (SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor, is a measure of how well a sunscreen will protect skin from UVB rays and 50+ is pretty high) So when you are out for a hike or traveling outside all day long, don’t worry, Anessa has got your back.

It also has a spray version which is cheaper and more convenient (because it’s smaller to bring). Besides a golden package which is for people have oily/combined skin types, it also has a silver package which is for people who have dry skin types, and a white/rose golden package for people have sensitive skins.

A few tips:

- DONT use the sunscreen cream that you opened last year.

-You have to put on some more every few hours for a full protection from the sun rays.

-You have to use enough each time(put some cream on your hand for around a 500 yen coin).

-You should put it on every day whether you are working indoor or outdoor, sunny or cloudy if you want your skin looking healthy when you are 30.

Here is another cheaper sunscreen cream from Biore that you can choose. It doesn’t work as effective as Anessa but is still not a bad choice. I recommend you to use it during cold seasons. This new-released cream added a formula that will keep your skin moisturized.

2. Lip care

This lip balm from DHC will save your dry lips effectively, keep using it will give your lips a healthy looking.

Tip:

When your lips are too dry that they started bleeding, try to put a lot of lip balm overnight, the next day your lips will turn out better;)

3. Oral care

This Ora 2 toothpaste is good smelling. I have been using it for years though I can not really tell the advantages of using it but I would recommend you to try it out.

The toothpaste on the left is a specialist on teeth whiting and they have different types of different oral problems. The whitening strips on the right is a high-rated product on Cosme.com, you only need 3 mins to complete the process(if I didn’t remember it wrong), by constantly using it your teeth will be whiter:)

A mouth washer that I have been using for a long time. When you spit them out, you can see the stains in your mouth clearly(which is kind of gross but yay! your mouth would be much cleaner after using this).

3. Facial cleaner

This one specifically designed for people who have big pores (which usually ended up have black/white heads). It can help cleaning all your pores then your skin would be more healthy.

Tip:

Facial cleaning is VERY IMPORTANT for everyone at any ages. If you have some skin problems such as pimples, you probably didn’t clean well. Plus not cleaning your skin properly will reduce the effectiveness of your skin care products.

Another more expensive one but have received a lot of positive feedbacks. If you got lost on choosing your cleaning products, try this one out! It’s applicable to sensitive skins and expectant mothers.

That’s all for today, leave some feedbacks if you have any, and comment on products that you want me to introduce! See ya:)

Valen