Hello, my lovely kawaii enthusiasts! Today, I am absolutely thrilled to share with you my experience with the Stickii Club’s $12 Monthly Sticker Subscription. Stickii Club specializes in the most adorable and unique stickers and stationery for all your scrapbooking, journaling, and sticker collecting needs. You can find out more about their subscription plans on their website: https://stickiiclub.com/
Recently, I received two charming packs from Stickii Club to review, and let me tell you, they are absolutely delightful! One pack featured a Spring Cleaning theme, while the other showcased an Ocean theme. Each pack was carefully crafted with love and bursting with cuteness. I loved them so much, that I decided to subscribe to the Cute Style Stickii Club Monthly Subscription pack!read more
I just discovered a Chinese company who makes various small Asian Balljointed Dolls with cute anime faceups and full outfits. These dolls use the Obitsu 11cm scale bodies and are fully strung and jointed. They are capable of standing on their feet without a doll stand.
The hair and eyes are all just painted and sculpted on which is different from most traditional BJD dolls. Another difference is that since it is a blind box, you don’t know which doll you will receive.
Another attractive difference is the price. I purchased mine at www.StrangeCatToys.com but I later found out I overpaid. 🙁read more
I received this book for free in exchange for a review. Thoughts and Opinions are my own.
Neko Atsume is a popular idle clicker style mobile game where you leave food out and close the app, and open the app later to find different kitties have come to your garden to sample your food. The object of the game is to “collect” all the different kitties who will come and go in and out of your garden and do various cute things on your screen. The simplistic artwork and simplistic gameplay launched this mobile app to stardom levels with over 50 million users around the world having installed the app.
The success of the mobile game spawned a whole franchise of toys, home goods, pet products, even a live action movie. So it’s no surprise there are new activity books by Viz featuring the cute kitties! The first book I will review is Neko Atsume Kitty Collector Haiku Seasons of the Kitty. As the name suggests, it’s a cute collection of poems with illustrations featuring the collectible cats of the Neko Atsume mobile game. There’s also stickers in the book that let you keep track of your kitty collection and personalize it with names and other details. See the stickers below:
A Haiku is a type of Japanese Poem that features 3 “phrases” with a rhythm that’s defined by the syllables in each phrase. The first phrase will have 5 syllables, the next will have 7, and the final phrase will have 5 again. Thus creating a rhythm of 5, 7, 5. Many Haiku create a relationship between two objects and focus on observing everyday objects and occurrences. Many Haiku also focus on seasons, so it’s quite fitting that this book Neko Atsume Kitty Collector Haiku Seasons of the Kitty breaks the book into short chapters each featuring a collection of Haiku showing us what the kitties are doing in each of the four seasons. In spring we see them playing with flowers or napping in the sun, in winter we see them playing with Christmas decorations. There are also some Haiku in the book which don’t seem to reflect a season at all, such as kitties hiding in tunnels or playing with toys, kitties just being kitties, which they do year round. Neko Atsume Kitty Collector Haiku Season of the Kitty features over 100 full color pages sure to charm you and brighten your day.
My favorite Haiku in Neko Atsume Kitty Collector features a kitty begging for more meat treats. I love this one because my own kitties always beg for treats. I joke that my kitties need an intervention, they are like treat-addicts. So reading this haiku and seeing the simple illustration warmed my heart because I immediately thought of my own kitties in real life. In fact, at several points in the book I was thinking “That’s just like my cats!” This book is definitely for cat lovers! In fact, it’s so cute and would make a great gift for any cat lover — even if they’ve never played Neko Atsume.
It could also be a great book to teach young kids about Haikus. You can have fun showing young kids this book, counting together with them as you read each line of the Haiku, and enjoying the cute and funny artwork and seeing what the kitties are up to in each Haiku.
My only complaint with the book is that some of the Haiku feel a little forced to fit the rhyme scheme, with random “meows” thrown in it feels like at times just to match the syllable formula of the haiku. Regardless of this small complaint, the book is so cute and charming that I’ve already read it front to back and re-read my favorite Haikus again and again. Reading these little poems is so relaxing – just like the relaxing gameplay of the Neko Atsume mobile game that started it all.
Once anyone reads this cute collection of poetry, they won’t be able to resist catching Neko Atsume fever and delving into playing the game or collecting the toys and other related merchandise.
If you’re looking for a great gift for a cat lover, or just looking to feed your own collection of Neko Atsume Goodies, be sure to pick up a copy of Neko Atsume Kitty Collector Haiku Seasons of the Kitty today. For just $10.99, it would make the perfect gift for that cat lover in your life, or maybe that cat lover is you! 🙂 Curl up with a nice cup of tea and kitty in your lap and enjoy the cute illustrations and see what mischief the kitties in the book get up to each season.
You can bring the kitties home for yourself on March 13, 2018!
You can buy Neko Atsume Kitty Collector Haiku Seasons of the Kitty at any of the following retailers:
*It looks like Rightstuf is selling the book ahead of the other retailers, and for a bit cheaper too (currently “in stock” and just $8.24 at time of this posting)
New Hardcover Art Book Edition Features Vivid Illustrations, Concept Sketches, And Interviews From The Beloved
Studio Ghibli Film
=&3=& VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media),a premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing, expands its renowned Studio Ghibli library with the release of a new hardcover edition of THE ART OF THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY on March 6th.
The vividly illustrated art book will be released exclusively in print with an MSRP of $34.99 U.S. / $46.99 CAN. It features story notes, commentary, and artwork from The Secret World of Arrietty. Based on the classic novel by Mary Norton, the 2010 film was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the youngest director to ever helm a film for Studio Ghibli. The studio’s founder, Hayao Miyazaki, also supervised the production of Arietty as a developing planner. Yonebayashi has gone on to direct When Marnie Was There and Studio Ponoc’s first feature film, Mary and the Witch’s Flower.
“THE ART OF THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY features hundreds of character and production sketches as well as insights from director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and other key creators involved with the film,” says Masumi Washington, Editor. “We invite readers to dive deeper into The Secret World of Arrietty with this beautiful hardcover release.”
VIZ Media’s Studio Ghibli Library is exclusively devoted to the work of iconic Japanese film director Hayao Miyazaki and his famed animation studio. The imprint has collected a substantial catalog of full-color art books, film comics, picture books and other releases celebrating Studio Ghibli films such as Princess Mononoke, The Wind Rises, Howl’s Moving Castle,
Another month, another awesome box of anime and manga goodies from www.boxychan.com – You can check out some of my other boxychan reviews here, and here. – I’ve been subscribed since May, but haven’t reviewed every box. I do put pics of every box on my instagram though which you can find here instagram.com/xenokitten – Boxychan and Pusheenbox remain my top two favorite subscription crates. I subscribe to both with my own money and am in no way compensated for blogging about them. They don’t even have a referral program – I just love boxychan so much, and I think it is far less widely known than similar boxes such as Geek Fuel and Doki Doki.
This month’s Boxychan has a beautiful figure from Madoka Magica O_O!! It’s by far my favorite figure I’ve received in one of these subscription crates. The box also includes 1 manga and 1 anime dvd EVERY month – This month my box included Kite Remastered (It’s a little bit too violent for my tastes, I recall watching this one back in the 90s and not liking it too much), and VS Aliens – which I have never heard of and haven’t read just yet. This month’s box also included a post card and cute little charm thing.
Everything in boxychan is officially licensed merchandise. So many other anime boxes such as Doki Doki which I reviewed here and Betoyo which I reviewed here have had problems with counterfeit merchandise. This also sets boxychan apart from all the rest.
The anime box is $25 a month – The Madoka Magica figure they sent me retails for just under $20 alone. (Which you can verify on Amazon here, or pick one up for yourself if you feel so inclined – it’s a beautiful figure!) When you add in the cost of the manga (amazon has it for $9.95), and the anime dvd ($8.27 on amazon) that brings the value of the box up to just under $40. Which means you get the items for almost 50% Off. Plus there’s the fun element of surprise. Not knowing what will be in each box every month. It’s like having a birthday or christmas 12 times a year lol.
Here are some pics I took from the October Boxychan Anime box.
Touken Ranbu – June Betoyo Bento – Anime Subscription Box
My birthday was last month. I turned 35. Eek, scary to be getting so old LOL. My best friend got me two wonderful subscription boxes for my birthday. The first is Betoyo, a box focusing primarily on anime figurines. I’m a doll or figure collector and also love the excitement of opening blind box figurines. This box is perfect for anime fans looking to add to their figure collections.
The June Betoyo Bento had a lot of adorable things packed inside. The highlights of the box were the “Fate” figure on the motorcycle, a figure from Sword Art Online, and a beautiful wall scroll from the popular “Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress” anime.
I don’t think I actually took a pic of the box – oopsie. — But inside the box was a beautiful “gift bag” from Touken Ranbu. Us girls love our bishounen, Am I Right? 🙂
The bag has artwork on both sides, one showing the majority of the cast members, and the other side a nice closeup of Kogitsunemaru.
It’s a big bag too – and since it was a birthday gift to me it was kinda awesome that it was essentially “gift wrapped”. Nice packaging! and if you have other friends who love anime, you can keep this bag and use it to wrap other gifts for friends in the future. Very useful.
OK let’s see what’s inside this month’s Betoyo Bento! 🙂
Hmm… the large giftbag makes it look a little empty in there! Still exciting though, lol!
First Up, Touken Ranbu Blindbox Figure. I love blindbox figures, it’s always so much fun wondering which one you will see when you open the box.
This collection includes 6 different figures, 1 per box of course. I’m not sure of the rarity of the items inside.
Packaging is a little bit bent, but so adorable. Here are the other sides of the box:
Wait “Made in China”? Why not “Made in Japan”? — Most likely counterfeit goods. This does not really bother me to be honest, but I know many doll collectors that are adamantly against any counterfeit items. — also another figure you’ll see later further down in this post broke apart and I was told by another user via instagram the same thing happened to them and that they learned it was because the figure was counterfeit. — so if you do not like counterfeit items – this box is NOT for you — but if you just like cute things, and don’t really care about “resale value” “collector value” and are ok taking a gamble with “quality”, and have no moral objections, then it’s still a great box for the money – and the figures still look adorable in your collection!
Also I didn’t realize what this box was trying to tell me – I think the “face” is painted on both sides so you get two facial expressions per figure and you can also swap faces between the figures, giving you a lot of options for how to display your figure. – I didn’t realize that, so the photos you will see only show one side of my figure’s face.
Alright, let’s open this puppy.
I got the white haired one. 🙂
Quality wise it’s kinda a “meh” – not real excited about this item. It just doesn’t look that “nice” 🙁
Next up, the wallscroll from kabaneri – I really like this item. I’ve yet to watch the anime, but seeing this beautiful artwork makes me want to check it out. She is very kawaii! The wallscroll has beautiful bright vivid colors and cute artwork. Love the kawaii girl in the kimono!. This will look great in my doll room. Very pleased with this item. And yes, it is printed on fabric, not paper, which will help ensure durability and longevity of the item.
It is what I would call a “mini” wallscroll. Here it is next to me for comparison (sorry for bad lighting. The first pic was taken outdoors and more accurate to the beautiful colors of this item. This next pic is indoors in dim lighting in the evening.
Next up another blind box, this one is Sword Art Online – this item is epic fail in my opinion. Here’s some pics of the box, which are about the only pics I have of this item because… it didn’t fit together “well” so I applied a LITTLE bit of pressure, trying to put it together, and it CRUMBLED, in multiple pieces, just by pressing a LITTLE bit firm with two fingers. Quality Issues here. — I am TOLD by someone on instagram that the same thing happened to them and they found out that the item was counterfeit, but cannot confirm the accuracy of this information. — Once again, the majority of the items say Made in China, which is typically an indicator of counterfeit items – so I would not be surprised if that was the case.
This lil one would have been cute – had it fit together and not broke apart with the slightest bit of pressure. – Your Mileage may vary.
I’ve saved the best for last – this item in my opinion makes this entire box well worth the subscription cost. It’s larger than the other items as you can see – but that’s not all – it’s well made (even if it is counterfeit, this one is not bad at all.) It has substantial weight to it, it’s painted a heck of a lot better than the other 2 figures, and it stands up, goes together well, and just looks awesome. The little motorcycle is so cute! I love this figure. Very much!
It comes with two bodies, one for sitting on the motorcycle and one for standing – and it stands well on it’s own. The standing body also has a katana. The two bodies are easy to interchange and fit together perfectly. My favorite thing about the figure may be the way her “hair” looks like it’s blowing in the breeze, which looks awesome as she’s “riding” her tiny motorcycle.
Look at my awesome figure; you know you is jelly 🙂
But you don’t have to be jealous, because you too can have an awesome Betoyo subscription box – it’s just $28 a month and yes, there are some flaws or issues, but I personally feel that all of the items combined are worth at least equal to if not over the cost of the subscription – I would subscribe if I had the funds, but I decided instead to subscribe to the other box my friend got for me for Boxychan (you’ll see a review later today for that one) – and I am already a subscriber to another box, the Pusheen Box which I reviewed here.
Anyways, if you liked the items here, be sure to sign up at Betoyo Bento to get in on the next box! http://www.betoyo.com/
Also because I’m lazy, and just a hobby blogger doing this for fun, I’m sometimes slow to post these pics – so if you want to see more pics like this, and see them a few weeks sooner, check out my instagram account. https://www.instagram.com/xenokitten/
Sonicomi English Preorder is now live on JLIST. Up til now, the game has only been available in Asian regions. This new English release is the original Sonicomi Game from 2011 for the PC; however, JLIST has licensed the visuals from the much improved 2014 PS3 version.
Preorder Sonicomi Communication – and use Coupon Code: MOE-22Y-E8BNV5 to get 5% off!
Gameplay puts you in the role of a professional cameraman as you photograph a “Gravure Idol” (which loosely translates to Magazine Model), the busty, pink haired, Sonico. You get scores and combos for taking better photos. Outside of the photography element, you interact with the model in visual novel fashion.
The game features a ton of customization with well over 100 items to dressup in.
The replay value is also very high, because depending on your advice, Sonico’s career is at stake and she will evolve to reach one of 18 different endings, including a special ending where she falls in love with you.
Unlike most visual novels, this one is fully animated and in 3D.
In all, from the descriptions, Gameplay reminds me of a very perverse, echi style “Pokemon Snap” X Princess Maker 2 Crossover lol.
Super Sonico is Nitro+ special mascot and makes cameo appearances in many other games, and even has her own anime series.
There are 2 editions available for preorder. The standard edition includes preorder bonuses of an action figure, steam key (for when the game is later released on steam), and art cards. The special “collector’s edition” includes a “full body” mouse pad which is “2 times larger than other moe mouse pads” and they said the mousepad has never been sold before anywhere, not even in Japan, and features brand new artwork by the designer of the game, just for the US English release and once preorders end this Mousepad will no longer be available. $100 bucks seems Crazy to me for a Mousepad – but if you’re really into this character, I guess some people may be interested in it. Meanwhile, the standard edition will run $55 – which yes, is a lot for a visual novel. Clannad recently released with a $50 price tag too. Now that visual novels are gaining popularity in the west it seems we can expect typical “new release” prices on par with other genres of gaming. I plan to preorder the standard edition when I get paid this week.
So my new “life goal” (ok not really) is to lose enough weight to get under 154 lbs which is the maximum weight limit for a toy by a company called UFREE which makes something called Large Mechanical Rocking Horses.
How did I come across this? I just encountered a video clip here: https://www.facebook.com/ponycyclenz/videos/1081942061815988/ of a mother, father, and baby, all riding various sizes/shapes of these Mechanical Rocking Horses, bouncing down the street…. And it is totally adorable… and looks like great exercise too.
You can buy one too from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/UFREE-Mechanical-Rocking-Bounce-Children/dp/B00D3CHKKA
Apparently, UFREE isnt the only company making these. Another popular search term and / or Brand name is “Pony Cycle” (which is where that video above is from).
Making Fitness Fun again, Getting weird looks all over town, Being 30+ years old and riding a “bouncing stuffed animal” What could go wrong? LOL….
I really really want one. In fact, if another company offered one that could support my 200 lb ass I’d buy it right now lol.
Of course losing weight, I could also buy lolita fashion, etc… but we all know I’m too lazy to actually exercise. I was 120 lbs and a size 6 in college but that was 10+ years ago lol.
I do want to lose weight though, so any motivation, even a stuffed, bouncing, ridiculously cute horse would only be a good thing.
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This Field of Rocking Horses in Massachusetts Should Be a Bigger Deal
Get it on IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pokemini-dress-decorate!/id704331940?mt=8
Get it on Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.cocone.minime&hl=en
Geeky Factor:
Sweetie Factor:
Overall:76/110 69% D+ “Average Game For Girls”
Concept: 10/10 The concept in Pokemini is to collect limited edition items to decorate, not only your avatar, but also your room, and your planet. The highlight of the game is the new “Fashion Fever” events which allow you to earn free items or donuts (the in-game currency) by designing different looks based on a given theme which are then voted on and scored by the community. There’s also a brand new flea market to trade/sell items with other players, and a cooking element as well as quests to further engage the user.
Gameplay: 8/10 You can earn donuts (the in-game currency) by participating in in-game events, visiting your friends’ planets, completing quests from npcs, and leveling up your character. As you level up, your stamina is also increased allowing you to accomplish more before needing to rest. You can also increase your stamina by cooking different recipes. You then spend donuts on new items for your avatar, room, or planet. There’s a ton of in-game events, and new items released almost daily for you to collect. Because the items only stay a short while, it encourages you to log in and play more frequently. Gameplay itself is fairly basic, and it can get very repetitive. The only thing that keeps it fresh is the Fashion fever events and desire to collect new cute items in the limited edition “gumball shop”.
Graphics: 10/10 There are a ton of super cute “anime styled” items to collect and the customization features allow you to have complete control by layering the different looks or arranging items as you please.
Music: 2/10 There are only 3 or 4 different music tracks and they are short, and sometimes grating on the nerves.
Story: 1/10 There’s a story, but it’s very immature and not at all detailed or deep. It’s also only presented as a prologue and not really used throughout the game. The story says that the Minis (which is what your avatar is) came from outer space to earth because they heard of the delicious donuts available here. They now live inside human pockets, feasting on donut crumbs and wanting to be friends with humans. (why are there crumbs in my pocket? Do I carry donuts in my pocket? lol) For awhile, everytime I logged in, or started the app, I had to watch the somewhat long, and rather boring, introduction over and over. I think they may have fixed that, as I haven’t noticed it recently, but there was no way to skip it, and I was getting sick of seeing that opening animation (which unlike the actual game graphics, was pretty ugly).
Characters: 5/10 Well there’s not any “story based” characters, but the community is full of other players who have their own unique avatars and there is a roleplaying community that’s very strong in the game too; so you can use your imagination to create any kinds of characters you’d like.
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Customization: 10/10 You can dress your avatar in up to 6 accessories at once, and shoes, a dress, suit, or top and bottoms don’t count against that total so you’re looking at about 10 choices to layer your outfits. You also control your skin color, eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, and makeup. The most interesting feature is the ability to combine front and back hair styles to create your own custom hairstyle/color. In addition to customizing your avatar, you can also customize your planet, and your room, with dozens of decorations.
Community: 10/10 There are a lot of great community features in Pokemini. There’s a forum that all users can browse or post in and it’s fairly active. People start their own roleplay groups as mentioned above; or just chat about daily life. You also have your own private forum back in your room that users can chat with you one on one on. There’s also private messaging and chat room functionality. In addition to that, there’s a ranking system where it shows who your top or recent visitors were and who’s helped you the most the previous week, and you have 20 “free” donuts to give to your helpers, and they may give you a donut too which sort of encourages you to visit all of your friends’ planets (I’m usually too lazy for that though, I mean even if 20 friends give me a donut that week, that’s not much incentive, when the gumball costs 200 per play). Sometimes I feel “guilty” and try to go visit all my friends and keep it up for a week or two, but then I slip back into not caring and not feeling motivated. You can harvest your friends’ trees, and help them grow faster (so you can harvest them faster); the fruit harvested here can be used in recipes to increase your stamina. And as mentioned a few times above, there’s a ton of community events from fashion shows to flea markets. Most of the community is nice, but they’re mostly young “highschool” aged kids. I feel kind of out of place as a 30 something year old playing this game at times. Because of the “anime art style” I find a lot of users with similar interests to me, including Asian Balljointed Dolls, anime, or Kdrama enthusiasts.
Performance: 4/10 It’s not impossible to play this game; and it doesn’t crash every time, but there’s some connectivity issues that really need addressed. Most notably, it crashes sometimes while “voting” in Fashion Fever events which causes you to not get credit for the time you spent voting since you have to complete a “round” of voting to receive the donuts. It does this at least once every other day for me, while playing on an older generation Ipad 2.
Replay Value: 10/10 The replay value is high here due to the numerous in-game events, limited edition items, and community aspects within the game.
Overall:76/110 69% D+ “Average Game For Girls”
I like this game more than my score reflects, as you can see, in some areas it scores quite highly, but there are just a few things that hold it back from “greatness” I’d still recommend it to anyone who enjoys these types of dressup games 🙂
