#(you can still get it from japan via proxy)

[theyshapedlikefriends]

Why does he look so scrunched???

[dharmafox]

I simply must know where you obtained the items in your most recent post

Hi, thanks for the ask! I bought them on Mercari via the Neokyo proxy service, which I talked about a little bit here. They're a company located in Japan that buys Japanese goods on behalf of overseas customers and then ships them to you.

Of their partner marketplaces, which you can search through their site, Mercari generally has the best selection (but you can sometimes find items on the smaller marketplaces that Mercari doesn't have - the teacup you can see on the right in one of my photos came from either Rakuten or Rakuma [can't recall which]). (2/3/24 edit: I think it was actually Surugaya.)

The Kuji lottery prizes are in limited supply, but there are still a lot of listings for the can badges and a few other items. I'm not finding any listings for the visual cloths at the moment (the one I hung on my wall) except this one which includes multiple items.

If you search Mercari and other marketplaces on Neokyo's site with the search term モノノ怪, it will turn up a ton of Mononoke items, including the Kuji prizes.

Be warned though, when I first tried to order the can badges and visual cloth that I eventually received, the first couple of merchants I tried were out of stock. So unfortunately a listed Kuji item may or may not actually be available.

If you're interested in buying through Neokyo, be sure to take a look around their site and get a handle on what the service entails, or I'm also happy to talk a bit more about it here. :)

[animehouse-moe]

A Suruga-Ya International Buyer's Guide

As Japan catches up with the times, more and more businesses become aware of the potential in overseas business. Because of that, storefronts like Suruga-Ya end up appearing as options for fans of Japanese only merchandise or items.

I am one such fan of Japanese merch and items, so of course I put in an order (with free shipping on a promo!) in. I've since gotten that order and thought I'd provide a bit of a buyer's guide for people interesting. The buyer's guide will include:

How To Purchase From Them

What You Can Purchase

Sales and Coupons

Warnings and Forewords

Shipping and Packaging

My Shopping Experience

So, without further ado, I'll get to explaining!

How Do You Buy From Suruga-Ya?

Link To The Website Here

There's two ways, the "traditional", and the "new" (how I purchased this order). The traditional is purchasing through their JP/domestic website via a proxy, while the new is shopping via their global website.

Now, it might sound like a no brainer for international people to shop via the global site, but as I'll explain later on there's a few cases/reasons where using a proxy is the more reasonable, and even times cheaper option.

Finding Items

Well, it's no CDJapan, I'll say that. Suruga-Ya's global website is propped up by almost exclusively Machine Translation. That means that the translations for some items can be really weird, like Yuta Okkotsu becoming Yuta Otsubone. Similarly, Jujutsu Kaisen gets translated to Sorcery Fight, and the translation struggles with correctly translating names (specifically those that are hiragana/katakana)

Tips For Better Searches

Limit number of keywords (instead of Yuta Okkotuse, just Yuta)

Search for JP names and literal TLs (e.g Sorcery Fight instead of Jujutsu Kaisen) as well

Search using the JP website, find the desired item, copy the item ID and search on the global site using that (more info later)

What Can You Buy?

The answer to that question is, "pretty much everything under the sun". They carry everything so long as it's not illegal to import/export. Models, figures, tapestries, art books, manga, acrylics, keychains, the list just goes on and on. About the only thing that is very clearly absent is R18 Doujins (regular ones are still available).

One thing that's really nice is that they've created "storefronts" for popular brands/titles. Pokémon, Studio Ghibli, One Piece, and Sailor Moon are just a few of the examples present on the website. It can be really helpful when you're a fan of something specific like that considering how challenging searching for something can be.

Deals and Coupons

This is the big one, the make or break for pricing. Suruga-Ya will, more often than not, have a promotional campaign going on for the global site. In fact, in the last 2 months there's been 5 weekends of free shipping. It's a crazy deal, and about the only way that international people will order from them.

If you want to keep up with promotional material though, they only post it on the website as an announcement, or on their Facebook page.

Warnings and Forewords

Buying from anywhere online comes with a caveat, the price is high, the shipping is slow, so on and so forth. Suruga-Ya is no exception to that and features four aspects that potential buyers should be aware of before making a purchase.

1. Commission Fee

All purchases are subject to a commission fee of 500Yen. Not terrible by any means, but it's an extra couple of bucks on an order that you might not have been aware of initially. To put it in perspective, Buyee takes out a "service fee" every time you make a purchase through their proxy service. It's effectively standard practice for these international orders, and you could argue that it takes the place of "tax" when shopping with them.

2. No Protective Packaging/Package Filler

What you see is what you get. This was all that was in box 1 of my order. It does keep the items from moving around too much during shipping, but it still doesn't do anything to prevent damage or any harm coming to the items. It's especially an issue given that Suruga-Ya's boxes aren't super well fitted to the orders that fill them. I think when ordering cheap stuff like I did it's not a major concern, but for stuff like figures or other delicate items it's an issue. I'm hoping that they'll add a protective packaging option at checkout in the future for that reason.

3. Prices Differ Between Websites

Once more, this is a common practice, and this is why proxy services can be worth it. They're not massive differences, but it certainly begins to accrue as a "foreigner tax". Furthermore, item availability differs between the sites. That is, you can find some things on the JP site, but not the global one. I reached out to customer support regarding that, and they stated that they plan to bring all legally importable/exportable items over to the global site, it's just that it will take time.

4. Items Are Used

For people that have done proxy orders before, that's not any sort of surprise. But for some items it's worth taking note of, especially in terms of price. For example, say that instead of 2,250Yen this art book was more like 2,500Yen. Well, as it turns out, the retail price on Amazon Japan for the art book is a hair over 2,500Yen (2,530). In those cases, buyers may want to look at other options for the item in "new" condition elsewhere if they're wary of used items.

However, "used" in Japan is very different from "used" in somewhere like North America. Night and day, really. Later on I'll show what I got, and hopefully reaffirm buyers that "used" can basically mean "like new" with stuff like art books, and that they're absolutely worth purchasing.

Shipping

It's fast, damn fast at that. With free shipping that's great, but for people looking to save money when there's not an active campaign you might struggle as DHL and EMS are the only shipping options offered by Suruga-Ya. No surface or sea mail to save a good chunk of change, so definitely be aware of the cost of shipping when making an order without a promo to cover the cost somewhat.

Packaging

I got two packages (because I ended up making two orders, also please ignore the weird stretch Tumblr applied to the image), and these are my short form thoughts on it:

Boxes are not sturdy/solid and have caved and dented in a few spots

Items are secure, but not necessarily safe

Box sizes can be too large for some orders, allowing them to move around too much

No reinforcement to corners isn't great

Overall, you get what you pay for, and for free shipping it's not the worst. Certainly not what I'd want to be paying for when paying shipping though.

My Purchases

As per usual, I largely got art books and some JP manga I've been collecting. Though more important than that is the elephant in the room. All of these items are used, but for the vast majority you'd never know. A lot of them came in plastic bags that were sealed, rathe typical of JP items which is really nice. Great condition, no signs of wear, and proper storage, it's hard to really call these things "used" all that often. However, there are exceptions.

Used Items

I received two items that could be considered "used" in the typical sense. The first is some volumes of manga that had yellowed due to age or exposure to direct sunlight, and the other is a crease/bend in the corner of an art book. Neither are severe damages or deal breakers (for me) at their price, but they're things to take note of as not everything will be perfect. Another thing to note though is I have no way of knowing if the damage to the art book was there from the beginning or happened during transit due to lack of protection.

My Experience

Keeping it short, I'll summarize my thoughts on the order from start to finish.

Searching and filtering isn't as easy as it should be

Prices are really good, but lack of description (both in regards to content and condition) can deter potential buyers

Checkout process needs some work (can't get a shipping estimate until you provide a payment method)

Shipping is incredibly quick

Packaging is questionable and cause for concern with more delicate items

Customer service is nice, but accessing them is odd (only through apps like WhatsApp or Line)

Stickers placed directly on books is a massive no-no

Overall, I'd buy from them again with conditions.

Why/When To Buy

There's a few requirements to really make Suruga-Ya worth it. Deals, more specifically free shipping (usually), is a must to make the purchase worthwhile. You could probably get away with paying shipping and getting a good deal if they JP prices weren't cheaper than the global site, but they are. Because of that, the "extra cost" can add up quite quick if there's not a sale or something to offset it. Continuing on the topic of "extra cost", their ability between sites (currently) differs. Because of that, the quantity of items you can order differs as well, which can lead to "smaller" order sizes which can increase the relative cost due to shipping. And lastly, there's no order storage. If the product lists were consistent that wouldn't be an issue, but we're dealing with used items, these things come and go quite frequently. Really want an item but can't fill out a full order? Better hope that the item doesn't sell.

So, all in all, the conditions for buying from the Suruga-Ya global site are:

Deals/free shipping

Enough items to meet reasonable order size to save money (if no free shipping)

Pretty simple, but still important to remember

In The End

If you can field a sizeable order from the global website and there's a deal running, it's probably the best deal you'll find (but still check). If not though, look at buying through the JP site via proxy. There's less stress in maximizing the order, you can sit on the items in warehouse, and you can even combine with other sites. You just won't get free shipping. And I really do have to stress that that's the biggest selling point for buying from the global site. So keep your eyes out for those specials!

[zukadiary]

sent an ask yesterday about foreign fans joining fan clubs and didn’t realize you had already answered this a while ago, sorry about that! as far as you know, is the procedure of asking in a letter still how to go about trying to join? thanks!

No worries! I'll even reiterate for those who may not have seen: the question was can you join a fanclub as an overseas fan. The short answer is yes! The longer answer is it varies from club to club whether they send mail overseas or not. If they don't, you can still join the club, but you will need a proxy in Japan (either a friend or a service) to receive your mail.

The latter makes inquiring a little trickier. You won't get a response to your letter; typically, if you include in a letter that you'd be interested in joining an actress's club, she passes it along to her staff who will then just mail you club forms.

So there are a few ways to go about it:

You can send the letter, say you would like to join the club, include your home address, and see if you get forms. If you do, they are happy to mail outside the country! The downside is you might just not receive anything, and then you might not know for sure why.

You can ask around to see if another foreigner is in the club, or if you have a Japanese friend in the club, they may be able to inquire on your behalf

You can wait for a trip to Japan to join and ask staff yourself (this is what I did back in the day)

You can use a mailbox service such as Blackship or Tenso and provide that address in your letter

The biggest hurdles as a foreign fan are payments and deadlines if you want to travel to Japan, order tickets, etc. Most application deadlines have a quick turnaround designed for Japan's domestic postal system, and most fanclubs take payments entirely via domestic bank transfers (I can't promise they don't exist, but I have never heard of a club taking a different payment method).

If you don't intend to participate and only want to show your support, my recommendation would be either to write regular letters as a non-member, or join using a mailbox service and have a friend in Japan do your annual club fee bank transfer. If you intend to participate, I highly recommend having a friend both be your address and manage your club membership for you, EVEN if your club does mail overseas. You will likely miss all of your club deadlines due to the speed of international mail if you attempt to manage everything yourself.

[putschki1969]

Hi Puts!

How are you? Hope everything’s good!

I’ve been reading your past tutorials on how to get tickets to Japanese lives (thank you for amazing coverage btw I was so confused!), because I want to apply for tickets for Kajiura’s 30th anniversary lives.

Applying for FC right now (filling in the form with address etc). I kind of understand Japanese as I studied it before(although it’s gotten a bit rusty), but I don’t have an address and telephone there. I do have a few not close friends/ friends of friends who are in Japan right now, but I’m not sure if they will be willing to help if it’s too much of a fuss (and I wouldn’t want to bother them so much anyway!).

So I wanted to ask, if for example, I ask a friend to enter their telephone and address, will it be a one-time confirmation and they won’t have to do anything except help me with phone confirmation? Or will they continue to receive notifications etc on their phone afterwards, and will it be more than one time confirmation? Do I also have to be connected to them real-time for verification because the time zone difference is three hours between where I live and Japan so might be difficult? 🥲

I’m debating whether I should do everything myself with a help of somebody for address and telephone or just use proxy service for a fuss-free option (but it’s a bit pricey for me).

Also, if it’s not hard for you, could you please advise me if they accept foreign card payments?

Thank you so much!

Best wishes!

Hi there! I am good, thank you!

For the fan club you do need a Japanese address and phone number, however, there is no need to confirm anything so you can just take any random phone number. You do receive the occasional item (e.g. membership card, fan club magazine, etc) from the fan club so the Japanese address must be legit. I use a service called Tenso. They provide you with a Japanese address (including a stock phone number) and they ship packages overseas. Please note that they cannot make registrations, payments or purchases for you.

All fan clubs associated with YK and Kalafina accept foreign credit cards as payment method so at the very least, you do not have to worry about that.

Please be aware though that joining the fan club is only the first step. Getting tickets is much harder. Once you are a fan club member, you can take part in the fan club exclusive ticket lottery. Those lotteries are always held by authorised ticket agencies and rarely by the fan clubs themselves. In most cases, tickets are distributed by "e+" or "Lawson Ticket" but in case of the upcoming YKL #18 tour, "Lawson" seems to be the preferred ticket agency. I mostly have experience with "e+", I haven't gotten a ticket via "Lawson" in ages and don't even know if my account is still working but I guess everything I know about "e+" also applies to "Lawson". But please take this stuff with a grain of salt, I am by no means an expert in the matter.

For a few years now, all those ticket sites have required a registration with a Japanese phone number. That wasn't the case back in the day. Thankfully, the verification process via SMS/call is a one-time thing. The number itself may be required for log-ins etc but no further verification is required. As long as you don't use the digital ticket service/mobile app your friend won't be bothered again. I cannot remember how exactly things worked when I first registered on "e+" but I am pretty sure I was connected with my Japanese acquaintance in real time. It may or may not have been necessary to enter a code...

I am afraid you will be hard-pressed to find a proxy service that still offers to apply for, purchase and pick up tickets in Japan. They pretty much stopped offering that service when it became much more difficult to get a Japanese phone number and when Japanese ticket sites started having a bunch of stricter requirements.

As for payment methods, I am not 100% sure about "Lawson Ticket" but I know for a fact that almost none of the official ticket agencies accept foreign credit cards so you do have to rely on someone in Japan to handle your payments (either by registering their card in your account or by paying at the convenience store). Lawson does accept foreign credit cards for fan club membership fees (Keiko's fan club is paid via Lawson) so that gives me a tiny bit of hope that their ticket service also accepts them but right now I have no way of checking. As I mentioned before, it's been many, many years since I have last used Lawson for tickets. I've actually just tried to log in with all my old info and it doesn't seem to work anymore *sighs* Might have something to do with the fact that when I first registered on Lawson, they didn't have that phone number verification requirement. No idea to be honest but I guess it's proof that I am struggling just as much as everyone else. Oh well, I am not planning to take part in the fan club lottery anyways since we don't know any details about the guest vocalists yet and they also haven't announced any of the additional performances. I need to know more before committing to anything. I am aiming to take part in the general lottery which will most likely have more ticket site options than Lawson. This way I can apply using my e+ account.

I don't know if this was helpful at all. This stuff is tricky for me as well so unless I actually go through the process of applying for a ticket, I can't really give any good advice.

Wishing you a ton of luck!

[mofffun]

hello! i'm planning on trying for g-rosso s4 in march, and i would just like to ask more about your guide post for ticketing, about buying through a proxy and bypassing jp phone number verification? how would that work?

thank you for your help 😭

Proxy

This is very regional-dependent: I just search for "japan proxy" on facebook (more reliable than instagram because old people website), check their history and look for "ticketing" in the description (filter those that only buy goods or just personal travellers with no on-site agents).

You give them the show's information and they'll give you a quotation. If you agree with the price, make a deposit and they'll proceed with the lottery and refund if it fails. Some companies take a service charge regardless if the lottery succeeds.

My proxy mentioned eplus's lottery ticket will have the buyer's name printed. The G-rosso I remember is not that strict with checking ids, so I'm not too worried. More after my visit.

You'll need a prxoy if you buy through eplus (= online ticketing sites) whether or not you're joining the lottery. I used a proxy that handled everything, but there's also proxies that only handle the phone verification part. You get to register an account with your own name.

Phone verification: Echoing other posts: You need to make a call to eplus's number. Other people suggested using an 050 IP Phone or buying a Japanese SIM card from Hanacell or Mobal. But IP phones might be banned and the SIM cards only work within Japan so I'm not sure how it works either...

Redeeming the ticket: Remind the proxy to choose "pick-up at convenience store" instead of delievery, either Family Mart or 7-11 is fine. Eplus will send you a redemption code via email two weeks before the show and you can print the ticket from the convenience store machine once you land in Japan.

edit: I just realize the whole exchange happened online unlike actual goods that need to be shipped, so maybe it's not as region-specific as I thought...

Experience with S3:

Lottery: You will only be considered for one showing and you have up to three choices. You can't pick the seats, so just pick out the date and time.

Pretty much everyone on my twitter tl (jp fans) failed the Premium round, but managed to score in the General round. We reckoned it was simply because there are just too few Premium seats (38 x 3 rows = 114 seats). Some General seats are still available as of today, except the first and final showing.

The consideration of whether you MUST need the first 3 rows or you're fine sitting a bit back in the first block: If Row A-C is a must, I'd choose a less popular date and time. Not the first or final showing and Satuday rather than Sunday. For S4, I'm kinda debating if I should even bother because of the odds would be even greater now the Jeramie fans are in the race too. Though, S4 has 16 days and S3 only 9 days. I could only speculate how eplus's lottery system works and there'd be different stats maths based on that with ticket types but i digress

twitter tickets: I don't see anyone reselling Premium seats in the first week, but listings from the general round showed up at an average rate. I am seeing S3's last weekend, so the general sale opens before my weekend's seating reveal, so I grab a ticket just to be safely seated more upfront than general sale. I am cheap and waiting for last-minute (and premium) resells after the redemption date and closer to the show.

same-day tickets: The website states there will be no same-day free-seating tickets. I suppose they mean there will be no discount, but if seats are available, you should be able to buy one from the convenience store or ask the staff. I'll confirm this on-site.

three rounds of tickets:

Permium lottery

General lottery

General sale

(ticket redemption date: 2 weeks before showing)

Schedule for Feb & March:

[lapithai]

Cute photos I wanted to share with fellow Roman lovers. Cave canem merch and the famous carbonized pompeii bread plush- Items are from the special Pompeii exhibition in Japan! The exhibition is still ongoing so you can get these via proxy if you’d like. 

[randomkposts]

If male takada decided to be the spokesman/fem light's proxy for kira, would fem mello and fem near have a hard time proving that he was just a proxy? What if a fem Mikami was added to the mix?

K:- So we ended up talking a lot, and got pretty off track. But hope you still enjoy reading it anyways. I summed it up at the end, kind of. 

—

E:- Honestly that depends on alot of varients. Again the question is has Takada just given a puppet role as a spokesperson or was she actively killing during her time for Kira?Anyone can claim to speak for Kira.

Unless Light is actively killing them off and purposely leaving Takada alive for the public to see. I remember the Sakura TV station crew turned Kira enthusiasts getting killed off. 

K:-That might have been Mikami. 

E:-Light isn't going to give Takada any reason to be incriminated especially since during this time she is under suspect. Also I wanted to point out why no one even pushed to have cameras during the time Light and her meet up for talks. Like seriously they're having legit talks via paper. 

K:-Whose role would be changed by being a female?

"As of 2014, only 24% of judges, 22.4% of prosecutors, and 18.2% of lawyers (bengoshi) in Japan were women. Among these three groups, the gender gap among lawyers is most serious in terms of not only the demographic ratio but also income and the working environment."

As according to the OG plan, by OG players. 

I get the sense that things could go different ways, depending on author prefrence.

But yah, I know. 

"Kira" demanded Light take off the wires.

E:- 🙄🙄🙄 what kira gonna do kill me. I mean Kira already trying anyway. Who says no one can bug Takada apartment when she isn't there. 

K:-"Light informs Takada of a plan involving Mikami making a duplicate of his Death Note, and sending Takada pages from the real one so that she could execute the real killings. While receiving this news, she is very shocked at the idea of her having to kill people.

Knowing that Light is in a long-term relationship with Misa Amane, Kiyomi feels jealousy. Because of this, Kiyomi invites Misa over to a dinner, during which they subtly argue over who is best for Light. During one of her meetings with Light, Kiyomi confronts Light about the matter, to which Light responds by saying that Misa was merely Kira in the past and is irrelevant to Light, which relieves."

L would have but hes dead. Lol, it probably would have been pointless, after all its not like they talked much. 

E:-  Omgggggg! Whyyyy! The amount of gaslighting Light does he should be charging people utility bills instead!

I still would have bugged Takada rooms with cameras even without Light input. The. Few scenes they had still had enough clues what's going on. Omg working at this case would make me lose my hair. 

K:- Wait! Eclipse! The rooms were bugged!

"Light is actually planning on using this to make Kiyomi the middle-woman between himself and Mikami. Shuichi Aizawa is in charge of checking in and out of the various hotels they use for their meetings, and the rooms are bugged prior to Kiyomi's arrival. "

Where he makes her speak her true oppinion on TV. 

"This attracts the attention of Mikami, who, during Light and Takada's second meeting, calls Kiyomi; Light is given the phone per his request and subtly confirms to Mikami that he is the real Kira. Light uses this opportunity to remove all the bugs and cameras that were in the room during the meeting under the pretext that Kira demanded that he does so, allowing Light to reveal himself as Kira to the shocked and confused Kiyomi. He reveals that the one she thought was Kira was merely a pawn he granted the power to kill like him. He offers to one day rule together in a perfect world, with her as his queen. Kiyomi tells Light that he is the only man she has ever respected, and the fact that he is Kira further enthralls her.

-Following this incident, the Task Force places a wire on Light's body during Light and Takada's future meetings. Because they cannot talk freely, Light and Kiyomi pass notes on hotel notepads during their meetings"

Whereupon they got lazy and did not doodle on the notepads to cover the words.

E:- OMG! I gotta reread this again. Or watch it. 

K:- I mostly just reread the Wiki to touch up on things I might have forgotten for theory. 

E:-So I know people are still up to a mix about Mikami devotion to Light. Personally I think he is just devout to an idol with no flaws. 

K:-Hmm, your probably right on a lot of that. 

I don't think Mikami is loyal to Light Yagami as a person so much as Kira the mask. 

I do think I read the endgame at the warehouse was in part Near. 

E:-The second it looked like Light was duped Mikami faith faltered. Thoughts?

K:-Hmmm, I would say he had faith in the god, but not the human leading it. Although faith and Losing it is a theme in Death Note. 

E:-Yeah I feel that too. Light took a gamble on Mikami and it fell through. 

K:-I don't think it was all on Mikamai there. 

I still argue that Light's better bet would be tell Mikamai not to show so Near looks like he's wasting everyone's time. Like, everyone chilling in the warehouse looking at Near completely awkward. 

E:-Ahahah true. Honestly the whole reveal was very dumb and arrogant. I wonder what  Near's next plan was in case that didn't happen. Was Mikami the one who revealed himself then cause if so he was too eager. 

K:-one sec. -He seems to have had no back up

"Near creates a plan to unite all members of the Task Force and SPK inside the warehouse. He expects that Light will have Mikami waiting outside the warehouse door to peek in and write the names of everyone except Kira in his Death Note, killing everyone who knows of the existence of the Death Notes other than themselves. However, Near is confident that no one will be killed by the notebook because Stephen Gevanni has switched Mikami's Death Note with a forged duplicate. Despite Light's preparations for the meeting, Near's plan succeeds, and Light is revealed to be Kira. "

Ah heres where I read it "Matsuda suspects, however, that Mikami’s renunciation of Light as well as his death may have been a result of Near manipulating him with a page of the Death Note rather than a consequence of Mikami’s deteriorating mental condition."

*K posts more from the Mikami page on the wiki. And concludes that the point that made Nears plan work was Light and Mikami killing Takada, as that revealed the hiding place of the hidden Death Note in the deviation from routine.

K:-Hey If Misa has also written down Takadas name in it, would that have given her immunity? No, they would have to spell her name wrong. But that would be funny. 

E:-Just them trying to outdo each other. My ass would not survive in that world. 

K:- sure you would Eclipse. 

E:-Me with my guessing skills and going with vague gut feelings. 

"I dunno I don't like him at all."

"He's lying, he telling the truth but he's lying who he is."

"That's not real. I dunno just isn't"

K:- lol sounds sus. 

E:-Lmao. Me pissing everyone off with my vague feelings and off hand guesses and I ended up being proven right. 

K:-L's successor lol

E:-Light: How did you even figure it out.

Me:*exhausted* Light I haven't slept in four fucking days.

Bahahahha!I even have the sleep problems for it too. I even have the sleep problems for it too. 

K:- I'm worse

E:-Me being an utter dumbass who's right most of the time because "feelings"

Light watching me slam into a glass door.

K:-Alternatively, If Light had asked Misa to come to the warehouse it would have worked. Her death note was uncompromised. 

E:-Yes! Why didn't he even do that! Like did he simply now consider a back up!

K:- I don't know. Probably the misogyny. 

E:-You know what! No! No one in this show has a damn backup plan!

K:-Would that change If they were girls?

E:-Maybe.

K:-I'd like to say yes, with the cost that sometimes the backup plans spill into each other and can get messy. 

E:-I felt like if they just let go of their damn ego for a sec then yes. 

True true. But better a net that delay the tumble down

K:-Hmm, Light is a narcissist. And a girl. Gender does not cancel that. But better at paying attention to the people, she would probably not believe that Kiras ideals would go over as well as OG Light would

E:-Probably so. Ah did we stray too off from the og ask. 

K:-We did. Also we never established a female Mikami. 

E:-Bahaha true. We also tend to off tangents which is fun. 

K:- Its more then half the  fun. So by being female would Mikami be into Law still. Or would they have a different backstory and connection to Light as a female. I don't think a lot has to change actually, as Mikamis role in the story is a lot dependant on his actions and job, and backstory. He's far more of a static character, in part beacuse of less time spent in the story, with less time for a character arc. 

We could do different things with her, everything from writing her out of the story to having her play on the Law side by changing her backstory. But overall we have kept people the same. L is still working with the police force, despite having bigger reasons to want to avoid being identified. Mello still runs the Mafia. Misa is still a model. 

E:-I still think they would pursue it. Still fight getting a spot in it though her personality like her male counterpart is very intense and frosty.

K:-So Mikami is unusual, a  female lawyer, who fought her way up. And to  envy of Light, doesn't care about public opinion, just justice? So that's a bit of a different dynamic from OG maybe? 

E:-I wouldn't say is super unusual but then again I know very little of legal practices in Japan much less the ratio of lawyers of male to female. 

K:-Women lawyers make up 18.8% of the legal profession in Japan.Nov 12, 2020. So its gone up about 0.06%. Not super common, but likelier then the avrage shiny.

But yah, the biggest change to Mikami would not be in the gender, but how they view justice. And Male Mikami was already willing to kill in the name of Justice, Female Mikami would probably just double down. A disillusioned Mikami would not be in the story to begin with, one who chases Justice and is female would probably see more things that are unfair in how the world works, and her causes would probably be more varied, maybe not follow OG Kira's mentality so well, but I think boy or girl Mikami would still kill for justice. 

E:-Dynamic would be a bit different. But zealous just the same. 

K:- so would Near and Mello have trouble proving Takada was just a proxy? Yes. Regardless of gender, yes. The Kira case was ongoing for years, at this point, the justice system wants the case shut. Especially Japanese justice system, which is closer to Guilty before Innocent. Just look at Ace Attorney, which is centered around Justice in Japan. Posts about Ace Attorney can lead to informative links with information that is not great for sleeping at night. 

But that's besides the point. As a son of a cop, Light cares about the crimes being committed, where as a prosecuting lawyer Mikami cares that a crime has been committed. 

It's an important tense I think. Light doesn't care much about criminals who stop crime through fear or conviction. Light wants crime to stop. Mikami is more about retribution, it doesn't matter how old your crime is. 

Justice vs Judgement reverse. Though Light would be more of a reverse Emperor. 

[vanillahub]

what is your blog or graphic aesthetic or motif? why? // what is your favourite part about using this platform to roleplay on? // what have you learned by proxy of roleplaying and rp researching?

@gwiazdowe

𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐬𝐤. [Accepting]

what is your blog or graphic aesthetic or motif? why?

// Ever since I moved here, I decided I'd take graphics making to a very minimalistic degree. I've been preferring to make banners, instead of relying on icons for RPs. My headers also became a lot simpler, from what they used to be like.

I like the new trend of using fancier fonts, and leaving it at that.

what is your favourite part about using this platform to roleplay on?

// NGL, I've been preferring to do my RPs on Discord, rather than Tumblr. I think Tumblr is great when it comes to looking for partners (especially reconnecting with old ones, in the fandoms I rejoined), but overall I've been far more active via discord. But there are still somethings from Tumblr, I can't really get out of discord.

Case in point, the queue feature is my favorite thing ever. The fact I can control when a reply is posted, and I can pace them out to give time and space for me and my partners is chef's kiss. I can't do a lot of back and forth, I'm not a fast replier. I'd rather if my partners took all the time they need to write, than rush in for a reply.

what have you learned by proxy of roleplaying and rp researching?

// A lot, honestly.

Back when I used to RP my YGO muses, I had to do a lot of research about Japan and Egyptian mythology as well. Through my Castlevania muses, I had to re-study a lot of european history and got to learn some new details about the Eastern Europe's history. I did a big deep dive into SW lore, for my muses from that series, which was awesome.

And more recently, I'm learning a lot more about the Northern and Northeastern regions of Brazil, because that's where one of my muses originated from. So, it has been a lot of fun to learn about their local costumes, culinary and history. Beyond what I studied back in HS!

[nrcbulletin]

Places to Get Twst Merch

There are two main ways to get Twisted Wonderland merch when you live outside of Japan: through stores that ship overseas or through a proxy service.

Also I guess I should put this disclaimer even though I think it's obvious but I'm not sponsored.

Stores

Most of the places that create Twst merch don't ship overseas, and some that do, like Qpot or Premium Bandai, don't have the Twst merch as available to overseas customers. So you'll have to find another store that sells goods but will ship to you. Here's some of the ones I know about

Mandarake

pros: cheap goods (I got the penlight that was originally $35 for $15)

cons: stock is not consistent, expensive shipping (it's complicated)

Mandarake is a site that I use a lot. It's basically a second-hand store for anime goods. They have a LOT of cheap goods; you can get buttons for $1-$5 USD and their stock changes all the time. That being said, because their stock changes, if you want something, you should probably buy it then.

The other problem with Mandarake is shipping. While we are still under Covid's effects, shipping is more expensive. However, some items will end up costing more to ship generally than what they're priced at. For example, my Riddle nesoberi plush was priced at around $10 (comparable nesos of this size usually go for about $50). So I bought him solely because I thought it was a great deal, but the shipping ended up being $60 because of his size and expensive Covid shipping. So keep in mind shipping might get crazy.

GoodsRepublic

pros: variety of goods, free shipping for US

cons: prices vary wildly

After I got burned with my Riddle neso, I buy my nesos from GoodsRepublic only now. Their neso prices are fair compared to what I've seen Love Live ones for (I fucking see you con vendors selling Nozomi for $100 but Umi for $50). However, some goods have their prices really jacked up. The coin motif bag charms, the ones that came with the letters, were originally around $40 from Aniplex. They go for $230 on GoodsRepublic. Prices do tend to be higher here, but I think it's partially because shipping. But prices are higher on some items, so heads up on that.

AmiAmi

pros: delayed payment

cons: limited items

I like AmiAmi because you can place an order for an item and then pay once they get it. However, they don't have too many options for Twst merch. I've bought other anime goods from them before, but I haven't bought Twst stuff from them.

Aitaikuji

pros: can get Aniplex goods w/out doing a proxy

cons: mixed reviews

First off, I've never bought from them, so I can't attest to anything but what I've heard, and it's mixed. My friend Steph swears by them and has nothing but good things to say, but I've seen a lot of negative reviews about them across the internet. Iirc most of these concerned broken figures while on one hand, yeah that's awful, but on the other, most Twst merch is not figures so I would imagine most purchases would be safe, but ultimately I can't say for certain.

Proxies

A proxy service is a service that will buy Japanese goods for you and then send them to you. With a lot of stores not shipping overseas, if you want something for SURE, you'll have to use a proxy. I was incredibly lucky to get the magic penlight from Mandarake, but I've never seen other store-specific items available elsewhere or for a good price. I've used a proxy to buy the Qpot groovy candy necklaces and the class rings, among other goods.

The main proxies I can think of are White Rabbit Express, Tenso, and Buyee. I've only ever used White Rabbit and I like them! I can't personally speak for the other sites, but I'm under the impression Tenso is very, very popular.

Some websites will have have a proxy built into them. I don't remember what store it was, but they had a proxy built into their store so I was able to purchase those coffin ribbon bag charms directly from the store using their proxy. Qpot also has one built into their site, but the stock available for overseas shipping is super limited, which is why I had to buy the necklace via White Rabbit instead of Qpot's partner.

Anyways, I hope this little guide helps you guys get merch and gives you an idea of where to start looking!

[thekaijudude]

Do you think they will ever explore Z's origin? And do you have any theories as to where he might be from?

On the topic of origins, was it ever explained what the voice of light is and whether O-50 ultras are sentient or just ultra versions of humans?

Ah yes I've talked about this a few times

Considering that Z's origin was teased that he was not from M78 in the voice drama from his black markings and Ace found him on a planet somewhere highly suggests that he's basically just another species of ultras like U40 etc

And considering Ace named Z as a "Last Hero to bring peace to the universe one day", it might have a more darker implication that he might be the last member of his species to survive an extinction event of some sort, and that Ace managed to rescue Z on a mission to said planet to perhaps assist said species but failed

Plus Z was immensely popular which also won an award in Japan and considering TsuPro now also has alot of money to spend, its very likely that we'll see more expansion in this area in the future, like what specifically happened to Z's species etc

As for your second question, it's been quite some time since I talked about this in depth but it's a huge topic to cover which I did a long time ago so I'll try to summarise the main points

For one, it seems that the VoL is the power source of O50 Ultras and that, like all power sources, it seems to also be sentient, being able to choose who receives their power (except for the DoL and wherever Trigger came from, still very foggy on that but its the least expanded anyways) .And the VoL is shown to be the "most sentient" in the sense that it is also able to outright give directives to its proxies, that being the 050 Ultras as we've seen with Orb, the 1st Gen RB siblings and Fuma. In fact, this was greatly expanded upon in the Orb Chronicle novels

I won't go into the inconsistencies with the 2nd Gen RB siblings and whether Fuma joined the Tri Squad based on the VoL's directives or nah cause frankly, I suspect that the seperate writers themselves aren't aware of the can of worms they've opened and never really thought of the broader picture of the 050 lore which I suspect would be retconned/expanded upon in the next 050 installment

Plus it's a can of worms that I've delved into in a few seperate essay posts before and I really don't plan to going that in depth again until we get a new 050 installment to potentially retcon these issues

(can't even find said posts either via the search engine thank you tumblr, very cool)

As for the second part of your 2nd qn, I've also talked about this in depth before but in summary, it seems that they are just ultra forms given to those that managed to climb the Warrior's Peak on 050 and are granted the power via the VoL, be it kaiju or ultra. However, the fact that the VoL has the ability to synthesise powers of other ultras like with the Ultra Cards and RB Crystals, and even materialise them (for the former in the final ep of Orb) is very sus

Cause it could be also possible that the VoL has the ability to create existing ultras or even completely new ultras and imbue its proxies with their power, making them the hosts of basically existing ultras, or just the OCs thought up by the VoL itself(lmao), but without their sentience to allow the proxies to be in control

Yeah, you can tell that the implications of this is also another can of worms that I previously already delved into extensively that I can only summarize until the next installment which would hopefully clear all of these ambiguities up

But frankly, while I assume that they'll delve more into how the VoL works, its quite unlikely that they'll expand upon what the VoL is. Cause the power sources of Ultras are kinda on the same level of mysticism as Legendary Ultras, whereby the less mysteries we uncover about them, the more significant their existence in a sense.

Tho perhaps the next expansion in the sources' lore would perhaps be in UGF3 when the Ultras try to fix the Absolutians' power source and maybe we'll get some exposition and more insight on them there?

Thanks for the questions!

[partnersatfazbear]

Japan Package

Yeah, another off topic post... I don’t really have anywhere else to put this, though! Maybe you guys can learn more about me. =:3

I’ve always been a collector, especially of things from Japan... COVID has basically killed that for me with EMS taking almost 2 years to return and the skyrocketing prices of goods and shipping. So, with that said, this will be my last big collection post for a very, very long time [in regards to Japanese merch, I am still collecting FNAF!]

Anyone whose read my blog knows I’ve been hyped for Legend of Mana HD Remaster... and I nabbed a few things last minute when it was announced:

A large rabbite plush! This kinda goes with my collection of yellow bunnies, so I splurged since it served more than one interest for me.

Elazul and Pearl from the Square Millennium Collection.I already had these at one point but lost Pearl along the way, so I replaced them.

Some Legend of Mana trading cards (they’re sealed) and Pokemon Gold playing card deck. This will Segway me into my Gold/HeartGold stuff...

Moo-moo milks! The top one holds cold/hot drinks and the bottom one is a metal thermos.

Lyra and co. I waited so long to complete my set for Johto... she was a pretty penny unfortunately.

A bunch of various Gold related items. I don’t know much about them. A keychain, a small toy, and a postcard book. I should probably mention I got these items before the Pokemon Scalping Craze of 2021 took effect...

Pokemon Stadium 2 CIB, Pokemon Gold CIB, some kind of physical Pokemon Heartgold thing (I believe it’s just the download card. I know it isn’t the normal game.) and finally, one of my grails-- a lightly used Johto Gameboy Color w/a cartidge of Gold.

Pokemon Johto themed Pokeballs! This was a premium Bandai exclusive. I got it for the GS ball, NGL. While taking photos, my wife noticed that all of them open... except the GS ball of course! I did get this used so it was missing the dispenser parts and candy, but I didn’t care. I have the stands and belt attatchments--so looking forward to having these when I eventually cosplay Gold/Hibiki/Ethan.

Another grail. I already had the Gold Pokedex and Pokegear. I decided to get the HeartGold Pokedex/Gear. I haven’t tried it out yet!

Since Pokemon relates to Digimon, I’ll post the tiny amount of items I got. I no longer actively collect in this community outside a few unique items that I may want, so this is the end of my Digimon collection for the most part.

Not much to say regarding these. I had an atrocious time getting the shot glass the first time around, so I finally buckled and got it via a proper proxy. Weregarurumon, although a plush I don’t particularly like, was one of the last I needed to complete the line of plushes for the Gabumon line.

I’ve been after the Tsukuda Hobby Misato Vinyl figure for years. I finally snagged her. I’ve always loved this line, but sold most of it a long time ago. I don’t really have a huge collection for Misato, but she was always my favorite and I like this piece to represent her in my collectibles.

Jack from Radiata Stories. This was to complete my Star Ocean Trading Arts set. I also got the remainder of the Valkyrie Profile Trading Arts I was missing, but I didn’t picture them because they were thoroughly wrapped and I don’t want to lose pieces when I move.

My MAIN collection is Star Ocean: the Second Story (and all of it’s iterations). If I ever make an exception to my no major packages importing rule, this would be why. An Amanesis keychain, a calendar and a small pocket book.

Okay, maybe I lied... my MAIN collection is Aerith Gainsborough... I love and adore her; always have!

Aerith photo cards! I guess they were from Skytree? I don’t remember... Also some cards for Star Ocean EX, Pokemon Gold / Silver, and Ayumi Hamasaki.

More Skytree items! These are edible. One is a bottle with hard sugar candy and the others are various suckers w/edible flowers!

It took all I had not to cry when opening the music box... lol

Lastly... I was going through some bad times last October and I really rediscovered my love for Ayumi Hamasaki circa 1999-2001. I really wanted to embrace it and went a little nuts =:p If you haven’t heard her work, I highly recommend it. In fact I think A*BEST is probably my second favorite music album of all time. It’s in my top 3 for sure!

A photobook. Some CDs! Remember how much I love A*BEST? I got the anniversary edition. Included a book, CD/DVD/BluRay combo, a shirt, and a special collectors box. AyuMiX and M~ were replacements because mine are worse for wear nowadays. LoveAPPEARS and the blue CD are new. The blue CD is actually a release BEFORE Ayumi Hamasaki’s first single--it’s pretty rare! I’m excited to hear it!

A keychain, flipflops, and a stationary type set w/a binder, clear file, stickers, ect.

An uncommon Ayu-pan! She is proportional.. as opposed to the chibi design they normally have. And a mousepad! Sold at one of her early concerts!

Vinyl records of her singles: M~ and Endless Sorrow.

A CD single style keychain and a card for Endless Sorrow rounds out the lot.

It’s been an adventure... and I’m really sad to see it end until things settle down again, IF they do...

I wanted to say I have almost all the non essentials packed for my move, so I may be able to post some actual FNAF content in a week or so! =:3 Thank you for checking out the fun with me!

[kimamanitranslate]

Haruhara is selling tons of new make-on-demand merch!

Taking advantage of the Suzuri long-sleeved shirt sale from 12:00 AM Jan. 7 to 11:59 PM Jan. 14  JST, Haruhara has posted a bunch of new merch to his Suzuri store. All of the above and much more can be found here: suzuri.jp/haruhara

Some of the things he’s selling include:

- Hoodies, shirts, and hats - Tote bags and drawstring bags - Dozens of can badge pins - Stickers  - Cups and glasses - A couple posters - And more!

Haruhara has stated that because his store has become so unwieldly due to the sheer number of items, he plans to remove all items from his Suzuri store by deleting his store once the sale period is over. If you want to get any of this merch, make sure you get it before 11:59 PM JST Jan. 14 , aka 9:59 AM PST.

Please also note:

- Suzuri is a make-on-demand site like Redbubble, so prices will be higher

- It’s possible that he’ll remake his store with a fewer number of items, but there’s no guarantee that the merch you want will still be available!

- Suzuri only ships to Japan, so you’ll need to sign up for a proxy service like Tenso if you want it shipped overseas.

- However, Japan has stopped shipping air mail to many countries (including Canada and America), so you will have to ship via surface mail if you live in one of the blocked countries. Tenso is also indefinitely storing packages if air mail is not available to your country.

[agallimaufryofoddments]

To any Baccano! fans who’ve previous imported (or are interesting in / willing to import) goods from Japan...

I checked a certain JP goods site just now and discovered an active listing for three items from the first audio drama:

The fabled cast poster (i.e. one side of the poster is Enami’s jacket art, the other is allegedly a relationships chart).

The deck of playing cards (shows signs of use, but probably tolerably so)

The boxset’s slip cover.

Other, more complete listings for Audio Drama #1 (i.e. ones that include the drama CDs and booklet) exist on the market. What those listings usually don’t include is that rumored poster, which the JP Narita Wiki considers a “hard-to-find” item. It certainly is that. I’ve seen a decent number of listings for this audio drama over the years, but this is only the second time one of them contained the poster. No scans online exist, as far as I know.

The listing is priced at 1,600 yen (15.73 USD). Keep in mind that multiple additional fees will be tacked on to that price before you even get to the international shipping fees...which are jacked up and limited in options due to COVID-19, depending on JapanPost’s certain restrictions for your country. 

You moreover have no options when it comes to the proxy, due to an exclusivity deal between the proxy and the JP site. This proxy has steeper fees than my preferred one, which brings me to why I’m pointing other fans to it instead of snapping it up myself (so as to ensure it’s in fandom hands).

Edit: Eh, wait, I’m reading that there are a couple alternative proxies that can engage with that site? What about that exclusivity deal? Definitely worth looking into those other proxies’ legitimacy, as the topical proxy’s fees are just...ridiculous.

("Why” is addressed under the cut, since it’s not essential info and is moot if anyone else does actually want to get their hands on this. Suffice it to say here that a purchase I made back in Spring 2020 supposedly includes the poster; it’s just that the package has been languishing in JP storage ever since. Of course, sooner or later I may crack and try DHL or Seamail...)

Contact me if interested; I’ll send you the required proxy + item info privately. I’ve dealt with the proxy you’ll have to use before (same proxy I used for my own poster purchase), so don’t worry if you’ve never used a proxy before. Well, you can worry about the fees. Unfortunately, the particularly proxy is one of the more fee-happy ones I’ve come across.

Edit: Wait, JapanPost will be increasing shipping fees by 30% from April 1 onward for small packages (e.g. ones shippable by AIR, SAL, seamail...) ...cripes, that would apply to my package, I think, wouldn’t it? If Seamail / DHL are still the only options by then, well, future Seameal’s price for this package might be more akin to present day DHL’s cost estimate...yikes. Like, DHL’s current estimated shipping cost for my package is nearly twice as much as seamail’s price.

Second edit continued:  Ugh, part of me wants to keep waiting instead of  adding to the current hectic overload at harbors / other transportation hubs--American ones, at least, have been experiencing delays and understaffing due to COVID-19, both its broad impacts and its specific impacts on employees (people getting sick, others not showing up...)  ...but with price being a major factor in why I’ve waited this long, it’s be a special kind of irony to have the fees jacked by 30% as a consequence of the waiting. Hell, if I order now via seamail, the package would have a chance of arriving in April...

Original keep reading content below.

(Why don’t you buy it, Rev?)

Thing is, I purchased a listing for Audio Drama #1 that appeared to include the poster (and everything else sans cards) at the tail end of May 2020. It’s been sitting in a warehouse ever since, joined by two other packages in July & September. Those three packages have been consolidated but not sent, since the only two shipping options available for months have been DHS (exorbitant with no ETA), and seamail (cheap, but two months delivery and risk of damage).

If I don’t crack and give Seamail a shot one of these days, then, well, my own package will be sitting in storage for the foreseeable COVID-19 future. I already consolidated my three packages into one, and this charming proxy charges you an additional fee if you want to “reconsolidate” (i.e. add 1+ new packages to an already consolidated one). Then there’s the costly, risky shipping options...

...which I don’t so much ‘mean to inflict on anybody else’ (aha) as I want to double the chances the poster arrives in fandom hands for distribution. (Plus, why should I have a monopoly on this hard to find poster?) Er, again, maybe I’m doing the opposite by letting it sit on the market where anyone could just snap it up...

(On the other hand, I’m still very leery re: Seamail risks, since there’s some chance the poster will be damaged or lost in transit...if it hasn’t already from 7-8 months in storage...and that’s not even accounting for additional pandemic complications. Still, I keep thinking, “You know, if I’d given Seamail a try back in  October, I might have gotten the package by now or by the end of this month...))

Not to mention I literally already own a complete boxset of the audio drama (sans poster), two if we count the May 2021 purchase (sans cards)--a third boxset would be a bit much, even for my Baccano! collecting standards. At the very least, I’ve got to exercise some self-control...

(That I’m tempted to snap up listed Baccano! items I already own is itself, uh, a warning sign maybe?? “Ooh look, the Premium DJCD!” Self, I already own a copy. “Ooh, look, the DS Special Novella. that’s hard to find!” Self, you own two copies. “Ooh, look, the SRC--” --which is quite expensive and you own two copies. See what I mean?)

[putschki1969]

H-el-ical// 『B-day Event 2021』Live Commentary/Report

Date: July 2, 2021 Stream open 18:00／Stream start 18:30 Stream Ticket purchase period: 2021/6/19 12:00〜7/8 19:00   Ticket sales page https://eplus.jp/h-el-ical_st/ Ticket price: 3,000 yen Archived video available until July 8 23:59

Hikaru tweet |

Notes: As discussed in previous posts, it’s VERY hard for foreigners to buy tickets on e+. Their service requires a registration with an active Japanese phone number which needs to be verified via SMS/call (something I managed to do a couple of years ago with the help of a kind friend in Japan - it wasn’t easy at all). On top of that, you can ONLY pay with Japanese credit cards or at convenience stores (once again, something that was only possible because I know kind people who are willing to help me with stuff like that). Lots of hurdles which aren’t easily overcome. *sighs* I know that e+ does in fact have an overseas ticket service but alas, Hikaru’s team have decided not to offer it. Maybe it wouldn’t have paid off for them, I don’t know. However, I think you CAN use a proxy service like FromJapan or WhiteRabbitExpress because they will handle the whole process for you. Careful though! It has come to my attention that certain foreign fans cannot access the relevant e+ pages anymore. I think the reason for that might be that e+ blocked the countries where their overseas service is available. So even if you get a Japanese ticket through FromJapan etc you might not be able to access the event without using some proper VPN. Anyways, without further ado, let’s get to the live commentary 〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

•————— ♬ —————• 

LIVE COMMENTARY/IMPRESSIONS (TO BE UPDATED)

The current background music is an acoustic instrumental arrangement of a famous song I know but for the live of me, I can’t remember its name or the lyrics. Sounds a bit jazz-y, pop standard-ish, I’m guessing that will be the vibe for the event? I don’t really know the other piece they are playing now. Could be anything really.:P

It’s a small but cute venue. Takeshi Kato (from SPICE) is enthusiastic as always as host XD Hikaru looks super cute. They are clapping “Happy Birthday” for her (they can’t sing due to COVID guidelines unfortunately). She also got a little cake and and Amazon giftcard from her management.

Time for a little “How much do you know about H-el-ical//”  quiz: She needs to reply within 5 seconds which Hikaru finds very difficult. On what day was “pulsation” released? (June 1 2019) The venue for her 1st H-el-ical// live? (Kanagawa Kenmin Hall) How many H-el-ical// songs are there in total? (24) How many goods did she sell for her acoustic live in 2020? (11) Something about the key being different in the first part of the song compared to all her other songs. Hikaru doesn’t know this. Gushimiyagi chose that question :P Apparently it’s Landscape. Hikaru scolds Gushi for coming up with such a difficult question :P Otherwise Hikaru did great tho, she answered 4 out of 5 qustions

Then they bring out five different bubble teas for Hikaru to taste. I think she is supposed rank them according to how strong they taste or sometthing? No idea. She is pretty good at it (even though she almost chokes :P) And she was happy to finally drink some tapioca again. She is trying to take a break for the YK Live Tour.

LIVE CORNER: She is doing the TOP 3 of the survey where we got to choose our faves. Hirotaka Sakurada has joined Hikaru on stage. 1. disclose ~ acoustic ver. [WOW!! LOVE IT!! So powerful *chills*] 2. Altern-ate- ~ acoustic ver. [Really loving these arrangements. Sakurada’s playing is pretty epic and fits Hikaru’s super dramatic and dark singing.] 3. 咲 -SHOW- [Okay, didn’t expect that to be so high in the ranking. Not one of my favourites :P A tad too shrill for my liking, much preferred the lower key of the previous songs. Still Hikaru is super cute and she was happy that it ranked so high bcause she wrote the song for us]

GOODS INTRO CORNER: Hikaru is excited to see lots of people wear her masks. Cute as always. My merch already arrived at the TENSO warehouse. Can’t wait to receive all of them. Dammit, the t-shirt looks so soft. Her shirts are honestly the best. I kinda regret not ordering one. There is still a chance for you to purchase the items! [H-el-ical // Limited time ONLINE SHOP] http://h-el-ical.tokyo TUTORIAL [Order period] 2021/5/21 20: 00 ~ 2021/7/6  23:59

LIVE CORNER: We are back to some songs. Something summer-themed. 4. Spiranthes [Lovely as always. Not what I would have liked to hear from the “Blooming” album tho :P]. 5. 水 – Find your answer [Another nice pick but once again not what I would have chosen from the “elements” album] MC: Hikaru is super happy to have Sakurada with her because she has loved his playing ever since the Kalafina day. 6. 火 − One step forward [They did a darker arrangement for this live. I love it! Made me fall in love with the song. Hikaru SLAYS!] 7. Existence ~ acoustic ver. [LOL, I almost forgot about this song. Shame on me. I prefer it like this I think. Her screams are super cool]. 8. 紡-TSUMUGU- [Ahhhhhh, I knew this would be the final song. I am in love. The lalalas always get to me! She asks everyone at the venue to clap along and everyone who is watching the stream can sing the lalalas with her 💕 ]

She received another present from her drummer MASUKE. Then Hikaru  once again announces that all her albums are now available on various streaming services. AND we are getting a NEW SONG today on YouTube - “I am me”. Please look forward to it! It’s a song with a very youthful vibe. Awwww, her final words are so touching, I think she almost teared up. And she is taking some pictures with the audience whic she will upload later. AHhhh. wish I could have been there. Will there be an encore? Maybe? But the live stream doesn’t seem to cover it?

ENCORE: THERE IS an ancore!! And it IS covered by the live stream!! For a second the sound didn’t work but they fixed it quickly. BANZAI! 9. Happy Birthday [She sang it for herself because the audience isn’t allowed to sing. So precious! ]

[hetamyumusic]

I am so excited for the recently announced musical, and I'd like to travel to Japan to see it. Do you happen to know how difficult it is to get a ticket, from out of country? I tried looking up how the previous musicals sold their tickets (sale date, sites, etc) but there's so little information still available. (This is all assuming it's a similar process as it was in the past, I guess.) Thank you for all your hard work <3

All the ticket sites that will have Hetamyu when sales go up are, naturally, going to be in Japanese and additionally, depending on how the sites handle payments, might want a Japanese bank account/credit card. When I’ve shopped online for Japanese merch, normally I can get away with my American debit/credit card but I can’t guarantee that will pan out as easily (there have been a few rare times when my card(s) have been declined and I had been asked to use a bank transfer method via a (nonexistent) Japanese bank account).

Of course, that isn’t to say that it’ll be impossible to get a ticket and in order to do so, I would recommend looking for a proxy seller who lives in Japan and is able to handle buying the ticket for you. This is exactly the method I went for when I went to Japan in 2019 to watch a Toumyu production. When I went to Hetamyu back in 2015, I was already there for study abroad so my method to getting my ticket was much different from 2019. Either way, however, you will have to be aware of the very real chance you’ll have of getting tickets at scalped prices.

If you can get your ticket proxy seller to try for the ticket right when sales begin and they manage to get it, that’s awesome! Tickets will likely be at a base price of  about ￥8,000 (roughly $80 USD), so naturally that’s what you’d ideally be spending. However, to use my Hetamyu and Toumyu tickets as an example, both shows sold out in like less than a minute and I was forced to go to resellers for the tickets. Hetamyu, I was able to get for a fairly reasonable $100, not that bad of a markup. Toumyu, however, got racked up to about $620 with that price being on the lower end of the spectrum for second hand tickets. For anyone’s sake in getting these tickets (myself included), I sincerely hope it doesn’t get that pricey for Hetamyu, but you’ll need to be aware of that possibility.

Jumping back slightly on the reseller topic, this is something that I was warned about when my proxy seller and I were discussing the Toumyu ticket: some productions check I.D. to ensure that the ticket holder is truly the same one as the name on the ticket stub. I personally had not run into this issue for either production and I would assume the new Hetamyu would be running along the same procedures as Hetamyu1 but I can’t guarantee that by any means. Thinking back to how Toumyu had us proceed into the auditorium, my guess is that an I.D. check might happen if you’re picking up the ticket via Will Call (in contrast, I already had my ticket since I’d met my proxy earlier in the week who had passed over my ticket then and only had to show the staff it before getting let in), but I’m not positive as those I had glimpsed getting their ticket from staff seemed to be going through the line too fast for a check like that. (I’m also half-Filipino and maaay have gotten a pass because they had assumed I was half-Japanese? Wouldn’t be the first time, but I’m not sure if that was the true reason.)

This is a bit of a winded answer, but I wanted to make sure to put in as much information as possible since there is a chance you could be spending a lot of money only to be ultimately not allowed in. From my experience, I am leaning more towards you being fine, but I want to make sure you know all sides of what could happen just to be safe.