ODU now has music videos!

To add to our viewers exeprience at ODU we have provided a selection of music videos for our readers' viewing pleasure while surfing on our pages! The playlist is connected to Mixpod and the playlist would keep on expanding!

So far the following tracks have been added

1. Vestige  (Gundam Seed Destiny's Strike Freedom theme)
2. Trust You (Gundam 00 ending theme)
3. Another Ending (Code Geass final ending theme)
4. Forever Young (Insert song from Initial D Fourth Stage)
5. Cruel Angel's Thesis (Neon Genesis Evangelion opening theme
6. One Winged Angel (Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children Sephiroth theme)
7. Sengoku Basara opening theme
8. Dynasty Warriors 5 opening video (I love the guitar riffs in this video)
9. Seperation (Fafner)
10. Lucky Star opening theme
11. God Knows (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu)
12. Aimo (Macross Frontier)
13. Fuwa Fuwa Time (K-On!)

Kotobukiya 1/6 Evangelion Heroines

Neon Genesis Evangelion is an iconic title on the anime scene. Gainax have pretty much kept afloat all these years milking this series to death....... but am I complaining? Hell no! Due to the introduction of the theatrical Evangelion titles, some changes had been made to the story and also on the cosmetic front ie Unit 1 sporting more fluoro green. The theatrical versions also introduced whole new characters most notably Makinami Mari Illustrious who has won fans far and abroad with her cute bespectacled face through to her lullaby singing while on the hunt.

Kotobukiya has always been one of my favourites though I never owned one myself. They ensure the last details goes into all their figures I don't think there will be a better company to do this collection than them. presenting the Evangelion Heroines set the Makinami Mari Illustrious (such a tongue tying name) will be the first to be released in May. The originals Asuka and Rei will follow shortly.

The figures arent bad at all I like the colours and how the girls are posed with the heads of their respecting Evangelions which were designed to look like stone... or maybe Phase Shift?! As expected from a Kotobukiya piece the suggested retail price for the Mari will be going for 8190 Yen.

ODU's open letter to Animania's organisers... Aurora Entertainment

Needless to say Animania is Sydney's largest annual anime convention. Seeing the opportunity to further promote our blog we have prepared a letter of permission to promote Otaku Down Under at the March 2010 event.

30/1/2010

To Whom It May Concern,

I am one of the administrators of the blog Otaku Down Under. The main focus of our blog is to provide a place for the Australian local Japanese pop culture appreciation sector to be updated on news of their interest. We provide figure reviews, anime feedback, release information and a range of witty posts for entertainment value.

Below we have provided a link for your reference. We started blogging shortly after last year’s Sydney Animania in October and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and used it as a platform to upload cosplay pictures and share our reminiscing thoughts. It has since been three months since we started and we have made 94 posts and attracted 267 unique visitors and still have plans for expansion!

http://www.otakudownunder.blogspot.com/


As we will be attending Sydney Animania 2010 in March and would like to request permission to promote our blog at the event. We will only be distributing “business cards” and assure the organisers/sponsors of the event that there will not be any commercial activity involved. Our blog is open on the internet and is not a monetary subscription service.

Please advise on the feasibility of our request. The assistance of Aurora Entertainment in any way, shape or form will be greatly appreciated.


Sincerely,


Mathew Law

Happy Australia Day from ODU!

Here at ODU we are proudly Australian! We would like to wish the local Japanese pop culture loving community a happy Australia Day. Have fun!

Armor Plus Tekkaman Blade

Tekkaman Blade or Technoman (English title) was on of the first animes that I religiously followed. I would make sure that I watched the whole episode before dad took me too school thats how dedicated I was. I barely remember the story line by now just remembered it was awesome I should try to find it again. One thing I will never forget though was how Tekkaman looked like.

Im proud to announce that Armor Plus is coming out with a Tekkaman Blade figure this month and it looks crazy! Its retailing at roughly 7800 Yen. if I look at it any more I think Ill get impulsive and order it at Hobby Dream... must withstrain!

Introducing the term Itasha and the Bandai Lexus SC430

 an Itasha spelt 痛車 in kanji is a car decked out with anime references or characters. An example of an Itasha is like the picture below... This time we got one big Haruhi fan. I always admire people who would do this. They are proudly showing their true colours at great expense!

This has to be the ultimate Itasha! The Lexus team is backed by the massive toys group that we all know as Bandai. The marketing genius at Bandai wont let this opportunity slip out of their fingers thats for sure hence its decked out promoting its most profitable/recent lines. In this case Gundam 00.

the Lexus SC430 has been  competing in the Japanese Super GT500 since 2006 and is a fairly consistent winner. I think the Celestal Being logo on the roof implies that the vehicle belongs to the organisation and is capable of Transam!

Hell hath no fury like an otaku on rampage

It's rare when you notice so many things that pick up your attention in one shopping trip. At first it was only planned that I would get the Code Geass box sets but.... this trip ended up being a spending spree okay onto the goods!

The Code Geass box sets. Its been repeated time and time again that I am a Code Geass fan (and its true too). I thought since Im dedicated to promoting everything Geass I went to buy the DVDs for my own collection!

I have a dodgy downloaded cam job of this already but since I'm thinking of cosplaying as Shinji for Animania in March I thought I'd get some high quality screen caps for reference

Initial D Vol 40 I've been interested in the progress of this touge racing manga for ages. I so cant wait for Fifth Stage anime its going to rock! Please Avex and Shigeno San please announce a release date!

The Bandai  Lexus SC430 its one of the cars in Japan's Super GT500 yep thats an empty box the scale is 1/43 and requires some basic assembly it would be posted seperately under the automotive tab.

Chevrolet Camaro to hit Aussie shores by 2011

Its been a long time coming and had been up in the air for far too long. Fortunately the financial state of GM Motors have pushed for a plan where our 6.2L V8 Commodores would be exported to America to be rebadged. In return we get right hand drive fitted Chevrolet Camaros and the good thing is that they will remain with Chevrolet badging!

As most people are aware the Camaro is the vehicle that Bumblebee transforms into in the Transformers movies. Its a hot car with plenty of muscle unfortunately we wont be seeing it till 2011 and its got an estimated retail price of $75000 AUD

Iron Man 2 Trailer

I have got a feeling that Iron Man 2 is going to rock! This trailer explains it all enjoy! Gotta love Tony Stark's cocky attitude. Robert Downey Jr does a good job at these type of roles ie Sherlock Holmes.

Hiroki's room

My guitar haven got compromised so I had to move my guitar and sound system back to my room! So what do I do? I changed the furniture around! Nothing too fancy I just moved the desk out a bit more to allow space to put my tall shelf next to my display shelf and the result being more space and an amalgamated collection!

You may have noticed two empty slots they are for the goodies I have coming PG 00 Raiser, SIC Kabuto, Chogokin Tornado Messiah and anything else that might come by hmmm perhaps a figure of Reina from Queens Blade with her overpowered sword, Ewindel?

K-On! Second Season has been confirmed

K-On! is set to return to the TV screens! The second season has been given the green light although the actual release date is still TBA. I'm looking forward to it K-On! is funny, moe and the music is great. To tell the truth one of the reasons I got my Les Paul was because of Yui's Gibson Les Paul Standard 50th Anniversary Edition.

Also from other sources it has been confirmed that the original four Teatimers have graduated from high school and are on their way to university seems like their Budokan dreams will be fulfilled!

Lyrical Girl Nanoha StrikerS - Alter 1/7 Fate T Harlaown Shin Sonic Mode

As a favour for my cousin, Edmund I bought the 1/7 Alter Fate T Harlaown Shin Sonic Mode. Unfortunately this isnt a proper review. I am afterall bound by the Code of the Otaku. This is the one that opens the box is the true owner. So peering from the clear window from this rather beautiful box I am awed by the figure's details especially the hair. Alter were also very generous on option parts. This statue comes with a stand to pose Fate in an airborne pose and three swords, two for dueling and a combined buster sword. The buster sword measures in at a staggering 35cm long and also has an individual support stand for posing the weapon.

I quite like this figure the face and anatomy sculptings are amazing and the pose is rather dominating. I be it would take up lots of room! This figure is available at Hobby Dream for a price of $295.

The box on my table

Pics of the figure unboxed sourced from

http://bluebluewave.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/alter-strikers-fate-figure-review/

Happy New Year from the ODU staff

2010 is going to be a great year for ODU! We got lots scheduled from Animania 2010, Smash 2010, more figure reviews/announcements, anime reviews, random thoughts,the birth of the Otakun novel and perhaps a visit to Japan scheduled in either mid 2010 or early 2011 our agenda is to see the 1:1 Gundam at Shizuoka and perhaps catch Japan's autumn leaves. Thanks for reading our posts. Although our follower count isnt all that flash, we hope we will be able to set a deeper impression in 2010. Best wishes to all our readers and stay safe. Wow it is 2010!

Living in Sydney Australia, Kenji, Miku and I have an advantage. Which is we are one of the first countries to enter the new year. I went to see the grand fireworks display with my brother Vincent, Angel my brother's rather sweet girlfriend and his friend Jackie. And now I shall present the display for all our readers to see, it was heralded as the most expensive to date but unfortunately the wind was not available to clear the smoke blanket for a more brilliant presentation.