dolls dolls dolls

welp, when talk about dolls, most people today would love to relate them with Annabelle. puh-lease, these dolls are much more prettier and cuter and not a bit scary like her.

10 years ago, i saw this very cute anime-like doll in a chinese magazine, and at that moment i knew i wanted that kind of doll. but the price would killing the 14 year old me then, so i just kept quiet about it.
fast forward about it, i met someone who had a doll like the one i saw, not similar just same. vibes and all. so, stalking began and i figure out what it is. a ball jointed doll or BJD. i asked him how to get them and he told me. but i still find it is hard and complicated.

one day, i saw this ad, about a doll up for sale. i just went straight and asked about it and voila, i have ordered a doll.

the type of doll i ordered is not a BJD, yet it has the same anime-like features, which is why i like it. my doll is a seamless figure doll, or SFD.

so, *drum rolls* here's my imouto Yozora.

i picked the name Yozora (night sky in Japanese) because of my own fascination w ith night sky and galaxial wonders.
and i just love playing dress up with her, these photo are yozora in some hand made outfit courtesy of my sisters. i can sew really well  but my sis is a tailor.

the white dress i bought from one of the toy agents in malaysia. it was quite cheap.
to be honest, dolls  clothes are so expensive. because it is not mass produced.
there is a yukata that i custom made for her, it cost me almost MYR200

i am so glad because i am not alone in this interest. there are quite a few numbers of people with dolls interest and  we sometimes hangout together with our dolls.

which lead to another thing which is doll photography. no, not my usual , camera-phone photography, this is real photography.

the girls getting ready and voila...

this is the result... nice isn't it. and i guess i have fell deeper in this doll- hobby.


credits to: doll owners
Kirua Fahmi Anra: Lilia and Hatsune Miku
Rin Blaze: Charlotte, Cecilia, Eli and Maki
Danial Farihi Baharom: Mika and Hatsune Miku
Cruzz-sama: Charlotte
Blackpata Tachikawa: Aika and Airi

edited photo credit to: No Name Photography

anime review: ao haru ride

ao haru ride.....

my reaction when someone introduced me a shoujo anime: it's just the same storyline, right... cliche and overused, right?

though, i must say, there's really nothing impressive much about this anime, it managed to keep me hooked up till the end.

i'm not saying that this anime is bad, it was good even, especially to shoujo lovers. but it really wasn't my cup of tea.

the plot is kinda nice but in my opinion, it keep reusing the same formula. their on and off relationship, which i dont really get. the pace was slow but a bit rushed to the end. and futaba talks/thinks so much... i guess that is normal because this is shoujo anime and she's the main character.... but we only got a little peek on what Kou is really thinking and feeling.  their past relationship that was revealed little by little and the secrets that Kou is hiding....
to be honest, i can't relate with Futaba. maybe this is the reason why i don't really get this anime.

the art and animation was nice, as expected from shoujo anime. at least, this anime don't have too much of those sparking, kira-kira background moment.

the music. the openingand ending was okay and nice. but the song that i really love is the one in background, I Will by Chelsy... i don't know why but the melody just get my attention so much, better than the opening and ending.

in all, i'd give the anime 6/10, which is quite high for a shoujo anime in my book.

book review: 13 reasons why

Review:
"I have something i need to talk to you" these words usually made us think all the bad things we have done. This is practically what Hannah Baker said to the peoples on her list.
"I have something i need to talk to you, you are part of the cause of my suicide,"

And Clay jensen are one of the peoples who received the tapes.

This novel is a series of event told by a dead girl to those who matters. Those who had in one way or another leave a mark on her life, her confident and her self. This is her tell-all stories. Of secrets and crimes and what should have and should not have happened. A mystery and eulogy.

Upon picking this book, i was wondering if i can really understanding it. Did i have to go few pages back to understanding the story? Fortunately not. Even with the two narratives, this book was easy to understand. The two narratives was weaved smoothly that even it was on the same paragraph, i can imagine myself as Clay and as Hannah.

Easy to understand doesn mean that is is really a simple story. No, it was much more deep and complicated than that. I can imagine one night on clay's life where he's gone from one star to another, reliving the story from hannah's point of view.
His fear and anxiety of where do he really belongs in this series of tapes. What is the possible truth that hannah know about him or relating to him. Why he was obsessed to her and her voice-recorded tapes.

And hannah, why did she do that. Taking on her own life. Leaving series of voice recorded tapes to them and make them.listen to it. Spilled some secrets. Make them see each other in new light (or dark, for that matter).

What you really did do and didn't do, Clay Jensen?

anime reviews: psycho Pass

Anime title: psycho-pass

Episodes: 22

Director: Naoyoshi Shiotani

Series composition: gen urobuchi

The series has been on watch list for too long. I just didn’t find the right time to watch it. But because of the persuasion from a friend, I did. Two words, mind-blowing.

Plot:

In the future, a new way was developed in order to valued a human stata of mind and personality. The information was computed and processed as Psycho-pass, a meter to measure wheter a man is suitable in the society or not and their destiny. The story revolves around, a group of CID officers and Enforcers who work to as the police to uphold the system, putting the people the system deemed unsuitable away from the society and  managing crime in the somewhat, perfect world.

Characters:

Main

Tsunemori akane: a newly appointed CID officer. Have to dela head first into a serious case and at the  workers. Very bright nad always have positive Psycho-pass readings.

Shinya Kogami: a latent-criminal in the eye of Sybil systems. Work as an enforcers along with tsunemori Akane and the others. Have a very good hunch over criminal analyzing. He is as good as the criminal himself.

Nobuchika Ginoza: another detective and the group. A senior to Akane, he is very keen on maintaining the hierarchy order between the detectives and the Enforcers

Shougo makishima: the anti-sybil. He is as manipulative as it can get.

All I can say is the characters design is quite usual. The newly CID,  the old, yet wise hound and the slippery criminal.

Setting:

Time setting: 2111

Place setting: future Tokyo

Society setting: the age where technologies can control every aspects of human lives and human just live their laives as deemend suitable for the by the Sybil system. It was considered the perfect world, where the crime is nearly sero and everybody have their own happiness by the path chosen for them.

Music:

Nice use of some classical pieces as BGM, even those that we can consider unfitting.

The openings was quite grasping the essence of the series and the endings are perfect answer to it.

Art style/animations:

Considering the time and place setting, I have to say the art is quite nice and suitable for the future that we imagined. Though, I sould really mention that this series is quite graphic. Yet the gore, didn’t take over the anime that make it into a horror anime.

The animation is well done in my opinion. I think the animators and director did do the animations for certain things other animators and directors wouldn’t. especially in the fight scenes.

References:

I’ve never wrote about the references in anime before but this I just cant resist.

There are quite a few writers, artists and philosophers were quoted in the series. And i am ashamed that I didn’t know nearly half of them.

The most notables ones are Shakespeare and plato. A writer and philosopher respectively. Shakespeare, well-know for his dark humour and beautiful tragedies and Plato, who philosophy made us question the meaning of life.

There are alwo a few books reference in this series, all in which philosophical and in a way questioned human wort and value.

Theme:

To me, the theme of the series is technology and humanity.

My reviews:

After watching this anime I cant help but categorize the characters into these categories.

Kami: Sybil system

Tenshi: WMPSB

Akuma: shogo makishima

Ningen: the society

Via the sybyl system, the society has become the perfect world and the perfect beings. The Tenshi help to uphold the system and the akuma wants to stir the system.

And I thought about something that is related to us all. Can human values be controlled and determine by the system that was created by human? What is the ideal human? we are valued everyday, in schools via test and exams and in workplace. But, was the value really matter to us?

I’ve always know that humans are not black and white. We are the shades of grey. Something that we perceived as right maybe is wrong in the eyes of another and vice versa. In this anime, the right to be grey was revoked by the system. You are either balck or white. Human are valued and determined whether they can be with the perfect society or not.

Deeper into the anime, I thought, was Sybil syetem really the kami of the society. Was WMPSB really the tenshi. And what is Shogo Makishima is right in a way? What is all the roles was messed up?

I value the live I have now. Yes, I made afew mistakes but that is life. Without mistakes you’ll never learnt. But, Sybil system didn’t even allow you even think about mistakes. You just have to be perfect, as directed by the system. Sucks to be in that kind of society.

Makishima seems to realize this. He realized that the value of human can be determined by the system alone. We may thought makishima as the bitter loner, isolated by the system. Even the system wanted to erase his existence. He do things to stir the system to shows that he is not affected by the systemand other people shouldn’t too. Along the way, he realized that Sybil system cant really determine human value. It was all just computation programmed. It’s just that he took the much more drastic way, befitting those writers he quoted.

In the end, no matter how perfect the system is human are better because we have judgement and we are all have shades of grey inside us.