Fully filled dakimakura cover

I washed the Daiba Minato cover and filled it with the Sears body pillow and a 20x28" pillow bought from Target. I was originally going to use a smaller pillow but it turned out the body pillow filling can be squished higher making the top fill out more but at the cost of having the body pillow take up less space in the cover. It's hard to tell from the picture but the 2nd pillow starts from the knees down. I'm happy with the way the cover is filled out but the 2nd pillow is much stiffer than the body pillow so I'm going to switch it out for something softer.



I built the first of the MiniPla. It was easier than I thought. You can pretty much twist the pieces out by hand and then use a model knife to shave off any sprue that sticks out too much. Next will be Grinder.



I decided to keep Tsugaru for now. If I get another EX, it would be Waffebunny and she would be my last EX. I'm on the fence on getting the upcoming Shinki figures; they've gotten rather expensive.

Brief & dirty Tsugaru review

I have mixed feelings on Tsugaru. I like her look but her execution leaves much to be desired. She's backheavy due to the fact that her backpack sticks out further from her back than is really needed. Her thigh armor doesn't serve much purpose other than to get in the way of either mode. The armor's alt mode is a joke; it doesn't stick together well and you have to perform figure gymnastics to get the figure onto the vehicle. Her blades and electromagnetic rifles can't be wielded by themselves; you need to find some other part to help her use them which is a huge pain in the arse. Frankly I'm a bit on the fence about keeping her and she may be the last EX armor I'm getting.

And it's here!

As expected, the package arrived this morning. Here's the package contents.



Sega prize figures Sawatari Izumi and Karauchi Anna, Nendoroid Japanese Life Set A & B, Re-ment Our House's Kotatsu, MiniPla Ke-tai Sousakan 7 01 Arrives 1-4, Se.Kirara w/ Aya Morning Coffee figma, and (the main breadwinner for me) Otoboku The 2 Elders 1st run edition w/ Softbank extras.



The Softbank extras are a shitajiki of Awayuki and a bedsheet featuring Chihaya and Kaoruko.

(edit 3/4/12: OTBK2 contents have been moved to ecchi-ism.)

Latest loot pics

This is from end of June.



Re-ment Cafe Table, Re-ment Sushi Meguri, Bushou Shinki EX Tsugaru, Revoltech Layton, and G's Festival Comic vol.12.

O M G

I just discovered that Sofmap just clearanced out Sora no Otoshimono DVD vol 1 1st print ed as well as both Saki DVD 2 & 7 1st print ed for under 2000 yen each. Why this is special is because they all have a dakimakura included as a bonus. Both Sora and Saki 7 are already sold out by the time I noticed this and currently only Saki 2 (1500 yen) is still available although I don't know how long that will last. The Sora DVD is a total steal and I would have so jumped on it if I had found out sooner.



Rats. orz

Finally a hugging pillow!

I bought a body pillow from Sears. I tried the Haruka, Hinata, and Saki 7 dakimakura covers on it.

Like the one from Bed Bath & Beyond, the pillow is 20"x54" and costs $9.98. The inside is polyester fiberfill; the outer cover is 55% cotton and 45% polyester. It is supposedly machine washable. I went with Sears because the the closest BBB didn't have the $10 in stock the last time I went there plus it was farther away. I didn't have much problem putting the covers on although Saki 7 had a tight fit. The pillow was a tad too short for all of them including Hinata; it reaches down to about their ankles. Hinata seems to have the best feel followed by Haruka then Saki 7. They all look pretty good including Haruka which doesn't look as good in the photos due to the way the cover reflects light. Thanks to the pillow being slightly wider than the dakimakura specs, the cover are stretched firmly so wrinkles or folds don't stand out at all. I decided to use the Haruka cover as my first one to use since she seems to be the least durable and she's been washed too. After a few days with her, I can see the attraction of dakimakura covers. You have a life-sized image of a 2D girl staring right back at you and if you like the girl, you'll really want to hug the pillow and stuff. I'm also finding I'm really liking the Haruka cover. She's so cute and sexy and the cover feels much better than I thought it would. It's very smooth and more comfortable to hold than I thought (maybe even more than the Hinata cover). I think I can get to like this LOL. I'm going to search out for a proper sized dakimakura body for my 2nd pillow. It'll probably be a while though since these things aren't cheap.

One thing I've noticed is that I don't really visit other people's blog all that often mainly due to lack of time. Usually I'll visit a site to read the review of a certain figure or toy I'm interested in and then I usually won't come back for a long time if ever. I wonder if there are others that are similar to me in that fashion or if it's just me.

Otoboku 2 has confirmed master up so I'm looking forward to getting it in early July. I'm dissapointed Para-Sol got delayed to late July but I guess that'll give me time to enjoy Otoboku until Para-Sol ships. NicoNico Chyokuhan has confirmed that my copy of Se.kirara w/ Aya morning coffee figma will ship around the same time as Otoboku so I'll be getting them at the same time. Speaking of which I've yet to play Se.Kirara. ^^;

Dakimakura or "hugging pillow" covers

I guess it's about time I unwrapped the 6 dakimakura covers I've got so far.


Kagura Hinata, Daiba Minato, and Nogizaka Haruka dakimakura covers. Hinata is the only stand alone dakimakura I've purchased mainly because she was almost half off at Amiami and I wanted to compare a stand-alone to the magazine bonus dakimakura covers; it's also apparently the only one that's a bit shorter compared to the others. Minato (from Dengeki G’s Festival! Vol.16), which I had initially got as a "throw away" cover, turns out to be my favorite of the 6 in both feel and image print quality and looks much better in person. Haruka (Dengeki G's Festival ANIME vol. 3) has a shiny look to the cover and also feels different as well despite being made of the same materials as the other covers (polyester?); it's also the only one without a zipper.


Kanamori Hakata, Saki DVD vol2, and Saki DVD vol7 dakimakura covers. Hakata came with Ebiten Special Box and has the same feel and shiny sheen as the Haruka cover. The Saki covers came with their respective DVDs and seem to be the lowest quality of the covers as well as the most expensive to acquire; they're also the most risque of the covers.


Rear view of Hinata, Saki DVD vol2, and Saki DVD vol7 covers. The other three are blank white on the other side.


One more shot of the first 3.

Hinata is the only cover that says 2 way tricot (85% polyester, 15% polyurethane) although the cover label claims it's 100% polyester. All the other covers only mention polyester. The Haruka and Hakata covers have rather pronounced creases which I worry if they'll go away or not after a wash. The Saki cover and Hinata covers are apparently made by the same company which makes me wonder about the apparent gap in quality between them; they're also made in Japan as opposed to the other three which are made in China. Because of how much I like the Minato cover, I'm regretting not getting the G's Festival! Comic vol9 which featured the Ryuubi cover. The Saki covers have a slightly sticky feel to them and on the vol7 cover also has a strange smell to it that's absent on the rest of the covers. Because of that, the vol7 cover has become my immediate test subject for a light run through the washing machine on light cycle w/ smidgeon of detergent with the vol2 being the 2nd subject if the vol7 doesn't come out too bad. The rest will be hung on the wall or handwashed when I find the time for it if it's going to be put onto an actual pillow. My first pillow will be one from Bed Bath & Beyond and future purchases will depend on how that one turns out.

My dakimakura ranking at this time: Minato > Hinata > Saki vol2 > Hakata > Haruka > Saki vol7.

edit: I just realized I forgot to note where the Minato and Haruka covers came from. Added in.