I had thought of buying this phone for a long time, but because Nokia Build only currently operates in Europe there were a lot of issues with regard to payment shipping. Luckily I have a friend studying in the UK who bought it on my behalf and brought it over this June. The total was €142 including shipping and VAT (tax), which is approximately $224 CAD or 200 USD. A quick eBay search reveals that the current typical Canadian price is about $190, and that’s without the most important part: the loli custom cover.

Naturally, it’s a little embarrassing to have it out; luckily it came with extra covers that can be quickly interchanged. I imagine for more professional environments I’ll have to think ahead and stick on the blue cover. The green one is plain fugly, but it was either blue & green or pink & white.

The resolution and quality of the custom image are mediocre, if you look closely there’s some obvious distortion from downsampling and I’d have preferred a matte finish over a glossy finish. But, thinking about it, people will either be too engrossed or disgusted over the content to make such observations.

The default ring tone right now is ‘Don’t Say Lazy’ (the ED theme from K-ON) and I made a Mio theme for the menu and startup/shutdown screens. I’m wondering what accessories to put on it, maybe a lace-like string not unlike the Fujibayashi’s hair… whatever you call it?

1:50 Laser-cut anime figures from 3mm basswood

In other Otaku news, I had some extra time with the laser cutter and I decided to cut out some 1:50 scale figures out of 3mm basswood to use in my architecture models. Anime figures are the easiest, firstly because I have a huge collection of images, and secondly because the cel-shading and relatively simple backgrounds call for easy extraction. In many cases I could just plop them into Photoshop, run a few filters, send it to Illustrator and live-trace the outline. I also had my wallpaper which already had silhouetted figures which can go directly into illustrator for a live-trace. I already have 80 or so cuts of about 10 different characters (some anime some non-anime) but I’m definitely going to do this again if I book spare time on the laser cutter in the future.

The following are my source images. I left out a lot of details like kannagi’s hair and shoujo-wand, because I am using these in an academic context and I don’t want it to be totally obvious that I’m using anime characters…

I ordered this custom Nokia 7310 last week. It’s a Europe-only promotion so I’m having my UK friend bring it back to me during his summer break.

Kyou Fujibayashi + Ryou Fujibayashi + pantsu + bed + phone = win

It ships with some additional backplates, so I can swap a more “normal” one on for more professional situations. If you’d like to give it a try, this is the website where you can create and order your own custom designs: http://83.150.66.193/Campaigns/UK/build.html

While on the topic of Clannad, I have finished drafting a giant entry explaining my interpretation of the plot and sequence of the entire Clannad TV series. After I watch the special and get some feedback from my friends, I will post it in both web and PDF formats. As it stands now it’s a massive 3,500 word seven-page entry.

Any suggestions as to what strap, what background, what ringtones, etc. I should put on the phone?

Yeah, working in retail is busy, especially before the Christmas season. I finally got back into the animanga business after the New Year. Good timing for the arrival of my Clannad book!

The first page of the book is a delicious Kyou Fujibayashi conveniently locked in the gym equipment storage room.

This softcover artbook has 144 full-colour pages. The first 38 pages is a gallery of images of Nagisa, Kyou, Ryou, Kotomi, Tomoyo and Fuuko, these are the scans you frequently see on high-resolution wallpaper and scan imageboards like konachan.com and moe.imouto.org. As beautiful as these illustrations are, they arn’t the reason I get these artbooks, since these images are readily available for download from the aforementioned sites.

The following 34 pages are character bios and gestures. There’s a lot of Japanese text here, a lot more than I had anticipated. I’ll have to get my friend to translate it for me or teach me Japanese. The only information I can get out of it are facts that have to do with numbers, like bust/hip/waist measurements, birthdays, etc, but the sketches and miscellaneous illustrations are the main reason I get artbooks, since it gives a bit of insight into the design and development process of the series.

There’s a surprising amount of detail put into the character design, it is to be expected for a character-based show to have highly detailed characters but I didn’t know they would go to the point of making separate illustrations for Tomoya’s wristwatch, Nagisa’s shoe, etc.

All the supporting characters are accounted for and there’s also a section that goes step-by-step through each of the main characters’ stories. Again there’s a ton of text here and I wish I could tell you what all this text is explaining. They numbered each episode by character episode and by airing episode. For example, episode 10 is the 3rd part of Nagisa’s and Kotomi’s arc, the 4th part of Kyou/Ryou’s arc, the 2nd part of Tomoyo’s arc. I’m not really sure how this would be of use, but I might find it interesting when I start playing the game (which will be when After Story finishes airing.)

The Story section of the book is 56 pages long and covers the season on a per-episode basis. There are storyboards for the major parts of each episode. I find it amazing how the producers can show so much emotion in the characters from such simple sketches.

A small part of this section details the architecture used in the animation. As architecture student, it was this section that made me decide to purchase the fanbook (I glanced at scans I found online) as there are very detailed hand-drawn perspective illustrations of the school, the houses, and the rooms in the world of Clannad.

The last 16 pages is a staff and cast interview, unfortunately this is almost all text so again I can’t give any details here. But there are nice portrait photos of the main cast.

中原麻衣 Mai Nakahara (left, Nagisa Furukawa) and 野中藍 Ai Nonaka (right, Fuuko Ibuki)

At the very end there’s a small gallery of official collectible goods, like postcards, cell phone dangly-things, calendars, and other small miscellaneous accessories. I think the little card that comes slipped in the middle of my book is an order card, but since I don’t live in Japan it doesn’t really do me much good.

Another artbook review should be coming soon!

After watching the first episode of Clannad After Story I found myself wondering who a lot of the characters were. Naturally, I have a bad memory, and only recall the faces of some characters from some part of the first series. I skimmed through the first series to re-familiarize myself with these characters that have Fuko’d from my mind. Hopefully they’re here to stay, instead of running off after an un-surprising fail.

Forgotten Character #1: Yusuke Yoshino

First appearance: Episode 3

Yusuke Yoshino was the electrician Tomoya Okazaki helped get out of a bind when accused of dropping a tool on a man’s car. He has a strange charismatic aura, and says things such as

Tomoya saves Yoshino from a fake accusation

“I want you to reflect on this one day and think if what the electrician that day said was true or false. At a place you feel most restful, next to the person you find most dear. People’s lives are repetitions of actions hurting each other. It’s understandable to doubt others, but being unable to trust anything is the same as being unable to sense other people’s love.
Aren’t you, perhaps, feeling lonely? Aren’t you, perhaps, living slavishly? Are you able to laugh with an honest heart?”

Yusuke was part of Fuko’s arc in the first series, being the fiancé/husband of her older sister, of whom is:

The first appearance of Fuko's sister, in the Furukawa bakery

Forgotten Character #2: Kouko Ibuki

First Appearance: Episode 3

Kouko was the art teacher in Nagisa’s freshman year, but retired after Fuko got involved in a car accident. (Whether the accident was the reason for her retirement I am not sure of.) Kouko, with Tomoya and Nagisa’s assistance, are married on the school grounds where many of the students attend due to a subconscious link with the wedding and the starfish Fuko has been carving and handing out.

Misae Sagara, frequently seen around Sunohara's dorm

Forgotten Character #3: Misae Sagara

First Appearance: Episode 1

Misae is the housekeeper for Youhei Sunohara’s dorm. She doesn’t have that much of a role in the first series other than for comic relief, however, I expect her to be a major part of one arc in After Story. (see prediction #2)

That’s it for the reappearances; we should all remember Mei as the matchmaker from the summer special (episode 23). The following is a list of obervations I noticed throughout episode 01, and I think these will give us some predictions about After Story’s course of flow:

Prediction #1: Tomoya’s daydream

The first scene we see are two Tomoya- like people, one at a young age, riding on a train past the trademark yellow floral fields, followed by them holding hands, having a seemingly enjoyable and relaxing time. I suspect that this is a flashback of Tomoya’s childhood while he still got along with his father. Furthurmore, Tomoya’s father is also mentioned at 8:40, where Nagisa asks Tomoya to invite him but Tomoya suggests another time would be better (possibly because of his shoulder + baseball.)

Another possibility is that the scene is of Tomoya and his future son, but I see no reason for Nagisa to be absent.

Tomoyo's compliments start unveiling a complicated past.

Prediction #2: Tomoyo & Misae’s past

There was some interesting conversation between Tomoyo Sakagami and Misae Sagara at 07:40 that seemed to be a follow up to episode 11 17:25. Tomoyo seems to look up to Misae and wants to become friendly rivals, speaking like she has learned much from Misae in the past. This leads me to think that Misae has had a major role related to Tomoyo’s dark history that was left unmentioned in the first series.

Furthurmore, regarding Tomoyo, in the opening (1:06 into the opening, 2:07 into the episode) we see her making a promise with someone, but aside from gender she is completely unidentifiable. I thought at first that it was Misae she was making a promise with, but it is unusual for that to take place in a classroom.

The following are all observations in the opening. Add 1:01 to the time if you’re checking this with After Story 01, to compensate for the duration of the introduction.

Prediction #3: Tomoya & Yoshino

0:40 into the opening we see Tomoya in the car of who looks like Yoshino; since Tomoya has no plans to enter college it’s possible that he has started working with Yoshino as an electrician/repairman.

Kyou confronting the Special Child

Prediction #4: Kyou as Tomoya & Nagisa’s daughter’s teacher

At 0:52 we see Kyou leading a group of children, and she had mentioned earlier (Episode 17 05:44) that she wanted to become a kindergarten teacher. There seems to be a single child that is shown several times in the opening and ending, it is possible that this is Tomoya and Nagisa’s child. It would take several years for Kyou to complete her teaching education, and it coincidentally takes a similar amount of time for a new-born to reach kindergarten age. Seeing that the in the first episode of After Story the Theater Club members were still in high school, I’m expecting a big change in pace the next several episodes.

Fuko embracing the Special Child

Prediction #5: Fuko’s awakening

At 2:17 we see someone with Fuko’s trademark hair and blue ribbon embracing that child mentioned in prediction 4. Since Kyoto Animation wouldn’t be one to neglect details and reasoning, I suppose one of the reasons Fuko had such a big arc in the first series is because she becomes an important character in After Story.

Characters in the ED:

The Special Child makers her third appearance at the start of the ending, the dango that follow directly after provide futher indication that she is indeed Nagisa’s daughter.

The moonwalking characters seem to be presenting themselves in what appears to me the order of least- to most-important role. This should be another indication of which characters After Story will focus on. Strange that Tomoyo is all be the way behind Rie and Sugisaka, since she is one of the fourexplicitly mentioned in the opening. Perhaps there is another reason to the sequence of these characters that will be revealed later on. There are some characters I am not 100% sure of, and two I cannot identify at all. Here is the list, in the order of appearance:

1. Toshoi Koumura (counsellor)
2. Sanae Furukawa
3. Akio Furukawa
4. ???
5. Yukine Miyazawa (library coffee and charm girl)
6. ???
7. Mei Sunohara
8. Misae Sagara (and cat)
9. Tomoyo Sakagami
10. Takafumi Sakagami? (Tomoyo’s brother)
11. Yusuke Yoshino
12. Kouko Ibuki
13. Sugisaka (Rie’s friend; threatened Nagisa regarding the choir club)
14. Rie Nishina (former user of violin)
15. Kotomi’s godfather
16. Kotomi Ichinose
17. Ryou Fujibayashi(and botan)
18. Kyou Fujibayashi
19. Nagisa Furukawa
20. Tomoya Okazaki

If anyone knows the identity of those two characters I would be highly interested and grateful if you let me know.