Smithy's Feed Releases for January 2010

Looking out the window this morning was quite surprised to see it had snowed a lot during the night, covering the entire landscape with a white carpet of ice crystals. As the morning sun had only crept above the horizon shortly before and the skies...

When Microsoft released Windows 7 last year, the Ultimate version for Japan came bundled with an exclusive Aero theme featuring the cute Windows 7 mascot Madobe Nanami. Nanami is voiced by Mizuki Nana who also did Fate in the “Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Na...

With rain pouring down under ominous dark clouds, it is a depressing morning at the 1121st platoon base for some of the girls. Kanata laments being unable to do better at playing her bugle and Noel is unsuccessful at installing a new lens in their ta...

Fans of last season’s ecchi comedy “Kämpfer” can rejoice as next to the Shizuku Sangou hugging pillow cover, one featuring Mishima Akane is due out in February. Haven’t spotted much “Kämpfer” merchandise at all, but these two dakimakura boast terrifi...

Often receive mail from Amazon Japan featuring their advertised sales or personal recommendations for items one may be interested in based on previous purchases. The message that arrived in my mailbox today advertised the second volume of “Amanchu!”,...

Although it was already released in November last year, hadn’t caught onto any scans for the “Queen’s Gate” Majikina Mina book until recently. Illustrated by artist Shinozuka Atsuto, this particular “Queen’s Gate” book is all about Majikina Mina (真...

When the opportunity arises for the light music club to play at a live house event on New Year’s Eve, the girls are initially divided on whether they should participate. While Ritsu and Yui are enthusiastic about this terrific chance, Azusa and Mio d...

While her fellow soldiers are still asleep, Kanata heads up in the tower to play the morning call on her bugle as the sun rises over the distant mountains. Regardless of the enthusiasm she puts into her music, her performance is still poor. Luckily t...

After the ‘5年 Memorial’ book at C76 and the recent publication of the commercial artbook ‘Ashiato’, well known artist Kantoku from the circle “Afterschool of The 5th Year” (5年目の放課後) released the ‘Hiragi’ doujin at Comiket 77. About 20 pages th...

Another manga adaptation airing this season in anime form is “Omamori Himari” . Based on the manga created by Matra Milan, the story revolves around the adventures of Yuuto, a high school boy protected by cat spirit Himari when he becomes the target...

Having made a poor impression with her bad performance playing the morning call on her trumpet, Kanata is disappointed when Rio instructs her to practice using a mouthpiece only until she gets better. Before heading down from the tower, Kanata spots...

Originally a light novel series written by Kenji Inoue with illustrations done by Yui Haga, “Baka To Test To Shoukanjuu” has now gotten an anime adaptation of which the first episode recently aired. Although it is created by Silver Link, “Baka To Tes...

Unlike the ‘Collect 1′ book from Comiket 76 that features art from previous doujin releases and other illustrations, Tony Taka released a typical doujin book at the recent Comiket 77, titled ‘Hitagi ONESIDE’. A “Bakemonogatari” themed doujin, it cont...

Based on the manga by Yumi Nakata, decided to check out “Chu-Bra!!” since it looked like it might be an entertaining ecchi comedy. Production values were average, the animation was sufficiently good and the soundtrack was ok. Judging by the first ep...

Dreaming of her encounter with an army trumpeter under a rainy sky during her childhood, Kanata awakens to discover the other soldiers on the train are playing cards. Giving her a box of caramel candy, the veterans wonder what a young girl like Kana...

An epic confrontation between everyone’s beloved sniper rifle wielding heroine of “Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann” versus the genius warlock from “Code Geass”? Well, not quite. Seeing Yoko’s expression, she isn’t sure what to think of this particular Zer...