Hello everyone! Here today with another anime first impressions, today on Yona of the Dawn.
So a while ago while I was watching random YouTube videos, I saw a video add for Yona of the Dawn, an anime I'd never heard of before. The add seemed more interesting than most online ads I see, so I decided to try watching the show on Crunchyroll. Let me just say, there was much confuzzlement to be had. The storyline jumps around to two different times in the first episode, then back to the first in the second, and was overall nonsensical in its layout. I was a little surprised because I expected it to be similar to some animes and mangas where it shows the main character being all awesome, go "I wasn't always like this," then go on to explain story up until that point in time. So needless to say having the first episode go from the "I wasn't always like this," to the beginning of the back story, then back to the awesome older self all in one episode kinda threw me off. And I'm pretty sure there were some flashbacks in there too (it's been a little while since I watched it). After the initial confusion of the first episode, the story went back to filling in more of the back story of the main character. To summarize the episodes I watched (in time order as opposed to episode order), Yona, a little princess, grew up with two guys who were like brothers to her, she has a crush on one, they get older. Once they're older, they start talking about marriage arrangements while they're all over to celebrate Yona's coming of age birthday celebration. That night, treachery takes place, Yona's father's murdered by her crush who blames him for *his* dad's death, he decides it's a good idea to kill her since she walked in on the murder, second childhood friend, now the captain of the guard, saves Yona and they run away. Yona is now depressed and doesn't know what to do. *Giant blank space where stuff presumably happens in future episodes* Yona's a boss, has a lotta boss friends, is fighting some army. Winning ensues.
So, I wasn't really pulled in by the story I've seen so far on this show, so I decided to stop watching it and move on to other animes. I have done a terrible job of explaining (mainly because I was confused as heck) and still am not sure what genera of anime it falls under (Maybe shounen?). If you like animes with confusing pilot episodes, this is the anime for you!
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Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Bodyline Wig Review
Hello everyone! A while ago I got two wigs from Bodyline (my first wig purchase from them), so I decided to write a bit about them. I'm sorry there aren't any pictures, but I've been having a little trouble uploading pictures for my blog posts lately (thus the reason they've mostly been text). So let's get started!
So for a while, I've been wanting to get a couple different styles of wigs to wear with Fairy Kei, so I decided to get a couple from Bodyline since I was already planning on making an order with some other items. Price wise, Bodyline's wigs are surprisingly inexpensive. Prices range from about $10-20 USD (after converting the page to yen for the cheaper prices) for short and longer wigs without attachments. Wigs with clip in ponytails (which seem to be a Lolita staple anymore) aren't that much more coming in at a bit under $30 USD and clip on ponytails by themselves are typically around $8 USD. Bodyline also offers plastic wig stands and wig caps for a bit under a dollar each. For variety, there's a good choice of colors for all of the wigs, but the ones intended for Lolita only come in natural colors while most of the cosplay ones come in a variety of natural and unnatural colors.
Quality-wise, Bodyline's wigs are surprisingly good for the price. Seeing as how most cheap Halloween wigs cost about the same as Bodyline's wigs, I was a little worried about quality. Fortunately, the wigs are made with uniform fiber sizes (as opposed to the large, scratchy fibers hidden under smaller fibers typically found in Halloween wigs) and feel nice and soft. The fibers aren't overly shiny or plastic looking at all. The overall amount of wig fibers on the wig is a little sparse compared to some more expensive wigs and the underlying wefts and cap can be seen a little bit if the hairs aren't positioned right. Both the wigs I got were lighter colors, so this may be a bit less of a problem with darker colored wigs. However, with normal wear the underlying wefts and cap showing through shouldn't be a problem as long as the wig's styled properly before wear.
Overall, I would have to say I'm pretty darn impressed with Bodyline's wig's quality and price and definitely plan on buying more from them in the future. For reference, the wigs I got were W014 in purple 3 and W175 in separate 5-10. In addition to the wigs, I also got a wig cap and stand from Bodyline. The wig cap was open topped and works pretty well, but the elastic band on the bottom is rather thin and kinda weak compared to a mesh wig cap I got at Sally's Beauty Supply. I probably won't be ordering any more wig caps from Bodyline and wouldn't recommend getting one unless you're unable to get a better one from a beauty supply store. The wig stand's a little flimsy, but is overall good quality and easily stays upright even with a longer wig on it (with the ends hanging off the edge of the surface it's on). I'm glad I got it as it makes detangling my wigs easier than it was with my stand-less styrofoam head. I would highly recommend getting at least one of these for detangling purposes, but would still recommend getting a styrofoam head for storing or displaying styled wigs as it's a bit smaller in overall diameter.
Check out my Storenvy: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
Make sure to check out my Facebook page too: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
So for a while, I've been wanting to get a couple different styles of wigs to wear with Fairy Kei, so I decided to get a couple from Bodyline since I was already planning on making an order with some other items. Price wise, Bodyline's wigs are surprisingly inexpensive. Prices range from about $10-20 USD (after converting the page to yen for the cheaper prices) for short and longer wigs without attachments. Wigs with clip in ponytails (which seem to be a Lolita staple anymore) aren't that much more coming in at a bit under $30 USD and clip on ponytails by themselves are typically around $8 USD. Bodyline also offers plastic wig stands and wig caps for a bit under a dollar each. For variety, there's a good choice of colors for all of the wigs, but the ones intended for Lolita only come in natural colors while most of the cosplay ones come in a variety of natural and unnatural colors.
Quality-wise, Bodyline's wigs are surprisingly good for the price. Seeing as how most cheap Halloween wigs cost about the same as Bodyline's wigs, I was a little worried about quality. Fortunately, the wigs are made with uniform fiber sizes (as opposed to the large, scratchy fibers hidden under smaller fibers typically found in Halloween wigs) and feel nice and soft. The fibers aren't overly shiny or plastic looking at all. The overall amount of wig fibers on the wig is a little sparse compared to some more expensive wigs and the underlying wefts and cap can be seen a little bit if the hairs aren't positioned right. Both the wigs I got were lighter colors, so this may be a bit less of a problem with darker colored wigs. However, with normal wear the underlying wefts and cap showing through shouldn't be a problem as long as the wig's styled properly before wear.
Overall, I would have to say I'm pretty darn impressed with Bodyline's wig's quality and price and definitely plan on buying more from them in the future. For reference, the wigs I got were W014 in purple 3 and W175 in separate 5-10. In addition to the wigs, I also got a wig cap and stand from Bodyline. The wig cap was open topped and works pretty well, but the elastic band on the bottom is rather thin and kinda weak compared to a mesh wig cap I got at Sally's Beauty Supply. I probably won't be ordering any more wig caps from Bodyline and wouldn't recommend getting one unless you're unable to get a better one from a beauty supply store. The wig stand's a little flimsy, but is overall good quality and easily stays upright even with a longer wig on it (with the ends hanging off the edge of the surface it's on). I'm glad I got it as it makes detangling my wigs easier than it was with my stand-less styrofoam head. I would highly recommend getting at least one of these for detangling purposes, but would still recommend getting a styrofoam head for storing or displaying styled wigs as it's a bit smaller in overall diameter.
Check out my Storenvy: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
Make sure to check out my Facebook page too: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Anime Reviews: Death Note
Hello everyone! So recently, due to encouragement from a friend, I decided to give Death Note another try. Several years back when I regularly read manga online, I started reading Death Note, but got bored after a certain point as there was a lot of talking going on and the story was seeming to progress slowly. However, I'm super glad I decided to try watching it this time instead of reading it. So, without further ado, here's my review of it.
Death Note is a story about a highschooler named Light who finds a notebook belonging to a shinigami, or god of death, that allows him to cause others to die either by a heart attack or by whatever method he writes in the notebook. However, in order to use the power of the notebook, Light must know the name and face of his victim. Upon realizing just what power he has, Light decides to use it to begin punishing criminals for their misdeeds and so begins going through the news to find names and faces of criminals either on the run or already in prison. As many of the criminals died from heart attacks, people started to realize there was some power causing these deaths and before long a mysterious detective known only a L joins the Japanese police force in an investigation to find this person dubbed Kira (short for killer). However, despite L's suspicion of Light, who also happens to be the police chief's son, Light is able to later join the investigation team.
So, while I could go into more detail about the story, I'm not gonna do that as there is a lot to the story and I don't want to give it away. My take on Death Note: It was an amazing anime. The story was a little predictable at points, but overall it was very well written and quite enjoyable. Seeing just what lengths Light would go to to protect his identity as Kira was very interesting as well as how the other characters reacted to different situations. The characters all had depth to them that allowed you to see them as actual people rather than just a plot device. The story was limited to a certain number of episodes, so the amount of "filler" material or drawn out scenes was very limited. The ending did a good job of wrapping things up and didn't leave much in the way of unclosed threads in the storyline. The ending was very sad, but well worth it. I would highly recommend Death Note to anyone interested in psychological animes as this one was very good at showing how a mind can warp and manipulate others.
If you have any suggestions for animes you'd like me to watch and review, please let me know! I have several more I've watched recently that you can expect to see some more coming up before too long!
Check out my store: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
I've got a Facebook page too: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Death Note is a story about a highschooler named Light who finds a notebook belonging to a shinigami, or god of death, that allows him to cause others to die either by a heart attack or by whatever method he writes in the notebook. However, in order to use the power of the notebook, Light must know the name and face of his victim. Upon realizing just what power he has, Light decides to use it to begin punishing criminals for their misdeeds and so begins going through the news to find names and faces of criminals either on the run or already in prison. As many of the criminals died from heart attacks, people started to realize there was some power causing these deaths and before long a mysterious detective known only a L joins the Japanese police force in an investigation to find this person dubbed Kira (short for killer). However, despite L's suspicion of Light, who also happens to be the police chief's son, Light is able to later join the investigation team.
So, while I could go into more detail about the story, I'm not gonna do that as there is a lot to the story and I don't want to give it away. My take on Death Note: It was an amazing anime. The story was a little predictable at points, but overall it was very well written and quite enjoyable. Seeing just what lengths Light would go to to protect his identity as Kira was very interesting as well as how the other characters reacted to different situations. The characters all had depth to them that allowed you to see them as actual people rather than just a plot device. The story was limited to a certain number of episodes, so the amount of "filler" material or drawn out scenes was very limited. The ending did a good job of wrapping things up and didn't leave much in the way of unclosed threads in the storyline. The ending was very sad, but well worth it. I would highly recommend Death Note to anyone interested in psychological animes as this one was very good at showing how a mind can warp and manipulate others.
If you have any suggestions for animes you'd like me to watch and review, please let me know! I have several more I've watched recently that you can expect to see some more coming up before too long!
Check out my store: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
I've got a Facebook page too: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Saturday, March 14, 2015
First Impressions: Go! Princess Precure
Hello everyone! So the other night, after watching the first two minutes of a reaction video by one of the Lolitas I follow on YouTube, I decided to try watching a new series, Go! Princess Precure. Despite having vowed to never watch Shojo anime again (I know pretty much every storyline now...), I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot as it's a magical girl anime and I tend to like that genera (Sugar Sugar Rune and Tokyo Mew Mew are my favorites n_n).
Go! Princess Precure is a story about a girl, Haruka Haruno, who has dreampt of becoming a princess her whole life. When she was little, a young man named Kanata gave her a little trinket and told her she'd be able to become a princess one day and to not give up on her dream. Several years later, Haruka decides to go to a posh academy that she deems to be a good school to learn how to be a princess at. While being shown around the campus, Haruka runs into a couple of animal shaped faries that are refugees from a war in Hope Kingdom. Later on Haruka is forced to transform to save her friend after discovering that the trinket she was given is a key that allows her to become a Princess Precure, a magical girl in princess form! With her newly aquired powers, Haruka is able to fight monsters and free people's dreams from cages.
Overall, I think Go! Princess Precure is an entertaining show. The animation is a mix between traditional drawn anime and anime styled 3D models as well as computer graphics, very similar to the graphics in Miku Miku Dance. While the switching between media styles bothers me somewhat, I'm pretty familiar with computer animation, so it might be more difficult for others to spot it. I'm probably not going to continue watching the series, but I would reccomend it to anyone looking for a new magical girl series to follow. The series is very new though, with only two episodes available on the site I chose to watch it on at the time I watched it.
Check out my Fanpage: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
I'm on Twitter: @animlolicouture
Go! Princess Precure is a story about a girl, Haruka Haruno, who has dreampt of becoming a princess her whole life. When she was little, a young man named Kanata gave her a little trinket and told her she'd be able to become a princess one day and to not give up on her dream. Several years later, Haruka decides to go to a posh academy that she deems to be a good school to learn how to be a princess at. While being shown around the campus, Haruka runs into a couple of animal shaped faries that are refugees from a war in Hope Kingdom. Later on Haruka is forced to transform to save her friend after discovering that the trinket she was given is a key that allows her to become a Princess Precure, a magical girl in princess form! With her newly aquired powers, Haruka is able to fight monsters and free people's dreams from cages.
Overall, I think Go! Princess Precure is an entertaining show. The animation is a mix between traditional drawn anime and anime styled 3D models as well as computer graphics, very similar to the graphics in Miku Miku Dance. While the switching between media styles bothers me somewhat, I'm pretty familiar with computer animation, so it might be more difficult for others to spot it. I'm probably not going to continue watching the series, but I would reccomend it to anyone looking for a new magical girl series to follow. The series is very new though, with only two episodes available on the site I chose to watch it on at the time I watched it.
Check out my Fanpage: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
I'm on Twitter: @animlolicouture
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Throwback... Saturday? Harry Potter on the PS One
Hello everyone! So the other night I was feeling antisocial and somewhat depressed due to a date falling through, so I decided to bust out one of my old PS One games I'd recently recovered from back home: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. As mentioned in a previous article, I've enjoyed PS One games for a majority of my life, so I was thrilled when I was able to get one of my own after moving out. Now on to the Harry Potter game!
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, you play as Harry when he first discovers he's a wizard and arrives at Hogwarts. While the characters and general story is similar to the original book, Harry Potter follows a different story line with a lot more running about and random character interactions that tend to go along the lines of "Hey Harry! We totally know you. You should do this!" This makes the game feel a little akward storywise as it pretty much depends on the player having previously read the book and know what part of the book they're butchering. Fortunately, I have read all the Harry Potter books multiple times in the past, so I'm not running around wondering why all these random people are suddenly so buddy-buddy with Harry. Or why this blonde kid has two characterless blobs following him around as he harrasses Harry and the school population in general for no aparent reason. This reliance on previous knowledge gained from reading the book makes the storyline very awkward throughout most of the game, but there's still enough of a congruent story line to explain events.
Years ago when I first purchased Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the PS One I struggled a lot with the gameplay and also got stuck. VERY stuck. My dad tried to help things along for me by putting cheats on our Goldfinger (a nifty little device that doesn't seem to exist anymore) for the game. Sadly, none of the cheats ever seemed to work properly as I still couldn't progress despite the requirements being met for certain in game missions. Recently, when I decided to pick it up again, I decided to start over at the beginning despite having a previous save file to see if I'd do any better with having several more years gaming experience under my belt. Not to mention I'd pretty much forgotten all the controls, so I didn't want to be flailing around aimlessly wondering what the heck I'm supposed to do. After the night's gaming, I'd pretty much caught up with my previous progress in the game, but let me tell you: It wasn't easy. Not in the slightest. To be honest, I can see more clearly why I struggled with this game so much and feel that it was rather poorly written. Annoying voice acting and seemingly nonsequitor story beside, the controls for much of this game feel very clumsy and poorly done to me. While having to manually adjust the camera isn't too uncommon for PS One games, sometimes the camera would be facing towards Harry, making it impossible to see the monster, lava, or whatever happens to be a threat in front of you. This makes losing health in the game very easy at some points. Fortunately, you are given the option to continue from where you last left off, rather than having to start at the last save point. One of the biggest frustrations I have with this Harry Potter game is the broom controls. When Harry's zipping around on his broom, the controls are opposite what I would expect. Instead of being reversed, up to go down, down to go up, the controls are up for up and down for down. I'm not sure this is entirely a bad thing, but I know I've struggled getting a hang of these controls even when I was younger.
Overall, I'm feeling this game will probably end up being no higher than a 2.5/5 in my book. It relies too much on previous character knowledge based on the books, has difficult controls, and is overall a frustrating game to play. While I still intend to finish this gam, I would recommend anyone looking to buy older games avoid it completely except for collector's purposes ("I have all the Harry Potter games! They sit, unplayed, on a shelf!").
Check out my fanpage (maintained by yours truly): facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
I'm on Twitter: @animlolicouture
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, you play as Harry when he first discovers he's a wizard and arrives at Hogwarts. While the characters and general story is similar to the original book, Harry Potter follows a different story line with a lot more running about and random character interactions that tend to go along the lines of "Hey Harry! We totally know you. You should do this!" This makes the game feel a little akward storywise as it pretty much depends on the player having previously read the book and know what part of the book they're butchering. Fortunately, I have read all the Harry Potter books multiple times in the past, so I'm not running around wondering why all these random people are suddenly so buddy-buddy with Harry. Or why this blonde kid has two characterless blobs following him around as he harrasses Harry and the school population in general for no aparent reason. This reliance on previous knowledge gained from reading the book makes the storyline very awkward throughout most of the game, but there's still enough of a congruent story line to explain events.
Years ago when I first purchased Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the PS One I struggled a lot with the gameplay and also got stuck. VERY stuck. My dad tried to help things along for me by putting cheats on our Goldfinger (a nifty little device that doesn't seem to exist anymore) for the game. Sadly, none of the cheats ever seemed to work properly as I still couldn't progress despite the requirements being met for certain in game missions. Recently, when I decided to pick it up again, I decided to start over at the beginning despite having a previous save file to see if I'd do any better with having several more years gaming experience under my belt. Not to mention I'd pretty much forgotten all the controls, so I didn't want to be flailing around aimlessly wondering what the heck I'm supposed to do. After the night's gaming, I'd pretty much caught up with my previous progress in the game, but let me tell you: It wasn't easy. Not in the slightest. To be honest, I can see more clearly why I struggled with this game so much and feel that it was rather poorly written. Annoying voice acting and seemingly nonsequitor story beside, the controls for much of this game feel very clumsy and poorly done to me. While having to manually adjust the camera isn't too uncommon for PS One games, sometimes the camera would be facing towards Harry, making it impossible to see the monster, lava, or whatever happens to be a threat in front of you. This makes losing health in the game very easy at some points. Fortunately, you are given the option to continue from where you last left off, rather than having to start at the last save point. One of the biggest frustrations I have with this Harry Potter game is the broom controls. When Harry's zipping around on his broom, the controls are opposite what I would expect. Instead of being reversed, up to go down, down to go up, the controls are up for up and down for down. I'm not sure this is entirely a bad thing, but I know I've struggled getting a hang of these controls even when I was younger.
Overall, I'm feeling this game will probably end up being no higher than a 2.5/5 in my book. It relies too much on previous character knowledge based on the books, has difficult controls, and is overall a frustrating game to play. While I still intend to finish this gam, I would recommend anyone looking to buy older games avoid it completely except for collector's purposes ("I have all the Harry Potter games! They sit, unplayed, on a shelf!").
Check out my fanpage (maintained by yours truly): facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
I'm on Twitter: @animlolicouture
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Product Reviews: Violle Ville
Hello everyone! So recently I was given the opportunity to review some items from the online store Violle Ville (she can be found on Storenvy or Etsy). I'm going to be going through the whole process, from buying to recieving. Enjoy!
Storefront
After receiving the offer, I went to check out what all was available for sale in Violle ville's shop. She has a wide variety of items for sale from bags, accessories, plushies, and phone cases. Having just gotten a phone case and having a bit of a spending limit, I decided to purchase some accessories. While the storefront was a little difficult to browse due to Storenvy's annoying feature of showing everything that's out of stock, I had a little trouble finding some items I liked the look of that were still in stock. I eventually settled on the Mini plate of sweets necklace in blue, Hearts and Bows necklace in pink, Marshmallow necklace, and a Mini Alpaca plush.
Shipping
Shipping was from Israel and took 17 days, about two and a half weeks, to get to me after ordering. Everything shipped out the day after I ordered them and arrived well withing the 2-4 week span predicted for shipping on her website.
Receiving and Packaging
When the package arrived in the mail, I had to sign for it as it was registered mail. I was a bit worried when I saw the package as it was a fairly weak material and already had a rather large tear in it. Everything inside was alright though as the alpaca plush was in a plastic bag and all of the necklaces were in a little jewelry box wrapped up in bubble wrap with a business card on top.
Products
So the first and most obvious item in the package was the alpaca plush I'd ordered: an Arupakuso! He's very cute, soft, and cudly. I love his little smile, and he's the perfect hugging size!
Also inside the packaging was the little gift box with bubble wrap and a business card around it. Upon opening the bubble wrap around the gift box, I saw that it was a very cute, dark blue box with a little ribbon and bow detail on it.
Upon opening ther box, I saw that all of the necklaces I'd ordered were safely in there as well as a couple extras included as free gifts! I got a Pastel Purple Heart necklace and a cute little fruit Tart necklace.
All of the necklaces were very cute! The chains and clasps are all good quality and didn't look to be in need of fixing with my pliers. All of the pieces are well made and don't look like they'll be coming apart anytime soon with proper care. I was very happy to see that the parts of the pendants were all glued firmly together as well as to the bails (the loop backings), so I'm not worried about the pieces falling apart. I wore the Heats and Bows and Mini Plate of Sweets necklace together the following day and had no problems with them falling apart, breaking, tangling themselves on my hair, or having the annoying grey marks from the coating coming off like with a lot of inexpensive jewelry nowadays.
Final Thoughts
I'm super happy with my order from Violle ville! Other than the torn package, everything was great from her comunication to the final products! I would definitely consider ordering from her again in the future and would reccomend Violle ville to anyone looking for some super cute accessories, clothes, or plushies. I'm looking forward to wearing these cute necklaces all the time with Fairy Kei, Decora, and maybe even Sweet Lolita coords!
Check me out on Twitter: @animlolicouture
I've got a Facebook page: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Storefront
After receiving the offer, I went to check out what all was available for sale in Violle ville's shop. She has a wide variety of items for sale from bags, accessories, plushies, and phone cases. Having just gotten a phone case and having a bit of a spending limit, I decided to purchase some accessories. While the storefront was a little difficult to browse due to Storenvy's annoying feature of showing everything that's out of stock, I had a little trouble finding some items I liked the look of that were still in stock. I eventually settled on the Mini plate of sweets necklace in blue, Hearts and Bows necklace in pink, Marshmallow necklace, and a Mini Alpaca plush.
Shipping
Shipping was from Israel and took 17 days, about two and a half weeks, to get to me after ordering. Everything shipped out the day after I ordered them and arrived well withing the 2-4 week span predicted for shipping on her website.
Receiving and Packaging
When the package arrived in the mail, I had to sign for it as it was registered mail. I was a bit worried when I saw the package as it was a fairly weak material and already had a rather large tear in it. Everything inside was alright though as the alpaca plush was in a plastic bag and all of the necklaces were in a little jewelry box wrapped up in bubble wrap with a business card on top.
 |
| Front of the package |
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| Back of the package |
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| Detail of the tear (appologies for bluriness) |
 |
| What was inside! |
Products
So the first and most obvious item in the package was the alpaca plush I'd ordered: an Arupakuso! He's very cute, soft, and cudly. I love his little smile, and he's the perfect hugging size!
.jpg) |
| Ain't he a little cutie? |
 |
| Violle ville's business card taped securely to the bubble wrap |
 |
| Underneath all that bubble wrap! |
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| Inside the box |
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| All the necklaces lined up! |
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| Hearts and Bows necklace |
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| Mini Plate of Sweets, blue necklace |
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| Marshmallow necklace |
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| Tart necklace |
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| Pastel Purple Heart necklace |
Final Thoughts
I'm super happy with my order from Violle ville! Other than the torn package, everything was great from her comunication to the final products! I would definitely consider ordering from her again in the future and would reccomend Violle ville to anyone looking for some super cute accessories, clothes, or plushies. I'm looking forward to wearing these cute necklaces all the time with Fairy Kei, Decora, and maybe even Sweet Lolita coords!
Check me out on Twitter: @animlolicouture
I've got a Facebook page: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Anime Reviews: Another
Hello everyone! I'm here again with yet another anime review! This time: Another, a psychological horror! (Woo! Lookit all the exclaimation marks! XD)
Another is a story about Koichi Sakakibara, a high school boy who recently moved in with his grandparents in Yomiyama, and Mei Misaki, a pale, ghostly looking girl who seems to be an outcast among her classmates and has an eyepatch covering one of her eyes. The story begins with Koichi at the hospital due to a collapsed lung, causing him to miss the first part of the school year. While at the hospital, Koichi is visited by several of his classmates, all of whom appear to be acting strangely around him. After he recovers and is heading back home, he comes across a strange, ghostly looking girl named Mei at the hospital. Mei gives Koichi a strange vibe as she has an eye covered with an eyepatch, is carrying a ball jointed doll, and is going to visit someone in the basement of the hospital, the morgue. Confused, Koichi asks his classmates about this strange girl the next day at school as she had stated that she was in his class. Much to his confusion, his classmates do not know anything about this girl, and she appears to not exist at all. That is, until Koichi spots her again on the school roof and goes to speak to her. As Koich continues to question his classmates about the ghostly Mei, who seems to be very real, he discovers that there is a curse affecting the class that causes students and their family to die. In an attempt to avoid this tradegy, his classmates had chosen to ignore one classmate as some classes in the past had. As his classmates and their family begin dying one by one, it is up to Koichi and his remaining classmates to uncover the truth behind this curse and try to stop it from continuing. Eventually they discover what they need to do in order to stop the deaths, but chaos breaks out while they are on a class trip, threatening the lives of the students and nearly destroying them all.
I found Another to be a very intriguing story, and very dark as well. The story was written in a way that kept me guessing as to who and what might be causing the tradegy as well as who exactly Mei was. I very much liked the opening and closing music, coincidentally by the same band as Rozen Maiden 2013's opening music, and wish that there were more episodes, whether with the same class, or a different class several years later. I would highly recommend Another to anyone who is interested in anime with more mature themes, psychological, or horror themes.
I have a fanpage now! (Maintained by yours truly): facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Check me out on Twitter: @animlolicouture
Another is a story about Koichi Sakakibara, a high school boy who recently moved in with his grandparents in Yomiyama, and Mei Misaki, a pale, ghostly looking girl who seems to be an outcast among her classmates and has an eyepatch covering one of her eyes. The story begins with Koichi at the hospital due to a collapsed lung, causing him to miss the first part of the school year. While at the hospital, Koichi is visited by several of his classmates, all of whom appear to be acting strangely around him. After he recovers and is heading back home, he comes across a strange, ghostly looking girl named Mei at the hospital. Mei gives Koichi a strange vibe as she has an eye covered with an eyepatch, is carrying a ball jointed doll, and is going to visit someone in the basement of the hospital, the morgue. Confused, Koichi asks his classmates about this strange girl the next day at school as she had stated that she was in his class. Much to his confusion, his classmates do not know anything about this girl, and she appears to not exist at all. That is, until Koichi spots her again on the school roof and goes to speak to her. As Koich continues to question his classmates about the ghostly Mei, who seems to be very real, he discovers that there is a curse affecting the class that causes students and their family to die. In an attempt to avoid this tradegy, his classmates had chosen to ignore one classmate as some classes in the past had. As his classmates and their family begin dying one by one, it is up to Koichi and his remaining classmates to uncover the truth behind this curse and try to stop it from continuing. Eventually they discover what they need to do in order to stop the deaths, but chaos breaks out while they are on a class trip, threatening the lives of the students and nearly destroying them all.
I found Another to be a very intriguing story, and very dark as well. The story was written in a way that kept me guessing as to who and what might be causing the tradegy as well as who exactly Mei was. I very much liked the opening and closing music, coincidentally by the same band as Rozen Maiden 2013's opening music, and wish that there were more episodes, whether with the same class, or a different class several years later. I would highly recommend Another to anyone who is interested in anime with more mature themes, psychological, or horror themes.
I have a fanpage now! (Maintained by yours truly): facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Check me out on Twitter: @animlolicouture
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Lolita on a Budget: Offbrand and Bodyline
I recently got my first ever order from Bodyline, so I figured now would be a good time to not only review those products, but also go over a few off brands that are less expensive than Brand.
*Please note* I am not being payed to review or suggest any of the products. All were bought at my own expense. Additionally, all views are my own and do not in any way reflect those of any other companies or organizations.
Bodyline Product Review
So, I decided to order two different skirts and a pair of socks from Bodyline a little while ago and went with the EMS shipping option. The first thing I noticed when ordering from Bodyline was the sizes. All of their measurements are taken in cm and the sizes (m, L, 2L, etc.) vary from item to item. I have large measurements compared to a petite Japanese girl, so I was finding that my size was typically coming out to be L or 2L. This made it rather difficult to settle on an item, but I was eventually able to find a couple of cute skirts I could afford as well as a pair of socks to include in my order. I selected EMS shipping as opposed to Air because EMS was free and Air would have cost more than my whole order combined. I was surprised at how soon after placing the order my items were shipped out as the order page stated that items shipped via EMS would be shipped on Tuesdays and I had placed my order on a Thursday. Two days later I had my tracking information and the package quickly moved between stops in Japan. Then tracking stopped for a good long while (as stated on their home page) and arrived about two and a half weeks after ordering.
Upon arrival, the first thing I noticed was that the corners of the closing flap were slightly open. Upon opening the package though, everything inside was undamaged and packaged in cute reuseable wrappers.
All of the items I received were good quality and arrived undamaged. Both of the skirts were slightly shorter than most Lolita skirts tend to be, but still very wearable! The lace and trim was all of a fairly good quality too, no scratchy lace here! I was super excited to find out that one of them had detachable waist ties and a detachable bow as well! The socks were a nice, soft material and are super comfy. I've worn them a bunch of times and will randomly wear them just 'cause. I unfortunately don't have any pictures to share at this moment, but I will be sure to post some eventually! I would highly recommend Bodyline to new Lolitas or Lolitas on a budget!
One note about Bodyline: A lot of their prints are replicas of popular prints from brands like Angelic Pretty and Baby the Stars Shine Bright. If you're uncomfortable with buying replicas, I would recommend researching a print before buying a piece with it to avoid mistakenly buying a replica. Unlike some replicas, Bodyline's replica prints are not exact copies of the originals and will often times not have the Brand name or logo in the print itself. There are also slight modifications to some of the prints.
Hot Topic
Recently, Hot Topic has been carying more and more clothing that can work for certain styles of Lolita. I purchased one of their Hell Bunny sailor style dresses a while back and it works perfectly for Sailor Lolita with the addition of a blouse and petticoat. I've seen a few other skirts that could work for Lolita, one of which sadly looked like an ita sort of skirt (scratchy, cheap lace, bad fabric choice). Unfortunately, one problem Hot Topic skirts and dresses have is that they are usually shorter than a proper Lolita skirt. In the case of my sailor dress, I just layer a plain white fabric petticoat underneath so it looks like a ruffle at the bottom edge. An alternative would be to add a ruffle to the bottom of a skirt. Hot Topic products are fairly inexpensive compared to brand and typically cost around as much as Bodyline.
Thrift Store
My last recommendation for inexpensive off brand Lolita clothing is checking your local thrift stores. It has become increasingly harder for me to find blouses that fit (even my home made ones are too tight at the shoulders now), so I've begun checking my local thrift stores to see if they have something that will work. Thrift stores are always give and take, so I recomend checking them as frequently as possible as well as keeping an eye out for modifyable pieces if you can sew. If your thrift store doesn't have a fitting room, I'd advise wearing tight fitting clothing so you can try items on in store and get a more acurate fitting than if you were to try something on over a JSK. And make sure to bring cash in case your thrift store doesn't accept card!
*Please note* I am not being payed to review or suggest any of the products. All were bought at my own expense. Additionally, all views are my own and do not in any way reflect those of any other companies or organizations.
Bodyline Product Review
So, I decided to order two different skirts and a pair of socks from Bodyline a little while ago and went with the EMS shipping option. The first thing I noticed when ordering from Bodyline was the sizes. All of their measurements are taken in cm and the sizes (m, L, 2L, etc.) vary from item to item. I have large measurements compared to a petite Japanese girl, so I was finding that my size was typically coming out to be L or 2L. This made it rather difficult to settle on an item, but I was eventually able to find a couple of cute skirts I could afford as well as a pair of socks to include in my order. I selected EMS shipping as opposed to Air because EMS was free and Air would have cost more than my whole order combined. I was surprised at how soon after placing the order my items were shipped out as the order page stated that items shipped via EMS would be shipped on Tuesdays and I had placed my order on a Thursday. Two days later I had my tracking information and the package quickly moved between stops in Japan. Then tracking stopped for a good long while (as stated on their home page) and arrived about two and a half weeks after ordering.
Upon arrival, the first thing I noticed was that the corners of the closing flap were slightly open. Upon opening the package though, everything inside was undamaged and packaged in cute reuseable wrappers.
All of the items I received were good quality and arrived undamaged. Both of the skirts were slightly shorter than most Lolita skirts tend to be, but still very wearable! The lace and trim was all of a fairly good quality too, no scratchy lace here! I was super excited to find out that one of them had detachable waist ties and a detachable bow as well! The socks were a nice, soft material and are super comfy. I've worn them a bunch of times and will randomly wear them just 'cause. I unfortunately don't have any pictures to share at this moment, but I will be sure to post some eventually! I would highly recommend Bodyline to new Lolitas or Lolitas on a budget!
One note about Bodyline: A lot of their prints are replicas of popular prints from brands like Angelic Pretty and Baby the Stars Shine Bright. If you're uncomfortable with buying replicas, I would recommend researching a print before buying a piece with it to avoid mistakenly buying a replica. Unlike some replicas, Bodyline's replica prints are not exact copies of the originals and will often times not have the Brand name or logo in the print itself. There are also slight modifications to some of the prints.
Hot Topic
Recently, Hot Topic has been carying more and more clothing that can work for certain styles of Lolita. I purchased one of their Hell Bunny sailor style dresses a while back and it works perfectly for Sailor Lolita with the addition of a blouse and petticoat. I've seen a few other skirts that could work for Lolita, one of which sadly looked like an ita sort of skirt (scratchy, cheap lace, bad fabric choice). Unfortunately, one problem Hot Topic skirts and dresses have is that they are usually shorter than a proper Lolita skirt. In the case of my sailor dress, I just layer a plain white fabric petticoat underneath so it looks like a ruffle at the bottom edge. An alternative would be to add a ruffle to the bottom of a skirt. Hot Topic products are fairly inexpensive compared to brand and typically cost around as much as Bodyline.
Thrift Store
My last recommendation for inexpensive off brand Lolita clothing is checking your local thrift stores. It has become increasingly harder for me to find blouses that fit (even my home made ones are too tight at the shoulders now), so I've begun checking my local thrift stores to see if they have something that will work. Thrift stores are always give and take, so I recomend checking them as frequently as possible as well as keeping an eye out for modifyable pieces if you can sew. If your thrift store doesn't have a fitting room, I'd advise wearing tight fitting clothing so you can try items on in store and get a more acurate fitting than if you were to try something on over a JSK. And make sure to bring cash in case your thrift store doesn't accept card!
Saturday, January 3, 2015
First Impressions: Kill La Kill
Recently I decided to try watching Kill La Kill to fill in the time between episodes of Parasyte -The Maxim- (Why can't you update faster! T-T) after several friends expressed their enjoyment of the show. I will warn you: this is a very odd anime. It's esentially an ecchi magical girl story with an avenging angsty teenaged girl as the lead. However, it's still an enjoyable anime with a pretty good story underneath so far.
Kill La Kill is a story about Ryuko Matoi, a high school aged girl, living in a world where certain clothing can imbue its wearer with heightened powers and one high school is in control of the majority of the world. Ryuko transfers to this all-powerful school in order to discover the identity of her father's killer and avenge him. Along the way she discovers one of her father's inventions: a sailor seifuku (sailor style school uniform) that gives her the ability to transform and fight against the club leaders who have the performance improving uniforms. She agrees to fight any and all students who challenge her in order to obtain whatever information the student council president (or Overlord) has about Ryuko's father's killer.
I'm enjoying the show enough to continue watching it at this point and would recommend it to anyone who likes quirky, odd shows.
I'm on Twitter! @animlolicouture
Check out my fanpage (maintained by yours truly): www.facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Kill La Kill is a story about Ryuko Matoi, a high school aged girl, living in a world where certain clothing can imbue its wearer with heightened powers and one high school is in control of the majority of the world. Ryuko transfers to this all-powerful school in order to discover the identity of her father's killer and avenge him. Along the way she discovers one of her father's inventions: a sailor seifuku (sailor style school uniform) that gives her the ability to transform and fight against the club leaders who have the performance improving uniforms. She agrees to fight any and all students who challenge her in order to obtain whatever information the student council president (or Overlord) has about Ryuko's father's killer.
I'm enjoying the show enough to continue watching it at this point and would recommend it to anyone who likes quirky, odd shows.
I'm on Twitter! @animlolicouture
Check out my fanpage (maintained by yours truly): www.facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Movie Reviews: Kamikaze Girls
So, after having been into the Lolita style for several years and what with my renewed interest in it, I decided it was high time to finally watch Kamikaze Girls, which has been recommended to me ever since I learned about Lolita fashion.
Kamikaze Girls is a story about two very different girls: Momoko, a strange young girl who dresses in frilly, Rococo style clothing, the Lolita style, and Ichigo, a Yanki or biker gang girl with a tough exterior. The story is mostly about Momoko and the effect Ichigo has on her life. The movie begins with Momoko lamenting the fact that she wasn't born in 18th century France and then going over both her parent's lives leading up to her birth and her life up until the present time.Besides being obsessed with 18th centurey France, Momoko is in love with the brand Baby the Stars Shine Bright and takes various measures to ensure she keeps her wardrobe updated with their clothing. In an attempt to make more money to keep up with her expensive brand clothing, Momoko decides to try selling fake name brand clothing left over from her father's earlier years. In responce to an ad she placed, Momoko becomes aquanted with Ichiko, a Yanki biker girl. Despite Momoko's best attempts to stay distant, Ichiko, or Ichigo, befriends Momoko and the two eventually form a strong friendship. In order to avoid giving away the story, I'm leaving my summary at that.
Kamikaze Girls was an amusing movie with a lot of what would be considered 'wacky Japanese' elements. I enjoyed the fact that what little animation there was in the movie was very much not the typical anime style that's prevalent nowadays.While the story had many very odd points, the overall story was very enjoyable with a great ending. One of the things I liked the most about the movie was that all of the characters had very strong, distinct personalities. I highly recommend Kamikaze Girls to anyone who enjoys Japanese movies, anime, Lolita, or is just looking for a fun story to watch.
I'm on Twitter! @animlolicouture
Check out my fanpage (maintained by yours truly): www.facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Kamikaze Girls is a story about two very different girls: Momoko, a strange young girl who dresses in frilly, Rococo style clothing, the Lolita style, and Ichigo, a Yanki or biker gang girl with a tough exterior. The story is mostly about Momoko and the effect Ichigo has on her life. The movie begins with Momoko lamenting the fact that she wasn't born in 18th century France and then going over both her parent's lives leading up to her birth and her life up until the present time.Besides being obsessed with 18th centurey France, Momoko is in love with the brand Baby the Stars Shine Bright and takes various measures to ensure she keeps her wardrobe updated with their clothing. In an attempt to make more money to keep up with her expensive brand clothing, Momoko decides to try selling fake name brand clothing left over from her father's earlier years. In responce to an ad she placed, Momoko becomes aquanted with Ichiko, a Yanki biker girl. Despite Momoko's best attempts to stay distant, Ichiko, or Ichigo, befriends Momoko and the two eventually form a strong friendship. In order to avoid giving away the story, I'm leaving my summary at that.
Kamikaze Girls was an amusing movie with a lot of what would be considered 'wacky Japanese' elements. I enjoyed the fact that what little animation there was in the movie was very much not the typical anime style that's prevalent nowadays.While the story had many very odd points, the overall story was very enjoyable with a great ending. One of the things I liked the most about the movie was that all of the characters had very strong, distinct personalities. I highly recommend Kamikaze Girls to anyone who enjoys Japanese movies, anime, Lolita, or is just looking for a fun story to watch.
I'm on Twitter! @animlolicouture
Check out my fanpage (maintained by yours truly): www.facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Saturday, December 13, 2014
First Impressions: Parasyte -The Maxim-
So recently I discovered that one of my favorite mangas has recently been turned into an anime: Parasyte -The Maxim-. Needless to say I had a bit of a fangirl moment when I discovered this and promptly wondered why I hadn't noticed it before. Well, as I soon found out, the series had only begun airing in Japan in October, so there aren't a lot of episodes so far. However, I'm quite enjoying what there is so far. I was a little upset by the change in art style (the original manga was a more realistic, yet simple style than the typical anime style) as well as a LOT of changes to character designs, but I've managed to overlook that and am happily enjoying the show anyways. Thus far, the story has been fairly accurate to the original manga (what I remember at least) and has been quite enjoyable! I'd highly recommend the Parasyte -The Maxim- anime to anyone looking for a new supernatural anime aimed at a more mature audience.
For those wondering about the storyline, the story is about a typical high school student named Shinichi who's life suddenly changes one night after his arm is taken over by a strange alien creature. He later finds out that there are other creatures like the one in his arm that have taken over humans by devouring their heads and now must fight them to prevent them from eating the rest of humanity.
I'm on Twitter! @animlolicouture
Check out my fanpage! (Maintained by yours truly.): www.facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
For those wondering about the storyline, the story is about a typical high school student named Shinichi who's life suddenly changes one night after his arm is taken over by a strange alien creature. He later finds out that there are other creatures like the one in his arm that have taken over humans by devouring their heads and now must fight them to prevent them from eating the rest of humanity.
I'm on Twitter! @animlolicouture
Check out my fanpage! (Maintained by yours truly.): www.facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Anime Reviews: Rozen Maiden 2013
One time at an anime convention I used to regularly attend I was introduced to the show Rozen Maidens, and anime about dolls that must fight to become the best for their creator. I recently decided to watch it, but mistakenly stumbled upon another series with the same characters in an alternate universe. I originally thought that it was just a DVD adaption, but after completing the series I discovered that there was a separate show that was the original. I have yet to watch it at the time of writing this post.
I enjoyed the story and music of the 2013 version of Rozen Maidens. The doll characters all have very beautiful outfits and their own, distinct personalities. I very much enjoyed the music in the show as well. The opening and closing themes both have a strong presence to them. The story followed that of Jun, the main character from the original show, in an alternate universe where the Rozen Maiden dolls did not exist. Unfortunately, the story didn't grab me until the last few episodes as it seemed somewhat confusing and I didn't really connect with any of the characters until the end. The ending was open, allowing for a continuation of the series at a later point in time.
To be honest, I contemplated not watching the whole series due to not investing my interest in it, but I decided to continue until the end as it was a short series. I enjoyed the last three or four episodes the most.
I apologize for not having a lot to say about the show, but it did not leave me with a very strong impression. I likely won't be recommending this anime to others as I felt the story was rather weak and somewhat predictable at points.
Follow me on Twitter! @animlolicouture
I enjoyed the story and music of the 2013 version of Rozen Maidens. The doll characters all have very beautiful outfits and their own, distinct personalities. I very much enjoyed the music in the show as well. The opening and closing themes both have a strong presence to them. The story followed that of Jun, the main character from the original show, in an alternate universe where the Rozen Maiden dolls did not exist. Unfortunately, the story didn't grab me until the last few episodes as it seemed somewhat confusing and I didn't really connect with any of the characters until the end. The ending was open, allowing for a continuation of the series at a later point in time.
To be honest, I contemplated not watching the whole series due to not investing my interest in it, but I decided to continue until the end as it was a short series. I enjoyed the last three or four episodes the most.
I apologize for not having a lot to say about the show, but it did not leave me with a very strong impression. I likely won't be recommending this anime to others as I felt the story was rather weak and somewhat predictable at points.
Follow me on Twitter! @animlolicouture
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