[Anime] What I Really Want To See In Zoku Touken Ranbu Hanamaru

It is not a new piece of information anymore that the Doga Kobo animation, Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru is getting a second season slated for the winter season of 2018 which will be entitled Zoku: Tokuen Ranbu - Hanamaru (Zoku meaning continuation).  With all the frustration that Ufotable's Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu has brought to us, some veteran saniwas wanted something more lighthearted and stress-free.

Personally, I loved both the animes, but sometimes while watching Katsugeki, I just can't help but wonder when will stress-free Hanamaru be coming back so that I can see all the swords being happy again and just purely enjoying their human forms.  That being said, I made a list of the things that I wanted to see in the most awaited second season of Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru:

• More swords
  A lot of swords has already been implemented during and after the run of the first season, as well as some swords that unfortunately, did not make it to the anime.  Given that, I hope that we can see more swords in the second season such as the following swords:

• Kogarasumaru.  It would be hilarious to see him refer to himself as the father of all the other swords when Mikazuki - who is centuries younger than he is - has already claimed the spot of grandfather.  It would be interesting to see the reaction of  the sword boys as both out-grandpa's each other.

• The Genji Brothers.  There has already been a ton of fan arts and fics that pokes fun at Higekiri's forgetful nature, especially when it concerns his brother's name.  Katsugeki even did it.  I want to see Hanamaru take it even further like, say a different name for Hizamaru for every episode, and by the end of the season, we all find out that Higekiri was actually doing it on purpose to make fun of his brother or something.

• The Osafune Family.  Did you see the sudden increase in the number of Osafune family members in game?  Of course, you did.  It has been the source of head ache for all of the saniwas who has played the game religiously like me as Osafune members kept getting added almost every month.  It would be fun to see Mitsutada turn from someone who was solely responsible for the citadel's kitchen turn into someone who now has to run a small daycare himself after getting an influx of family members arriving into the citadel.  It would also be fun to see some friendly Dategumi vs Osafune School competition with Mitsutada as the prize.

• More Toushirou Brothers (or Kiwame tantous).  Of course, we do not have a lack of people in the Awataguchi family, but since the first Hanamaru, there has been a ton of new brothers, as well as Kiwame versions of those who has been in the first anime all along.  If Zoku Hanamaru can manage it, they should be able to add in a few more brothers or at least some brothers showing up after their Kiwame Journey.  Plus points if they point out the mistake in the initial design of Shinano's Kiwame and he has to return back in time to get the revised head gear.

• Monoyoshi Sadamune.  He may be in conflict with some of the swords because of his former master, but overall I actually find him to be a very likable sword (yes, the musical did convince me on this matter).  Monoyoshi is prided to bring his masters luck so imagine him being in the citadel.  Playing a game he only knew the mechanics of 30 minutes ago?  He wins every round.  Expedition on an unknown land?  He will bring home lots of resources.  Just imagine everyone's (the saniwa's attendants in particular) reaction when they ask him how he did it and he credits everything to his luck.

• Sengo Muramasa.  This may make the anime borderline pg-13 or even r-18, but I want Sengo Muramasa to join the cast this season because 1) Junichi Suwabe and 2) the sexual innuendos that will come out of that pretty little mouth of his.  I also imagine him going to bed naked, so imagine if anyone would bump into him at night when they have to have a bathroom break: "Nikkari-san! There was a ghost in the bathroom and it told me to strip!"

*PS: I know I did not include some swords here, and that is because I couldn't think of head canons for them in the Hanamaru universe and/or I'm not as eager to see them in the anime as those listed above.  However, that does not mean that I love them any less (except you, Kikkou Sadamune.  I will only love you if you come home to my citadel).

• Event-based episodes
  Touken Ranbu is all about sword boys who are awakened and given human forms in order to protect the flow of history.  However, in the game we have a lot of events that happens all the time that makes us reflect how on earth are these events supposed to help us protect history.  For Zoku Hanamaru, I would like to see some episodes, or at least portions in an episode that alludes to the fact that swords have been going on a grinding-spree on event levels such as:

• Underground Treasure Chest.  This is one of the first events introduced in the game and also one of the most common so I think it deserves its own anime air time.  It could be a whole episode where a team is deployed to Osaka Castle to search for another one of Ichigo's brothers and Hakata tags along only to search every corner of the castle for money as the others try and fend off the Retrograde Army while he counts and records the money found.  They would come back tired, beaten and needing repairs by the end of the episode with a happy Hakata carrying a sack of koban while holding his new brother by the hand.  It could also be snippets in a few episodes where swords would be seen leaving with digging materials and coming back tired and dirty.  The new brother would be introduced later on in an episode where they come back looking fed up and never wanting to do any more digging for the rest of their lives.

• Village of Treasures.  One of the most tiring events would be Village of Treasures.  Now imagine if this is given its own screen time and it doesn't even have to be a whole episode to be relate-able.  Just throw in a bunch of swords who are constantly tired and flinch at the sound of the summons bell, as well the constant talk of beads and you've got yourself a good Village of Treasures reference.  They could also put it in a full episode where swords are traumatized by hanafuda cards from too much grinding.

• Tsurumaru's Failed Pranks
  Tsurumaru is a sword I love and respect because of his love for surprises.  He is known in the fan base as a prankster, so with Hanamaru Season 2, I would love to see his failed attempts at pranking the other swords, especially Mikazuki or the peaceful ones (Kousetsu and Juzumaru?).  We only saw Tsurumaru's failed prank in the opening sequence of the first season, so I wish that they would delve more into it this second season.  Imagine all the fun we can get when the prankster gets pranked himself!

These are just some of the things that I would like to see in the upcoming second season of Hanamaru and I am sure that there are a lot of saniwas out there with their own head canons on what they wanted to happen in the new season.  How about you?  What would you like to see in Zoku Hanamaru?

XO's 

Saltsuki

[Toy Unboxing] Nendoroid: Horikawa Kunihiro + Izuminokami Kanesada

As promised, I am back with an unboxing video for the Nendorids I picked up during Cosplay Mania 2017.  I was not really a collector until the re-issue of the Mikazuki Munechika nendoroid but since then, I have been growing my sword boy family. This time, I will show you an unboxing of the not-so-recently released nendoroids of Horikawa Kunihiro and Izuminokami Kanesada, both from Touken Ranbu.

For those of you who are not familiar, Nendoroids are manufactured by Good Smile Company (hereby referred to as GSC).  They are palm-sized figures with a chibi design that comes with a number of parts including face plates, arms and legs for the owner to be able to make the figures show different poses and expressions. Nendoroids also come with some props for the figures to hold or pose with.

GSC really did a number on me with this double release, though.  I preorder all my nendoroids so that I can save up for them when the time of their release comes, and also for the cheaper pre-order prices.  However, there is just nothing I could do when they do a double-release like this.  It's like paying for a new non-preorder Nendoroid altogether.

Enough of my financial rants, and let's get on to the unboxing itself!

First is Horikawa Kunihiro, since I wanted him waiting patiently for his partner when I get to unboxing Kane-san.  Also, I figured that he will be easier than Kane-san (did you just say palm-sized, GSC?!).

Normally, Touken Ranbu Nendoroids come with three face plates: a normal face for his idle pose in the citadel, the serious face for the battle pose, and a random expression for the-sort of internal affairs pose.

Kunihiro was just adorable with his smiling face plate.

Eagerly awaiting for his Kane-san

Then, his citadel pose.

Overall, I did not experience any difficulties with this Nendoroid.  Some batches come with difficult to remove hair or face plates, stands that just wouldn't stay put, or limbs that may come loose, but with Kunihiro, I did not experience any of that.  It was a bit difficult for me to figure out which hands or arm parts to use for a pose, but that was just an error on my part. 

Next, is his partner, Izuminokami Kanesada!

KANE-SAN

Kakkoii sword

Unlike Kunihiro, Kanesan was a pain in the ass just like the in-game sword.  First difficulty I experienced was opening his packaging itself.  The parts holding the pieces of the packaging together was so stuck together, that I knocked my camera off while filming the video.  Next is his hair piece and face plate which was also difficult to remove.  I had to wiggle it a couple of times for it to be detached, and then there was the hair piece, which was also attached to his ponytail at the back of his head.  It was also pretty difficult to stick the sheath of his sword to his side as the haori was getting in the way, and the handle keeps falling off.  Lastly, sticking him to his stand was difficult.  What you had to do is to remove his head, stick the holder through the haori and body, fail a couple of times, then stick his head back into place.  Here and there, you'd get a falling scabbard or limb and you'd just have to cuss a couple of times before you can get him to do even just one pose for you.

Please don't misunderstand me, I am not blaming the shop where I purchased this or GSC for the difficulties that I encountered with this Nendo.  The times I spent doing factory work has taught me that even if products are the same, there would be slight differences per batch.  Maybe I just got a bad batch,  but it's still a first release nonetheless so I am not really complaining.  I just wish I'd get more luck with the other Nendos I have lined up for this year.

Before I forget, Kunihiro came with the 二刀開眼 (nitou kaigan, literally meaning two-sword enlightenment) from the game. This is the game mechanism from Touken Ranbu where when a team contains at at least an Uchigatana and a Wakizashi, this could be triggered. Basically, it's a double attack where the Wakizashi wipes out an enemy sword's troops,then the Uchigatana goes in for the kill.  Izuminokami is an Uchigatana, while Kunihiro is a Wakizashi. They are partner swords both previously owned by Hijikata Toshizo of the Shinsengumi, so posing them for Nitou Kaigan is very fitting indeed.

I don't have the patience to have them do the battle poses, so this will do.

Obligatory aibou pic.

See the full unboxing over in my YouTube channel.  I also posted an unboxing of Sayo Samonji and Ookurikara nendoroids.  I also do some playthroughs of otome games when I have the patience to deal with damsels in distress.

Unboxing video:

[Event] Cosplay Mania PH 2017

Weeks after my last event post, I am back with another (albeit late) event post!  This time, me and my bro went to Cosplay Mania PH 2017.

Source: Cosplay Mania Facebook page

Founded in 2008, Cosplay Mania boasts to be the largest cosplay convention in the Philippines.  Managed and organized by Cosplay.PH, the event boasts of a large event premise (this year, they were able to book the entire second floor of SMX Convention Center), several contests including the Hall Cosplay Masquerade, Cosplay Solo Showdown (which I took part in last 2014), Cosplay Mania Cup and Ultimate Cosplay Championship, meet and greets with international guest artists, cosplayers, and anime directors, producers and voice actors and lastly, an anisong concert to cap off the activities of the day.

Due to financial constraints, me and my bro were only able to purchase the cheapest tickets (silver), but that did not stop us from enjoying the event altogether.  We went on the second and last day of the con as Jiroutachi and Taroutachi from Touken Ranbu as if we are not yet that deep into sword boy hell.

Me as Jiroutachi and Reo Ouji as Taroutachi.

 We had the costumes made from Cosplayer Secret Shop instead of going about our usual way of making everything from scratch because of time constraints (me being busy with graduate school and Reo being busy with work).  The swords were commissioned from BALT Creation also for the same reason.  The rest of the props, we made ourselves.  For me, that would be the headdress and the sake jar (maybe I should make a progress log post for those).  I also made an arm guard, but figured at the last minute that it would be too hot to wear under all the layers of clothing and decided to wear the fabric version that came with the costume instead.

We were able to enter the event premises and get our bracelets at around 12AM, when it was not yet so crowded due to the bulk of event goers still stuck in the queue outside of the convention center.  We immediately went about our business shopping for merch since we figured out that it would be hard for us to do so with our costumes on once more people start coming in.  We also met a lot of our friends and had a lot of pictures taken as we did so.  I haven't seen much of our pics from the photographers that day, but then that may just be me being lazy in browsing Facebook.  So while we are waiting for photos, here are a ton of selfies!

With Miki as Kashuu who was the attendant of our Cheese Saniwa

We dropped by our Cheese Saniwa's booth at the artist alley

I was finally able to pose with Todoroki!

Another Jiroutachi found us and of course, we had to take a pic with them

Channeling the Otokomichi spirit

Speaking of merch, here's my haul plus some gifts I got from that day.  I was not able to buy a lot as the halls quickly got filled up with people and we were not able to check out the other booths because of our costumes and bags got in the way.  I mainly got Haikyuu and Touken Ranbu key chains and JoJo stickers.  I also finally got an ita bag to showcase my weab collection of rubber straps at the next con that I will go to.

Cosmania day 2 haul and gifts!

And see those two big boxes right there?  I also picked up my Izuminokami Kanesada and Horikawa Kunihiro pre-ordered nendoroids from WattaToys! 

breaking character because my ship is sailing!

Needless to say, I was a happy little Touken Ranbu fan girl that day.  Also, expect unboxing videos for Kane-san and Hori-chan!

While our experience with Cosmania this year was nothing short of enjoyable, I would also like to address some of the complaints we have heard first hand from our friends during the con or through posts or chats. 

First, and the bulk of the complaints I saw about the event is the long lines just to get inside the venue.  As I have also noticed upon arriving at SMX, there was already a huge line outside of the convention center way before the opening time.  While this was gradually dissipated and a bit more organized on the second day,  It was apparently not the case during the first day.  People reported waiting in line to be let into SMX for hours, only to wait in line again so that they can get on the escalators that will take them to the second floor where the convention is being held.  Lastly, they would fall in line again to exchange their tickets for event bracelets.  The people complained about the long lines to the extent that some reported missing their meet and greet times as well as the guests themselves feeling upset upon seeing an almost empty queue because most of the people for that schedule were still outside waiting in line.  Cosplay Mania management has already released a statement that addresses this issue, so let's hope that by next year there would be a better way to get inside the con without falling in line for long periods of time.

Another complaint that I heard about straight from a friend of mine was the behavior of the staff.  There were reports of the staff being rude to the event goers, shouting at them and blaming them for the disorganized lines at the event as well as the improper handling of the guests.  I did not experience these myself, but this is the second year that I've heard reports of the staff of this particular event behaving in an unprofessional manner.  What I can just say about this is that the number one in any business etiquette list is for you to treat your clients (in this case the con goers) and guests (guest cosplayers, anisong artists, seiyuus, directors, producers, etc.) with the highest priority and care.  Hopefully, this has been brought into the attention of the Cosplay Mania management and hopefully, better orientation when it comes to handling a large scale event like this could be provided to their volunteers and staff for their future events.

On a lighter note, Cosplay Mania still holds a special place in my heart.  This is the biggest con I've ever went to and where I got to meet some of my cosplay idols.  It is not a lie that they were one of the first conventions that were able to bring international cosplayers and artists on Philippine shores which was until recently, just in the middle of nowhere for most foreign artists in the anime and cosplay world. 

Also, because my first convention never got a second run, I treat Cosplay Mania as my anniversary convention.  That being said, I am happy to say that this year is my 8th year in cosplay!  Hopefully, I can still do this for a few more years. :)

Queue a narcissistic photo of Jiroutachi.

Thanks for reading this far!  See you on my next post whenever I make it :)


XO's
Saltsuki