In the opening page of The Gift: Forms and functions of exchange archaic societies, Marcel Mauss asks: In primitive or archaic types of society, what is the principle whereby the gift received has to be repaid? What force is there in the thing given which compels the recipient to make a return?
One of the advantages of having a good brother and buddy who also shares your anime hobbies and understands your anime tastes is that we can both exchange sweet anime loot as gifts. My most recent bounty from Stripey have been the MariMite R3s (first season and Haru) and Towel from the eyecatch in Hayate no Gotoku’s beach episode.
Continue reading ‘The otaku gift economy’
First anime DVD purchase (from The Right Stuf International, who else? :P) for this year. In contrast to my 2007 purchases, this batch consists of shows that first aired back in the ancient times: 1995 (Slayers, Evangelion), 1996 (Nadesico, Slayers Next) and 1997 (Slayers Try).
Continue reading ‘An Evergreen Retro Anime Shipment’
I’ve been meaning to follow the examples of Adun and Stripey in consolidating my anime-related expenditure for 2007 (mainly for my own budgeting records and planning) but accounting for the August Japan trip has made it rather complicated. Have finally decided to split things up by product category; coincidentally-on purpose, DVD purchases were the easiest to compile since I didn’t buy any DVDs in Japan.
[Added: Total expenditure updated! I've decided to exclude the 'indirect' costs of the Japan trip such as air ticket, accommodation, food, travel to/fro Ariake etc. But with more pie charts! :P]
Continue reading ‘Cooking the books (2007 Expenditure)’
I found Onegai Teacher appalling - I disliked the male and female leads, the story was kinda dumb with the Rip Van Winkle sickness and alien/UFO thing. In contrast I enjoyed Onegai Twins very much - I liked the three main characters and the simple, elegant way the story was built around their past, moving towards the future. As such, it passes the rewatchability test (aka as the Jeff Lawson test) which is my first condition for proceeding with a DVD purchase. RightStuf also offered a great price for it during their Twelve Days of Christmas sale - second condition, tick! (Currently they’re having a 20% off Spring Cleaning sale until 30 Mar 2008.)
Continue reading ‘Seeing Double: Onegai Twins DVD Review’
I’ve moaned before about how London’s Forbidden Planet and Japan Centre doesn’t seem to stock MEGAMI. But I happened to see that evil magazine in the display window of Orbital Comic’s Moor Street branch. And the price was just shinjirarenai.
Continue reading ‘How much is that MEGAMI in the window?’