J's Chimes: Cosfest 2010

Yup... Once again Cosfest is back this coming weekend that will be taking place in D'Marquee at Downtown East. Programmes include Anime Karaoke Competition, World Cosplay Summit Singapore Finals, Graffiti Wall and Booths. There will also be a Cosplay Compettion and Cosplay Meet. Due to the fact it collides with the Shine Youth Festival this coming Saturday, it gets pretty annoying... In any case, this will be another big event of the year so powerup your cameras and ready your cards as phototaking will surely be a must in such events...

J's Chimes: Shine Youth Festival 2010

The Singapore Shine Youth Festival 2010 is coming up once again this coming Saturday at the New SCAPE Shopping Center located at Orchard Road. The main events takes place on the 3rd of July next month with plenty of performances, songs and of course.... Cosplays! However, it collides with the Cosfest 2010 which is happening this coming Saturday and Sunday too so you might wanna consider... Anyway, will be going to Shine first on Saturday and then Cosfest on Sunday (Since most of the best events would happen on Sunday...). More details on Cosfest on next post. Anyway, the Shine Youth Festival is of some priority first... Gonna do some photo taking then... For more details please click here.

J's Chimes: The 2 Types Of Anime Otaku

Somehow or rather, somebody derives that anime otakus can be divided into 2 distinctive types.

Type A
- A person who simply enjoys 'anime'.
- Is proud of Japan’s anime.
- Evaluates anime based on direction, voice acting, art, etc.
- Hates shallow anime with no real content.
- Story emphasis more on 'Moe' anime.

Type B
- A person who simply enjoys 'characters'.
- Will watch an anime if it includes cute or beautiful characters.
- Doesn’t care if story is awful, as long as the characters are of interest.
- Evaluates anime based on which seiyuu are in it and what the characters look like.
- Loves Moe elements. Doesn’t like complex anime.
- The otaku the media picks up on are usually this kind.
- Doesn’t know that much about anime and so is often criticized as by Type A otaku.
- However, they make much better customers than the more discerning Type A otaku.
- Recently there has been a huge increase in anime targeted at Type B otaku.
- People who like K-ON!, Queen’s Blade, Strike Witches and so on would be in this class.

Personally am in the range between type A and B but more towards type A. I believe a good storyline for anime is a must that makes me wanna watch. In fairness 'Type A' seems more a description of anime 'fans' than anime 'otaku', as most of the irrational and obsessive characteristics generally associated with otaku seem to be absent; on the other hand, it is in the hearts of 'Type B' otaku that the seeds of the Moe boom were sown…

J's Chimes: Ski In The Toilet

This is part of a winter marketing campaign for Coca Cola's Georgia Coffee Max with a toilet in Japan decorated with that of a of ski resort with a realistic view from the top of a ski jump. The cubicles were fully decorated on all sides so that the person caught short would have a ski jumper’s view when they are sitting on the throne. The person can look down at the skis and see the steep ski jump slope ahead of them. Advertising messages are found on the toilet paper holder and on the wall behind the toilet with the message: “Seriously kick-ass intensely sweet for the real coffee super zinging unstoppable Max! Taste-explosion!”. Intense... This has got to be the most creative bathroom I have ever seen. Hopefully we'd able to see them in Singapore too...

J's Chimes: Catching Up With The News...

Got a quick laugh out of this little poster and then after pondering like what would it be if you'd to download and watch all animes out from the early years till now... Certainly it would also take as long as what's written here...


Well... Knowledge and 'other' stuff are almost infinite and there's no way to watch them all for that matter. In any case, I believe it'll take at least 1 whole month, 24hours a day non stop and 7 days weekly just to finish reading all of J's Chimes posts... Who knows?

J's Chimes: A War With God And Love

Angel Beats had finally came to an end on the 13th episode with the lead characters attending a graduation ceremony out of this alternate world that was supposedly created by God to help people to fulfill their dreams in life in which they never had when they are alive. The storyline in episode 1 was really complicated that you'd had absolutely no idea what was going on until you've actually watched everything. Somehow the term 'God' and other related stuff was used once again and twisted into another story of its very own, one that makes one ponder about life as we know it...


Have rather mix feelings for this episode because the way each and everyone of them left is just so saddening. Which bring to the point like what is happening in our everyday lives. One day we would have to move on, and our friends will slowly leave us one by one to pursue their own path in life. And so nothing really is forever unless you'd make the most and cherish your friendship... It is seriously hard to maintain a friendship because both parties are tied up with the many stresses and problems in life that you'd really have no time to meet up for a little chat. And thus friendships are gone in that instance. Episode 13 tells just how people like us would feel at that very moment in time.


However, the worse part is definitely saying goodbye forever to the one you love dearly... Would you selfishly keep her by your side or sacrifice for your love ones to let her pursue her destiny or dream, etc? I really can't answer this question at all because I am in his situation before... And sacrificing for your love ones really isn't a good thing to do... makes you really sad. I believe at times love really have to be selfish in order to be with her always. The sweetest part is the short ending where the 2 cross paths with each other when they are reborn in the real world... If there's really such thing as fate or destiny, I would really wanna believe in it and not be seriously emo-ing about love and life... Hope that they'd make a new season for this wonderful anime...

J's Chimes: So You Wanna Go To Japan...

Wanted to go Japan for a very long time... However, due to the fact that it is an expensive place to be in, still don't have that much of a money to go there anytime soon. Planning is mostly necessary if you'd want to get the most out of your trip and especially so when you are going there on a budget. Came across a simple traveling guide that could probably help in travels to Japan. Check it out here so that you'd get a picture of why Japan isn't as cheap as you thought it might be... unless you plan ahead...

J's Chimes: Hobby Maintenance

After keeping your models in the display cabinet for a long long time, starting to feel a bit worried. As time goes on, scale models made of PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) will tend to produce an oily surface or bend when exposed to room temperature for long periods of time. Due to the fact that PVC is cheap and also easily molded into shape, it is commonly used for hobbies such as this. So now the thing is, how or what should you do to maintain them?


Am really sad that my Hatsune Miku figure has this stickiness problem on her right arm that I had no choice but to take it out from the display cabinet and place it on my desktop. Collecting dust on the outside beats becoming oily and sticky. Thus also browse through the web for tips of maintaining my models and had found something interesting that might help you too.

10 Tips for maintaining your PVC models

1.) Keep it in cool temperature. No direct sunlight or hot areas...

2.) Put your models in a freezer for about 20min. This method could help harden the PVC and also drys up the oily or sticky surface due to the temperature when exposed for long periods of time.

3.) Do not clean your figure with chemical liquid or warm water. If possible avoid water. But only use a small amount water to clean parts of your figure that is dirty. Use the special kind of cloth for cleaning camera lenses or spectacles to clean your models as other alternatives like tissue could result in the dust particles sticking to your models instead.

4) If you have a hard time to remove the figure from the stand as most of them are made of plastic), do not use force. Just put the figure inside the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes. It is because plastic will shrink and expand more then PVC.

5.) If you have more then 1 figure stand close to each other, make sure they don't touch each other. The paint would leave a mark on the other model and vice versa.

6.) Famous brand such as Max Factory, Kaiyodo, alter, good smile company, etc.. uses quality paint. However quality doesn't always mean it is not susceptible to such problems. Thus try to put a plastic to every joint that removable to avoid direct contact that will leave a mark after a long time. For example, hats on a model's head which is also painted could eventually rip off the paint on the model's head and vice versa that would leave a mark. Thus the reason why manufactures always put a plastic between the joints or cover of a new figure to prevent such from happening after long periods of time.

7.) Avoid puting heavy objects for example weapons, items, etc on your figure hands for long periods of time because PVC will bend over time. Thus you might need to take it out once in awhile to avoid such losses.

8.) I hate to say this but PVC, along with the paint, is poisonous after exposure of long periods of time. This sticky and oily surface is seriously as toxic as lead like the previous case on China's lead poisoning on toys incident. So you might wanna go wash your hands thoroughly after touching them.

9.) Models bend out of shape? Put them in the freezer for about 10 - 15min. You'd need to make it stand in a position you wanted before putting it in so that the position maintains after you take it out. Another method is to use a blower for the bended part of your figure but do take note that heat might affect the paint of the figure.

10.) Do check your figures every once in a month or so just by touching them to know the conditions of your figures. If it starts to become oily, bending or sticky, it means you'd need to do something soon. Do check those still in the boxes too as they too are not safe from such damages.


I hope that these tips could help you to properly maintain your scale models and figures for years to come. I guess I have to do something about this too, else risking my models going sticky and oily and bendy and stuff...