Ben-Ohki's Comments (75)

Love it. I think B1 is (formerly?) Hello!Project's Goto Maki... not known for wearing glasses but I recall her profile on the H!P's site looked something like that. I'm biased toward B5 - Sailor Mercury from the live-action adaptation of Sailor-Moon... she was a cutie even in that show! ( View formatted comment » )

no fetish for it here... but I would not kick her out of my bed for wearing that! ( View formatted comment » )

Like Tami said, the mecha animals are from "Robonimal" featuring Panda-Z - a series of 5-minute episode anime. Look for them on Youtube! Megahouse had the license for vinyl toys but I'm not sure if they still do. ( View formatted comment » )

But a fellow commenter on Japan Probe makes a good point: Japanese culture is just so into "prepackaged goods" that DIY is simply not in their mentality. It's entirely possible this old man never owned more than one size screwdriver in his whole life... ...still stupid tho, I agree. ( View formatted comment » )

Curious, what do native Japanese think of the acting in this type of show? I think the failing of American-adapted tokusatsu series is that they cast unknown actors who deliver very child-like dialog and are generally unconvincing to adults' ears (they frequently overact, etc). I'm afraid I see the same kind of acting in this trailer. Yes, I watched the original KR Ryuki series and I liked it. The bits of exposition in this clip makes it obvious "Dragon Knight" will be COMPLETELY different. A lot about the nature of the R... ( View formatted comment » )

I wonder if it's because of the goods offered that makes one place more likely to have people spend more. I know for sure if I buy X-number of items in a gaming store, then the total cash spent will very likely be much more than X-number of items purchased just about anywhere else. And to answer poll, I chose 60-80. On a typical day in town I visit places like comics specialty shops so two or 3 collected volumes will run me over $50 easily... then I buy other stuff for fun too. Also food, can't forget food during the day! ( View formatted comment » )

OP and ED themes are a lost art in American series. It used to be different. Just ask anybody over the age of 30 what their favourite theme was and they'll be able to sing it ...but the show they're talking about will be from early 90's at least. The last "memorable theme song" to me is from a sitcom called Cheers and that was in the 80's! I think producers today just think people don't have the patience for theme songs anymore and just want to get to the show. ( View formatted comment » )

Huh? I didn't know Shiseido made antiperspirant. Around these parts they're known for skin-care and cosmetics (particularly popular among mature ladies) but not that. ( View formatted comment » )

I've always wondered if those figures known as Sega "Prize" figures were meant to be distributed as actual prizes in UFO catchers. If so, then they're actually very nice prizes. I bought a pair of such PVCs for Ghost in the Shell at a local import shop expecting the worst, but not so. UFO-Catcher machines are known as "crane games" around these parts. The most common one I see is called "Candy Crane" where you get a handful of candy out of it (usually a very small handful since the crane pincers are so... ( View formatted comment » )

"Miniature" dogs seem to still be in the minority around North America save for the "fashionistas types." Around these parts dogs are quite large breeds and would not fit in a carry bag (or they might but then the bag would be much too heavy to carry). ( View formatted comment » )

took the money and ran? that's totally uncool. I remember one time I placed a reservation for a hi-end gaming rig at a local shop (they seemed very reputable). Then a couple of weeks later, they didn't answer the phone or anything. When i went back to the shop, the place was emptied out. Luckily, I did not leave a deposit or anything. ( View formatted comment » )

that is indeed a weird pose. in early eps of the anime, she was a little strange and tended to cut pages out of books (she's told not to do so anymore). in fact, she starts acting rather normal after a while. ( View formatted comment » )

Sorry, Danny, ThinkGeek.com had by far the funniest collection of April Fool joke postings this year. Especially their Betamax-to-HDDVD converter! LOL! :) ( View formatted comment » )

Now if the fool went around stabbing people with a stylus then maybe I could see where they were going with blaming the NDS game... ( View formatted comment » )

Okay, I have no idea how they get away with shooting airsoft guns in public. Around these parts paintball is slightly higher on the popularity scale but I can assure you it's strictly controlled (gear must be secured until you enter an authorized area like an arena or a scenario field). You'd get arrested for assembling your stuff outside any of these places. ( View formatted comment » )

I don't see what the big deal is. A bento is an arranged lunch. Those look like an arranged box of food to me (albeit a cheap take-out version) but it's still a bento box. Hey, not all bento are home-made. ( View formatted comment » )

Bento are definitely not a commons sight around these parts despite our "multiculturalism." However they are available if you know where to look. The Japanese fast-food places make a surprisingly good (and filling) and affordable bento. For only a few dollars you can get a "set" with pickled veggies on rice, a few pieces of sushi, meats and other goodies in tempura, and even a small cup of miso. ( View formatted comment » )

"in case" we fell asleep? Danny, you know us too well! :) There was a cherry tree in the courtyard of my university. It was beautiful but also stuck out like a sore thumb... I would love to visit Japan in the spring time. I'm sure it would be very different from taking a look at a single tree in that courtyard.... ( View formatted comment » )

Not counting my very early years when North American distributors didn't want viewers to know they were watching Japanese material (I'm looking at YOU, Battle of the Planets), I think I started watching "anime" around the mid-90's when suddenly North American distributors WANTED us to know we were watching Japanese shows (Sailor Moon, Dragon ball, Patlabor, Macross Plus, etc). ( View formatted comment » )

I used to be a hard-core Trekkie but somewhere along the way, I sort of just "outgrew" TV and didn't find it in me to follow the series anymore (I lost track some time during the later seasons of Voyager - And Enterprise sucked so that didn't help get me back in either). Now I'm not so sure if I'm interested at all in a franchise reboot like this upcoming movie... ( View formatted comment » )

I think it's just the angle of that first pic that makes the nose seem to stand out more than it should. The rest of the pics aren't so bad... Anyway, 1/6 scale isn't as common as I'd like it to be. I want. ( View formatted comment » )

I'm a paintballer too (but I lean towards arena-style "speedball" than tactical "woodsball"). I own a bunch of speedball equipment. I've tried both: I just find it's more convenient to go shoot at each other for 5 minutes at a time than to be out there for half and hour crawling through the bush. Never played airsoft but that looks fun too. ( View formatted comment » )

Just another lie women tell. And they expect men to tell the truth?! ( View formatted comment » )

One of Canada's largest ISP (Bell Sympatico) recently admitted to throttling speeds after many years of denial. While Canada's laws a little more vague than in the US, Canadian ISPs will indeed comply with warnings from US IP owners when abuse is reported - I should know (I was sent a take-down notice once for torrenting some software)... of course, nothing ever came of it and it was my first warning anyway. My ISP would rather keep my $45 per month than to let me leave to find another ISP. :P ( View formatted comment » )