For those of you not familiar with CES, it’s the Consumer Electronics Show where TV, mobile, and computer companies show off and unveil their new products. More and more, its becoming a TV show; computer companies are dropping off like flies, and Microsoft just announced that this was their last CES as well.

Here are a few of my (unscrubbed) observations and photos from the show:

• OLED (organic LED) displays are absolutely beautiful, and were on display at every major TV manufacturer’s booth. The largest I saw was 55″, and I would take this display any day over all the other types of TVs on display. The contrast and deep blacks of the OLED displays were head-and-shoulders better than the best LED displays.
• Glass-less 3D displays (TVs that don’t require glasses) were everywhere too, but more as technology demonstrations than real products. These displays seemed to be very positionally sensitive, so that if you weren’t standing at just the right location, the effect was underwhelming. And even if you stood in the exactly the right spot, the screens seemed dark and the discernible horizontal lines on the screen were a distraction.
• The so-called 4K displays (4x the pixels of HD displays) were everywhere as well. Sony was showing off a 4K DLP in a darkened room. Nice, but nothing like the wow factor that I felt when I saw the 55″ OLED TVs.
• This year, I really noticed Google TV everywhere. Maybe I was subconsciously looking for it, but there it was on display in the Marvell booth, the LG booth, and the Sony booth. Nowhere to be found in the Intel booth. In fact, Intel (as you might expect with the cancellation of many of their consumer-focused initiatives), seemed to banish almost all TV/consumer stuff from their booth. It was all about the UltraBooks there (yawn!).

• Every TV manufacturer had their own version of being at the center of the digital hub (aka “Smart TV”), with a lot of trademarked solutions and over-the-top search features. Multi-device and multi-screen solutions (like Samsung’s AllShare Play) were common… But they have a long way to go to develop and market these solutions, IMO. In some of these booths, I had to really study the displays to understand what they were attempting to sell. Moreover, many on these solutions were inclusive of their company’s products only. So, complex solutions and fragmentation characterize this space.

• Unlike the past several CESs, I didn’t see much fanfare around input devices (like the LG magic wand). Instead, many manufacturers where showing off tablets as a way to control their TVs.

Oh, and a couple of fun photos as well.

More than likely, I’ll be back again next year.

So when this figure of Kurogame Otome in a “naked apron” came on the market (about five years ago), I simply couldn’t resist. Otome is a character from Tsuyokiss (つよきす Tsuyokisu), a video game that had been adapted into an anime series. A descendant of a mighty warrior, Otome is master of budō and has a superhuman athletic abilities. In typical anime characterization, this model student council vice-president is also naive in the ways of love and a disaster in the kitchen. This, presumably, is what makes her so endearing.

So I plunked down my hard-earned money and purchased this 1/8 PVC figure from HobbyLink Japan. Like Bruce Willis, I was prepared to be flustered and enticed by the “naked apron”.

To be honest with you, I was very disappointed. This figure didn’t grab me in the slightest. I don’t know if it was the character’s neutral expression, the seam on her right arm, the fact that the apron was fused to the figure, the demure pose, the boring pantsu, the unremarkable legs, or what? It just didn’t do anything for me, and the figure ended up on eBay within a month.

But judge for yourself. From the photos here, does the figure live up to your expectations?

Overall score: C+. Boring, with a seam on her right arm and a non-removable apron. In the end, this was a cute forgettable figure from a cute forgettable anime. I’ll take Jane March instead.

In the anime upon which this figure is based, Chizuru may look like a flirty second-year Japanese high school student — much to the embarrassment of Kouta, a younger and extremely innocent first year student. But when Chizuru gets threatened, she can change into a blond kitsune (fox spirit), complete with ears, a tail, and incredible strength.

As such, you can set up Chizuru as either a flirty high school girl, or as a kitsune looking like a flirty high school girl. Choices, choices! In her human form, she looks perfectly normal with her black hair. She does having trouble keeping her blouse on, though, greeting you with a pair of F-cup wonders barely contained in a pink frilly bra.

But if you dare threaten her, simply swap her heads, add a tail and change her skirt, and presto-chango, she becomes a blond kitsune still incapable of harnessing her ample bosom.

On my figure, the strap on her bra had actually fallen off. I had to find some glue to delicately reattach the strap to the bra without ruining the pink paint job. I think I did a decent job; can’t tell there was a repair from these photos.

Notice the dark marks on her shoulder? That’s the black paint that had rubbed off from the hair of her “human” form. I hate when that happens, and really don’t know how to remedy it (other than trying to avoid having painted parts touching each other in the first place).

Call me crazy, but I like her much better in her human form. Griffon did not convincingly model Chizuru’s tail in her fox form, and to me, it just looks like a big hunk of yellow plastic.

You can also set Chizuru up without her bra, and this is what she looks like topless in both her kitsune and human forms.

Griffon did a good job on her butt.

What I found fascinating was that the kit even included a little flesh-colored plug. At first, I didn’t know what it was. But then I realized that, if you display the figure without her tail and her skirt, you’re left with a square hole just above her butt. This is where the plug goes.

Or you can simply ignore the square hole entirely, and focus on her other ass-ets.

Overall score: B. Technically, a very good figure, but various cosmetic problems forced me to knock the grade down a notch. Plus, I thought that the figure didn’t quite capture the cute impishness of Akio Takami‘s character design from the anime.

Answer: a tablet. Now, I could have gone for an iPad (and sold my soul to the Job-sian gods), or instead, opt for “choice” — choice of hardware, choice of ports, choice of music stores, choice of interfaces, etc. As you’ve probably already guessed, I opted for choice, and my current choice is the ASUS Transformer running Android 3.2. For the most part, I love it, but like a PC, it requires a little care and feeding. But its hard to beat the dual-core Tegra chipset for games (though I’m now lusting for a Transformer Prime and its four driving cores), the keyboard configuration (I’m writing this blog post on my Transformer), expandability (32 GB mini-SD installed), and battery life.

But as we all know, its the apps that can make or break the deal. There’s been a lot of press whining about the lack of tablet-optimized apps for Android, but I’m here to disagree. For the types of apps I care about, there’s plenty of choice, many of them are really good at what they do, and some are only offered for Android!

So here’s my end-of-year list of what I consider to be the best applications in their class.

Best Google Reader: JustReader

If you’re looking for a front-end to Google Reader, and you follow RSS news feeds that move quickly, then JustReader is the best. JustReader supports an offline mode that’ll automatically download the feeds’ images and video, so that you can go through your feeds anywhere, even when your not connected to a network. Status information (like read/unread, star, etc.) are all synced back to Google Reader, so that if you access your feeds from multiple devices, everything stays in sync. Finally, JustReader can handle huge volume and content. I follow the 500px feed that includes about 300 posts a day, each with an associated half-megapixel photograph. JustReader handles this with aplomb.

Best Magazine Experience: Google Currents (runner-up: Distro)

For more newsy and magazine-oriented feeds, I’ve come to love Google Currents. When I downloaded Currents on the first day it was released, I was really disappointed with the long sync times. But I’ve since chaulked that up to first-day back-end load issues, because ever since, the performance of the app has been great. Sites like my blog (PoorX.com) and Sankaku Complex really show well in Google Currents, as do many of the other anime and technology blogs I follow. Engadget looks pretty good in Google Currents as well, but if you really want to be blown away, check out Distro, the weekly Engadget “magazine”.

In the “not so great” column is Zinio. It appears to be an Adobe Flash application that simply renders magazines as they are in printed form (as a PDF?). I much prefer Currents or Distro; a flat PDF-like rendering of a magazine with few hot spots and interactivity doesn’t cut it any more.

Best Manga Reader: ComicRack

When it comes to manga readers, there is no equal to ComicRack. I’ve been a ComicRack user on the PC for years, and when it came out on Android, I immediately jumped on it. Earlier, I used readers like DCV and Perfect Viewer, but where ComicRack has all those others beat is its wireless synchronization with ComicRack on my PC. I can read a manga on my PC, synchronize with my tablet, continue reading on my tablet, rate the manga, and have that rating update ComicRack back on the PC. Yes, I wish that synchronization was automatic, but that’s a quibble.

This app is only on the PC and Android, and is donation-ware. I gave the developer a donation — worth every penny.

Best Video Player: DICE Player (runner-up: MX Video)

Here again, the DICE Player is the best video player for Tegra 2-based Android tablets. It has a separate decoder download that knows how to get every bit of functionality out of nVidia’s hardware video decoder. I can play 720p MKV fansubs with subtitles, and DICE‘s hardware decoder keeps up! In fact, in combination with File Manager HD‘s LAN Connection (SMB) functionality, I can watch those MKVs streamed from my desktop PC. Sweet! Yes, the software is a little tempermental, but I challenge anyone with an iPad to play back a 720p soft-subbed MKV video streaming off their desktop machine.

My runner-up here is MX Video. Its interface is much more intuitive that the DICE Player (e.g. swiping right does a seek within the video), but its hardware decoder support is not as rich (e.g. while it can playback that 720p soft-subbed MKV, it uses a software-based decoder that results in uneven playback).

Best Notetaker: Evernote (runner-up: Springpad)

This one is an easy pick, but unfortunately, the Android version is a follower here, not a leader. Evernote was on the iPad first, but even so, on Android, it is easy to use and does the job. It automatically synchronizes with the cloud, so my content is available on all my devices. The app does have a few quirks — its support of checklists and bulleted lists is frustrating (can’t select text across multiple bullets, for instance), but it sill seems to be the best of the bunch.

Springpad is my runner-up. They came to the Android party earlier than Evernote, but has since fallen behind in features and tablet support.

Best File Manager: File Manager HD

File Manager HD, hands down. This app was designed and coded for Android Honeycomb-based tablets right from the get-go, and it shows. It includes folder shortcuts within the app, and also supports connecting to Windows PCs (via the SMB-capable LAN Connection option). The only thing that is really missing is a widget shortcut that would enable me to put folder icons in the Launcher (like Astro could do under Android 2.x).

Best Image Manager: QuickPic (runner-up: Abobe PS Touch)

I’ve gone through a number of different image organizers, and QuickPic is still my favorite. Its image browser quickly picks up all image-related files (even the one’s that Android’s Gallery misses for whatever reason). It respects the “.nomedia” file flag, but gives you the option to look in those folders anyhow (with optional password protection). Finally, the image editor has one option I use all the time: Crop. It allows me to set a crop size (e.g. 1280 x 750, the Transformer’s usable screen size), and then choose the cropped part of the image, so that I can instantly create wallpaper on my tablet without having to edit a downloaded picture on the PC first.

The runner-up in this category is Adobe’s Photoshop Touch. PS Touch is almost like having Photoshop on a tablet, with support for layers, as well as many of the functions you might take for granted in Photoshop. While this package is quite full featured and a harbinger of tablet apps to come, they messed up on the basics. Cropping in PS Touch is much more difficult compared to QuickPic, the software limits the maximize size of the image (1600 px square, so you really can’t edit your camera photos for archiving), and core functionality like Auto Level is missing. I hope Adobe continues to improve this app.

Best Launcher: Folder Organizer

I’ve tried them all: ADW, CircleLauncher, WaveLauncher,… but I keep coming back to Folder Organizer. Folder Organizer lets you group your apps using labels from within one interface, and then present those labeled apps via a variety of widgets. You can have the apps always visible in a launcher sub-window (see the photo of my Transformer at the top of this post for an example), or simply create an icon that expands to a pop-up window of apps when tapped. When you install a new app on your tablet, Folder Organizer reminds you (via a Notification) to add that app to one or more labels. It even has a back-up and restore function so that you can easily carry your catagorization to multiple devices. Simple, does the trick, and relatively easy to use.

Best Wallpaper: Multipicture Live

I’ve found that there’s always this tension between (typically static) wallpaper that respects battery life, versus wallpaper that’s really dynamic and beautiful but sends battery life to hell. Multipicture Live is a nice compromise between the two, in that it’ll allow you to specify a different wallpaper for each of your Launcher screens, and automatically (or on-demand) changes that wallpaper to keep things fresh. I found this to be a great way to cycle through the many anime wallpapers I have.

Best Game: Zen Pinball (runners-up: Air Attack HD, RipTide GP, Trial X)

This one was a tough one. I’m not a big gamer, play casual games more as a distraction, but I do appreciate gorgeous graphics on the Tegra 2. Zen Pinball has gorgeous graphics in spades, and gameplay is quite fun. As runners-up, I’ve chosen Air Attack HD (also gorgeous graphics and an awesome soundtrack), RipTide GP (for gorgeous graphics and fluid accelerometer handling), and Trial Xtreme (so-so graphics, but very fun gameplay). YMMV.

Best Connection to the Real World: PocketCloud

I’m lazy as I’m sure we’re all lazy. Why get up off the couch or drive into the office to perform that task that can only be done on your PC? PocketCloud is wonderful at bringing those desktops right to the Android tablet, and makes it as easy to connect to remote PCs as Windows Live Mesh (for all two of you out there who’ve used Live Mesh). It’s been a lifesaver for me, giving me access to files and firewalled systems that would otherwise require me to be there in person. Its a little expensive in Market, but IMO, worth it.

Best Market: Amazon Appstore

One acronym says it all: FATD – free app of the day. ‘Nuff said.

2011 Top 8 Anime: (IMHO)

#1: Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Baku-tachi Wa Mada Shiranai. I’m putting AnoHana at the top of my list, only because it was the one anime that made me weep. The story centers on the shut-in, Jinta, who starts seeing the ghost of Meiko, a close friend of his who had died several years earlier. As he works through Meiko’s request for a forgotten wish, the original group who used to revolve around Jinta and Meiko slowly come back together to mend their respective wounds. This anime is a real tear-jerker — in a good way — as it really is about love, friendship, saying “good bye”, and letting go. Ugh, I’m getting weepy already!

Sankaku Complex’s list – #2
Anime News Network like – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=12368

#2: Usagi Drop. Can you believe that Rabbit Drop didn’t even make Sankaku’s list? Well, there is no ecchi, boobs, violence, guns nor swords… But as a parent, there is a lot of comedy (and humanity) that I can relate to in this series about a 20-something single guy adopting the orphaned daughter of his grandfather. This series does what a lot of American entertainment is incapable of: focus on little moments and slices of life that move the characters through the storyline. The series is touching, amusing, and heartfelt. I almost want them to do a sequel with Rin in her teenage years. Do Rin and Daikichi still have a good healthy father/daughter relationship? Did Daikichi ever hook up with Koki’s mother?

Sankaku Complex’s list – no-show
Anime News Network link – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=12398

#3: Denpa Ona to Seishun Otoko. There’s just one word for this show: cute. The character art is cute, the character personalities are cute (if not eccentric and vulnerable…, which makes them even cuter), and the songs used in the OP and ED are cute. Another one of those slice of life comedies that centers on a cute (high school aged?) girl who was allegedly abducted by aliens and now spends her day securely rolled up in her futon, her MILF-rific single mom, and the (relatively normal) cousin who comes to live with them. An all-round feel-good anime with fantastic art work.

Sakaku Complex’s list – #24
Anime News Network link – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=11808

#4: Deadman Wonderland. Deadman is probably the hardest-core anime on this list, focusing on a group of (unfairly) imprisoned individuals who have the nasty talent of using their blood as weapons. The anime is very well done, having kept me engaged through the whole season. There’s rumor of a season 2 in the works. Makes sense, since there are a lot of unanswered questions in episode 12 (like, what’s the story behind Shiro, the unnaturally strong girl who’s the “daughter” of the head of the prison). Here’s hoping.

Sankaku Complex’s list – no-show
Anime News Network link – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=11826

#5: Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai. Another high-school slice of life comedy about characters drawn into a club because they have “few friends”. Sharing an art style similar to Denpa, the series hits a few well-worn archetypes (such as the tsundere lead, and a trap character), but also introduces us to a few new moe character types (like the cute girl with mismatched eye colors and the perverted science girl). Thoroughly fun, with a little ecchi thrown in for good measure.

Sankaku Complex’s list – #7
Anime News Network link – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=12983

#6: Guilty Crown. I call Guilty Crown my “guilty pleasure”. There’s certainly a plot (something to do with rebels fighting government forces as they try to contain a virus), but what makes this for me is the music (OP and ED sung by EGOIST) and the animation by Production I.G.. The animation sequences where Shu pulls the Void out of Inori’s chest, or the slow-motion sequence where Shu uses an “anti-gravity” Void during a shoot-out, are absolutely exquisite to watch. Ever since Chevalier, I’ve looked forward to anything done by Production I.G.. With Guilty Crown, ignore the pedestrian story and enjoy the music and animation.

Sankaku Complex’s list – no-show
Anime News Network link – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=13001

#7: Mayo Chiki. This anime is a little more predictable, with a lead reverse trap character (Subaru Konoe) who strives to succeed as the butler for a sexy but mischievous high-school girl.  But once the series’ male lead discovers Subaru’s secret (see the screen-cap at right), mayhem ensues. A lighthearted comedy with little redeeming value.

Sankaku Complex’s list – #22
Anime News Network link – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=12364

#8: Kami-sama no Memo-chou. Heaven’s Memo Pad squeaked into the bottom of my list, because the plot is smart and quick. The show centers on a shut-in girl who spends all day in front of a bank of computer monitors trying to solve murder mysteries. The cast of characters around her weave a series of tales that touches on Yakuza, a ramen shop, and a seamstress. Engaging stuff.

Sankaku Complex’s list – #25
Anime News Network link – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=12865

2011 Most Uncomfortable Anime:

Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen. When you combine absolutely horrendous art with an incest-laden plot and over-the-top panty shots, you get Oniichan no Koto. With plot and humor that is forced and crude, as well as caricatures of under-aged girls in sexual situations, what could have been a playful anime (think KissxSis) turns into a painful and uncomfortable mess. This is the sort of stuff that helps popularize Ishihara. Yikes, who funds this stuff???

Anime News Network link – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=11947

2011 Worst Anime:

Manyuu Hikenchou. Manyuu takes fan service to a whole new level. Backbreaking oppai (see screen-cap at right), a lame plot, and forced humor makes this one the dud-of-the-year. Dare I say it? I miss the comedy of the first Ikkitousen, the original oppai girl-fighting series. Chifusa Manyuu is no Hakufu Sonsaku, that’s for sure.

Anime News Network link – http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=12728

Find the chapter at:

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You can still find Chapter 1 at:

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Reviewed here are these two figures from the “Kemeko DX!” series: M.M. and her humanoid robot, Kemeko. Both from Max Factory, the first figure depicts the pilot, M.M., in all her full-length glory in a dynamic mid-air pose. The second figure is a pose-able and beautifully detailed Nendoroid Plus figure of Kemeko with her pilot, M.M., popping out from her mouth! With basic articulation in her neck, shoulders, and legs, the 4″ high Kemeko comes with a changeable head and a pair of interchangeable arms for wielding the included Gatling gun.

First, photos of the humanoid robot Kemeko, with the interchangeable heads and gun.

Honestly, I’m not into Nendoroid figures, so Kemeko alone was of no interest to me. While the paint and fit of the Kemeko figure was first-rate (as you’d expect from Max Factory), I had the darnedest time attaching the Gatling gun. I was ready to toss the figure out the window while trying to set things up for the above shots!

The second figure, M.M., is a much more attractive package — she is extremely cute in her plug-suit, and the pose is exceptionally dynamic.

The detail is fantastic. Look at how precise the lettering is on her suit…. The lettering, friend, the lettering!

The only beef I have with the M.M. figure are the saddlebags on her thighs. Yes, intellectually, I know that was part of the suit, but visually, it just looks like she had chunky thighs.

Of course, the solution is to pitch the legs and attach M.M. to the head of Kemeko. This is the real treat, putting the two figures together — by combining M.M.’s torso with Kemeko’s head from the first figure, you can make it seem like she’s actually climbing out of her humanoid robot!

The directions make this operation look easy. In reality, I really had to tug to get the legs off of M.M., and futz with the figure to attach it to Kemeko’s head. I even had to re-glue the hoses, which came apart in the process.

In the end, though, you have this wonderful combined M.M./Kemeko figure. Note how the combined figure mimics the cover illustration from the first volume of the “Kemeko DX!” manga:

Overall score: B+. The combined figure is especially cute, but I was troubled by the difficulty of assembling/disassembling several of the parts.

The two figures in this post, Tia and Serena, echo that great character design. Tia is the bubbly innocent of the two, unable to speak (except for calling out the name “Koichi”), while Serena is the mysterious outsider who knows all and, in the end, helps Tia and Koichi. The figures themselves were released in 2007 by MegaHouse as part of their RAH.DX line. Given that these were inexpensive figures, I didn’t expect too much when I had purchased them from HobbyLink Japan.

Tia (sometimes spelled “Tea” or “Tear”) stands at 7-1/2 inches tall. Her pose is definitely bubbly, and the paint job is decent though not stellar. The figure definitely captures the cute innocence of the character in the show, including the face and features of the 2D version of the character.

…and the obligatory up-skirt shots.

What I didn’t realize when I first purchased this figure was that the skirt was removable. The torso splits in two, and the skirt slides up over Tia’s bum (unfortunately, with some blue paint scuff marks on the figure’s skin). And my, what remains is a poor excuse for pantsu. Tia doesn’t look nearly as innocent as she had, the trollop!

The artist really went the extra mile when sculpting Tia’s derriere. Notice how her pantsu cuts into her gluteous maximus? Now that’s dedication to craft!

Which brings us to Serena. She stands a little taller than Tia (at about 8 inches), and her pose has her leaning somewhat awkwardly on her back right leg. Of course, being the all-knowing but secretive character from the series, she’s clothed in a short black dress, zipper down the middle, with her breasts playing peek-a-boo on the sides.

Though her dress doesn’t cast off like Tia’s, it was clear that the dress was a layer formed over the figure’s PVC body. That got me thinking. If I were to carefully unbond the dress at the sides, what would I find?

Sure enough, she’s fully painted underneath, with swell peach-colored pantsu and a nice tailored tummy. Could Serena in fact be more innocent than that two-faced gal-pal of hers?

Alas, no details on the upper extremities. I pity the suckling child.

I had some fun photographing Serena. Here she is, cursing the ecchikazu (perverted wind). Better find something more practical for battling those Gardeners, dear!

Overall grade: B. These are two fine, inexpensive figures that really capture the personality and visuals of their 2D counterparts. The paint is a bit sloppy and the parts are not all clean (see the rough edges on the hair parts of Serena), but this is what I’d expect at these price points from the RAH.DX line.

For fans of “cast offs”, you can easily remove her blouse for an even more “compromising” position.

Sadly, immediately after opening the box, I was disappointed. The figure felt small for a 1/7th scale; seemed more like 1/8th scale (which is a little small for my tastes). The face didn’t really look like Kanu’s either. And the paint used for the skin tone was just a little off. Mechanically, there wasn’t much wrong with the figure at all (unlike the earlier figure I posted of Ryomou Shimei with the case of the “bendy legs”). Kanu is, however, prone to wardrobe malfunctions, since the castoff-able top didn’t always want to stay seated over her ample bosom.

Overall Grade: C+. This figure is a little too generic, too small, and not-quite-right. There are plenty of other Kanu figures out there that are better, IMHO. Check out this figure – wish I had it!