A guy called OtowaCho traveled to Otowa’s real counterpart, Heidelberg in Germany, and came back with great footage of places that occured in ef - a fairy tale of the two. He even found a few locations I couldn’t find; like Renji’s house or the old abandoned station, which isn’t actually that abandoned. And he was even able to enter the church.

Check out the video:

Some people among you may know that I moved 700 kilometers away from my home town Berlin just for a job last year. And now, one year later, I’m about to move back to Berlin again. So why is that you ask? Well, the answer is simple yet absurd. My employment contract just didn’t get extended. And the reason for that? That’s even more absurd. My company would’ve had to employ me permanently. That is a pretty common doing in Germany. A company can give you 2 one-year contracts, If they’d extend it a third time they HAVE to emply you permanently. But there aren’t many companies anymore who’d do that nowadays. Because permanent employees cost them too much. They rather use agency workers instead of qualified staff. These agency workers are like bitches who suck massive boss cocks for a pittance. The company can get rid of them at any time. No cancellation periods, nothing. So in my case: I was employed for two years at my company. The first year in Berlin and the second one in Saarbrücken (which is, as stated before 700km away). I was willing to undergo all that in hope to get a permanent contract after the second year. Guess I was wrong about that. I wasn’t able to see how the companies and the community fucks with young people. This is fucking terrible, the people were perfectly satisfied with my work. Colleagues, customers. Everyone! I even was one of the best who ever finished the vocational training at my company. Yet, in the end I get a big fat punch in the face like that.

And since I don’t intend to become some companies cock sucking bitch in the middle of nowhere, I’m going back to Berlin in 3 weeks. Seriously, Saarbrücken is one of the worst places called “City” someone from Berlin could live at. A population of 177.000 instead of 3.500.000, no sights, one cinema instead of… a shitload of them etc+bla. Once I finish moving into my new apartment and chilling out for a bit, I’ll continue to write job applications. I already wrote 10 but all of them failed. People really don’t want a young, skilled employee. If worst comes to worst I’ll go study on some university; I won’t get any money through that but at least I’d be able to do at least something. That or I’ll become a full time NEET. Sweet future prospects~

At least my family supports me. My parents found me a nice apartmen. It’s bigger and much cheaper than the shithole I’m living in at the moment. Note: My current place doesn’t even have a bath tub. I’m a person who hates to shower. I’ll rather take a proper bath.

New apartment

At least I’m looking forward to my new place and being back in Berlin. I love arranging room interiours. YEAH!

Alright, If you excuse me, I’m back to playing my Albatross Koukairoku Trial now.

I’m on a boat!

Since I decided to keep my promise this time, here’s part two of my minori loot. This time it’s artbooks only. These too arrived during the last 5 months. …man, every time I write that I feel horrible for having my blog neglected for such a long time…

Uh well, yeah. Whatever~ Here goes

ef TVanimation Complete Fanbook

• Publisher: MAX Mook
• Year: 2009
• Pages: 145
• Price: ¥2,667
• Link: HMV Online
  

Gotta love this size-chart. Pyo~

Character concept works & information

Opening Information

I think this is one of the most interesting parts of the book. The text that appears in the openings of ef memo & melo are fully listed here. Basically, the text from the memo opening is the English version of Chihiro’s book. The German text from the melo OP is a translation of the lyrics of “Yuukyuu no Tsubasa” the opening song of “ef - the first tale.”. What they did thar. I love it.

Various Artworks from DVD covers, posters etc.

Concept sketches

eden* They were only two, on the planet. Visual Fanbook

• Publisher: Ichijinsha
• Year: 2010
• Pages: 128
• Price: ¥2,500
• Link: HMV Online

Artworks

100 Years old… Yes, I’d still espouse her. ° 3 °

More artworks

I so love the Melon-chan cosplay.

Character Artworks

Sion Chibis <3

Opening movie story board

Event CGs

Yes, there are PLUS+MOSAIC CGs too…

Some kind of short story.

I don’t understand Japanese but it looks… interesting. Lavie-nyan~

A 4-pages comic.

Elica makes Sion cosplay Yuuko. So much win! I don’t even care about the seifuku.

…well okay, I do care about the seifuku. But just a little!

Some naughty poster that came with the artbook.

ef - a fairy tale of the two. Art Works

• Publisher: Enter Brain
• Year: 2010
• Pages: 224
• Price: ¥2,500
• Link: HMV Online

I love how they put the lineart of the artwork on the slipcover on the book’s actual cover. Yuuko <3

Work & Event Artworks

lots of them

Goods Artworks

Some stuff featured on Dakimakuras, post cards etc. Did I already mention that I like Melon-chan cosplays?

Magazine and Books Artworks & Staff drawings

There’s also a picture my mate drew. Can you guess which it is?

Rough Illustrations

There are linearts for almost every artwork featured on the previous pages.

Mitsuishi Shona SD Characters

Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi Chibi; Note: Yuuko Melon-chan cosplay

ef - a fairy tale of the two. Visual Fanbook

• Publisher: Enter Brain
• Year: 2010
• Pages: 512
• Price: ¥4,000
• Link: HMV Online

Characters by Nanao Naru

Characters by 2C=Galore

The book is divided into character chapters just like the game. And here is the reason why that thing is 500 pages strong; Almost every Event-CG has been printed on paper in this book. I think this is only interesting to hardcore fans.

Event CGs

Character Synopsis

You find this at the start of every chapter.

the first tale. Opening Storyboard

tha latter tale. Opening Storyboard

Character Design

Background Art

And last but not least, the great slipcover

And that’s it. Phew~ I’m sorry though. I think it became a little boring midway through. >:

Holy moly, finally a new blog post from me. Since I’m currently sick at home I had some spare time to take care of my blog. I’m sorry for the long absence and I will be sorry for my future absence. I’ll inform you about it in another blog post (maybe) later this week.

For now, I’ll go with posting some minori loot which arrived through the last 5 months. So much stuff arrived and blogging about everything would take decades- okay, maybe not that long but trust me, It’d take too long… So here’s only the stuff which is worth to be mentioned.

ef - a fairy tale of the two. PS2 [AmiAmi exclusive First Press Limited Edition]

This is the PS2 conversion of both of minori’s ef games; ef - the first tale. & ef - the latter tale., released by COMFORT. They didn’t just convert the game but also added some new event CGs. These are nice to have but just a drop in the ocean since ef almost consists of only event CGs.

First thing I noticed about it was the massive box. It’s much bigger than any of the Visual Novel boxes I have so far. It’s now wonder that it is so big though. It has to house the game, a CD and a pillow cover.

The game-disc itself comes with a colored Playing Manual in  usual Amaray PS2 case. It’s rated Cero D (17+) since, even though all ero scenes had been removed, ef features domestic violence.

One of the limited edition’s extras is the “echt forgather” image song CD. The song is sung by Hitomi Harada and, as all the other songs in ef, composed by Tenmon. There are 6 versions on the disc:

1.echt forgather
2.echt forgather KARAOKE
3.echt forgather Blasterhead acid mix
4.echt forgather Floating mix
5.echt forgather banging mix
6.echt forgather (rapbit remix)

You can listen to a sample featuring all the tracks on Gamespot Japan.

There are also 5 stick posters of the main heroines Miyako, Kei, Chihiro, Mitsuki and Yuuko. I was too lazy to unpack them though. Sorry! The phone card is the AmiAmi exclusive good. Not much but hey!

Last, and maybe best extra is a 150×50cm two sided Miyako huggable pillow cover.

Naturally, non-ero. ;-P

Asterisk* “eden*” ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

The eden* soundtrack comes, just like the ef soundtrack, in a beautiful book-like hardcover case.

It features 55 songs on 2 CDs, composed by Tenmon & Eiichiro Yanagi. There’s also a booklet filled with interviews.

ef - car documents cover & eden* - New Years Card

The cover is originally made for housing Japanese car documents. But a German vehicle license fits just perfect. Minori’s New Years Greeting Card 2010 features Sion from eden*. Nagi from ef was featured om the 2009 card.

ef - the latter tale. Promo Mug

Just a little, cute mug from 2008, advertising the second ef game. I just can’t bring myself to use it. >:

Alato “ef - a fairy tale of the two.” ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK …but

What looks like the ef soundtrack is actually something even more awesome…

… it’s signed by the master in person!

I’d like to thank Tenmon and my mate in Japan for this awesome item! <3

That’s it for today. Look forward to Part two, featuring Artbooks.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I’m alive. Except for my April Fools Post I haven’t blogged for over one month! The reasons are simple. I just didn’t feel like it since I’m really busy at work. The usual stuff~

Well, minori’s april fools joke (ef - a real fairy tale.) eventually made me move my ass and visit the original location, of ef - a fairy tale of the two., which the fictional town Otowa was based on. And that location would be the German university town Heidelberg.

Heidelberg lies on the river Neckar in the state Baden-Württemberg

It’s just about an 90 minute drive from my home so I made it a nice one-day trip.

Her goes the comparison:

➀ Mönchgasse / Heiliggeiststrasse

This location was first featured in the first chapter of ef - the first tale. when Hiro found Miyako unconscious lying on the ground next to his damaged Bike, she borrowed to catch a purse snatcher.

➁ St. Peter’s Church

The St. Peter’s Church (ef: Otowa Church) is the oldest church in Heidelberg. As you can see, minori applied some main changes to the bell tower. Also, the interior looks totally different. It’s the key location and featured in all chapters of the ef VNs but not in the anime. They chose another or fictional church for that one.

➂ Hauptstraße / St. Anna-Gasse

Located at the entrance of the big shopping promenade, they left this location without changes major. Even the hotel sign made it into the game.

➃ Hauptstraße / Sofienstraße / Bismarckplatz

Minori only used the house on the right side, shortened and moved it to another location. The neon sign says Haus Der Brille (tl: House of Glasses). It housed a big optician’s store. The house is originally located kitty-corner location ➂.

➄ Plöck / Neugasse

I found this location by chance on my way home. It was only shown in episode 11 of ef - a tale of memories. On their date, Chihiro and Renji came across this Penny Markt Supermarket. It’s located the next street over from location ➂ and ➃.

➅ Heidelberg Castle

In episode 10 of ef - a tale of melodies.  a few stylized photos of Heidelberg were shown. One of them shows the destroyed “fat tower” of the Heidelberg Castle.

I marked the locations on this map

I hope you liked my little tour through Heidelberg/Otowa. As a little bonus, here’s some more Yuuko in front of St. Peter’s Church:

all photos in this article were taken by me

Minori just announced a ef live action drama to be aired this spring. The “drama-collaboration-revolution” will start on April 31st at 29:89 (JST) and will be exclusively broadscasted by TVY. There will be four episodes and the story will slightly differ from the Original Visual Novel.

Cast:

• Shindou Kei: TBD
  
• Tsutsumi Kyosuke: TBD
  
• Hirono Hiro: TBD
  
• Miyamura Miyako: TBD
  
• Shindou Chihiro: TBD
  
• Mizuki Hayama: TBD
  
• Amamiya Yuuko: TBD
  
• Himura Yuu: TBD
  
• The Kitten: Neko Tenshi Yuuna

Staff:

• Director: TBD
  
• Writer: TBD
  
• Lighting: TBD
  
• Audio: TBD

For more information, check out the official website.

Oh boy, I can’t wait to watch this on my ultraawesomeroundhousekick-HD TV.

Anime on big screen, woohoo!

This saturday I’ll leave for a one week vacation to the capital. I just realized how lucky I was choosing this week because saturday the 20th and sunday the 21st are the last two days of the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. And what’s so great? Well, they’ll show two anime during the festival and I have tickets for both of them. One even has it’s world premiere there. I mean, how awesome is that? Watching an anime movie before Japan does. Roar!

These are the movies:

SUMMER WARS

Year: 2009

Duration: 114 min.

Producer: Madhouse Inc.

Director: Mamoru Hosoda (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo, Digimon Adventure)

Synopsis:

SUMMER WARS features a family that is trying to cope with the vagaries of life following the collapse of the world wide web. Set in the near future, the film portrays a dramatic situation in a world in which performing the  simplest of daily tasks has now become almost impossible without the use of the internet. Everyone’s online in the virtual city of Oz, where people use artificial alter egos known as Avatars to do their work for them. Kenji is a student who has a summer job working for the city’s provider. One day he meets Natuski, the girl of his dreams. She invites him back to her home town, Nagano where she surprises Kenji by asking him to pose as her fiancée in order to placate her grandmother. On his first night in Nagao Kenji receives an email asking him to calculate a complex equation. A keen maths student, Kenji works away at the equation until he manages to find the solution. But all at once, everything changes: the next morning the news is full of the story of an Avatar that has run amok and is now terrorising Oz. Kenji is flabbergasted to learn that the offending Avatar is none other than his own. Mamoru Hosoda: “Family bonds are the strongest of networks, no matter how advanced the high-tech networks of the internet are. I would like to create a film with a story which will be accepted by a wide range of people without reference to age or sex. I would like to make a film which the whole family can enjoy as an adventure.”

Trailer:

Uchuu Show e Youkoso

Year: 2010

Duration: 136 min.

Producer: A-1 Pictures Inc.

Director: Koji Masunari (Kamichu!, R.O.D)

Synopsis:

A tiny mountain village in a remote woodland region. Five primary school kids have come together in this idyllic spot in order to spend their summer holidays at a camp. At first the children enjoy carefree days amidst un -
spoiled nature far away from adult supervision. But their life changes dramatically when they come across what they believe to be a small dog, badly in need of help. The creature – known as Pochi – turns out not to be a dog at all but an alien on an important mission. It seems there is a mysterious substance on earth that is coveted throughout the universe. Pochi had almost found it but was so badly injured during a fight that he had to give up his search. Thanks to the children’s help, the alien survives – and decides to reward them generously. “Where would you most like to travel?” is the question Pochi puts to his rescuers. Their answer is prompt, if vague: “As far as possible!” Pochi suggests they try the moon first of all, and so, the alien whisks away the kids to the satellite next door. This marks the beginning of an absolutely amazing adventure. During the course of their travels they discover that the substance coveted throughout the universe is in fact also integral to Japanese cuisine – and it just so happens that one of the kids has some of this mysterious substance in his pocket.

Trailer:

Minori’s new project for 2010 will be another ef fandisc by the name of “Angel Sunday “ef - a fairy tale of the two.” Pleasurable Box.” Details will be unveiled in the March issue of Comptiq wich comes out on February 10. Also, they’ll reveal more and more informations over the time on their website.

Well, what I obviously can say for sure is that we’ll get at least two new characters. A classmate of Mizuki -Okay, I just came across some informations and found out that this girl is also Hayama Mizuki, with her first name spelled differently though. (Would be too much of a spoiler to tell you why that is. Just play the games!)- and her meganekko teacher/mother(?). Also, doesn’t that character design of the new girls look familiar? …

… Of course it does! It’s by Chikotamu, who was in charge of the character design for minori’s latest game “eden* they were only two on the planet.” That makes 3 character designers for a single game:

• Nanao Naru: Female Characters
• 2C=Galore : Male Characters + Hirono Nagi
• Chikotamu: New Characters

Maybe 4, if we get some SD-Character scenes by Shona. Has any other Visual Novel before had more than two character designers?

Damn! I’m SO looking forward to this. More ef, hell yeah! I have to get that Comptiq Magazine for the sake of fanboyism. And SHAFT should better prepare themselves for an OVA or something. Uh oh, I’m indulging in wishful thinking again.

In other news, minori and Comfort released first sample pictures of the Limited Edition content of “ef  - a fairy tale of the two.” for PS2. A two sided Miyamura Miyako Hugging Pillow-cover and a new Image Song CD.

Just for the record: The PS2 version will be released on April 29. You can pre-order it here.

PS: For todays ISML post check out Fabrice’s Blog. I’m just too much in ef-mood to make another blogpost for today.

Another somewhat easy round. But please, ISML staff, please do something about the character pics! ;_;

My Votes

I have to admit, I never was a big fan of Good Smile Company. Basically because the eyes of most of their figures look kinda strange imo. ALTER is still my favourite figure manufacturer. Well…So far at least. Because it may change with this figure. GSC will bring us what I’ve really, really longed for. A 1/8 PVC figure of Senjougahara Hitagi from Bakemonogatari.

This prototype is just perfect in every way. The details are great and they couldn’t have chosen a better pose.

Oh man, what would she look like when she’s completely painted? <3

I don’t really care about her price. I’ll get her, whatever it costs. Anyone else MUST GET? I just hope her release won’t turn into a total delay-disaster like Black Rock Shooter had to face.

Maybe I should ask some Japanese comrade to steal her for me! >:3

*figure photo by DannyChoo