So you wanna know about some of my new Japanese toys?

(as always, click on pics for original images)

One of the best things about Japan (for ME anyway) is that it is the home of some of my favorite cartoons!  Here, they are called anime (an-knee-may), and they are very popular!  Most anime on TV has stemmed from comic books that were very, very popular.  The comics are called manga (man-gah).  These terms are starting to be tossed around America too, so maybe you've heard them?  However, the cool toys have yet to reach the States!  Here are a few from my current manga/anime obsession: INUYASHA!

Inuyasha is just the name of the white-haired, sword-weilding young man up there.  Well, half-man and half-youkai (yo-kai=a Japanese demon, of sorts), really...  The woman (yes, woman!) who wrote it is probably the most successful female comic artist in Japan.

Remember "capsule machines"?  You know, put in the quarter, turn the crank, get a crappy toy... or a crappy ring, sticker, or candy as with the US machines.  Well, Japanese ones are cooler!  They have fun toys to buy!  Here are some of the mini-figures I've got.  The Inuyasha one is my new homepage mascot. (:  Underneath him, it reads, "Kaze no kizu!" (kah-zay no kee-zoo) which is what he says when he does this attack with his sword.  It means, 'wound/cut of the wind'... and sounds cooler in Japanese, huh?

The other ifgure is a bad dude named Bankottsu.  Behind the two of them you can see the little paper that accompanies every toy, it shows you the other figures in the set, and to the left is the little plastic bubble they come in. (:  One figure to a capsule, and for only 100 yen.  (About a buck)

Set Two

There are also more complicated figures, as you can see here!  Here are my Inuyasha, Kagome, and Miroku figures from a different set of toys.  Also, the paper in front of them and the capsule to the left.  These figures, being a little more complicated, cost 200 yen, so about 2 bucks.  Which is still kinda cheap. (:

Here's another shot of one of the two Inuyasha models--him pouting in a tree.  The other (which I've gotten since-actually, I have all of them!) has him pinned to a tree.  You can see it on the paper.

And here's the Kagome figure, with an unopened Kagome capsule next to her.  Can you see the grass and her skirt? (:  Wondering how she fit into that tiny little ball...?

What've you done to Kagome?!

Ta-Dah!!

The figures all made out of tiny, tiny pieces!  And they come apart in the funniest places. (:  Like, you can almost always take off a character's hair and bangs!  But it makes them easier to paint, I'm sure.  Either, way, it's fun. (:

Click Inuyasha there to go home!