Anime Lover's Paradise!

Tuesday February 26^th, 2013

To pep up the morning, a cup of Chestnut Café Latte from Hi-Life was purchased. I can’t tell if its sweet flavor comes from mostly sugar or actual nutty essence. Either way, I’ve come to realize I quite enjoy nut flavored coffee (hazelnut and chestnut at the top).

For the past month or so, I’ve written Taffy on my laptop because I find it easier to compose there compared to paper and pen. As a result of being behind thanks to those event filled days at Taizhong, I’ve resorted to the handwriting method at school in attempt to catch up. Joy.

My chica seat buddy was brave enough to ask me for English homework help. I’m glad she did because she would’ve had a heck of a time answering it correctly by herself.  I, the native English speaker, was having a really hard time figuring out what the question was, if there were any special requirements and the answer. For example,

Question’s sentence: Hundreds of people died because of the tsunami.

Answer: The tsunami (leave)___________.

From what I guessed, you switch around the sentences contents into a different format. But I just couldn’t figure out a way to include the word “leave” for something like that without going into something ridiculously elaborate. The student said in China, they use “leave” as another way to say “died.” But ‘the tsunami left hundreds of people’ just doesn’t make sense in English. That’s why I was having trouble, because of problems like that. Man that homework was difficult!

Lunch was grabbed from the buffet at B1…because I’m still in the mood for stinky tofu. Still! XD After devouring stinky tofu, cabbage, onions, three sweet potato fries and one pumpkin slice, my classmate tells me that we will have P.E. class today. Sure, nothing unusual threre…until she said we would weigh ourselves. My face turned white in shock. Weight ourselves? With lunch still in our stomach? And everyone watching your results? Oh jeez.

In the meantime, we had history class with a substitute since our real teacher was on an abroad trip. The substitute took notice of me and found out I was American. It suited the lesson nicely because they were covering colonial America. At one point she asked me “Independent. America is independent?” I know it wasn’t a question but more of a participatory confirmation but I dreamed up a patriotic response. In my imagination I proudly stood up, placed my fists triumphantly on my sides and declared, “The United States of America has been free since 1776 when our forefathers bravely signed the Declaration of Independence creating a free nation based on the prospect of life, liberty and happiness!” Yadda yadda yaddda. XD That would’ve been fun especially if I threw in some southern flare. :P

They also learned about the history behind Thanksgiving Day and the teacher asked me if apple pie is eaten during that holiday. I replied that you could but pumpkin pie is the most common. Later when I asked my classmates if they’d ever eaten pumpkin pie before, they replied no saying that Taiwan doesn’t really have such a dessert. A shocked gasp escaped from my mouth and I tried explaining how delicious it is. Funnily enough, before today pumpkin pie crossed my mind more than once thanks to eating normal pumpkin slices. That’s something to definitely look forward when back in America!

Sooooo…the P.E. physical…awkward. At least in America your weight is recorded privately. In Taiwan, nope! This was my first time getting weighed by a digital scale in Taiwan, which made the act all the more terrifying. Just think, six months without a scale. That tends to make a girl nervous. XD I knew I’d gained weight in Taiwan, despite all my efforts not to, but the question was how much. Not kidding, I thought I suffered a 20 or 30lb gain. Turns out it was only 10lbs! Whoo! No I’m not proud of gaining but I’m proud of not gaining as much as I thought. All the easier to fix in America, which I will, mark my words! >:D

What was cool was that the scale also had a height measurer characteristic and it all was automatic. So you stand on the machine, it takes your weight while a little marker slides down until it touches the top of your head. That measurement is taken and they combine to calculate your body fat count. Pretty nifty gizzy!

Eyesight tests were also included, one being the classic cover one eye and read that far away sign. Differences were that they actually provided you an eyepatch on a stick as well as the far away sign being an electric sign. Instead of letters, it uses something that looks like an “E” rotated in all four directions. A student controls the sign with a remote, selecting a size of the “E” (big at the top and increasingly getting smaller when moving down). The tester will say which was the shape is facing (so ”E” would be to the right) until they can’t distinguish the shape anymore.

There was a second machine that mocked an arcade game. It had a joystick and two eye holes you look through. The same shape (like “E”) is used and you have to move the joystick in the direction that it is facing. Keep doing that until you get one wrong. It records each eye’s results, 0 being the worst and 2.5(?) being the best. I ended up with a 2.0 for my left eye and a 1.0 for my right. Woah, what a difference! A 2.0 eyesight is pretty darn good according to my classmates, being better than most. I can understand that since many Taiwanese become near sighted thanks to the evilness of school and need glasses.

An exploration of Taipei Main Station’s famous underground mall was finally commenced. Whoo! I’ve been wanting to go there because I’ve heard there were several anime stores. The one ‘animate’ store is not enough to satisfy me. Beforehand back in Texas, the quest to buy one particular item was birthed and I was determined to search for it in Taiwan for cheap. This item is a Revoltech No.095 figurine of Ishida Mitsunari. He’s part of a set of six and I own all of the other five. I just need him to complete my collection and fill my heart. The catch is that this figurine that should cost less than $60US online has been previously priced at a whopping $300US and currently dropped to $240US. See, I really really want this guy but Andrea is not rich. That is why I hoped to find him for a reasonable price in Taiwan since it’s an Asian country where anime is popular. Hence today’s anime store expedition was quite anticipated.

From what I can tell there are three different underground malls at Taipei Station (this station is SUPER vast, enough to include the subway, train and high speed railway). They can be labeled under three different letters, Z, Y and K. I first visited the Z mall. It was big for sure, a welcome characteristic to gain a lovely walk for countering today’s weighing. XD In the entire Z mall I only found one anime related store, small and condensed.

In this store I looked around the left side first and no luck. Switching to the right side, I scanned through the figurine merchandise and BAM! Andrea was blown away at the sight of her beloved anime, Sengoku Basara! There were various types of figurine boxes, all of characters I know and love. It was then I realized I wouldn’t leave the store without purchasing one or two. XD Observing the boxes they appeared to be the luck and chance kind where you buy one and hope to get a certain character out of the advertised available ones. (I learned of those devious boxes the hard way a long time ago. When innocent Andrea wanted a handsome Sesshoumaru figurine at a convention, she ended up with the perverted Miroku. No me gusta!) After observing the different figurine designs, which characters were included and weighting my luck options at getting a cherished character, I settled on one type. When I read the prices, I scratched my head in confusion. Though the same type and design, some boxes were 400NT and 450NT while others were 550NT. Quite peculiar. Scaling a couple with my hands, the price-based-on-weight theory was tossed out. I just couldn’t understand why there were different prices for the same thing.

Then it dawned upon me. Next to the price tag was a sticker with two characters written on it. All the boxes had differed in this aspect. What if…does the box say their names? It does?! *ding ding ding*! It so happens that it’s not a luck box at all! The names of each character were handwritten on a sticker, labeling each one and taking all guess work out of it. Praise the Lord! That was so AMAZING! With this feature I knew exactly who I was buying and got all the more excited! As I predicted, I did indeed leave the store with a purchase, three in fact. Want to know who I got? *eyebrow wiggle*

TADA! My love Motochika (middle), heroic Ieyasu (right) and friendly Keiji (left). ARE THEY NOT UNBELIEVABLY ADORABLE?! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! They are seriously AWESOME! I fell in love with them at the store as pictures on the box but after unpacking them the feeling increased tenfold! LOVE!

Now I’m seriously considering buying the other four. Come on, can you blame me? America has no traces of selling such items and Sengoku Basara is my favorite show of all time by far. Those few who know how strong I feel about the show/game, they know how badly I want to purchase these darlings. Getting all of them is a big chunk out of my pocket but would be so worth it. I’m still contemplating the matter but I have a feeling I know the results. ;P

Once completed a round around the Z Mall, I went on to try the Y Mall. Based on a Internet post, I knew several anime stores would be in the Y Mall and I hoped I could find them somewhere in the long hallways of the underground mall. Hehe, I laugh at that thought now. I did indeed find what I was looking for…thrice the amount. Duuuuuude, that place is like an anime lover’s paradise! Store after store after store lined the extensive hallways, most containing anything from figurines, mangas, games, dueling cards and more. I must’ve visited over twenty of them! Quite the “wow” feeling for sure!

Figurine Shop

Duelist Card Shop

Each and every store was thoroughly browsed through for any sign of Sengoku Basara stuff and fingers crossed for the Mitsunari figurine. I searched and searched, checking every nook and cranny and even asking the promising looking owners if they owned my desired figurine. Two of them immediately responded “no” without checking their computer or stock, which I found strange. One kind man tried looking but to no avail. Hope wasn’t yet lost! Several heart attacks struck me when I spotted Revoltech action figures from Sengoku Basara, though of characters I already have back in America. It gave me hope that the possibility of Mitsunari hiding at one of these stores was potential. The characters I found were Date, Mouri, White Yukimura and a whole bunch of Motochika. Seeing the prices, I chuckled at how I had to pay more online with shipping when it was cheaper here. No regrets at all though! A part of me wanted to purchase several Motochika since they were so well priced. XD Of course I didn’t. :P

Can I rant a bit more about Sengoku Basara? Other products I found relating to this show was a cheap keychain of the Chosokabe clan (which I bought), the Japanese games and a book series with artwork that looked a bit different from the norm.

One last thing relating to Sengoku Basara. I entered a store filled with figurines and did my sweep of the stock. The white Yukimura spotted made my heart skip a beat but what really affected me was in the back behind glass. Upon sight I nearly fainted from disbelief. THERE WAS A MITSUNARI FIGURINE RIGHT THERE! OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS! I can best describe my reaction with this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsKAxsb7EQs

First I’m standing around looking through the store then proceed to animatedly flip out. Oh I was so ecstatic! I would actually be able to get Mitsunari and complete my collection! Oh happy day! Oh sweet Lord, thank you! ‘So what’s the price?” I thought. SMASH! Jackhammer to the heart! An evil 5200NT was stickered onto his box. That’s like $174US. Sure it’s better than online but I still can’t afford it. My raised hopes went crashing to the ground. Mixed in with tiredness and dehydration, I wasn’t feeling too well. Such discomfort lingered for hours until I arrived home, ate and calmed down. That totally sucks! There was the object I’ve been after for so long, only glass separating us and the price continued to keep us apart. Gosh darn it! I shan’t give in though! All I can do now is pray that the online price magically goes down. *fingers crossed*

I neglected to explore the K Mall because of how bad I was feeling. Therefore I went straight home solely listening to Sengoku Basara music all the way home since the occasion seemed to called for it. One thing I realized today, I’m getting super good at spotting the Japanese writing of “Sengoku Basara” among the hundreds of other animes. Skillz right thar! ;P

Since host grandmother, father and mother were out doing medical or work engagements for most of the night, I had to get dinner myself like my host father warned me the night before. A nice orange and Nature Valley bar did the trick! Yet another way to fight my round belly. :P

Overall, today was fantastic being an eye opener to the previously unknown anime store world in Taipei. The visit was definitely a blast and another trip before I leave is in order. *thinks of the smaller more affordable figurines* XD Good night y’all. Sleep well!