What's Nuevo???

New junk I just got around to scanning

Yeah, I know, I hate going into the drug store for some last minute Halloween candy and seeing the Hallmark ornaments already on display and the Xmas carols pumping over the PA. And I despise super-efficient friends announcing that they have their holiday shopping done by August 26th. I feel your pain. But why not fend off the pre-holiday PMS by asking your sweetie to buy you anime toys? Gobs and gobs of anime toys! And to help, here's some "Gifts for ME" suggestions....

Card Captor Sakura

Giochi Preziosi/Italian stuff

If you've seen my Sailor Moon section, then you might be aware that some of the best Moon dolls were not produced by Bandai Japan, but rather and Italian company whose name means "precious gift." Now that Card Captor Sakura is appearing in Europe, Giochi Preziosi has produced some stunning 11" scale dolls and toys for the show.

All the dolls and things in the following section were purchased from Pietro Muscara's Collectibles.

Plush Kero-chan

Kero-chan check! This vicious beast guards the gates of Hell. But in his spare time, disguised in a form that suspiciously resembles a plush teddy bear, Cerberus plays the cel-phone-gabbing, cake-chomping mentor to Sakura-chan. Here's a look at the critter in box.

Sakura in her pink outfit

Giochi has made an 11" scale (ie, Barbie-sized) Sakura-chan doll in a variety of outfits. Unlike other magical girl characters like Sailor Moon, Sakura doesn't magically transform into a power-up outfit. Instead, her Card Captor costumes are lovingly sewed by her friend, Tomoyo. This doll is dressed in one of Tomoyo's best known creations, a fluffly pink outfit with little kero-like wings.

Sakura in her roller skates

Like most shoujo heroines, during her off hours, Sakura is a Japanese school girl. Here is Sakura ready to roll off to class in her inline skates. Note that she also had knee and elbow pads.

Sakura in pajamas

Sakura is ready for bed, and she even has a pillow with her name on it (in English). If you look really closely, you'll see what I think is the best feature of this outfit: a pair of tiny Kero-chan slippers!

Sakura with plush Kero-chan

Awwww, Sakura has her own plush Kero-chan toy! Maybe she just had good luck at the UFO catcher machine? Though this is darn cute, if you take a close look at the back of the box, you'll see that the doll's prototype had a tiny plastic Kero-chan that hung by a thread from Sakura's hand, to simulate a little flying Kero-chan!

Sakura in school uniform, with extra outfit

This deluxe set (which is supposed to be limited) includes an extra Card Captor outfit for Sakura-chan: the one that reminds me of a little jester.

Sakura with wand

This magnificent deluxe set includes Sakura in her red-caped Card Captor outfit (my fave Captor costume) and a kid-sized Clow Wand. If you look closely at the back of the box, yet another outfit, Sakura with the kitty ears, is pictured. I haven't yet seen this doll, so I wonder if they decided to substitute the second Sakura in her school uniform for this one.

Bandai Japan stuff

I'm not quite sure why Bandai Japan didn't decide to follow Giochi Preziosi's lead and produce a line of 11" scale CCS dolls. Perhaps they did, but so far, the only fashion doll-sized Sakura I've been able to find is the one made by Volks. The dolls I've pictured below are approximately 8" scale.

All of these tchotchkes were purchased from Luthien Enterprises.

Sakura in her school uniform

Sakura is all ready for junior high. This set includes a little book bag, and a little tiny Kero-chan!

Sakura in pink Card Captor outfit

Though this series also includes separate outfits, this doll comes already dressed in her pink Card Captor outfit. Accessories include, of course, a clow wand, clow cards, and a tiny Kero-chan.

Tomoyo in her school uniform

Besides a little book bag, Tomoyo's accessories include, of course, her video camera. If they make more dolls in this series, I'd love to see a set of Tomoe's bodyguards!

Sakura's "jester" Card Captor outfit

Unlike most magical girl heroines, Sakura wears a different power up outfit in nearly every episode, thanks to the faithful Tomoyo-chan. This is the outfit that reminds me a little of a court jester, with curling toes and lots of tassles.

Sakura's yellow Card Captor outfit

Here's a poufy yellow dress for Sakura-chan to fight evil.

Sakura's "bunny" Card Captor outfit

I don't think I've seen the episode where Sakura wears this outfit yet. With the fuzzy fabric and little ears, in seems to be her bunny costume. Maybe she was out fighting Sailor Moon?

Sailor Moon World

And you thought it all ended with Sailor Stars. Undaunted, the Sailor Moon juggarnaut plunges on with a live action musical. Scary as this sounds (something on the order of a Jar Jar Binks love story), it has nonetheless caused the production of more more more and better Sailor Moon World dolls and tchotchkes.

These items were purchased from Kanoko.

Sailor Moon Collection

OK, so if you're like I am, your basement already overflowing with a million billion Sailor Moon dolls, you might ask, why the heck do I want to purchase more? Take a look at this set of the five inner senshi. This piece is gorgeous--the dolls, the outfits, the packaging, everything. Plus, the back shows goofy pictures of the live action musical.

Sailor Moon

Here is Sailor Moon herself in her musical costume. You'll notice from the image that this doll uses a different head mold than most of the old Bandai Japan Moon dolls. The back shows more goofy pictures form the stage show, plus some more cool collectibles, like yet another wand, and some kid costumes. The box notes that this is "Sailor Moon Collection 1," which makes me hope Bandai will also produce the other senshi in this series.

Sailor Moon Wand

I think the proper name for this puppy is something like the "Eternal Tiaru," but whatever, all you need to know is that we have yet another power up weapon. The packaging on this puppy is excellent, with little blurbs about all the major characters down either side.

Color Change Licca-chan

It's time to change, as the Brady kids told us. Licca-chan and her friends and relatives are celebrating by adopting all sorts of weird and strange hair colors. I guess the deal is you put the hair under water to produce even stranger color effects. Trippy!

All of these items were purchased from R & D collectibles.

Izumi

Licca's pal Izumi actually comes off as conservative in this lot, spotting fire engine red hair and a pink dress that almost matches it.

Kira

Kira, where did you get that green hair? If she were wearing a bikini instead of a blue party dress, and carried a whip instead of a hairbrush, she'd look like one of the Amazoness Quartet.

Aki

Orange hair and a green dress--I used to live in an apartment that was decorated just like Aki-chan.

Licca-chan

Licca-chan herself sports stylish lavender hair with a lavender dress.

Miki

Maki

Even Licca-chan's little twin brother and sister are in on the groovy hair color feelings.