Decided to make this an irregular series, because why not. As usual, being a BUTAOTOME website, I’ll only talk about the Pig-related content, but I’ll dedicate a couple of extra paragraphs to other stuff.
I got most of the stuff thanks to my friend Jaefine from Japan. She also handled some stuff from last year that was never shipped before (thanks, unreliable proxy who shipped things 7-9 months later, after constant reminders and “ship the stuff as soon as possible” messages).
Retake+ and its event-exclusive set. I wanted to give an in-depth review to this album, but the whole event-limited mess during a time Japan’s Covid cases were going crazy kinda soured my opinion on it, and I didn’t write anything as a form of protest. As I said multiple times, an album with re-recordings of old classic was inevitable, especially during this current era. But Retake+ is not an album I listen to, mainly because I’m too used to the original versions. However, I still recommend giving it a shot if you love those oldies; the re-recordings are still great and you can hear the differences mainly in Ranko’s voice and technique. Also, there are some songs that I think sound better in their 2022 version (Kyoai, Haruka Tooi Sora no Koe, Hakanaki Mono Ningen). The Afterword book is a fun read, you can read its translation here in case you missed it!
It’s the Hakuma EP! Yeah, it became obsolete 2 months after its release, but the art is still good and I love its 2 songs. My review is here.
(btw, this is not exactly related to the songs, but for those who like creepypasta/short horror stories: do you know about the “forbidden wiki”?)
Yuuma’s acrylic stand! Buta’s first attempt at making this type of goods that for some reason always charmed me. The Ane one was much more popular, and in the sea of photos flooding the #旅する姉 hashtag, I think I never saw these two together… I’ll try to take pics of Toutetsu and the bunny traveling together in the future. In the meantime, they’ll guard my CD collections. (funny thing is that my copy of Juushin is still stuck in America, mainly because my boyfriend forgot it last time he visited me…)
Some UNDEAD CORPORATION albums! My boyfriend already has Otogizoushi. As I said in one of my favorite posts of all time, Ranko’s UC stuff is some of her best and consistently good material. To complete the full set I’m only missing the first TOHO COMPLETE BOX (The special disc has Ranko’s version of Karakurenai, but I wish there was a physical release with just the special disc songs), but also the Kancolle album with Ane’s art. By the way, have you ever bought an album exclusively for the cover art? (although it’s an actually good album, so I wouldn’t mind getting it)
GET IN THE RING’s Activity Case 5, with Forgotten Paradise. While I do vastly prefer the live version, I preferred to get the original single because I don’t feel qualified to have the Activity live album. I’m still in my quest of collecting Hifuu-related stuff with Buta contributions, and (excluding stuff my boyfriend has) I’m only missing 1569’s Renko Birthday set (link to digital; physical is hard to find + some people love to sell CD+Book+Whatever sets in separated pieces) and TUMENECO’s genmu (impossible to find cheap – a couple of weeks ago I found an auction that started from 1 yen, but then it became a shitshow around the end)
It was about time. These two had the only Ranko songs that were still missing in my collection.
So, what is Phlox Café? It was a collab project made in 2012-2014 that spawned 3 book + CD sets, centered on the concept of a coffee shop where doujin creators gather. The first one was eventually made available for free by the project planner themselves, and you can download it here. Ranko sang several vocal songs featured in the CDs. Honestly, I can’t recommend them unless you are a gigantic Ranko fan, but kirari from Phlox Café 2 is a pretty good song!
An old signed t-shirt found on Mercari. This was from… 2014, I believe. The signed stuff was of course not an official part of the t-shirt. They are about what each member eats before a live/favorite food (this will be important later).
For all the Shoujo Rengoku fanboys out there, this is a Sound Voltex card with an exclusive Eirin art drawn by Ane! I’m not familiar with Sound Voltex cards… Apparently, Genesis Cards are a type of cards that could be printed at arcades. Most of them have illustrations from song jackets, but Konami also made some exclusive ones. Some Touhou ones (including this one) were distributed at Reitaisai events.
FREAKS IC Card sticker! It was part of some MelonBooks promo stuff back in 2016 where if you bought two CD they gave you IC Card stickers with albums covers.
Okay, this is not something I physically bought (I got it from Bookwalker), but I decided to include it to give it a bit of spotlight. It’s a book about Norse Mythology, and features some very cool Ane art (among works by other illustrators such as Hisona).
So, I’m done with the Buta items, now time for some extras…
Jae was nice enough to ship me some umeboshi, also known as “Ranko’s favorite food”. And… While real umeboshi probably tastes a bit different, honestly I found them very good… I’m sorry for my boyfriend and my mother…
These two dolls were made by an artist called Ruzi. They have a BOOTH with a vast selection of characters, including PC-98 girls! They also include some very nice freebies. I’ve bought a Kosuzu and an Adelina (Jacketko) and here are them, paired with fitting Buta releases. I’ve also ordered a Futo for a friend, and I’ll definitely order some others in the future!
You know, I have been a Touhou fan since 2010, but… In all these years, I never got any official game. I have some books and all the main entries of the ZUN’s Music Collection, but no game, which is supposed to be the main focus of Touhou, the one beloved and pushed by mad purists. Well, there is my boyfriend who has EoSD… :beatmario_fan: Anyway, I consider these games as my favorite Touhous and they are very important to me. I will probably elaborate more on my love for them on future posts, but in the meantime I’m working on a re-review of the Kikeijuu trilogy (Goku-Ese Souretsu Shinan-Shoujo Rengoku 5)! They’ll partially be a rewrite since I think the old reviews are still kinda decent, but I want to add some more things and update them with the new format.
“Why are you writing re-reviews, there is no point IMHO…”
“Well, why is Persona 3 getting a remake while it got the multiplatform release only last year?”
(Scott tvb)
And that’s all for today’s post! Unless there is some surprise rarity on second hand shops or Meikasai gives us something cool, my next package will be for Comiket 102. See you next article!