{Words of Songs} ~ for the translation of anime & game lyrics

In this update:
Prop Plus Petit Fullmetal Alchemist
Yujin Deformed Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Portable Figurine Set
…and Blurbs about Oretsuba, K-on!

Prop Plus Petit Fullmetal Alchemist

- Surely amongst the first of literally hundreds of Fullmetal Alchemist merchandise to come for the new anime season in April, preorder for Prop Plus Petit Fullmetal Alchemist mini-figurine set has opened. Like other PPP sets, a box will feature nine variations (Edward, Alphonse, Winry, Mustang, Hawkeye, Hughes) and retail for 4,725 yen, or 473 yen individually as blind boxes. Each mini-figurine is about 1.5 inches tall and comes with a small keychain trinket (hence ‘prop plus’) The set will be released in late May 2009, probably on or around May 25th.
- Fullmetal Alchemist was one of the few shows that I watched pre-bittorent era and steadily followed, so I’m looking forward to the new season and, by connection, all of the merchandise to come. You will probably see a lot of future Merchandise Tidbits posts featuring Fullmetal Alchemist stuff, since my current fixation, Kuroshitsuji, will be over by April. Anyhow, I have the Fullmetal Alchemist PPP set on preorder— I’ll be keeping two figurines out of the set and selling off the rest. I was kind of hoping that the set will feature some new character as a spoiler for the new series, but I guess not.

Yujin Deformed Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Portable Figurine Set
- Following up on their special figurine set for the Higurashi Daybreak PSP game (Keiichi, Rena, Rika), Yujin is planning to release another Higurashi set, this time in blind boxes, featuring two variations each of Rena, Mion, Satoko, Rika, and Hanyu.
- I’ve been trying to get the Keiichi figurine from the PSP set for a while since I prefer male figurines, but no luck. Out of all female characters of Higurashi, I like Hanyu the most, so I’ll probably try my luck at securing a Hanyu figurine from this new set from Yujin. Yes, I know it’s Yujin, so quality won’t be the tops, but at least it’s a cheap figurine. I know that it’ll be tough to get the Hanyu secondhand on auction sites since she has a cult following in Japan. Her mini-figurines get bid up to about six times the original retail value.

Blurbs
- Navel’s newest work, Ore-tachi ni wa Tsubasa ga Nai —Under the innocent sky, was released last week. The eroge features art by everyone’s favorite fugly illustrator, Nishimata Aoi. I want Suzuhira Hiro back.
- KyoAni’s upcoming anime K-on! is receiving the Cospatio treatment already. A photo of the girls’ uniform costumes by Cospatio has already surfaced in the staff blog for K-on! and Cospatio is expected to put out the costume in the coming month.