Appreciate the Toilet!

Toilets are the most important, but neglected part of the household, you can basically gauge a person by looking at the state of his/her toilet at home. The Japanese have always known how important this part of the family is and have therefore created the loveable, if not somewhat bizarre Mr. Toilet.

Like the Toro stools we used to have in stock, the big Mr. Toilet is a TV seat you can place in front of the sofa to rest your feet on, if you are too big to sit on it. Compared to the cats, these seats are softer and lighter, so it works just as well as a plush doll.

But then, who really wants to hold a toilet when they sleep? How about a Mr. toilet under the Christmas tree?

The small Mr. Toilet is definitely not for sitting on, however, you can hang it on your toilet door to tell your guests where they can relieve themselves. Or if your Christmas tree is really big and the branches really strong, you can hang them up. They'd make some very unique ornaments.


Enough with the words, a picture speaks a thousand words, and we have quite a few:

Happy birthday, cup noodles

No food is quite as convenient as cup noodles. To celebrate the product's birthday, fans get a fun, even somewhat bizzare birthday gift. Turn the wheel at the bottom of the cup to set the time, press on the kettle and do all you can to return the noodle pieces into a neat circle within three minutes, otherwise, everything will burst out of the cup.

Putting everthing back is deceptively easy, afterall, there aren't that many pieces ot put together in the first place, yet you really need an eye for detail if you are to follow the curve of each of the noodles.

You can choose between three flavours, seafood, plain and curry. Seafood is the easiest, plain is normal and curry is the most difficult. Try out the different flavours and see what side dishes you can put into your noodle cups. As shown in the picture, shrimps, corn and barbequed pork goes quite well with plain noodles.

You can make use of the timing device in these toys. Pour hot water into your edible cup noodle and use the three minutes to play the puzzle. When the pieces exploded all over the table, you'd know that your noodle is ready to serve.

For those who are more interested in the food than the puzzle, please check here for the full list flavors available.

Cinderella+Pygmalion with twists - Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge and Nobuta wo Produce

Summer is a time for scares, and Sunako loves them. Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge is the story of four Bishounen's attempts at turning the horror-loving girl around into a lady. A bit of a Cinderella and a bit of a Pygmalion tale, you might think "I've seen that before!" and dismissed it.

Yes, you might have seen it before, but with hilarity at this magnitude? From urban legends such as the seven school mysteries, vampires lores and the top grossing Japanese horror film, the Ring, this series takes all of the fun elements and mix them together into a ghost house ride.

The anime is a low budget production, instead of cheapness, however, the anime maker's clever use of SD characters and presentation makes the anime even more humorous.

Another drama which takes a similar vein is Nobuta wo Produce, instead of having a horror loving action heroine, Nobuko, a.k.a Nobuta is merely a bullied, quiet girl who failed at finding a place in her class. In come Shuuji and Akira, the two handsome boys who take up the challenge to "produce" her.

Again, seen that? done that? but have you seen Johnny's boys do it? Kamenashi and Yamashita even did a role play on romantic interaction for Nobuta (and the laughing audience). It's not really what they do for Nobuta that garnered praise, it's the growing friendship (with light homoerotic undertones) that really pulls the overused theme a notch above the others.

Hilarity and homoerotic undertones aside, there is one common factor that makes these two show differ from the usual Cinderella+Pygmalion mixes.

Instead of really changing the girl by decking her in beautiful clothes and sweet-talking her to build up her confidence, what the shows really did are having the public change perception of the girl.

Sunako won her first friend Noi over with her action heroine and cooking prowesses. Soon she enamored other girls by her willingness to chase cockroaches away for them. Although in SD form most of the time, her quietness still managed to win her some (mis)guided suitors.

All the boys really did is to drag Sunako to school and occasional counselling sessions with her. Pretty clothes crop up almost every chapter, but they really are foils. What changed was the public, not Sunako herself (at least not her sense of style).

Having to wear a school uniform for the most part of the year meant that the usual Cinderella trick won't work. Shuuji and Akira had tried to go around it and decked Nobuta in designer clothes. Her popularity is shortlived, for she has to go back to wearing her school uniform and the crowd around her dissipated.

It is by accepting the tests that her classmates and the boys pushed at her that Nobuta showed them another side of herself. She did not become the bubbly, high strung heroine, she remains quiet and awkward, it's the crowd that slowly learns to accept what she is.

Lay your rational mind to rest - Earl and Fairy

As long as you are not too serious about it, Earl and Fairy is a perfectly entertaining show. It it not pretending to be anything other than pure shoujo fun, so do expect a lot of handsome men, close ups of their faces, sweet talking and absurdly grand adjectives. Let your minds relax a bit, why so serious?

The show introduces us to Edgar, the lethally dangerous nobleman who is dying to get a sword to prove his lineage and Rydia, the fairy doctor whom he abducts along the way to aid his search. The usual stuff happens, formal dinner parties, grand cruises, actions and sword fights with violence obscured, or toned down with a layer of bubbles and dazzlies and of course, fairies.

For all its mention of torture, kidnapping and other horrible happenings, this series manages to keep itself light and bubbly. There is no lesson to be learnt through the series, it won't teach you anything, it won't make you think, in fact, the best way to enjoy the show is through shutting your rational senses down completely.

After all, fairies, as seen in the anime, and a lot of other works such as Peter Pan, are not exactly rational creatures. So, let's be irrational once in a while and jump into Neverland.


The series has all the right props for a model Shojo show. Although it portrays the era featured in Victorian Romance Emma and Kuro shitsuji, it lacks the historical details of the former and the tinge of dark mysteriousness of the later, Earl and Fairy made it all up with pastel pink bubbles, balls and lacy dresses.

A ball happened almost every two episodes, so plenty of chances for the heroine Rydia to (unwillingly) show off the garments in her wardrobe (funded by the Earl, her romantic interest, no less). Balls happened quite a lot in series that featured the upper class in the Victorian era, but it's happening with such frequency is still remarkable. So I just can't help but wonder where, or how they found the money to finance their expensive activities, especially since I have never seen Edgar work at all.

But that doesn't really matter, since the Fairies, whom Edgar governs didn't seem to mind all of these too much, in fact, they have been waiting so long for their king to return that they did not even care too much about the authenticity of the tattoo that marks the lineage of the Blue Knight Earl on Edgar.

The sweet talking, performed mainly by the Earl, forms the staple of the dialog in the show. Perhaps to keep the victorian atmosphere, English words are used constantly to describe the character's attributes e.g. Rydia's eyes are peridot and her hair is rust/caramel colored, while Edgar's eyes are ash mauve. Whether these (ridiculously) grand words are distractions or romantic gestures are up to interpretation.

Although the show has its (glaringly obvious) short comings, the beautifully drawn characters more than make up for it. The details missing in the plot have shown up on the character's facial features, expressions and colourings. It seems like the author and the production team knew exactly where the charm of the series lie and are exploiting it to its full potential.

Let your mind rest, this is not Tytania, Legend of Galactic Heroes, Monster, Death Note or Meitantei Conan, once you get used to the rhythm of Earl and Fairy, it's more and more amusing, plus, there are quite a few eye candies available.

RPGs that are cute - Mana Khemia, Annie no Atilier

The idea of magic schools has existed long before Harry Potter comes into being, but the popular franchise seems to have brought about the rise in a number of these academic institutions, and Mana Khemia is one of them. Although strictly speaking, alchemists are neither witches nor wizards, the idea of turning soil in to gold is nothing less appealing (especially in an age where gold turns into soil).

Let's all go back to school and find our bearings again. There is something very attractive about schools, it signifies innocence, friendship and adventure and Mana-Khemia is exactly this, an ideal school life.
After graduating, with your life intact, think about your future, depending on what ending you get in Mana Khemia, you can either end up with a partner, or a rival for life.

Either way,even for the lazier of you, you still need to find something to do after graduating. Put your skills in alchemy into use, and your grandfather is suggesting that you help up with setting up a resort area.

Just work hard this once, As soon as you ace the game, you can marry the prince and laze around for the rest of your life.

Life is hard enough nowawadays, so play something fun and relaxing, with a bit less tension. Things that can be broken apart are already shattered. Start restructuring things through alchemy, at least in the game world.

Mana Khemia is pretty fun. Everything seems to be under a layer of pastel colored gauze, simply speaking, the whole game is innocent and cute. The character design adopted a shojo manga style (i.e. large eyes, small mouth, delicate limbs). It's truely a game suitable for both genders and players of every age.

The game proceeds at a relaxed pace with the first few chapters focusing more on mundane and comedic situations and character growth and the last few chapters on the truth about the main character's birth. While significantly heavier than the first parts, it's hardly ink black.

Wonderful for first time gamers as the fights ease you gently through the system, by the time you finish the game, you would be adequately equipped to deal with battles in other turn based RPG. There are usually no punishment for losing, you won't have your items plundered or money taken away, you will wake up in the infirmary, fully restored, ready for the challenge again.

Since we are talking about alchemists, I decided to tag the newest installment in the atilier games into the post. Still using shojo styled artwork and a storyline that makes you smile, Annie's Atilier is a good place to spend your time, and a stimulus for you to learn Japanese.

Emergency Food Supply - Chopper and his favourite snacks

Although he has been nicknamed by Sanji, the crew's chef as Emergency Food Supply, the little elk obviously felt no qualms with fattening himself, he knew that the rounder elks are, the cuter, and more popular they become.

Everybody needs to pamper themselves once in a while, including your health minded doctor. Chopper is here to show you the happiness of snacking on your favourite food.

As a teenager, Chopper is not immune to sweets, with a stick of candy floss in each of his hands, he is deciding which one he should have first. Either way, he need to devour it soon or the crew, each with a mini black hole in their stomachs, will find out about his goodies.

After having so much sugar and pink floss, its time for a drink. Pumpkin juice contains a high amount of fibers and vitamins, perfect even for those of you on a diet. Slurping up thick creamy juice, Chopper is showing you how elastic his stomach can be, and that he is indeed part of the straw hats crew, as he too, has a bottomless pit of a stomach.

When Chopper is busy eating and drinking, someone seems to have stolen into his room and took out half of his prized, or a dangerous possession.

One look at the desperately tearful face of the doctor says it all. What sort of mushroom is this? What caused so much panic? Is it deadly poisonous or is it highly delicious and nutritious that Chopper just could not bear the idea of having someone bit half of it off?

Either way, happy, satisfied or panicky, Chopper is showing his cutest sides in this set of figures, take him home and let him remind you to eat, with him in front of you, all food become more delicious.

Small and intricately made, they are perfect for cars or desks, they give your room a tint of personality that is just right, besides, who can resist Chopper, the mascot of the straw hat pirates?

Forget about diets and everything else, everybody deserves a break, take yours with Chopper.

From children to adults - let Robo Q inspire you

Ready! Get Set! Go!

The four Robo Q's are ready to walk into your lives and get to know you. These toys think, feel and move.

Standing at approximately 3.4 cm tall (shorter than your average pinky!), these miniature robots are the smallest mass produced AI machinery that are ready to serve you.

They may not be able to make dinner or clean house, but they are certainly more than capable in keeping you amused.

Use the remote control to direct their actions, crank up the speed lever and see them run, spin them around and marvel at their smooth moves. You don't even have to worry about them crashing into things, with an infra red sensor built into their heads, they can detect obstacles before them and swerve out of harms way.

Now the aspiring sports club manager can have their field day, with these robots, you can always assemble your team and pit them against others in soccer.


Its fun to see tiny robots wobbling like penguins along a table, swerving around objects and following balls. This is definitely a toy suitable for both boys and girls over the age where they would put things randomly into their mouths. Smaller than a pinky and cheerfully colored, the robots does look a bit like a prettily wrapped piece of candy.

Put the remote control into your hand, switch it on auto if you want the robot to run mazes if you just want to see them move around, or switch to manual if you want to have a contest with someone else.

When the ball is quite a bit larger than the robots themselves, the robots didn't seem to be playing soccer much, they looked more like penguins trying to build a snowman.

Play with your children with these robots and inspire them, but most of all, just have a really fun time with them.

Wall Street Fighter IV - Come let out some steam!

Something amusing for everyone. Street Fighter IV generated a large amount of hype for every gamer, while the Wall Street brought a lot of people down, so when the two combine, what do you get?

Laughs.

Yes. Let's see who will win through all this at the end of the day. To those who still have not gotten a copy of Street Fighter IV, come get it now and let out some steam!





Done by a bunch of fun loving Hong Kongers, we hope this video would bring some laughter to your face, if not chuckles or a small smile.

If you prefer to let out steam through other genres, come visit Play-Asia.com for our collection of games, movies, music and budget deals.

Blue before Valentines - Sayonara Tsuki no Haikyo

Moon gazing in at a pond of pink water lilies is a very romantic business, however, watching the moon alone as the sole survivor after an un-named catastrophy could be very lonely. Experience a bit of blue to further appreciate the cheery pink and red Valentines day this weekend.

Seto has set off for the large red tower (Tokyo Tower?) to find the trace of humans after his grandfather, his only family and companion died. On his way, he came across a silver haired girl who was just as surprised as he was at the sight of another human being and fled from the shock.

Thinking the white glint in her hair and the sweet note in her voice the light in his potentially lonely life, he followed the girl through the underground ruins and deserted theme parks and met an array of ghosts as well as eccentric characters.

Sick of being alone? Its time to set out.


It's not the action, it's the atmosphere and story that counts in Fragile. Although the action is wonderful in my opinion, hard core action gamers may find this department lacking. I've been able to emerge from the battles victorious, with relatively few injuries.

Although none of my adversaries which I have come across have extremely damaging attacks, they were spooky. From the different species of phantom hounds, stray ghosts to strange arms that come out of walls to grab at you, you feel as if you have walked into a ghost house in a theme park as well.

Graphics and music creates a dark atmosphere that dwells more on loneliness than horror, which is suitable for the theme. Collect items to learn of the thoughts of various people before they die. From the promise a mother made to her child during the earthquake to the abandoned dog that watched as his owner left him, all these snippets interweave together to bring out the loneliness and vulnerability of Seto, and therefore, his determination to find the girl.

Everything is quiet, which makes the growls and gigglings of the ghosts more eery. Voice acting is superb, players can see how much Seto has grown up, from the uncertain, stuttering boy to the determined young man at the end.

The Japanese, however, might prove to be a bit of a challenge. While neither tutorials nor dialogue are delivered in extremely difficult sentences, players might not be able to fully appreciate the story and its atmosphere if they do not understand the language at all.

The best way to appreciate your boyfriend or girlfriend during Valentines is to experience loneliness prior to the festival. What is sweetness and warmth if you do not know bitterness and coldness.

Pink Power - Give way to Chopper now

Valentines is just around the corner, have you prepared something for your loved ones yet? This is not a day for lovers only, and like the Japanese, people prepare two types of gifts, one for their true loves and others for their friends and family.

Either way, anyone would be too happy to recieve a Chopper. Soft and chubby with large eyes, the smart but gullible little elk is the mascot and one of the most useful member in the Straw Hat pirate's crew.

With pink as its image color, Chopper is a perfect Valentines gift. Whether in a pink body suit and reborn as a baby or in a pair of trunks with red hearts, Chopper is just as cuddly.

Forget about the roses and the chocolates, or add something to it if you find it safer to have something routine as well as the Chopper plushes. Win yourself some hearts this year through the doctor.


This year's Valentines day is placed right behind Black Friday. So let the pinkness wash the dark and heavy atmosphere away and have Chopper take over the world through soft, plushy power.

The One Piece mascot, like many of the crew memebers, have a lonely past and it is through joining Luffy on his quest that he finds a home. However, on their search for the legendary treasure One Piece, Chopper also finds a place in the show's many viewers' hearts.

Offer him a place in your home if you like him so much. Whoever said that Chopper has to be given as a gift only? He is waiting for your adoption, get him for yourself as a Black Friday present if you can't wait until Saturday, the little doctor is always ready to perform his magic.

Sitting on a cat's head - Toro enjoys being sat on!

"Plushes usually sit on your lap as you watch TV or sleep in your arms on your bed. To return the favor, the Dokodemoissyo cats are letting you sit on them.

Heavier than normal plushes and tighter packed with stuffing, these plushes work well as TV stools, as especially for children or petite people.

Place them in front of the TV screen and bounce on their heads when you see something exciting.Mirror the cats' moods when you sit on them, smile happily or be hysterically happy, after all, these cats are here for just that, to cheer you up. "

If you tell anyone that you enjoy sitting on a cat's head (or even worse, bounce on it), people are going to think there is something decidedly wrong with you. And if you try it on a real cat, I can to guarantee that it is not going to make you popular amongst the feline race.

But with the Dokodemoissyo cat, Toro, this is a completely different matter. Smiling, or beaming happily at you, from the floor, this little fellow is actually waiting for you to squash it with all your might. Feel free to sit on it, its softer, and much more comfortable than squatting on the floor.

Don't worry, Toro is perfectly resilient to squashes, we've got the heaviest person in the vicinity to sit on him for testing purposes and aside from being a little flattened, there are no damages (broken seams etc.) whatsoever. Simply knock him on the head a few times to fluff him back up and it's as good as new.

Toro is playing the chair, so why don't you be a good boy, or girl, and sit down on him and stop blocking other people's view of the TV screen?

Related plushes:
Toro - Happy Version
Toro - Super Happy Version
Toro Super Long Plush
Kuro Super Long Plush

Is ugly the new cute? Or why does everybody want a Sackboy?

When I was young, calling somebody “Sackboy” was pretty much like giving him a bad name.

Times change and seeing that current hype for Sony's LittleBigPlanet, I am getting afraid Sackboy might become one of the most popular names for newborns next year: “That's my son Sackboy, doesn't he look just like his daddy?”

Anyway, most likely it is better not to think too much about it. Just get your Sackboy now as long as there are still some available. Or do you really wanna face your girl friend with no Sack (Boy!) on Christmas Eve?