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Finding good doujinshi is often a cause for major headaches. This is especially true for international buyers due to the limited numbers of available stock, even within Japan, causing many foreigners to head to Japan just to get their paws on a doujinshi by their favorite circle.
Kuroko no Basuke has been extremely popular with mainstream readers, particularly women. It has had many doujinshi spin-offs, largely due to the seven male leads, which means a big opportunity for male-male pairings. The frequent reference to Kuroko as being a shadow helps push the matter further. As such, the fan clubs of the franchise are composed almost solely of fujoshi (females with an obsessive fascination for male-male pairings).
Doujinshi are usually self-published works made by amateurs to the publishing scene, but published artists are also known to dabble in doujinshi as a way to release works that aren’t otherwise suitable for general publication. They can be divided into two main categories—originals and spin-offs of existing works in the market, though the latter seems more common in recent years.
Tomica has been a leader in innovation since it opened its doors for business in 1970. One of the highlights of Tomica die-cast models is the Dream Tomica Series, which are models inspired by popular children’s characters.
Tomica began in 1970 under the company banner, Tomy Kogyo Company Inc. Its business product was die-cast model cars for children, and the head of the company was Eijiro Tomiyama. Tomiyama has seven patents as an inventor, including a motor driven rolling toy (1972), a toy parking garage (1972), and a track device for toy cars (1972).
The Tomica Limited (TL) series were produced from 2001 to 2013. The target of this series was collectors and true lovers of Tomica. The detailing on the TL series is impeccable with realistic-looking parts like rubberized plastic tires, emblems, and color schemes. Many of the cars in the TL series were popular in their day, discontinued regular models, or new models like the Toyota AA, the 2004 MINI Cooper, and the Nissan Skyline GTB. There are also a couple of models that are not found in the regular series like the Lexus GS300 and the LFA Super Car, as well as racing versions and other types of variations on regular models like the 0035 Mazda MX-5 Eunos Roadster.
Pokemon figures are made by or for different companies for purposes other than to promote the Pokemon game. For example, the Chibi Poke Models by Tomy Takara was made for the Nagatanien Company Limited in Japan in 2007 to help promote their instant food products. The Chibi Poke Models were tiny figurines with intricate detailing of the Pokemon characters from Gen 1 and 2, namely, Johto and Kanto.
The Chou Getto figures were sold from the Bandai gashapon machines, the Japanese version of coin-operated machines. They were tiny Battle Museum/ Full Color/Stadium/ Full Color Advance encapsulated Pokemon figures considered by many as rare and expensive in the second-hand market. These figures are usually released as part of a set and came out with the Pearl and Diamond games.
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