Dakimakuras anyone?

I was thinking about buying 3 Dakimakura that I like the look of. I've never owned a dakimakura. I was going to order from Manadarake with a couple of artbooks and doujin, but I'm worried the shipping is going to be astronomical. How much is shipping from Mandarake for the average dakimakura?

Dakimakura covers are practically one of the cheapest things you can have shipped, though if you order is big enough that they have to go from a bag/package to a box, that could cause the price to jump a bit.

I typically use DHL whenever I order from Mandarake, because they're the fastest (~36 hour delivery time from being shipped, unless your package gets stuck on a weekend) and they're very reasonable for dakimkaura covers. For one, the range I've seen is 800 yen (thick envelope + bag) to 1800 yen for a box with some padding. If you order 3, I'd probably guess around 2400-3000 with DHL. R/SAL should be quite a bit cheaper, but will be slower. In my experience, EMS is usually a bit more at the lower weights, but cheaper the heavier/bulkier a package gets.

Now, the artbooks/doujinshi, on the other hand, that will add up quick. You could probably still get by relatively cheap if you're just doing a few doujinshi, but shipping can get expensive pretty fast if you're not careful.


In short, the dakimakura covers won't set you back much in terms of shipping if that's all you're ordering.

Thanks!

Gah I hate it when I can't tell if it is twill, smooth, or 2way tricut on Dakimakura's site. A lot of times it isn't listed in the description. At most I can usually try and check if the dakimakura has more than one type, but if it does and I can't tell which it is I don't know what to do.

There are a few cases where it can be tricky to tell, but you can figure out the material of most covers by doing some legwork.

First, the Twill vs Smooth is probably the easiest to spot, since Twill is only used by Cospa and their other material is Smooth. 95% of the time, Cospa covers come in their original packaging with the material type readily visible.

I'm assuming you know this, but if not, here's how you tell the difference:

http://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/ja/item_s-1342742.html

http://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/ja/item_s-1335828.html

The top is twill(ツイル) and the bottom is smooth(スムース). Usually the keyword is in the description, but if not, it's also visible on the packaging. It's only in the few cases it isn't, that it could be a problem for Cospa covers.


Sadly, it gets considerably harder from there. If there's a cover you're interested in that isn't a Cospa (or other company that has a label with the material listed), then you'll have to find it on the blog: http://blog.xn--er-573a1isbf1441e2hs87j.jp/

If you can find it on the blog, it will list all the possible material types that the cover came in, and typically there's only one for most circle covers. It's when it's made by P80 that there's the most variation. If it's a P80 cover, you have to look at the sample image provided, but it can still be pretty easy to spot.


If there's any particular covers you want me to look over and try to figure out the material for, feel free to link them and I'll be more than happy to let you know what I think.

I don't have any experience with microfiber covers myself; the only ones I know of that ever got a microfiber release were the Harthnir covers, and that isn't my cup of tea (Kobun might have tried it, but I don't know.) Sadly, even if he has tried it, there's no guarantee that material would be the same, if it were produced by a different company. I have a few microfiber towels, and they vary pretty wildly in how they feel. Personally, I'd probably stick to 2WT, but if you were going to order doubles, it wouldn't hurt to try.

Lol yeah I saw that Centaur before, gave me a good laugh :p

Good luck to all with any Comiket biddings you may be doing!

Heh, I wish I had money to bid. My limit is still entirely capped, so I'll pretty much be hoping stuff I want pops up on Mandarake for a reasonable price. Only really after the Clesta Kimi cover, I guess; it doesn't look like either Marks or anko is introducing anything new this event (instead opting for My Wife/Comic Treasure in the coming months.)

And yeah, I was seriously tempted by the centaur cover when I put in my DMM order, but it was 22k yen.

It was fucking hell.
Made only cosplay Pictures and didnt buy anything. Also I dont know if Ill go tomorrow, i felt really bad after 4 hours...

Wow, that really sucks to hear. Just crazy amounts of people and everything sold out by the time you get to a booth? Tomorrow is the big day for circles if I'm not mistaken, but if today was so bad, I can only imagine tomorrow will be worse. Though, and maybe willowywicca can offer a bit more insight, but I'd imagine that all but the most popular circle booths would be a bit less crowded; since there are so many circles and I imagine company booths generate a bigger following overall. Either way, I hope you enjoy your trip even if Comiket is a bust for you. :(

Edit: Well, I also imagine the summer temperatures and 98% humidity probably have something to do with it, but you had said you didn't mind the summer weather too much before going.

I think I'll still go, but around 11 or 12, just strolling around with no real targets
The lines for well known artists or the company booth were the longest, Kantokus line was super huge, didn't Even know where the end was. I guess same applies for Tony tomorrow, I might search mandarake later for his stuff.

It was great so far, but mostly catered my hobby needs so far. I will relax next week and go to the typical tourist attractions: Skytree, Roppongi Hills, Shinjuku Park, Kanagawa and to Odaiba (Lifesize Gundam)

The adult doujins day does tend to be a little more crowded, but not vastly more so than the other 2 days. Going at 11 or 12 is probably a good idea if you were overwhelmed and not feeling well the first day. The crowds die down really fast and even by 12 it's a lot more peaceful making your way about. But yeah, with an expected peak of 37degrees celcius tomorrow.. it's gonna be hell on earth ;< The ventilation inside is pretty non-existant afterall (I remember going about inside the halls in just a t-shirt in winter as the body heat from so many people inside keep it very warm on its own..).

:'( Sadly I have none o far looking into getting some soon though, whats the best place to buy them?

It was okay today. Got the clesta cover, tony doujin, Maidoll package and some small stuff.
Also it started to rain, great blessing.

Happy to hear it man. Even though I shouldn't spend any money, I'm going to jump on the Clesta cover/mousepad if I have the chance. Was the Tony cover sold out when you got there or were you just not interested?

It was sold out :/
Most covers were sold out by 12, also the Nadeko cover was sold out. Maybe I'll buy it later at mandarake.
Concerning yesterday, I heard it was a record day, for both visitor numbers and the heat.

http://sgcafe.com/2013/08/sell-outs-heat-waves-and-all-sorts-of-craziness-from-comiket-84-day-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sell-outs-heat-waves-and-all-sorts-of-craziness-from-comiket-84-day-1

Managed to pick up the Essentia full set for a very good price, which was the main thing I was after. Most of the others I'm interested in are company covers that are very likely to get a webshop order so I'm not really bidding hard for em. I would like the Tomose Shunsaku cover but it's way out of the price range I'd want it at...



Starting out, the simplest place is probably from an international store like Amiami.

You can check the dakimakura blogs for info on new covers:
http://blog.埋もれる抱き枕er.jp/
http://ww.nijigenshingu.info/

But many of them are not that easy to acquire without going through proxy services or bidding on auctions since they dont get released by stores that ship internationally. If you do see one that you're interested in though feel free to ask here for tips on how to go about getting it.

Note that covers are generally only available during their pre-order period, it is quite rare for shops to still have it in stock after that. So the vast majority of older covers are quite difficult to get now.

Despite the fact that I really shouldn't spend anything, I've been keeping up with Mandarake/YJA. I'm really sad to say, as per the usual, Mandarake's main event store (Nakano) isn't adding most of their C84 items to the English page. I even emailed them when the Clesta cover popped up (for 15k!) and they said to wait a bit for newer C84 items. The Clesta cover then sold out at 15k a minute or two later, then at 16k, and finally 18k where it remains sold out.

Now that I actually see a lot of the stuff coming out, here's what my revised want list looks like:

Clesta full set
Essentia dakimakura cover (managed to pick up the 2k set for 5k on Mandarake)
F4 Company dakimakura cover
にのこや dakimakura cover and tapestries
Tony dakimakura cover (hoping for Toranoana)
IchigoSize dakimakura cover (but not for 40k+)

I don't really expect to get any of that immediately, but I hope that some of it remains to be available over time at a reasonable price. I had a chance this morning at the Ninokoya dakimakura cover on Mandarake; Nakano has been selling it for 20k but Shibuya added it for 18k this morning. I had it in my cart and was very close to checking out. I went to sleep and the price was raised to 20k, where it recently sold out.

I haven't seen any solid sources yet, but I've been hearing that Tony got into trouble, since his doujinshi (or dakimakura cover?) wasn't censored enough. There were also a few messages on Twitter where he essentially said that he preferred selling doujinshi to dakimakura covers. Will be interesting to see if anything comes of it, but at the very least, I hope the cover makes Toranoana.