Dakimakuras anyone?

I got it from YJA; it was done by Marks, which is a circle I frequently look up on YJA (Just type Ma-kusu in the search bar and the very choice to pop up with be Marks dakimakura in Japanese.) It was sold at C81, and I picked it up at auction for about 15k. The blog doesn't cover blankets and such.

Though I should actually correct my bit about searching them on YJA. If you want to see blankets, it would be Ma-kusu buranketto; the search term has appeared to die down a bit now, so it actually doesn't pop up in Japanese. You can type in C81 buranketto though, and go from there, and then just copy the Japanese, search Marks, and then paste blanket.

Or I could make it easier. :P
ブランケット (blanket)
マークス (Marks)

Well, I saw a normal version for 36k. But I'll prefer the perverted look.^_^

Anyway, I like the blanket, too bad there's none available currently.

I'm pretty sure I just saw one up at a 20k buyout, but that's obviously a bit more than what I paid for it.

http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e118584518

And yeah, I'll usually always take the "ero" version to a tamer version. Still without a direct comparison there's no way of telling how exactly they differ, but I'd like to assume the ero version was worth the premium paid. ^^

On an unrelated note, the Yasuomi-Craft pregnant Saber is up on YJA... I'd jump on the chance to buy it, if it weren't essentially 100k yen.
http://page6.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f107076564

I was searching under Marks Sena, no wonder I didn't find it.

Holy rusted metal, Bat Man!!! 98K yen?! Yeah, I don't think I'll be placing a bid on that one. ( 0_0)

Also, when the hell is Evening Call going to email me back with their PayPal email address and when are they going to integrate it into their site? Seriously.

Thanks again for the tips Shashin. :)

They still haven't gotten back to you? That's most unfortunate. :( Hopefully they'll ramp things up soon, I'll probably shoot them an email in a week or two to see if they plan on making it available before the 2/29 deadline for the next batch of covers.

And no problem, alamarco, I'm here to help. ^^

Yeah, Evening Call needs to get PayPal integrated ASAP! It's nail-bitingly frustrating. I want dem covers. :D

Also, here are the pics of my Ask Nodoka Manabe K-On! cover:


-ENJOY!

Damn, it looks good, but that censoring really sucks. Shame too, because without the mosaic it would have been a really nice, soppy mess. It still is, but the mosaic takes away from it a bit. :(

Ouch, that censoring really does leave a bad taste. She still looks great though, I love the art.

I'd also love if Evening Call got PayPal and shipped internationally. I ordered my Rin through a proxy, and I absolutely love their art. I love dakemakura, but Evening Call's art definitely tops them. Evening Call just looks so cute and innocent. I love that look of innocence. They also look closer to the actual character while still having that unique feel.

I generally really like TID's art, and would buy most of his covers; the majority of my Evening Call covers were done by him. I also like the wide variety of guest artists they seem to have, and the fact that they do a broad range of characters versus sticking to a few staples, like the figure industry seems to do (and even in dakimakura covers, some circles make a name for themselves doing a particular character over and over.) They've been around for about 2 years now and have done about 100 covers; that's pretty damn crazy, considering all of them have been quality.

On their website, they state that they ship internationally (previously they had something on their site that said they didn't - they changed it after I commented about how unfortunate that was in a tweet), but it's a catch-22 at the moment, as the only payment method they current select is direct bank transfer within Japan. So in effect, no foreigner can order unless they miraculously have a Japanese bank account or has a friend willing to use theirs (which would defeat the purpose of them ever using a proxy to begin with, as they could have the friend ship to them.) Since their site update about a month or two ago, they've had it posted that until they introduce Paypal, the bank transfer would be the only payment method, but nothing has come of it yet.

Hey guys, I found a Yui dakimakura from Muv-Luv total eclipse, but it's inflated as fuck. Yahoo auction Japan.
42000 yen -_-. It came out in dreamparty at 2009, but 4.4x the price? It's new and theirs nowhere else to get it.

Is it really worth spending this much money on a dakimakura? I'm a huge fan of Yui, but 42000 yen.
Ps Vita or a piece of fabric. So hard to choose because of goddam because of my love of Total Eclipse characters.

I don't know the character off the top of my head; would you mind providing a link to the auction?

And honestly, it's entirely a decision you'll have to make yourself. The most I've paid for a dakimakura cover was 42500 yen (+ proxy fees - I had just read in the figure thread that you have a YJA account and the means to pick stuff up in Japan, so you can probably avoid that) and the cover didn't turn out to be as good as I had hoped. I've paid similar amounts for other covers though, and haven't regretted it one bit.

If you're new to dakimakura covers, I'd probably start with a cheaper one first, of a character you like. That way you can decide for yourself if you like dakimakura covers or think they're a waste of money; I definitely wouldn't suggest dropping 42000 yen for your first.

I'd also say it depends on some other factors too. You've already said you loved the character, and I assume you like the artwork on the cover, or you wouldn't consider it. But material might be another thing to consider; it's probably 2WT since it's a Dream Club release, but if it were Suede, unless you really like it, that's definitely a lot of cash to drop on a cover.

And though unlikely, I'm willing to keep an eye out for you once I know which cover it is, to see if you can't get it any cheaper. Given that it's an older cover, it's unlikely, but it doesn't hurt to have an extra pair of eyes looking.

That's good to hear that they at least posted plans to go to PayPal. Gives us hope for the future, even if it might not be immediate.

For me, in collecting anything, it's all about if I really like it not. While the price may be doubled, if I really like it I'll buy it. If I'm on the fence I usually don't get it because I know that if I don't get it, I can get more than just the one item for the same price. So I can find more that line up with my tastes instead of that one that is overpriced.

http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e121381941
Thanks man. It's a character from a light novel spin off (Muv-Luv Total Eclipse) of a visual novel (Muv-luv).

Yep, it's my first time. I pre-ordered a Ariadust Horizon dakimakura (smooth knit) so I'll see whether I'm really gonna spend the money.

I might try to talk the guy to selling it cheaper, as he's putting the auction up repeatedly after it ends with no buyer. Don't know though, it might mean he's set on that price. The dakimakura is also polyster so I don't really know whether this will be worth it unless I can haggle insanely.

Yeah, if he's relisted it many times (as is usually the case with the absurdly expensive covers unless they're new), I'd definitely wait a bit.

It doesn't hurt to talk to him though and haggle it down if you can, but unfortunately, it's pretty unlikely that he's willing to budge too much. I don't really have any experience haggling on YJA though since proxy services generally aren't willing to do it (even if it has the blue lower price offer button.) So if he's had it for awhile and is continuing to pay fees (I don't know what YJA listing fees are like either), who knows what the seller would be willing to do.

As for the material type, most covers are a mix of Polyester but this cover is 100% Polyester. Generally speaking, 2WT/R are about 80-87% Polyester. Unfortunately, the exact type of material is unknown according to the dakimakura blog, so it could be Smooth Knit or a shoddier material. I'll keep an eye out to see if I see it listed anywhere else, though.

Thanks for the response and the info. I will probably wait and see if he will lower the price.
2 questions though.
How much of a difference is their between Polyester Twill, Smooth Knit, and 2 way Tricot?
Any recommendations for what pillow I use for the dakimakura?

I honestly can't speak for Polyester Twill off the top of my head, but I think it was explained by willowywicca a few pages back.

Smooth Knit is okay. It's somewhat smooth, though my most recent smooth knit cover is only smooth rubbing in one direction and a little prickly in the other (if that makes sense.) It has a little bit of stretch to it.

2WT/R (tricot/roica - they're very similar and use roughly the same blend of material) is very smooth, has a fairly "rich" feeling to it, and quite a lot of stretch. It can vary in thickness, depending on the production company (A&J, Seiren, Matsumoto, a few others.) I've seen some covers that you can almost see the reverse side through, and others you can't. It's generally considered the preferred material today.

For pillows, it would depend on your location and how much you're willing to spend. The Cospa covers are decent, and there are some higher end Japanese imports that are nice, but shipping is expensive, as are the pillows themselves. A few users in this thread recommend Royalpillow if you're in the US; they have very reasonable prices (about $24) and will do custom sizes if you call them up.

Thanks for all this insight and info. It has helped me a lot as a newbie in dakimakura's.

No worries whatsoever. I kinda had to stumble around and figure out things for myself when I first got into dakimakura covers. Now that it's become more of a hobby than something like gaming, I want to do my best to help others who may be interested in collecting. If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask her or PM me, and I'll be more than happy to help if I can.