Shoujo Manga Extravaganza

The human may have gone overboard when I told her about the extreme lack of manga in our bookshelves.  After all, she has a manga collection, so why shouldn't we?

So I got to pick some, and my first choice was a set of Sailor Moon manga, all ten volumes, the latest 2014 edition.  The first volume is in English, but the rest are in Japanese.  It matters less for us than for humans, I think.  (Besides, the human reads Japanese anyways, and her good manga are all in Japanese, so it's only fair we get the same.)

And yes, it has actual images and text.  Each volume has about a chapter of manga.

But while I like the more modern (yes, yes, I know Sailor Moon is 90s manga.  But they're putting out the new anime still so it counts.) manga, I also wanted a few shoujo classics.  So I had the human track down some old Ikeda Ryoko manga from the 70s.  AND I'll be sharing those with everyone.  (The Sailor Moon manga are my personal property and no, I'm not sharing those.)

And these are the real classics that practically founded the shoujo genre.  We have 'The Rose of Versailles', which spawned at least 10 musicals, various translations, and one English movie 'Lady Oscar'.  It's the human's favorite.  Then we have 'Brother, Dear Brother'.  If 'Rose of Versailles' inspired the setting for Revolutionary Girl Utena (another 90s favorite), then 'Brother, Dear Brother' was responsible for the *ahem* drama *ahem* of the cast.  And finally, 'Claudine', which was super dramatic and super sad.

(Random interjection:  Did you know that Shirogane Naoto's persona designs (Persona4 and spinoffs) were heavily influenced by 'Rose of Versailles'?  That's how much of a cultural touchstone this is in Japan.)

As always, the human was kind enough to include real text and images in my manga.

So.  This is the one and only content warning I will give.  All of Ikeda-sensei's manga that I'm showing off here contain LGBT characters.  (In fact, all of the manga I have now contain LGBT characters.)  I hear some people don't like to be surprised by that or something.  So I'm telling you BEFORE you download it.  Oh right, additional content warnings include suicide (all of the above), and transphobia (Claudine only).  So, maybe not the right manga for someone under the age of 13.

We're dolls.  We're allowed to read anything we want.

And now, the manga you've been waiting for:

Manga

Instructions

Instructions Addendum:  The binding is going to be different for these.  There is no cover to cut out.  Instead you'll be using duct tape to bind these.  Follow the instructions until the part where you attach the cover.
1.  Cut out two small pieces of cardstock the same size as the pages.
2.  Glue the cardstock to the first and last pages.
3.  Spread white glue down the spine.
4.  Cut a piece of duct tape the same length as the book is tall and 1" wide (half the normal width of duct tape is fine)
5.  Place the book down the center of the duct tape (so treat the duct tape like the A/B piece in the instructions) and fold the duct tape to cover the spine.
6.  Fold the dust jacket over the book.

If you liked these, please visit our etsy shop at JinjiaMixedGoods for more printable books for dolls.

Also, we're holding a book pattern giveaway until 12/31/2015.  Leave a comment here with what book published before 1923 (aka 'in the public domain') you'd like to see made in doll size to enter.  The winner will get a full 18 patterns for a complete Hogwarts textbook collection.

Sailor Moon Desserts

Welcome to the Sailor Moon Cafe!

Re-Ment Sailor Moon Cafe Sweets

 Apparently, not that long ago, Re-Ment put out a set of Sailor Moon miniature desserts for Sailor Moon Crystal.  A friend told me of this, and I decided that I must have them.  Or rather, my dolls must have them.  Sadly, Re-Ment is 1/6 scale, not 1/3 scale, and I wasn't going to pay little bits of plastic that didn't fit with anything else.  So I got out the polymer clay and made my own.  (Side note:  for the cost of the crafting supplies, it would have been just cheaper to buy the Re-Ment minis.)

My version

Sailor Moon:  Chocolates and cookies

The original dessert for Sailor Moon was a parfait cup, but I didn't have any plastic cups suitable for it.  So instead, I designed a set of cookies and truffles with Usagi's theme of Luna, rabbits, and roses.  This plate has 6 truffles (2 dark, 2 milk, 2 white), including a Luna truffle and a bunny truffle, and 2 bunny cookies like the ones she's always making on the show.  (Ok, attempting to make.  They always end up burnt.  I didn't not burn these.  Wasn't going for that much realism.)

Sailor Mercury:  Blueberry tart and pudding

The Sailor Mercury set is mostly inspired by the Re-ment set.  I didn't have acrylic water for making something transparent, so I went with a pudding instead of a jello.  I attempted to make the chocolate chess pieces, but that just didn't not turn out well so I added a snowflake cookie to round out the set.  This plate has a blueberry pudding (with 5 berries on top), a blueberry tart (whipped cream, grass jelly, and a cherry on top), and a snowflake cookie.

Sailor Mars:  Macarons

 I saw the details on the cookie plate and decided to save my sanity and make some coordinating macarons instead.  First time playing with sculpey whipped cream (equal parts white and liquid sculpey, complete mess), so this turned out amazingly well.  This plate has 3 macarons with whipped cream filling and a lavender heart macaron with the Mars symbol.

Sailor Jupiter:  Cherry pie

This was actually the first set I made, and sticks very close to the Re-Ment set with a cherry pie, a little marzipan rose, and a lightning bolt shortbread cookie.  The rose took some effort.  The rest was pretty straightforward.

Sailor Venus:  Pancakes

 This plate also sticks pretty close to the Re-Ment set with the stack of pancakes and the Sailor V mask cookie.  I made a little flan thingy instead of trying to make the orange peel and the decorative cream bits from the original set.  This set has a stack of cat shaped pancakes, a Sailor V mask cookie, and a mini flan with the Venus symbol.

Inner Senshi:  Cake plate

 This matches the Re-Ment set pretty closely, only I didn't shape the petit-fours according to each senshi.  The cake plate has a giant cupcake with a bow and the moon brooch and a petit-four color coded for each senshi with their emblem.

Inner Senshi:  Cookie plate 

Since I forgot to do elemental themed petit-fours, I did a plate of elemental themed Inner Senshi cookies instead.  Little flame for Mars, heart for Venus, water droplet for Mercury, lightning bolt for Jupiter, and the fancy moon brooch for Sailor Moon.