Apink PINK♥DOLL - Album Review (Limited Edition C Bo Mi Ver.)

When I look at my Japanese CD collection, I have actually been quite lucky to acquire some member plate versions. I have the full mu-mo set of AFTERSCHOOL's Japanese single Heaven and some T-ara member plates from their singles. But one of the most random member versions I have is this PINK♥DOLL album from Apink. I was placing a large order on Yahoo Auctions to have shipped over to me and thought why not pick up a cheap album. So I ended up getting this one as it was super cheap and I wanted it to go along with my PINK SEASON album. There isn't many photos for this review as the album doesn't have too many aspects to photograph.

PINK♥DOLL is the second Japanese album from Korean girl group Apink. It was released on the 21st December 2016 and came in nine versions. Limited Edition A came with the CD and a 2017 Apink themed diary and Limited Edition B came with the CD and a DVD. There are six types of Limited Edition C with each member getting their own member plate and then a Regular CD Only edition to finish the set off. My album is the Limited Edition C with Bo Mi's member plate and it came with the following contents:

• CD - 12 track album
• Jewel Case
• Lyrics Booklet
• OBI

Being a member plate version, the design of Limited Edition C is quite simple. There is a lovely front cover with the girls in pretty outfits and if you flip the album over, there is no back cover. This is usual for member versions as it allows you to see the CD instead. It reminds me a lot of CD singles from back in the day that didn't have back covers as the CD would face you instead. Unlike singles that came in a slim CD case, this album is in the standard jewel case size. I don't have many member versions to compare this to but overall I think it is very nice and I like the soft tones of the CD design.

Apink Pink Season - Album Review (Limited Edition B CD+DVD)

This week's music review post is about a group I've never posted about on Marzipan Wonderland and that's Apink! Now Apink is a group I only became interested in within the last year. Over the years, I had songs from the group on my playlists but they were never high on my radar. That was until I took some time to listen to their Japanese discography and I feel in love! Decided to pick up some of the group's Japanese releases during my last Zenmarket haul and they were totally worth it. So today I'll be talking about the wonderful album PINK SEASON ♡

PINK SEASON is Apink's debut Japanese album and it was released in August 2015. The album was released in three editions: Limited Edition A CD+DVD+GOODS, Limited Edition B CD+DVD and a Regular CD Only Edition. I purchased Limited Edition B as it was the only one I could find at the time after months of searching. Japanese releases from the group were difficult to find for a good price when I was looking and I snatched up this listing off Yahoo Auctions. My copy of PINK SEASON has the following contents:

• CD - 13 track album
• DVD - Road to 1st Album「PINK SEASON」from Debut
• Jewel Case
• OBI strip
• Lyrics booklet

Loving the design of this album because of course it's my favourite colour PINK! The concept of the album is gorgeous and matches the feel of the group. The outfits were very on point for J-Pop releases around that time and isn't too flashy. The front and back covers have different photos of the girls and I like the posing of the cover. Some Japanese covers can have that strange photoshop placement of members which I find off putting. All the covers of Apink's Japanese discography are a work of art and I love how they kept the 'pink' wording in all the album titles.

On the interior of the album, you will find the CD and DVD. My case was in excellent condition and arrived safely with no damage. This pink shade on the CD is to die for! Very pink! The DVD has a softer white tone to it and both discs have a simple elegant design to them. The case interior lists some production credits to the album and most of these are regarding the DVD contents.

Zenmarket Haul - AKB48, Apink, T-ARA, TWICE & S.O.A.P

Finally have some spare time after the busy retail Christmas season AND the post-Christmas sale season. I'm am so happy that everything has finally quietened down and it's not crazy hectic anymore. So it's time to post my recent haul from Zenmarket! I got these items back in December and I did a big order as I wanted to save on shipping. Luckily the 2 - 4 day shipping was only 300JPY more than the 3 month shipping! Zenmarket is currently not offering the usual DHL cheaper option that I normally use so it was tricky to calculate postage costs in my head. But when it came to the selection when the package was created, the DHL Express was the most suitable option so I went with that. Packaging was great and weighed just under 2kg. Anyway enough about boring logistics, let's take a look at the items!

I brought a bunch of releases that had been high priority on my wishlist for a while now and some were ones that are harder to come across. The main artist of this haul is AKB48 which I got 9 CD's of! I'm absoutely mad trying to start an AKB48 collection :P There's just so many to collect! The rest of the CD's are a mixture of K-Pop artists and one special Western release.

First up is the gem of my AKB48 collection so far! One of my favourite AKB48 A-sides is ハート・エレキ Heart Ereki and I searched all over Yahoo Auctions for a complete set of the single. Sure that was an easy task however so many listings didn't include the OBI :( I eventually found this set for 500JPY that had all the OBI's included! Yay! I'm in love with the concept of this single and all the versions look great together. I quite like the AKB48 version system as you get different songs on each version which is good value in my opinion. It's always annoying needing a certain version to complete a set and the content is the same as other versions. My favourite B-side is on Type B of this single which is 君だけにChu!Chu!Chu! by the Tentoumu Chu! sub-unit. This song is so adorable and I love all the songs by this unit. I wish they had actual singles or albums.

ハート・エレキ Heart Ereki Type A, Type K, Type B, Type 4 & Theatre Edition

Next up is a bunch of AKB48 albums and best albums. The ones I brought are  神曲たち Kamikyokutachi Theatre Edition, ここにいたこと Koko ni Ita Koto Theatre Edition, SET LIST〜グレイテストソングス〜完全盤〜 and 次の足跡 Tsugi no Ashiato Type B 2CD Regular Edition. I'm not sure which one is my favorite so far as I love them all! It took some searching for 次の足跡 Tsugi no Ashiato as I specifically wanted Type B and not many sellers were selling it with the OBI. Eventually found a random listing with nothing listed in the description so I took a chance and brought it! Item turned out great and it even came with a photo of a member (I'm not too sure who it is as I only really know certain early generation members).