The inspiration for today's blog post is that I haven't posted a music review in ages so that is what we are going for. I randomly picked an album in my blog backlog and it is the 2nd Mini Album from K-Pop group Kep1er!
The blog has been nothing but Fashion Dreamer posts for a while now so it's time for a good old music review. I picked the first folder I had saved in my reviews folder on my computer and it was for an aespa release. Previously I have reviewed the Zine Spicy Version of this mini album and this time I will be reviewing another zine version which is the WELCOME TO MY WORLD one.
My World is the 3rd Mini Album from Korean girl group aespa and it was released on May 8th 2023. The album came in 19 versions and only two of the zine styles were available here in Australia which are the two I own. I brought both from JB Hi-Fi however I seen people in a local Facebook group looking to sell/trade zine versions that were available from overseas retailers. Must've imported them and those versions look awesome. The WELCOME TO MY WORLD Zine version comes with the following contents:
I went into 2024 with the intention of not purchasing any Japanese releases this year due to shipping costs. This was until I was having a bad week and thought bugger it, I'm doing it! Luckily the Japanese Yen was a good rate so I got some bargains and didn't lose out too much on conversion between the currencies. For this order, I focused on getting releases that were exclusive to Japan and not available on any streaming services. The service I used was Zenmarket of course and it was a simple process. Shipping wasn't too bad with the final cost of shipping it here being around $45 and I received it within two weeks. Everything was packed perfectly with lots of bubble wrap and no damages! In total, I ordered 25 CDs which is a good number and it was about $240 for all of this including all the fees and shipping within Japan.
First music review for 2024 is aespa's mini album My World! Super happy that my local music store stocks aespa as they are the only current generation girl group that I collect. Plus it makes it super easy to find the albums and I always pre-order to make sure I can get a copy. It seems to fly off the shelves quick at my local store however if I visit the same stores elsewhere, you can usually find a copy.
My World is the 3rd Mini Album from Korean girl group aespa and it was released on May 8th 2023. The album came in 19 versions which is mind boggling. Who on earth would attempt to even collect all of those. I love aespa but that's a bit too much and I wish they would cut down on the number of types available. As mentioned before, I purchased my CD from JB Hi-Fi and I got the Spicy versions of the Zine type. I didn't know which version I would get as it random on what the supplier sends so I was excited when the zine one came (even though I did buy the other version later on). The Spicy Zine version comes with the following contents:
I have the last review of After School's DIVA single here and looking back on this CD makes me adore the colours of the design. The pastel pink contrasts well perfectly with the black and I love the solid bluish grey backdrop. After School's Japanese releases always had great designs and my only negative point would be that the editions that come with the cardboard sleeve do not have an OBI so they don't match with the CD Only. However that is when the term 'limited edition' comes in and the cardboard sleeve is all about that limited-ness.
DIVA is the second Japanese single from Korean girl group After School and it was released on November 23rd 2011. The single came in three editions: CD+DVD Type A, CD+DVD Type B and CD Only. This review is for the CD+DVD Type B edition which I brought second-hand from Japan and it is pretty much like the CD+DVD Type A. Not a huge different besides how the girls are posed and the DVD content. I did get a photocard when I purchased this and the seller gave me E-Young! OMG I have so many of her cards and she has quickly progressed to bias in the group this year.
I've posted too many After School CD reviews that I've run out of things to say in the introduction. Honestly I always find it hard to figure out what to write so let's just look at the next edition of the Japanese version of DIVA.
Another day another set of After School singles. This time I will be posting the Japanese single DIVA which is a total bop. Honestly you need to listen to this song and it is just as good as the original Korean version. Cannot decided which one I love more! I have all three editions of the single as I am a huge After School fan and this single is a must for the collection. The first review will look at the CD Only edition.
August was honestly not my month! I was super sick for a large portion of it and then my computer and phone broke as well. So I haven't been able to blog much and luckily I had some posts saved in drafts. I will be posting from the drafts until I can get a new hard drive to fix my computer. The favourites for August will be short as I'm attempting to post this from my phone whilst it is still barely alive.
Gaming
Played way too much Nintendo Switch this month with being sick. I've been into Hatsune Miku Jigsaw Puzzle and Calm Colours mostly along with some other random find it games. At the start of the month, I was playing We Love Katamari a lot which is super fun. They did a great job with the remaster and I prefer it over the first remake on the Switch.
Music
Randomly got this G-Idle mini album from JB Hi-Fi and everyone seems to be doing this magazine style cover with their releases. I know it's nothing new as K-Pop groups have been doing it for ages and I've noticed a lot of SM groups are having this design. The albums are so large they barely fit on the shelves at the music stores now. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet due to computer issues but I have heard the title track is quite good.
Also had two orders come in this month that I had been excited for. First being the new The Hives album which I'm super pumped for. Cannot believe they released a new CD after so long! The other one is Big Time Rush's new album which is another I cannot believe it moment. I nearly died when I saw it up for preorder. Who would've thought the boys would bring out a new album in 2023? I do however hate how these are both in cardboard sleeve cases. Ugh these are my least favourite and hate storing them. I have been making a stack of all my newest CDs in this style of case and no idea where I'm going to put them.
I thought I had done a Red Velvet review on the blog in the past however turns out I actually haven't! Red Velvet is a group that I used to be quite into but have dropped off in interest in recent years. Like I like their music, I just prefer their old stuff and that is mostly what I have in my collection. The Red album was the first Red Velvet CD that I got in my collection and I even recall buying their debut single Happiness on iTunes when it first came out. I used to post stacks of Red Velvet images on my Tumblr back in the day before Yeri joined and I'm sure I would post more now with Yeri as she is my bias in the group.
Apologies for the late posting of the monthly favourites for July and you can blame my computer for that one. I think a part in the tower is worn out/broken as the computer is struggling to do anything. Finally got it to load this morning without crashing so I shall try to post this before it dies again. July was a pretty busy month mainly with work. The weather has improved slightly as in its not freezing cold every day. There was one day with some crazy fog and it was a task to drive to work in it. Let's get onto the monthly favourites! Starting off with this cute Gomamon Pop Vinyl I got last weekend! I placed an order as soon as I saw it announced. Not the biggest Pop fan but I do like to pick them up when the figurine looks cute or is some IP that I love.
Gaming
Finally finished my One Year Challenge for New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star. It was a long journey and a lot of screenshots to post. Might take a short break from Style Boutique outfits as I'm worn out from it. I have been playing lots of other games in the meantime. Last month I talked about Pretty Princess Party which I have been playing a fair bit. Not as much as the sequel Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island! I brought it on sale and been playing it every day since. It's basically an Animal Crossing clone where you are on an island and do random activities like fishing, catching bugs and crafting stuff. Absolutely love how easy it is to move buildings and bridges in the game. Animal Crossing needs to get on that level.
Besides a stack of digital games, I also picked up a few new physical games for the switch. I got the remake of We Love Katamari and Little Friends: Puppy Island. Only played the Katamari one so far and it is amazing. I had played the original one on the PS2 but this port is way better. Always fun to roll around and pick up random stuff. Haven't tried out Little Friends yet however it did come with some cute joy-con grips. They look great on my Nintendo Switch and are quite nice to play with.
I'm back with another After School CD review and this time it is their Japanese single Bang! I thought I would post all three versions for the next few reviews as I have all of them in my collection ready to go. Feels like forever ago when I brought this single and that was back when After School was still a group! Ugh makes me so annoyed that this group suffered a terrible end and we could've had many more amazing songs from the girls!
Ok who doesn't love the amount of inclusions you get in TWICE releases!? Just look at this all this cute stuff their What Is Love? mini album comes with! That is what I will be reviewing today as I thought it was time to post some mini albums from TWICE. This is a group that I have a few pieces from and they always look rather lovely on the shelf. The shop I ordered this from was sent a random version and I ended up with the B version. I quite like the cover of the A version but hey I'm happy with whatever just because it's TWICE!
Back for another BLACKPINK review with the pink version of their 2nd Mini. I reviewed the black version earlier and it feels so fulfilling when you have a complete set of an album. I don't achieve it often with Korean releases as there is usually a few editions and can be a pricey endeavour. Plus the groups I usually collect didn't do multiple versions. BLACKPINK is one of the few groups where I have complete sets which is only their mini albums but I'm calling that a success.
KILL THIS LOVE is the 2nd Mini Album from Korean girl group BLACKPINK and it was released on April 23rd 2019. The mini album was released in two versions: Black and Pink. Both versions were easy to find through JB Hi-Fi and I purchased them a few years ago. The thing I love about this mini album is that it sits nicely on the shelf and the box is great for holding all the extras inside. Usually I'm not a big fan of box style albums however this one works great. The contents of this mini album are as follows:
BLACKPINK is a group that I casually collect much like TWICE. Their releases are easy to purchase at local music stores so I tend to pick them up if the price is good. A few years ago I ended up collecting both versions of their 2nd Mini Album KILL THIS LOVE and that is what we will be looking at today. And lots of lovely photos are included as you get some great inclusions with this release.
A few years ago I reviewed T-ARA's first Japanese album Jewerly Box and it is time to review their follow-up TREASURE BOX. I loved how these two albums had a theme and then that all got thrown out the window with their third Japanese album which was called Gossip Girls. Whilst that name is amazing, it would've been lovely to see another box theme title like maybe music box. I feel that would've been a fun concept for the design. Now this album was kind of a pain to photograph as it is very brown and my camera hated that. Loving the pirate theme though and looks like the girls had fun taking the photos.
