How To Take Purikura Part 5: Decorating!

This is the fun part! Almost all of this will be covered in detail in later posts but for now I’ll just go over the basics.

Review: Bambi-na

Another machine that has caught people’s attention lately, this is the Bambina from Make software. As I mentioned in an earlier post it’s already been surpassed by the next version, Essence but as Essence isn’t released nationwide yet Bambina might be your best option!

 

Purikura segment on Himitsu no Arashi

Recently (I believe it was the 17th of February) the evermore present Arashi did a segment on purikura on their TV show Himitsu no Arashi-chan (TBS Thu 10pm). I don't have any clips or screenshots for you but I'm sure you can find it from your regular Japanese TV sources.

Basically they each took a turn being at the front to take a picture and then decorate it to see how it turned out. The guys are mid-twenties so I would guess they are maybe a little old for date purikura, they seemed a bit surprised by how big the eyes became on the newer machines.

Nino took his and the the first thing he said was "My eyes are so big!". Aiba got into the swing of things by doing a double peace pose and saying "Agepoyo!" ("gyaru" slang for raising the mood) He also wrote that on his picture.

Someone said that Jun looked like an alien in one of the pics. Guys say this a LOT when they take purikura.

Ohno's picture came out scary, the machine really picked up his lashes and he looked like a drag queen!

It's quite interesting that purikura is really designed to emphasis the "girlieness" of how you look. It makes your eyes big and cute and darkens your eye make-up. Sometimes I really think that girls look so cute in purikura but that guys look kind of weird...especially on the really big eye settings on the new machines

I wonder if the "couple course" on the BF Manual machine has some kind of magic where the boy looks more boy-ish...

Popsister and Essence giveaway!

In the newest issue of Popsister there's a giveaway of beauty products and clothes sponsored by the new Essence machine.

The prizes aren't really purikura related, I guess just in the "beauty" sense! It also looks like you can only enter via QR code which, despite apps that promise otherwise, I haven't Bern able to get to work on the iPhone. I wait patiently.

Good luck if you are going to enter though!

How to Take Purikura Part 4: The Graffiti Screen and Set-Up Options

So by now you have all your beautiful pictures taken and chosen, and you are ready to decorate, but wait! There’s a few more things you need to decide first.

The Graffiti Screen

Purikura Page from Egg Magazine

Egg Magazine is aimed at teen to early twenties "gyaru". It has a collaboration with Namco (arcade company) and they have a purikura centre called Eggnam in Shibuya which I am so going to on my next Tokyo trip!

Anyway, as purikura is popular with Egg's target readership and to promote this centre they often (always?) have purikura pages with comments from the Egg models.

Here's the page from the March issue of Egg

I do find it a little disturbing that the girls in the "Sex love" purikura are so young, and that the comment is kind of positive. Kids today eh?

If you want to get Egg for yourself it's on sale in bookshops and convvience stores in Japan or you can try and order it on-line if you live abroad, unfortunately it seems to be unavailable on Amazon :(

Review: Masuwaka Tsubasa's BF Manual

For my first review here I’ll be looking at Masuwaka Tsubasa’s newest machine, BF Manual. It should be really easy to spot if you are looking for it, it’s white and pastels and has huge pictures of Tsubasa and her husband Umeda Naoki all over it. According to the front of the machine BF can stand for Beauty Face, Best Fashion and Boy Friend.

How to Take Purikura Part 3: Choosing Backgrounds and Posing

This will be a shorter post as I intend to cover posing in more detail on other posts.

NEWS〜New Machine〜Essence

I'm in Tokyo at the moment and spotted that a new machine was on a location test in the game centre we went to in Shinjuku. This means that it's not available all over the country yet so I'll do a proper review when it is.


Location Test

How to Take Purikura Part 2: Going In and Set Up Options

So, you’ve found a purikura place and chosen your machine. What next?

How to Take Purikura Part 1: Finding Your Machine

So you want to take purikura? Here's my handy six part guide!

Typical Purikura booths