Happy New Year from Your Favorite Lala and Lala DX Mangakas!

Here are some New Year's messages from some of the artist featured in Lala and Lala DX magazine.  I didn't have time to translate the messages and I don't know if I will find time soon.   Anyhow, if you can't read Japanese, then look at the pretty pictures and imagine that each one of them says "Happy New Year" + "Let's do our best in the New Year", because that pretty much sums them up (although a few are a little more personal and describe a major event for them in the 2010.)

Anyhow...click on the images to see a larger version.

And, Happy New Year to everyone from the folks at Omari's Sister!  We look forward to another great year of bringing you lots of manga and anime fun.

Lala 2 2011

I have Lala 2!  Yuki from "Vampire Knight" is on the cover this time.  The freebie is a Nyanko-sensei pouch.

It's very cute.  I kinda wish it was an oven mitt.

Here's what we'll be translating from Lala 2:

• "Kimi ni XOXO" chapter 5 -- it's the final chapter so we will go ahead and release it back-to-back with chapter 4 so we can complete that series now.
• Special four-panel comic shorts
• Ouran one-shot previews!
• One-Shot:  "Nejimaki Mano-san" (will be translated later in the year)
• One-Shot:  "Kashikomi Mousu!" (will be translated later in the year)

So, You Want to Order Lala Magazine from Amazon Japan...

Are you excited about the last chapters of "Ouran?"  Do you want to get some of that Ouran loot?  Well, here's some helpful hints on how to get some!

Direct links to Lala 8 and Lala 9 (pre-order):

Lala 8: http://tinyurl.com/23lpg6j
Lala 9:  http://tinyurl.com/2cqk68z

Here’s a link to the “English” version of their website.

Link:  http://www.amazon.co.jp/In-English/b?ie=UTF8&node=1094656

There’s still A LOT of Japanese, but it's manageable (the links and buttons are the same configuration as the Amazon US website, so if needed, just refer to the Amazon site in your country to figure out what the buttons and links are.).

Hints:
The little shopping cart icon is, indeed, your shopping cart.
  When you get into your shopping cart, look on the top left for a link to put the page in English again.  You will need to choose International shipping.  From here forward, there should be enough English to get you through the purchase.  If it turns back into Japanese, look to the top left again for the English link.

The cost of shipping is horrendous.  Shipping to the US is $30 for the first item and $3 per item after.  With this in mind, I usually order several items to spread the initial shipping cost  across multiple items.  My suggestion in this cases is to order both Lala 8 and 9 at the same time.  They will immediately ship Lala 8 and then Lala 9 will come when it’s released (even though they say they will ship at the same time).  The shipping will be $33 for both items instead of two separate $30 shipping fees.  I would encourage you to wait until Lala 10 becomes available for pre-order to spread the cost of shipping further ($36 for three magazines), but it’s very likely that Lala 8 will sell out soon.  The nice thing about this is that it's Fedex 2-day shipping, so your wait will not be long :).

I hope this helps those of you who want to buy Lala magazine directly from Japan and I will continue to post the direct links to the magazines as the pre-orders become available.

Oh, and a gentle warning...if you do purchase Lala magazine, as tempting as it may be, don't post the raw.  The Japanese publishers are *aggro* right now and you could get in a lot of trouble if you post the raw.

Lala Issue 8/2010 Freebies

Here are some pictures of the loot in Lala issue 8/2010.  If you want some loot, go buy a magazine and enjoy the lovely "Vampire Knight" cover illustration (that bullet is very lucky):

"Gakuen Babysitters" stickers!

Nyanko-Sensei pens!

These pens are super cute, but in reality they are only 4-inch long.

Where to buy Lala Magazine:

• Here's a link to Lala 8 on Amazon Japan: Link
• Also, you can currently get copies in the US at Sanseido Bookstores: Link (I suggest you call to make sure you order the right magazine issue)
• Or, in about 3-weeks is should be available at Akadot: Link

Check the Magazine Freebie List page on this blog for a listing of past items from Lala magazine and the other magazines I purchase.  The link is located at the upper right corner of this blog (or click the link in the previous sentence).

Lala Issue 7/2010 Freebies

Natsume Yuujinchou" fans may want to secure  a copy of Lala issue 7/2010.  It comes with a fabulous Nyanko-sensei towel.

So cute!!

There is also a "Kaichou wa Maid-sama" file folder included in this issue. See the magazine freebie list for links to images of that item.