I’ve been looking for a good dakimakura cover of Fate Testarossa for a while now, and it’s been surprisingly difficult to find one despite the popularity of the Nanoha franchise’s number two lady. For one, many of her pillowcases depict her in her younger form, and while I don’t dislike her original appearance, I prefer her as an adult. Also, being that I’m fond of the character, I was going to be more discriminating than I might have been if I were unfamiliar with Fate.
One of my favorite dakimakura covers is Vivio, and I knew the artist had done one of Fate earlier. I had skipped it then, but being that I liked his work with the Vivio pillowcase, I decided that passing on it had been a mistake. When I heard that this Fate pillowcase showed up on Mandarake, I went ahead and picked it up. While I like the illustrations better than I did at first, this dakimakura cover came with an unexpected and quite unwelcome surprise.
This dakimakura cover is drawn by Tetsuya Yatsushima of the circle Briest and distributed by Hold On Pillow. If I remember right, I think this was the first Nanoha-themed pillowcase drawn by the artist, but I’m not certain of that. He’s subsequently done pillowcase art of Vivio and Nanoha. It measures 160 centimeters by 50 centimeters and is made of two-way tricot.
The front side shows Fate shyly smiling. It’s pretty cute and not objectionable in the least, though the way her breasts seem pressed together looks a bit odd, given that she’s lying down. She’s a magical girl though so realism need not be considered a sine qua non here.
Her genitalia shows the puffiness that the artist seems to often incorporate in his work.
The reverse side shows Fate’s backside as she gives off more of a flirty look, tongue out.
A friend of mine reacted negatively to her squished-out breasts; he termed them cancerous boob tumors. I think he has a point, but again, she’s a magical girl and I think she still looks cute. Besides, this is anime, where wars are fought by teenaged child-soldiers, transfer students always have exciting adventures, and every girl is 18 years old, even when they’re 9.
Looking at her torso gives us a good luck at the detail in her strip club fighting suit, which she has thoughtfully pulled to the side to show off her anus and genitalia. Again, her anatomy is very detailed with … wait, what is that? Let’s get closer.
A closer examination reveals that, for some mysterious reason, her genitals are covered by mosaic censoring, and I cannot divine the rationale for such a bizarre decision. It’s not hiding anything, the front side of the pillowcase isn’t censored, and I don’t think any of the other HOP pillowcases I own are censored, which makes it all the more mystifying. Thankfully, it’s not too noticeable from a distance, but it’s still irksome. I like this pillowcase but I’d like it a lot more without the mosaic, and I think I’m still searching for the perfect Fate Testarossa dakimakura cover.
Man, that censoring just kills this cover. It looks absolutely fantastic otherwise; I’m definitely a fan of the tongue out look she has on the back side. But censoring on a dakimakura cover should be illegal, or something. 🙁
Yeah, I was pretty disappointed to see it. Pretty confused, too; I had to take a very close look at it to confirm it because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing at first. Oh well, back to the drawing board as far as my search goes.
im mre surprised the others are uncensored, considerign that its law to censor them in japan after all…
I guess they’re able to sneak it through, somehow. It’s interesting how just about every doujinshi I’ve ever seen is censored in some form but most doujin dakimakura covers are not, though.
It is fairly strange that dakimakura covers seem to be the exception when it comes to censoring, excluding a few cases such as this cover. I always wondered it myself, but it’s definitely not something I’m going to complain about; censorship sucks.
You think the same reasoning would apply to doujinshi, but with dakimakura covers it seems that the lower down the chain they are, the less chance they’ll censor something. Big anime companies don’t even tread dangerous ground, keeping their products relatively safe for work. Eroge companies, if they decide to go the exposed flesh route, almost always censor (with Barbie or mosaic censoring.) And circles rarely censor, except in a few cases, such as this HOP cover.
On another interesting note, Satoshi Urushihara’s covers seem to be hit or miss when it comes to censoring. Granted bootlegs are always a possibility, but a friend recently got one of his covers and it was horrible censored. But I’ve spoken with other people who own one, and they say none of theirs have censoring. Would be interesting to compare the release dates of the covers in question and the source that they came from; my guess is that the censored cover came from a magazine mail order while the uncensored covers may have been direct reception.
My best guess would be that covers are printed out of the country, but I have no idea. Even circles that are known for explicit covers, like Marks and Anko Koubou, censor their doujinshi. I guess it would make sense if the doujinshi was printed in Japan and the covers were produced outside of Japan. It’s a weird situation and that’s the only way I can think of to explain it but I have no idea if I’m right or wrong.
Another nice one, Fate looks quite happy here and is illustrated nicely.
It is funny how her boobs seem to fight over the best spot on her body =D
Awwww these puffy genitalia again, I already loved it on the Vivio Dakimakura (≖ ‿ ≖)✧
The censoring is a bit odd, but it’s just a small spot.
It’s nice to see Fate smiling, even though she’s usually a sad-looking girl. Since she’s all grown up here, presumably she’s found something to be happy about. She can’t be happy that censoring has made a blotchy mess of her crotch, but at least it’s not too noticeable.
This Fate looks really good. Both sides feature super cute faces and very nice detail. On the front view, her breasts are kept in position by the tight suit stretched around them (Or so I imagine :-)).
Their squished-out look on the back view just proves that they’re “real” (Or so I imagine 🙂 :-)).
But why on earth is the inside of the vagina pixelled? They’re showing us a clear liquid running out of her anus. If they show us that and leave us guessing what it implies, why would they shy away from showing a plain view into her vagina? If that detail is too hot to handle, why use this image in the first place? Weird. I hope this is not the start of a trend.
Yeah, I don’t understand it, either. I vaguely recall hearing something that penetration requires censoring, though she’s not being penetrated on either side and it’s still a really flimsy rationale, given that there are many, many dakimakura covers – some from the same circle – that feature similar poses and levels of explicitness without censoring.
I think this was a one-off thing, though; this was the illustrator’s first Nanoha-themed pillowcase so perhaps he was just playing it safe. His second pillowcase (Vivio) has a tiny bit of censoring, so tiny that it’s hardly noticeable – it basically amounts to about four pixels of mosaicing. His third pillowcase (Nanoha) has no censoring at all.
I’m not a fan of this dakimakura, but that likely stems from me not caring about Fate Testarossa. I guess I just don’t care for her design. I think if the dakimakura would have been somebody else I would like it, but it just doesn’t do anything for me.
I do like the reverse image though. The playfully sticking her tongue out of her mouth is cute and I have no problems with her breasts out to each side even if it is sort of weird.
It is a shame about the censoring though.
OMG not liking Fate. Hehe, you’re not the first person I know who doesn’t like Fate, nor the second person. I’m a big fan of Fate though I think my fandom would make more sense if I’d actually watched the TV shows (I saw the first movie and did not like it at all).
Ha, I’m going to have to tell my friend that he is nuts and that the consensus is entirely against him. Cancerous boob tumors indeed.
Censorship kills yet another awesome piece of art. 🙁
Yeah, unfortunately. Though censoring isn’t always a bad thing; I recently watched the second volume of Euphoria and there’s a scene in there that I am really, really glad was mosaic’ed.
Nice pillowcase minus the censor. So I get the impression you are spending like $100 on each pillowcase. Would you mind maybe taking a gamble on sites like milanoo and ebay where you can get some what I would presume to be bootleg covers for like 20-35$ each? Could make for some interesting reviews especially in regards to image and material quality. It would also be easier on your wallet and would be helpful to people who can’t always afford the official products. You would also have more covers and variety to review for the same price.
Nah, I’m not too interested in picking up bootleg pillowcases. I’m not really running this site to review things for the sake of reviewing them, and reviewing such things would likely lead to a discussion of the ethics of purchasing bootleg products, which I have absolutely no desire to get into. There are other places for that sort of discussion.
They could be legit, I have no idea. Anyone who buys them doesn’t take very nice pictures like you do. You can get custom ones made and stuff via ebay if you have “Picture resolution no less than 4000×1500 pixels or 300 dpi for pillow case.” Anyway I think its totally legit to pay like 25-35 bucks for a dakimakura, especially if you’re going to use it. Idk how I’d feel about spending $100+ on a pillow case, let alone like 20 :P. I wonder how much value yours retain?
Some guy did a little review on milanoo and stuff about whether they are a scam or not or whatever and he posted some pictures of dakimakuras he ordered, but the low upload image quality I mentioned earlier comes into play. His little review can be found at this link below: — That touhou project pillow case he ordered… that face is lol.
Anyways I haven’t started down the slippery slope of buying anime/figmas/pillowcovers yet, but the temptation is growing on me. I just don’t really have much extra money to spend at the moment so it could be tough to justify. I’ve heard once you start, its moderately difficult to stop.
I don’t know how much value they retain, nor do I particularly care, nor am I interested at all in bootleg pillowcases. The idea that it’s “legit” to purchase a counterfeit item due to poverty on the part of the purchaser is bizarre.
>> Shashin
Most curious that is, since Urushihara is pretty famous for his ero work (aside from the stuff he’s done for Langrisser and Growlanser and such, anyway). I always remember the very intricate way he draws pubic hair on his female characters, so it’s pretty odd that his work would get censored.
Yeah, I’m not sure how to explain it, either. I was going to speculate that maybe since doujinshi are often sold publicly at Comiket, that they are higher profile and would thus be more rigorously regulated, but then I remembered there are at least a few conventions where dakimakura are prominently featured (like Dream Party), so I really don’t know what the deal is. I guess we probably ought to just be happy that most of them are uncensored, since so few ero-anime goods are.
I know that the telecards and such I’ve seen of his have all been censored. I don’t know about the dakimakura covers, though. I looked up the source of the cover my friend had purchased, and I believe it was through a magazine. It could see why it would be censored then, since magazines are fairly high profile/publicly available. I just hope that the one I purchased through Yokatta isn’t censored, but if it is, I’ll have learned my lesson concerning his work.
On an interesting note, I won that auction about two months back through Yokatta. They just left feedback a few days ago and haven’t told me it’s in stock yet. Curious, but I should have two other orders coming in this month, so I guess they’re waiting until everything is available to notify me.
Most curious. The one thing about Yokatta is that they hardly ever e-mail me to notify me that they got something (I’m not actually sure if they’ve yet gotten the Tony pillowcase I ordered, for example). It’s not a big deal to me since I usually know when my stuff is scheduled to arrive and I typically plan out well in advance when I want them to ship my orders. That’s one of the nice things about SMJ, though; it’s really nice to see your item status as it goes through the process. Too bad their fees are considerably higher.
Yeah, my general order plan is to use SMJ for auctions and Yokatta for web orders. Unfortunately, I play a dangerous game most of the time and usually don’t have money when I want to order something. So, I pay the higher price with SMJ but know that I won’t have to pay until the item ships a few months down the line… under the assumption that I’ll be able to come up with the money by then. >_>
But yeah, I’m not worried at the moment. I have some other orders supposed to come in right now. One of them is actually a mirror order with SMJ, since it was that Marks sale I mentioned a few months back and they only had a 2 day weekend order window. I placed an order with both… and they both managed to get it in. So that will be fairly painful, but I figure I could always try selling the spares if I really want to. Anyhow, once SMJ gets the Marks order in, I’ll probably shoot them an email asking about the other two orders.
As much as I admire the artwork,detail & passion that goes into the creation of pillow covers like this one, I personally cannot bring myself to pay the astronomical prices’ at which they go for. Pvc figure prices I can live with, at the very least I hope shipping rates from Japan for daimakura covers is cheap for you.
Ya see tier. None of us want to pay loads of cash for a pillowcase. Just you do pretty thorough and detailed reviews… cheap pillowcases are realistic alternatives for readers like us, however since they are cheap pillowcases and they may vary greatly in quality and material it might be nice if you bought from different cheap pillowcase sellers /// sites and gave your opinions about each place either giving a thumbs up to buy from them or thumbs down stay away haha. That would add a new dynamic to your reviews. If you don’t like it or it doesn’t work out you wouldn’t be out very much money and you could continue doing what you’re doing. I enjoyed reading your 20~ reviews over the past few nights and ill begin looking at your figure reviews as well. Anyways please reply to both my comments unless they overlap a bunch. Thanks tier.
Ignoring the inaccuracy of your first statement, you’re making two assumptions that are incorrect – that I run this site as a service to readers, and that I would be willing to purchase counterfeit dakimakura covers. I’m not willing to do so, which renders the whole discussion moot, but it’s mystifying to think that I would spend money on bootleg items solely to help out people who are too cheap to buy the authentic products. I receive no money from running this site and have no interest – financially or ethically – in purchasing products for the sake of reviewing them. If you want to know more about bootleg pillowcases, you’re either going to have to buy them yourself or find that information someplace else.
Here, here.
Keep buying good quality stuff.