It’s dakimakura cover show-and-tell time. This particular pillowcase comes from Evening Call and is part of their “Puredise” line, which I think is their series of dakimakura covers featuring original characters. The girl presented here is Momoka and she’s listed as coming from “Suteki na Imouto,” which means something like “Wonderful Little Sister.” The artist goes by the name Chikura; I don’t know if he (I’m assuming it’s a he) has a website, and his Pixiv site is sparsely-populated. I wasn’t at all familiar with the artist before seeing his work here, but it didn’t take too long for me to decide I liked the art on this pillowcase.
Like all of Evening Call’s pillowcases, this dakimakura cover measures 160 centimeters by 50 and is made of stretchy two-way tricot fabric.
But before we talk more about this pillowcase – and really, there’s not a ton to talk about – a discursion first, if you will. Momoka is an original character and thus has no background but the purported series title and her lack of clothing carry the obvious implication of incest, which has curiously become an extremely popular theme in anime. I’m a little puzzled by how mainstream it has become, since incest isn’t really something that excites me (except maybe if it’s accompanied by tentacles or restraints, and I know of few incest-themed anime, manga, or eroge which involve such things). Nonetheless, it’s become quite popular, even forming the central hook of a number of series. A couple of months ago, there was a bit of a flap on the web regarding some of the character designs from Vanillaware’s upcoming game Dragon’s Crown. I’m not going to link any of the articles that spurred the debate since the whole thing was really sad and I don’t think they’re worth the time to locate, but basically some video game writers didn’t like the size of some of the characters’ breasts, which grew into a larger discussion (if you want to call it that) about sexism in the video game industry.
When I heard about this, I thought about anime and all the things that anime viewers accept that other people would consider stupid, perverted, or insane. I thought about incest, which is casually accepted, sometimes even embraced by anime fans. I thought about the exaggerated female character designs common in anime, which are often not to everyone’s taste but rarely instigate allegations of sexism. I thought about this website, in which my viewpoints and opinions regarding the status of women in the real world are completely incongruent from the way that I write about or depict fictional female anime characters. I thought about how differently those writers must see the world from the way I do. I ordered this pillowcase about the same time I thought about these things, and I planned on writing more about what I felt – but to be honest, I don’t think it’s worth it, except for two things that I still feel very strongly about. First, there are way too many fucking idiots on the internet who thoughtlessly judge other people and what they like. Second, it must be really fucking nice to live in a society where the breast sizes of some fictional female characters is so fucking pernicious a social problem that it can detonate such an incendiary controversy. To be fair, those writers were writing this in the context of sexism in the industry, which certainly does exist – but then, it exists in many other places as well, and there are many, many far more harmful depictions of women in entertainment than in an utterly obscure video game like Dragon’s Crown. Why not write about the portrayal of women in those? Or why not write about the dearth of women in government, or science and engineering, or the military?
(Being that this silliness erupted just a few months before the video game’s release date, I’m wondering if this was a very clever way to drum up some publicity for a game that was otherwise consigned to being an ultra-niche title. If this was indeed the intent, then it was a masterstroke of manipulation. However, I think it’s more likely they were fishing for a cheap way to get some page impressions.)
(The funniest thing is, while I support Vanillaware’s character designs, I don’t actually like them very much and I don’t think I’m going to buy the game.)
Anyway, back to funner stuff. The nominal front side of this pillowcase depicts Momoka sharing a shy smile while touching herself. It’s quite cute.
I kinda have to think that her right arm is too skinny, though. It stands out since Momoka is a little fuller-figured than the typical little-sister character, who are often more on the loli side of design.
The band-aid on her knee seems sort of random, but it is itself one of those accessories that gets fetishized.
The opposite side shows Momoka wearing a shy expression and not much more. It’s a little easier to see Momoka’s body proportions here and one of the things I like the most about the artwork is that it’s not too easy to tell how old (or young, rather) Momoka is. Her breast size indicates that she’s rather young but her wider hips, thighs, and face design make her look older than the usual little sister-type character.
Another thing that makes her look a little older, or at least different, is that she doesn’t the gigantic hairstyle that a number of younger characters have. There are a lot of young (read: loli) anime characters who have huge twintails, but Momoka’s hairstyle is a good deal less showy. The size and shape of her eyes is also a style that I associate with older characters. Besides all that, she also has an attractive rosy blush on her cheeks.
There’s some fluid on her fingers which makes one thing that this image comes after the event depicted on the reverse side. That’s pretty neat, and one doesn’t often see two-panel storytelling on a dakimakura cover.
And the band-aid is still there. I really do like how Momoka isn’t completely waif-like.
I like this pillowcase a lot; the character is very cute and doesn’t look outrageously young, which I don’t have a big thing for (but I won’t criticize those that do, as long as the character exists only in anime culture). I don’t have a big thing for incest either, but again, I won’t criticize those that do. The second side is my favorite side, but both sides look great.
I’m happy to see you do a review of this cover; I seriously contemplated purchasing it myself, because I absolutely loved the sample image, and the end result hasn’t disappointed. Admittedly, the main reason I didn’t purchase this cover, other than the millions of other competing products, was probably because the Puredise lineup doesn’t come with points or experience. >_> This is probably my favorite cover from the lineup thus far, and I hope to see it improve. I’m not going to touch on the tangent you discussed too much, but I will say that I generally agree with the points you addressed. Other than that, I haven’t really been paying too much attention to Dragon Crown, but I watched the trailer the other day, and might consider purchasing it at some point.
Aww, oh well. I need to run the numbers to see if ordering through a proxy is more economical than ordering directly; if it is (by a significant margin, that is), I guess the user account points won’t matter much to me. i don’t think I order enough for it to make a difference either way, though.
Incidentally, it’s pretty funny how much more liberally one is motivated to spend when your new credit card company offers 40,000 bonus points for spending a certain amount of money within three months.
What a pretty girl. And perfectly sized; rare for you to show something realistically sized, you do love your big breasts. Though you don’t shy away from lolis, either.
As for general attitudes, I dislike all the angst and hatred toward smaller chested/younger looking characters. (I assume that’s what all the debate you mention was about, since nobody ever complains about huge chests). Incest or whatever aide, people seem to really stress over it and talk about paedophelia and whatever else, but it’s all nonsense. Art is art. People who try to force laws to protect real children, on fictional characters, need to die in a fire.
Being smaller chested myself, I have actually found various comments in the “media” about it rather offensive, specifically talking about anime/manga culture and Asian games. Guess what. Asians tend to have smaller chests, it’s no real surprise to see smaller chested characters that are not necessarily young (as the commentary almost always talks about prepubescent looks). Of course, they do fetishise with giant breasts plenty often too, much like the arm sized cocks often in hentai, and in general I think unrealistically large chested characters are more common than smaller, at least in any remotely sexualised fashion (though some people seem to think a simple beach/pool episode where the cast are all in swimsuits, most of whom have normal or abnormally large chests, but one pettan character somehow makes the entire show for paedos only).
Geh. I could rant endlessly on the topic. Moreso because I used to actually work in a related law enforcement field as part of the process trying to protect real children. Seeing so much outrage about fantasy characters makes me wish harm on to some of these people. There is a distinct border between 3D and 2D, but so much media (and law in some countries, my own included now) wants to prosecute and persecute people who like 2D the same way those who are actually involved in 3D exploitation.
Anyway. She’s pretty. It’s rare to see a character (meant to be young or old, either way) of this sort of chest size, and the hairstyle is a bit different to usual, as you mention. She definitely looks more mature than you seem to indicate she is meant to be. Not that it will stop morons from condemning it as CP.
Actually, the debate seemed to exclusively center on big boobs; I guess some people think that the sorceress’s large bust size is an example of sexism. Or something. I don’t quite recall how they rationalized this connection. I do recall that the episode makes me realize how uninterested I am in so many other peoples’ opinions, and in a larger sense, it makes me laugh at this whole idea of a connected, sharing online society (I’ve been shopping for a smartphone recently so I’ve been paying more attention to phone company ads, and I’ve noticed how often that theme comprises their central sales pitch). So many people focus on likes and shares or whatever … me, I wish news websites would make it easier to downrate, downvote, and dislike user comments. If Google ever implements a -1 button, I will be its biggest fan and abuser.
While I have my own issues with America’s social standards and ideology (particularly with respect to religion; I am nominally Buddhist but I claim no religion), I’m glad that freedom of speech is something that is typically strongly protected here. The idea of punishing thought crime is appalling to me. I’m more equivocal about how I feel with respect to the social impact of entertainment media, such as in the case of Dragon’s Crown. I also think it’s curious how anime and Japanese video game culture has its own, unusual set of standards and tropes. Something that’s always interested me is that there are a lot of female anime characters, particularly in action shows, whose main role is as eye candy or fanservice, but are nonetheless physically powerful, independent, and generally portrayed in a positive way. That sort of thing seems less common in Western video games; in recent times, it seems that in the minds of the makers of such games, in order to develop an effective and intelligent female character, her visual appeal needs to be minimized. I don’t quite get that reasoning.
hnnnnnggg twin tails… Is it me or are her feat REALLY small?
They are small but not overly so, I think that her body is very proportionate for the most part. Though if I was going to nitpick, her belly button could be an inch or so lower.
Maybe it’s the perspective but it looks like her legs and feet become way too pointy at the bottom.
Yeah, they are pretty small … I didn’t think they were abnormally small, and art intended to go on dakimakura covers seems to often have wonky proportions, particularly when you can tell the characters is stretched out to fill out the pillowcase’s surface area. I should note that in image 9, which is the one with her legs and lower torso, I was shooting downwards, as I was sitting in a chair fairly close to the pillowcase (I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this, but I always sit in a chair when I photograph figures and dakimakura covers. I don’t know if that’s unusual or not.). That makes her feet look smaller than they really are in the art; you can see in image 6, the legs aren’t tapered in that way.
momoka!!!!!!!! be my imoutos!!
Ahh the big boob sorcerres topic, there can be a lot of hate on the internet.
On the FFXIV beta forum was a similiar discussion, because the character creation had a very limited boob size slider. Of course some people wished for a little more variety,but the other party cheerfully waved the “you are all a bunch of perverts” flag. Real women can also have big boobs, do they think these women are also perverted? Seriously!
I have no real interest in such arguments since I don’t care about stupid and ignorant people.I like large breasts in fictional media and I won’t look down on anyone because of boob sizes, no real person and no fictional persons. I have respect of women and I don’t think they are just sexual objects, even when I have some preferences to cerain body features, it’s natural.
/break…
We are not blood related XD
The pillow cover is a bit simple in terms of color variety, but the the character has a very pretty head and lovely hair. The appearance reminds me a bit of Tari Tari. The collarbones are nice and the toned down bust size should probably show that she is an budding Imouto.
She is wearing one of the bishoujo summer dresses, something I really like. Hmm I have a couple of figures that wear green underwear and Im wondering if green underwear has any special meaning in Japan.
I always find it pretty funny how uncomfortable people are with the topics of sexuality and sexiness. It’s also kinda funny how one of the earliest known work of human art depict a female figure with very large breasts. That this work predates conservative social mores is telling.
Green does seem to be a popular underpants color in Japan, whether solid print or striped. Speaking of stripes and colors, I kinda wonder how that North Carolina powder blue color became so closely associated with striped panties.
hi, i just want to ask, where did you buy this dakimakura? i browse YAJ and found nothing like this. The picture i found is SFW, so i want to ask you how to get this dakimakura with NSFW.
Thanks
I purchased it directly from Evening Call. I do not know if they have any more in stock; if they don’t, I would check Yahoo Japan and Mandarake; they usually carry some of Evening Call’s products.
thanks for the info…
i just visiting Evening Call’s website and there isn’t any clue about the stock. Are they sell it in pre-order?
*sorry for the bad grammar
Evening Call runs on a preorder system, where the item goes up for preorder for about a month, before closing the preorder and shipping it out about a month later. That’s how Tier obtained his, by ordering during the preorder period a few months ago.
Once the preorder period is closed, your chances of ordering from Evening Call are not guaranteed. After the cover has been released, if they have any extra available, they will be sold via stock sales which can be found here:
http://www.eveningcall.net/CategoryShow.aspx?CategoryID=16
They don’t currently have her in stock, so while it’s possible that she may appear there in the future, I wouldn’t say it’s likely. That leaves purchasing from secondhand sources, namely Mandarake or YJA. However, there is no guarantee that a specific item will ever pop up on either of these sites, so it’s just best to save the search link and check it regularly.
Here are the relevant links to save:
https://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en/search.do?searchStrategy=keyword&action=keyword&doujin=all&keyword=evening+call
http://auctions.search.yahoo.co.jp/search?auccat=&p=evening+call&tab_ex=commerce&ei=euc-jp
Yeah, it was a preorder item, as are most dakimakura covers, I guess. They do carry some stock from time to time but generally it seems like these items are made-to-order. You can ask them if they have any remaining stock or any plans to do another production run, though; they are fluent in English. Their inquiry page is here (the fields are your name, your e-mail address, your message title, and your message).
to Tier and ShasHin: thank you for the information, i can’t express any gratitude against the info.
to Tier and ShasHin: thank you for the information, i can’t express any gratitude against the info.
Hi! I instantly fallen in love with this cover, and the only place to got it I was able to find was amazon. The maker listed was different – cos-factory, and the price was around 6000 yen. The cover i got features a drawing of poor quality, compared to this photos – no shading and “keep out” parts redrawn. Quality of the cover itself looks decent. but I don’t have enything to compare to. So I’ve been thinking if there are some buying guidelines, some keywords to distinguish such bootlegy items, or should I avoid some makers or amazon altogether when buying daki covers?
Generally, anything with a price that seems too good to be true is going to be fake. Official (i.e., from Cospa or other big hobby goods manufacturers) dakimakura covers generally cost 9500 to 10,000 yen or so; doujin dakimakura covers typically cost in the 11,000 to 13,000 yen range, and they generally don’t get discounted. Other things you can check for are whether it was produced by A&J, which is the textiles company that a lot of doujin circles use for manufacturing and printing the pillowcases. Amazon (and eBay) is certainly going to be a crapshoot, since I doubt they do anything to police marketplace sellers, unless a customer complains.
Thanks! Looking forward to more daki cover reviews of yours. Maybe something will catch my attention like Momoka did. Is there some moeyo for daki covers? I need to get rid of aftertaste of disappointment of buying poor cover and I think the way to do it is to get awesome one.
The best resource is probably the 埋もれる抱ãæž•er blog; a lot of releases are listed there with links, pricing, and store information.