I didn't talk about this yesterday because of the accident, but as I mentioned in the previous entry, I went to Antwerp with a friend.

We were originally planning to pick up some clothes, but as it's Sales Season, all the stores are targeting female customers. Hence, very little on sale for the gents, and nothing to our taste. I'll probably get some clothes in a neighbouring town next week.

We did go to Super Dragon Toys, which is actually more of an anime and manga shop than a toy store. They've got a lot of toys, of course, mostly Saint Seiya and Gundam, but they also have a varied assortment of manga in French, English and a few in Dutch.

I picked up a few copies of Bleach (Broken Coda and The Blade And Me), mostly because I like Tite Kubo's detailed and clean inking style. I've already seen the anime adaptations of these manga episodes, but I picked out the most interesting ones (well, two of the three on sale, anyway).

I also got the first three issues of Shaman King in Dutch, because they're cheaper (no shipping and import costs). I like Hiroyuki Takei's more cartoon-like style, which reminds me of Akira Toriyama's early works (Dragon Ball), only more refined and detailed. Due to the size restrictions the pages sometimes get a bit crowded, but that's only in the first copy. It's fun to read, as it mostly stresses the importance of friendship, keeping the tone light. With a few jokes added, it's perfect relaxation reading. I mostly admire the character design of the spirits, especially Bason's.

We also stopped by Mekanik, which sells all kinds of comics, though mostly American ones, both in English and in Dutch. I was looking for DC's Red Son, an alternate universe Superman series in which he landed in the USSR rather than the US, but they didn't have that particular series. There were a few copies of Marvel's Civil War series, but we decided to wait for the trade paperbacks instead of buying the separate ones.

My friend did pick up a few art books by Luis Royo, and I bought a Punisher T-shirt (skull emblem, movie version) for cheap (€12.00). At least one piece of clothing I can add to my wardrobe.

Stopped by the local Bart Smit as well, but still no Inika available. (By the way, if anyone from Belgium has seen them in stores already, please let me know, okay?)

As for my mother's car, although it's not beyond fixing, it's 15 years old, so the parts are no longer being produced. It's also uncertain whether the insurance company will pay us enough to cover the expenses, so we'll probably have to buy a similar car (type, age, current worth) with the money. Luckily enough, 15-year-old used cars aren't that expensive.

I also spent some time recreating Ichigo's Substitute Shinigami certificate in Photoshop, as I couldn't find a picture of it:

P.S.: About the title, I'm putting this in the Various category because it touches on too many different subjects. And I only had one entry in that category anyway.