A scar in the wind

Kidnaplism Freschi has released a quite unique katana-in-each-hand weapon, the "Kazekiri". (Click here for TP!) Its behaviour, down to camera movement, replicates several video games such as Street Fighter.

Out of the features described in the image above, I would like to point that it features air combos as well as small dashes (four directions), and that it is DCS / CCS / WARPS / XRPS compatible. Here are a few snapshots of the looks of the katanas, unsheathed.

　　　　　　　　

Want to see more? Kidnaplism has prepared a Youtube video to show you the Kazekiri in action.

Yes, definately, just one scar in the wind and you'll adopt it.

Le Ciel

Kiba Tachikawa of ::Bushido:: did it again. Here is another outfit from the japanese musical sphere! (Click here for TP!)

It is worn by Gackt in Malice Mizer's "Le Ciel" video.

Names

Unlike the November 23rd public post on this blog, the Kodama no Ki merchants group message about Cryoban contained a list of known copybotters to watch for. Four days later, someone not belonging to the group sent me an IM saying he's received the notecard I made. He said he has been aware of X and Y's copybotting habbits for a while, but that nobody believes him, because they are SIM owners. He also gave me a few more names to add on the list.

Well. I guess that if the notecard is spreading around, it means it's useful. So here is the reworked list of people (and their supporters) banned from Kodama no Ki for having copybotted products, without having done a public apology or effectively proved that the affirmation is wrong. The list was made up from credible reports and my general knowledge. (I have been around since 2007.) This is prior to Cryoban, by the way - the Cryoban script detected only one resident so far, and since I can't make any clear proof he has copybotted, I am keeping his name out of the list for now.

• Acidic Burns (banned & dead), aka Acid Popstar (banned), aka Chester Popstar (banned), aka Thiago Mimiteh (banned) : sculpted prims from Unknownsoldier Maximus, and more. Darknight Low is also known to have worked with Acidic Burns, but I couldn't find anyone else's creations yet in his line of products.
  
• Madisonn Guisse (banned & dead) : sculpted prims from Haruko Fukai ("skirts roupa ninja foda"). The said clothing was worn by Cipo Cale (banned & dead).
• Gwolf Carducci (banned) : textures from Hiroro Mayo.
• Kazuno Yokosuka (banned) : prims from Giorno Brando's big torii.
• mizaki Kytori (banned) : products from Laqroni and Armidi. A resident saw him wandering KNK, inviting customers to his shop.
• Naruto Umia (banned) : copied my friend's clothing and skin under his eyes.
• Phoenix Thor (banned) : boots from Mai Runo, mask(s) from lantern Oyen.
• Sephiroth Lusch (banned) : a whole SIM, lantern Oyen's products, and a tree from Botanical.
• Smithys Dover (banned) : "zack shoulder" from Murgatroyd Zauberflote, worn by a guy named karazhi Arun.
• Tidus Gynoid (banned), aka Tidus Gravois (banned) : skin from togashigenzi Mopp.
  
• Yoruichi Kamachi (banned) : is hosting Phoenix Thor and said she doesn't care about copybot.

I am showing this list out to the public as a proof that I am not banning people out of personal grudge, but rather to encourage honest creators to keep the good work!

P.S.: For your information, the rest of the banlist containts mostly cheaters and their bots.

P.S.II: Be aware that the Lindens seem to be automatically shutting down accounts that use the cloning function from the third party client "testclient", even if it was done on a friend, as a test, with no abuse reports. It happened to someone related to Kodama no Ki. My advice is, if you want to make sure you are not doing a mistake out of curiosity, you should stick with the default client, at least until the Lindens come up with a list of trusted clients and links to download them. Why? Because you can't know everything your third party client is doing. I'm sure one day there will be an issue with one sending passwords somewhere...

Black white rabbit

Kiba Tachikawa is bringing one more visual Kei outfit to Second Life. Click here for TP!

This is worn by D's vocalist Asagi in the band's music video for Yami no Kuni no Alice (Alice in Darkness). The whole video has a gothic Alice in Wonderland theme and Asagi is supposed to be the "white rabbit", black version.

Westernization

D15 Koba has put an interesting set of kimonos in Kodama no Ki. (Click here for TP!)
As the following poster says : "If you clap your head, you can hear the sound of Westernization."

These kimonos reflect the changes Japan went from Meiji restoration to Taishō romantism (roughly from 1868 to 1911). If you look at your underwear, you see buttons. If you clap your head, you notice there is hair, rather than the bare skin part of your chonmage (topknot). But it's not western style completely yet.

There are three kimonos in the set, and you can buy them together or separately. One kimono is plain light brown, one is navy blue and checked, and the other one is black with polka dots. The sleeves, collar and obi (belt) are resizable through a touch menu. By the way, D15 says he's stoppd using the long-click thing feature because too many people didn't figure it out ;)

New kimonos for now

CHATNOIR Catnap has released new kimonos! (Click here for TP!)

Cryoban and copybot

Today I put "Cryoban" in the mall. Cryoban is a script that will detect and ban users of the Cryolife viewer (Cryo viewer), an obsolete viewer that is no longer useful for any purpose other than content theft (copybotting). If you are using it, please change: you won't be able to get in!

The copybot issue is not an easy one. To show you the textures, objects and sounds, your computer has to download them, so if it's not from the viewer, these can be grabbed at lower levels, down to your hardware. And even if the hardware prevents that, hardware can be modified by skilled people (think about your modified PSX).

You hate copybotters? You understand that copybotting frustrates creators out of Second Life? There are things you can do!

• If you are an owner, don't allow copybotters to sell stuff on your land, and ban them.
• If you are a creator, don't sell stuff on land admin' by copybotters or where they are allowed to sell.
• If you are none of the above, don't buy or hang around on land admin' by copybotters or where they are allowed to sell. Leave right away. Don't give them traffic or money.

So, how to find out someone is a copybotter? Look at the store, the vendors, inspect their contents. Inspect objects, inspect what people wear. Look at the creators profile. There are some clues:

• High quality products in a crappy store.
• High quality products in a crappy vendor. Specially beware of floating text (= creator can't make textures).
  
• Creator's profile is empty.
• Creator belongs to groups like freebies or zyngo.
• Creator belongs to no merchant groups.
• Creator has no link to his store in his picks.
• Creator has no store and is selling his products on the go.
  
• Creator was born quite recently.
  
• Creator didn't care about providing even little information in English in his profile.
• Product is full perm. Full perm products are most likely to become free, and no guenine creator wants that from the start.

I hope it helps! (^ ^)

Hot pink

Kiba Tachikawa is out with a new outfit! TP here to get it!

It is worn by singer Maya in LMC's song Punky Heart.

Kiba says: "I thought it would be fun to pull away for moment from the dark and gothic visual kei and try something bright and vibrant from oshare kei. And what better then hot pink?"

Paper crane

SALA Loon has released a 1-prim origami paper crane, just in time for Japan's Culture Day (November 3rd).

100% scratch-proof

There aren't many Japanese armourers in Second Life, but yet Haru Wiefel is such a good one that you might not get even a scratch from battle. At Kodama no Ki we are glad to welcome him in our community of creators. You will find his shop towards the end of the east alley.

I took a pose there wearing the Kuroda armor :o)

Shichi-Go-San

taiko McCaw came up with two complete avatars, one boy and one girl, for the shintō ritual performed at 3 and 7 years old (girls) and 5 years old (boys). Perhaps some of you girls are that old SL-speaking - and with some chance, boys too (a Linden?) - so it's time to go to the temple and purify yourself!

Autumn leaves

CHATNOIR Catnap has released another kimono from paintings of Itō Jakuchū, male and female versions, this time featuring colourful Japanese maple leaves, just in time for autumn.

Interesting pieces

Kodama no Ki welcomes YiTing Jinx and Snowman Jules. The pair's main line is cosplay reproductions of One Piece, including a small scale boat. But there's more! And there's a lucky letter board. Get there now!

More parrots

As last week she said she would do, CHATNOIR Catnap has released a kimono for women. It is the female version of that released on October 1st. It's available right here.

Pick a dandelion and say hello

Kidnaplism Freschi has released his second "3d emoticon", Tanpopo (Dandelion). The character is a yellow penguin from the manga Tuxedo Gin.

It works the same way as the previously released maid, and is also available in blue, reddish pink and light green.

Check Youtube for a demo, and get your penguin at Kidnaplism's spot in Kodama no Ki!

A parrot. A parrot.

Chiruno Himanez has teamed up with CHATNOIR Catnap to present you a nice green kimono for men, with sculpted sleeves.

The pattern, which features elements of a pine tree and two parrots, is a remix of two paintings of Itō Jakuchū (1716-1800).

A high quality sarashi (chest bandages) is included, which makes the pack really worth it.

Click on the picture at the right for a closer look, and of course, jump to Kodama no Ki to get it!

CHATNOIR plans to release a kimono for women next week!

Cockroach Style

Kiba Tachikawa is doing it again! He's released another visual kei outfit.

This is the costume the GazettE lead singer Ruki wears in the in the Cockroach PV and on tour. Kiba says that it took him a month to make. Despite that, it's only 199L$! It includes the hat, tie, both collars, belt and the pants.

Bacteria on your walls

CHATNOIR Catnap has released five new scrolls. The たべてもいいよ (Tabete mo ii no yo / Yes, you can eat it) is perfect for a restaurant, while the 商売繁盛 (Shōbai hanjō / Prosperous business) and 招福開運（Shōfuku kaiun / Bring good fortune) are for any commerce.

As I wrote in an earlier post, CHATNOIR makes dōjin goods in RL. The other two new scrolls feature her own redrawning of Oryzae, from the Moyashimon anime and manga : かもすぞ〜 (Kamosu zo~ / I'll brew it!) and 寄想天外 (Kisō tengai / Unexpected result).

Hidden new stuff

Hi! Just a quick notice to our regular readers. It might be not all new products in Kodama no Ki that are featured on this blog. As the mall is growing (currently 80 creators), it's getting harder to keep a watch on the contents of all shops ^^; Basically, if a creator doesn't tell me he/she's put something new, made some prices lower, etc., chances are it will go unnoticed. So to make sure you aren't missing anything, once in a while, bring your friends and take a walk in Second Life's largest anime/japanese shopping place!

Kimono frenzy

Three creators in Kodama no Ki have released kimonos, so here is a 3-in-1 post!

taiko McCaw: goldfish yukatas. Includes two geta. You can change the color of the obi.

Abamama Hax: a colourful juunihitoe. It includes one attachment to make the kimono look real when sitting (i.e. not like the usual Second Life "dig-in-floor" flexible prim dress).

CHATNOIR Catnap: a nice pink kimono.

P.S.: You will notice that CHATNOIR has "for now" on a couple of products. That is intended to be a joke: just like men in Japan will usually ask "a beer for now" at an izakaya before getting completely drunk, CHATNOIR is fairly new to Second Life. Hopefully, she is not new at illustrating. She is a dōjin sakka in real life and attends events in Ōsaka, Nagoya and Kyōto :o) (Don't worry, she allowed me to tell this!)

Your maid

KNK welcomes Kidnaplism Freschi... and his maid, your maid!

The doll, an attachment, stands next to you in the air and reacts to a set of keywords (that you can redefine) or to the HUD. The emotions are so anime-ish and ultra-cute that until you get used to the maid you always end up zooming on her, forgetting your friends that stand next to you ^^;

At start, she has 5 emotions, and 13 more are available for sale. You buy the additional emotions with the Robot Academy dollars (R$) system, and yet she has some cash at start so you can buy a few more emotions right away. For the rest, you can get R$ when you greet other maid users, and there are other ways too! It's like a RP, really.

Kidnalplism has a demo on Youtube.

Hopefully, his maid won't be alone anymore!

High hat, low hat

Abamama Hax, who specializes in Heian period Japanese outfits and who has also presented us two wonderful Japanese mermaid outfits some time ago, just made her shop bigger and furnished it with some cool new products. Here are three of them. They depict the high aristocrats of the Heian period.

The nōshi set, worn casually. The headgear (eboshi) is tall, and the hand accessory is a fan.

The kan-nōshi set, to be worn if the emperor allowed you such privilege, and at the imperial court only. The headgear (kan) is less tall than the eboshi (most likely to show that you are of a lower rank than the emperor), and the hand acessory, a shaku, was once used to hide reminder notes (pasted on its back side) for a meeting, but became a simple element of etiquette afterwards.

The soku-tai set, the wedding attire cousin of the kan-nōshi. It's still in used in modern Japan. Its female version is the juunihitoe, also for sale :o)

Need an AO for these? Abamama has a 10L$ basic one just next to them!

The greed of airplane fans

CHATNOIR Catnap, has released a kimono, available in three colors, that targets... those who love airplanes! The text on the back and at the bottom of the kimono says just that. It's quite a rare concept, so watch out, as the black cat might be coming with some other surprising products next time!

And a little extra for you shop owners, next to the kimono, CHATNOIR has a 50L$ hanging scroll which reads 物欲至上主義 (butsuyoku shijō shugi), "the doctrine of supreme greed", in other words, the "I HAVE to buy this!" feeling. Buy it, place it in your shop and it'll certainly get into your customers subconscious and give them an impulsion to buy! ;o)

Cute and friendly

Ryona Katsu has set up in KNK. Ryona gets the cute and friendly out of anime and video games. So let's start with the Sonic line. Two products, one is your friendly fox pal.

Then, one line of products you must not miss is the plushies, made out of the Pokémon series, and their shining expressive eyes.

And finally, Ryona has chibi wings that'll fit any decent child/cute avatar.

Come to check inworld to see more :o)

Change your eyes

Kodama no Ki welcomes Dwain Aeon. Dwain has various Naruto and ninja products. His most proeminent line is the eyes.

Those of you who have already bought a similar product know what it does: you attach the eyes and they plop in your face with a slow rotation script, and to turn them off you have to open your inventory (not easy to right click your eyes!) and detach them. Dwain's work differently. Once attached, through gestures, you can have them appear and disappear over your system eyes, complete with sounds.

All sets include system (non scripted) eyes as well. The byakugans and regular sharingans have female versions included.

P.S.: Actual textures are of better quality than on the product images shown here.

Rare japanese outfits and more

Kodama no Ki welcomes Selos Dae and Yukio Ida. Among other things they make rare japanese outfits, with bones or devil horns or tied in an unusual way - something that is not really mainstream but that is what design is about :o)

Shown here are two of the outfits - TP here to check out the rest!

Wonderful Merveille

kiba Tachikawa has taken a step out of his main Naruto line to share his appreciation of visual kei singer Gackt, and has released this outfit. It is worn by Gackt in the CD booklet of Malice Mizer's (of whom Gackt was a member back then) Merveilles album, and also in his live performance of the song Le ciel (from the same album).

Robotic impression

Maruru Mayo has released another product in her line of Bubblegum Crisis inspired hard suits, but this time for men: type AS1M (orbital white).

The suit is multifunctional, and by that I mean that it is over-customizable from head to feet - aperture of the helmet, angle of the wings in the back, lights, etc. It also makes sounds when you change direction, land, start flying, etc (and that can be configured to off of course), which makes for a nice robotic impression. The right forearm features a WARPS/DSC2 compatible melee weapon.

Tree spirits

One year and a half ago, when I had to pick a name for the mall that was just born on the ashes of Viridian Plaza, I went through the Japanese bestiary and remembered the depiction of the kodama, the Japanese tree spirit, in Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke). I was then lucky enough to find a moderately nice mod-copy version of it in SL, which I bought and scripted. But to the countless people that wanted to buy it, I had to answer that I didn't make it, that the one that is for sale is unscripted, and that my script would not work very well out of Kodama no Ki.

Koenees Karas made that change :)

He's just released a pack of five kodamas, all of them a bit different from each other.

They're scripted and ready for use. All you have to do is to rezz them and wait a bit; they will move around close to where you rezzed them. If you want them to appear at specific places or within a specific range at specific places, there is a pressettable set in the pack. All kodamas will make a sound and tilt their head if you click on it.

They have been in service in Kodama no Ki for a couple of days now: it's quite easy to spot one :)

Rude manners

For those of you who wonder why we've moved out of Shinobiya land, try to go to our former place and you will be teleported home. I just experienced it. The SIM owner (Sincrea Slade) and the residents there actually didn't like you and don't like you better now. I was asked to move the mall out because of that. So, don't forget that we are now in Izumo. I co-own the SIM. And good news: I like you! \(^_^)/

P.S.: Please update your picks! Also, feel free to pick up and redistribute our posters by touching the vendor on the wall next to the watermelon table!

The fighter's shop

And here comes freedom Amiot!

His shop has two lines of products. The first line is a series of attack attachments, featuring animations and pushes (will work in push enabled parcels). Two are katanas, five are bare hands.

The other line, well, actually an all-in-one set, who sells for about 15$US, targets the hardcore Gundam fans. It's a multi-weapon Gundam avatar. One nice feature is that you don't have to wear and unwear the included weapons; the five of them are all accessible through a menu.

Check this out in Kodama no Ki!

We're moving!

Second Life's number one Anime, Cosplay and Japanese mall, Kodama no Ki, is moving!

From now on, you will find us in Izumo SIM (co-owned by me and Nagi Yoshikawa).
See you there!

Giant Prayer Beads & Attitude Hair!

Khyle Sion is leading the way with some more exciting new releases at Kodami no Ki!! Swing on by to Khyle's shop 'Wylde Style' to check out these latest additions.



Giant Prayer Beads - NEW from ~Refined Wild~ These oversized, animé-reminicent prayer beads are for anyone wanting a unique, high-quality accessory to go with whatever outfit they choose. In seperate packages containing solid colors, wood & metallic textures, and a set specifically based on the 6 oriental elements (fire, wind, water, earth, wood, and metal), there is a style for everyone!




Carnal -- A fantastic punk hairstyle with attitude. Sculpted prims, flexis, and intricate braid primwork make up this awesome design! Mid-back length ponytails drape down from the ends of the braids. Comes in 3 different sizes to best fit your avatar! Great for any Ninja, badass, grunge or gothic character. Only $400L!

Ningyo

Abamama Hax has opened her shop in Kodama no Ki!

She makes japanese clothing and accessories for mermaid (ningyo), which is kind of a rare niche but it does make you feel like you want to buy a mermaid AO! Shown below is her jūnihitoe (court-lady kimono) for mermaid #1. There's more in her store!

Leisure time kimono with inrō

D15 Koba came back from his retirement in the sky, and is bringing us new stuff again!

This time he made an inrō, the Japanese traditional small case that is worn on the obi (sash), used to transport things like personal seals, pills and medicine. But, as he says : "That alone is kind of boring, so I tried to match it with a kinagashi. It's quite stylish!". A kinagashi is a kimono worn without a hakama (split skirt), which makes for a casual look.

So let's take a look at the inrō first.

"The shape of an inrō is simple, but the cord is very important, so even after thinking it's going to be hard to make, I rolled up my sleeves and made it with sculpted prims. So far I have been working with regular prims for this kind of work, but the sculpted prims really suit it the best."

Here is the bottom part. D15 says he googled to know how the cord is tied.

Top part. The cords penetrate the hollowed ball and they look like they are just slightly twisted.

When you look up the obi, you find a netsuke, which holds the inrō in place over the obi.

The body itself is made out of only one piece, and the textures of the inrō can be changed through a long click menu.

Now for the kinagashi.

"When I released the kabuki-mono kimono, I felt that it had the feeling of a kimono but that the eye-catching textures somehow ruined that feeling. So I based my work on it but this time I used plain cloth, for a more 'real' feeling. It's summer-like and sexy!"

As shown below, the inner kimono (sleeve and collar parts) and the obi are color-changeable and are resizable, all through the long click menu. Try changing one or more of these and you can get just the perfect Japanese look! :)

As an omake to this post, D15 says he stopped bundling setta (leather-soled sandals) with his outfits; instead, you will find them for free in his shop in Kodama no Ki!

Wylde Style Cosplay Hair

Khyle Sion's shop 'Wylde Style' located here in Kodami no Ki is a major sub-brand of Refined Wild, that specializes in quality men's hairstyles. They are perfect for everyday wear, cosplay, or for the development of a special avatar! Facial hair is also available and included in a large number of styles. All hair sets are $400L, and they are all fully moddable and copyable.


Son of Ra - An Ancient-Egyptian inspired hairstyle with matching beard in an array of colors! Includes 3 different sizes to best fit your avatar. Perfect for Egyptian cosplay. Completely moddable and copyable! Only $400L!


Mjolnir's Wielder - A mid-back flowing hairstyle, inspired by Norse mythology! Comes with 3-way facial hair (Full Beard, Handlebar Moustache, and Chinwrap), and all colors shown. Includes 3 different sizes to best fit your avatar. Perfect for anyone who needs a basic flowing hairstyle with only a little bit of length! Completely moddable and copyable. Only $400L!

We all love hair and when you are after that special cosplay style you will find some amazing hair at Wylde Style!