Frozen Halberd

Kidnaplism Freschi has released his second weapon, the Frozen Halberd. To start with the looks, a part of it is a sculpted blade, the other feels like your RPG hero's staff (ex: Tsubasa from .hack//Sign).

Just like the Kazekiri, it is 100% functional. It has the same features, but of course, the attacks, sounds, animations, combos, etc, are all new. It's really worth getting it! Kidnaplism has prepared a Youtube video as a teaser :o)

TP here to get it!

Ukiyo-e House

cark Milos has released a small Japanese-looking house featuring the ukiyo-e paintings of Hokusai (1760 - 1849). It's right here.

Hakama

Selos Dae has put up a nice hakama for sale at her spot in Kodama no Ki.
What is so special about them is that they have a kind of low-rise fall, which is very handy if you want to have a modern Japanese look. Available here!

A Mandarin Duck in The Snow

CHATNOIR Catnap has released his second kimono that features paintings from Jakuchū Itō (first one is here). The painting is "A mandarin duck in the snow".

Even with its flashy look, this kimono gets to feel like the Japanese Edo period. The chic colours and the Nishijin silk obi combine very well. The black line produces a modern effect.
The obi and its ornament are sculpted prims.

TP to CHATNOIR's store to get it!

Shop Moving

Hi! Just a quick notice. Dwain Aeon has moved his shop around in the mall. New location is here. Usually I don't tell about that, but it seems like he is going to put on more products, so watch out :o)

Mai Shiranui

Fuyuko Nishi says that she is happy to show you the new full avatar she's made. For the video games fans of you who still remember the old and so popular KOF or all the girls who want cosplay as one of the sexiest anime game girls, here is Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury and King of Fighters. Avatar includes all you see in the picture: outfit, shape, skin, eyes, hair and attachments. Available here.

Altered soul in the heavens

Here comes a nice follow up for December 22's post. Kiba Tachikawa has made Mana's outfit!

Also, since last week, there is a non expensive Kon (from Bleach) plushie in the store. Drop there to get yours!

I asked Kiba if he could take a snapshot of the two products together so that I can sort of explain the title I gave to this post, but somehow I have mixed feelings about the outcome... But anyways... Each sold separately, lol.

Peonies

taiko McCaw of Naminoke has put out four new kimonos for sale. They are flower-themed; a good choice if you want to put some freshness in the middle of your winter :o) Click here for TP!

A good rest

Is your avatar sleepy?

Time to experience a night from the Heian period! Abamama Hax has made three kimono pyjamas, and and an emperor's residence with a veranda for viewing the moon, complete with a passage in between the two. The emperor's residence is also sold as a stand alone product. Click here for TP!

GAOOO!!!

Happy New Year! At Kodama no Ki we hope we can bring you more awesome contents to spice up your Second Life in 2010!

As some of you might know this is the year of the Tiger. For the occasion, CHATNOIR Catnap has released such a kimono. Click here for TP!

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!