Well, if it's a dream, might as well go full-on about it, yes? I won't go as far as that dream I had though, that might be too far even for this girl hehe

I don't know if this counts as Valentine's Day gift or my birthday gift (to myself lol), but heck remember when I said a couple of years ago I don't even care about Ogura Yui? Guess that didn't age well. *laughs* And since my hesitation to make this arrive on the former occasion, I guess I shall spend my birthday *giggles* talking about a new photobook! This must be the most trippy thing I did in years since she isn't even in my list of favourite idols lol, but this can't be worse than real life so might as well!! *laughs* I didn't expect to ever give someone a photobook review outside of my own list of idols, but we are running out of firsts to give (lol), so maybe this is the year I actually walk out of my comfort zone.

So let's!

THE REVIEW

THE ORIGIN

Shout out to when I took a dump on Ogura Yui about 2 years ago while explaining who she is to my friend and choosing between her and Kitou Akari:

I know right, this is how far I have come. *giggles*

But yes, my decision to talk about this photobook is not just about what this book is based on, but more of giving chance to Yui-chan here as I seem fit. With retrospect, I have never bought a Toyota Moe photobook (yet) it's as if they stopped releasing photobooks, and I followed Moeshi for a longer period of time too. Okay coming back, I have known of Yui-chan from Anime and her solo artist career for years even going as far back as 2017, she sings great not going to lie it's always dependent on the song for me. I did take a fancy to her even all those years ago, but seeing a new generation of female voice actresses appearing in Japan and not exactly being enticed by them (mostly due to lack of Anime credit, nowadays it's more of idolism lifting their mobile game-oriented voice acting careers now), somehow it made me take a step back and care about people I knew from Anime, from Sakura Ayane to Takao Kanon, people who have actually been in Anime more often than the majority. At this point, even reaching towards Ishihara Kaori in recent years with me missing her roles in Anime and her songs, I might as well give all the members of StylipS at this point, signalling more of a renaissance of liking them more as they grow older. And this is a sign I've seen in my own tastes so far as I get older too.

As to how all this started though, I was definitely not impressed when she did her new single last November even with a livestream I did watch because of YouTube algorithms, but shortly after that, she announced a new photobook which I wasn't too keen on it (since she did release a bunch of them when she... was... younger lol), until I saw that this time almost 3 years since her previous photobook, she is doing this while taking a trip to Singapore!

We should be familiar of the city state in the Southeast Asia region and if you don't I might as well give a summary as a loyal citizen I am *dabs*, because *reads propaganda* our strategic location as a trade hub, global financial district and in recent years a tourist destination, definitely helped shape how many people see us on the world stage, even attracting Anime events to be hosted in this very place, with most infamous Marina Bay Sands located in the newly developed city area where it's bringing in ALL the idols. From Uesaka Sumire last year for an Anime festival and eating laksa in the high-end district which probably costed more than my usual lunch and dinner (OOF), to Kitou Akari's recent tour for Anime "Kimetsu no Yaiba" walking around the largest indoor garden with maintenance so high you need to pay to go in? Knowing that Yui-chan is up and around last year is not likely going to get me to hunt her down (lol), but it's at least comforting to know that they have been closer to me than ever before. Distance, I meant physical distance, I don't get chicks and we all know that. *silence*

I did go through quite a process and hesitated quite a lot in order to make this purchase, seeing all that I have going for likely is just talking about my home country, but also on all the store-specific free bromide photos that I've always chased even after all these years, this was no exception. I initially wanted to bundle this photobook with the new voice actress magazine which featured Takahashi Rie and Yomiya Hina in which the latter can reinforce my talk about walking out of my usual list of idols too, but as time went by and stock went out, it was harder to make such a decision considering that the latter has been leaked online already showing rather lack of content (I will still buy on digital though), so I knew to change my plans. I also ended up not buying from TSUTAYA ONLINE or Rakuten Books due to how hard it is to sign up to buy from them (ie. you need a Japanese phone number verification), and ended up choosing Gamers as my accomplice (lol) because they are still running a free shipping campaign with minimum purchase... which will be hit if I buy something else with it so be sure to check out last Friday's post on what you have missed. *giggles*

At this point, I honestly don't know what to expect of this book or how far Yui-chan here will go to show her slender body (hehe how do I even know), so we shall see what's up! I mean, it's going to be Singapore talk, amirite fellas?? She's just secondary. *laughs* Ok ok let's open her up. *dabs*

Suffice it to say this is a travel photobook, specifically of my home country Singapore (don't ask which town, no one knows anything outside the city area) where everything's a bustling, the place is really colourful because heritage is something we care more than our population racial disparity lmao, and I will never figure out which Marina Bay Sands hotel she lived in. *giggles* All this will make sense in a bit, and we will have captions long enough to do write-ups, but I will try to be concise and show off what Singapore has to offer in views! Yeah, views of Yui-chan included hehe

Can also confirm this isn't the Infinity Pool Uesaka Sumire was on just because Yui-chan is not as front eligible compared to- *dabs*

So yeah, unlikely it's Little India on the above just now, because the only time of the year there will be city lights over there is during Deepavali which is November last year so... my knowledge of Singapore sucks what can I say? *laughs*

No, no evidence that is Tea Tarik, but if you are in Singapore and have never seen some hawker stall owner "pull" some drinks using socked cups, you have not seen local culture enough. *giggles* And I don't drink Bandung it tastes weird. *laughs*

Okay, definitely not the best book in my list, some of them out there literally just show themselves half-naked anyways. *giggles* Tasteful? Is probably the best way to describe this, and if you are a fan of her than this is technically fanservice though I would argue she does that all the time so this is just supplementary material. I'm just here because I'm just curious. Curious what she visited at my hometown which I know lesser than her now since I don't leave the house. *silence* Curious about her being in familiar places I know of, even if it isn't exactly close to home. But ironically, even the social media posts promoting the photobook had more content to show in comparison, so I can't but help noticing that this is still just a book to cash in more fanservice just because.

Then again, this is pretty much just a travel photobook without interviews and Q&As or whatever, so even if the story isn't coherent and we have some random shots here and there lol, it's still alright. My feels are somewhat close to Koko-chan level, to be honest. I've also grown so accustomed to seeing (Okinawa) (lmao and) a more complete story and/or more extreme shots to make sure you know it's worth the purchase. Not this year though. *laughs*

Somehow this book is still weaker than the dream I had in the alleys of Bugis Street, huh. AND WE DIDN'T EVEN GO THERE!! *laughs* Well sadly it's just a dream, I am wide awake now in case you think I wasn't daydreaming lol I am... so yeah, don't take too much of this into account not even in the dream with her half-naked and with my pants down. *giggles* Also, just to note, this is NOT the birthday gift I got for myself I already planned for this months ago this book was also released start of this month... which also means NEXT UP!! *giggles* Yes, Kanno Mai is going to grace us with her trip to Okinawa (Not again!) so let's see if she will make me love her even more. Spoiler alert, even without the book, the answer is a yes hehe *dabs*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, ME!!! 🎉🎉🎉🥳

(Haha yeah that's how you spell 31)

P.S. Because I spent yesterday making this in preparation for a future post in the Fanfiction series, here's a scenario I wrote sleeping with chatting at night with a girl called "Yui":

(*If the below is just text, then I have not animated it yet lol)

(**Translated from what was initially written in Japanese)