Over in the Legend of Mana Card Duel section, I’ve got a new page set up. On the Comics page, you’ll find a set of 5 comics by Hiroyuki Yasuda (安田ひろゆき) that were included in the Making of Mana (1999, ISBN4-7561-3148-4) publication.

The comics feature the Hero, Niccolo, and Duelle while briefly covering important points in the Rules as well as some thoughts about Deck Building. I especially love the goofy little Duelle you see to the right here. It’s fun to read these and imagine people in the past actually playing the TCG. I wonder how many people actually sat down and built decks.

Making of Mana mentions special events for the game at the 1999 Japan Game Convention held from August 27-29, and it just kills me that we’ll never know more than that about it.

My edits to the comics are not perfect, but I think I did a pretty good job on the clean up and translations.

Can you believe there is a new guide releasing over at GameFaqs for Legend of Mana in 2023 (almost 2024)?

I can, because Arflanyr has been working tirelessly on this thing, and it really shows!

Check the guide out here.

This is an incredibly detailed guide to playing Legend of Mana efficiently and about as perfectly as you can. Whether you are a new player or an old player, you can find a lot of use in this guide. Following this guide will help you complete every quest in one playthrough, access all the element locked features, grow plants as quickly as possible, harvest gold coins with ease, spawn rare pets, and gather up basically any end-game material you can imagine.

Not only does the guide make it easy to access all of the above, it’s also filled with cool details about forging great gear, raising strong pets, and even making some Golems! It’s really impressive!

A ton of work went into this, great job Arflanyr!

Over at Hotamine (Hotaru Mineral) there is a new Legend of Mana: the Teardrop Crystal calendar for sale.
The art inside looks really cool, a few Japanese fans have been discussing framing each month separately. January and February combine together to make a nice view of the Bejeweled City.

I’ve added a new page in the Legend of Mana section that goes over Secrets in the game. You probably know about all of this stuff though.
What you might find more interesting are the unused graphics I managed to find in the game files, some of which are connected to cut quests!

See what I found out about these locations in the Unused section of the page. There are also some other neat finds, at least I think so!

In this final video from 2011, I open two more Legend of Mana Card Duel Starter Decks in a vain attempt to complete out my collection. After that plan falls through, I show off a small assortment of cards I obtained through auctions and count up how many of each type of card there are. The video ends with a tally of all the cards I was still missing. You can watch the other videos for an explanation of the cards and to see another ten Starter Decks opened.

Again, you can read details about the card game, including the translated rule book and fully translated cards, here.

A special thanks to Sevon (Twitter, pixiv) for the awesome “Card Master Sheexy” art included in the video!

I also put together a Videos page where you can find all of these in one place.

In this video I give an explanation of the amount of each card type found in the Starter Decks while searching desperately for new cards. Two different types of decks seem to exist, although there is no way to tell which is which as far as I can tell. Like the previous three videos, this one was filmed in 2011. Make sure to watch the others if you have not yet for an introduction to the game and to see me open a handful of more decks.

Again, you can read details about the card game, including the translated rule book and fully translated cards, here.

A special thanks to Sevon (Twitter, pixiv) for the awesome “Card Master Sheexy” art included in the video!

In this video I really start to learn just how hard it is (actually impossible) to complete a full Legend of Mana Card Duel collection using just Starter Decks. Watch as I slowly drift into insanity while opening three decks and obtain a scant few new cards. This video is a continuation of the previous two, filmed in 2011, so make sure to watch them if you have not yet for an introduction to the game’s cards and to see me open a couple more decks.

Again, you can read details about the card game, including the translated rule book and fully translated cards, here.

A special thanks to Sevon (Twitter, pixiv) for the awesome “Card Master Sheexy” art included in the video!

There are a bunch of strange items available over at eeo store for The Teardrop Crystal. A lot of it is little knick-knacky nonsense, but there are some things I am looking forward to. The glasses case in particular is fun, and who wouldn’t want some random bag with Inspector Boyd on it?

When it comes to the gj Character G Jumi Pendants I posted about previously there was a small restock in Florina Pendants. I managed to get one this time, but it looks like they’re going fast again. Last time they sold out almost immediately. The other two pendants have been available this entire time, though. I took some photos of the two I had arrive. These things are really tiny! I should have paid attention to the description, but I would have gotten them regardless I guess.

Finally, the Super Groupies Secret of Mana collab that I posted about back in October seems to have had a substantial restock. These ended up great, I think. Check the photos I took out below.

First up, the Backpack. I thought it would be full leather, but that’s only the buckles and trim. The material is nice and light, though, and seems tough. The printing inside is beautiful, and my only real complaint is that the thing is a bit of a pain to open. Not due to the buckles, those are all just for show (magnets do all the work), but the Flammie strings that cinch it shut are a bit of a pain.

Next, the Wallet. This was much larger than I thought. It’s very hard to see the Mana Tree printing inside, and the embossing on the Ring Menu is a bit weak. This is the weakest of the three items, but it’s still nice.

Lastly, the best item, the Watch. It’s really beautiful, I’ve been wearing mine since I got it and it feels great. The elementals look really nice, I thought they would look cheap, but they’re actually printed with some texture. They cycle from Shade at midnight, through Luna, Undine, Dryad, Lumina at noon, Salamando, Gnome, and Jinn every 3 hours. The little gems are a bit hard to tell the differences in (especially the “dark” one), but in the right light they look incredible.

I am hoping these restocks mean I’ll be able to get my hands on the Super Groupies Teardrop Crystal collab stuff I missed out on last time.

Fun Fact: Kassidy sent me that Perler bead Sheexy around 15 years ago.

Another update so quick? If you like pendants and Jumi, gj Character G (whatever that is) has designed some pendants reminiscent of Elazul, Pearl, and Florina. Prices range from about $100 to $150 on these. Sales open up March 4th, and they also have some little acrylic charms which I’m sick of seeing. These pendants may go fast, they’re made with real stones and they only have a limited quantity.

Still available a month after release! Elazul’s pendant has designs of feathers, the Sword of Fate, and his clothing.

Still available a month after release! Pearl’s pendant has designs of shells, pearls, and seafoam.

SOLD OUT 11:00am day of release. Florina’s pendant is shaped like Pandora’s Box from the game, with a very delicate apearance.

First up, just to follow up on the Jan 2023 Merch Sightings, I got my hands on some of the Flammie and Rabite plushes mentioned there. I’ve got to say, they’re really good and I recommend them to any fans of the series. You can find countless of them on Japanese auction sites, and the prices aren’t bad at all.

The Flammmie plush is a lot higher quality than I expected, Taito did great on these. The Rabite plush is ridiculously soft, and looks a million times better than the one that Taito put out back in 2018.

Next up, the Shiloh and Serafina POP UP PARADE statues are up for pre-order now, between Feb. 28th and March 30th, 2023.

These are looking pretty great, I love how they went with the classic poses for the two.