My second ever HelloStoreUSA order

Thanks to Raffi, I was reminded of HSU's Black Friday sale before it ended and was able to make it out with a couple of nice photosets.

When HSU was first announced sometime last year, I had my doubts about it. Sure, I was happy, but I just expected it to be an American version of CDJapan or Yesasia - a site that offers H!P CDs and DVDs for sale to foreign fans. And I'm not saying that's bad; it just wasn't something that made me ecstatic since I had been buying that stuff from Japanese stores for years.

This is one of the times where I am glad that I was wrong. HSU offers so much more than CDs and DVDs. They have things like member T-shirts, towels, and DVD Magazines, which aren't even sold in regular Japanese stores. Instead of an "American CDJapan", they are more like an official American UFA store, which is quite awesome.

This is only my second purchase (well, third if you count buying a CD from JapanFiles) and oddly enough, both times I've bought photosets.

Now before I actually begin with the photocards, I'd just like to say that my post office is ghetto.

The package arrived torn at the bottom, which was taped up with some dirty tape. Thanks post office. >_>

Fortunately nothing was damaged. Good job HSU with the packaging.

Anyway, here is my first ever Melon Kinenbi photocards. Masae is pretty cool and they were only $1 for the set (they are 2L size), so it was an easy decision.

The only other 2L sized photos that I ordered. I don't really like photos this big because they have to go in a bigger folder, separate from all of my other photos due to the size. But still, the Maichan photo on the right is my favorite of the bunch.

Next is a Buono! Bravo Bravo set.

I'm also not really a fan of those horizontal photos because when I put them in my photoalbum, I have to turn the album sideways to view them properly. But I'm not really complaining. It's pretty much the only way to have a group shot.

Manoeri time. I'm liking the pink backgrounds. It's a nice change from the usual white.

Shock Cutie Circuit photos part one. My three favorites~

The rest of the set.

And finally, here is an alternative Shock Cutie Circuit set with them wearing the single outfits, part one.

The others. Not really liking Maimi's hair in this one. I like her short hair, but this particular style is too boyish for my tastes.

And that's it. The total cost with shipping was $21 for 6 photosets (24 photos total). That's a pretty amazing deal considering I paid $9 shipped for three zoku v-u-den photos when HSU first launched.

Now I just need a S/mileage photoset to have at least one photo of all of the current H!P members.