Golden Week Wrap Up
This is several weeks late but I figured it was better to get to this than to not do so at all. As I had mentioned in a previous article, I was going to be in Japan for several doujin events during Golden Week.
Surprisingly enough, I did not actually buy a single thing for myself while I was there although I did pick up a couple things for friends. At the same time, I did receive some goodies from circles I knew which was certainly appreciated. Overall, I was impressed with what I saw at a lot of the events and all in all I was able to get to the circles I wanted to hit without the need to try to break the rules and camp out at night.
Please note, if it isn’t obvious enough already, some of the circle links beyond this line may have some NWSF material. You view it at your own discretion.
Comic1☆4
Among all the events I went to, this was the most important one. Comic1 has quickly grown into a sort of “easy mode” before diving into the madness that is Comiket. With many of the big circles in attendance, it was certainly worth the effort.
The battle plan was simple. As per the previous iteration of Comic1, the objective was to beat the first train from Shin Kiba station to Kokusai Tenjijo station, which is the closest stop to Big Sight. My starting place was in Ochanomizu at the Hotel Mystays Ochanomizu which put me in proximity to the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi subway line which would be the quickest path to Tokyo station. Normally, this was the path taken from my starting location:
Hotel Mystays Ochanomizu -> Tokyo Metro Marunouchi subway line (Awaji-cho) -> JR Keiyo (Tokyo) -> TWR Rinkai line (Shin Kiba station) -> Kokusai Tenjijo station
In order to further optimize time, the group I was with decided it would be best to hop a taxi at the first stop to Tokyo, take the Keiyo line to Shin Kiba and from Shin Kiba take another taxi to the closest stopping point for the lines to Big Sight. Though this worked out well in the past, it didn’t work as well given that the taxi driver, thinking he knew where to drop us off, ended up dropping us off near the bus transit area on the ground floor of Big Sight. Despite the 10 minute hustle to get from that point to the front of Big Sight, we still managed to beat the first train in by over 15 minutes. The difference was a couple thousand person advantage. Not too bad of a start.
Once everything got started, I made a mad dash for Suzuya’s booth as a friend in my group had requested the tapestry that was for sale at that booth. Fearing the worst given that it was a shutter circle (ie. a circle who’s booth faces outward to allow for longer lines that snake through the outside perimeter of Big Sight) I was surprised to see that the line moved briskly and the prize was acquired.
Most of the rest of the time was spent hunting around for nice Touhou Project doujinshi and goods and there were a lot to be found especially in terms of stick posters. Another notable circle I stopped by was Carnelian’s booth which had Ｂenigyokuzui Vol. 26 and accompanying game featuring Honoka-chan, an original character created by Carnelian and plenty of love-love time no doubt in the game. The doujinshi itself is a design book from the game that…well hints at that much.
Super Comic City 19
Moving on to Super Comic City, the team shrinks down to just me as only I have any reason to go to this event which is more of a BL fest than anything else. Having gone to this event a few years back, I was well aware of what I was getting myself into. Granted, I suppose I held out hope given the cover of Day 1′s catalog compared to Day 2′s catalog.
Maybe the gals on the day 1 catalog are traps...
It certainly wasn’t the case although there was some normal stuff in between the wide swaths of BL on the floor. As for the circle who did the cover, Kimi to Boku no Labyrinth, they do have some moe-tastic images and works completed although you may not see that from the get-go without some searching on their site.
Given that there was less a reason to rush for the event, I took my time getting up in the morning and skipped the taxi and just took the route as is. I got in about an hour after opening and the place was a mad house. I believe some estimates pegged each day’s attendance to be around 80,000 people each day. Given double the attendance of Comic1, it was no surprise that cell phone coverage was rather spotty through each day of the event.
One major stop was a visit to a joint circle that a friend of mine was part of. The circle, Shiro☆Fura, had put together several…ahem, interesting compilations of doujinshi featuring the cast of Watchmen. My friend, who is a big fan of all things involving American comic books, is also a fan of Ironman and had requested that I bring her several cans of Dr. Pepper that featured characters from the recent Ironman 2 film. In return, I got some fabulous BL. \o/
Perhaps realizing that this wasn’t exactly my thing despite my amusement a friend of hers, Higenashi, who was also a recipient of a couple cans of Ironman 2 cans gave me some of her doujinshi which thankfully were not BL-related.
In the pile I received her Comic1 doujinshi and some past titles as well. I was particularly fond of the Love&Muscle doujinshi which featured the Russian loli, Kudryavka and the muscle, Masato from Little Busters. Now, I don’t know a lot about this particular visual novel, but I wonder if Masato has Ryouga (or Ranma 1/2 fame…didn’t think I’d pull that one out eh?) syndrome as he goes lost for a year trying to find Kudo who gets captures by nefarious forces. Their reunion is rather heartwarming despite everything. If nothing else, Masato looks rather badass after his many adventures fighting street gangs, fighting in a war zone and even going toe to toe with what appears to be a shaolin monk. And at a year older, you can’t go wrong with some slightly more mature waffles if you know what I mean.
Finally, before leaving my friend’s booth I spied of all things…a BL doujinshi of the G.I. Joe ninjas Storm Shadow and SnakeEyes from the movie version. With nary a thought, I was gifted this as well. Well, this is certainly more BL than I bargained for!
On day 2, I was busy hunting heaps and heaps of Hetalia, but needless to say…well there was really nothing else to say about it. Moving right along before this turns into an entry ONLY on BL…
Comitia 92
Knowing what I knew about Comitia, I knew that it was also an event to take it easy in. Joined by a couple extra comrades, we journeyed once more to Tokyo Big Sight. As with Super Comic City, I wanted to visit a couple circles but other than that it was an easy day of walking around and taking in the sights and sounds on the event floor.
My first stop was over at Nogami Takeshi’s booth. Some of you may know him for his works on various Strike Witches related materials and probably more so for his open letter to CNN after they decided there was no new news to report but the need to re-open the story about the “controversy” over Illusion’s eroge, Rapelay. I’m not going to bother going into much detail about this topic as it has been beaten into the ground enough times already. Well…maybe another time.
In any case, I had met Mr. Nogami at a function a month before and we had kept in touch since. We chatted about a few things, mostly in regards to the recent attempt by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to put a law on the books to ban fictional works that involve minors drawn in sexual situations. More on this can be found on Dan Kanemitsu’s rather exhaustive guide on his website. Before parting ways, he gave me his latest doujinshi including his new release from Comic1 which I had forgotten to pick up. I was rather happy about his gift and I really must find a way to repay him the next time I am in Japan.
World Witches, The Witches of the Sphinx Vol. 01 covers the North African campaign during the invasion of the Neuroi. The other doujinshi, The Azure Century Chronicles Vol. 10 is the latest in a series of books covering the naval exploits of an all-female crew in the Japanese Navy in an alternate universe 1930s-1940s period. Both of these books are also translated into English by Mr. Dan Kanemitsu. The World Witches volume and other Strike Witches universe doujinshi by Mr. Nogami are also available for international order from Manga Pal.
There was more madness to be had at Comitia and elsewhere, but that will have to wait for now. As it stands it is nearly 2 AM and I have a plane to catch in a few hours for Toronto and Anime North. Assuming I am still awake when I touch down, perhaps I will finish this. Until then…
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