Comitia is…amazing. I mean, yes, it looks like every other comic event in Japan, with various circles seated at little tables, that you find by navigating rows with letters and numbers, but…but…at Comitia all the work is original.
Comitia fills East Halls 1-3, which doesn’t sound like much, but we were there for a chunk of the day and made it through maybe 2/3rds of the tables. I have a weirdly chopped up foot, with blisters on blisters and am walking with a cane this week, so hobbling 2/3rds of the show was just fine with me. ^_^
We were joined in our perambulations with Okazu Superhero Jye N and what a lovely person he was! (Of course. I expected no less as he is a Guest Reviewer and Superhero here. ^_^) What a pleasure that was!
We had a lovely conversation about the unwritten rules one comes up with as one shops. Mine include things like if no one looks happy on the cover, I’m not buying it. ^_^
The Yuri section was pretty substantial, especially when you remember that this show is all original work. No parody stuff. We picked up some work by UKOZ, a number of circles I’ve never seen before (!) and had to pass by dozens of tables exploring schoolgirls and love. Of course I stopped by BQ to say hi to Kitao Taki-sensei and was also glad to catch up with Takemiya Jin-sensei. Both looked really glad to be there.
My fave pickup of the show was a little book called “Silver Love”, a Yuri story that included an older woman. We still need Senior Yuri and a sports series we can call our own.
I know I missed a few friends in the adult Yuri section, and I’m sorry about that. /waving at Mizuki-sensei/ and we wrapped up with a quick trip to Atelier Miyabi’s table to pick up some of Fujieda Miyabi-sensei’s work.
The crowd at Comitia is a bit less…otakuish…than at Comiket. Much less frenzied buying of everything. Plenty of women, even in the Yuri section and a few times my gaydar pinged at some of the buyers. ^_^ Again, I chalk that up to the fact that the content is original, not parody.
There was a lot of beautiful art, not just doujinshi. There was a retrospective of an artist, Belne, whose old school, elegant BL was quite lovely. I kind of pine for the days of elegant Belle Artes manga, like Applause.
All in all a satisfying day with lovely people. Thanks Jye, Bruce and all you hard-working doujinshi artists!
One day I’ll go to an event like this. Yuri with an older woman? Gasp! Longing for the time when I can read a yuri manga about women over forty. Maybe even…over fifty. I know, completely crazy.
A friend of mine just returned from a kendo-related trip to Japan, and asked if I wanted any manga while he was there (next door to his hotel in Kyoto was a five-storey manga shop). Naturally I supplied a list of yuri titles, several culled from your top ten lists. He managed to grab a recent issue of Comic Yuri Hime and Vol. 1 of MURCIÉLAGO, which I can’t wait for, even though my Japanese reading comprehension is still quite minimal.
Completely agree with your rule of “if no one looks happy on the cover, I’m not buying it”. Of course characters can and should experience a variety of emotions throughout a story, but if the cover image is selling misery, that’s not a good sign.
Events – doujinshi or comic events, in the west – are an unrivaled chance to see and speak with artists whose works you like. For that alone, it’s worth going to an event. ^_^
It was awesome! And so much original yuri, I was always kidding myself when planning not to buy much :)
Back in Melbourne now and needing to find time to read through my pile. It was awesome meeting you guys and hopefully I can catch you in Japan again!
I think you meant “senior yuri,” but what you wrote was “Senor Yuri.” Now all I can see is a stereotypical Spanish man holding armfuls of yuri doujinshi
Typos are always funny.