Archive for the Events Category


Events: ALC Publishing at New York Comic Con!

January 16th, 2007

ALC Publishing, the world’s only all-Yuri publisher, is pleased to announce that they will be part of the Prism Comics table at the New York Comic Con being held at Jacob Javits Center in New York City on February 24-25, 2007.

Prism Comics is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the work of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) creators in the comics industry.

The folks at Prism are really great, so if you’re planning on being at NYCC, I REALLY hope you’ll drop by the Prism Comics table, pick up 100% yuri from ALC and support the other LGBT comic artists and publishers at the table. This is a great chance to support not only yuri, but many other terrific LGBT artists who are out there doing amazing work.

This event will be the American premiere of Yuri Monogatari 4!

ALC will be there on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 24-25. We’ll see you there!





Okay, here’s what really happened

December 31st, 2006

It’s 6:30 AM on Jan. 1 2007

Happy New Year

Yesterday, we were basically awake at 4AM, and puttered around for a while, ran out to the AM-PM for breakfast, relaxed and repacked so we had everyhing we need ready to go.

Rica arrived at about 8AM as promised, so the three of us lugged our stuff to the already jam-packed Rinkai line, which dumped us all off near Big Sight. As the train completely emptied in a roiling sea of otaku, Rica panicked. LOL I told her that, at *every single* event I do, I have that moment too, when I look around me and think, “Why am I doing this?”

And, as far as I’m concerned, we were now with the slightly more functional half of otakudom.

As we walked (and walked an walked and walked) with the rushing circle folks, we talked about the differences between comic events in Japan and American cons. Rica said that she liked the idea that at cons (for convenience American events will from here on out be referred to as “cons” while Japanese events will be “events”, ‘kay?) people come all dressed up. She gestured around and said that this was boring. I looked around and nodded, because parkas are *in* this year and greay and black are the dominant colors. But it is winter, after all.

When we arrived at the West Halls, we saw, in succession, a girl with the most FABULOUS black back-laced boots, which she had laced with a hot pink wide ribbon. It looked great. Followed by Yumi, from Marimite, and a boy dressed as the White Rabbit in a really, really cute costume. :)

Lots and lots and lots of maids. Too bad I find it so uninspiring. Many of the maid costumes were ruined with inappropriate footwear. Blue and white striped maid costumes with white ruffles look bad with knee-high brown pleather boots. FYI, girl in the bathroom that took more than 15 minutes to button her ruffle right.

Most of the cosplayers would have been identifiable to any American congoer. There were people who thought, despite all evidence to the contrary, that they were really put together. LOL And many costumes I did not recognize. The wife informs me that the most over cosplayed character was Jigoku Shoujo. I did manage to see a couple Hayate x Blade folks, including one happy Shizuku. I’m not sure why, but the thing this year seemed to be to wear gigantic shoes, so characters like Yumi and Shizuku had a tendency to be strangely tall. :-)

We set up pretty quickly, Rica was rewriting signage and prices, so as Comiket opened, she and I were folding and taping paper. When I arrived, there were gifts from Tadeno Eriko-san to Rica and myself, then she stopped by and we chatted. Also Horai-san, one of the folks who had staffed Yuricon 2005, came by with bags and bags of doujinshi. So we were really crunched for space behind the table. But many thanks to him. :-)

Shortly after Comiket opened, Rica and the wife shooed me away to go shop…which I didn’t want to since I was kind of waiting for someone to come to the table and, in the end, I did miss him, which was sad, but I took myself off to the other side, the East Halls. Compared to the hordes in the East Hall, where were were on the West side was a bastion of civilization.

I wanted to stop at Fujieda Miyabi’s table, and it turned out that so did about 350 other people. I found the end of the line, asked myself if I really wanted to do this and decided that I did. So I took the plunge. It was probably stupid, because we were lined up outside and I didn’t have a coat, but we were right in the morning sun and I felt comfortable enough. The line moved slowly, but fairly steadily, and for an hour, I inched my way forward. Here’s how you know you’re a geek: as I got to the final stretch, I was actually getting kind of excited. lol

Got myself and Bruce some stuff, because he had shopped for me the last two days and headed back quickly where, yes, I had missed the person I wanted to talk to. They said they’d come back, but oh well. More importantly, when I came back the only person there was the wife, and she was doing a brilliant job of selling with no Japanese at all. LOL She wins, hands down, as the best salesperson of the day. When Rica and wifey were at the table, we actually had a line at one point. Which chuffed me no end. We met a lovely translator who knows Drama Queen, and she and Rica talked about how to apply for Comiket. (This year we were the only foreign company at all at Comiket, which made us notable.)

So, behaviors. There’s the person who walks up, looks confused, stares for a while, then nods, as if they “get” it. Then walks away.

There’s the person who stares, rubs their chins, looks at a book, then walks away.

There’s the person who picks up a book clearly marked in their native tongue that it is NOT in their native tongue, pages through the books, looks at another, then remarks, “I can’t read this, it’s in…” Then we point out that, yes, they are, and here are books in their native tongue, at which they bolt, terrified that they were spoken to.

There’s the person who comes up, looks at the books and, when we speak, bolts like they were slapped. LOL

So, yeah, some of the same behaviors as at cons.

What you don’t get is teenyboppers running through the halls, smacking each other with fake weapons, or screaming and no one would *ever* consider running up to the table, screeching, “Eww, yuri!” or somesuch and run away. As the whole row was yuri, that would be plain weird.

So, Erica, how did it feel to be NOT the only yuri publisher in the place? No different, really because we were *still* aliens, being the only foreign circle. So, we still got a weird crowd – even for Comiket.

The circle to our right, when I went to pick up a Shinobuden doujinshi from them, turned out to be a lovely gentleman who reads Okazu, and had very good English. He was very kind and gracious and I will review his book when I get home – the art is simply adorable. I thank you, sir.

To our left was a young woman who was very quiet, but I did buy some of her books, as they are quite lovely. I also took and opportunity to introduce myself to Sakuraike and UKOZ, both of which circles, ALC Publishing has licensed work from for Yuri Monogatari 5, so please look forward to that!

I did manage to buy pretty much every circle I wanted to buy from – including a fair number of fanfic or shousetsu. I also managed, without even realizing it, to pick up a Mori Natsuko fanbook, which I bought entirely for the cover and I cannot wait to try to read. LOL

In the end, we had a terrifc day, and it made a spectacular end to Yuricon’s presence at Comiket. I’m truly glad I had a chance to be there.

Oh, and tere is no doubt in my mind that working an American con is significantly more exhausting than Comiket. Otakon is, for instance, about 20 hours of selling time, Comiket is 6. So, yeah. And the fans…as I say, so much more well-behaved

(I have GOT to interject here. The wife is looking at the Comiket catalog as I type. She says, “Oh, the Marimite section.” then she pauses. “They look so good as ants.” I wouldn’t even LOOK. And she says that, so far as she’s gotten in the catalog, about halway, Marimite is the largest section of circles. Oh, wait, Naruto beats Marimite. But there’s still a chance that One Piece will beat it Go One Piece!)

To celebrate our success, Rica took myself, wifey and Bruce to a yakitori restaurant where the food went from excellent to omg, this is orgasmic. (We really wanted okonomiyaki, but they were ALL closing early for the New Year. I mean, like all of them. But the food at Momotarou in Ebisu gets my hearty recommendation.)

Wifey wanted to go out, but I was starting to crash, so she and Bruce went out to a temple, and I went back to the room to sort through what I want to take back in the luggage and and what can get shipped.

By the time I was nearly unconcious, wifey was back and we crashed.

Now it’s the dawn (literally) of a new year and we’re off to find the seven gods of fortune and thank them for yesterday.

See you when I get back!





Events: Yuricon at Comiket

December 31st, 2006

This has got to be short, as I’m fading fast…but in short, today was really, really fun.

I stood on line for an hour at one point, but about five minutes into it I realized I was completely surrounded by guys. I mean, like surrounded. In the end I counted four women total, in a line an hour long.

We sold books and bought books and were given books and gave away books and other items, and I met many wonderful people, and got to spend many wonderful hours in the company of Rica Takashima, my wife, and Yuricon staffer Bruce. This was Yuricon’s last appearance at Comiket, as Rica is moving and I can’t fly in twice a year to do it, so it was especially cool that I was here this time.

I also almost ended up on a train to Yokohama by myself, but that’s a story for another day. Let me leave you with two quick thoughts.

Bruce commented that the first day was cold, but that Comiket politely provided him a coat of people to wear to keep him warm. LOL

I commented that Comiket is like an amusement ride made out of people. :-)

Okay, three thoughts:

Japanese otaku are much better behaved than American – no screaming, shrieking or squealing, people wait in lines politely, everyone asks if they can look at your books, then thanks you for letting them whether they buy or not. But there were still some behaviors that were the same, which I will go over in detail later.

…

Four thoughts:

Our cons are leaking into their events. There was much more cosplay simply walking around, not vendors, either, and a whole section that was just goods, not doujinshi. Like multiple rows of hats and jewelry and other goods. I think it’s cool.

I didn’t see half of what I wanted to see or, probably get half what I wanted to get, but what a stellar day. And, most importantly, no jet lag until just about an hour ago. Thank you seven gods of fortune – I owe you, as promised. :-)

Tomorrow we go around to shrines to pay back the seven gods of fortune. :-)





A Walk through Comiket

December 27th, 2006

Yes. I’m stalling.

I have a perfectly good reason for stalling on the 2006 Top Ten Yuri list. I have no idea whatsoever to put on it. There. I admit it. Happy?

In the meantime, as I stall, I thought I’d walk you through Comiket a bit. Unlike American anime/manga cons, where people feel free to block an entire passageway while they take endless of pictures of people dressed in armor made from Mountain Dew boxes (and no, I am not making that up) at Comiket, one cannot randomly walk around taking pictures. Of course, people do anyway. The exception to the rule is that photos are allowed in the cosplay area on the roof during the hours set aside for cosplay. But I want you get a feel for how HUGE the whole event is. So I’m going to try and walk it with you.

First of all, Tokyo Big Sight. It’s situated at the end of one of the islands built into Tokyo Bay (Babylon Project is not fake, my geek children – it’s been in the process of being built for about 400 years at this point) called “Odaiba.” Odaiba is home to many other things of interest, you can read about some of them if you look for the Tokyo Journal category of Okazu. Fuji TV, Venus Fort, lots of malls…a maritime museum I’ll probably never go to… ^_^

You get off the Yurikamome monorail or the Rinkai train line and follow everyone for blocks and blocks, while you wonder what you have gotten yourself into…and you wonder at the hints of funky clothes peeking out from under coats and think, “Wacky fashion sense or cosplay?”

When Big Sight first appears, it doesn’t looks as big as it is, because you’re looking at it up a set of stairs, so you really can’t see how freaking BIG it is.

I am told that people line up the night before to get in – I can’t imagine why. The line moves pretty quickly and okay, if you’re collecting from impossibly popular circles, there might be some waiting time to get anything, but seriously, with the internet making purchasing doujinshi easier than ever, and me being such a slacker, I think that you’d have to be really mad to line up the night before.

To navigate Comiket without madness, one should get a copy of the catalog, in which is contained the Map of Comiket (This picture is a teeny little piece of the map, showing one of the halls, East Hall 6.) The Map is actually three maps, one for each day. One goes through the catalog, which has all the many thousands of circles listed in little one-inch boxes. Then one marks the locations of the circles one wants to find on the map. Each circle exhibits for one of the three days. So, as big as the place is, you can’t “come back tomorrow”. You buy *now* or forever rue your choice.

The map allows one to navigate a little more easily. Go back to the map picture for a second – notice the teeny little boxes. Each box represents a circle’s table. The tables are about 3′ long. They are arranged in blocks, and the blocks are addressed by letters of the Japanese syllabary and American alphabet.

So, an address will read something like this: East Hall 6, Row “Shi” (Kana), Table 20ab. I marked this “Kana” because the syllabary rows are marked in Hiragana and Katakana. If you can read Hiragana and Katakana, it’s really quite easy to find a circle’s table. (BTW…anyone want to guess what circle has the address I quoted above? I’ll give you two hints – the circle will be there on Sat. Dec. 30 and it’s not Yuricon/ALC. I’ll also tell you this – there’ll be a line.) And if you can’t read hiragana or katakana, then wth are you doing at Comiket anyway?  (Q: How many times can you ask your friend who is studying Japanese “what does this say?” before you get annoying? A: Three.)

Okay, so armed with your map, a pocket full of insane cash, because no, they don’t take credit cards, and a bag to haul your loot back with, you start up the stairs.

And you walk.

Then you walk.

Then you walk some more.

And eventually, after while, you find yourself in something that looks kind of like a mall. Or a space station. Pass through the restaurant area, into this great big straight hall. On the lower floor there are entrances to the East Halls, and the lines snaking out of the ladies’ rooms. You decide to go into a Hall, and you are confronted by something that looks unnavigably crowded.

Go to it friend. Find your circle.

First look at the walls. Notice what section of the syllabary/alphabet you’re in. Find the row you’re looking for, follow the map, or stand there with your eyes whirling in your head. Whichever.

There are 6 Halls that look like that on the East side. ^_^ On the West Side there’s, I think only four in a sort of squarer layout.

Now, remember this – you have, at most, 6 hours to find all your circles. Comiket official opens at 10AM and closes at 4PM. And about half of the circles you want are, of course, in East Hall 6 and the other half in West Hall 2. It just goes like that. ^_^

This is a picture of our own Rica Takashima at the Yuricon table at Summer Comiket 2005. The reason she is not smiling is that it was like 100 degrees out. I’m surprised she’s even talking to me after that. ^_^;

Imagine me sitting next to her looking like I want to die, because jet lag is my own personal hell. That will be this year’s picture.

Did I mention that Big Sight isn’t “inside”? All the halls are open to the elements, although they have some walls and ceilings, they are, by and large, open-air. So if it’s winter, you will be wearing your coat, and if it’s summer, you will be hot.

The corporate booths are upstairs in the Galleria. They have mini-shows and idol/seiyuu appearances and giveaways so its always crowded there.

Now, I mentioned the cosplay area and time. Again, unlike American cons, where young men and women dress inappropriately day and night, frightening the locals outside the con and myself in it, at Comiket one does NOT come dressed up. One goes to the changing rooms at Big Sight and changes, appears in the appropriate location and at the appropriate time, has scores of fanboys take inappropriate pictures that will shockingly appear on the internet and in magazines and then it is over. Of course, this too is a myth and there are many exceptions to the rule. People selling will sometimes dress up in remarkably good/bad/weird/inappropriate costumes. And when I went the first time, two large, rather hairy men were gathering much attention for walking in boldly wearing Azumanga Daioh school unforms. They were dressed as Sakaki and Chiyo-chan…and it still worries me that I knew that.

To find the cosplay area is easy-peasy. Go the the center of Big Sight, the Conference Tower, and get on the unbelievably long line that wraps around itself like an Ouroboros. It will eventually dump you on the roof where you too can pay attention people who like to have attention called to themselves. ^_^

Then you have to follow the long line back down and steel yourself for another bout of buying. It has to be done.

There are quite a few places to purchase refreshment in Big Sight. Most work on cafeteria style, otherwise you’d be waiting as long as the day to get served. But let me tell you, you’ll need the break.

Re-reading all of this, I know I simply have not conveyed how freaking huge this place is. And I’m sorry about that.

I promise to have a Year’s Top Ten tomorrow. Really. Then I’ll see you in Tokyo!





Yuri Manga: Yuri Monogatari to Premiere at Winter Comiket

December 26th, 2006

Yuricon and ALC Publishing are once again proud to announce that they will have a table at the world’s largest comic market, Comiket. We will be premiering our newest 100% yuri title, Yuri Monogatari 4, and for the first time, two of the creators for this issue will be sitting at the Yuricon table. ;-)

You can find Rica Takashima, of Rica ‘tte Kanji!? fame, and myself (who with Kelli Nicely, contributed a story to this issue called “Playing House”) at our table in the West Hall, Row “Yo,” Table 37a. For a fuller list of Yuri Doujinshi circles that will be attending this Comiket, take a look at the Small Call List of Comiket 71 Yuri Doujinshi Circles. The site and the circle’s pages are, yes, in Japanese. Please do not bother being shocked – manga and doujinshi are, after, all Japanese art forms.

I am not sure what kind of computer access I will have while I am in Japan, but if I can, I will certainly post my experiences as I throw as much money as I can at the Japanese economy. Expect the usual mix of bizarre geekiness and extreme paganism. ^_^

I *will* be bringing some good doujinshi home with me to sell at Yuricon’s 2007 “Yurisai” Event, so you too can share in the pleasure of reading really decent Yuri doujinshi by really decent people.

In the meantime, if you can’t join us at Comiket, you can, at least, enjoy “More Rica ‘tte Kanji!?” by Rica Takashima, “Ichigo-hime” by Akiko Morishima and the other great stories in Yuri Monogatari 4 by getting it from the Yuricon Shop, or ordering it at your local comic book, book store or Amazon!.