Event: Girls Love Festival Report

September 14th, 2011

First of all, my apologies for having no pictures of the event, as there were signs everywhere forbidding picture-taking. I had lost my camera early in the trip and my wife’s is too large to use surreptitiously.

Girls Love Festival (website is in Japanese) is one of two Yuri-only doujinshi events being held in Japan. Girls Love Fest is in the Tokyo area and Maiden’s Garden (website in Japanese) is held in Kyoto.

I had never had a chance to attend either of these, so I was both excited and a little apprehensive about this one. ^_^ But it turns out I need not have been worried at all.

Girls Love Fest has a list of participating circles on their website, so I knew going into it that there were a few people I wanted to meet or see again.

Bruce, my wife and I took the train to Kamata station, where we found the PIO building without difficulty. Outside was our dear friend Komatsu-san and we waited for the last our party, a lovely, talented and funny young lady, Ransui-san, who draws doujinshi herself. We were treated to a preview of her upcoming PreCure works, which are incredibly cute!

We watched the line of attendees go in when the event opened and were not terribly encouraged by the female/male attendee ratio. It appeared that very few women were attending, but when we finally got in, there were more than it appeared on the line. Circles seemed split 40/60 female/male and attendees were more like 30/70. So, not as many women this time as Komatsu-san said there were last year, but it wasn’t a bad split.

You have to purchase a copy of the event catalog to get in to the event – the catalog acts as your “ticket” into the event space. It wasn’t that expensive, and very nicely printed.

The room was a convention center hall, half was one show, half the other show. GLF was on the window side. Because the show was small, the aisles weren’t crowded, so it had a nice, airy, open feeling.

Everyone we talked to was so nice! Lots and lots of smiles. We gave away Yuricon “I Love Yuri” pins to the show Boss, and a few circles we knew and some folks who had come to the Yuricon 2005 event in Tokyo. (I had ordered more, but thanks CafePress for taking more than two weeks to ship a bag of pins, so they arrived too late.)

We were able to say hello to Circle Sakuraike (Kimochi no Katachi Volume 1 and Volume 2) and of course buy their books! and slowly, relaxedly wander the aisles. There wasn’t as much 18+ material as I feared. In my heart, I sort of expected the event to be mostly loli-porn, so I anticipated being disappointed with the doujinshi for sale. But, I was pretty much wrong. I was glad to be wrong. ^_^

The event theme was “magical girl,” so there was a lot of Madoka work, no surprise, and a fair dollop of PreCure. A little Nanoha, much less than I expected and surprisingly a pretty decent showing for Maria-sama ga Miteru (thus proving that Yumi is pretty much magical. ^_^) There was one lonesome guy selling Strawberry Panic doujinshi and only one Vocaloid seller – all of us commented on how strange that was. We all expected way more of that.

I got fangirly squee-y when I came across Amano Shuninta’s (Sweet Guilty Love Bites) booth. I saw the doujinshi first, and recognized the art style, then blurted out, “OMG, is this Amano Shuninta?” at which the adorable woman standing there raised her hand. I asked her to sign a doujinshi, and bought everything, pretty much, then gave her a “I Love Yuri” pin. ^_^ I also found Momono Moto (Kimi Koi Limit) gave her a pin, tried to buy a book, but she gave it to me. Thank you! I really wanted it for the CD it came with, I think it’s a game, that looked kinda fun. Girl Prince and Princess on the cover. I’ll see if I can make heads or tails of it. ^_^

I also asked some random artist to sign her work, because it was so cute. She looked shocked, then embarrassed, but she did it. That was also very cute. (^_^)

Kogado, the company that created Yuri game Soulfege was the only corporate presence there, they were advertising their new Yuri game, White Robe Lovers, which takes place in a nursing school. If there is a faster way to turn me right off, I can’t think of it. That whole nurse fetish thing just leaves me cold. But, what was notable, was that Kogado had an itasha there to advertise the series. In the front window of the car was a URL which struck as all as amusing, but none of us knew whether it was unintentional or not: http://blog.kogado.co.jp/patheticar/. Either way, we agreed that the URL was truth in advertising.

Before we left, we all agreed that next year we’ll go to the Maiden’s Garden event together. Komatsu-san and Ransui-san left us to go to take in a PreCure musical show, so we said our goodbyes to them and left GLFes, with piles of doujinshi, fan novels and memories of many smiles.

I would encourage any of you to attend this event – it was friendly, relaxing and fun, just as one would hope it would be. ^_^ Thanks to everyone who made it possible and to everyone who sold there. And many, many thanks to Komatsu-san and to Ransui-san for joining us on our adventure!

Posted in Events, Tokyo Journal | 10 Comments »


Back from Japan

September 12th, 2011

I’m back from a trip to Japan in rather hotter and more humid weather than I had hoped and have returned to rather hotter and more humid weather than I had hoped.

Nonetheless, much fun was had and, as usual, we stimulated the Japanese economy:
All the unopened bags on the left are filled with stickers, memo pads and a shocking amount of small items that would have been exhausting to unpack and twice as exhausting to clean up. So you’ll just have to imagine what’s in them.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 10 Comments »


Manga Readers’ Manifesto

September 9th, 2011

We, the manga and comic reading fans of the world hereby state our manifesto to comic/manga publishers and distributors:

When we pay for a book, we are not paying for the right to read it. We are paying for the right to read it as many times and anywhere we want. Therefore, if we buy the hard copy of your book, we should get access to the digital version for free. We have already paid you for the right to read it anywhere and as many times as we want, there is absolutely no reason to consider the digital content a separate copy in that case.

We understand that the current technology causes gerrymandering for various operating systems, however, it is not sensible or possible for us to buy new hardware just to read your books, nor is it sensible for you to have to have multiple versions of one work. Make your reading technology browser-based, so it is accessible regardless of OS.

We desire simultaneous release of digital and print, not, as you suspect, to cannibalize your profits, but to maximize them. The faster an issue comes out and in the most formats as possible, the more people who can and will be convinced to buy.

We desire the utter destruction of region-locking. It makes no sense, encourages piracy and causes frustration and bitterness among fans world-wide (including Japan.) This is a relic of an older world that needs to be set aside without second thought or accommodation.

We understand pricing is complicated and the digital distribution platforms (iPad, Kindle, atc.) enforce set pricing  to some extent, but do not price a digital copy the same as a hard copy. You don’t have the same overhead and we know it. We *do* support the artists, production team, editors, etc, so just give us a reasonable price so everyone gets a fair wage for their work.

This is the Manga Readers’ Manifesto, dated September 9, 2011.

Posted in Now This Is Only My Opinion | 16 Comments »


Sound of the Sky Anime, Disk 4 (English)

September 5th, 2011

Aaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuurrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh.

My deepest apologies to sponsor Okazu Superhero Eric P., and all of you who loved it, but repeated administrations of horrible obvious plot complications and utterly idiotic strategy and tactics cannot be swept away by repeated applications of “Amazing Grace.” This series was just absolutely, predictably, pandering and awful, IMHO. I know that so many of you liked it, but I just could not. Too many handwaves, way too many.

I did admire the writers desperately trying to make it make sense at the end, with Aisha’s version of the story about the Flame Maidens and I also thought that the voice actresses did a stellar job of speaking German cutely.

Ratings:

Art – Backgrounds – 9
Story – Auuughhhhhh!
Characters – 8
Yuri – 1 +1 for the obvious Noel x Aisha setup
Service – 5/5 split 5 for the actual creepy pervs and 5 for the sweet/cute obsessives

Overall – Stab, stab, stab

The Sound of the Sky boxset contest will go on a little longer, let’s say until the 20th of September, so check out the rules and send in your entry if you haven’t already!

Posted in English Anime | 9 Comments »


Cardcaptor Sakura Manga Omnibus, Volume 2 (English)

September 3rd, 2011

In Volume 1 of Cardcaptor Sakura, we met Kinomoto Sakura, an energetic, cheerful elementary school girl who accidentally (maybe) unleashes the power of the Clow Cards…a deck that was created generations ago by the great magician Clow Reed. We also meet Sakura’s family and friends, and the magical creature that assists her to collect all the Cards, Cereberus, nicknamed Kero-chan.

In Volume 2, we pick up where we left off as Sakura, her rival Li and besotted best friend forever Tomoyo are trapped in the Maze card and rescued by the power of Mizuki Kaho-sensei, the new substitute teacher.

At which point the story begins to be weighted down with predictions and implications and precognition. Great things are happening, powerful creatures are stirring and Sakura is merely a young girl. But Sakura rises to the challenge every time. Helped by her friends, she conquers card after card, and slowly begins to learn that Kaho-sensei has a role in all this…although she doesn’t yet know what.

Clow Reed begins, in this volume, to become a real presence. Sakura sees him in a dream, Kaho speaks of him almost as if she knew him. And, we learn, that Kaho has a bond with another man in Sakura’s life – her brother. Years ago, they dated when Toya was in middle school and Kaho, a student teacher.

What happens next I won’t spoil. If you’ve read it, you know why this is the coolest volume. Yue is worth waiting for, just for sheer prettiness. But if you haven’t, I’ll leave you to meet Yue on your own time. ^_^

Yet again, I find Dark Horse did a very acceptable translation job, and yet again, this book is so heavy, I would worry if a child tried to carry it around. But the color pages are as pretty as I remember, and the story is a delight, even the pander-y, manipulative ones that make me choke up. ^_^

As I said for the first volume, I am not nostalgic, but I truly do love this series. Every character is likable, even the unlikable ones, and it’s all so…nice.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 2
Service – 4

Overall – 9

I can’t wait for the next volume!

The especially wonderful thing about this volume is that it heralds the arrival of a brand new Okazu Hero! Thank you Walt R-B for sponsoring this review! Please email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com to receive your Okazu Hero Badge, suitable for display on any website of social media profile. You’re my Hero. ^_^

Posted in Card Captor Sakura, English Manga | 1 Comment »