Events: Tales from the Floor of the NYAF

December 10th, 2007

Life on the floor of the Exhibitor’s Hall/Dealer’s Room is not like life anywhere else at a con. There’s a unique ebb and flow, not only of the attendees, but of the other exhibitors, staff, guests, and one’s own biorhythms. When you’re an exhibitor at an event, it feels like you’ve been there forever. Five minutes after you finish, it’s like it never happened. It’s all very surreal. ^_^ There’s a permanent impermanence of a show. Boxes explode into displays and sales items – shiny, colorful – then everything, including walls and floors, all get rolled up and packed away leaving nothing but some scraps to show that anything was ever there.

Imagine a desert. No water, food, life anywhere. Imagine one day, you drive into this desert and suddenly, a town is springing up. Buildings, businesses, schools – everything goes together almost instantly. And then people arrive. They attend classes at the school, buy food and drink from the restaurants suddenly in existence, clothes, toys, entertainment from the businesses, and then, two days later, it’s gone. Like “Burning Man” inside a big, black, glass box. With less fireworks. The desert returns, and only cellophane tumbleweeds cross your path.

I’ve been to and worked at renfaires, pagan encampments, anime cons, scifi cons, trade shows, and festivals all over the world and every time I am mesmerized by the magic of these temporary towns. It truly is magic. I love walking around as people set up and breakdown. The floor of an event is where a lot of deals are made and relationships are built. Of everything that happens at a con, it’s this part that I enjoy most. Meeting people, reconnecting with folks, developing ideas with peers.

The New York Anime Festival was not very big, especially as compared with New York Comic Con, but if you took all the non-manga/anime stuff out of NYCC, NYAF is basically what you have. I heard a rumored attendance of 8K and that seems in line with what I saw. (Although published reports later said 15K, which I can only believe if you counted every attendee day, dealers, guests, panelists, staff and Javits Center staff for all three days.) Reed definitely improved some key things since Comic Con – security was friendly, professionals were treated much better (at Comic Con, we were treated like criminals trying to sneak in) and in general, there was a much less overtly hostile atmosphere. Instead, the staff was pleasant and accommodating. Two things I would like to mention that needed some improvement. One, grouping like vendor with like is fine at, say, a Publisher’s Expo, but for folks who sell chotckes like key chains, it’s not so good. It doesn’t affect the artists or publishers so much (I don’t compete with Del Ray or Tokyopop, really) but for the figurine, manga, DVD and goods dealers, it’s a rotten setup. Most anime cons break those kinds of vendors up. Here they were all in one long row. Secondly, when the Exhibitor’s Hall closed, attendees were not swept out efficiently. They lingered for a long time, getting in the way of breaking down, and clustering on the floor where dollies and handcarts needed to get through. The event staff needs to get them out of the way faster and better. But those were really the only things I felt needed to be addressed. In every other way it was a vast improvement.

My good friends at Drama Queen were kind enough to let me have a piece of their table at which I sold some of our books. It was a better crowd than I thought it would be – and I have to give kudos to the DQ fans. They were not the squealing LFGs one expects. A few folks cross-bought Yaoi and Yuri and some who came for one at least looked at the other. A few folks simply said, “well, I’m more interested in whichever, but thanks.” It was all very pleasant and refreshing – a far cry from the days of “Ewww, Yuri.” Those days were up to about a year ago, so wow. DQ definitely drew a cut-above audience. And owner Tran and staffer Isabel are *fabulous.* If you’re interested in Yaoi, do give them a look. Their books are very well done and fun. I even read a few sitting there. I’ve reviewed their book Audition here, as well. It was pretty damn good.

It’s always lovely to see the regulars who visit when ALC has a table, and it was also nice to reconnect with a few folks I met recently at Yurisai. Kudos to them for being a cut-above, as well. When one young man walked up and shook my hand, said hello, said that Yurisai was his first con and that he loved it, and was now sharing this new love with a friend who had never been to a con, I thought, “This is the win.”  Yuri and Yaoi fans are definitely both maturing – we *can* all be human, if we just try. ^_^

Professionally, it’s always a blast to check up on folks you see at every con, chat with them about new projects and ideas, see where the industry is heading. Korean works are gearing up for being HUGE, I can tell you that. Next big thing? Yeah, I think so.

A lot of great folks stopped by the DQ booth. Some of the folks I owe thanks and hugs to are: May Young, freelance designer extraordinaire, who was a champ all weekend, translator Mari Morimoto (who was NYAF’s chief translator and they kept her hopping,) blogger Casey Brienza (aka Kethylia), Tran and Isabel from DQ, Tara, (wishing you the best of luck!) and blogger Brigid Alverson of mangablog. I also had a moment with Milton Griepp of ICv2, Protoculture Addict’s Claude Pelltier and PW’s Calvin Reid, just in case you think I didn’t talk to any men all weekend. LOL

On the industry side of the board it was my genuine pleasure to catch up with John and Masumi O’Donnell from CPM/Be Beautiful. They were all smiles and high energy and rarin’ to go, which thrilled me no end. The troubles they faced last year are yesterday’s news and they are looking forward to a bright future. We wish them the best of luck.

The folks at Media Blasters remain wonderful. I’m sitting here drinking chai brought over to our table by Johnathan and thinking of him happily. They’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, as always. And I also had a chance to talk to some folks from Tokyopop, which I always enjoy. The editor of the upcoming Kannazuki no Miko release and I had a nice chat about that. I was able to explain Kaishaku and their interest in a short list of fetishes. lol We also talked about Okazaki Mari and her never-really Yuri art, and Sakurazawa Erica, and josei in general. Now that I have an in, we’ll see what rumors news I’ll get first. ;-)

And of course, there were a bunch of cons and dealers that I get lots of love from and give the same to. :-) Looks like Anime Boston will be going onto the Yuricon schedule this year and I got to chat with a bunch of the AnimeNEXT folks as always. Love them. A special shout out of Yuri lovin’ to Bill from Anime Castle and Su from Sci-Fi Continuum. Buy stuff from them, because they are two of the coolest folks ever. And Amber and James from Ultimate Anime, too. ^_^  (The goal here is to butter them up until they send me to the Maiden’s Garden event next year to shop for Yuri doujinshi for them. lol)

It was a tremendous surprise and pleasure to meet Grace Hume, one of the contributing artists to Yuri Monogatari 5. I had no idea she was going to be there, and it was a complete thrill to add her to the list of Yuri Monogatari artists that I have met in person. Grace is the creator of “Emmeline’s Cruise,” one of the two stories in the collection that dealt with an older lesbian character. She even got to sign an autograph. :-D (D’oh! *I* forgot to get her autograph…what a nitwit I am….) Now we’re both stoked about her contributing to the next volume. ^_^

I don’t tend to go to industry panels, favoring the face to face method of “what’s the cool news?” of info gathering. :-) So here’s just a couple of quicky things you’re not getting from ANN yet because it’s all on the QT and so I will be secretive and vague – it’s more fun that way, anyway. ^_^

1) There’s a distant rumour that someone is looking into licensing a title of interest to Yuri fans. I won’t give anything away but, ahem, we may get those Jun and Nene dolls after all….

2) Keep your ears open for a new, very exciting event that will be coming up for 2009. I can’t tell you anything specific, but I can tell you that there has NEVER been anything like it in anime/manga events. (This is me smiling and nodding knowingly.) There’s a lot of enthusiam about it in the industry. You’ll be seeing info about it soon…? ^_^

3) And this so prelim it’s a thought exercise rather than rumor, but who knows how the world will spin, right? How would you all feel about a Mist manga collection in English? Who knows – it could happen. :-)

Well, that’s it from the floor of NYAF. Next event, Comiket, where I will support the Japanese economy by throwing money at it. ^_^

Posted in Events | 6 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Miyuki-chan in Wonderland

December 7th, 2007

Today’s review was brought to you by Katie, who lent me this DVD as a case for something else she was giving me.

It’s been 7 years since I watched Fushigi no Kuni no Miyuki-chan and Kagami no Kuni no Miyuki-chan, released collectively in the US as Miyuki-chan in Wonderland. I still remember when and where I first saw it, and the look of triumph in the person’s eyes who was showing it to me as if they had discovered a great well-spring of Yuri. My reaction was more along the lines of “gosh, what annoying music.” I remember it well. ^_^

Miyuki-chan in Wonderland is a two-part reimaging of Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories by all-female studio CLAMP, starring the happless Miyuki-chan, a schoolgirl far less capable and quite a bit older than Alice. To be fair, Miyuki-chan is not just facing strange creatures loosely based on Cambridge professors of Carroll’s acquaintance, she’s facing sexual harrassment by the all-female anthropomorphic cast of apparent nymphomaniacs that inhabit this Wonderland and Looking Glass world.

The “Yuri” is the above sexual harrassment. Miyuki is more interested in getting home that in the attractive, well-built, adult semi-humans who want to play with her, so the humor is of the “kyaaaahhhh!” variety. Sure, the Mad Hatter *seems* to be gay, but it’s sort of a moot point, really. And it’s a one-trick pony. Practically every meeting involves a sexually suggestive component, flavored with some panty shots. I got tired of it quickly. Many people find it to be brilliant. Your mileage may vary.

The voice cast deserves a mention – it’s fairly all-star, especially the first vignette, the one in Wonderland. There’s some pretty level up names there for what is mostly a soft porn drabble of an anime. :-)

While CLAMP is extremely famous for stunning art, Miyuki-chan the anime, did not do much to expand their reputation. The artbook is significantly less ragged. And it doesn’t have that annoying soundtrack. If you like CLAMP for the art, stick with the book. If you like the idea of all of Caroll’s creatures animated as buxom scantily-clad women sexually harassing a girl, with famous voices, you’ll love the anime. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 5
Characters – 5
Music – 2
Yuri – 5
Service – 8

Overall – 5

Lewis Carroll’s works are the third most-quoted body of literary work in the world, following the Bible and Shakespeare. CLAMP’s contribution to the canon is memorable, without actually being good.

Posted in CLAMP, Classic Yuri | 3 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Reijin na Hito

December 6th, 2007

Today’s thanks go to Erin for the object of today’s review. It came from out of the blue and I absolutely love it, so thank you!!

Yumi is a woman with a gift. She loves women. Her gift is to bring women understanding about the people and things that are most important to them, to make them see what they really need to focus on, and to envision their own happiness and dreams, by sleeping with them. Because Yumi’s gift is so powerful, she sleeps with a lot of women, to help them all find the happiness they deserve. A dream job, really. :-)

Reijin na Hito (Beautiful Woman) is one of the few collections based on stories that ran in Mist Magazine, the classic adult-, and often lesbian-themed, “Ladies Comics” manga magazine that ran in the mid to late 90’s. It’s a testament to how many issues of Mist I am still missing that of all the chapters in this book, I had only read the first. I have a new purpose in life – I *must* find the other issues. (This is me making a determined face.)

So, in each chapter, a woman is in a relationship already, but is either unhappy – usually due to low self esteem or lack of faith in her lover – or doesn’t realize what she has. Yumi comes onto the scene and everyone goes gaga for her. She’s apparently unworldly in her beauty, something the art doesn’t *quite* live up to. The protagonist falls for Yumi’s beauty and that *something* which is her gift. By the end of the story, Yumi’s unconditional love and angelic magnificence has made the protagonist realize how important her real lover is. Protagonist and lover live happily ever after and Yumi moves on.

This was basically the plot for all but one chapter, which was my favorite.

In that one chapter, we meet supermodel Yamagata Hiroko. She’s incredibly famous and popular, and has recently done a nude photo collection. Now, to understand the significance of this, you kind of need to understand the bigger picture in the Japanese idol world. Doing a nude photo shoot is very much a two-edged sword for a Japanese model. On the one hand, it guarantees her insto-popularity, but on the other hand, those fans are probably all the “wrong” kind. In other words, she may increase her popularity, but she loses the respect of the industry. On the ever-present third hand, doing nudes is practically required by the industry, which then labels you as a slut and tosses you out the door because you’re not pure anymore and they’re looking at then newest 14 year old to walk in. And I wish I were kidding when I say all of this, but I’m not.

So, when Hiroko puts out her nude photo collection, people start saying that she’s washed up, that she did that to increase her waning popularity and because she’s old. (She’s probably 24.) Her ego takes a big hit and she practically has a breakdown. And then Yumi shows up. It turns out that she and Yumi are not only on-again, off-again lovers, but perfectly suited to one another. And, as they talk and make love, Yumi not only gives Hiroko back her self-esteem, she allows her to see herself and her dream clearly. Hiroko’s dream, it turns out, is to design clothes – not just any clothes, but to design the perfect outfit for Yumi. In the morning Yumi wakes up to find herself alone and reads a letter from Hiroko explaining this. Yumi begins to cry as she reads, and we learn that she deeply and truly loves this woman. It was bittersweet and, considering the book as a whole, kind of touching.

Reijin na Hito is not world shaking, nor is Kobayashi Takumi my favorite Mist artist. But the stories are basically sexy, empowering in a way and 100% lesbian. (I so desperately wanted to type “have no icky men to ruin the story” here but didn’t, because you just know someone was going to quote that out of context…. ^_^) And for sheer rarity, it’s plain cool to have it.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 6
Yuri – 10
Service – 8

Overall – 7

Again, thank you Erin, it’s very cool and much appreciated addition to the world’s largest Yuri collection, which is taking over my house. ^_^

Posted in Classic Yuri, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Drama CD: Hayate x Blade, Volume 2

December 5th, 2007

By request, today we are discussing the Hayate x Blade Drama CD, Volume 2.

It’s a beautiful, clear day at Tenchi Gakuen. The sky is blue, the clouds are white, and the cheerful sounds of the student body move across the grounds, as they gear up for the excitement of their school festival.

Wait, sorry…that’s some other series. THIS story begins in a secret room somewhere on the school grounds, where a gathering of black-uniformed, glasses-wearing students is under way. Their target – Kurogane Hayate. The crime – getting too close to Akira-sama, possibly touching her butt. The butt part was due to Kirikawa’s unfortunate use of the word “tail” in conjunction with how close Hayate was to Akira.

1) How does one even reach a conclusion like this? Discuss.

THEN the day is beautiful and clear and full of maids. Chairman Hitsugi is unrepentant, even as Shizuku scolds her for making everyone wear maid costumes. She even goes so far as to comment gleefully that it looks like an Akihabara festival. Jun and Hayate admire the figure Ayana cuts in a maid outfit, and Jun supplements that with admiring the figure Yuho cuts in her winter coat.

2) Jun is totally gay. Discuss.

The story that follows is exactly the same as that in Volume 6, of the “A-Team’s” plot to get rid of Hayate for her trespassing upon the personal space of their beloved Akira-sama, of their underhanded trick of kidnapping Miki from Hayate’s beloved Tanpopo Gakuen and their complete underestimation of Hayate, her friends, Miki and Akira.

Hitsugi orders them to fight an 8 against 80 Hoshotori melee with the following handicaps to account for the low rank of the A-Team members: If any of Hayate’s friends lose, the entire team loses. Hayate’s 8 must all use ladles as their weapons. They must defeat all 80 of the A-Team.

3) These are unfair odds. The A-Team never had a chance. Discuss.

And in the end, when Akira *finally* clues in to what’s going on, she arrives in the last seconds, just as the final members of the A-Team collapse and she pulls of her cool long coat to reveal that she had completely forgotten that she was wearing a maid outfit underneath.

4) Akira-sama looks cool, even in a maid costume. Discuss.

For Extra Credit: Agree with me that maid costumes and the assumed submissive servitude implied is really not at *all* sexy, in fact, it’s just kind of pathetic.

Along the way, we meet Jun’s father and find out that he’s a pretty nice guy.

5) Hayate is gay for Ayana. Discuss.

After the festival are two original tracks in which we hear Akira’s piano playing prowess and listen to Jun making most of the dorm help her in wishing Yuho goodnight.

The extras include a spiffy mini-book of character info and a mini-manga full of chaos, and the bonus track sounds like everyone was very punchy. ^_^ The topic was “Your favorite words.” I agree with Akira’s actress, Minagawa Junko, when she said that “Dinner’s Ready” are top of her list. Satsuki Rino, Ayana’s seiyuu, said that “love” is her favorite word and that she wanted to hear it from Yukari. (The VAs were speaking half in character during the bonus track.) Oh, and Hitsugi to Shizuku – “My favorite word is “shinyuu.” Awww

6) What is your favorite word? Discuss.

Ratings:

Art – 8, mmm, color
Story – 8 and kudos for trying to make a ladle vs sword fight make sense with no visuals
Characters – 9
Sound Effects – 9
Yuri – 5
Servic e- 5

Overall – 8

I did a quick survey of everyone in my house – my favorite word right now is “Pudding” and the wife’s is “boulevard.” Just in case you wanted to know.

This concludes today’s discussion. ^_^

Posted in Drama CDs & Audiobooks, Hayate x Blade | 6 Comments »


Event: ALC Publishing at New York Anime Festival, Comic Planet

December 3rd, 2007

ALC Publishing will be sharing Table 353 with our friends at Drama Queen on Saturday and Sunday, December 8 and 9 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City! Drop by for great deals on our Yuri Monogatari anthology!

Join Rica Takashima on Saturday, December 22, 2007 at Comic Planet, an original doujinshi show in Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan. For more information on Comic Planet, please visit their website!

ALC Publishing – where the girl always gets the girl

Posted in ALC Publishing, Events | No Comments »