My dinner with doujinshika
Dec. 3rd, 2003 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rkoldI probably should have shared this story a long time ago, as it's now almost a month and a half old, but between updating Penal-tea (which has been updated again) and various off-line things, I've fallen really far behind. This will be long and rambling, so if you don't want to read it, please don't ^o^ So presenting Otouto Jyanaee and my dinner with doujinshika. ^_^
I had first found out about Otouto Jyanaee at Super Comic City which I'd attended in May with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sumeragiskank and kurorokoon. I'd been rather happily surprised when I saw the little flier announcing a Yuuta only event for 10/19/03. On the other hand, at that time I had not been planning to go to Japan a second time in 2003. ^^; But as time wore on, I realized that I had to find a way to try and go. I truly adore Yuuta, and not just because I like to slash him with his brother, I love Yuuta because he's sweet, dedicated, innocent, trusting, and industrious. All the things, I would love to be or at one time might have been, though now I am frequently not. < lj user="subaruppi"> kindly translated the location of the event as well as looked up directions on how to get there and kosquarepelli assured me that while I was insane, if it had been a Keiichi event, she would have been there in a heartbeat. ^o^ Despite it all, I was sort of nervous. I looked at the website for the event a few times, and many of the dealers looked like they would be selling text only doujinshi. ^^; But still, it was Yuuta and so I was determined.
Unfortunately, I overslept a bit the day of the event and only arrived and hour and 20 minutes before it opened. I was extremely nervous about finding the Meijiro Cultural Building, as it wasn't listed on my actual map. I felt relieved when I saw the two young women standing outside selling admittance. Originally, they didn't want to sell me entry, as I think they didn't think I knew what this was. ^o^ I guess my reputation for Fujicestiness is not nearly as strong as I could have hoped. ^o^ I can't find the notes I started writing while I waited for the event to begin, but I remember being really nervous. I went through my admittance booklet (Which for most events is also the guide for the locales of the various dealers. For some things, like a doll show, it's a single piece of paper, for other things like Super Comic City it's a huge tome around the same size as a small phone book!) trying to figure out where the dealers were I wanted to visit and to see how many people were selling what I'm interested in. I was quite pleased to see that most of the dealers seemed to prefer Syuu-Yuu, much like me. The line grew steadily longer as the opening time got closer, and finally close to 11 the first 10 people were lead into the building.
Once the even started things were a blur for a bit. There were lots of Japanese fangirls racing around trying to get doujinshi, and the Meijiro Cultural Building was really too small a location to hold the event. From what I could see, originally, the event had been much smaller and then had grown so that it needed to move to another space within the same building. It certainly wasn't large enough to need two floors like the eventdilettantka attended there, but it did need more space than it had. ^^; I too rushed around buying things. Whenever one bought from a dealer, they were given cute little stickers of things that were important to/represented Yuuta. (You were then supposed to put them on the appropriate square on a postcard which you could then turn in to receive a prize.) I found a lot of circles and doujinshi I'd never seen before. Several of them don't have websites, some of them had cuter art in person. It was in general a happy surprise. It was also overwhelming. I think one thing I found fascinating about the event, was, that most of the circles seemed to also be buying a ton of doujinshi themselves. This was the 4th doujinshi event I'd attended (and also the smallest and the only one dedicated to a single character) but it was the first time I'd actually seen the doujinshika themselves buying doujinshi. ^^ It was an interesting experience, as the event seemed just as much for them as it was for us.
I'm still not sure what caused me to stay around so long until the crowd thinned a bit, I think I was trying to figure out what sticker went where on my postcard, but I noticed that Nero (whose doujinshi had all sold out a *LONG* time ago) was sketching Yuuta. I confess, I love watching people who are talented draw. It amazes me how they can quickly make a sketch that looks like the character in question. And Nero was drawing Yuuta.... I had to watch. Well, being a foreigner, I stood out, and after a bit we got to talking. Now, I should stress here, my Japanese is a pathetic thing. I can not speak it well and I can read even less. Nero and her good friend (Who shall now be called T-san and K-san hence) are *MUCH* better at English than I am at Japanese, but they are by no means fluent. My first few statements were mostly "Yuuta ga daisuki!" It quickly became clear they wanted to know who I paired Yuuta with, and if I saw him as a seme or uke. They were quite pleased with my responses. ^o^ Before long, we were talking about other pairings we liked and the fact I was from NY. They were fascinated that people in the US knew PoT, knew of their doujinshi, and liked incest pairings. They were curious what pairings were popular here, and what I thought of those pairings. For me, I think the most exciting thing was making contact with Japanese fangirls, and Japanese fangirls who liked one of the same pairings I liked. We discussed the manga, a bit. I admit, I asked them if I could buy the Yuuta sketch, and they explained that T-san was drawing it in someone else's sketch pad. I guess Japanese people bring sketchbooks with them and ask doujinshika to sketch things for them O_O They told me if I brought a sketch pad, they would draw a picture of Yuuta for me in the future. I was thrilled. Before we even realized it, it was after 3 and the event was over. (I had not gotten my prize ^^; ) They wanted to know if I had any plans and if I would like to go out for tea. My only plan for the day had been the event, so I more than happily accepted. They said they wanted to do something before we caught the train, so I followed them to a nearby Book-Off, where they bought 3 dictionaries. I would like to say that this made everything a lot easier.
We took the Yamanote line to Ikebukuro. Having stayed in Ikebukuro many times, I even sort of knew a bit where we were headed. I think they had a particular Chinese restaurant in mind, but it wasn't serving as we were in between lunch and dinner. I hadn't realized they wanted an actual meal with me and was rather floored. ^^ We trekked to another restaurant they knew of, which I doubt I could ever find again. It was sort of modern food. I'm not really sure what else to describe it as. They had some pastas, some grilled meats, fish, lots of things. I admit I was still partially on NY time and just so overwhelmed that I was hanging out with doujinshika, that I wasn't all that hungry. I felt ever better about not being hungry when they politely informed me that they insisted on paying for my meal *___________* I ended up just getting the cake set, which I might add was absolutely delicious. It was mango ice cream, green tea cake and this fabulous lemon custard. I'm actually very fond of lemon and the custard was creamy without being too rich. I was very impressed. We then spent the next few hours talking while we ate. I found out that they, like many doujinshika I think, don't watch Prince of Tennis anime, and only follow the manga. I told them about the episode where Syuusuke asks Yuuta on a date. ^o^ I tried to explain that I loved the anime because so many of the seiyuu were so fabulous. They knew who all the anime seiyuu were from the video games. ^o^ I think they were amused that I could rattle off a few seiyuu names. They then surprised me by telling me they had a friend who did dubbing. Their friend doesn't do anime, she does dubbing for movies, but she *KNOWS* Minagawa Junko and Suwabe Junichi!!!!!! I think she is in the same group as Minagawa-san and she's on a team with Suwabe-san, who can, at times be a bit egotistical. I immediately started to fangirl, as I love seiyuu. While neither Minagawa-san or Suwabe-san are my absolute favorites, I do still like them. ^^ I'm still not sure, because of language barriers, if they promised me if I come back to Japan they would introduce me to Mingawa-san and Suwabe-san or to their friend who knows them. Either way would be pretty amazing. I of course babbled about howsumeragiskank absolutely *ADORES* Suwabe. And I of course mentioned my love of Kaida Yuki and Tomita Makoto, due to my PoT obsession. ^o^ They had thought Tomita-san was quite cute and wanted to know if I'd seen Perfect Live. (At the time I had not.) I was given the impression once again that something very Fujicesty takes place there. They promised to give me a tour of Tokyo, should I return, and I of course offered to take them around NY if they ever come here. (I would have done this happily anyway! I love playing tour guide and have done so several times now.) I found out where the name "Nero" comes from, and that many Japanese guys are squicked by yaoi. Much like people on-line, they were fascinated with how well my husband seemingly dealt with my doujinshi. I also found out that doujinshika and fans send copies of doujinshi with their favorite pairings to the seiyuu who play those characters. (So I guess male seiyuu are not as squicked by yaoi...) I was curious if they knew if Minagawa-san shipped a particular pairing, and they said that she liked nearly all "normal" Ryoma pairings. ^o^ What exactly that means I'm not sure.... but one would think that includes Tezuka and Ryoma. I told them about how foreigners call "novels" "fan-fiction", as well as the fact that I'm trying to write SyuuxYuu fan-fiction. (Which was particularly amusing since the paper we'd been writing on the back of earlier was a hard copy of one my stories I was trying to correct. ^o^) They complimented by bad sketch of the Syuu-Yuu-Saeki love triangle and we giggled a lot. I asked them if I could scan their doujinshi for Penal-tea, but I'm not sure I made the concept clear, and T-san wasn't sure how she felt about it. (So until I get permission, I will not be scanning any Nero doujinshi for Penal-tea, sorry. ^^;) They offered to walk me back to my room, but I felt bad making them walk all over Ikebukuro since they didn't seem to know the area as well as I did. ^^; I felt bad saying good bye to them, I'd gone to the event hoping only to get some new doujinshi, and instead had made some friends. ^_^
I've addedluminata to my friends list. I don't know who you are, but you linked to me. ^o^
I had something else I wanted to share, but now I just can't remember what it is, oh well,isachi must be right, I am getting old and senile. ^^;
I had first found out about Otouto Jyanaee at Super Comic City which I'd attended in May with
sumeragiskank and kurorokoon. I'd been rather happily surprised when I saw the little flier announcing a Yuuta only event for 10/19/03. On the other hand, at that time I had not been planning to go to Japan a second time in 2003. ^^; But as time wore on, I realized that I had to find a way to try and go. I truly adore Yuuta, and not just because I like to slash him with his brother, I love Yuuta because he's sweet, dedicated, innocent, trusting, and industrious. All the things, I would love to be or at one time might have been, though now I am frequently not. < lj user="subaruppi"> kindly translated the location of the event as well as looked up directions on how to get there and kosquarepelli assured me that while I was insane, if it had been a Keiichi event, she would have been there in a heartbeat. ^o^ Despite it all, I was sort of nervous. I looked at the website for the event a few times, and many of the dealers looked like they would be selling text only doujinshi. ^^; But still, it was Yuuta and so I was determined. Unfortunately, I overslept a bit the day of the event and only arrived and hour and 20 minutes before it opened. I was extremely nervous about finding the Meijiro Cultural Building, as it wasn't listed on my actual map. I felt relieved when I saw the two young women standing outside selling admittance. Originally, they didn't want to sell me entry, as I think they didn't think I knew what this was. ^o^ I guess my reputation for Fujicestiness is not nearly as strong as I could have hoped. ^o^ I can't find the notes I started writing while I waited for the event to begin, but I remember being really nervous. I went through my admittance booklet (Which for most events is also the guide for the locales of the various dealers. For some things, like a doll show, it's a single piece of paper, for other things like Super Comic City it's a huge tome around the same size as a small phone book!) trying to figure out where the dealers were I wanted to visit and to see how many people were selling what I'm interested in. I was quite pleased to see that most of the dealers seemed to prefer Syuu-Yuu, much like me. The line grew steadily longer as the opening time got closer, and finally close to 11 the first 10 people were lead into the building.
Once the even started things were a blur for a bit. There were lots of Japanese fangirls racing around trying to get doujinshi, and the Meijiro Cultural Building was really too small a location to hold the event. From what I could see, originally, the event had been much smaller and then had grown so that it needed to move to another space within the same building. It certainly wasn't large enough to need two floors like the event
dilettantka attended there, but it did need more space than it had. ^^; I too rushed around buying things. Whenever one bought from a dealer, they were given cute little stickers of things that were important to/represented Yuuta. (You were then supposed to put them on the appropriate square on a postcard which you could then turn in to receive a prize.) I found a lot of circles and doujinshi I'd never seen before. Several of them don't have websites, some of them had cuter art in person. It was in general a happy surprise. It was also overwhelming. I think one thing I found fascinating about the event, was, that most of the circles seemed to also be buying a ton of doujinshi themselves. This was the 4th doujinshi event I'd attended (and also the smallest and the only one dedicated to a single character) but it was the first time I'd actually seen the doujinshika themselves buying doujinshi. ^^ It was an interesting experience, as the event seemed just as much for them as it was for us. I'm still not sure what caused me to stay around so long until the crowd thinned a bit, I think I was trying to figure out what sticker went where on my postcard, but I noticed that Nero (whose doujinshi had all sold out a *LONG* time ago) was sketching Yuuta. I confess, I love watching people who are talented draw. It amazes me how they can quickly make a sketch that looks like the character in question. And Nero was drawing Yuuta.... I had to watch. Well, being a foreigner, I stood out, and after a bit we got to talking. Now, I should stress here, my Japanese is a pathetic thing. I can not speak it well and I can read even less. Nero and her good friend (Who shall now be called T-san and K-san hence) are *MUCH* better at English than I am at Japanese, but they are by no means fluent. My first few statements were mostly "Yuuta ga daisuki!" It quickly became clear they wanted to know who I paired Yuuta with, and if I saw him as a seme or uke. They were quite pleased with my responses. ^o^ Before long, we were talking about other pairings we liked and the fact I was from NY. They were fascinated that people in the US knew PoT, knew of their doujinshi, and liked incest pairings. They were curious what pairings were popular here, and what I thought of those pairings. For me, I think the most exciting thing was making contact with Japanese fangirls, and Japanese fangirls who liked one of the same pairings I liked. We discussed the manga, a bit. I admit, I asked them if I could buy the Yuuta sketch, and they explained that T-san was drawing it in someone else's sketch pad. I guess Japanese people bring sketchbooks with them and ask doujinshika to sketch things for them O_O They told me if I brought a sketch pad, they would draw a picture of Yuuta for me in the future. I was thrilled. Before we even realized it, it was after 3 and the event was over. (I had not gotten my prize ^^; ) They wanted to know if I had any plans and if I would like to go out for tea. My only plan for the day had been the event, so I more than happily accepted. They said they wanted to do something before we caught the train, so I followed them to a nearby Book-Off, where they bought 3 dictionaries. I would like to say that this made everything a lot easier.
We took the Yamanote line to Ikebukuro. Having stayed in Ikebukuro many times, I even sort of knew a bit where we were headed. I think they had a particular Chinese restaurant in mind, but it wasn't serving as we were in between lunch and dinner. I hadn't realized they wanted an actual meal with me and was rather floored. ^^ We trekked to another restaurant they knew of, which I doubt I could ever find again. It was sort of modern food. I'm not really sure what else to describe it as. They had some pastas, some grilled meats, fish, lots of things. I admit I was still partially on NY time and just so overwhelmed that I was hanging out with doujinshika, that I wasn't all that hungry. I felt ever better about not being hungry when they politely informed me that they insisted on paying for my meal *___________* I ended up just getting the cake set, which I might add was absolutely delicious. It was mango ice cream, green tea cake and this fabulous lemon custard. I'm actually very fond of lemon and the custard was creamy without being too rich. I was very impressed. We then spent the next few hours talking while we ate. I found out that they, like many doujinshika I think, don't watch Prince of Tennis anime, and only follow the manga. I told them about the episode where Syuusuke asks Yuuta on a date. ^o^ I tried to explain that I loved the anime because so many of the seiyuu were so fabulous. They knew who all the anime seiyuu were from the video games. ^o^ I think they were amused that I could rattle off a few seiyuu names. They then surprised me by telling me they had a friend who did dubbing. Their friend doesn't do anime, she does dubbing for movies, but she *KNOWS* Minagawa Junko and Suwabe Junichi!!!!!! I think she is in the same group as Minagawa-san and she's on a team with Suwabe-san, who can, at times be a bit egotistical. I immediately started to fangirl, as I love seiyuu. While neither Minagawa-san or Suwabe-san are my absolute favorites, I do still like them. ^^ I'm still not sure, because of language barriers, if they promised me if I come back to Japan they would introduce me to Mingawa-san and Suwabe-san or to their friend who knows them. Either way would be pretty amazing. I of course babbled about how
sumeragiskank absolutely *ADORES* Suwabe. And I of course mentioned my love of Kaida Yuki and Tomita Makoto, due to my PoT obsession. ^o^ They had thought Tomita-san was quite cute and wanted to know if I'd seen Perfect Live. (At the time I had not.) I was given the impression once again that something very Fujicesty takes place there. They promised to give me a tour of Tokyo, should I return, and I of course offered to take them around NY if they ever come here. (I would have done this happily anyway! I love playing tour guide and have done so several times now.) I found out where the name "Nero" comes from, and that many Japanese guys are squicked by yaoi. Much like people on-line, they were fascinated with how well my husband seemingly dealt with my doujinshi. I also found out that doujinshika and fans send copies of doujinshi with their favorite pairings to the seiyuu who play those characters. (So I guess male seiyuu are not as squicked by yaoi...) I was curious if they knew if Minagawa-san shipped a particular pairing, and they said that she liked nearly all "normal" Ryoma pairings. ^o^ What exactly that means I'm not sure.... but one would think that includes Tezuka and Ryoma. I told them about how foreigners call "novels" "fan-fiction", as well as the fact that I'm trying to write SyuuxYuu fan-fiction. (Which was particularly amusing since the paper we'd been writing on the back of earlier was a hard copy of one my stories I was trying to correct. ^o^) They complimented by bad sketch of the Syuu-Yuu-Saeki love triangle and we giggled a lot. I asked them if I could scan their doujinshi for Penal-tea, but I'm not sure I made the concept clear, and T-san wasn't sure how she felt about it. (So until I get permission, I will not be scanning any Nero doujinshi for Penal-tea, sorry. ^^;) They offered to walk me back to my room, but I felt bad making them walk all over Ikebukuro since they didn't seem to know the area as well as I did. ^^; I felt bad saying good bye to them, I'd gone to the event hoping only to get some new doujinshi, and instead had made some friends. ^_^I've added
luminata to my friends list. I don't know who you are, but you linked to me. ^o^I had something else I wanted to share, but now I just can't remember what it is, oh well,
isachi must be right, I am getting old and senile. ^^;
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*waves abck*
Date: 2003-12-03 04:54 pm (UTC)Congrats on getting Sweat and Tears2. I've only watched the DVD minus sound, but for me, it was a wonderful thing. *______*
*giggles*Kyouda-ai desu!*giggles*
Re: *waves abck*
Date: 2003-12-03 06:11 pm (UTC)*giggles*Kyouda-ai desu!*giggles*
Don't get me started. XD The Kyoudai-ai (Kaida Yuki cracks me up), Suwabe Junichi's introduction mirroring Atobe's entrance to his match with Tezuka, all the ad-libbing ~dies~, the contests, Takahashi Hiroki smooching the hell out of Kondou Takayuki during the group song, Onosaka Masaya and Kiyasu Kouhei fighting, seeing all those seiyuu being dorks, hell, just seeing them period. It was just so much fun. ~sparkles~
Someday I won't make typos ^o^
Date: 2003-12-03 07:30 pm (UTC)A friend sent me a mp3 of Kaida-san saying "Kyoudai-ai" with great uhhhh conviction from Perfect Live.
I too tried to make caps, but coudn't get it to work. ^^; I need to figure out how to rips DVDs. *nods sagely*
I would smooch Kondou Takayuki, he's adorable. ^o^ (And he's Fujishiro, YUM!)
Though my heart (of course) belongs to Kaida-san, and her seeming devotion with Yuuta/Tomita-san. If only they would do a BL drama now.... *cackles*
Re: Someday I won't make typos ^o^
Date: 2003-12-03 08:27 pm (UTC)If only they would do a BL drama now....
XDDDDDD
WAH~ I want to go rewatch this now. ^_^