Doujinshi reviews
Dammit, I'm so lazy. I keep putting off posting the pictures from my Tokyo trip and now it's been over a month. >_< This is just like how I never got around to posting my pictures from Kyoto...
Well, at least I'm finally getting around to posting about all the doujinshi I bought. Since there's so many, I won't be posting as much pictures or going into detail on all of them. I'll just write about my favorites/the most remarkable instead.
First, the non-Gurren Lagann ones:
From top left to bottom right...
Renkin Jyoutou!! 8 by SILVER BLAZE
Renkin Jyoutou!! 9 by SILVER BLAZE
Morning Grace -First Volume- by Torinone
Starry Sky by Hoshizora Hikou
Ryuuseika
ritzen by Katsuushou
Never Ending Story by KinGin
Renkin Jyoutou!! 8 & 9
Bought at Haru Comic City. I looked at all the FMA tables, but these were the only ones that really caught my eye, mostly because the art was so similar to Arakawa's style. That it's all gag comics was also a plus. They had the whole series there, but I only picked up 8 & 9 because they were the most recent and had jokes about all the very latest manga & Brotherhood spoilers. Now I kinda wish I'd gotten more because I really enjoyed these. ^^; The only downside is that a couple of the gags were kinda Elricesty, which is a shame because otherwise, the humor was also very much in Arakawa's style.
Morning Grace -First Volume-
Bought at Haru Comic City. Surprisingly, there were actually more tables for Princess Tutu than there were for Gurren Lagann, but most of the doujinshi were rather OOC-looking Fakir/Ahiru. :/ But I couldn't resist, and bought this for the pretty cover, not realizing until later that it's only the first half of the story, and that the doujin ends with a "To be continued." (I didn't see the "First Volume" at first. >_<) And what a cruel cliffhanger it was!!! ARGH. And I'll probably never be able to get my hands on the sequel...ARGH! Well, at least the story was good and the art was beautiful.
Starry Sky by Hoshizora Hikou
Bought at Haru Comic City. Again, because the cover was pretty. >_>; This had a good mix of gag strips and serious stories, and it's quite a thick book too. Though I wasn't thrilled with the heavy Hei/Yin leanings. But overall it's really fun and cute.
Ryuuseika
A Darker than BLACK anthology focusing on Hei's team in South America during the Heaven's Gate war. Just seeing that was the subject made me want to pick it up. It has a good collection of stories, both serious and humorous. I bought it at the Toranoana @ Akihabara, and at 1,350 yen, it was my second most expensive doujin purchase.
ritzen
My first Fantastic Children doujinshi! \o/ Bought at the Mandarake @ Shibuya. There were quite a few in the Fantastic Children section actually, but I only got this one. It focuses on the Befort Children, Soreto in particular, leaning towards Aghi/Soreto, which is just perfect for me. :) Really pretty art! I'm glad to have this since all the Fantastic Children doujinshi I find online is so expensive.
Never Ending Story
Bought at the Mandarake @ Nakano Broadway. This was the only doujin left in the Princess Tutu section there. And it was a total surprise because I didn't even know Nin liked Princess Tutu. When I looked at it, I was just like "Wait...is this KinGin? ...OMG, it is KinGin!! *grabs*" I don't like that it essentially rewrites the ending of the series to allow Ahiru to become a girl again, but I have no regrets because of the sheer novelty of owning a Princess Tutu doujinshi by KinGin. I mean seriously, she released this back in 2003! And now this brings my number of Princess Tutu doujinshi up to 3. XD
And now for the Gurren Lagann doujins. As you can see, being able to buy them so cheap in Japan allowed me to finally branch out into more gen...
Rakugaki Giga Drill 2
Kakitee mono wa kakiteenda!! by Tauken
Owaranai Hibi by Tobineko
The Heart Asks Pleasure First by Gura
Disadvantage Game by Gura
SPILAL GALAXY by Kagotori (lol "spilal")
Rakugaki Giga Drill 2
Bought at Toranoana @ Akihabara for 4200 yen, making it my most expensive doujin purchase both on this trip and overall. Because I was frustrated that I could hardly find anything Gurren Lagann related at Akihabara that wasn't Yoko porn, and then I saw this in a glass display case, and it was so close.......so, I couldn't resist. >_>; Well, at least this way I didn't have to pay for fees & shipping on top of it!
Kakitee mono wa kakiteenda!!
My Holy Grail of doujinshi, omg. You have no idea how happy I was when I found this at the Mandarake @ Ikebukuro. ...And then days later I found more copies at Nakano Broadway ahaha (but the one at Ikebukuro was much cheaper so I'm still happy with this). Why is it so great? Because it's by two of my favorite fanartists, it's mostly gag humor and Simon/Nia romance, and it's friggin 141 pages long. And it was everything I dreamed it would be. *__* I've already scanned a few of my favorite parts and plan on translating them eventually. Here's a sample:
Scouter
Be Myself
The Heart Asks Pleasure First
Bought at, I think, Mandarake @ Shibuya. I got most of my Gurren Lagann doujin there actually. For the first several days in Japan I could hardly find any Gurren Lagann stuff anywhere (and the stuff I did find I didn't want), and then I went to my first Mandarake and it had almost everything I was looking for!!! I literally had a stack of doujinshi by the time I was done looking through the whole GL section, and then had to narrow it down to just my priorities. XD; Anyway, this doujin starts off with a short story from when Kamina & Simon first met, and then the story becomes an expanded version of Simon's parallel universe sequence from episode 26. Notably, more alternate universes are added. If there's one thing I've learned from reading Gura's doujin, it's that Gura REALLY LOVES ALTERNATE UNIVERSES. Not that I'm complaining.
Disadvantage Game
A fascinating look at Simon's transformation into Garlock, following the if-he-never-met-Nia scenario. It starts from after he lost Kamina, then shows how Boota evolves into his humanoid form, and follows through their defeat of Lord Genome and the timeskip, and beyond... Since Gura's interpretation of Garlock Simon is so close to my own, this is really everything I could ask for from a Garlock doujinshi. Boota is also really adorable in this. There's great focus on his feelings and relationship with Simon. Really love it. ♥ There was also a little Simon/Yoko during the timeskip, and that was pretty much how I would imagine it too, with Simon constantly being insecure and Yoko still treating him like a kid brother no matter how much she tries assuring him that she's not. Anyway, I couldn't recommend this enough.
I was also finally able to branch out into more pairings other than Simon/Nia. Mostly Kittan/Yoko and Viral/Rossiu:
Hoshi Hoshi by KinGin
ONLY LOVE by KinGin
Plural Reality by KinGin
Muzan na ai no tenmatsu by Narukami
Russian Roulette Venus by 366710
ONLY LOVE
This is basically my favorite Yoko-centric doujin ever. I was so impressed with it that I bought two more of KinGin's Kamina/Yoko/Kittan doujinshi the next chance I got, and though they were good too, IMO neither of them really lived up to the simple poignancy of ONLY LOVE. It does a great job of showing the essence of Yoko's relationships with Kamina and Kittan, and what they meant to her, and then the scene with Simon was just a cherry on top of it all, and holy crap Nin draws him really hot, and their dialogue was just perfect, and it ends with such a sense of hope for Yoko that it brought tears to my eyes. So yeah, I really loved this. I think I want to scanlate it someday.
But of course, I still bought some Simon/Nia too:
Otoshimono chuuihou☆ by strongests
CHANGE! by strongests
Simon-san! Debandesu?! by Mametaizyoku
☆ by ARDENT MATCH
Repos by Pacco
CHANGE!
THIS WAS SO FRIGGIN ADORABLE. It's Simon/Nia genderswitch + school AU, but unlike other genderswitch and school AU's I've read, this was written exactly like a shoujo manga!! XD And it actually works that way too! Seriously, SO cute. *flails*
Repos
This was yet another case of me finding a doujin by one of my favorite artists that I didn't know existed. I only had one doujinshi by Pacco prior to this (Shoujo Jidai), and I didn't see this one listed on her website, so it came as a total surprise when I found it. And I actually recognized the art immediately. "Wait...is this Pacco? *checks the artist's name* OMG it is Pacco!! *grabs*" ^^; The story is basically just Simon and Nia being cute together and making out in the office, but that's all I need to be made happy ahaha.
So yeah, I got a total of 23 doujinshi on this trip. Phew! x__x; And by the way, this is the current size of my entire doujinshi collection:
@_@ W-wow, I never expected I'd collect so many. I should start selling some of them before I run out of shelf space, especially considering I plan on buying next month's GanGan too...
My updated Wishlist:
Hoshi to mimizuku by Imokan
pglp by Sumiyaki Grill
Taiyou to tsuki no hi by Gura
OP. 10-3 by OVERCAT
SNNH by Pacco
tie by Akutsu
Innocent World by Shoujou
Starchild by ViceVersa & Hyaena
Kaettekita Rakugaki Core Drill 3.5, or any of the previous staff doujinshi from the Rakugaki Drill series (that I can find at a reasonable price).
Annnd I'll finish off this post with pictures of the awesome King Kittan figure that I bought at K-Books @ Ikebukuro:
Here it is with Lagann's arms...WTF?
Well, at least I'm finally getting around to posting about all the doujinshi I bought. Since there's so many, I won't be posting as much pictures or going into detail on all of them. I'll just write about my favorites/the most remarkable instead.
First, the non-Gurren Lagann ones:
From top left to bottom right...
Renkin Jyoutou!! 8 by SILVER BLAZE
Renkin Jyoutou!! 9 by SILVER BLAZE
Morning Grace -First Volume- by Torinone
Starry Sky by Hoshizora Hikou
Ryuuseika
ritzen by Katsuushou
Never Ending Story by KinGin
Renkin Jyoutou!! 8 & 9
Bought at Haru Comic City. I looked at all the FMA tables, but these were the only ones that really caught my eye, mostly because the art was so similar to Arakawa's style. That it's all gag comics was also a plus. They had the whole series there, but I only picked up 8 & 9 because they were the most recent and had jokes about all the very latest manga & Brotherhood spoilers. Now I kinda wish I'd gotten more because I really enjoyed these. ^^; The only downside is that a couple of the gags were kinda Elricesty, which is a shame because otherwise, the humor was also very much in Arakawa's style.
Morning Grace -First Volume-
Bought at Haru Comic City. Surprisingly, there were actually more tables for Princess Tutu than there were for Gurren Lagann, but most of the doujinshi were rather OOC-looking Fakir/Ahiru. :/ But I couldn't resist, and bought this for the pretty cover, not realizing until later that it's only the first half of the story, and that the doujin ends with a "To be continued." (I didn't see the "First Volume" at first. >_<) And what a cruel cliffhanger it was!!! ARGH. And I'll probably never be able to get my hands on the sequel...ARGH! Well, at least the story was good and the art was beautiful.
Starry Sky by Hoshizora Hikou
Bought at Haru Comic City. Again, because the cover was pretty. >_>; This had a good mix of gag strips and serious stories, and it's quite a thick book too. Though I wasn't thrilled with the heavy Hei/Yin leanings. But overall it's really fun and cute.
Ryuuseika
A Darker than BLACK anthology focusing on Hei's team in South America during the Heaven's Gate war. Just seeing that was the subject made me want to pick it up. It has a good collection of stories, both serious and humorous. I bought it at the Toranoana @ Akihabara, and at 1,350 yen, it was my second most expensive doujin purchase.
ritzen
My first Fantastic Children doujinshi! \o/ Bought at the Mandarake @ Shibuya. There were quite a few in the Fantastic Children section actually, but I only got this one. It focuses on the Befort Children, Soreto in particular, leaning towards Aghi/Soreto, which is just perfect for me. :) Really pretty art! I'm glad to have this since all the Fantastic Children doujinshi I find online is so expensive.
Never Ending Story
Bought at the Mandarake @ Nakano Broadway. This was the only doujin left in the Princess Tutu section there. And it was a total surprise because I didn't even know Nin liked Princess Tutu. When I looked at it, I was just like "Wait...is this KinGin? ...OMG, it is KinGin!! *grabs*" I don't like that it essentially rewrites the ending of the series to allow Ahiru to become a girl again, but I have no regrets because of the sheer novelty of owning a Princess Tutu doujinshi by KinGin. I mean seriously, she released this back in 2003! And now this brings my number of Princess Tutu doujinshi up to 3. XD
And now for the Gurren Lagann doujins. As you can see, being able to buy them so cheap in Japan allowed me to finally branch out into more gen...
Rakugaki Giga Drill 2
Kakitee mono wa kakiteenda!! by Tauken
Owaranai Hibi by Tobineko
The Heart Asks Pleasure First by Gura
Disadvantage Game by Gura
SPILAL GALAXY by Kagotori (lol "spilal")
Rakugaki Giga Drill 2
Bought at Toranoana @ Akihabara for 4200 yen, making it my most expensive doujin purchase both on this trip and overall. Because I was frustrated that I could hardly find anything Gurren Lagann related at Akihabara that wasn't Yoko porn, and then I saw this in a glass display case, and it was so close.......so, I couldn't resist. >_>; Well, at least this way I didn't have to pay for fees & shipping on top of it!
Kakitee mono wa kakiteenda!!
My Holy Grail of doujinshi, omg. You have no idea how happy I was when I found this at the Mandarake @ Ikebukuro. ...And then days later I found more copies at Nakano Broadway ahaha (but the one at Ikebukuro was much cheaper so I'm still happy with this). Why is it so great? Because it's by two of my favorite fanartists, it's mostly gag humor and Simon/Nia romance, and it's friggin 141 pages long. And it was everything I dreamed it would be. *__* I've already scanned a few of my favorite parts and plan on translating them eventually. Here's a sample:
Scouter
Be Myself
The Heart Asks Pleasure First
Bought at, I think, Mandarake @ Shibuya. I got most of my Gurren Lagann doujin there actually. For the first several days in Japan I could hardly find any Gurren Lagann stuff anywhere (and the stuff I did find I didn't want), and then I went to my first Mandarake and it had almost everything I was looking for!!! I literally had a stack of doujinshi by the time I was done looking through the whole GL section, and then had to narrow it down to just my priorities. XD; Anyway, this doujin starts off with a short story from when Kamina & Simon first met, and then the story becomes an expanded version of Simon's parallel universe sequence from episode 26. Notably, more alternate universes are added. If there's one thing I've learned from reading Gura's doujin, it's that Gura REALLY LOVES ALTERNATE UNIVERSES. Not that I'm complaining.
Disadvantage Game
A fascinating look at Simon's transformation into Garlock, following the if-he-never-met-Nia scenario. It starts from after he lost Kamina, then shows how Boota evolves into his humanoid form, and follows through their defeat of Lord Genome and the timeskip, and beyond... Since Gura's interpretation of Garlock Simon is so close to my own, this is really everything I could ask for from a Garlock doujinshi. Boota is also really adorable in this. There's great focus on his feelings and relationship with Simon. Really love it. ♥ There was also a little Simon/Yoko during the timeskip, and that was pretty much how I would imagine it too, with Simon constantly being insecure and Yoko still treating him like a kid brother no matter how much she tries assuring him that she's not. Anyway, I couldn't recommend this enough.
I was also finally able to branch out into more pairings other than Simon/Nia. Mostly Kittan/Yoko and Viral/Rossiu:
Hoshi Hoshi by KinGin
ONLY LOVE by KinGin
Plural Reality by KinGin
Muzan na ai no tenmatsu by Narukami
Russian Roulette Venus by 366710
ONLY LOVE
This is basically my favorite Yoko-centric doujin ever. I was so impressed with it that I bought two more of KinGin's Kamina/Yoko/Kittan doujinshi the next chance I got, and though they were good too, IMO neither of them really lived up to the simple poignancy of ONLY LOVE. It does a great job of showing the essence of Yoko's relationships with Kamina and Kittan, and what they meant to her, and then the scene with Simon was just a cherry on top of it all, and holy crap Nin draws him really hot, and their dialogue was just perfect, and it ends with such a sense of hope for Yoko that it brought tears to my eyes. So yeah, I really loved this. I think I want to scanlate it someday.
But of course, I still bought some Simon/Nia too:
Otoshimono chuuihou☆ by strongests
CHANGE! by strongests
Simon-san! Debandesu?! by Mametaizyoku
☆ by ARDENT MATCH
Repos by Pacco
CHANGE!
THIS WAS SO FRIGGIN ADORABLE. It's Simon/Nia genderswitch + school AU, but unlike other genderswitch and school AU's I've read, this was written exactly like a shoujo manga!! XD And it actually works that way too! Seriously, SO cute. *flails*
Repos
This was yet another case of me finding a doujin by one of my favorite artists that I didn't know existed. I only had one doujinshi by Pacco prior to this (Shoujo Jidai), and I didn't see this one listed on her website, so it came as a total surprise when I found it. And I actually recognized the art immediately. "Wait...is this Pacco? *checks the artist's name* OMG it is Pacco!! *grabs*" ^^; The story is basically just Simon and Nia being cute together and making out in the office, but that's all I need to be made happy ahaha.
So yeah, I got a total of 23 doujinshi on this trip. Phew! x__x; And by the way, this is the current size of my entire doujinshi collection:
@_@ W-wow, I never expected I'd collect so many. I should start selling some of them before I run out of shelf space, especially considering I plan on buying next month's GanGan too...
My updated Wishlist:
Hoshi to mimizuku by Imokan
pglp by Sumiyaki Grill
Taiyou to tsuki no hi by Gura
OP. 10-3 by OVERCAT
SNNH by Pacco
tie by Akutsu
Innocent World by Shoujou
Starchild by ViceVersa & Hyaena
Kaettekita Rakugaki Core Drill 3.5, or any of the previous staff doujinshi from the Rakugaki Drill series (that I can find at a reasonable price).
Annnd I'll finish off this post with pictures of the awesome King Kittan figure that I bought at K-Books @ Ikebukuro:
Here it is with Lagann's arms...WTF?
