NaruSasu Only 3 report
As promised, I will report about NaruSasu Only 3 :D
By the way, my baby is so lovely ;_; (my MacBook XD;) I'm currently writing from Ikebukuro, thanks to a free wi-fi network that I catched in the park in front of Animate **v
Let's see, where can we start from...
First of all, there were actually two events, that is NaruSasu Only itself and an after-event which was called "UNITE the NIGHT" and had different organizers.
Yesterday I got there at around 11:20, and there were so many people that they were making groups enter one at a time O_o Despite the rain.. I got inside at around 11:50. It was super crowded... O_O There were people everywhere, and the room wasn't very big so there was very little space to pass and even to stop to look at doujinshi... I kind of walked around a few times and bought doujinshi from random places.. Some were already sold out, like Yumekasago T_T She said she wasn't sorted for Comiket and she doesn't do mail order, but maybe she might do a sairoku one day :°°° Signal was almost sold out too... She didn't have her Naruto+Yondaime (not couple, mind) book, dunno if she didn't bring it or if she already sold out, but I barely managed to get the LAST copy of her new NaruSasu book, waaaah! Anyway, she will be at Comiket, so I guess I'll get more copies there for the ones who requested it..
When I got to the event room with the book of the circles who organized it (aka KSL, 10-RANKAI, ABITABILITA) there were still loads of copies of the anthology and emi's books, so I could get all of them in multiple copies (I asked if I could XD), but KSL's Sono Nukumori ni You ga Aru was already sold out O_O I think she didn't bring many copies, tho.. Anyway, Comiket here I come 8D
In the event room I met Shino Okimura (KSL) and spoke to her. She's so.. genki! X°D Not in the "gal" way.. Just, energetic 8D She told me "if I happen to go to Italy, please show me around!!". While I was in the room I met centimetre XD
Around 13:00 they showed a movie with the answers to the questions on a paper you were given at the entrance (if you bought they official bag, which was sold out shortly after I arrived Oo). It was so cute, with chibi pictures drawn by emi and Shino @><@ I took a movie of it, I'll ask them if I can put it online XD;
At 14:00 I want to get my sketchbook from Nilo (Signal). I asked her to draw Naruto :3 In some events you can ask doujinshika to make you a sketch, usually a single character. In this one lots of them were doing it, but I started let and I gave Nilo the whole sketchbook, so I didn't have time to get others ><
They also had a purikura machine with personalized frames, obviously with Naruto & Sasuke :D Centimetre and I took some XD At one point they took the lifesize stand with Naruto & Sasuke (Naruto drawn by KSL, Sasuke by 10-RANKAI) and put it in the event room, so that people could take photos with and of it. SO many people started to do that XDDD I took lots of photos too obviously, I'll post them later **v There was also a white paper panel in which people could write or draw comments. I took a little movie of it, I'll see if I can upload that too...
Before going away I managed to talk to emi :D She always looks very kind and quiet, you wouldn't guess it by some of the crack she draws XDDD I told her that she has a big fanbase abroad and that I got lots of requests for her books, and also that if she really publishes a reprint at Comiket (she said she will 8D) I'll probably have to buy lots of copies of that too, lol. She seemed happy, though, that so many people like her work :D
After the event centimetre went home to leave her doujinshi and I went to Akihabara (which was basically there XD) to take a look at computer prices. I was lucky enough to find an empty coin locker (Akihabara's are ALWAYS full, now even more because they're doing some works in the station and some are unavailable), though not before standing there 5 min waiting for someone to open his and take out his stuff.. XDDD I went to the shops before the station and after trying a few I found this fabulous offer that was limited to last Friday, Saturday and Sunday 8D I got my baby (luckily my card worked fine) and I went to an internet point to write about it, lol. Then I bought a salmon & ikura (salmon eggs) omusubi in a place near Animate, which has veeery good omusubi, and I headed to the location of the after-event, that was nearby the Akihabara station, an izakaya (more or less like a pub).
Right outside the place I walked into a small crowd of people whom I recognized from NaruSasu Only, so I asked them if they were going to the after-event. One of them answered, she said she'd seen me at the Only and that she was stunned that I could speak Japanese so well XD;; We chatted a bit and when we were inside she invited me to sit at their table. Right after that I found that she was Mutsuki from Mutsumix... LOL XDDDD Of all the possible people, I was sitting next to two ItaSasu fans.. XD;; (that is Mutsuki and the girl from Jack in the Box) As much as I dislike ItaSasu, Mutsuki was really really nice! XD; I got a whole new impression of her, lol (not of her ItaSasu works, obviously)
At my table were sitting the two I said, min from min-escapism, Kasai from Chimedori and Sonoko from chocolate kids, then centimetre who arrived after a little while. All of them were really nice.. We chatted and laughed a lot, and I also got 3 Sasuke sketches from Mutsuki, min and Kasai. Unfortunately I had left my white sketchbook in the coin locker, so I only had the squared one, but the sketches are very cute all the same <3
There was a game in which we had to write on some scraps of papers the name of a character, "where", "when", "why", "what" and such, then all of the scraps were mixed and sorted randomly. It was actually a bingo game, because we also had a table with 25 names in it, and we had to cross out one of them every time that character was named. Some lines that came out were GREAT.. I wished I'd recorded it, rotfl. I remember there was one with Ibiki and Sasuke, if I'm not mistaken.. One with Fugaku... One with Gai and someone else.. So ROTFL X°DDD
The girl who won got to choose a theme that a number of doujinshika (who had agreed to participate to the project) would develop within October. This project will be put online in the beginning of October and the site will then be closed at the end of the month. I can't wait 8D I don't even know what the chosen theme was...
A short time after that it was time to leave the place, so we went outside. I spoke a little to Asukawa (Yumekasago) and Sokabe (Engawaken). Sokabe looks pretty and elegant, you'd never guess some of the stuff she draws, lol. Unfortunately I couldn't say goodbye to emi and Shino because it was too crowded and they were way before us in the crowd :( I guess I'll write them emails...
When I thought I was about to go home, Mutsuki told me she and a few girls would stay some more XD Initially the plan was to go to karaoke, but then we just got back to the same pub as before, lol. It was Mutsuki, me, Ichifuji (from circle Ragazzo), two of her friends/assistants and another girl (I think she was Asano from SPAK.. She was also the one who won the lifesize NaruSasu stand at janken XDDD) with a friend.
We stayed there from about 20 to 22, we played cards (I think that game is called "Old Maid" in English.. In Italian it's "Uomo nero, in Japanese "Babanuki" XD) with Mutsuki's Naruto cards... ROTFL. Every time one got a Sasuke and a Naruto she would just show the cards to everybody else and go "waaah NaruSasu <3<3<3" XDDDDDD Another card which produced great laughing was the naked Sasuke w/ snake from the Shippuuden OP and another one with Sasuke with his shirt partly off in a pose similar to a porn magazine, lol. BTW, the joker card was Itachi (who was generally called "niisan" by the girls) XDD We had lots of fun 8D
By the way... I did eventually talked to them about my future plans, that is to do something to change the current relationship between doujinshika and foreign fans. I talked to them about auctions, scanlations, and such (I didn't say I own a scanlations site, nor did I name anyone, but I did tell them that I translate the weekly Naruto chapters, that I've happened to translate NaruSasuNaru doujinshi, and that one time I retranslated 10-RANKAI's Kizu because the translation was so off that I felt bad on emi's part). They agreed with me and even kind of clapped their hands sometimes XD; I explained to them that in my opinion *sold out* doujinshi (mind, not those that are still on sale) are better shared for free than sold on the auctions for hideous prices. They did agree on this. Mutsuki said basically "Uploading *sold out* doujinshi is kind of fine, in a way". They really dislike seeing the books at $100000 on the auctions.. And they also dislike when doujinshi which are still on sale are shared around. Obviously, this is their opinion, other doujinshika might think differently, but it's still something. I told them that I would like, in the future, to somehow help in bringing doujinshi to the foreign fandom at decent prices, to put donations for scanlations (the money would obviously go to the authors, not the scanlators), to fight for accurate translations of the books and to be able to publish scanlations of sold out books with the authors' permission.
Since I got very good feedback from them, I guess I'll try to talk about this topic to at least emi and KSL, maybe at Comiket after they sell out (they're very busy before that) XD; Although emi will be publishing a reprint soon, so I don't know if her first books will still be considered "sold out". Anyway, if she agrees to my proposal I might as well wait to do her books until the reprint is sold out as well. I'd feel a bit sorry for the people who were waiting for Nagai Owakare, but the cooperation of the authors is a lot more important to me than the happiness of the fandom. I guess some of you might understand...
At around 22 and something we eventually parted ways. I took a train with Ichifuji and her friend, then got down at Nishi Nippori and went home. By the way, since she and her friend are from Tokyo, we agreed to go see the Naruto movie together after Comiket (they're busy with the new books before that, lol) 8D There were lots of Kansai people Oo (Mutsuki is from Kobe)
Anyway... I had LOTS of fun *_* All of the girls I spoke to were really nice.. And above all, they talked to me normally and with no problems because I could speak Japanese XD; Languages are very useful.. By the way, today in front of Mandarake a girl approached me and told me "You went to NaruSasu Only too, right? I'm friends with Kasai and she told me that you and your friend were really great". LOL 8D;;;; Tokyo sometimes is a small city.. (although it's not very weird to meet another NaruSasu fan in front of Mandarake X°DD)
I'm so sad that I can basically never see them ;___; Luckily I'll be able to meet them again at Comiket :DDD Can't wait 8D I hope they'll do something after that, like maybe going to eat somewhere or such :3 It's too bad that many of them live so far away ;___; Well, not that I live nearby either, but anyway, I meant Tokyo while I'm in Tokyo 8D;; I'm SO glad that I went to NS Only >_< It went a lot better than I expected... I wasn't really expecting to make friends with some of them, lol XD;; Too bad that I can't go the the other Only organized by Ragazzo and some other circles in October ;_; October is definitely impossible, since I have university and no money T_T
Anyway, this was the report.. XDD Now I'll go to Animate to buy some magazines (I already bought Kimeru's new CD, can't wait to listen to it, lol), then I guess this evening before going home I'll pass by Lawson to book Kimeru's live and Nagayan's play... I see my money flying far far away from here, lol.
By the way, since my Mac is so wonderful and this network seems to be reliable (I was dling something at 60-130kbs earlier) I installed Skype, so if some of you want to talk to me (I especially mean the people I usually happen to talk to live, like Italian friends and such XD;) I'm available when I'm in Ikebukuro. I also have an integrated webcam, lol 8D No way when I'm home tho, the signal is too weak there :(
See ya! :D
PS: I'll probably post some photos later XD Not the ones I took with the doujinshika though, because I dont't think they want their faces on the net XD;;
By the way, my baby is so lovely ;_; (my MacBook XD;) I'm currently writing from Ikebukuro, thanks to a free wi-fi network that I catched in the park in front of Animate **v
Let's see, where can we start from...
First of all, there were actually two events, that is NaruSasu Only itself and an after-event which was called "UNITE the NIGHT" and had different organizers.
Yesterday I got there at around 11:20, and there were so many people that they were making groups enter one at a time O_o Despite the rain.. I got inside at around 11:50. It was super crowded... O_O There were people everywhere, and the room wasn't very big so there was very little space to pass and even to stop to look at doujinshi... I kind of walked around a few times and bought doujinshi from random places.. Some were already sold out, like Yumekasago T_T She said she wasn't sorted for Comiket and she doesn't do mail order, but maybe she might do a sairoku one day :°°° Signal was almost sold out too... She didn't have her Naruto+Yondaime (not couple, mind) book, dunno if she didn't bring it or if she already sold out, but I barely managed to get the LAST copy of her new NaruSasu book, waaaah! Anyway, she will be at Comiket, so I guess I'll get more copies there for the ones who requested it..
When I got to the event room with the book of the circles who organized it (aka KSL, 10-RANKAI, ABITABILITA) there were still loads of copies of the anthology and emi's books, so I could get all of them in multiple copies (I asked if I could XD), but KSL's Sono Nukumori ni You ga Aru was already sold out O_O I think she didn't bring many copies, tho.. Anyway, Comiket here I come 8D
In the event room I met Shino Okimura (KSL) and spoke to her. She's so.. genki! X°D Not in the "gal" way.. Just, energetic 8D She told me "if I happen to go to Italy, please show me around!!". While I was in the room I met centimetre XD
Around 13:00 they showed a movie with the answers to the questions on a paper you were given at the entrance (if you bought they official bag, which was sold out shortly after I arrived Oo). It was so cute, with chibi pictures drawn by emi and Shino @><@ I took a movie of it, I'll ask them if I can put it online XD;
At 14:00 I want to get my sketchbook from Nilo (Signal). I asked her to draw Naruto :3 In some events you can ask doujinshika to make you a sketch, usually a single character. In this one lots of them were doing it, but I started let and I gave Nilo the whole sketchbook, so I didn't have time to get others ><
They also had a purikura machine with personalized frames, obviously with Naruto & Sasuke :D Centimetre and I took some XD At one point they took the lifesize stand with Naruto & Sasuke (Naruto drawn by KSL, Sasuke by 10-RANKAI) and put it in the event room, so that people could take photos with and of it. SO many people started to do that XDDD I took lots of photos too obviously, I'll post them later **v There was also a white paper panel in which people could write or draw comments. I took a little movie of it, I'll see if I can upload that too...
Before going away I managed to talk to emi :D She always looks very kind and quiet, you wouldn't guess it by some of the crack she draws XDDD I told her that she has a big fanbase abroad and that I got lots of requests for her books, and also that if she really publishes a reprint at Comiket (she said she will 8D) I'll probably have to buy lots of copies of that too, lol. She seemed happy, though, that so many people like her work :D
After the event centimetre went home to leave her doujinshi and I went to Akihabara (which was basically there XD) to take a look at computer prices. I was lucky enough to find an empty coin locker (Akihabara's are ALWAYS full, now even more because they're doing some works in the station and some are unavailable), though not before standing there 5 min waiting for someone to open his and take out his stuff.. XDDD I went to the shops before the station and after trying a few I found this fabulous offer that was limited to last Friday, Saturday and Sunday 8D I got my baby (luckily my card worked fine) and I went to an internet point to write about it, lol. Then I bought a salmon & ikura (salmon eggs) omusubi in a place near Animate, which has veeery good omusubi, and I headed to the location of the after-event, that was nearby the Akihabara station, an izakaya (more or less like a pub).
Right outside the place I walked into a small crowd of people whom I recognized from NaruSasu Only, so I asked them if they were going to the after-event. One of them answered, she said she'd seen me at the Only and that she was stunned that I could speak Japanese so well XD;; We chatted a bit and when we were inside she invited me to sit at their table. Right after that I found that she was Mutsuki from Mutsumix... LOL XDDDD Of all the possible people, I was sitting next to two ItaSasu fans.. XD;; (that is Mutsuki and the girl from Jack in the Box) As much as I dislike ItaSasu, Mutsuki was really really nice! XD; I got a whole new impression of her, lol (not of her ItaSasu works, obviously)
At my table were sitting the two I said, min from min-escapism, Kasai from Chimedori and Sonoko from chocolate kids, then centimetre who arrived after a little while. All of them were really nice.. We chatted and laughed a lot, and I also got 3 Sasuke sketches from Mutsuki, min and Kasai. Unfortunately I had left my white sketchbook in the coin locker, so I only had the squared one, but the sketches are very cute all the same <3
There was a game in which we had to write on some scraps of papers the name of a character, "where", "when", "why", "what" and such, then all of the scraps were mixed and sorted randomly. It was actually a bingo game, because we also had a table with 25 names in it, and we had to cross out one of them every time that character was named. Some lines that came out were GREAT.. I wished I'd recorded it, rotfl. I remember there was one with Ibiki and Sasuke, if I'm not mistaken.. One with Fugaku... One with Gai and someone else.. So ROTFL X°DDD
The girl who won got to choose a theme that a number of doujinshika (who had agreed to participate to the project) would develop within October. This project will be put online in the beginning of October and the site will then be closed at the end of the month. I can't wait 8D I don't even know what the chosen theme was...
A short time after that it was time to leave the place, so we went outside. I spoke a little to Asukawa (Yumekasago) and Sokabe (Engawaken). Sokabe looks pretty and elegant, you'd never guess some of the stuff she draws, lol. Unfortunately I couldn't say goodbye to emi and Shino because it was too crowded and they were way before us in the crowd :( I guess I'll write them emails...
When I thought I was about to go home, Mutsuki told me she and a few girls would stay some more XD Initially the plan was to go to karaoke, but then we just got back to the same pub as before, lol. It was Mutsuki, me, Ichifuji (from circle Ragazzo), two of her friends/assistants and another girl (I think she was Asano from SPAK.. She was also the one who won the lifesize NaruSasu stand at janken XDDD) with a friend.
We stayed there from about 20 to 22, we played cards (I think that game is called "Old Maid" in English.. In Italian it's "Uomo nero, in Japanese "Babanuki" XD) with Mutsuki's Naruto cards... ROTFL. Every time one got a Sasuke and a Naruto she would just show the cards to everybody else and go "waaah NaruSasu <3<3<3" XDDDDDD Another card which produced great laughing was the naked Sasuke w/ snake from the Shippuuden OP and another one with Sasuke with his shirt partly off in a pose similar to a porn magazine, lol. BTW, the joker card was Itachi (who was generally called "niisan" by the girls) XDD We had lots of fun 8D
By the way... I did eventually talked to them about my future plans, that is to do something to change the current relationship between doujinshika and foreign fans. I talked to them about auctions, scanlations, and such (I didn't say I own a scanlations site, nor did I name anyone, but I did tell them that I translate the weekly Naruto chapters, that I've happened to translate NaruSasuNaru doujinshi, and that one time I retranslated 10-RANKAI's Kizu because the translation was so off that I felt bad on emi's part). They agreed with me and even kind of clapped their hands sometimes XD; I explained to them that in my opinion *sold out* doujinshi (mind, not those that are still on sale) are better shared for free than sold on the auctions for hideous prices. They did agree on this. Mutsuki said basically "Uploading *sold out* doujinshi is kind of fine, in a way". They really dislike seeing the books at $100000 on the auctions.. And they also dislike when doujinshi which are still on sale are shared around. Obviously, this is their opinion, other doujinshika might think differently, but it's still something. I told them that I would like, in the future, to somehow help in bringing doujinshi to the foreign fandom at decent prices, to put donations for scanlations (the money would obviously go to the authors, not the scanlators), to fight for accurate translations of the books and to be able to publish scanlations of sold out books with the authors' permission.
Since I got very good feedback from them, I guess I'll try to talk about this topic to at least emi and KSL, maybe at Comiket after they sell out (they're very busy before that) XD; Although emi will be publishing a reprint soon, so I don't know if her first books will still be considered "sold out". Anyway, if she agrees to my proposal I might as well wait to do her books until the reprint is sold out as well. I'd feel a bit sorry for the people who were waiting for Nagai Owakare, but the cooperation of the authors is a lot more important to me than the happiness of the fandom. I guess some of you might understand...
At around 22 and something we eventually parted ways. I took a train with Ichifuji and her friend, then got down at Nishi Nippori and went home. By the way, since she and her friend are from Tokyo, we agreed to go see the Naruto movie together after Comiket (they're busy with the new books before that, lol) 8D There were lots of Kansai people Oo (Mutsuki is from Kobe)
Anyway... I had LOTS of fun *_* All of the girls I spoke to were really nice.. And above all, they talked to me normally and with no problems because I could speak Japanese XD; Languages are very useful.. By the way, today in front of Mandarake a girl approached me and told me "You went to NaruSasu Only too, right? I'm friends with Kasai and she told me that you and your friend were really great". LOL 8D;;;; Tokyo sometimes is a small city.. (although it's not very weird to meet another NaruSasu fan in front of Mandarake X°DD)
I'm so sad that I can basically never see them ;___; Luckily I'll be able to meet them again at Comiket :DDD Can't wait 8D I hope they'll do something after that, like maybe going to eat somewhere or such :3 It's too bad that many of them live so far away ;___; Well, not that I live nearby either, but anyway, I meant Tokyo while I'm in Tokyo 8D;; I'm SO glad that I went to NS Only >_< It went a lot better than I expected... I wasn't really expecting to make friends with some of them, lol XD;; Too bad that I can't go the the other Only organized by Ragazzo and some other circles in October ;_; October is definitely impossible, since I have university and no money T_T
Anyway, this was the report.. XDD Now I'll go to Animate to buy some magazines (I already bought Kimeru's new CD, can't wait to listen to it, lol), then I guess this evening before going home I'll pass by Lawson to book Kimeru's live and Nagayan's play... I see my money flying far far away from here, lol.
By the way, since my Mac is so wonderful and this network seems to be reliable (I was dling something at 60-130kbs earlier) I installed Skype, so if some of you want to talk to me (I especially mean the people I usually happen to talk to live, like Italian friends and such XD;) I'm available when I'm in Ikebukuro. I also have an integrated webcam, lol 8D No way when I'm home tho, the signal is too weak there :(
See ya! :D
PS: I'll probably post some photos later XD Not the ones I took with the doujinshika though, because I dont't think they want their faces on the net XD;;