In the Emerald City

I wasn't sure whether or not I would end up going to the Game Show, but in the end I'm glad I did, because I got to see a Kakihara Tetsuya talkshow! It was purely by chance, I didn't even know he was going to be there, but I just happened to be walking past the right stage while the show was going on. He was promoting a game called (if I remember correctly) My Dear Sun. I've been playing Princess Maker 2 a lot lately, and this game looks to be a lot like that, except instead of raising a queen/warrior/magician/Princess of Darkness, you raise an ordinary schoolboy. Which is kind of dull, really, but I still might give it a go. He was there with another voice actor, Ito-san (I didn't catch his first name), and a singing duo who performed the opening and ending themes for us. There was a janken competition to win signed posters. I lost, boo.

I didn't see a whole lot else that caught my interest, but then, I'm not a gamer. Yet. I have a feeling it's only a matter of time. I had heard about a DS game that was going to be there, however, that I wanted to check out, called Duel Love. Now, a while back there was a game in which you had to find witches by stripping bishojo women and poking them, or something like that. Duel Love appears to be the bishonen equivalent, although rather less violent. In the demo, the task is to wipe the sweat off a bishonen's naked chest. Yep. One of the weirdest concepts I've seen, that's for sure. Also kind of embarrassing when you're playing the demo and it appears on the big screen in front of you.

I got up early again, met up with Mizukiaya and headed off to Big Sight. It was hotter than Saturday, but still not as bad as Friday. We got in at about 10:45 and went directly to the corporate booths. Mizukiaya got her ticket with no problem, but alas, without pre-ordering the CD on my phone I couldn't get one. So the Friday people didn't know what they were talking about. The next couple of hours saw me dashing madly around trying to find a phone that would let me buy it. Thanks again, Reppu!

I did get a bit of shopping done, though not quite as much as I'd planned (though that's probably for the best!). I got a Ja-Dou parody story from Mamiya Oki's table, and a couple of books from Kano Miyamoto's.

Then Mizukiaya and I went back up to the corporate booths to hang around the Hanayoi Romanesque table. We weren't sure of exactly where we were meant to wait, but finally a staff guy took us to the waiting area, which turned out to be outside the corporate booth area, in the sun. We waited in line for a bit, and then another staff guy came to take us in (or at least half of us; the other half waited outside, presumably to reduce the crowd). I happened to be sitting next to a Japanese woman, and the staff member asked her if I was with her, and she said no. Then he said, 'She looks like Heidi, doesn't she?' At least I think that's what he said; I could have totally misunderstood. The odd thing was he was talking past me like he thought I wouldn't understand him at all; I was surprised because there's usually at least an attempt to speak to me. So I said to him, 'I thought I was Alice' (and really, I get the Alice comment a lot, but Heidi was a new one). Then there was a bit of chatter from the Japanese fans about how Kakihara, being from Germany, has an international appeal.

So my group went back into the hall and lined up by the booth. We waited around for a couple of minutes, and then I heard some applause. At last, Kakihara had appeared! He gave a short welcoming speech, and then it was time for the handshaking.

Some people gave him little gifts, and I think the one that was most appreciated was one of those cold packs. That gift was quite amusing, actually - it seems you have to hit it to make it cold, and Kakihara didn't seem to be getting it, so the fan set it on the table and went WHAM! with her fist. He seemed to appreciate it a lot, and goodness knows it would have been a nice thing to have on such a hot day!

I regretted that I hadn't thought very hard about conversation topics. He commented on my dress, so we talked about Lolita for a bit, and he told me I was getting better at Japanese (No I'm totally not! I said, but it was flattering). Naturally I thought of things I could have said afterwards. I really wish I'd asked him about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, at least. Well, I definitely will next time. I might try to think of a nice gift, as well.

I left with Reppu and Cienna shortly after that. We had pizza, and then EPIC KARAOKE. It was seriously awesome. So I got home tired, but very happy.

Today was much easier than yesterday! There wasn't anything I desperately wanted, so I decided not to rush, and arrived at about noon. Though of course it was still crowded, there didn't seem to be as many people as yesterday. It was also cooler, even though it didn't rain.

First I looked at Rozen Maiden, and though I didn't buy anything, there were a lot of cute books. There were also a lot of cosplayers, particularly of Suiseiseki. After that I looked at Hayate Cross Blade, and there was some really great art there. I didn't buy any books because I couldn't find any with kissing and I'm not familiar enough with the characters yet to know who I want to read about, but I'm sure I'll get plenty in the future. I did, however, buy a fangame, because I'm always interested in those. I just hope its better characterised than the Conrad x Yuri ones I bought a while ago!

After that I took a quick look at the Jump area. I wandered around looking at Eyeshield 21, but sadly there was next to nothing featuring Monta, and no pairings for him. Unsurprisingly, Hiruma was the most popular character. I managed to find Kemono no Hanashi and bought her Hiruma/Musashi book. Although I haven't seen much of Musashi, I'm inclined to think that he wouldn't put up with a lot of Hiruma's crap, so if they're both in character that could be a fun pairing. I love the grin Hiruma has on the covers of some of his love-love books.

There were a few Sena x Hiruma books, which was awesome to see. Sadly, that pairing just doesn't do anything for me, regardless of the order, so I didn't buy them. I bought a gag book called 'YA-OI!' purely for the title (a parody of YA-HA!, of course) but it look well-drawn and funny, so I think that was worth it.

Next up was the Golden Pair. I didn't spend much time looking at them, though there were some cute books. I only bought one, a collection of the artists' previous dojinshi. I'd bought her earlier collection, so I know I like her work, and this one looks really sweet.

After that was lunch with a big group of awesome people, then looking at the cosplayers, then heading off to Ikebukuro. I got the Shonen Onmyoji tickets for the exact day and time I wanted! \o/ It looked like there weren't many left, too, so I had some good luck.

Tomorrow I have to arrive early again. Sigh. Hopefully I'll be able to get a ticket, but if I don't I'll at least be able to hang around during the event and idolise from afar! I'll have to find the circles for the artists I like in the catalogue so that I'll have something to look at while I'm waiting.

I can't seem to pre-order Kakkii's CD with my crappy four-year-old phone, and I can't find anywhere on the website to do it. I might end up missing out. Maybe I should go to the Vexille event instead. But the booth people did say I didn't have to buy anything to participate, so I dunno. It'll be annoying if wait for hours to get in on Sunday morning and then have my reason for even going taken away.

I got up bright and early, dressed myself up in one of my Alice-inspired outfits, and headed off to meet Cienna, Ontogenesis and Reppu. I think we arrived at about 9:15. There seemed to be a different route for entry today, and we ended up standing around in line for a long time. The heat was pretty intense, and it got difficult at times. I think we were finally able to go in a 11:30.

I went straight to the corporate booths, thinking that I could beat the crowds if I went early. O how wrong I was. It was packed. I had planned on checking out the Nitro+ booth, but I gave up on that as I didn't know exactly where it was and it was just too hard to wade through the masses of people trying to find it. I did manage to get to the Hanayoi Romanesque booth, which fortunately was not very crowded and didn't have much of a line. I asked about Kakkii's akushu event, and the staff told me that all I have to do is show up at 10, and I could get a ticket. However, the website seems to say I have to preorder his CD to get one, so I'm a bit confused. I guess I'll get the CD anyway, even if it does look like a rather dull boys' school series. Hopefully it'll at least be somewhat cute and amusing.

After that I headed down to Angel's Feather. There wasn't much there, as usual, but there were a few cute books. But then, imagine my surprise when I saw Yamamoto Kazue behind one of the tables! In fact, she saw me before I saw her and made a sort of 'Oh, it's you!' comment, and since I wasn't expecting to see her it took me a moment to actually register who she was. And then everyone hanging around started talking about my outfit, which was flattering but got me flustered! I wish I'd made more conversation, but all I could seem to manage was 'Arigatou gozaimasu.' I really hope living in the guesthouse improves my conversation skills. Ms Yamamoto was selling a very interesting book - it contained sketches of various men from her hentai games in BL poses! The only ones I was familiar with were the two main guys from Izumo 2, but I've got to say, in the anime they were pretty darn slashy. It's nice to get some endorsement from the creator! It amused me to see that there was a note on the book saying that depite being drawn by Yamamoto Kazue, the book wasn't actually endorsed by Studio e.go.

At the next table was someone who I believe is Ms Yamamoto's assistant. I think her name was Kutsuki Ichii, but I'll have to check that. (OK, I've checked and it was Kuzuki Ichii. So I was close.) She had an absolutely adorable and beautifully drawn Kai/Nagi book that I'm enamoured of. I really can't get enough of Kai/Nagi cuteness.

I'd decided to avoid Lamento and Kyo Kara Maoh to save money, but I did take a look at Shonen Onmyoji. It wasn't a big section, but I was surprised by the amount of Masahiro/Akiko there. There must be something about her that I don't see, I guess. There was a good amount of Guren x Masahiro too, of course, but I couldn't find anything I really liked. However, I did find one Masahiro x Guren! It wasn't very well drawn, but it was sweet, and how could I pass up Masahiro-seme?

At this point I was starting to think, 'There are way more people here than usual.' I met up with Ontogenesis and she agreed. She speculated that it was because the categories had been rearranged, and now there was more dansei-muke stuff on the first day, so we had both the women and men crowds. Whatever the reason, it became obvious as the day wore on that the crowds were bigger than they ever have been in all my time going to Comiket.

The four of us met up again, and after lunch we went to look at the cosplayers. Earlier that day I'd seen a Kamina and a male Bardo cosplayer, complete with open shirt. I was hoping to see them again, but no such luck. I braved the cosplay area for a while, but like everywhere else it was packed, and it was open to the elements so there was no protection from the sun. I soon gave up and went to sit down for a while.

Pretty much everything I wanted to look at was today. Tomorrow there's a few things I'm interested in, but I'm going to avoid buying much. I want to look at Eyeshield 21 (though no one seems to write Sena/Monta so I probably won't even want to buy anything) and Hayate Cross Blade (though I'm not familiar enough with the characters yet to ship anyone). There might be a few other things but I can't remember them at the moment. I'll have to check the catalogue. I certainly hope it's not as packed as today.