insaneneko

How do you store your doujinshi? I currently have all of mine in cardboard banker's boxes, but they are very heavy when filled and takes up too much room when not totally filled. Are there good containers that fit the typical doujinshi and stacks well? I'm dying for space (and am desperately missing the two extra bedrooms I used to store crap in...). ;_;

wednesday_10_00 posted some hilarious and adorable scans from a Maiden Rose doujinshi she shelled out big bucks for here. The above is from the omake pencil board that came with the doujinshi. The box Klaus is in says "Take me home." So cute! Check out her post for more. XD

In a different kind of hilarious: Dear America by mistress_siana, the election as bad fanfic.

I picked out a couple of Hikago doujinshi from the top of the top box (I have four boxes of Hikago doujinshi stacked on top of each other). Turned out that the random (and lazy) choice does not yield the best results. First one was not bad. It was pure romantic melodrama that recast the Sai-Hikaru relationship very differently, resulting in a wonderfully screwed-up Hikaru. Throw in a gay Akira and you get fun times. Especially a gay Akira who is pining after a very, very straight (and oblivious) Ashiwara. Very WTF, but it somehow worked. XD; The flashback to the angsty (and tragic) past, written in very fancy font, was the perfect touch (if hard to read thanks to the fancy font). Classic fanfic, I tell ya. Not very good, but satisfying.

The second one I picked up was also "classic," but in the bad sense. It was a fantasy AU where Hikaru is a supernatural being called the "Crown." My first problem with it (besides the absurd premise with some really wacky geopolitics that I don't really want to get into right now) is that because "Crown" was always written in katakana I kept thinking it read "Clown." Sorry, a supernatural being called the "Clown" inspires nothing but derision in me. Especially when the name comes from a supposedly ancient organization that seems to only have Japanese members. These completely inappropriate uses of English just drive me bonkers. Why not stick with a nice Japanese or pseudo-Chinese name instead of using (dorky) English? Or at least use kanji instead of katakana to write the name out since all foreign loan words used to be written in kanji....In any case, the story itself was weak because it tried to mash too many divergent cliches together, but then ended with what basically amounted to a deux ex machina.

It starts off with the immortal "Crown" (*snorts*) waiting for his beloved to be reborn. This is one of those immortal-mortal romances with the immortal pining for the mortal for most of the time, happily reuniting with the reborn mortal, then is sadly parted from the mortal when the mortal dies. This set-up is not bad in and of itself (though overused). What just killed me was that in the end we find out that the "Crown" is the friggin CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. Why the hell does the creator not just yank his beloved out of the cycle of reincarnation instead of pining after him? Does he like being tragic or something? Bored after an eternity of existence and wants some spice in his life? Why have a little cat-and-mouse game with an organization that totally misunderstands what the "Crown" is instead of sending them away and/or making them forget--if not actually setting them straight at the very beginning instead of indulging them in their pursuit? It's such a failure of imagination when you end up making a character waaay too powerful to have ever been troubled by anything that happened in your story.

Maybe I should just look for the ones with the pretty pictures. *sighs*

From an LOTR doujinshi (thanks leviosa8!): The elves depicted as typical Japanese salaryman working in a typical Japanese office...Rivendell Brewery. XD;

As I was scrolling through the flist my eye stopped at the word "Omphaloskepsis." It was the title of what turned out to be a really cute fic about Ibu Shinji and his sisters (He has sisters?? Or is this one of those fandom things??). In any case, I laughed when I first clicked on it because the author had learned of the word (and was inspired to write the fic) from the same place, Merriam Webster's Word of the Day (which was actually omphalos, but omphaloskepsis was mentioned because its related).

I've gotten back into a TezuRyo kick, thanks to some great stories I recently read. XD So I dug through my doujinshi and rediscovered this amusing story by one of my favorite TezuRyo circles, Kaiten-Mokugyo. I've scanned and translated some of their stuff before. I hope people enjoy it as much I do.

Does anyone want to buy a copy of this? I actually have two...I also have an extra copy of my favorite doujinshi by the same group, Catch and Release?...


( shumi yuuyuu )

keelieinblack has scanned an Antique Bakery doujinshi and the covers are just stunning. Check out the covers and download the whole thing here.

The whole brouhaha over the series finale of The Sopranos (which ran this past Sunday) has been fascinating me, even though I had never seen a single episode and probably never will. I read a number of spoiler-filled reviews with glee, cackling at how people tried to make sense of the ending and come to terms with their dissatisfaction...and then it hit me. It all reminded me of the fervor I had back when I watched Evangelion when it first aired; I don't think I'd ever been so invested in needing a satisfying ending to a series. The incredible rage I experienced when the last episode finished...It makes me smile, now. I actually like to re-watch that series every several years or so, because it really brings back that insane obsession I (and my friends) had when it first aired. And I'm attached to the characters, even Shinji. I know he's kind of...Shinji, but having heard the Spanish language version pronouncing his name "Shin-hi" and having taken into account the effect of having Gendou as a father has really lessened my irritation at some of his Shinji-ness. Besides, Asuka always irritated me more. I understood where she was coming from, but damn she really grated on my nerves.

I am highly amused by how many posts in comms and various blogs I've read recently that...brings up a controversial/unpopular opinion in a way that superficially seems to promote discussion, but really only serves to give people a forum to come out of the wood-work to say, "word!" It's great when there's a backlash and the two camps duke it out (but not so emotionally that it just degenerates into lame name-calling and personal attacks) with sharp barbs and anecdotal evidence and gross generalizations and misinterpretations of the other side's comments. Do they ever realize how absurd they seem from the outside? *loves to lurk*

Because I couldn't find the two things I actually wanted to scan tonight, I did a random scan of a random doujinshi cover...In this case, a Mihashi/Abe from Ookiku Furikabutte (I find Abe/Mihashi waaay too predictable, and besides, hetare seme is love!)

Some music:

Beelz by Stephen Lynch
Stephen Lynch sings Satan as some vaguely gay metrosexual. I thought it was pretty damn hilarious. XD

Faith by Hirai Ken
Nice, mellow cover of George Michael's hit.

Lots of fannish things I want to indulge in (and squee about) but no time/energy. GAH. (Also, it would help if I could actually find the things I want to scan...)

This will probably be one of many (or not so many) posts on the doujinshi and other things I bought. I thought the cover of this doujinshi, Yume no kayohiji (Route of Dreams) by Missing Link, was really pretty. When I read it I was delighted to find it hilarious (I am always prepared to be utterly disappointed by the contents of doujinshi...the cover alone really tells a person nothing, after all). Because my lovely neighbors decided that making speaker phone calls at 11:30 PM outside was a brilliant idea last night, I scanned some pages out of the doujinshi to share. XD;


( click for some fun akira-poking )

Today I've been rereading a wonderful Hikago novel doujinshi that I hadn't touched in a while. It's actually written in a style that takes me a (comparatively) long time and a lot more concentration to read, so I don't pick it up all that often. But I do love how the author has this ability to clothe utterly hilarious, almost gag, humor in a completely serious and straightforward tone. Also, she is amazingly good at run-on sentences. One does see rather long sentences in Japanese a lot more than in English, but rarely have I seen so many super duper long sentences used so well. She has the flow and rhythm down perfectly, so that I am delighted in her ability to maintain the momentum in the rather convoluted structure of some of her sentences.

It's interesting that all the authors of the really kick-ass novel doujinshi that I've met have all been in their upper twenties or thirties, including the one I mention above.

( flesh & blood )

I don't feel like editing my previous stuff, but I actually finished reading volume 9 and went back and finished volume 4. All I have is volume 5 left!

( more flesh & blood )

The local Daiei supermarkets were bought by Don Quixote, a chain I've heard of but never visisted in Japan. I always find it odd that they shorten the name Donki instead of Donkiho, because it feels really awkward for me. The pause I have to put between the "n" and the "ki," as well as the tendency for me, an English speaker, to think of "donkey." In any case, I found it highly amusing that one of the changes they've made was blasting music at certain displays. Today they were playing EUROBEAT. I like Eurobeat, but I'd think that kind of music might actually be annoying for a lot of people...

I am feeling very satisfied. You know how a character in a story can make you scream for someone to slap them good because they are acting far too emo for everyone's good? There's this show that I'm not really following but still seem to kind of follow because my mom watches it. In any case, there was this character who always kind of irritated me because she's super high strung and has admirable but far too stubborn conviction. She just went overboard in tonight's episode and I was jumping up and down yelling that she needed a good slap. And thankfully she got a good slap! And a good talking to. It was a sight to behold. Why can't all of these kinds of characters get what they deserve? *sighs*

Pretty pretty Kabaji x Atobe doujinshi shared here at pot_doujinshi. The art is just so lovely, and the story is cute. I find Kabaji x Atobe one of the more probable Atobe slash pairings so I'm glad this circle is being shared. XD

I am amused by this month's theme on fst: Anti-Heroes. So far there's been one for Agent Smith from The Matrix, Seifer from FFVIII, Wilson from House, Delphine from Last Exile (though she makes me want to spork her even at the mere mention of her name...what an annoying bitch she was), and most recently Schuldig from Weiss Kreuz. I have no idea if the FST's are any good, but I enjoy reading the mixers' takes on these characters. Also, from last month: Music To Crush Autobots By: A Decepticon FST. Heh.

I didn't realize that Tamaki's voice actor played the main character from the Fafner OVA Right of Left!!!! From what I can remember he sounded quite different, but I know I really liked his voice in it. XD I am tempted to watch Death Note simply to hear what he sounds like as Light (even as I want to pound that character into the ground). In any case, I need to dig up my copy of Right of Left because that was a very good (if depressing) OVA with pretty pretty art and very nice music. And Tamaki's voice actor! (I need to remember the dude's name one of these days. ^^;)