Fanime report part 1: random thoughts.

[This is sort of the "everything else" post -- everything besides some extended babbling I will be doing about fandom, using my convention purchases as a springboard.]

So, general thoughts: as always, Fanime is a nice opportunity for Bay Area fans to gather, show off their cosplay, buy some official goods and fanart, and not spend 50% of the con waiting in lines. Unfortunately, it is still very weak on structured programming, especially guests. I only sat through one panel in its entirety, and even that one was only so-so. I probably should have gone to see Kiuchi Hidenobu, but even he can't compare with the big big-name seiyuu that show up at AX. Still, since it's a local con, on a holiday weekend that doesn't typically find me busy, it's worth the while.

( Short, specific thoughts. )

Pictures soon, I hope. And last year's pictures. (Yes, I know, I suck.) Also, a Scrapblog. :]

Fanime report part 2: buying doujinshi.

[New tag! For Code Geass. Dunno how much I'll use it going forward, but I figure I have enough in the archives already to warrant it. Maybe for Saiunkoku, too, but I wasn't sure on that one.]

So for a change of pace this year, instead of spending lots of money in the Artists' Alley, I bought some doujinshi instead. Even though I got them all from the Yaoi-Con booth, only two (out of six) of them were actually yaoi, and one was BL. The Yaoi-Con booth just happened to have the largest, best-organized, and most recent collection of any of the dealers.

Buying doujinshi was . . . an interesting experience. I can't say I have buyer's remorse per se, since I like all of the doujinshi I bought, and they were all reasonably priced, but . . . I don't know. Maybe they're just too short? The non-yaoi ones were . . . like reading fanfic, except with art, and not free. And the yaoi ones . . . I guess they were like fanfic, too. They just didn't seem like things I would want to continue spending money on. Maybe I'm just a cheapskate, and I want my fixes for free.

The way I thought about it at first, they were a good deal because they were about the price of a print from the Artists' Alley, but instead I got a whole book's worth of art. But they were also about the price of a volume of manga, with a lot fewer pages, and probably less re-read value. So I guess it's the one-shot nature of them that makes me less willing to pay. Art prints I can hang up -- at least theoretically, since I haven't actually gotten around to doing that for 99% of the art I've bought. But maybe they'll grow on me. All the doujinshi I got were very cute, clever, and/or insightful, so maybe I'll read them again now and then when I want to savor the relationships they portray.

Anyways, on to the fandom babble!

( Saiunkoku Monogatari )

( Phoenix Wright )

( Darker than Black )

( Code Geass (long) )

In the end, even though I did pretty well, I feel like buying doujinshi is so hit-or-miss. If I subscribed to more popular ships (SuzaLulu), or was less picky about art style, I would never have been able to decide what to get. And what you end up getting is so unpredictable. I need back-cover summaries! D:

Last thing: I'm thinking of emailing some of the artists whose work I bought. I'm not really sure what I'd say, but I kind of want to let them know that they're reaching people even in the States, and tell them to draw more C/Lulu keep up the lovely work. I wish I understood more about how doujinshi in Japan works, and how to navigate their websites (日本語能力足りない！), but at least I can babble at them in bad Japanese...