Saturday, August 15 - Aoyagi Ritsuka

Fighter and I woke up and got into the heated outfits for the day. Heated, since fighter's walolita dress sported kimono sleeves and I chose the same Ritsuka cosplay (blue with fur trim coat) as my summer cosplay. We ate a fast breakfast while watching clips of Trinty Blood from my dvd to wake up. Then we headed to Tokyo Big Sight.

Like last year (and every year,) the train station was filled with ads for the latest releases and spring shows. Some of my fav are below....

The line inside was quite long and winded up and down stairs before actually heading into the convention center. We got there by 11am and already the lines for the popular dojinkas was seen stretching from the building. We only had 3 tables to hit making it a light day. Once inside, fighter and I headed to the East hall to our first table to meet the only mangaka of the day...

dream come true

...Kouga Yun-sensei. *faints* (Backtracking a bit, I found her in the catalogue when I was at fighter's dorm a few days ago. I practically squealed when I saw Kokonoe, her circle name.) There were no long lines at the booth and we were able to get to the front quickly. There was a booklet with Ritsuka cosplaying pilot suit Setsuna from Gundam 00 on the cover along with 2 postcards. Of course, we bought both items. ^.^ The booklet was a journal or reflection about her experience at AnimeExpo along with photographs. Sugoi! Then, we met the goddess herself...Kouga-sensei. *bows* Fighter got a Loveless limited edition booklet signed and I got vol. 1 signed. *faints again* I was speechless that I could barely speak. Her first comment to me was how hot I must be (in my cosplay) which I agreed. ^^; She then asked where we were from and when I responded that I was from America, she has if I went to AnimeExpo. I shook my head. ^^; (I totally wanted to go!) I was dancing on air when we left the booth.

I met Kouga Yun-sensei dressed as Ritsuka!!!!! *dies happy*

back to FMAland

Kouga-sensei's table was actually very close to our other objectives. That side of the room was all Fullmetal Alchemist with a line of tables for Kuroshitsuji. We went to the Idea table where fighter bought their newest doujinshi, which I believe was titled 'Nuetto' or maybe it was 'duetto?' Unfortunately, Idea wasn't there. Then we found Ronno&Klaus the doujinka for the 'Hermaphrodite' series. They had vol. 10 for sale among some specials. Fighter bought 10 while I drooled over the artwork. The doujinka was not at the table but walking around, so we decided to browse a bit ourselves before returning.

I also saw the table with the 'Mame Edward' series with a cute Chibi-Ed who grew from a bean. ^.^ I recognized a few other popular doujins, but refrained from buying anything more.

I noted that since Kouga-sensei's table was facing outside where the bridge was, I wanted to grab a pic from the bridge. Alas, they allowed people to leave the con center and walk along the bridge, but we couldn't come in that way again. So no pic from bridge. After resting a bit, we went back to Ronno&Klaus.

The doujinka, Bambi Takada was there so I got Hermaphrodite vol. 1 signed and fighter got vol. 10 signed. ^.^ We decided to head back to Kouga-sensei's table where I ventured to take candid shots of her. ^^; She is my idol afterall! When she smiles, she looks just like her fly counterpart from the omake. ^.^ Kawaii!

That done, we happily concluded our shopping for the day...

under the sun

...almost. We headed to the conbini and bought some onigiri and sushi. Finding a clean floor, we ate a quick lunch and rehydrated before heading out to the cosplay area. It was located in a lot...and in the sun. One of the cosplayers were asking for our preferred pose. Since they were willing to do BL-type poses (one of the previous photographers got one of them holding the other by the waist,) I immediately gestured my fav pose with fighter. Action speaks louder then words. ^.^

I got some nice pictures and even did a quick photoshoot with fighter. ^.^

We were both tired by that time, so we left early...probably around 2pm.

I am Gundam!

On the way home, I fell asleep on the trains. Since fighter hasn't seen Gundam 00 in it's entirety (even though she heard me talk about it and knew of it in general,) we decided to watch it. We showered and I cooked curry and rice. We ate while watching it on my computer. We ended up watching it all the way to ep. 21. I even show her the season 2 preview clip since it was hilarious. We both agree: Nena Trinity is a bitch and should die quickly. Alas, I already warned fighter that she lives through season 2. ^^; We also agree that Lockon is nice to everyone, everyone falls in love with him and we'll forever see Aeolia Schenberg as this awesome naked guy (since there is this doctored anime pic of him naked with the Gundam pilots. ^.^) We fell asleep with Gundam in our heads. ^^;

intermission: bad news

Before I went to sleep, I set out my outfit for the next day...which is suppose to be the same lolita outfit that fighter wore today. We were suppose to wear it together, but since I found out Kouga-sensei was going to be there on saturday, it would be obvious to cosplay Ritsuka instead. ^^; However, it wouldn't make much difference anyway since I found out, I didn't have my heels with me in Japan. >.< No nice shoes so no lolita outfit. *cries* I ended wearing my black tanktop, mesh cover and black pants. (My tanktop made a splended tanline, but I'm digressing and jumping ahead of myself. ^.^)

Sunday, August 16

Fighter woke me up at 8:15am and we ready in a hurry. I made jam sandwiches for the both of us and we ate while watching a bit of Pretty Cure on tv to wake up. Fighter's outfit for the day was a simpler lolita dress in a more classic style. We headed to Osaki where we were suppose to meet kumi-kun at 9:30am. Unfortunately, kumi had some luggage trouble (since she checked out of her hotel today as she is leaving for Kyoto in early evening,) so she was delayed. We sat and read GW fanfic until she arrived. We headed to the Rinkai line together.

The line to the inside wasn't as long and winding. It actually just lead to the top of the steps and in. We headed to the West hall where the tables we wanted to hit were. Since we all wanted the popular mangaka, they were all lined up so nicely along the sides of West 1 hall. ^.^ So we just went down the line.

finding my voice

Yesterday, I was speechless in front of Kouga-sensei. I was determined to say something to my fav mangakas today!

Miyamoto Kano was our first stop since we all wanted to get her autograph. Miyamoto-sensei was there and we walked up to her one-by-one. I got Lovers and Souls signed. Yamakami Riyu-sensei's table was right next to it and Fighter bought a few doujins. Yamakami-sensei was not there but she would return at 12pm. Kumi-kun and I headed to Sakurai Shushushu-sensei's table at the end of the next wall while fighter went to check out another table.

Sakurai-sensei was there and we stepped to the side to speak to her. Thankfully, I understood the bit of Japanese so I translated what she said to kumi. ^^; First off, she remarked about how cute kumi was. ^.^ (Kumi-kun was in classic lolita outfit with long sleeves and full collar. It was hot in that outfit. ^^; Totally cute, but hot.) After she autographed our things, kumi asked to get a small autograph board signed. Sakurai-sensei asked her which is her favorite character...which Kumi-kun couldn't say. I tried to prompt her by asking which manga she like...which she couldn't pick either. I told Sakurai-sensei that she liked all her manga and all her characters. ^.^ Sakurai-sensei ended up drawing a character (I don't remember which...he had an eyepatch I think) on the board. ^.^ It was awesome to watch her work. O.O We thanked her profusely as we left.

It was quick so fighter was waiting for us at the side and we headed to You Higuri-sensei's table which was nearby. Alas, Higuri-sensei was not there at all today so we headed off to Fuwa Shinra-sensei's table...who I found out was not there today as well. Oh well, I wasn't really planning to meet them today as I didn't prepare any books for them to sign. ^^; Winter Comiket most likely.... Our stop at Minami-sensei's table was not fruitless although Minami-sensei was not preset at that time: we were told she would return at some point. ^^; So we continued to our next stop.

We went to Yamato Nase-sensei's table where kumi-kun bought the new Chinko no Tsubuyaki doujinshi, Chintsubu F. Yamato-sensei signed the doujin for kumi as well as vol. 1 of Chinko no Tsubuyaki for me. From what I can tell, she either doesn't want others to know she is the mangaka or she doesn't want people to bomboard her with autograph requests since she bent down to sign them. Very secretive. ^^; I told her how much I was a fan of her work. ^.^ Yamato-sensei's was next to Naduki Koujima-sensei's as well as Kozuya (which is Eiki Eiki-sensei and Zaou Taishi-sensei's circle.) I didn't have anything for Naduki-sensei so I headed straight for the other table. Fighter bought a sketch book by Zaou Taishi-sensei and I asked if Eiki Eiki-sensei was there. (I already spotted Zaou-sensei at the back of the booth.) Alas, Eiki Eiki-sensei was not there at all that way. >.< I went to as Zaou-sensei if she was willing to sign and autograph board (and fighter asked for the doujinshi) but she said she only signs manga. *makes note to self* We thanked her as we went away.

We returned to Yamakami-sensei's table to discover that she had returned. She signed the doujin that fighter bought earlier. A funny moment came when Yamakami-sensei messed up on her autograph (date? name? spelling?) and her staff laughed. She apologized and picked up another copy of the the doujin to signed and gave fighter that one instead. When she was signing my Tameiki no Kuchizuke manga, the staff was joking with her saying that she can't mess this one up since there will be no replacement. ^^; lol Yamakami-sensei is so cute!

estrogen level...high

Since fighter still needed an autograph from Mamiya Oki-sensei and Kumi-kun had a few she wanted to see, we separated. I went with fighter to Mamiya-sensei's table to find that she has not returned and we went around to all the other tables. Another popular circle that fighter couldn't see nor get to was Raw which had a line that stretched all along the north side of the building. o.O We discovered that West hall 1 was the BL section while West Hall 2 were filled with mecha doujins. At least, thats what I thought they were. ^^; In so doing, we noted the drop in estrogen level as we went in that direction. Since it wasn't the hentai room, the massive hormone-driven crowds were not as present...though there was a disturbing few males that were looking at the shota in the BL side. ^^:

Kumi-kun found us half way through and we told her to meet us in the hallway outside since we wanted to rest. I looked over fighter's doujin and saw a Natsume sketch in Zaou-sensei's sketchbook. Kyaa...I should've told her I want a TanumaxNatsume pairing. Everyone usually does a NatorixNatsume one. ^.^ Kumi joined us soon after and we looked over the stash they acquired. We recharged with with our BL swag before returning into the exhibition hall.

meeting more mangaka

We were walking back to Mamiya-sensei's table when along the way, a lady ran up to us and returned kumi-kun her marker. Turns out, the lady was Hoshino Lily-sensei who kumi met earlier for an autograph. Sugoi! ^.^ We made a brief stop at Yuzuha Ougi-sensei's table where I noted a lady receiving a gift. I correctly deduced that she was Yuzuha-sensei. ^.^ I gave kumi a clean autograph board for her autograph and requested one for myself. Across from her table was Nanoha Bohra-sensei's. Fighter bought a doujin and they got their doujins' signed. Upon our return to Mamiya-sensei's table, we found out that we just missed her. ^^; Fighter decided to stay while I went with kumi to see a few more tables. We went to Watanabe Asia-sensei's table where we discovered, the person holding the 'This is the back of the line' sign was none other than Watanabe-sensei. o.O Kumi got her autograph as well as one for a friend. On both autographs, she drew her tattoo on it. I shall assume she created the design herself. It looks like an upside down flame.... Sugoi!

We then headed to see if Minami-sensei had returned. She had and I got a board from kumi for her autograph. She knew immediately that I was Chinese and asked where kumi was from as well as remarked about how cute Kumi was. ^.^ She signed my board first and wrote Kumi's name (after I had kumi spell it out on a paper) on the one for her. While she was writing the date though, she wrote 2006. ^^; She was sooo embarrassed, but we told her it was okay. She wrote more on it and even 'sorry'. at the end. Awww...daijoubu desu! ^.^ I told her that was a big fan of hers and my fav manga was Saihate no Kimi e (which she signed last year's winter Comiket.) Afterwards, we thanked her and returned to fighter.

another awesome moment

As we were explaining what happened at Minami-sensei's table to fighter, Mamiya-sensei returned. Since fighter (and the rest of us) kept on returning to the table, the staff already knew us and waved Mamiya-sensei over to us. Of course, she wanted to know where we were from and were amazed at the diversity of our countries. She was also amazed that we were all friends. ^^; She asked the second typical question if we touring Japan. Fighter explained that she was a student, I piped up that I was a language teacher and kumi was a tourist. ^.^ More amazing from the mangaka. She signed fighter and kumi's doujins as well as an autograph board for me. ^.^ Kumi also asked for an autograph board signature for someone else we knew on the yaoi site. Mamiya-sensei was so happy (surprised? amazed?) at her foreign fans and she asked fighter if her manga is sold widely. Not in her country, but fighter let her know she has fans there as well. ^.^ She than asked for a picture of us so that 'she knows that she has international fans' (paraphrasing fighter.) Awwww.... She took two pics of us: kumi and fighter holding their doujins while I hold her autograph board.

Even though we were at a corner, there is red tape along a pillar which indicated that we can't loiter there for very along. Even with her being a mangaka, the staff came twice to move us along. lol We even joked with Mamiya-sensei at the silliness of it since she commented about it. ^^; Such a sweet mangaka. Fighter was sooo happy that she stated that her feet doesn't her anymore. Me? I could've floated out of the room. ^.^

cosplay day 2...for us

The cosplay area was at the roof where Dream Party cosplay portion was held. We headed there and soaked in the heat of the sun as grabbed pics from all around us. Kumi-kun got several picture requests which she happily indulged in. ^.^ I even did a mini-shoot in the shade while she was sitting to rest since her dress billowed about so nicely to rest about her. An expert photographer who just took her picture noted that I was doing a shoot and suggested a shot from behind. (Not because her panties were showing, you hentai!) I followed suit and got some awesome shots with her facing one way and turning to look at us. Some others came up for pic requests as well. ^.^

We saw a Kaworu and Shinji and requested to take their picture. They asked us how we wanted them to pose. Of course, fighter immediately said 'dakishime'. lol Kaworu is so cute taking the lead...as usual. ^.^

Our fav pic of the day has got to be this one.

I have no other words. *clicks goes the camera* Masks look familiar? They're from the infamous Kuso Miso Technique manga...so popular imn the hentai/BL world that their faces are used everywhere. ^^; Another awesome cosplays of the day was when we were leaving: two girls in 'Elizabeth' Takarazuka cosplay appeared which had kumi running for them. Of course, fighter and I followed suit. ^.^

We called it a day and left. So sad...we only found pair of Gundam 00 cosplayers and they were Setsuna and Allelujah. Perhaps it's too hot for those suits? ^^;

ending of Summer Comiket

We headed back to the train station and stopped at the conbini there for water for me and food substance for fighter and Kumi. Kumi-kun would be heading to Kyoto in the early evening via shinkansen and fighter would be following in the overnight bus. Fighter came back to the apartment with me to get her stuff...and eat a late lunch. I made ramen for the both of us while we watched another episode of Gundam 00 and then watched the next episode of Fullmetal Alchemist on tv. Anime over, we bid farewell until our next meeting at Kyoto.

retrospective thoughts

Although I was obviously not Japanese by my speech, mangaka usually don't really talk to me. However, since I was with obvious foreigners, they're more inclined to ask questions. The typical questions they would ask were 'where are you from' and 'what are you doing in Japan'. Like Mamiya-sensei, many mangaka were surprised that the three of us were from three different countries and we were friends. Of course, some people asked 'how we met' and we told them the internet. We didn't mention the forum since we couldn't very well explain that we were part of a forum that does fansubs and scanlations. ^^; lol

Concerning the cosplayers, there seemed to be alot of guys cosplaying girls. Their costumes seem to be for real (meaning it was not a joke cosplay) even though they really didn't have the facial features to match the role. Much effort can be for them trying since their poses are serious as are their cosplays. (Did that make any sense? <.<) Of course, there are the cosplayers who we have to do a double take. 'Is that a girl or a boy?' ^^; Awesome cosplays all around. My fav crossplay (guy to girl) has to be this Ciel in a dress... Kirei desu ne....