Mistakes of Youth: The Blog (Powered by EXCELLENCE!)

Otakon’s been over for how many weeks? Two? Three? Four? Five? SIX?! I dunno, I haven’t been keeping count, nor do I have any concept of time. But what I do know is that this con has been over for a while, and a bunch of other cool cats already have their reports up. You should know how things run over here at Mistakes of Youth by now, so this punctuality shouldn’t be surprising.

I missed Otakon in 2009 due to being in another country while it was going on, and upon hearing reports of how fun that one was, I was actually pretty excited to get back to Otakon this year. And it wasn’t bad! Really chilled out. There were a few panels I wanted to go to–mostly run by friends and acquaintances–and between them was plenty of time to peruse the dealers’ rooms and socialize. Autograph lines were no problem, and I got to see a cool movie!

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In the great tradition of blogging about anime-related dreams, I would like to share one of mine with you. Don’t worry, it isn’t sexual.

It was like some kind of anime game show thing, apparently thrown together by this guy. It was like a board game, except instead of moving pieces around, you moved from place to place yourself. In order to move from one place to another, you had to answer bits of anime trivia correctly. In some cases when you answered questions correctly, you were presented with a prize.  However, if you answered incorrectly, you’d be thrown down another path. It wasn’t made quite clear why this happened, since logic doesn’t really work in dreams, but I’m going to assume this other path was a longer-way to the finishing point.

The locales for each of the questions was weird. They changed between old houses I used to live in, school settings, and opulent Arabian palaces.  But in each case the questions were written down on some ghetto sheet of paper that was laminated and stuck to a wall.

It was really quite fun, but thinking about it doesn’t really make sense in real life.

It’s my birthday again. I’m 22, or something.

Birthday wish? That Fujiyoshi comes to life and lives with me.

• Become a Ruler of Time: Following in the footsteps of the only god I believe in, I will aspire to be a Ruler of Time. What does being a ruler of time entail, you ask? Well, it involves striking the perfect balance between school (or work, perhaps), all of my Web 2.0 escapades, watching anime, drawing, and the occasional social outing. This is a balance very  few people can strike, and it’s presumptuous to think I can do it. It may indeed be impossible.
• Power Up My Drawings: I would like to think that I’ve improved somewhat in regards to my artistic skill (or lack thereof) over the past year, to the point where what I draw looks “somewhat decent”. A good step up from “downright awful.” Japan certainly helped me, as being surrounded by the talented members of the Manga Club was great motivation to improve. Of course, this is just from my point of view–I would like to know what others’ critical eyes have to say about my last couple of artistic offerings, and if they can offer up any tips for nailing correct proportion, human anatomy, and composing interesting compositions. In the next year I would like to be able put forth quality work, and be able to produce that work in a short period of time.
• Return To The Promised Land: Being in Japan was an amazing experience, but there were a bunch of things I never got a chance to do because of time or monetary constraints. Thusly, over this next year I’d like to find my way back to the country, and spend some time traveling around and seeing the sights.
• Be Less Of An Asshole: A man can dream, can’t he!?

• Hayate no Gotoku vol 1
• Hokuto no Ken movie (x2)
• Gurren Lagann set 3
• Some book by some Jewish upstart who lived in Japan
• Kanji flashcards
• Gloves
• Hat
• Kure-nai OST (en route)
• Cymbals, requests (en route)
• Best Buy money towards a new monitor (lord knows I need one)

I got two copies of the Hokuto no Ken movie because there was some mix up between the parties buying the presents. I guess I’ll exchange one of them for the first volume of Kannagi.

I asked for level one kanji flashcards then I realized I knew all the kanji in them. I guess they’ll be good for review.

But yeah, a great haul! Only two of the things I asked for were not included, one of them being a CD I already have downloaded and the other being Kannagi volume 1, which I addressed above.

Merry Christmas!!

Stupid, personal, Boston-local related stuff. However, since this blog also functions as my personal blog (believe it or not) I figure I’ll post something like this up.

Saw Perfect Blue sitting around Newbury Comics for 15 bucks. Should I buy it? I know it’s good, but I only have 30 dollars left in my wallet that should be allotted to buying anime DVDs and junk. They also had Amazing Nurse Nanako discounted at 15 dollars. It still had a “Pioneer celebrating 10 years in animation” sticker on it.  I’d almost buy it, but I don’t like Nanako beyond the titular character’s voluptuous design. If only they had Agent Aika for that much… Oh, I didn’t look very hard, but I couldn’t find that Chara-Ani Hazuki figure they’ve had sitting around there for the past couple years. I guess someone finally bought it, or they gave it to Tokyo Kid.

They also had Akira on Blu, which is tempting as fuck. Other tempting as fuck things were a “More Cowbell” shirt, and a “Fear The Walken” shirt. Because such things are amusing to me.

I also walked into Kofuku for the first time without being dragged in by my mother. The increased amount of Totoro presence by the front, as well as quite audible Japanese pops music coming from down the stairs of the basement shop intrigued me enough to take a look. And while it was mostly women’s stuff, there was a strange section near the back with some otaku stuff. Like, Idolm@aster Fraulein figures and Ginga Tesudou 999 trading figures. I almost bought one of the 999 figures, but was too cheap to drop $3.95 on it. The most mind-blowing thing there was what appeared to be a Strike Freedom dakimakura. Because that’s exactly what you want to hug as you’re going to bed each night.

I also popped into Tokyo Kid for a few minutes. That old artbook filled with Ultraman and Gundam paintings was still sitting there, unsold. It’s been there ever since I got into Boston. If it’s still there when I graduate, I’m buying it. I saw it in Japan for roughly the same price, anyway.

Background music.

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How am I going to find time to read all these books in between sitting around and doing nothing, humping hug pillows and having delusions of grandeur about running a Shinbo panel at Anime Boston?

But there’s still some pictures.

Ever since I’ve returned to the US I’ve developed something of a shopping list of US releases that need to get picked up at one point or another. However, since I’m already under a backlog of DVDs and manga, these purchases are not of any high priority. That said, there is one thing I’ve been looking to purchase with a great amount of anticipation, and that is the US release of the Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu novel. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find neither the normal people version nor the otakukusai version anywhere I’ve looked. Until today, that is. While killing time in Borders, for some mystical, cosmic reason both the normal version and the cool dude version were just sitting there on the shelf. I of course bought the cool dude version without a second thought.

Boston isn’t Tokyo, so I can’t just hop on the train and be in Akiba in 30 minutes. Can’t do that here. I do however make the rounds of local bookstores and such to scout what’s out on the market, and it would seem that Yen Press is trying its hardest to weasel its way into my wallet, along with companies like Seven Seas (well, I actually just want Dance In The Vampire Bund) and–for ultimate contrast–Dark Horse and Viz Signature.

However, fresh out of Japan, American manga is just too fucking expensive. I’m really not ready to drop 10 dollars per volume on a series that isn’t even finished running in Japan, let alone the US. I did however get to the end of Trigun Maximum though… more on that in a later post, maybe.

Despite that whining, however, I able to drop 15 bucks on that Haruhi book with little hesitation, but that’s mostly due to this 20 dollar rebate card I got after buying some RAM for my laptop…