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

Ok, what the fuck’s going on here? There have now been more than three separate occasions where I’ve seen Fluke’s (even if Fluke vectors doujin images, he credits the artist so he’s cool in my books) vectors of TimTimMachine’s work around AKB.

First Occasion

Ok, this actually wasn’t in AKB, but in Shibuya Mandarake. I also lack photo evidence (for obvious reasons), but bear with me, ok? While looking through cheap and bad doujin dakimakura I’d never buy (all the good stuff is the showcases) I came across a cover that was clearly just an older version of this vector.

It struck me as odd then. An anomaly. I don’t doubt that bootlegged anime goods exist in Japan (they exist in large numbers) but the fact that I knew both of the parties involved behind that imagery did spook me a bit.

Second Occasion

In the midst of some late-night AKB strolling, I wandered towards one of the shadier stores to check out their wares. Low and behold, I found (what looks like) a mini dakimakura, once again featuring another older version of this vector.

Third Occasion

This third run-in comes to us via Akiba Blog-san, but I do intend to check this out later myself. Long story short, some guy in the backstreets of AKB decided to make bootlegged oppai mouse pads. The imagery used is either appropriated fanart, or appropriated official imagery, but the Mikuru pad is–once again–a vector by Fluke based off of a TimTimMachine illustration. While the original can’t be found (a lot of the old vectors got lost in some site move, by the way) here’s a newer version. That’s an 18+ link, by the way.

I won’t be buying any of these since I don’t like bootlegged goods, even if official Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu dakimakura and oppai mouse pads are zero in number. Ok, so Animage did put out some low quality Haruhi dakimakura (one of which I have) but that’s it. Clearly if they want to get a one-up on these pirates, Kyoto Animation must act with official goods.

I’m waiting for that Mikuru dakimakura, you hear?

In order to convey the greatness of figures to more, let’s say, “normal” people, our buddy Danny Choo decided to hold (past tense, I believe it’s over) a figure display in hipster-haven Harajuku in an attempt to fulfill this goal. That was the Tokyo Figure Show. Near the end of the showing, he decided to throw a party, and me being who I am decided to attend.

I actually popped my head over to the display a few days before the party to take some photos without being surrounded by too many people. The figures on display covered a decent rage, but I noticed that posables–Figmas, Nendoroids, and the like–were clearly the favourite. Series wise, it skewed a lot towards Haruhi and Lucky Star, which makes perfect sense. The Figma of Danny’s mascot, Mirai, was on display, and it seemed pretty well made.

The party was pretty good. Since it was being held in what seemed like a display space sponsored by Vitamin Water, free Vitamin Water, as well as Vitamin Water cocktails were served for the low, low price of free. Danny’s actually a great MC–really funny, and does well to excite the crowd. There was one janken tournament for three Vocaloid figures, and afterwards he gave out free Petite Nendoroids to those who don’t already own figures. I asked if I could take one, and he said only if I write a report on this event.

But that’s not why I’m writing this report!

What I do want to write about are the two fascinating people I met there. The first one was a Japanese guy in his mid-30s who works for the figure site Amiami.com. It was neat talking to him because he was an oldschooler otaku, and he just happened to have lived in West Virginia of all places. It was pretty cool to hear his stories as a lone Japanese man in redneck country, but it was even more interesting drilling him for info about “The Good Old Days.” Had I known I was going to meet someone like this, I would have prepared questions, so I was kind of reduced to asking him about the general climate of fandom in the 80s and 90s, and what the popular shows were.

The most interesting thing I took from this conversation was his comments on fan culture then, and fan culture now. In the 80s and 90s, there wasn’t much in the way of licensed goods, so people had to make their own. As such, Comiket and Wonder Festival were born. Now-a-days there’s a ton of official merchandise, and it’s resulted in fans turning more into consumers, rather that creators. He also noted that otaku back-in-the-day had a more scholarly knowledge of their obsession, while people today don’t care as much. This is kind of the same story you hear when you talk to any older fans, but it was neat hearing it from an Actual Japanese Person.

The other person I met was Adrian Lozano, a frequent poster on the Macross World forums, as well as the behind-the-scenes man for the blog Otaku2. Talking with him was fun, even if our conversation just kind of degenerated into the strengths and weaknesses of Eva 2.0, and us talking about Colony Drop’s most dangerous contributor, Sean. He did weigh in with some interesting views of fanculture, as well as the way he’s changed as a fan over the years.

So yeah, overall it was a good time. A+++ would attend again. Probably needed more Vitamin Water cocktails.

Hey guys, maybe if the Pachinko game is successful they’ll make more Nadesico!!!

…yeah, right.

Shinjuku Tsutaya is truly a force to be reckoned with.

やっと終わりました。お疲れ様でした。

Now, if KyoAni really wants to win points with fans, next week’s episode will be the first episode of Endless Eight…

One thing I’ve been neglecting to do on this blog for the past couple of months is really expand upon my adventures in this great country. There’s a couple of reasons for this–one of them is that school was taking up a lot of my time, and another is that after a month or so Japan went from an amusement park of wonders to just where I live. It’s still a pretty cool place to live, though. So, with just over a week left here, I figure I’ll go back to the travelogue thing I started months ago, instead of railing on entitled douchebags who’ll never change their misguided ways.

So yeah, as the title suggests, today I went to Nakano Broadway for the billionth time. It was cloudy outside, but I wanted to get out of the house, so the best option was clearly to go into a contained, indoor otaku paradise!

I won’t really go into what makes Nakano an awesome experience–I’m saving that for a future post–but I will go into some of the things that I saw today, and tried desperately not to buy in my attempt to save money for Comic Market. Yesterday tempted me with too many cheap things that were too rare to pass up, and while that would seem more common in Nakano, I don’t feel especially horrible for passing up some of the stuff I saw today. Only a little horrible.

The stuff that hurt the most was a 1000 yen Tsukuyomi -MOONPHASE- setting book, and the Strike Witches OST at the cheapest I’ve ever seen it at 1500 yen. It hurts the most when stuff I never knew I wanted takes me by surprise, and at a great price to boot, but I don’t buy it. I don’t own any setting books. I have a general idea about what’s in them (I believe the animators use them for reference) and they seem interesting, but not interesting enough to risk not buying four doujinshi for that same price. Maybe if it was signed by Shinbo, or something…

I’ve also been looking for the Strike Witches OST at a decent price, and most places I’ve seen have had it for 2000 yen. That’s not entirely unreasonable, but 1500 yen for a CD is more my speed (unless it’s, like, Giant Robo OST 5.) I don’t even remember much about the Strike Witches OST beyond the fact that it was better than I expected it to be. Anyway, it’s not going anywhere. I’ll pick it up on my next trip to Japan. It’ll probably be cheaper then, too.

Along with stuff I actually really want to buy, Nakano has a wealth of stuff I’d buy if I was crazy. I guess it’s at this point that I’ll mention that Nakano Broadway is primarily Mandarake, and all of these old used things were found within its dark depths. Along with anime-related stuff, the Mandarake stores in Nakano carry a whole wealth of other stuff. As far as crazy, amazing stuff goes, my favourite Mandarake store in Nakano is the one right at the top of the stairs on the fourth floor. Today a giant statue of an old-style TV with MANDARAKE written on the front greeted me, along with a 200000 yen 1/1 statue of Kitaro from Ge Ge Ge No Kitarou, a naked headless mannequin, and a barber’s pole. This is Mandarake, motherfucker.

This store is composed completely of showcases, and within the showcases are old toys that could easily destroy one’s paycheck in one go. It’s mostly (if not all) stuff from the Showa era, and by the time you reach the wall at the end of the shop, it becomes less about toys from the Showa era and just stuff from the Showa era. Ever wanted a Tetsujin 28 chair? Yours for 10500 yen. Ever wanted those old school, metal たばこ signs? Better pony up a man or two. If I was rich and crazy, I’d buy all of this stuff and decorate my mansion with it. Good thing I’m just crazy.

Today I took the time to look at stores I hadn’t really noticed on previous trips. One store I came upon was an awesome t-shirt store, and I’m surprised I hadn’t seen it until now. My favourite there was probably a shirt with the Nike logo on it, but instead of Nike, NEET was written in huge letters in its place. Right underneath that it read, “NO MONEY. NO JOB.” That’s a good shirt to wear to a job interview. In fact, all of them were. I guess they weren’t as good as the Hayami Jun shirts in Taco Che, though. Those’ll really guarantee you a job. Especially one working with children.

Also, Google Hayami Jun. Then Uziga Waita. And do it at work. With your boss looking.

At some point I went into a not-Mandarake toy shop. They weren’t selling much of note, but what was coming through the speakers sure was groovy. It was Ocean Blue Sky Orange by Capsule. If the guy behind the counter would only have looked up from his laptop for two seconds, he would have noticed me groovin’ to it while looking at a 200 yen figure of a Guncannon with half of its fist missing.

I think on the second floor or something there’s a kind-of-sort-of-maybe shady “Maid Massage Parlor.” I’m sure it’s legit, but what was funny about this was that while I was looking at prices, PERHAPS CONTEMPLATING ENTERING, (I mean, it’s 2000 yen for a “quickie.” Totally not sex tourism!) I sensed another person’s ki from right behind me. I took a look, and it was another man examining the prices. Typical Japanese salary man. We exchanged an awkward look for about a second or two and moved on. It was pretty cool.

The last thing of note that I saw today was a display for Summer Wars. At first I couldn’t tell it apart from the Murakami Takashi display that used to be there, because it kind of looked… exactly the same. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll try to see Summer Wars before I go back to America. It’s by the Tokikake team and has sexy Sadamoto designs! I can’t really get a good reading as to what the plot may be, and the super flat shit present in it really makes me weary.

I seriously hope there isn’t some giant statue of a naked masturbating dude in the movie, or something.

There’s this guy living in my guest house. In fact, he may be reading this right now. Anyways, on Friday nights I usually come back home with takeout for dinner. Sometimes I come back with something from Mos Burger. This guy will typically have made some impressive feast of meats and vegetables for himself for dinner that night. I’ll compliment him on how good his food looks while holding my Mos Burger bag, and he always replies with, “Yeah, but…”

“…YOU HAVE MOS BURGER”

I imagine the scene at the post office will play out something like this.

Comedy Dr. Strangelove option.

I know THE FIRST THING that’s coming to your mind is, “But wah, you already own that Kaede figure.” And to this quite understandable query, I will reply with this–that Kaede figure was the first PVC I ever got, and as such I didn’t know how to take care of it, so I left it in the sun for an extended period of time, and it got bent up. I tried to fix it up, but my mortal hands can only do so much. I saw the same figure in Mandarake for 1200 yen, so I figured I may as well buy it.

With that matter taken care of, I bet you are now wondering, “But wah, you don’t like Rei! Why do you have a figure of her in a bikini?” Well, see, my friend found that figure on the street. Literally. Standing straight up on the street, right out side of club Sega. I offered him 1000 yen for it.

Her tummy is soft!

June 27th, 2009 certainly was a great day for our beloved Evangelion. In addition to the release of a spectacular new movie, that awesome Rei glass I’ve wanted for years also finally came in the mail…

While doing my grocery shopping, I tried my best to fine a suitably orange-coloured drink with which to fill this glass. Orange Qoo wasn’t going to cut it–too yellow. I had to shoot for something more expensive. Itoen Mango Mix Fruit Juice seemed just perfect.

The taste? Not that great, I guess. The drink was at that point not chilled for long enough, and some soap probably got in there since I had to wash the glass right before using it. But that’s not the glass’s fault, now is it! I plan to use this quite regularly. More so than my Witch Hunter Robin shot glass!

WHAT I DIDN’T PAY 1200 DOLLARS JUST FOR TWO TICKETS I WANT MY MONEY BACKSL:KFLKSDJGNLKDJLVKDJBV<LSDLKVXBV<Dv,vdx

oh

It took a while, but the posters have finally found their way onto my wall. I was hesitating at first, mostly because I wasn’t sure if the tape would stick well to the rather soft walls, but once that one poster went up, the rest kind of followed. While that Strike Witches poster has yet to fall, others have. I can’t say for sure, but I think I’ve finally found a way to keep the falling posters down the minimum. They wake me up at night, you know!

You may notice posters from older shows around–I bought a 2005 issue of Megami a while back for a Tsukuyomi poster, and it just happened that there were other posters that I liked, so I decided to stick them up as well.