7 posts tagged “ero”

I got a delivery in the mail consisting of a few ero comics and doujinshi from Japan. Here's a collage, visible if you're "friends and family" with me on Vox.

They all arrived in a stack of boxes taped together. Hitomi and I use a shipping service which will combine together different shipments of, well, whatever, and put the books into a single shipment. Hitomi got clothes for Ariel's wedding, freeze dried soup mix, CDs, etc.

It's my 32rd today.

Today I spent some of the day shopping and preparing for tomorrow. Hitomi will hopefully figure out the remainder shopping and I'll take care of the cake etc. in the morning. There's a bit of cooking and whatnot I'll have to take part in.

One of the things I'm getting for my Birthday, although more coincidentally than because of it, are comics. Comics like this. This one is incidentally titled Birthday:

Aki Con, November 7-9, 2008
Hitomi, AKA ochawan

Hitomi and I attended a new anime convention in Everett, Washingon: Aki-con. A first year convention is not without problems, but mostly it went okay.

Unlike most anime conventions it was put on (so I hear) by a number of dealers, meaning it was a for-profit venture. With a handful of staff and many volunteers, they managed to hold a convention that was fairly well attended. Maybe 500 people came? Ironically, for a for-profit venture, the oddest thing was door security was non-existent as it seemed nobody cared if you had a badge or not to enter any room. Further, none of the video rooms or panel rooms had security or staff in them. Video equipment was attached using plastic zip ties to wire cages. My 18 year old+ panel on erotic comics had no door security.

Yes, I did put together an hour panel--really a presentation--on ero-manga. Hitomi helped out, though she pretty much hates ero stuff, by putting together a "mix" of j-pop music on her iPod to liven things up. I can't say it was well attended, though a few people did wonder in and some stuck around. It was an introduction to some of the styles, authors, and common stories of adult Japanese comics. I brought out some of my "bizzare" books, which stories range from off-the-wall funny to cruel and unpleasant. Since I had no projector, I simply talked about each title, then passed them out for people to look through. I was a little worried about books disappearing, but Hitomi was my little helper.

Since it was a for-profit convention, I guess that none of the Sakura-con staff really wanted to help. They usually help with local events and the smaller Kumori-con in Portland. I didn't see many familar faces working staff or volunteering, except for "Big Chris", a big black guy who was working security, and who we run into regularly at local conventions. (He gets lots of hugs from everyone it seems.) And Hitomi and I met Roy and "Yuki". Yuki, who works in Japanese Guest Relations, got herself involved with helping this local band, "Soul Candy".

Actually, one of Yuki's friends was performing with a band "Soul Candy". Her friend sure had had a lot of gripes about Aki-con, since that's all she did. I tried pointing out that pretty much every convention I've been to since Anime Expo 1997 has had its share of disorganization and troubles. It was her opinion that attendees having a bad experience at one local convention will discourage attendees from going to another convention, but it seemed most people were having a good time anyway.

Will I attend next year? I suppose so, especially if Hitomi's wearing some of the great outfits she had this year.

Bad times: Iowa collector faces up to 20 years in prison for possession of ero manga, or more specifically ero manga depicting minors. Seems unlikely any charges would stick, but looks like a big legal hassle for him.

Aki Con summary: Yes, a new fledgling anime convention, conveniently six months or so away from Sakura-con. I can visualize it now: Hitomi and I in some conference room, on metal hotel chairs laced together, catching up on fansub anime. Since the convention is in November, I won't feel so bad about staying indoors all day.

I anticipate the the usual convention screw-ups: Late seating, underestimation of panel and event space, registration problems, video and audio trouble, and last-minute cancelations and schedule changes. I would consider all of these issues canonical for any anime convention, but doubly so for a first year convention. Likely, the convention is being run from veteran staffers from Sakura-con, so I would expect fewer problems.

Thinking about a convention in Everett, brings back memories of driving to Sakura-con when it too was in Everett. This was back when we weren't staff. We have those pictures someplace in our photo album: Was it 2001? Naturally, we met a lot of staff, since staff not attendees were are age, and these relationships helped get us staff positions later on.

For this convention, I'm considering running some panels or a panel, maybe one on ero-manga with possibly a literary criticism approach to the medium. Or a panel on living in Japan, though for me it was a relatively long time ago, still I have a couple of interesting anecdotes to share, and being married to a fellow otaku is interesting. There's also tons of old shows that me and an audience could make fun of. Still, I keep fairly up-to-date on my ero, much more than anime or manga in general these days. Hideki (fellow Sakura-con staffer) could also run an adjunct panel on bishojo games (adult dating simulations.)

I'm guessing Hitomi and I are sure to go, if only because what else is there to do in November?

New thought: I hope Hitomi keeps available whatever goth-loli outfit she wears for Halloween ready for the following weekend for this convention.

Last week's weather was a mixed bag. I got out kayaking once, then it was warm, cold again.

Ero picture. I got a poster of the following manga cover framed and Hitomi does not want it appearing in the bedroom. I thought it was cute.

Bicycling on Saturday: Froze my feet and hands and face going on one of Gary's rides. It was close to 30 degrees. I do remember riding in the snow in Japan, but somehow it seemed colder than that. Several people fell on the ice.

Later that day, we hosted a party for some guest relations people. Hitomi and I were cleaning and running around buying stuff. It was pretty low key. We watched some old anime, including Urusei Yatsura, where Mendou's sister Ryoko hosts a Christmas party. Plot summary: "Ryoko invites the main cast to a X-mas party and holds a contest that involves everyone being paired off in a race to climb a 200 meter tall Christmas tree." At the end, since nobody manages to make it to the top, she launches it off into space like a rocket.

Hitomi's show in Bellingham: Cold and quiet show. Not a lot of people interested in children's wear, perhaps because there aren't too many "Indie" parents? Coordinator shut down the show one hour early.

Today, I walked into a frame shop called U-Frame It and forked over $400 for some custom framing for four pieces. Ranging from matted with anti-glare, anti-UV glass down to some less expensive choices I really got a variety of work done.

Well not done, but at least paid for. I'll be going back to the store in a few weeks to assemble the art with the frames, glass, backing, etc.

One piece I got for my birthday (five months ago) and will have finally above my work desk. The print was by James Hardman. I visited his gallery on Orcas Island, in the tiny hamlet of Olga, with my family back in springtime. As a Mother's Day gift, we traveled together to Orcas Island and stayed in Eastsound, and when we weren't bicycling, ate meals together. The gallery there has a restaurant where we had brunch. So, since Hitomi and I seemed found of this artist, for my birthday Tim and Mom bought me a print of his.

The frames James Hardman had for his work were a little too decorative and distracting. Tim and Mom bought the print unframed, thinking that I could find a more suitable frame. What I picked out was a fairly plain black frame with a warm gray mat.

The second piece of art was a sumi-e work by some Japanese artist and purchased a few years back when Hitomi traveled to Japan on her own. It's original art done in color inks with a brush, not a print, but essentially mass-produced by, I guess, working fast, so that the product cost is low. I picked out a gold frame, with no mat, with kind of a rustic speckled texture.

The third piece Hitomi and I picked up from an artist at Anime Expo, basically from some artist in an artist group that does hip, pop-culture work. Think cute and violent. The art, a print, was printed on an adhesive sticker (plastic) and so the thought was to hang it possible the bathroom. As plastic, it probably is impervious to moisture. The manager and I had a difficult time finding an appropriate mounting technique. Eventually, we settled on sticking it on a foam board, cutting it, then framing the foam board. But the artist at Anime Expo had it applied to a canvas board directly as a sticker, but then the shop manager didn't think that would be very clean.

The last work I waited before the kids left the store to whip out. I got a number of comics in Japan, one ero comic was sold at Tachibana Shoten with a poster. Essentially, the themes of the comic are: moe', girls with glasses, and girls with short hair. Plus, the usual copious amounts of body fluids. The poster is essentially of the manga cover done in a tall, narrow format.

The manager was an old guy who acted very serious and detached, so I wasn't sure how he'd react to it. He helpfully explained how he was accustomed to seeing X-rated Japanese posters. I'm not sure what realm those posters fell into. But in any case, he helped me pick out a suitable frame and glass. I picked a whitish, wood frame. Hitomi told me not to hang this sort of "disgusting" art outside of the bedroom, so that's where it will go.

In a few weeks whenever the backlog is cleared, I'll drive over to the store, assemble the art and glass in frame, put on backing paper, screws for wire hangers, etc.