My Comiket 76 loot arrived last week ^^. For the uninitiated, Comic Market (Comiket) is biyearly doujinshi event. The most recent event, C76, took place on August 14-16. Read on for more info and pretty pics.
While it is named Comic Market, there’s actually a lot more than just fan-produced manga presented. Personally, I’m only interested in doujinshi artworks which is what you see in the above photo.
Most of the items sold at Comiket are exclusive and printed in limited quantities. For those us not in the land of the rising sun, Yahoo! Japan Auctions are the best place to find Comiket goods after the event. We just have to use deputy services to get the goods to us… Adds a bit to the cost >_<
There were too many pages for me to scan completely so I’ve chosen a few from each collection that appealed most. Chances are that all full scans of these books are available somewhere online if you’re really interested ^^. Now on to the goodies!
アリスと不思議な幻想世界/Alice in Wonderland by FancyFantasia (Ueda Ryo)
First up is the third installation of Alice in Wonderland by Ueda Ryo, one of my favorite artists, under his FancyFantasia circle. Ueda basically provides his personal perspective on the Alice in Wonderland characters with much success. The characters are quite attractive and their outfits are cute (when they’re wearing them ;)). Just kidding, there isn’t any real nudity here ^^. 18 pages of full color goodness.
Blossom Colors Celeste by Tinkle
Tinkle’s latest doujinshi offering. Tinkle is a pretty popular artist and for good reason. Her art is addictively cute and her character outfit designs are detailed and inspired enough for her own clothing line (as Stripey could attest). There are 3 massive page-spread illustrations and 3 single page illustrations. Sadly it is rather short at just 14 pages but makes up for it with beautifully huge A4 sized illustrations.
Oh, can’t forget about the huge, semi-transparent poster that came with this artbook. It came in a nice paper pouch and would be suitable for display on a wall. It is pictured in the photo at the beginning of this post. There were other goods Tinkle sold at C76; a dakimakura if I recall but I didn’t get it due to the high cost.
Re: by Closet Child
Ah, Closet Child. Another favorite circle of mine. Closet Child members Koneo Ototsugu and Asaki Yuzuno have a wonderful style with darker colors and appealing character outfits. Unfortunately, I can’t tell the two artist’s works apart very easily but I believe all the illustrations in Re: are by Konoe Ototsugu. This is a collection of his works from 2005-2009. So while not all of the illustrations are new, they’re all excellent :). 27 pages in full color.
Dmyotic 5.0 by Snow Ring (Dmyo)
Dmyotic is the self-titled doujinshi series by Korean artist Dmyo. As you can guess by the name, this is the 5th full entry in the Dmyotic series and I haven’t missed one yet. My only complaint about this iteration of Dmyotic is the disappointing length. Just 14 color pages, a few of which have older illustrations. Dmyotic 4.0 in comparison was 22 full color pages. Ah well, it’s still Dmyo and the art that is here is as beautiful as ever ^^.
Oops, I named the files dmyotic4 by mistake >_<
K-ON! 放課後フォトグラフ/K-ON! Houkago Photograph by Mizukichan Club (Goto-P)
Some of my first encounters with anime art were done by the master known as Goto-P. He’s been around quite a while and while his art style has improved visibly over the years, his work has always been a favorite of mine. This is my first Goto-P doujinshi. I do own a few of his published artbooks but he has not released any published collections (that I know of) in a while. So I decided to grab this 18 page K-ON! book by Mizukichan Club (Goto-P’s circle). Presented as a collection of photographs, all the girls are here except Azunya. Notice how she is missing from a lot of fan art? I would personally prefer her over Mio but that’s just me ;)
5年 memorial by Afterschool of the 5th Year (Kantoku)
Well, this is the first item I’ve gotten by Kantoku. While I like Kantoku’s work, I’ve been satisfied with with digital versions up until now. I’m not good at resisting big collections and that’s exactly what 5年 memorial is. It’s much closer to an official artbook than the normal Comiket fare. Clocking in a 54 pages, it’s chock full of pretty pictures dating back to 2005 along with a few brand new illustrations. Also, all but the last 3 pages are in color ^^
Came with a fan and a pencil board (seen in the photo at the beginning of the article).
Neko Works 01 by Neko Works (Sayori)
Sayori has been a favorite favorite Internet artist of mine for the past couple years and now I get to own her art in a physical form ^^. Sayori art is recognizable by its clean, uniform look. Sayori is actually a Chinese artist and I believe Neko Works 01 is her first Comic Market doujinshi so I was lucky to get a hold of it. Actually, I wasn’t able to get one from the actual event but did snag a copy from Toranoana. Good thing I acted quick too because it now seems to be sold out. 24 pages of full color goodness.
Neko Paradise by Neko Works
Yep, another Neko Works doujinshi ^^. This one is actually more like a short manga with a few full page illustrations thrown in at the beginning. The manga is quite NSFW so I have not included any scans from it ^^; The manga is about two cat girls, Chocola and Vanella, that help out at the shop for their owner. They’re a bit naughty while he is out ^^; Anyway, the greeting in the book says it is a collaboration with another artist named ideolo. Ideolo did some full page illustrations of a new character named Caramell, but aside from that I don’t know what his/her involvement was. 24 full color pages.
Ryo Ueda Toho Art Collection by FancyFantasia (Ueda Ryo)
Now here is highlight of my C76 stash ^^. Another release by Ueda Ryo but his Toho Art Collection is in a different league than most Comiket items. It’s as close as to published artbook quality as it can get. The book is hardcover with a nice semi-transparent obi. Open it up and you get 60 thick, beautiful pages of A4 sized illustrations. Like Tinkle’s Celeste, there are some full page-spread illustrations for ogling but unlike Celeste’s portrait layout, these illustrations are in massive landscape format. They were originally illustrations for stick posters which explains their unique proportions. I included a scan of one to show the sheer size of the images. They’re really amazing. Anyway, this book is comprised of, you guessed it, Touhou works by Ueda going back to C70 (2006). A stunning collection of illustrations that I’m very glad I was able to obtain ^^.
曹達色えほん/Soda Color Picture Book by WNB (Mako Tatekawa)
Last but certainly not the least is Soda Color Picture Book by WNB. Something I found interesting about the title is that 曹達 (written souda) actually means soda as in baking soda. I wonder if the Japanese borrowed the word and just assigned some kanji to it. Normally borrowed foreign words are written in katakana.
Anyway, about the actual book… it’s yet another color picture book by WNB, specifically Mako Tatekawa. WNB seems to put out a new book like this at every event. There are many other えほん books and I have a few of them and while the art is superb there are too many for me to collect all the older ones >_< This book is 20 pages and is full color.
I have to say that this cover image is by far my favorite from this book. Yeah, I know she’s dressed as a nazi but, man, is she is hot ^^.
Thanks for viewing! ^^