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Return of the doujinshi
Jun. 15th, 2015 11:21 pmI'm on the verge of finishing three longstanding projects, one of them the synopsis of that four-book Vheen Hikuusen doujin series I keep promising. I did, however, recently order another bunch of doujinshi, and while I've been putting this off because I feel guilty making the post without a VHM doujin synopsis up and running, I am about nothing if not taking on new business before old business is squared away. Therefore, first impressions after flipping through the following:
Phantasy Star ALL! 7 & 23: These books are part of what apparently is a yearly PS anthology doujinshi series spearheaded by one artist, and I had some trepidations about the art: the covers aren't that impressive, and doujin for lesser-known RPG series (for which, nowadays, PS would sadly qualify) don't typically attract strong artists. These books really exceeded my expectations, though: the art's actually pretty nice, and there's real effort put into the stories - #23 and its adorable cover feature mainly a comedy about the PS1 group meeting Hapsby & Dr. Luveno, while #7 consists mainly of quite a long story (40 pages) about the Laya-Orakio War. These are quality PS doujin from someone who really loves the universe, and I'll be going back for more eventually.
Bakuen Tengoku (Explosion Heaven): A lot of classic PS shorts in front, then a longer PSO-related (or maybe it's PS0-related; I can't tell them apart) story where Alis is hanging out & observing the proceedings. Chaotic but good-natured, with art that, depending on the contributor, is cute and/or dynamic. Worth picking up, like the PS ALL!! books.
The Strongest Queen Legend: A Baten Kaitos doujinshi, the only other one I could find. Art just OK, story not really standing out yet.
Koyoi, Dansu o Odorimashou (Come, Let Us Dance Tonight): Starting in on the Lunar doujinshi, this is another joint from Garden Garden, which is definitely the most prolific Lunar doujinshi circle, but also, probably, the most mediocre. Since Suruga-Ya had so much of their work, though, and since I was ordering a bunch of doujinshi anyway, I thought, hey, why not, and I chose the book with the most attractive & interesting cover. And I wasn't disappointed, for once! Jean's carnival troupe is putting on a musical about Mel's romance with the princess of Meribia, but the male lead hurts his leg; Jean, remembering Leo's turn as Mystere, tries to get him to sub in. As I've said, I've just flipped through it, but it's a Jean-Leo romance with lots of soft humor as he prepares for the role; it seems to take its time and be kind of soft & sweet.
Silver Star Fan Book: The SSS counterpart to EB anthology Garden Garden put out that I have, these Fan Books are part doujin collection, part fan survey. The doujin stories are of a bit better quality artwise and storywise than in the EB book (whose stories are all blech), but the real story is the fan survey, which boasts a couple interesting discoveries.
First (and this finding is backed up by the EB poll as well, where there's a huge voting disparity), Ghaleon is more popular with male fans in Japan than he is with female fans there. That's odd, given that he is, rather famously, "Lunar's only bishounen." From reading comments in both books, it seems that Ghaleon's major attraction for Japanese fans is that he has a "cool death" (in both instances, actually - someone in the SSS survey voiced admiration that he died for his principles: "that's a man's death"). That seems consistent with certain traditional beliefs regarding death in Japanese culture.
Second, the most popular character in Silver Star among Japanese fans in Arhes/Alex. The one character who doesn't speak. (Ghaleon is second.) But: among male fans, the most popular character is Nall. And yet almost no female fans voted for Nall. I can't parse that.
Kyle ended up the second most-popular when voting was restricted to male characters only. God almighty.
Love Parade: I ordered one of those "generic Lucia romance"-looking doujin out of curiosity, and it turned out to be largely an excuse to dress Lucia up in as many different outfits as possible. (Maid, swimsuit, PJs, & eyepatch, if you're wondering.) Also: Lucia discovers condoms.
Tsuki no Oukoku (Kingdom of the Moon): I picked this up because it seemed to be a book from a circle from which I'd previously ordered (through a deputy shipper) long ago when they were still up & running. The circle (which, confusingly, is also named "Tsuki no Oukoku") was not only the sole Lunar circle at the time still offering its doujin for sale but had also created a three-book, largely text-based series focusing on teenage Dyne and (not-teenage) Ghaleon. Anyhow: I initially thought the book I recently ordered was a previously-unknown Lunar doujin this circle had produced, but it's actually the "full" version of the first book in the teen-Dyne series - by the time I encountered the circle Way Back When, they'd sold out of this edition and were offering only the "copy book" version, with the text of the fanfic chapter only, minus the illustrations. I'm glad I got this, though, because the illustrations are nice. (Here and here are two of them, though there are better illustrations of TnK Ghaleon in the book - and it's heartwarming for me to see that character illustrated well.) I haven't read through the story completely yet, but someday. There's a scene near the end where Ghaleon heals a cut on Dyne's face by giving his cheek an almost unknowing caress that's stuck with me.
.
Phantasy Star ALL! 7 & 23: These books are part of what apparently is a yearly PS anthology doujinshi series spearheaded by one artist, and I had some trepidations about the art: the covers aren't that impressive, and doujin for lesser-known RPG series (for which, nowadays, PS would sadly qualify) don't typically attract strong artists. These books really exceeded my expectations, though: the art's actually pretty nice, and there's real effort put into the stories - #23 and its adorable cover feature mainly a comedy about the PS1 group meeting Hapsby & Dr. Luveno, while #7 consists mainly of quite a long story (40 pages) about the Laya-Orakio War. These are quality PS doujin from someone who really loves the universe, and I'll be going back for more eventually.
Bakuen Tengoku (Explosion Heaven): A lot of classic PS shorts in front, then a longer PSO-related (or maybe it's PS0-related; I can't tell them apart) story where Alis is hanging out & observing the proceedings. Chaotic but good-natured, with art that, depending on the contributor, is cute and/or dynamic. Worth picking up, like the PS ALL!! books.
The Strongest Queen Legend: A Baten Kaitos doujinshi, the only other one I could find. Art just OK, story not really standing out yet.
Koyoi, Dansu o Odorimashou (Come, Let Us Dance Tonight): Starting in on the Lunar doujinshi, this is another joint from Garden Garden, which is definitely the most prolific Lunar doujinshi circle, but also, probably, the most mediocre. Since Suruga-Ya had so much of their work, though, and since I was ordering a bunch of doujinshi anyway, I thought, hey, why not, and I chose the book with the most attractive & interesting cover. And I wasn't disappointed, for once! Jean's carnival troupe is putting on a musical about Mel's romance with the princess of Meribia, but the male lead hurts his leg; Jean, remembering Leo's turn as Mystere, tries to get him to sub in. As I've said, I've just flipped through it, but it's a Jean-Leo romance with lots of soft humor as he prepares for the role; it seems to take its time and be kind of soft & sweet.
Silver Star Fan Book: The SSS counterpart to EB anthology Garden Garden put out that I have, these Fan Books are part doujin collection, part fan survey. The doujin stories are of a bit better quality artwise and storywise than in the EB book (whose stories are all blech), but the real story is the fan survey, which boasts a couple interesting discoveries.
First (and this finding is backed up by the EB poll as well, where there's a huge voting disparity), Ghaleon is more popular with male fans in Japan than he is with female fans there. That's odd, given that he is, rather famously, "Lunar's only bishounen." From reading comments in both books, it seems that Ghaleon's major attraction for Japanese fans is that he has a "cool death" (in both instances, actually - someone in the SSS survey voiced admiration that he died for his principles: "that's a man's death"). That seems consistent with certain traditional beliefs regarding death in Japanese culture.
Second, the most popular character in Silver Star among Japanese fans in Arhes/Alex. The one character who doesn't speak. (Ghaleon is second.) But: among male fans, the most popular character is Nall. And yet almost no female fans voted for Nall. I can't parse that.
Kyle ended up the second most-popular when voting was restricted to male characters only. God almighty.
Love Parade: I ordered one of those "generic Lucia romance"-looking doujin out of curiosity, and it turned out to be largely an excuse to dress Lucia up in as many different outfits as possible. (Maid, swimsuit, PJs, & eyepatch, if you're wondering.) Also: Lucia discovers condoms.
Tsuki no Oukoku (Kingdom of the Moon): I picked this up because it seemed to be a book from a circle from which I'd previously ordered (through a deputy shipper) long ago when they were still up & running. The circle (which, confusingly, is also named "Tsuki no Oukoku") was not only the sole Lunar circle at the time still offering its doujin for sale but had also created a three-book, largely text-based series focusing on teenage Dyne and (not-teenage) Ghaleon. Anyhow: I initially thought the book I recently ordered was a previously-unknown Lunar doujin this circle had produced, but it's actually the "full" version of the first book in the teen-Dyne series - by the time I encountered the circle Way Back When, they'd sold out of this edition and were offering only the "copy book" version, with the text of the fanfic chapter only, minus the illustrations. I'm glad I got this, though, because the illustrations are nice. (Here and here are two of them, though there are better illustrations of TnK Ghaleon in the book - and it's heartwarming for me to see that character illustrated well.) I haven't read through the story completely yet, but someday. There's a scene near the end where Ghaleon heals a cut on Dyne's face by giving his cheek an almost unknowing caress that's stuck with me.
.
