In which I read and buy too much manga for another year. Seriously running out of space here.
Manga
Things have been quiet on this blog, but this month’s Manga Moveable Feast has nudged my lazyass brain enough to make me want to contribute. Hosting this month is @ProfessorBlind over at Rocket Bomber. I’m usually talking to him about food and beer or remembering “fondly” my old indie bookstore days. Currently, I am inspiring him to write an super unhealthy cookbook which will sell a billion copies during Father’s Day.
Anyway, the subject for today is Appetizers Wednesday–”The Manga My Best Friend Lent Me That Got Me Into Manga.” And seriously, just now I was going to be all, “ha, I got into manga on my own,” when my creaky memory was all, “Nope, nope.”
Since vendors tend to go all out for SDCC, I thought I’d post some pics from some of the booths (both inside the Exhibit Hall and outside in surrounding areas). However, I don’t have a pic of the infamous Hobbit trolls since I there was a huge line and everyone wanted to pose with them. Eff that.
I also used to have a picture of the exhibit hall on preview night up there, but I took it down for copyright reasons. Instead there is a completely accurate and realistic drawing by me of what the exhibit hall looks like.
Last weekend was the last and biggest con of the year that I attend: San Diego Comic Con.
(note: sorry for extremely crappy picture quality. I was usually sitting in the back using maximum zoom)
Vertical brings Japan’s outrageously popular Drops of God (Kami no Shizuku) to the US, featuring two brothers battling over their father’s inheritance by finding the 12 Apostles of wine and the mysterious Drops of God.
Due to ALA being the week before AX and SDCC coming up in a week, I really restricted my spending this year.
The Los Angeles convention center isn’t really set up properly for Anime Expo. There are too many choke points, and people are too dumb and inconsiderate when it comes to taking pictures. For example, taking pictures in front of the stairs is bad. Taking pictures across a hallway instead of along the hallway is bad. Trying to take pictures in the exhibit hall aisles is bad. All of this makes me want to punch people (I actually did shove one person because he kept backing up into me to take his picture). It also makes me not really want to take pictures. I did manage to get a small handful after I parked Malvitas off to the side in West Hall, and he took a nap after instructing me to get pictures of hot shirtless men (I did not follow his instructions).
Last month, I made a post with my thoughts on Right Stuf (TRSI) venturing into Print on Demand with Tokyopop (TP), starting with the Hetalia series. I was curious to see what the quality would be like for myself, so I ordered volume 1 of TRSI’s Hetalia, even though I already have TP’s volume. This is an overview of the differences. This is not a review on the content of Hetalia vol. 1.
(p.s. Sorry for the picture quality. I need a new camera, and my apartment is not lit for good pictures)
Basically what going to a convention feels like. Nerd flu abounds!
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I don’t think I got nerd flu this con. *knock on wood* However, one of my friends did! It’s pretty much inevitable, when you’re surrounded by people where washing hands and taking baths is optional, and people will glomp you (i.e., violently hug you, frequently without your permission).
I did get much cooler stuff though, although not nearly as much as I usually do. I was somewhat hampered by the knowledge I was flying back, so nothing that I wouldn’t be able to fit in my already crowded suitcase.
I love cosplay. Haven’t done it for a long time though, since my main cosplay buddy first moved across the country for several years, and now that she’s back, she had that absolute gall to get pregnant right in time for con season. Oh well. Maybe next year. She said her baby will be cosplaying as Gir from Invader Zim. This was as much as I cosplayed, with the Utena Rose Seal from Right Stuf for ordering all three Utena DVD sets through them.
I went and posted the cosplayers I managed to get pics of, along with an image of the actual characters, for my less geeky readers. 
(I am bad at the computer language and I actually had this done earlier, and then when I hit save, it reformatted everything and made a HUGE JUMBLED MESS. The only way to make it look like it originally did was to use a bunch of code, which I am not good at. So I had to MS Paint everything and hopefully it’s not horrid.)
