Last week's World Hobby Fair and Comic Treasure

(tags event, Osaka, Comic Treasure, World Hobby Fair, Maison Ikkoku, Yuiko Tokumi)

Last Sunday (2009-01-18), I headed out to Osaka (from Kobe, a 30 minute excursion) to attend some game and hobby events.

The first one was Comic Treasure 13 at the site I now associate with otaku-ism, Intex Osaka. It was in a huge room new to me. Once I paid my entrance fee of 700 yen and walked in with the catalog on my head, I felt like I stepped into Comic Market. Masses of people everywhere, tables running up and down the whole space. Except that this was only one day, at one-third the size, and in Osaka. Still, running up and down the booths and trying to avoid people's expectant stares (buy my goods I slaved over for days), bumping into criss-crossing otaks with their bags filled with paper goodies, it was just a waste of time. Yes a waste of time! Because I didn't buy anything and there was nothing I really wanted. I could go for the doujinshi that rips off my favorite animes or characters in very naughty ways but yeah, no. I wanted to see if there was doujin games to buy but I didn't find anything I wanted. Sure there was a shmup or two, but just opening the wallet to start the ball rolling was just not happening. 

And as far as Aoi Nishimata was concerned, I saw some fans with her goods leaving the area just as I arrived at 12:00. Obviously she's gone, and her goods were gone as well.

So I left with nothing new in hand. I ripped the catalog to take a picture of the cover, then I disposed of the catalog at the site. Never again. Well, never again unless I do my homework.

I moved on to World Hobby Fair at the Osaka Kyocera Dome. It was just a couple of stations away, but the atmosphere was totally different. Instead of individuals to dodge, I had to thread whole family units. At least, the average height of the attendees was lower, so I could see farther, ha.

Again, most of the items on display were not in my sights. Of course there was the Pokemon area, and I picked up some things (which were the same as last time, so...) Mainly it was the card games, toy gimmicks such as some spinning top thing with robots, etc. Nintendo was there of course with their white booths and conservatively dressed campaign girls. That Wii Cheer game which is finally getting the Japanese domestic release had a presence with girls in cheerleader outfits. I was interested in the game for the new gaming experience (hey I'm the one who actually bought Para Para Paradise for the PS2), but I couldn't compete with the literal kiddies waiting to play. Gotta keep up appearances while attending a World Hobby Fair.

I then spotted the Cospa booth. I wasn't attracted to the new new stuff which was Hayate no Gotoku, etc, stuff from this decade. The stuff that grabbed me was the Rumiko Takahashi related goods. Like this Maison Ikkoku shirt:

The booth sign said half off on the goods, but I got charged full price for this S size shirt. 2980 yen. :-/ This is Osaka, man, assert the haggle spirit and at least ask about the half-off sign. Sorry, I was timid.

Also I noticed that the sizes were SS, S, and M. Usually the shirt sizes from Cospa are M, L, XL. Makes me wonder if this was aimed for the parents who wanted to use their kids as billboards for their favorite memories. hyuk hyuk, guffaw.

Lastly, the thing that made me glad to brave the Osaka Winter and masses of cannon fodder, is pictured above. The parent company of Sunday (the comic?) announced a Hayate no Gotoku trading card game, and one of the promotions was the card above. I'm not interested in the card game or even Hayate no Gotoku (though I did throughly enjoy the 52-episode anime). But check it, it's a Yuiko Tokumi illustration!!! They weren't merely handing it out, I had to play a simple matching card game (like Memory) to win it. Well the odds to win were probably 100% percent (uncover 4 cards, two at a time, and if the two cards have the same character (in my case, Hinagiku), win the card), if one has any sort of short-term memory skill. The rules for the game were not written anywhere, so I was my timid, unsure self and I didn't bother getting in the 20-minute wait line, up until the last minute (I was literally second-to-last in line when they closed) when I found some courage in the question "what could go wrong anyway?" Geez.

So yeah, Yuiko Tokumi stuff. Like the weekend before when I got her calendar, twice. It's a given. This was totally random and I was not totally expecting it, so I was pretty happy.

The rest of the day was a blur, but I distinctly remember wanting to buy Prince of Persia 2008 for the Xbox 360, because the late reviews were giving this game some good feel. But I didn't buy because of price and lack of scheduled free time. Maybe next time.