dormcat's cubicle, Blogger division

Dang, I just realized that I haven't 1) posted links to photos of PF12 day two 2) updated my blog for almost two months! For the past month, poor weather and busy day job kept me away from taking outdoor photographs. Anyway, digital photos of PF12 day two are here and film photos are here , respectively.

Photographs of PF12 day 1 have been organized. At first I was about to sort them out on the same day, but there was a memorable moment on Saturday, a friends' meeting on Sunday, and a wedding feast on Monday night, delaying the process till now. So what exactly was that "memorable moment?" It is now well circulated on the web; for the lesser informed, the picture above has the hint: Aya-chan (cosplaying Tianzi-sama from Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 at right) accepted the wedding proposal from her boyfriend right at PF12; to be specific, not in the costume above, but as Haruko Akagi from Slam Dumk , while his boyfriend cosplayed Hanamichi Sakuragi. The secrecy was kept tightly and she had no idea at all; when she realized what was going on she broke into tears in joy. It was a pity that I wasn't there witnessing the moment of truth. Other pictures are available at her web diary . Aside from the Slam Dunk group, I thought this Athena Glory from Aria pict...

Click here for the photo album. The weather of the second day was much better; not only the temperature rise up, it even became sunny (despite only occasionally), and I brought my Konica Auto S1.6 film camera with me. Unfortunately the film would not be developed until this Thursday (sigh). When taking the picture above, I only knew this pretty girl was cosplaying a character from Touhou Project but didn't know exactly who she was. Instead, I was attracted by the camera she held: a Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro. As a supporter of Fujifilm, I seldom see female using this camera, let alone using it for cosplaying (too bad it was not her camera either; she borrowed it just for posing). After looking up Wikipedia, I am now certain that she was cosplaying Aya Syameimaru (射命丸 文), first appeared in Touhou Kaeidzuka ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View. Being a paparazzi reporter, S3 Pro fits her character perfectly, but I'd say Tamron 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 would be much more useful than Nikko...

Click here for the photo album. The weather of FF15 / CWT24 this year was the coldest one I had ever encountered; a strong cold front brought the temperature below 10 degree Celsius. I had to wear my thickest feather jacket when I return to Taipei on Friday. While Saturday morning was not as cold as Thursday and Friday, cosplayers were fewer than previous events; lighting was far from satisfactory either. Tiger × Dragon groups were the most prominent among grouped cosplayers (four or more groups), probably because of the Year of Tiger; SOS-dan, which had been dominating cosplaying for the past few years, were significantly reduced. By the way, it would be fun if the three cosplayers in the picture above showed up at Rie Kugimiya's autograph session at Taipei International Book Exhibition. While it's cold outside (literally and figuratively), it was a complete chaos within the stadium: due to the events were held after the Chinese New Year, many young people have extra cas...

Three weeks have passed since the end of Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) 2010. Due to some personal factors I haven't had my album organized and uploaded, and I feel terribly sorry to cosplayers and friends whom I promised to give photos to. This time I tried to use the built-in Flash direct linkage to my album at Yam, but it was buggy and could only display resized pictures using Internet Explorer, not with Firefox, forcing me to re-upload the title picture to Photobucket. For larger pictures (960 x 720 pixels) please click here . A cosplayer stole our attention: " yakiisis " (Naruto Uzumaki in the picture above) from the invited cosplay circle " 304 " which came all the way from Hangzhou. Her "Nobody Dance" (for the uninitiated: it came from Wonder Girls ) was not only well-memorized, but each beat was full of strength and speed, yet her body figure remained soft and flexible. Since she has "dancing" as a skill in her personal p...

More than three weeks have passed since the first wave of publicized guests of honor of Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE), and we've got some new updates: Kazuo Umezu, master of horror manga, will visit TIBE 2010 and hold an autograph session. d/books taipei has posted "Range Murata 2010 Combo Pack," thus confirming their role in inviting Murata. Coincidentally, Mardock Scramble , a novel by Tow Ubukata and was planned to be animated with Murata's character designs four years ago and meant to be the 15th anniversary of GONZO , later canceled abruptly in December 2006, was miraculously resurrected as a theatrical movie . I wonder if Murata still taking parts in the new movie edition. Update: Line art of a "China-dress girl" illustrated by Murata exclusively for TIBE 2010. Mighty Media has licensed Pandora Heart and CANAAN but didn't bother to announce at their own official website. Rather, their related merchandises are on sale now. ...

Due to various reasons, I didn't have enough time to sort out cosplayer pictures taken during Comic Exhibition Taipei 2009 until yesterday. Now they can be found at this album (including two members of Taipei City Council).

I managed to reach there on the third day, yet I still couldn't catch the autograph session of Yūko Aoki, author of Victorian Rose Tailor (sigh). While I haven't read Victorian Rose Tailor personally, judging from the introduction (and title) it's a classical romantic story with lots of detailed descriptions on formal dress and gown. Cosplaying readers posed with Aoki-sensei in the picture above. Similar to yesterday, there was only one autograph session in the afternoon, which was of Hideaki Fujii, author of Battle Spirits: Shōnen Toppa Version . This is a multi-platform merchandise that has two anime and a card game; the first anime version has been licensed by Muse Communication; however, it's a pity that due to limited time Muse couldn't release its first DVD at Comic Exhibition. The card game has been licensed, and a tournament was held. Fujii-sensei was asked to present the award to the best three players. The reason Fujii-sensei became a mangaka was quite...

My second day was far worse than the first: due to a sudden mission, my planned schedule was completely screwed and couldn't even allow me to go to the convention hall; all interviewing and photography opportunities were lost. I could only compensate with press release photographs. The first autograph session was illustrator and character designer Akemi Takada. Her Urusei Yatsura , Maison Ikkoku , and Pierrot's Magical Girl series (notably Magical Angel Creamy Mami ) were all masterpieces. Takada-sensei volunteered to donate an artwork for charity auction; the revenue will be donated to flood relief efforts. Chinese Comic Publishers Association (CCPA), organizer of Comic Exhibition Taipei, immediately coordinated all foreign and domestic guests to join the effort, with unanimous positive reply. In fact, back in March 2000 when Takada-sensei visited Taiwan for the first time, she donated an artwork for 921 Earthquake, which was sold for a stunning NT$280,000. The price of the ...

The first event I could cover was the autograph session of Katsumi Nishino, author of Kanokon novel. Before the autograph session started, I took the opportunity to ask a few questions to Nishino-sensei. Q: Kanokon has two female protagonists, and Chizuru is older (human-age speaking) than Kōta; why did you design such background setting? A: Personally, I prefer girls slightly elder than myself, and I thought "it would be great if a girl like Chizuru can be at my side." Q: Do you think yourself are similar to the male protagonist (Kōta) in some way? A: Not at all, but I really envy him. Q: Do you have a specific preference to girls with kemonomimi (animal ears)? A: Yes! I like kemonomimi very much, and that's why I wrote the story in this way. Q: Fans of your book are divided: some want you to stop this "suggestive" style of writing, yet the other want you write in a more erotic manner. What is your personal opinion on this and how will you continue wr...

Muse Communication has released its acquisition of six new anime titles before Comic Exhibition Taipei 2009: Maria Holic, Hetalia - Axis Powers, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Battle Spirits: Shōnen Toppa Version, Yatterman (not sure which version), and Vampire Knight. Information about Muse's booth, video products, discounts, special events, and related merchandises can be found here .

A small collection of cosplayers and other event photographs of Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) 2009 can be found here . Unlike Fancy Frontier, Petit Fancy, or CWT, there were very few cosplayers at TIBE. While the quality of cosplaying contests was very high, the atmosphere just couldn't compare to dōjin events.

Top-Insight International has also announced its official web page of events and merchandises during Comic Exhibition Taipei 2009. However, the index page seems to be incomplete, yet " hot merchandise " and " seiyū bundle pre-order " have been completed. (Man this is a bloody long page……) According to this list of merchandises, in addition to D.Gray Man , Gundam 00 , and NANA (all Top-Insight's flagships), Junjō Romantica and To Love-Ru have been listed as well. Looks like they've licensed those two fan-servicy titles (for girls and boys, respectively).

Man, Proware has released way too many anime-related franchise. It would be faster to read their official page directly. While most items are collector-only i.e. no practical value, this little tool has raised my interest: These are small magnetic clips featuring anime characters; Hiiragi sisters and Konata/Miyuki from Lucky Star is just one of many examples. Other characters are from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya , Code Geass , Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha , School Days , Saiunkoku Monogatari , Ah! My Goddess , Fate/stay night , Full Metal Panic! , etc. These small magnetic clips are perfect for bag sealing e.g. potato chips.

Official website: http://www.spp.com.tw/spp2006/other/00/2009comic/ PR Chief Cyopoko from Sharp Point Press has published franchise information for the 10th Comic Exhibition Taipei on his blog for six consecutive days, including new releases, derived goodies, and autograph sessions. The most attractive item is this life-size limited edition (for Taiwan only) Chizuru pillow illustrated by Koin, the original illustrator of Kanokon novel. The cosplayer holding this pillow is Neneko; her other pictures can be found at her photo album . In fact I've met Neneko once, way before this publicity photograph was released. It was at the ceremony of Taiwan Kadokawa 1st Light Novel & Illustration Contest , where she played Kadokawa's top virtual idol Haruhi Suzumiya; I even took this picture in her album. It is quite embarrassing that I couldn't identify her immediately when I saw her playing Chizuru; instead I only felt a sense of deja vu . In addition to this life-size pillow, ...