Yaoi-Con 2011: thoughts from the video room & manga library
by V.E. on October 31st, 2011
filed under anime/manga, recap/review
This post is part of my Yaoi-Con 2011 recap.
There may have actually been more than one video room, but I could only find one (yeah, the con’s set up was… lacking, in my opinion, in more ways than one), so that’s where I went for some anime! I watched all these titles subtitled unless otherwise noted.
Legend of Duo
Classified as “shonen-ai” and “vampires” this was right up my alley, except that I came in to it about two-and-a-half episodes late. I should check it out when (laugh; I meant if) I have the chance.
Hey! Class President
I’ve see this a couple times already, and I was trying to see something else, but the video room people switched it up on me, so I sat through this instead and completely missed the other thing. Not that I’m complaining, since the manga’s pretty good, too, actually, but I mean…
Axis Powers Hetalia: Paint It White! (dubbed)
I’ve never seen any Hetalia except the very first five-minute episode, which I thought was so awesome that I immediately showed it to my brother. He liked it so much that he immediately made Italy’s “Pasta!” the text message notification sound on his cell phone. All that said, Paint It White! was… racist. Or, at the very least, it walks a very fine line. I wasn’t offended by the portrayal of America, 
for example, but I’m not everyone, and the show obviously makes fun of other cultures, too.
Princess Princess, eps. 1-4
I liked the first few episodes of this so much that I bought the entire series in one of the Dealers Rooms. I think I’ve see the first couple eps. before, but I never got around to finishing it, so now I have that chance! I mean: boys dressing up as girls! What’s not to like, right?
Princess Princess [liveaction], ep. 1
I wasn’t as enamored with the liveaction version of Princess Princess as I was with the anime version, so I was kind of glad they didn’t show more than a single episode. (Then again, I go to an anime video room for anime, not liveaction, so that doesn’t surprise me.) It was all right. Not great.
Nyanpire
Whaaaaaat? This was the most ridiculous thing I’ve watched in a long time. It’s a series of shorts (similar to Hetalia in length) about a dying black kitty who is granted eternal life by a well-meaning vampire who gives him a few drops of vampiric blood. It’s a play on “nya” which is the sound a cat makes in Japan. I have no idea if it’s yaoi, shonen-ai, or what, but whatever else it is, it’s ridiculous. I’ll not be pursuing it further, that’s for sure.
No.6, eps. 3-4
I really wish I’d seen the first two episodes of No. 6, too, but I was able to fill in most of the blanks (well, enough to not be completely confused watching eps. 3 and 4, at least). I’ve seen a lot of fanart that pairs Sion and Nezumi, so I was glad to see a little bit of the context. I don’t think No. 6 is, technically speaking, yaoi or shonen-ai, but half the fun in watching a TV show is finding your OTP… that’s decidedly not canon. ^_^;;
The Postcard [Korean liveaction]
This was a sweet short film with a sad ending. I liked it, but I wanted a happy ending. T_T Life isn’t like that sometimes, I guess, so.
Close the Last Door
I’d seen this OVA before (I think at Yaoi-Con 2010, actually), but it was good this time around, too. I want to know what happens after the three men all meet in the main character’s apartment! Waaaaant. Maybe I should read the manga, right?
Junjou Romantica 2, eps. 1-2
I wasn’t sure at first if I’d seen any of the second season of Junjou Romantica, but as the episodes progressed, I realized I had. Made me want to watch it again, though. ^_^
———
The manga library was great, as usual. I really think that conventions’ manga libraries are completely underrated; they’re like diamonds hidden underneath a pile of glitter. Not that I don’t like glitter, but I mean: an entire room… with nothing but manga… that I can read for free… for as long as I want. Seriously, what’s not to like?
The Devil Within 1 by Ryo Takagi
I picked this up because it’s about a girl who hates men (“They’re all devils!”), and I was confused as to how such a story could be in a yaoi manga library. >_> Turns out it’s not yaoi at all but is actually more shoujo. It was all right. Not what I was looking for, though.
A Capable Man by Hinako Takanaga
Chose this manga because I’ve read The Tyrant Falls in Love and Little Butterfly and wanted to see other things the mangaka’s written. (In fact, I read the entire Little Butterfly omnibus in the Yaoi-Con manga library in 2010.) This manga is also good. If I was the type of person who thought that I shouldn’t fix an unbroken thing, A Capable Man would be great. I like switching it up a little more, however, so I probably won’t be buying this manga since I already have some of her stuff.
Golden Cain by You Asagiri
I wish there was another volume of this ’cause I really want to know if the brotherly love I foresee developing… actually develops. ^_^;; Falling for a famous model is one thing, and it can have its own scandal, but I really want to learn more about the relationship between the main character and his amnesic older brother.
A Strange & Mystifying Story 1 & 2 by Tsuta Suyuki
I read the title at first as “A Strange & Mysterious Story” because the cover font isn’t the greatest. Mysterious isn’t the right word, as you’ll notice, but I think it fits just as well as Mystifying. The third volume of this manga was on sale in one of the Dealers Rooms, but I didn’t want to get it without having read the first two—which I really liked. Unfortunately, the third wasn’t also in the library and neither of the first two were on sale anywhere at the con that I could find, so.
Black Sun by Uki Ogasawara
I’d read this before—and I may even own it, though I’m not sure—but it was good this time around, too. I really like historical fiction, and this is the Crusades… with a healthy dose of yaoi… with story and art by a Japanese person. Talk about 
multicultural. ^_^ I seem to pick up manga that lack happy endings, though, and this one is no different on that count. (It was the Crusades, after all; practically none of it was happy.)
Great Place High School: Student Council 1 by Naduki Koujima
“Possible objectionable content: Pornography”…??? Hahahahahaha. Don’t you realize that’s exactly why I’m reading it? Someone remind me to catch up on the original manga, too.
Fallen Moon by Toui Hasumi
I really liked this manga, but I thought that it wasn’t complete. I mean, the story’s done, but I wanted more… backstory, sidestory, something. I wanted to have the world that the author created filled out in my head and it wasn’t long enough (one volume of anything isn’t long enough) for that.
Gentle Cage [novel] by You Shiizaki
A novel with illustrations by Kumiko Sasaki. I’m going to be honest: I almost stopped reading three or four times. I’d turn the page and think “Really? Again?” when the characters did something cliched or seemingly out of character, and then I’d think, “Well, let me just finish this chapter at least…” I read seven chapters that way and when I finally had to put the book down to get some lunch and then somehow never ended up going back to it, I really regretted it. I’m going to have to find it somewhere and finish the story! It grew on me, obviously.
[...] did visit everything else the con had to offer, including the video room & manga library, and I’m glad for it. The manga library was sweet, as expected. The video room was not all night, [...]