Shibuya and Akihabara

(I wanna get to Comiket, but I had these blogs in mind first)

Well few days ago I wrote a blog saying I`m going to Akihabara so I`ll be going over that...

This here is the street infront of my station- Toritsu-Daigaku

Manga Cafe

:/ I hate not having internet at home. I`m going to have to do something about this soon, but for now my source of net is from the Manga Cafe close to where I stay.

Comiket is Tomorrow! Lets meet!

EDIT: K it's decided! Meets at the panasonic building at 3-4! December 29th! I'll be there by Three so all you gotta do is show up! I'm expecting a couple people, but I'll welcome unexpected people too, so see ya there if you're coming!

Tokyo Day 2

Well, I actually arrived here a day earlier than expected, giving me two extra days to prepare for comiket (I thought it would be zero, first because I thought I`d be here on the 27th, second because I thought for some odd reason that comiket starts on the 28th....its from the 29-31st)

Well today I went out to buy some stuff to use at comiket at the 100 Yen Shop (dollar store)

bout a 5-10 minute walk there.

Hellooo Again Tokyo! And Comiket Stuff Preview!

Hey everybody!

Journey to Tokyo PII

...even though I didn't quite call the first part- part I
Here we go, where'd I leave off...

I got to LAX safely at Midnight. From there it was all about....killing time. It kinda sucked cause the lounge area I was at had power outlets but they were all taken. My iPod touch was running low on juice but I was able to post the previous blog (by the way I'll be updating them later with pics)

LA Midnight from The Sky

Going through Airport hell

Today was absolutely a day of unreal craziness for me... Some how though, I seemed to have had miracles turnabout thanks to my quick critical thinking... Let's start.

Comiket Right around the corner... 2 days til I hit it to Japan

Wheeeew
Man it's been both a LONG time and feels like the days went by QUICK.

Well, I need to leave the talk about my Doujinshi to the side for a little longer,
but behold-

Whoa what, Phoenix Wright on Wii?

hahahaha seems like they're putting Phoenix Wright 1 on to the Wii with Wiiware!

I've played it on DS of course and loved it,

Little time left... Seasons Comissions open!

Finally got out my Comiket work trap,
working on my freelance work steadily,

I have time inbetween to do commissions now!
(and for the fact that I need money now ;_; )

Click here for commission details

here are some examples of Full Color commissions with special prices-

Chibi $15

Pixiv app on iTouch/iPhone

Pixiv released a cool iPhone app for it's site! There's a free one to use pixiv and one called PivixL (short for Pixiv life, has some additional fun features. I didn't get it though).

Anyways it's pretty cool you can use it immediately and without having to log in. You can log in of course and view your illustrations, favorites, watchers, friends and such. It's easy to browse through new postings and daily rankings and such with thumbnail viewing. Overall it seems like a pretty cool app for those that use pixiv.





My illustrations page

Cool List Sites~

First off: THANKS TO THOSE WHO'VE GIVEN ME WEBCLAPS! \(^_^)/

I found these sites that allow you to make a user and
list your Figurines and Anime you've seen~

I have a mild interest in figures so I thought It'd be pretty cool.
Here is my Figure list site:
http://myfigurecollection.net/profile/Kxela

And here is my Anime List Site:
http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kxela

These will help me, especially the anime one cause I have no place that I've written all the shows
I've seen in the past, it's all in my head. And I've watched quite a lot over these last several years.


Anyways, back to work. More Comiket Info soon.

Kxela @ Comic Market 77, Wednesday Dec.30.2009

DECEMBER 30th, WEDNESDAY

At the "テ" BLOCK TABLE 33A




...Well after all the insane hassle of sending in the application (Equally hard as filling out tax returns and college financial applications) Then Waiting two months, and then finding out nothing was delivered (both the confirmation card nor the results package) and then using my brain to guess my confirmation number (where we rejoiced because I found out I actually made it, at the same time being super pissed because there was no excuse for the not to have sent anything if I was ACCEPTED), and then battling with the post offices (took me couple days ) to send the "undelivered/Resend mail application" to Japan (which cost me some via express mail)....


ALL MY EFFORTS ARE PAID OFF when I got one phone call this morning telling me I finally got those golden tickets to Comiket delivered to us.


...whew.
I can die in peace now...

....
...
AS IF.

SO YEAH. COMIKET 77 CIRCLE ATTENDANCE: FINAL NOW.

NOW I gotta work my butt off to get my books done! lolololol


I gotta also talk with the couple of you that might come with us this time.
This'll be the first time I go to comiket with other people so, it'll be something.

ZOMG COMIKET- I MADE IT IN!!!!!!!!!!

O_O

please tell me I'm not dreaming.

So one final attempt to find out if I made it or not-
I used the Comiket's "Circle registration information and information retrieval systems"
at circle.ms





...wait, I couldn't have, since I never got that darn postcard in the mail that has my confirmation number on it.

The form required four things as a password-
the confirmation number, the registered phone number, my birthday, and my registration number. The other three I had. So what'd I do?

I GUESSED. EVERY painful number between 1000-6000 (actually I figured out it was only up to 1619- or around so by using the "that is an invalid confirmation code" message and "you've entered the wrong information for your confirmation code" message.)
I learned somewhere that the first three digits were the genre code I choose.
.
.
.
.
yeah I know. but i had a RIGHT to do it. and it was WORTH EVERY MINUTE.
now I need to make sure to get that packet of WIN delivered to me NO MATTER WHAT.

anyways- here's the proof-

therefore I WILL (do what ever it takes to) BE AT COMIC MARKET 77


DECEMBER 30th, WEDNESDAY


At the "テ" BLOCK TABLE 33A


Featuring Touhou and Original works :D :D :D

(man what a 360 that situation made)

I would be crying right now if my body weren't in such a disbelief mode.

:/ ....might never find out

...so yeah

I really don't know what went wrong, but nothings been delivered to me from the Comiket Volunteer Committee.. No postcard, no results package. Appearantly if I didnt recieve the postcard I was to send a notification within ten days or forget about it.
-_-

Still trying though. You must be bored to hell with this stuff unless you have plans to go...
I swear though, next time: Online Registration. And I'll make sure to stay in Japan til I get everything settled.

sigh. Well I guess I can go back to blogging normally. Maybe news will pop up.
Thus ends the tale of a small circle that never was.

I need to find better friends/associates to help me with this registration crap.
My relatives and such were not much help at all. Geeze.


On a brighter note, I can start playing Pokemon Heart Gold again soon. I just stopped playing for a while...just cause. Also we ordered Silver for my brother so we can play together.

Also been playing Need For Speed Underground 2 for Gamecube on the wii. Something made me go out and by Need for Speed Carbon for the wii. Pretty cool game, territory nabbing by winning races. Also has police chases (lota fun) and this crew member system. yeah I know OLD GAME, but new for me cause I just bought it. It was actually still 30 bucks used. What I really wanted was Need For Speed Most Wanted for GC, but unfortunately GAMESTOP had rid of their Gamecube section entirely leaving me no option but to find it online in the future if I still want it.

But yeah. o_-
Still working on the freelance project.
And the Touhou books I might not get to sell at Winter comiket. Sigh. ANyways.

here's a picture of Youmu I drew to break this wall of text:

Anyways, I'll be going down to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow to hang out with my friend who'll most likely be graduating from AIFL this quarter.

...Besides that I dont have much to inspire me anymore.

:/

I've been using that emote alot. it's pretty much describes how I feel now.

The weathers gotten nice and a tad bit cooler here in Florida, but might just be the effects of Hurricane...Ida? was it? passing by going up the gulf. No storm here, just lots of wind.

boring.

:/

k the end, cya next time~

w00tw00t New Nintendo DS: Nintendo DSi LL

Yay AGAIN for me NOT upgrading my original DS YET.

new later this month in Japan and next year for US, We're getting a new DSi.

It's BIGGER o.o 4.25" Screens, Better Battery Life, Bigger Stylus. Nice Colors.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/dsiLL/index.html


THATS ALL.

New Fall Blog Design + Winter Comiket Pending Results

Redesigned the Blog! How's it look? :D

Comiket Results are pouring in as I wait by the side unable to check my application status. The news is- All applicants were to have received (or so I'm thought to believe) a postcard with a application confirmation number. Using that number we are able to go to the Circle.ms website and use the Comic Market 77's "Circle registration information and information retrieval systems" (コミックマーケット77の「サークル情報登録＆当落情報検索システム) and find out the results of our application.

called up my relatives (I used their addy cause I'm not in Japan right now)- said they never got that postcard with number.


...well that screws me up.
I tried everything but looks like it's no use. There is a way to ask for it by sending some lost/unarrived form to the comiket staff but, I found out that it's only a week away from them sending the real packets (Before the confirmation number postcard and online checking existed, people submitted their applications and waited for this "result package" containing either an acceptance form with tickets to participating in comiket OR a "sry you didn't make it" note, which they still do).

So, guess I need to wait a week for the result packets to find out ANYTHING. The worst that can happen is- that packet ALSO doesnt get delivered. :( I sure hope not. Anyways awaiting any news from Japan regarding my Comiket 77 application.

ARRGH.

Well while I wait I must try to get some work done on the books I have planned for that event anyways.

Infinite Bits Gaming Convention and catching up on Manga

:) ...results of Infinite bits-

It sure was a convention focused on videogames, lots of videogame vendors, lots of games lined up to play, even a area with arcade machines and a Videogame museum with a bunch of historical concoles to games of today.

But not really the greatest for the artist alley :/ It was a bit like Mizucon one where the alley was in this isolated corner where hardly anyone came by. I did.... mmm okay I guess. Not great though. Plus the tables next to me didnt appear all weekend, and a bunch of empty tables do hurt the atmosphere. Meet some old familiar folks along with new people as well. It was at the same place Florida Supercon was last time so getting there was super easy (printed some [wrong] directions but only used them once)

...man I'm tired. just tired -_-"

Well I think I can focus on November, no cons or anything to distract me.

By the way, sounds like Comiket results will be in soon, I need to get the postcard sent to me (in Japan) and find out the number to see the results hope I can get to that soon.



...I've caught up reading BLEACH and NARUTO.

...They're both pretty awesome now that I've caught up.
I haven't read Naruto in forever, I stopped before Sasuke VS Itachi.
That battle and backstory was insane.

...>> got all emotional reading Naruto T_T but come to think of it, it has happened before.

Bleach is pretty sick awesome. It's too bad they went into the dumb fillers again for the anime (saw some when I went to Japan).

I'm happy Shonen Jump is a weekly magazine after a month or so there'll be a good amount to read again.

Still FOllowing FMA too of course. DokiDOki <3

October update...

So yeah, lately I've been just drawing lots- from freelance work to webcomics to fanart to just art stuff.

It feels a bit lacking being back home. You can't really compare Boca Raton Florida to Tokyo Japan I guess. But getting into the arts and media industry is tough whether it be here or there. I'm feeling kinda stuck. I'm doing what I need to for now but feels like I need to find a track to start walking on so to speak..

I'm still waiting on the results for comiket 77, which will be the only reason for me to go back to Japan temporarily unless I actually can land a job or something. What pressure. I should start preparing my books before I find out the results so I don't run out of time...

Anyways, Ive become addicted to a site called tinierme and facebook games... Agh. Well they're pretty fun.
I'm cutting down updates for Lost Invisible to three times a week, but still need to decide which days.

My feet are sore from playing soccer.

Still feels funny to be out of school finally. Maybe its a sign to shape up and get working. Sigh...

Well, that's all, cya!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Revolutionnn!!!??

I thought about starting some type of group-
like a group of comic artists or others that want to do stuff in say Japan
like go to Comic Market or other Doujinshi fairs but are incapable of doing so
on their own :3

Like, a big half foreign doujin circle. yeah thats it.

Got the idea when someone asked me questions about Comiket on facebook.
If we got a good mix of people- Those who know no Japanese, Those who know little Japanese, those who know a fair amount of Japanese (like me), and those who know perfect Japanese- we'd be able to get past that "its in Japan" barrier.

I'd do it on my own, but I dont know very many other Japanese artists in person or well enough ;_;




...oh yeah, I applied for comiket 77 by the way.

so yup, just a thought for now.

Odaiba Gundam RX-78 VS Typhoon 11

Well, I really should have done this on July 31st rather than August 31st.
Thats right, the month of August was when the life-sized original Gundam RX-78 was built at the Shiokaze Park in Odaiba. I was extremely busy the last week of August, but August 31st was a free day for me. And it was also (supposively) the last day that the Gundam would be standing.

Well that morning, I woke up at around eight or nine and turned on the TV.

Typhoon Number 11 is about to hit the Kanto Area Tonight.
...

:)

Outside was raining.
I really wasnt sure if I should go. But my Grandpa said if I had anything to do today I should do it early.

I made my decision: race against the clock, leave here now (11), get there by 12, snap all the pictures I can in an hour (1), and be back by 2.

and it worked out. Now to Replay the epic trip:



Regardless of the fact that a Hurricane was about to hit this area, people were living their daily lives normally, riding the train with their umbrellas.

I took the same route to Odaiba as I did when going to Comiket, So it really wasnt that hard finding my way, I just found out what station to get off. Tokyo Teleport Station (fun name) was the one closest to Shiokaze Park.

Once I got to the staion:



"Gundam Exit B" Thataway.



There was actually a quite of bit of people with the same mindset as me.
Many of them were kids. Also in Japan many start school the day after this day.



Little kid walking infront of me.



Last street to Cross before entering the park.


Here we are.



Welcome to Shiokaze Park!



And behold...... there it is.



Get out of the way! can`t see the Gundam!



anyways... it sure was an awesome sight. Thought itd be a bit bigger, but thats cause of how people took the photographs. But it was really big anyways.



I try to Snap another photo of myself only to cut off the Gundams head in the picture.



The details of the gundam were so cool. Heres the back side.



and front again. I took a video doing a 360 walk around the gundam I might upload later.



Even Darth Vader couldnt miss the lasat day of the Gundam Showing. lol


All of the Pictures above were taken with my new cell phone camera.
My digital camera....sorta broke when I went on my trip with my relatives.
It still works, Just the LCD is cracked and I cant see a thing on the monitor.
Other than that it takes pictures fine. I just need to eye it myself.
The Pictures from here were taken with my broken camera.





I`m rather proud of this picture. Took it full zoomed up. probably the better of all the ones I took.



Down a bit to see its solid body XD



Gray sky, The gundam Oversees the park.



Man there was quite a bit of people.



Lots of people.

I got soaked in the rain. But it was one fun adventure, I was glad to see the Giant Robot in person :D

That completes one of my summer Japan goals for this trip XD

Kxela Survived Comiket Report (part b)

Comiket 76 day 3, August 16:

Ahhh so this day I only had one table to see in mind so I took it easy and got to comiket at 7:00.

The wait to get in wasn`t so bad, we were placed on a sidewalk with shade. The final line up to get in was painful though, 15 minutes in the sun and then 5 to get in.

I really had to use the bathroom, so the crowd sorta forced my direction, I ended up going to the commercial booths first. I then found out that you can pretty much go to anyt booth on the third day and get what you want before having to wait in line-

I was able to go to these tables: Leaf, Cospa, Good Smile Company and a couple other animation studios or goods companies.

At Good Smile company all the FumoFumo characters were sold out but I got my hands on this:



Comiket 76 release Nendoroid Hakurei Reimu! XD

I also got:



Leaf`s goods set (mainly for the bag cause I foolishly didnt bring my backpack)
and



K-on! Tote from Cospa~ I used it that day to carry my stuff

Well After wards I went to the west halls to see the table I wanted to see-


A22b- thats RYUSUKE HAMAMOTO`s table. Unfortunately both times I went, the artist himself wasn`t there. But I did get his books:



I also got books from:


RANGE MURATA



and WHITEPAPER

and a bunch of other amazing artists:



I was able to get a sketch again today~



Thats the awesome thing about Comiket: you buy the comics/books directly from the artists and you even have a chance to get original art from them as a gift ^^

...although some tables are super busy (like popular ones) or some just aren`t ready to do sketches (ie they didnt bring materials to do so). I tried three tables today I think, the last one had a eraser by her so I figured she had her drawing stuff with her. Looks like she does original comics, the one I bought was super cute ^//^

...
well that pretty much wraps up my report.
here`s a semi-decent picture of me failing to get the big sight building in the snapshot of myself (its that thing in the middle right hand side) as proof I went there:




by the way Touhou Hisoutensoku is frickin awesome.
GO Sanae, Chirno, Chuugoku!
Theres a fair amount of new characters from what I`ve played :3

well cya!

Kxela Survived Comiket Report (part a)

Well to start, I guess I have to say- There is no place anywhere else on earth like Tokyo Big Sight on Comic Market Weekend.

Well there was only one thing on my must get list: 東方非想天則－Touhou hisoutensoku, aka the new Scarlet Whether Rhapsody by Twilight Frontier. That Circle was at East A28, on Saturday.

But I went all three days. Lets start the madness report now:


Comiket 76 Day 1, Firday August 14th:

Day 1 was pretty much all anime stuff, I went on Friday to learn how to get to Big Sight and learn the layout of the event. Getting there was quite easy, I was only couple of train changes from　where I`m staying. First train- normal. Second Train-alright. Third train:



and by the way, this is only day 1.

Well I actually got there fairly early, 7:00. Comiket opens at ten, but there were quite a bit of people there already. But We got to line up in the 4th section (I think) of the East entrance.



In a few hours, this area will be packed:



Like so.
I brought stuff I needed- a fan, towel, foldup rain coat, cell, food, drinks-



And my DS of course, which saved me from dying of boredom:


Some people on pictochat actually congratulated me on my first time attending comiket lol.

Well, that covers about HOW I waited equally for each day.

........
anyways I really didnt take all that many pictures while I was there but, I`ll only show you how crowded it was ONCE:





So yeah, the bottom picture- thats pretty much how crowded it was EVERYWHERE and EVERYDAY.

Here`s a fun fact, you know that building you see in pretty much all comiket related anime episodes? :



yeah
FACT: that building is only HALF of the entire convention.

...I really dont want to do a minute by minute report so here`s the summary for friday:

First thought: Sea of people, literally. East building was for mainly Anime doujinshin, West side was was divided into two- Bottom floor Doujinshi, top floor was for commercial booths. It was hot. And my legs hurt the entire time. People were moving like water molecules in a river- go with the flow or go with the flow. Comiket is a battlefield.
If I had to compare Comiket with the conventions I`ve been to, then comiket is like the size of Megacon, double the attendance, and then multiply by TEN.

(gets pelted with stones)
okay okay, I know that wasnt the stuff you wanna see.
You want to know what treasures I was able to get :3 hehheh.
well uploading all of them is a pain so here`s one with everything (from　friday):



OKay from the top starting with the stuff I got from commercial booths:
Exit Trance Best 7 CD, Manga Time Kirara Cross Over Comiket Special, Pivix Books- Vocaloid and Touhou. The rest is a mix of K-on!, Touhou, vocaloid, Hidamari Sketch, and others.

Thus ends day 1 of Comiket.
----------------------------------------------------------

Comiket 76 Day 2, August 15:

So- 6:30 was good enough to be on time yesterday, so 5:30 is definitely gonna be early today, right?

WRONG.

Arrival at 6:30- There was more people already there than when I arrived yesterday.
Saturday is bigger, I`d almost double attendance wouldnt be off.




Well, it took about 25 minutes to get in. Notice, we were on the West side this time, which meant I had to hurry to the east side to get to Twilight Frontiers table.

I got there, and there already was a huge line. And I ended up waiting in the wrong line for a few minutes until I realized-


THATS THE SIGN I SHOULD BE LINING UP BEHIND... then what line was I lined up in?



oh awesome, I was behind the original touhou booth, Touhou Project Shanghai Alice. As much as I wanted to stay in that line, they werent my main target. So I changed lines- just before it started to grow into a "snake" line (one that wraps around).



So many people...... I was afraid they`d sell out by the time I get there.

But luckily:



my efforts were not in vain.

I spent my entire day in the Touhou Area.
Well, before going home I went by the Cosplay area #2:



(makes you wonder how big cosplay area #1 was....)

Well, I`ll just post some photos I took:










I went home in the dreaded heat.

Todays Gold Result:


I was able to get a lot of combo packages with fun stuff ^^
Everything I bought today was touhou except those Narcissu ones on the bottom.-



Cream of the crop. Touhou hisoutensoku, Advent Cirno, and ちょぼらうにょぽみ`s book XD



One artist did some nice Tei Books, I asked for a sketch and happily got one ^^



.................
I forgot Sundays Pictures at home.
Guess there`ll be a part b to this post.
Shame, cause Sunday was actually THE BEST.

see you then!

Kxela