Some friends are working on GAKUGEIKAI: a new doujin manga that will be released during the last day of Comiket. Behind this manga there are a couple of famous mecha and videogame designers so I'm pretty sure it will be really succesfull!!! It's a shame that on 30th December, when Comiket will open I will be on a plane sipping a good sake while flying to London... _

Sputzkaizer, the same guy behing the Fate/Stay Night DS version has just released Touhou DS: a Nintendo port of one of the doujin games related to the legendary Touhou Universe created by a Japanese game maker ZUN who actually is in charge of all the graphics, music, and programming of these danmaku shooting games. Strange fact is that ZUN actually works for TAITO but it seems that the company that inveted the Shooting Games with Space Invaders was niot interested in this (super succesfull) project... 
_

Fakku.net has posted a new thread dedicated to downlaods/torrents of the new doujinshi presented during the Comiket 74. This thread is the closest thing to a real pilgrimage to the holy Tokyo Big Sight... 7 pages and still growing (some posts are very NSFW)


^_^

Today, I woke up and as everyday I started reading Kotaku while sipping a good italian espresso. Then I found a really interesting post about an article from another blog about eroge industry problems related to doujin. Actually I work(ed) in this field so I'm always curious by how people outside this business perceive it.
Doujin games are the "next big thing" in the otaku business since almost 3 years ago and in the industry the blooming situation of doujin market is compared to the eroge in the nineties (ah, good old days old kiabakura and free girls at my old job!). Actually many old school programmers and artist from 2D videogame companies are behind the biggest selling doujin games, but this is another story...
Something that is often misunderstood is the fact that many eroge companies are not companies at all but just brands: one brand is created to market a new game created trough a temporary team of drawers, writer, programmer and voices actors. The so called "outsourcing" has been in place for almost 10 years in the industry almost among the companies that now are "topping the eroge sales charts. And in games like the legendary Viper from Sogna the artists have always been famous anime drawers who wanted to make some good money and worked for the company under a pseudonim (like all voice actors in the best selling games)...
I think in many ways the erge industry has in many way always been more mature or almost more similar to the movie industry than the consumer games (just he fact that "normal" games industry can't accept the erotic games one is an indication of how much it's still behind other entertainments were: sex sells...). In the movie industry directors and actors are paid for a project and are not full time staff...
Also in several companies the owner is the writer that's why if there are some cuts the first to go are the additional writers since only in the low rating/selling eroge the story is not the strongest selling point. But in reality many writers have been freelance from the beginning so they always worked in the industry and at the same time in publishing so if they get famous through eroge it's no news that they jump on a new contract asap! Actually I always tough that eroge are  digital books even tough the media is visual the story for the best selling games is the main point (so much that supe successfull companies big issue is find the right story for the new game not to get a good artist).
Eroge industry and doujin have always been linked (the real "tokyo erogame show" is the commercial booths area of Comiket after all) whats new in the last 2-3 years is the decline of the sales for the average game (almost 70% of games sells less than 5000 copies while the best sellers run over 50-100.000 copies) so the doujin artist don't have take the hassle to start a company and just keep releasing doujin games as they have always done. The new thing is just that now they invest more money in the doujin games (voice actors usually cost of 30% of the total cost of a game production) instead of going "official" since the eroge business competition is so strong that it's  difficult to get money right now if you don't have a super strong doujin franchise (instead after releasing a good doujin game a circle can sell even 30-40.000 copies!) or a big company supporting you with the production/distribution/promotion issues.

And... time to make a new espresso and start to work...

Today 07th Expansion officially announced Higurashi no Naku Koro ni for Nintendo DS. The game will be divided in 4 episodes. The first one will be relased on 26 June. The story should follow the PS2 version that has sold over 140.000 copies (so it was just a matter of time for a DS port). The timing of this announcement is perfect since tomorrow will be released the first volume of the Higurashi manga adaptation. I confess that I knew about this porting back in December but I signed an NDA with my blood so... I can imagine some maniac/otakus complaining about the many Higurashi releases but, basically, each version of the game sold better than the one before (each version of Higurashi is made for a different audience so the idea of releasing the game for DS is genial since the DS audience is not the same one fo the original doujin and PS2 versions)...

The legendary doujin circle Studio Siesta has announced that they are going to release an Arcade version of their shooterTrouble Witches. There are other 2 doujin games ported right now to arcade (I can't reveld more info). This doujin arcade trend is not strange at all since behind many doujin circles there are programmers and designers who worked in the 2D Arcade business back in the days...

Click here to download a demo of Trouble Witches (125 MB).

Today Comiket 73 has started. I'm hunting for Vocaloid 2 Hatsune Miku official and doujin goods, but on December 31  my only target will be one of the 300 Vinyl EPs  produced by  Blasterhead. He is a really famous eroge  and chip tune musician. He he also really active in the underground Trance Gabber scene in Tokyo. Recently he played at  Blip Festival  2007 in NY.


To hear a sample MP3 click here.
 

(via ADBD) This is the otaku answer to Disney licensing fresh fruit! Would you buy mikan and oranges decorated like this in your local  grocery( or maybe during the Comic Market)?

Ksomisu = Kimoi + Omoshiori

From: Blueberry Ciders Circle
OK, the character in this illustration is not Miku nor Rin, but she is super moe and you can find several great illustrations (like this one) on Blueberry Ciders  website.
Yesterday we have been posted/linked by our loved Vocaloid Hatsune Miku Miku blog (actually we informed them about Miku Rasher Doujin game)!

なんか、イタリアのブログサイトから（ローマ字の）メールがあって、「ミク☆ラッシャーという同人ゲームが出てるよ」と教えてくれた。ミク☆ラッシャーの存在はどこかで見て知ってたけど、海外の人に教えてもらう、この状況がすごすぎる。

＞HOBBY BLOG　←そのサイト（thx Francesco :-D）

On this site there is a really NSFW miku and her negi illustration (settei here)!

From:  toinana.blog.shinobi.jp


 

The doujin circle Yoshiba Works ( from Miku Blaster fame) has just released a new game dedicated to Vocaloid 2 Miku chan. It runs on PC but got a 100% retro famicom style. Even the sountrack sounds pure 8 bit and I'm sure the (retro)game music fans will like it. I love the package designe parody of the original Vocaloid 2 box.
You can download the game here, here or on these mirros: Mirror 1,  Mirror ２, Mirror 3.





MIKU RASHER ( ミク☆ラッシャー) Credits:

Sound track: SAT
Grahic design: Nochi
Programmer: Ayacy
Package design: Noeru

(via Gilcrows) Today Mikku Man X, a platform doujin mashup of Rockman and Miku chan, has been released.  This doujin game is pretty fun (among the enemies there is even Morrigan!) with a solid gamplay and great soundtrack (no Vocaloid 2 songs but a great arrangement of the original Rockman theme).
You can download the file here (but be patient since the server is overloaded with requests and it's not easy to download the zip).

Updated: I just found the file mirrored here (the link appears as an on-screen comment at 7:08 in the NicoNico video) .

This beautifull Gundam 00 illustration is from Mugen Kidou doujin circle that will exhibit on 31th December during Comic Market (don't miss the great  "how to guide"  created by our friends at Heisei Democracy.)
Today the Club 54 has released Wan Ryumin Niujoku another doujinshi dedicated to the female characters of Gundam 00.
There is just a month till next Comiket so doujin world is starting to fight for visibility and releasing "major" doujing manga before the event seems a technic to attract more customers at its own circle table during Comic Market (コミックマーケット).



Akiba blog has posted some very NSFW photos here, here, here, here, here and here.

Now we only need to start to save up for the Comiket 3 days doujin marathon shopping!

Few days ago we posted a Miku (Vocaloid 2) mugen video. And finally the Miku character data for Mugen has been released!! (Wiki) Mugen is a freeware 2D PC fighting game engine designed by Elecbyte, written in C with the Allegro library. The engine was originally released in July 17 1999 and allows anyone to create characters, background stages and other game objects through interpreted text files, graphics, and sound compilations. It supports various types of audio formats and allows for most of the same type of functionality found in most any commercial 2D fighting games, up to and including close recreation of those games' characters and gameplay.

You can download Miku chan data here (created by "ゆ〜とはる").

There is also a custom Mugen stage called MikkuMiku. Download here (created by "Ju").

Insted if you are more into Lucky Star you can download a full character set here  (via ForosDz).


This is the Nendoroid figure version as seen on Amazon Japan.

Maybe we should change the blog name to Miku hobby blog, but being a techno otaku I love  Vocaloid 2 virtual idols and I just ordered our 1/1 Negi "figure" (480mm×50mm×20mm) on sale on the japanese online otaku shop Tanomi.com  The creator of this plastic negi has even made a (doujin style) web page parody of the original Vocaloid 2 website.
If you prefer more "traditional" figures you can bid on this garage kit we spotted on Yahoo Auctions.

I love these Bikkuriman parody stickers ispired by our Miku chan! Today the japanese doujin illustrator Morihama has added the new Vocaloid 2 Virtual Idol Kagamine Rin sticker too... seems that this year I got to plan Comiket Guide well ahead to be able to collect all these Miku/Vocaloid 2 goods!

From MikuMiku.info - Original NicoNico video here.

November issue of Wired is dedicated to Manga invasion of US market and "how Japanese comics are reshaping pop culture".
Back in the days when I wanted to be a (post) cyberpunk writer, after visiting Comiket I proposed to Wired an article about Comiket and doujin culture. Anyway, Daniel Pink has written a great article about doujinshi and is nice to see that this theme is still interesting after 10 years I proposed it to Wired! (just a note: it's the first time I read an article about doujin culture and the Comiket is not cited even tought it got 4 times the attendees of Comicon! ^_^')


If you read the article on Wired.com  there are a lot of comments that point out that "there is a version of anmoku no ryokai (tacit understanding) at work in America already". What probably it missed is the magnitute of doujin culture industry in Japan. One thing is a Star Trek fanfic distributed on the net and one is having several shop chains, like Toranoana, focused only in doujin (selfmade/homebrew) manga, music CDs and videogames (doujin game scene is so big that many doujin games has even been ported to consoles)...

Doujin event Sunshine Creation 37  has featured several doujin dedicated to our beloved virtualoid idol Miku chan!
These are some photos taken by seiyunews:

On november 3rd there will be a Vocaloid 2 "Hatsune Miku" only doujin event held in Tokyo so the Vocaloid 2 mania seems spreading out from the Nico Nico users.


Vocaloid version of Idolm@ster Go My Way song.

Il leggendario gruppo Studio Siesta ha appena postato la demo di Trouble Witches: uno shoot'em up che verrà venduto durante l'edizione estiva del Comiket.
 

Su segnalazione di Massimo ecco la prima puntata dell'anime Doujin Work tratto dall'omonimo manga (fansabbato in inglese).
Si tratta di una serie imperdibile per tutti gli appassionati di doujinshi!
Se siete dei veri otaku qui c'è anche il secondo episodio.

Il doujin cirle Souvenir circ. ha appena postato una demo di "Suzumiya Haruhi no chourantou": un  picchiaduro  doujin dedicato al leggendario anime  Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuzu che presto tornerà con una seconda attesissima serie. 
Purtroppo la demo non è giocabile ma serve a capire l'incredibile livello qualitativo dei doujin game (equivalente giapponese dei nostri homebrew). La versione completa sarà messa in vendita durante il Comiket di agosto.

 

MOE Scoop!!!
La Haruhi mania contagia anche le console Sony e, dopo l'annuncio della versione PSP, sulla rivista Famitsu sono apparse anche le prime immagini della versione PS2 che verrà intitolata Suzumiya Haruhi no tomado e sarà disponibile a gennaio 2008. Nel gioco si impersona  Kyon che tenterà di realizzare un videogioco insieme agli altri membri dell' SOS dan e il gioco creato sarà realmente giocabile!!
Chi non riesce a resistere, può tranquillamente acquistare uno dei tanti videogiochi doujin ispirati a questa incredibile serie animata.

 

(via Canned Dogs)

Akiba Blog ha fotografato i primi poster promozionali del Comiket 72: la leggendarie fiera di manga e videogiochi autoprodotti che si terrà presso il Tokyo Big Sight fra il 17 e il 19 agosto.  Ad essere precisi questi poster sono stati esposti dal negozio Messe Sanoh e annunciano l'uscita del catalogo dell'evento.
Nei tre giorni di fiera espongono migliaia di gruppi di appassionati (doujin circles) e il catalogo  è alto come un elenco telefonico (per fortuna c'è anche la versione su CD-Rom). L'uscita di questa guida segna l'inizio del febbrile countdown verso il Comiket  ed è quasi un acquisto obbligato visto che senza la guida è praticamente impossibile trovare quello che si  cerca visto che ogni giornata della fiera ha un tema differente.
Yoshihiro Yonezawa, che ha organizzato il primo Comiket nel 1975, è morto il primo ottobre 2006 e quando durante l'edizione invernale della fiera c'è stato un minuto di silenzio un brivido di commozione (e di orgoglio otaku) ha unito tutti i partecipanti (sono anni che non perdiamo un'edizione e vedere decine di migliaia di persone immobili per un minuto è stata un'emozione incredibile).

Il 30 aprile presso il Tokyo Big Sight si è tenuta la prima edizione del Comic 1: ennesimo spinoff del più famoso Comiket.
I ragazzi di HeiseiDemocracy hanno realizzato un breve video diario della visita di questo nuovo evento per appassionati di doujin. La vita di un vero cacciatore di doujin inizia la mattina presto...