HIT ME UP

love! romance! harucomi!
Posted: 3/14/2025

Minasan! We have reached the middle of March, desu!! I'm quite a boring person so there's not much to report this time, tohoho...just wanted to check in for the hell of it.

You may be wondering what "HaruComi" is, as listed in the title. *Ahem* HARU COMIC CITY, or HaruComi for short, is a doujin event similar to Comiket, where participants release whatever they want. While HaruComi allows both original creations and ones featuring copyrighted subjects, it focuses primarily on the latter. Another doujin event known as Comitia is exclusive to original works, meaning that indie creators tend to congregate there instead. This HARU COMIC CITY is numbered at 34, as in it's been hosted 33 times prior. Searching the tag #春コミ34 on Twitter will get you more info about participants!

Participants form groups called "circles" and while more than one person can comprise a circle, the majority are solo creators. Bigger ones you may be familiar with are IOSYS or COOL&CREATE, Touhou-focused doujin circles that have a lot of members and have been thriving for years. Circles choose a name that essentially acts as their brand from thereon, though solo, unpopular creators tend not to put too much thought into it or choose lighthearted names. Creators apply and upload their posters online, typically alongside what booth area they'll be at. HaruComi is held at Tokyo Big Site, well-known for hosting Comiket (Comic Market), the biggest doujin event in Japan.

Where circles are placed is chosen by event staff and is determined by series (ジャンル), popularity, and ship, if applicable. Well-known creators get a huge area that has enough space for a potential line of customers, but the average circle gets a small table for their booth. Think of it as a smaller, compact version of foreign countries' artist alleys. The reason I'm talking about this...is because my work kouhai is participating! Kyaaa! While this isn't her first time, she's never boothed at HaruComi before, just SupaComi (SUPER COMIC CITY). Tokyo Big Site is comprised of three buildings: East, West, South, and the conference building. Whenever you see someone post pictures, 99% of the time it's the triangular conference building and not the actual event halls. SupaComi takes place in both the East & West halls, while HaruComi is only in the East one. According to her, SupaComi was very crowded and overwhelming, so she's glad things will likely be more relaxed this time around.

Going forward, let's call my kouhai "A-chan". A-chan and I are both very oldschool otaku and get along very well...a lot of our experiences are similar, too, like stopping by Tsutaya on the way home from school to rent Vocaloid CDs as kids. We both happen to be the only two people in a certain department at work, so we get to shoot the shit often. As such, I got special access to all of this HaruComi drama, ufufu. I don't feel comfortable disclosing what series she's drawing for or any possibly revealing information, thus things will remain vague. Still, it's fun to gossip...so let us indulge ourselves.

The fandom she's in is relatively niche and apparently everyone knows each other. Her OTP (the one she's releasing doujins of) had no fans other than herself, so A-chan often mentioned that she felt like a caged animal frothing at the mouth due to lacking content. Then, one other person got into it, and they're both boothing at HaruComi. The thing is, there's a ship that's considered the fanbase's "main" ship, to the point where cliques have formed based on how intense you are regarding said ship. One of the main "mean girls" in the fanbase is a professional manga artist who uses her fame to passively bully people with different ships. It's very messy, and the event organizes tables by series, so they'll all be near each other.

A lot of circles hold off on releasing information about their doujins or where there booth is until the event date rolls around, but A-chan kindly gave me her NAVIO account info so I could login and look at everything before its publicized. Some of the standout series for me were Tales of, Touken Ranbu, Golden Kamuy & some VTuber stuff. A-chan is dragging her sister along as an 売り子 (someone who helps with sales, some cosplay in-character for the doujins they're advertising) but during her down-time, she'll be wandering the halls to pick up doujin for herself. A-chan was kind enough to offer to pick up some stuff for me...!! Of course, being the greedy man I am, I sent her a list of things I want.

What I'm aiming for are ニシン先生's TKRB book, u先生's TKRB book & merch, ぺそ先生's Tales of the Abyss book(s) & おそばモーニング先生's VTuber book(s). I'm shocked and excited for ニシン先生's release. I get bored and translate their manga sometimes yet I never anticipated they'd release something physically...!! This one is my top priority. u先生 has been making TKRB content for a while and I love how they draw Midare-chan. I was going to say, "they've only been releasing stuff since 2016? That's pretty recent..." until I realized that 2016 = 9 years ago. Ouch. ぺそ先生 is someone I didn't know existed before stumbling upon their circle listing in NAVIO. I'm a huge Tales of fan but the fanbase can be kinda whack so I don't have that many doujins for it. But...huh?! 82p for 800円?! There's also a chance they'll sell their previous 128p work at 1000円?! And they're both Jade-centric novels?! I will be there no matter what...As for おそばモーニング先生, I'm surprised they're releasing this kind of doujin. I followed their private account while deep in the VTuber trenches a few years ago so I was pleasantly surprised to see them on the list. Not super high priority since this isn't even the genre of doujin I like, but for nostalgia's sake it'd be nice to have.

I already buy quite a few doujins. I have a lot...maybe too many. Frankly, I'm starting to think I need to make space in my futon closet for merch, or at least...clean out my futon closet, throw figure boxes in the top half, then use the bottom half for general storage...?

Err, let's switch gears and talk about normal stuff for a bit. Hopefully the HaruComi rambling was interesting.

I'm busy as hell! This is a common occurance and shows no sign of improving. Work-wise, HaruComi means that A-chan will be gone for a few days (we live in the sticks). We're the only two employees in the department so I'll be milked dry (heh...) everyday until her return. My district manager is also coming from Tokyo, which is a big NG. He's an evil millionaire and a little psychotic? I don't use that word lightly. There are also graphics I need to make for a friend's YouTube channel...*mumble mumble*

This stress might be affecting me physically. At night, I feel like "the inside of my chest" is shaking (no other way to phrase this) and it's interrupted my sleep schedule. I go to bed at 12AM, wake up at 1AM, wake up at 4AM, wake up at 5AM, then at 6AM for work. I don't know what these symptoms mean but it feels similar to when you get all jittery from drinking 3-5 energy drinks in quick succession. Maybe it's stress...? Maybe it's lunacy. Ohoho. Regardless, CUT IT THE FUCK OUT!!

I'd really like to work more on this site. I've grown discontent with the index and...pretty much every other page yet I cannot for the life of me find the time to sit down and code. When I do, I try, but aphantasia makes it impossible and I go STUPID STUPID STUPID and slam my head into the concrete until I start bleeding and die. This has happened a few times now and it never gets less infuriating. I'm hoping to return to the ripping/uploading/seeding grind soon...I'm just...tired. *soulless eyes*

I did complete both the purchases page & music recommendation page so go check those out. Lots of sovl has been breathed into the content on those two in particular, even if the layouts will likely be changed. Look forward to more awesomeness and love. Peace.

miracle moment march
Posted: 3/3/2025

Happy March, meow. I've decided to commit to 2~3 journal updates every month and I'm very excited to continue my rambling. As mentioned in the previous entry, there's a high chance that I'll make a different journal just for video game updates as to not clog up this page...not that there's anything wrong with mixing the two, but I'd prefer to keep IRL happenings separate. Speaking of happenings...

My car battery died last week! Like, actually died. While I'm glad it wasn't the alternator, repairs ended up costing 10x as much as I thought they would. As a result, I had to lay off the frivolous spending for a bit *gulp*. I was already pissed off that I had to abruptly call in late to work, so by the time the mechanic calculated in front of me, I was despairing. I sat in the lobby for a good hour with dead fish eyes. Adulthood is full of constant curveballs, huh...yet we must pick ourselves back up!!

I'm a good panda and haven't bought anything since (the bare minimum) but I did get a few packages in the mail consisting of things I ordered before. Kachow! I'm goated. Also, notice how the background isn't my craft mat with a scary-ass filter. This is because I realized the meme isn't worth sacrificing visual coherency for, lol. I'll be scanning the 2chan+ magazine sometime soon when I have the time. The EXIT TRANCE CDs are already on SS at the time of writing, though I plan on putting them on YouTube later, maybe, I think.

In other news, I started rewatching Fairy Tail after a decade or so. Holy shit...it's so ass. I really like a lot of the concepts and Lucy is one of my first waifus but I seriously cannot handle the amount of dogshit and sexual harrassment. Needless to say, I'm giving up the idea of rewatching or rereading. I have a million other things to do and not enough time to waste on garbage like this. I'm rewriting all of it in my mind palace.

I have a vague idea of what I want to add to this site down the line. Quizzes, web cliques, and webrings are definitely something I'd like to delve more into and create. I also really want to make that dedicated game journal, as mentioned prior. Another apparently necessary addition is a more thorough landing page, because my god there have been a lot of annoying-ass children admitting that they're lurking here. I hope my frustration can be felt through the monitor. On a lighter note, additional shrines are a given...etc.

There's way too much to do and I'm busy! I'm always busy, this isn't a recent development. I want to rip more, I want to archive more, I want to play more games! I wish I could spend my down time at work developing this site further...arggh. On that note: thank you to Calico for helping me out time and time again with coding. He's the best ever and I love him *blushes like a fair maiden*.

Apologies if this entry came off as negative and/or pessimistic. My friends often poke fun at how Looney Toons-esque my struggles are, but these past two weeks have done a number on me. Internet 5ever. I'll be back.

all your package is belong to us
Posted: 2/23/2025

Happy New Year!! Although it is already February, it's never too late to celebrate rebirth and new...beginnings? That's not what this entry is about, however. I just want to talk about my frivolous spending habits.

One thing I will likely be discussing fairly often from hereon is my progress in certain games. Now, I am a Gamer™ #oppressed #nogirlsallowed but that doesn't necessarily mean I play games often. By the time I get home from work, I typically find myself too exhausted to even relax! I take care of my daily obligations: Cooking, cleaning, laundry, feeding my cat, meal prepping, paying bills...by the end of it, I have little to no drive to do much of anything. This, coupled with debilitating & unmedicated ADHD, makes everything quite messy. Say I do find the drive to begin playing a game; what usually happens is I play for an hour and drop the game for months. This is also why my backlog is currently at over 100.

One of the few games I play regularly and somewhat enjoy is Arknights. I have memory issues so I have a habit of collecting merch and there are now multiple shelves in my home fully filled with AK goods. The worst part is, fanmade merch from China is not only very cool but also very cheap...resulting in constant proxy purchases. I actually just got another package, in fact. Look at all this cool stuff. It's not a huge haul or anything but I'm always excited to get these packages from faraway places. It's one of the things that keeps the demon inside me satiated. The little plastic things to the left of the water bottle are pass cases, which fans make for the Arknights...passes? They're just acrylic tags with characters on them, though they can get extremely expensive and buying from the official shop is near-impossible as they sell out in seconds. Here is my current collection, now decorated. I'd like to apologize for the shitty image quality and scary filter but it's very funny to me so I won't.

On the topic of Arknights, I'm thinking of making subjournals (I'm pretty sure that's not an actual term) to document my progress. I know that AK is pretty niche compared to other gachas so there's definitely not many people who give a fuck but this entire site is meant to be self-indulgent.

Hi, this is future Mihnoír here. Another package I was eagerly anticipating finally arrived: my FlowerKnows Strawberry Cupid collection. I didn't get everything from the set because I was already buying so much other shit last month. Still, I'm very excited to fuck around with the eyeshadow palettes in particular!! It really shouldn't be shocking that I wear makeup at home...a salaryman needs a way to let off steam. I don't wear it out in public, though. I don't have the balls for that...yet.

it's the first entry, dude
Posted: 2/18/2025

I hope you will remain cooperative on this wonderous adventure.

This website's conception began sometime in mid-late January while its construction formally on February 9th, with me reaching out to Rice regarding a site commission. I didn't expect for her to actually accept the offer, considering that it wasn't listed on her page, but she so kindly did the basic layouts for everything. Something that will likely come up in the future is my struggle with Aphantasia. As an aphant (yes, this is a real term), basic creative tasks are extremely demanding for my broken mind! I am able to code to an extent, of course (albeit messily), but the difficult part is beginning the process. So, quite literally, we would not be here without Rice's help.

On the topic of initial brainstorming, I've always wanted to have a personal website. My mom used to skip classes in college to work on her Geocities page and I clearly follow in her footsteps. As the internet has grown more & more sovlless, it is our duty to prevent that by becoming our own content providers, bloggers, and what have you. My first thought was to make everything based off of retro eroge websites, which I kinda followed through with on the index? Vaguely? The buttons are directly inspired by Mashiroiro Symphony's anime site, and I'm happy with how those came out. Every other page was, more or less, made on a whim. Visual coherency is a bitch so try not to think too hard about it...