Manga Marketplace

Somewhere in my copies of the official junior high English textbook, there's a story about the first East Asian Manga Summit in Japan in 1996. By some strange coincidence it was held in this prefecture in the seaside city of Iwaki, about a couple hours drive from Sukagawa.

I don't have to travel that far to get to a comic exhibition though. Turns out that there's an event like the Comic Market in Odaiba, right here in Koriyama just 30 minutes away. The 44th Super Adventures comiket was held in an exhibition and expo centre on Route 4 called Big Palette, and is like a scaled down version of Comiket, complete with art contests, doujinshi vendors, merchants and even a cosplay show. A recent tightening of privacy laws meant that I actually had to register with the organizers before I could take photographs, however. The girl at the organizers' booth did a double take at my katakana name, but after that it was all good, so here are a few of the cosplayers I thought were worth a second look.






Hehe... nostalgia.

A comic market in a totally different prefecture affords me some anonymity to get snap happy, but one so close to home means that the odds of running into someone I know is pretty high. It's even more awkward when the people who spotted me at the event were my junior high students. Most students react to this situation with the same awkwardness, and I know that for a fact because some of my students have actually written about it in class. ^^

It was a pleasant surprise than when my students actually seemed glad to see me. I guess outing my interest in anime and manga does make me less distant to them. One of the girls I saw actually had her own table at the fair and was selling some of her own stuff. As a teacher, I have to support my students, so of course I bought something from her. She might be terminally embarrassed if I posted a pic of her doujin, so I'm not gonna. ^^

Going to Super Adventures spurred me to draw a few pics, and since I have free periods at school sometimes. Kids who walk by my desk in the teachers' room sometimes stop to take a peek, and it goes a long way in breaking the ice, even for a few words of English. The student with the table at the fair just so happens to be in the art club, and so I've somehow become an unofficial member of the club as well. XD

I used to wonder what on earth would motivate kids to stay in school eleven hours a day, but after going to the art room after classes for a few days I realize that these club activities mainly serve a social purpose more than anything else. Kids who might otherwise be quiet and reserved, or generally awkward and outcast find a second voice doing something they're interested in with other like-minded people. "No man is an island," so the tired cliche goes, but I've seen too many quiet and withdrawn kids in class to know that it's vitally important to have someone to talk to when things get rough. After all, everything is rough for kids since it's happening to them for the first time.

At the very least it's nice to gain a little bit of cred with the students. It can get tough when you come up against a wall of silence come English lesson time, and if a few scribbles on a piece of drawing paper can help disperse the apathy, it can only be a good thing. Forget art for art's sake. I'll take purpose over pretentiousness any day.