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Oni Market #22: Chorissu @ Comicdom Con Athens 2010

Posted in Oni Market, Umi & Sora with tags , , , , , on April 25, 2010 by speedxgrapher

I had wanted to do this much, much earlier, but I have been busting my ass with the reports from COMICDOM CON, all besides everything else I have to deal with in my everyday life (too much, too boring, too doesn’t-really-matter-to-anyone-but-me). However, I have managed to steal some time (from the great, eternal Repository of Time, evidently) and say a few words about Umi & Sora’s new fanzine, CHORISSU. First off, I would like to thank all the friends who came by over the three days to support us and everyone else who picked up our fanzine, totaling sales of over 100 copies (which, trust me, for a virtually unknown fanzine – which in addition is more article than comic-centric –  is not shabby at all).

As with all collective works, there were bound to be some mistakes and judgment errors which sadly, either do not do justice to all the people that contributed their artwork, or ended up slighting them.  For that I would like to apologize and attempt to make some feeble amends, if anything to at least give my conscience some peace.

So first-off, in the artwork credits, two artists have not been listed with their full names: Korinna Veropoulou (Tori) and Efrosyni Giannakaina. I can only say that we never meant for that to happen and it was just one of those mistakes that slipped through the cracks. Furthermore, it is my opinion that the format in which Korinna’s contribution was printed does not do it justice and therefore you can see it in its original, disturbed glory below.

Additionally, there is one of Efrosyni’s pieces which I felt would have been better as a full-pager and in color (the color part was obviously impossible) and so I would like you to see it as I saw it in front of me. Note that it is watercolored and not by Photoshop and you will probably notice it is a variation on Kuroshitsuji.

Finally, and this where it hurts the most because she is a dear friend, I feel that Elli “Asaph” Moka’s artwork has been grossly misrepresented and its inherent humor lost due to the miniaturization. Therefore, I am also posting it here in its original form with my sincerest apologies and regret.

Those things having been said, now go buy the damn fanzine. It will be soon made available through certain venues, which will be promptly announced.

Cheers,

Speedgrapher

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April 2010 Events: Update #1

Posted in Events, Oni Market, Umi & Sora with tags , , , , , , on April 13, 2010 by speedxgrapher

I said I may have some more news for you this week and here they are:

Press Release

Umi & Sora have remained somewhat silent after the successful Cosplay & Maid Café at The Mall’s FNAC and this may have given the impression of an untimely retirement, an impression entirely false at that! On the contrary, after careful consideration, followed by many months of planning, we are proud to present our latest project!

CHORISSU #1

CHORISSU is a magazine focused on our well-loved modern Japanese culture, which covers a broad spectrum ranging from manga, anime and cosplay, to music and video games. The magazine has been composed by the entirety of the team, guaranteeing variety in subjects, opinions and writing styles. Furthermore, the magazine is illustrated with artwork from a number of young Greek artists, within and outside of the team.

Inside you will find reviews on manga, anime and bands, interviews and articles concerning the Greek as well as the Japanese version of modern visual culture and much, much more!

CHORISSU will be available over the three days of COMICDOM CON at the Hellenic-American Union (16th-18th of April – Massalias 22, Athens), at the fanzine area.

We hope to see you there!

Jya ne,

Umi & Sora

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Time Capsule Files: Cosplay & Maid Café @ fnac – The Mall Athens (22 – 24/10/2009) – Day 3: Part 1

Posted in Umi & Sora with tags , , , , , on February 17, 2010 by speedxgrapher

Well, it seems I finally found a (very) small niche to post some photos from 4 months back (wow, its been THAT long). Looking at this event in retrospect, I am very happy we had the opportunity of doing it and also feel a bit pessimistic about modern J-culture in Greece. Why? Well, it’s really simple: while I have not come at a cosplay party for some time, news do reach me and I do tend to see the connections between things. At this moment in time, modern J-culture in Greece is becoming a rapidly fading trend. It is centered exclusively around the parties and then again to a great degree around cosplay. Make no mistake, the crowd IS thinning (the Carnival season does not count – it’s the only time of the year when cosplay is widely accepted in Greece, after all) and at some point not in the far distant future, if things do not change, everyday life will take its toll and you will have done this one too many times to find it interesting anymore.

If you do not believe me, you only have to look at all the other imported cultural (subcultural in Greece) trends of the past and see that I am right. Those who did not manage to find a sense of community, a REAL sense of community, faded into obscurity and vaguely remembered fun times. Which brings me to the main problem: there IS no community, in that there is no sense of purpose or direction and with the exception of a very few people, J-culture is not treated as a whole but segmented in its various aspects, the various followers of which are even hostile to each other (again, if you do not believe me you only have to open your ears, check backlogs in forums, remember discussions, have a look at widely publicized fights and ask people who thought there was a community and rapidly found otherwise). Each has their own agenda, each seems to think “they are right”, “they are the Keepers of J” and in a number of variations “cooler, wiser, better dressed than thou”.

Now, I will be the first to say this is just a hobby (for which opinion I have also been criticized) and as such, it is supposed to be fun, to take the mind off problems, not create more for someone to solve or even be aware of. As a hobby, it is also supposed to be creative. Sure, cosplay IS a really creative process for some but looking at the pictures, there is the evident presence of a peak and the beginning of a decline, not only (or even at all, all things considered) in quality but mainly in the choice of character, the roleplaying and slowly, even the physique. It’s becoming a habit, instead of something special. At any rate, what I witnessed at the event in fnac was a good start, an opening to something that could maybe survive the trend’s death, that could inspire a different way of thinking, a sense of… COMMUNITY. Sadly, it’s not happening and rest assured, the way the economy is going, soon our troubles will outweigh the remaining fun value of the parties, which will end up not being worth the trouble.

Sound bleak? Yes, I know it does and I assure you that I thought long and hard about this before writing it here, knowing full well I might become unpleasant. My inner demons are not for public consumption and I would never entertain the thought of basing anything I posted here on them. So after you entertain yourselves with the following photos, stop for a moment and think what this whole modern J-culture means to you, what it is and what it could or even should be. On the other hand, don’t: it won’t be the end of the world and I am sure something else will eventually replace “the J”.

On with the show…

Well, I hope you enjoyed that little bit of time-travel (there are, of course, tons more which I have no idea when I will be posting) but more importantly, I hope you will take a moment and think about what was different there and how it can be accomplished again.

From the depths of oblivion (no, not the game),

Speedgrapher

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