Thursday, December 13, 2012

Comic Market 83: Alpha To Yukaina Nakamatachi / 有葉と愉快な仲間たち

I've been awaiting some kind of indication from the sorely underrated Alpha to Yukaina Nakamatachi regarding their plans for the upcoming Winter Comic Market.  While news on a book is still forthcoming (I, for one, am holding out hope for a parody work, rather than a continuation of the circle's original series), the circle did display a sample image of a dakimakura of Airi Totoki from iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls:

I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, and with Alpha's help, I might be a midnight totoker.  Image from Alpha's blog.
   I love what Alpha's done with this dakimakura; riffing on this particular card...

Thanks to project-imas.com for the image.
...Alpha seems to have simply taken the illustration to its logical progression.  Not sure, but I believe this may be the first iM@S parody of any kind that Alpha has produced.

Update 12/23/12 3:01 p.m.:

Let's Become an Expert! helmsman in the giving state of mind

Alpha to Yukaina Nakamatachi first entered my radar with the release of their outstanding Comic 1*6 Papakiki! parody doujinshi Mama ni Nariatino!, for which I broke my cardinal collecting rule, "Buy the content, not the cover."  To my dismay, I learned that Alpha has been at the doujin game for quite a long time with a rather extensive backlog of original works, rather than more easily digestible parodies.  While I nibble away at the circle's previous works, I am also very much inclined to acquire new works, be they parody or continuations of original series.

For whatever reason, it seems that Toranoana and Melonbooks are loath to carry Alpha's newest books, making the secondary market for current releases exceedingly thin.  Coupled with the fact that Alpha does not sell the book alone, but rather as part of a rather large merchandise set, makes Alpha's new works both rare and expensive. 

It seems that the same will be true for the circle's Comic Market 83 release, with a large assortment of goods tied to the new ero doujin for sale only as a complete package.  The ero book looks to feature the twin Takahashi girls that made their debut at the August 2011 Comic Market, this one focused on Sui rather than last Comic Market's Yui.  Looks like we'll also be getting a genga black and white book, a calendar, a clear file featuring chibified versions of Alpha's original characters, and more.

There is some parody work to consider, in dakimakura form.  As previously reported, fans of iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girl Airi Totoki will be given the chance to give her a squeeze--credit to Alpha for cleverly having each side of the pillowcase show Totokin in amorous versions of the clothing she appears in on her S Rare+ cards.


Finally, a reusable shopping bag to store one's loot in--I'd love to see other circles take this approach instead of the usual thick paper stock bags typically deployed at the convention.  I like the bag would actually be usable on a normal trip to the market, and that the art isn't so shocking or sexy as to gather more than an idle glance.

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