Sunshine Creation 64: Karomix / Karory / Karorful mixEX12

Kantaiful Collection

While the circle has been far from dormant, with not one but two art books scheduled for release this year, for the first time since last summer's Comic Market 84, Karomix finally has a new erotic parody doujin to offer fans.  To the surprise of absolutely no one, it's Kantai Collection-themed, with Haruna on the cover. 

Sunshine Creation 64: Shigunyan

Paradigm-setter

Once is a rumor, twice is a trend, three times is a paradigm--SHIGUNYAN HARUNA IS BEST HARUNA.  Shigunyan first captured my attention at Comic Market 85 with their rendition of Kantai Collection's demure destroyer Haruna looking completely fetching sporting nekomimi.  Looking into the circle's past output, and considering some of the work the circle's done since, it seems to me like Shigunyan has simply found its muse in Haruna, and I hope that when all the kanmusu collecting wanes, the circle can capture this moe moe lightning in a bottle once again.

Sunshine Creation 64: TIES / Takei Ooki

Lovely & Lively

Back at April 2013's COMIC1☆7, Takei Ooki's TIES snuck in a completely unheralded Love Live! parody doujin featuring Nico Yazawa that did not see any kind of retail distribution--the book became somewhat of a white whale for Ooki's fans to find on the secondhand market.  Perhaps heeding his fans' call, and most definitely cashing in on the popularity of the series' second season, TIES offered a new book, LOVE NICO! one two, at Sankuri 64 today, capturing the sprightly sensation's first encounter with groupmate Maki Nishikino with a new chapter, making for a whopping 42-page B5-sized release.

Fans seeking to commemorate the coupling can buy a pillow cover, featuring a member of the pair on each side (naturally, not wanting to choose a favorite and hurting feelings, I would encourage buying two).

Amatsukaze Dakimakura Derby

Heavenly Wind for heavenly sleep

Since her fairly recent debut, Amatsukaze has been the de facto sortie leader in the quest to keep Kantai Collection on the minds and computer screens of otaku worldwide.  With her fetching monochrome look punctuated with shocks of red and amber eyes she shares with her little sister, Shimakaze, Amatsukaze has a distinctive look that sets her immediately apart from the rest of the kanmusu fleet, and her twintails, zettai ryouiki, and pettanko characteristics present a healthy array of otaku bait.  While Amatsukaze fan art has been in steady production since her debut, her relative youth in the game has made goods and doujin featuring her somewhat rare, but with the summer convention schedule heating up we're sure to see a bevy of Amatsukaze worship totems hit the market.  

In May, a trifecta of reputable dakimakura doujin artists dispatched Amatsukaze to the futons of fans across Japan:

CARNELIAN:

REI's ROOM:

Verdant Force:

Sunshine Creation 64: Digital Lover / Yuka Nakajima / DL Action 87

Strip down, hold up!

Digital Lover was an early adopter and is a frequent purveyor of the Kantai Collection lifestyle, featuring the game's first mainstream-crossover "it" girl, Shimakaze, on D.L. Action 81 back in October 2013.  The current kanmusu du jour, Shimakaze's historical predecessor/in-game older sister Amatsukaze, is the centerpiece of D.L. Action 87, the circle's fifth Kancolle parody book.

Circle artist Yuka Nakajima has another anime bearing her signature style ready to make its debut later this year, as Amagi Brilliant Park hits Japanese airwaves later this summer. She'll do her part to publicize it starting at Sankuri 64 later this month, in the form of a smartphone holder featuring leading lady Isuzu Sento. 

Sunshine Creation 64: AYUEST / Ayuya

Понимание Pусский

Because Japan fun fact: I took more than six years' worth of Russian class between high school and college.  Now, more than a decade out, I can still read the language but have virtually zero ability to understand it.  While that's still far, far more comprehension than I have in the Japanese language, I do speak moe very well, and it just so happens that Kantai Collection's Verniy is fluent as well.  AYUEST will be bridging the communication gap for fans at Sankuri 64 later this month with this latest effort. 

Sunshine Creation 64: Clesta / Cle Masahiro

Aμ'sing to no end

In the past several weeks, Clesta's Cle Masahiro has taunted his fans with sharply finished images of girls from Love Live! School Idol Project via his Twitter feed.  Having never touched the series before, it was not too difficult to imagine the girls of Otonokizaka Academy in the middle of a CL-orz erotic parody.  Finally, Masahiro confirmed the cover-image-in-process, likely to be done for Sankuri 64 later this month. 





Updated 7:24 am 6/21:  No significant changes on the finalized cover of CL-orz 37, revealed by Clesta earlier this week in preparation for Sankuri 64.

Additionally, attendees will have access to the circle's latest omake book, featuring Love Live! rival raconteur Tsubasa Kira on the cover.

Sunshine Creation 64: Mugen@WORKS / Akiduki Akina

Spellbinding sister suggests ships slip?

It's been a good run, and there's no reason to think the infatuation won't continue once the anime airs this summer, but at some point there will be a time when Kantai Collection ceases to be the center of doujinshi universe.  After six consecutive feature-length books, it seems that Mugen@WORKS is ready to move on to new material, with Mahouka's Miyuki Shiba on the cover and falling right in line with Akiduki Akina's preferred method of introduction.

Comic City 35: Ajisai Denden / Kawakami Rokkaku

DiSuccubi

Ajisai Denden books have a glorious hand-forged look to them that makes them immediately likable--while I have no living clue what circle artist Kawakami Rokkaku's work method is like, I can imagine a drafting desk, a pivoting lamp, and a holy ton of pencils and pens and watercolors getting sacrificed to craft his gems.  Certainly the circle's latest for Comic City 35, featuring Darkstalkers and Vampire Savior's femmes fatales Morrigan and Lilith Aensland, has all the feel and telltale linework of this master craftsman. 

Comic City 35: Maruarai

IT MUST BE TOUCHED

Maruarai's been in the doujin business for a long, long time, but the circle's release at the end of May for Comic City 35 serves as a reminder that KanColle parodies aren't necessarily a young man's game.  Just as Shimakaze was the herald angel for Kantai Collection across the world, her ship sister Amatsukaze is one of the principal kanmusu maintaining the property's popularity to date, and she graces the cover of Maruarai's first treatment of the game. 

Comic City 35: Men 120 Percent / Menyoujan

TRAMAPOLINE!  TRAMBOPOLINE!

Though the girls of K-on! have been out of the otaku consciousness for some time, it seems Men 120 Percent has some unfinished business with Houkago Tea Time's kittenish kouhai Azusa Nakano in Azus@ttack3.  I bought Azus@ttack back in March 2011 on a whim simply because the book's size and colors reminded me of Ishikei's, and the investment in the book and the artist have not disappointed yet.  This book comes more than two years after the second volume, and about three-and-a-half years since the first. 

COMITIA108: AYUEST / Ayuya

Pinpoint accuracy

From straight out of nowhere, AYUEST has emerged as one of the circles I look forward to most out of anyone, thanks in no small part to their consistently high-quality work within the kanmususphere and helped in no small part by their seemingly constant output--nary a convention goes by without circle artist Ayuya's Twitter avatar changing, and when there isn't a convention to report on, the circle has filled the gaps with seasonal iPhone backgrounds featuring the Kantai Collection girls, and the circle's inventive with goods as well.  The circle's COMITIA108 offering featured fan favorite Amatsukaze as a button set.

COMIC1☆8: Renai-Mangaka

A new blip on the Because Japan radar

One of the great benefits of following artists on Twitter is the constant discovery of new artists and circles to consider, and while I cannot recall what doujin-ka retweeted this particular effort, I know that I'll now be tracking the updates of Renai-Mangaka directly, thanks to their depiction of Kantai Collection's Verniy on the cover of the circle's COMIC1☆8 offering.  Looking through the circle's backlog presents parodies of fan-favorites Henneko, Monogatari, and Railgun amongst others, and a charming, moon-eyed moe-heavy art style that is my catnip. 

COMIC1☆8: Mugenkidou A / Tomose Shunsaku

Signs of life from Camp Shunsaku--Mugenkidou A teamed up with ANAPOM at COMIC1☆8 to deliver a short omake booklet and a tapestry of this original character creation. 

COMIC1☆8: Raijinkai / Harukigenia

Old school magic school

Kudos to Raijinkai for reminding doujinshi fandom of life off of the naval base!  After a brief dip in the Kantai Collection pool, Harukigenia has tapped into good ol' televised anime for three consecutive works, with the circle's latest featuring The Irregular at Magic High School's suspect sister Miyuki Shiba on the cover. 

COMIC1☆8: †NIL† / Haru Fujibayashi

Canon fodder!

I am fully in favor of having the production committee responsible for OreImo hand the keys to the franchise over to Haru Fujibayashi of †NIL† for the circle's continuation of the story of those infamous star-crossed siblings, Kirino and Kyousuke Kousaka.  The circle's Stardust Tears parody releases have done a fantastic job of exploring the doomed couple's future, and, happily, the circle still has more borders to expand in the series' third iteration, avaliable now. 

COMITIA108: Digital Lover / Yuka Nakajima

Feed your pet (project)!

For the first time in a year, Digital Lover has paid some attention to its long-running original doujinshi series, Costume Paradise, at this May's COMITIA108.  An omake booklet is all for your bookshelves to look forward to, but your china cabinet can get hyped for a small bowl to go along with the small serving dish that was offered at last year's COMITIA104.