Comic Market 86: Kohakutei 琥珀亭 / Sakai Hamachi

Filled out in triplicate

I have a soft, nostalgic spot for Kohakutei dating back to when I was first getting into doujinshi by purchasing every half-decent Spice and Wolf parody book I can find, and the circle stays extremely busy with new works coming out throughout the year.  Their 85th, 86th, and 87th books will be dispatched to Odaiba for Comiket 86, with kanmusu Kaga and Taigei making their first appearances for the circle, while Pretty Cure's Ikuyo Hoshizora takes her third cover, the last seen at last year's Summer Comiket.

Comic Market 86: Shigunyan しぐにゃん

I will say it until you believe me...

...SHIGUNYAN HARUNA IS BEST HARUNA.

I wish all of doujinshidom could see the perfect, celestial synergy taking place between Shigunyan and Kantai Collection's Haruna--somehow, some way, a relatively unheralded and undistinguished circle has found its muse, and we are all best served by merely bearing witness to the adorable display.  Thus far, she's graced three doujinshi, a tapestry, and a small bag, and now the cat-eared cutie comes dakimakurized, wedding-banded and ready for prime placement in your otaku lair.  

Not content to simply laze about in bed, Haruna is also featured in an erotic parody doujinshi, her fourth such appearance for the circle, though it's not certain where her nekomimi have gone off to in this outing...

Also, for the third time, KanColle's Kaga will star in an erotic parody book for the circle, apparently having inherited Haruna's cat ears and also sporting a wedding ring, neither of which she had in her previous outings at C85 or Sankuri 62.

Finally, Shigunyan's 52nd convention-exclusive omake booklet, featuring a chibified KanColle Airfield Princess...

Comic Market 86: Popochichi ぽぽちち / Yahiro Pochi

Soft, squishy ship shapes 

Though the content of his books occasionally enters Abgrund-level areas of sexual deviancy, one would be hard-pressed to deny the sweet squeezability of Popochichi's character art as anything less than appealing.  By manipulating coloring and applying gravity and a little extra weight to his characters' physiques, circle artist Yahiro Pochi makes his girls soft and supple without making them overly cartoonish.  Pochi also certainly knows how to pay the bills as a doujinshi artist, and in the current fandom climate that means MOAR KANTAI COLLECTION.  After a double feature with Shimakaze and a Kongou/Haruna pairing at C85, and a showcase of the less endowed pairing of Taihou and Zuihou at Sankuri 62 in February, fans of both body types will be served at C86, with Kaga, Bismarck, and Nagato on one cover, and Shimakaze's predecessor/big sister Amatsukaze on the other.  

Sunshine Creation 62: Shigunyan / しぐにゃん

Kitto Katsu, Kanmusu Kyudo-ka Kaga!

While it was their nekomimi'd Haruna that caught my eye prior to Comic Market 85 and first got me interested in the circle, Shigunyan surely has been awfully busy since then in preparation for this weekend's Sunshine Creation 62.  However, it's a follow-up of the circle's other Comiket book, featuring Kantai Collection's Kaga, that the circle will be selling, and at a giga-sized 32 pages to boot.  Attendees of the convention will receive a custom-wrapped Kit Kat featuring the demure aircraft-carrying archer for their trouble.  

Raigeki-sen Yoi! 6: ReDrop

Kan Colle Kaga Kash-in!

ReDrop presented an iDOLM@STER parody alongside an Evangelion parody at Comic Market 83 in December 2012, and it's been a steady diet of the girls of 765 Productions since, with five full-length iM@S books from the circle last year.  It required the unquestioned current juggernaut of the doujinshi scene, Kantai Collection, to change the circle's trajectory, as the aircraft carrier Kaga sheds her muneate for the circle's release at Raigeki-sen Yoi! 6 at Tokyo Big Sight. 

Comic Market 85: Shigunyan / しぐにゃん

Haruna Nekomimi Mode Melts My Face Off

One of the great thrills of being a doujinshi fan is discovering new artists.  Whether via Pixiv, Twitter, or Toranoana, it seems that every Comiket I find a new book from an artist I don't recognize which stops me in my tracks and forces a headlong dive into their backlog to learn more.  With just a couple of days between now and the beginning of Comiket 85, and a never-ending stream of the same kanmusu over and over to wade through, I truly did not expect to find anything to capture my attention this time around.  Then, I saw this cover, and my rate of deceleration was concussion-inducing, Formula One-grade.  I needed to know more.

From long-time doujinshi circle Shigunyan, this presentation of Kantai Collection's Haruna reclined on tatatmi and sporting nekomimi arrested me on the authority of her supreme cuteness, and the preview pages proved that the art quality carried over into the interior of the book, which, given the high number of submissions and short turnaround time from the Summer Comiket, is even more rare in Winter Comiket releases.  I am rapt.  Going to the artist's website reveals that in addition to this release, the circle will offer a second full-length book featuring a fuwa-fuwa take on Kan Colle's Kaga and a third omake book with kanmusu I-19's torpedoes heavily featured.

Looking back through Shigunyan's previous works reveals that the circle has been in the game for quite a long time, and sticking on a pair of nekomimi to a character seems to be something of a trademark of theirs, but, in this writer's opinion, the circle's art seems to carry shades of mid-90's character designs and, quite simply, isn't that attractive to me.  I am not certain what elements have clicked to produce this Haruna release, but I will definitely be watching to see if Shigunyan's work stays at so high a calibre as this.