Disparities in price, selection, and more!
Been a while, ne? Since I tend to be long winded (check below for proof! ^_~), I'll try to write something about doujinshi once a week or so ... but no promises!! Laziness is the nemesis of obsession!

Ahem. Anywho. So this week's topic is disparities in the doujinshi world. Let me tell you right now, there are a LOT of disparities going on!!

First off, the inspiration for this topic came about quite randomly. I was on the doujin box website using their pre-made links (most of which really aren't very good - it's better to learn to navigate YJ yourself, then you find the REAL treasure troves! Also, the copy/paste command and Altavista's translator are a YJ navigators best friends!!! But that's another story entirely). So I was checking out some random series that I'd heard of but didn't know much about, clicking on the links and seeing what came up.

By chance, earlier that week I had seen a manga cd for Slam Dunk on sale for $1 on ebay. I'd considered buying it, but I changed my mind because I'm not really into sports (not that I've ever actually even read a sports manga that I can recall). So I was looking at the links and happened to click on Slam Dunk, just to see what was there (my guess: mostly yaoi). And I got a shock that totally blew me away!

THERE WERE OVER 900 SLAM DUNK DOUJINSHI. I stared in amazement at my computer screen. "You've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed. I mean, I'd barely even heard of this series! The largest number of dj's I'd seen in a single group before this was Final Fantasy, a category that typically has about 2-400 doujinshi for auction on YJ on any given day. But here we're talking almost 1,000 doujinshi up for auction at the same time. That's a LOT!!

Immediately I hopped on over to ebay to see what the deal was there. I don't remember the exact number I found then, but let me just say that right now, as I type this (on a Saturday night so it may not be completely accurate), there are 2, count 'em, TWO Slam Dunk doujinshi on ebay.

I had encountered this same phenomenon before with one of my favorite video game series, Angelique. Angelique is hugely popular in Japan - it started out as a video game and spawned several sequels, OVAs, a manga series, and tons and tons of merchandise. Not to mention doujinshi! The Angelique doujinshi section on YJ tends to have at least 200+ dj's up for auction at any given time. Finding a cheap Arios/AngeCollet dj or Clavis/Julious dj is no problem at all. On ebay, however, you can hardly ever find even one good one. Right now as I type this there are 3 up for grabs on ebay, and all of them are labeled in the title 'hard yaoi.' Not much selection at all! And if your an Arios/Collet fan? Fuhgedaboudit!

I'd never really thought much of that disparity before my encounter with the Slam Dunk dj's, though, mostly because Angelique, although hugely popular in Japan, has not even been translated into English or anything. The English speaking Angelique fanbase is small (but growing!), and most people have never even heard of it! I myself only managed to get into the series by playing a ROM version of the original SNES video game (which, btw, is an amazingly fun game even if you can't understand a word of Japanese!) Which reminds me ~ Please sign the Angelique Translation Petition!! There's a link to the left. LESS THAN 100 SIGNATURES NEEDED!! ^_^ But, as I've said before, I digress.

Anywho, so I wondered, how is it that something so popular in Japan can be a total flop on ebay's international soil? Then, browsing through the doujinshi categories, I received further shocks. Prince of Tennis (which I've heard of and is pretty popular among english-speaking anime fans) had a wopping 2000+ dj's up for auction. My jaw dropped. That's more than twice as much as Slam Dunk! And meanwhile, Prince of Tennis only has about 10 dj's up for auction on ebay at the moment! I mean, the disparities in both number and selection are HUGE - and this isn't just a problem with a handful of doujinshi. It's common all across the board!

Series with tons of dj's on YJ have practically none on ebay; and the scary part is that it works vice versa, too! With the series Fushigi Yuugi, for example, last week there were about 4-5 dj's up on ebay. I searched almost daily for FY dj's on YJ, and came up empty every single time.

Nor do the disparities end there! There can also be huge disparities in the popularity of a series and the number of doujinshi. Dragonball Z, for example, which is one of the most popular series worldwide ('dragonball' is consistently one of the top search terms on the internet), only has about 100 dj's on an average day, up to 200 on a really good day, and can sometimes even dip below 50! This is nothing compared to the aforementioned series such as Prince of Tenis and Slam Dunk.

Yet ANOTHER disparity (oh, there are tons of them! Even more than I'm going to mention here, you can bet on that!) is price. Since, unless you live in Japan or can buy the doujinshi directly from the circle, you pretty much have to buy it at auction (or anime conventions, which can end up costing a hefty sum what with the transportation, hotel reservations, entrance fees, etc). The best places for these auctions tend to be online, on websites such as ebay or Yahoo Japan (or one of the other Japan-based websites that I'll mention at some point in the future). If you want to buy from Yahoo Japan, chances are that unless you're a seasoned veteran, you'll probably go through a deputy service - which tacks even MORE fees onto the price of the doujinshi!!

Pricing on a single item can vary greatly. I've dj's that would normally go for 3000+ yen slink away at under 1000. I myself have gotten complete steals (such as Hanky Panky on EBAY OF ALL PLACES for $9.99, and BVD Selection for a mere 3100 yen), and have also been incredibly, VERY, STUPIDLY foolish. My example: I paid 8000+ yen for a Kuri doujinshi that had a page falling out of the middle -_-;; ... and to add salt to my wounds, the same dj sold twice, in better condition, the next week for around 2000 yen each, and then on ebay it went for only $46 ... less than half of what I paid!! GRRR!!!

Learn from my mistakes, people! DO NOT bid more than you can comfortably afford and are WILLING to pay! And when you bid through a deputy service on YJ, make sure to calculate the FINAL PRICE (i.e. an estimate including your max bid and the various deputy fees) BEFORE YOU PLACE YOUR BID. I cannot stress this enough - if you don't, you'll get a SCARY SURPRISE in your email a few days after the end of the auction!! Buuuut ... well, that's off-topic here, isn't it?!! Don't worry, I'm planning to have a nice, LOOOONG rant about deputy services and buying 'straight from the source' (i.e. Japan) VERY soon!! ^_^

Anywho, back to disparities! As you can see, sometimes the most random series that you've never even heard of can have TONS AND TONS of doujinshi up for auction, a veritable gold mine ... while your favorite, most beloved series barely takes a breath on YJ or ebay (ahh, the story of my life! *SOB*).

Oooh, and that reminds me of yet another disparity (which is sort of related to price) ... the BIDDERS!! Sometimes, there have been times when NOBODY bids on a perfectly wonderful dj, and you can't understand WHY they're not! Then other times, it seems like EVERYONE wants it! Totally random!!

I encountered this phenomenon recently on both ebay and Yahoo Japan in my quest for Final Fantasy 4 doujinshi (preferably those starring Rydia/Edge) Back in the early days of my collecting, you couldn't find an FF4 dj on ebay to save your life. And even on YJ they were a rarity! But I kept at it, searching every day. And then I finally found them! And ... the first several YJ auctions, NO ONE ELSE bid! Those weren't for R/E dj's though, just plain ol' FF4. But then came a whole bunch of R/E doujinshi, they were GORGEOUS and there were 6 or so of them, and they all had low starting prices and were from the same seller!! I bid decently high maximums on them, but my dreams were crushed when suddenly LOTS of people started bidding in the last minutes, driving the prices up so high I could barely even see them!

What happened? I asked myself. Why are these people suddenly bidding large amounts of money for similar dj's that they would have scorned a month earlier?

More recently, the selection of FF4 dj's on YJ has gotten somewhat better (although there are still hardly any compared to FF7 and FF10), but there are still times when the bids go far higher than what I'm willing to pay - plus I have the added disadvantage of those nasty deputy fees, too!

And then, to make matters worse ... I recently encountered this phenomenon ONCE AGAIN on ebay! Just a few weeks ago!

On ebay, FF4 doujinshi were few and far between. then I finally found some! Two gorgeous Rydia/Edge dj's (hentai, of course!). That was the one and only time I have ever had to pay for an auction with an IPMO (because the seller didn't accept Paypal). It's not an experience that I'd like to have again, I'll say that much! ^^;; But anywho, no one else bid on the dj's, so I got them for a pretty decent price (although add in the shipping cost, IPMO cost, cost of MAILING the IPMO to Japan, and the savings just melt away).

THEN, last week, there were once again two separate FF4 dj's up for grabs! I was giddy, hoping to add to my collection. Much to my shock, surprise, and chagrin, both final prices ended up going over $25 ... which is just way too much to pay for a normal dj that doesn't even have a true R/E focus! And there were a whole ton of people bidding on them! So my question: WHAT GIVES?!

Why, all of a sudden, are all these people swooping down on the FF4 dj's? It totally boggled my mind! And on YJ, too, there are a ton of people bidding on them now. Once again, my question: WHAT THE HELL GIVES?!?!?

So far, we've covered disparities in quantity, popularity, selection, price and bidder interest (not necessarily in that order!) Since this thing's getting pretty long, I'll try and hurry it up with just one more thing.

The last disparity I'll mention is something that has to do with selection, but exists inside the bastion of a single series. It deals with the subject matter, and the availablity of certain characters/pairings.

I've got some great examples for this concept, which I can't quite label without it sounding funny, and which is sort of vague. The first example uses the well-known series Yu Yu Hakusho.

Now, Yu Yu Hakusho is a wonderful series for yaoi lovers of all kinds. I can honestly say that over 90% of the YYH dj's that I've seen have had at least SOME shonen-ai or yaoi content. MOST are focused on yaoi content, ESPECIALLY the kurama/hiei pairing, which DOMINATES the series.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Within a series, certain characters, pairings, or plot conventions are widely available, while others are nowhere to be found. Personally, I'm not a big fan of yaoi (although I will admit to a weakness for Touya and Yue from Card Captor Sakura), and personally, I like the canon pairing of Yusuke and Keiko. But I'm just one of a handful! I have NEVER, EVER seen a Yusuke/Keiko dj. MOST of the dj's I've seen have been Kurama and Hiei. This is a HUGE disparity within the series as to the content of the doujinshi! Some series are like that; trying to find a het pairing in the midst of all the yaoi is honestly, and I mean this quite literally, just like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Meaning: You just can't do it!

I've had a similar problem with another of my favorite series, Tokimeki Memorial. My FAVORITE character from this series is Mira Kagami, who is very sexy and aloof and has the most gorgeous purple hair you've ever seen (and she likes to eat melon ^_~). Unfortunately, for some reason fans just HATE her!! Or at least, they don't love her nearly as much as I do! Because I have NEVER seen a dj focused on Mira, and I've been looking specifically for that for several months now! Oh, sure, there are plenty of dj's focusing on Shiori, Ayako, Saki, etc ... but no Mira! Even in doujinshi that are supposed to be 'group' oriented (i.e. an 'all character' kind of setup), they'll have every character EXCEPT my girlie! I mean, what's up with that?! PLUS, even Miharu, a character who HARDLY EVEN SHOWS UP IN THE GAME AT ALL, is much much more popular than my baby! How the hell did that happen?!

Sorry if I'm getting a little overemotional, but this is a very sore spot for me. I absolutely LOVE Mira Kagami, she's one of my top 5 favorite characters of ALL TIME, and yet I don't have a single dj starring her. It's a lonely yet painful road, my friends. Lonely yet painful.

Well, that's about it for disparities. I'm sure there are plenty more (and I'll probably think of them all after I post this up, too!) but that's all I have time for today. And it is a lot, too, just reread over this thing if you don't believe me (and if you can stomach reading all those jumbled, disorganized thoughts all over again! ^_~)

Anywho, I think the next topic I'm going to cover will be the basics of deputy services and using Japan-based websites to your advantage. That's going to be a FUN topic! I could go on and on all day about all the 'tricks of the trade' so to speak (i.e. the complexities of navigating through a website in a foreign language that you can't even read) and other stuff ... Oooh, I'm getting all tingly just THINKING about that topic!! ^_^

I'll also keep you updated on any cool auction wins I have. I hope today's little ranty thing has been at least somewhat informative for you! If you have any comments or questions or whatever you can always email me (my email addy's in my profile).

See ya soon and good luck with your doujinshi hunting! ^_~

The Joys of being a Doujinshi Addict ...
An addiction to doujinshi is just like any other addiction ... only more expensive!! ^_^ Trust me, being addicted to drugs or alcohol or sex is a LOT cheaper than being addicted to doujinshi!

Although, some of that depends on the kind of doujinshi you lust after. Me, I love the expensive stuff (but of course!). I'm VERY picky about my doujinshi - it has to have nice art, decent story, and a couple I love! Then again, there are times when I can be downright desperate!

For example, I once bought 5 doujinshi sight unseen from Rakuten Furima just because they were cheap (only 250 yen a pop! That's a STEAL, even with all those deputy fees!) And it turned out that most of them I didn't even like! ~_~ But at the time, I was incredibly desperate for Final Fantasy 4 doujinshi ... there seemed to be hardly any anywhere! Now, however, there are TONS of FF4 dj's EVERYWHERE! I got a great-priced lot on Bidders Japan (formerly Japan's ebay site, I got 6 Rydia x Edge dj's for only 1500 yen! That's only about 5-7 dollars/dj when you include deputy fees and shipping! That's a STEAL), and it turned out I already had two of the dj's from the lot - on EBAY of all places! And currently there are two FF4 dj's on ebay (although I might bid on one of them tonight, I'm not sure if I will, it ends in about an hour), and this week there were/are about 5-8 FF4 dj auctions going on all at once! Some of them ended already, and some are still going ... but it's crazy! I mean, just a month ago, I was struggling to find any of them and suddenly they're all over the place! PLUS, doki doki station got a whole bunch of ERF dj's (my FAVORITE ff4 circle!!!) in early june, and they all went on hold like the first day they arrived!! GRRRR!!!! >_<

But anywho, I digress. The point of this entry is supposed to be talking about the JOYS of being a doujinshi addict, not the trials and tribulations! So let's get down to the point.

My very first doujinshi purchase on ebay consisted of two auctions from one seller, for BVD DX and BVD 69. Even today, these are still some of my favorite dj's (I absolutely love the BVD series!) I had no idea what I was doing back then, and I spent a total of around $9 for those two dj's. That's a lot of money!

After that, I lost my focus, and started buying dj's right and left. I was all about quantity, not quality ~ that's how I live my life. In almost anything and everything, I prefer quantity over quality. I measure my own success by the quantity of stuff I've done, as opposed to quality. This isn't the best way to go, however! I learned this soon enough, when I watched my bank account go down ... and down ...

And I knew that I was addicted. Addicted to doujinshi.

I store my doujinshi in a little storage box in the middle of my room. Originally I put my dj's in this box so that I could take them with me when I went back to college (scared the whole time that they would somehow be damaged in transit). Then I just left them there because I really have nowhere else to put them. I live at home with my mom and brother, and neither of them knows about doujinshi. The thing is, if they knew about my addiction, they wouldn't understand. It's hard being a doujinshi addict, because honestly, no one else understands what drives me. Even my closest friends can't understand why I blow my budget on my beautiful dj's. It's a very lonely life, just like with any other addiction. It's hard to find anyone else who appreciates the beauty of a dj, who can share your joy at getting an incredibly sought after doujinshi for an incredibly low price.

When I first started collecting, it began with just ebay. Then I discovered websites with doujinshi, such as my personal favorite, dragonball-doujinshi.com. I became a member and was floored by the glorious, beautiful dj's within. But having access to scans of these dj's didn't sate my hunger; it only made me hunger even more in my quest for dj's. Soon I realized that I don't have the kind of money to bid on every single dj that I sorta want (like a certain someone on ebay whose auction wins for ONE MONTH totalled about $3,000!! I know, it's silly that I counted, but when you do the math, it's crazy ... $3,000/month is equal to $36,000/year!! For DOUJINSHI! That's more than a lot of people MAKE a year ...). I have a budget. There's no income, since I don't work (due to my medical condition, I even had to drop out of college ~_~;), and all I have is my inheritance (which really isn't that much! Plus, I haven't even seen most of it yet. ~_~)

So I knew that I had to stop myself before I found out that I had no money left. If there's anything in my character that's stronger than my addiction to doujinshi, it's my miserly attitude towards money.

Some people believe that money is for spending ~ NOT ME! I believe that money is for saving. I always like to have some extra money around, 'just in case.' This is how I play video games, too ~ Whenever I'm playing a video game I will miserly hold onto all my gold and only spend it if necessary. And I'll always set a spending limit to myself, so that I have a certain amount left, even if it means skimping on items or weapons or armor. And I'll go out and kill enemies for a few hours at a time, just to earn some extra gold, until suddenly I realize that I have TOO MUCH, and I've reached the limit for the amount the game will let you hold ... and I have to go spend some, quick! ^_^ If only real life were like that!

But once again, I digress. After being on ebay and winning some auctions, I discovered (duh duh duh !!) DOUJIN BOX! This took my addiction to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL. Now I could bid on doujinshi STRAIGHT FROM JAPAN! With a few small fees, of course! ^_~ So in the end, I believe that I've actually spent, by far, MORE money through Celga/Doujin Box (and now I'm using Anime Chaos since they have a killer summer sale! Go check it out!) than on ebay. And the doujinshi selection tends to be MUCH nicer on Yahoo Japan than ebay, especially for the doujinshi I'm interested!

Along the way, as I said before, I had to refine my tastes. I told myself that I had to focus, and stop buying dj's that I didn't really want just because they were cheap. It was hard, and took a little time, but I did it. Now, I only bid on dj's that I REALLY want. I've even become pickier when it comes to FF4 dj's ~ no more Cecil x Cain yaoi for me, just because that's all that there is! Now I'm just going for what I really want, Rydia and Rydia x Edge dj's (and maybe a lil Golbez x Cain if it's cheap enough). There might be slim pickings, but that doesn't mean that I can't be picky!

And this, my friends, brings me to the point of this entire long rambling thong (FINALLY!): THE JOYS OF BEING A DOUJINSHI ADDICT!

What are these joys, you ask? How can an addiction that is so expensive, and so costly (in terms of social life, free time, money, etc) have any rewards other than the high that you get, post-auction-win?

Well, my friends, there's an even better high in store for you a few weeks after that initial win! This high is the high of finally RECEIVING the precious dj's that you worked so hard for and paid so much for!

Yesterday, I received a shipment of my recent wins from Celga. Oh, I was pretty mad at them for sending it without me ordering it, but it's true that one of my wins was from May 12 (it got left behind last time I ordered a shipment). And they did have a lot of stuff to send me ... and most of my more recent purchases hadn't come in yet, so it's ok, the next shipment will be just as big (if not bigger!)

But when I received that package (it took almost a week to get here, even though it's EMS! GRRR!!), after all the frustrations of tracking it (We have lots of problems with our mailman, he's lazy and lies about attempting to deliver my package - TWICE! GRRRR!!), I was in heaven. PURE BLISS, when I opened that beautiful package. *HAPPY SIGH*

I finally had the realization of what my determined focus had wrought. The dj's inside were ONLY ones that I had REALLY wanted, not flights of fancy that I soon abandoned. This was the REAL THING. Included in that shipment were:

BVD 37 (which I had wanted for so long, and got for a veritable steal at 1900 yen!)
BVD Selection (Another steal for only 3100 yen ~ And in great condition, too! A week later, another copy sold for upwards of 4500 yen! ^_^)
6 Edge x Rydia dj's (which, as I said before, I won for only 1500 yen for the whole lot! Under $10 each including shipping!)
Honey (And ExR hentai doujinshi)
...and, last but not least, my VERY FIRST ERF DJ!!!! (I was SOOO HAPPY to get this! I paid less for this than I would have even if I'd bought it from Doki Doki Station, where it had been listed a week before!!!!! ^_^)

I looked over my doujinshi with awe, and hurredly (yet carefully) opened their plastic coverings, delving inside for a little look-see at my purchases. I went through all of them in the blink of an eye, and then sat there, on my bed, sated and happy. I carefully put them away back in there box and put it on the bottom shelf of my bookshelf (where I keep all my YJ dj's, in their original boxes), and that was that. It's still there, right now, and I can see it from where I sit, typing on my computer. It's a plain brown box (it was inside a bag, so now that I threw the bag away there's no address or any labellling or anything on it), but it holds inside it so many dreams of mine.

This is the culmination of my doujinshi dream. Being able to have the patience to wait until I can get a dj for a reasonable price. Even if I really want it, I'm no longer willing to break the bank (after one memorable and INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE mistake I made for a Kuri dj), and if I don't really want it, I have the ability to 'just say no.' I've come along way in just a few short months, and I'm very proud of what I have become. This latest shipment of doujinshi proves to me that I can overcome my addiction, and turn it into something to be proud of, not something to be ashamed of! Well, that, and also I have to start selling some of my old, unwanted dj's on ebay to pay for my habit! ^_^;;

It's hard to believe that I've only been collecting doujinshi for a little over 6 months (I started last December, just a few days before I came home from college for winter break), and already I've amassed over 100 of them (I keep a list, although it's a little behind at the moment, I haven't put in my latest arrivals yet) ... and my collection keeps growing! But the rate of growth is much slower now. I don't need to be watching an auction every single second ... and if I don't win, it doesn't depress me like it used to (well, not all the time!)

And today, to add icing onto the cake of yesterday's beautiful revelations, I received Hanky Panky, a Kuri dj that I won for $9.99 on ebay, in the mail. Less than a week since I won it! (see my first entry if you don't believe me! ^_~) It was amazing to see it. And just a little over a month ago, I didn't have any Kuri doujinshi, either, and now I have, what ... about 4 or 5 of them! And the most recent additions have been deals and steals, to make up for that one little mistake I made way back when ^_^;

And now I'm still being very careful, and carefully considering how much I spend on a particular dj before I bid. Sometimes, at the last minute, just before I planned to snipe, I would realize that I really didn't want this dj! And I would stop, and someone else would win ... and I wouldn't care.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm a 'recovering' addict ... But at least now I can honestly say that I have my addiction under control.

And what an addiction it is! ^_^

My Doujinshi Wishlist ~ As of June 28, 2003
Well, today is June 28, 2003, and here is my current wishlist of doujinshi. If you have one of these and would like to sell or trade, please let me know! I'll update my wishlist later either once I've acquired some of these, or don't want them anymore, or want something new, or whatever.

Ok, here goes (Warning: There's a lot of stuff that I want! I am a GREEDY GREEDY GIRL!)


DRAGONBALL DOUJINSHI:

ANYTHING by Kuri that I don't already have, ESPECIALLY:
~Prince and Showgirls 1 & 2 (and 3 if it exists)
~King & Queen
~Fever
~Anything 'Erotic' or 'Erotica'
~Any of her A4 oversized dj's (Happy Mania, etc)
~And don't forget her Hentai works!

BVD series by Seizi Akimura:
~BVD 1~3
~BVD Last Fiction

Ryujin-Kai
~Hige to Boin
~Any other Ryujin-Kai dj's that I don't have

Anything that says 'Vanilla' on it (^_~)

Anything by the circle Onix (other than DB books 2, 7, 9, and 10)

Basically, anything featuring Bulma and Vegeta that has decent art that I can stand.



FINAL FANTASY 4 DOUJINSHI:

ANYTHING ERF!! Even if it's only co-authored by ERF, I still want it! Hentai, non-hentai, I DONT CARE!! I am in love with ERF!!

Other than that, anything featuring Rydia or Rydia/Edge that I don't already own.



ANGELIQUE DOUJINSHI:

Non-yaoi doujinshi by the circle Arioscar.

Anything featuring Arios x Angelique Collet (as long as it has GOOD ART!!)

Anything featuring Oscar x Angelique Limoges (again, must have GOOD ART!!)

Anything featuring Randy, either by himself or in a non-yaoi situation.




TOKIMEKI MEMORIAL DOUJINSHI:

ANYTHING FEATURING MIRA!! I don't care what circle, how good or bad the art is, whether it's hentai or yuri or whatever! I desperately need ANYTHING that is Mira-centric! Please!!




OTHER SERIES DOUJINSHI:

Yu Yu Hakusho ~ Anything involving Yusuke x Keiko (probably the hardest canon pairing of any series to find!)

Yu-Gi-Oh ~ I need some more Yugi x Anzu and/or Yami Yugi x Anzu

Fushigi Yuugi ~ Something featuring Miaka x Tamahome (hentai or non)

Final Fantasy 2 ~ Maria x Firion

Rurouni Kenshin ~ Eventually I'd like to collect some more of the Yamaguchirow doujinshi featuring Kenshin x Kaoru, but I'm in no hurry

Ayashi no Ceres ~ Aya x Tooya

Hana Yori Dango ~ Tsukasa x Tsukushi (not that you can even *find* HYD dj's ANYWHERE! *grumble*)

Love Hina ~ Keitaro x Naru

Revolutionary Girl Utena ~ Utena x Anthy

Sex and the City ~ Well, I don't even know if one exists, but I know there's a 'Full House' dj out there, so I still have some hope! ^_^



Well, I think that's all for now. As you can see, I'm mostly interested in romantically oriented doujinshi featuring couples. I tend to like canon pairings (i.e. Bulma and Vegeta, my favorite couple ever!), but I do also like some non-canon pairings (i.e. Angelique Collet x Arios) so ... whatever.

Also, my main goal here is that I'd like to eventually own at least one doujinshi featuring a couple I like from every series that I like, although my focus is definitely more on Dragonball and FF4 than any of the others. Currently, I am attempting to broaden my anime/manga horizons by renting anime dvd's and reading translated manga for series that I've heard of but never experienced myself. By doing this, I discovered several new favorites! If you'd like to experience new manga then I recommend going to ebay and looking up manga cd's. Usually you can get an entire series (translated) on cd, for less than you'd pay for one graphic novel. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy the official translations; by all means, if you like the series, then buy the official translation and see how it compares to the fan's translation! But honestly, buying manga on cd is a cheap way to experience new series and learn what you like. I don't want to throw down a whole bunch of money on a manga for a series that I don't even know if I'll like!

Anywho, enough of my little rant! ^_~ This has been my wishlist for today. I'll keep you up to date on the doujinshi I win and whatnot, and then later I'll put out another wishlist, and we can see how it changes over the course of time! Because I know that now, my wishlist is MUCH different than it was when I first started out collecting! I've grown more focused in my collection, and I know what I want and what I don't want, and I don't throw money away anymore on useless doujinshi that I don't even want in the first place. I'm on a budget now! ^^;; (yeah, right, let's see how long this one lasts! ^_~)

Ok, this is way too long already ... I'm out! ^_^

#1
Obviously, I am a doujinshi addict ... I mean, well, DUH! I am SOOO addicted to doujinshi, it's not even funny. I have over 100 dj's, and I lust after so many more! I've spent thousands of dollars on this stuff, which sucks since I don't even have a job!! ^^;

Anywho, the point of this blog is ... well ... I don't really know! I just want to post stuff about doujinshi and manga and anime and online auctions and stuff, and I guess my comments or whatever on it. *shrug*

Anywho, tonight I'm bidding on a Kuri doujinshi entitled "Hanky Panky" on ebay ... my technique is that I almost always sniper bid, because, guess what--that's how you win!! At least, that's how you win with a reasonable price. Unfortunately, I have a crappy dial-up connection at the moment (my mom won't get broadband until she gets a new computer, which she NEEDS to do since hers is just kinda dying), so it's pretty hard to snipe! A few times because of my slow connection I've waited too long and missed the end of the auction. That's REALLY not fun, ESPECIALLY if no one else even bid on it!!!

Why would you snipe on something if no one else bid? You ask. Well, because a lot of times, there might be OTHER people out there watching the item who are planning to snipe! So of course, I want to do it before they do, right? RIGHT! So if I just go out bumbling and lay my bid an hour beforehand, that'll give them a heads up and let them rethink their plan of attack. But if I do it at 30 seconds, they don't have enough time to totally redo it.

So basically, online auctions are all about STRATEGY. Sure, sometimes the price goes up too high and you say "Whoa, I'm not paying that much!" but then again, that's good. Earlier today, for example, I wanted to bid on a lot of 3 fushigi yuugi english manga (the official ones, since now that it's licensed, you can't find translations anywhere, and it costs $16 per volume if you buy it straight from Viz!) But anywho, I was prepared to bid a total of $24 (including shipping), which would make it $8 per volume, or half the original price, which I figure is reasonable. But then the price alone went up to $31!! With shipping, the cost was over $11 per volume! you hardly save anything that way--it would have been cheaper to bid on individual volumes! So now I just have to wait for more FY manga to come along. In the meantime, though, I'm lying in wait for Hanky Panky!

Unfortunately, I just acted rash, as I always do, and went ahead and placed a bid for $9.99, the minimum bid price. I figured, "what if my computer messes up, and I can't snipe or miss it or something?" Then, if no one else bids on it, I'll be able to get it very cheap! Although I'm sure, for a dj by Kuri (who is very popular and collectible!), there will be plenty of snipers! I'm just surprised that no one placed a bid on it already - usually there's a bidding war early on for popular doujinshi, although the last day and even the last hour or minute the prices tend to shoot up. My max bid is only $30, since it's only a 20-something page dj.

Yes, this is the life of a doujinshi addict. Lying in wait at the computer for 20-30 minutes before the auction's closed, just waiting to snipe. And usually about 4-5 minutes before the auction ends, I close out everything else and stop whatever else I'm doing, refreshing the page until it gets below a minute (I used to do below 30 seconds, but after several recent fiascos due to my dial-up program, I decided to stop that), and then placing the bid.

The key to sniper bidding is to have two windows open. One that you keep refreshing until the time comes to place the bid, and the other already prepared with your bid amount in place, so that all you have to do is press "submit," and your bid is submitted. I didn't use to know about this trick, and lost several auctions due to my lack of sniping prowess. I soon discovered this cool double-window advantage, and have been using it to my own advantage ever since! As you can see, I know a whole lot about the strategy of auction bidding and sniping, althogh by no means do I *always* win - unlike some other bidders, I have a budget.

But when you're addicted to doujinshi, and will do almost anything to get it ... well, that's another story. I have only about 5 minutes left, so I'd better go watch my auction now. It feels really good to see my name there as the high bidder, but I know very well that my lofty position could change at any moment, and probably will in fact! So I'll go for now, and come back after the auction's over to let you know what happened.

I WON IT!!!!!!!!!!!! ^_^

Oh wow ... I SO did not see that coming! NO ONE ELSE bid on it! At all!! No other snipers or anything! Honestly, I was shocked ... although it *IS* Friday night, so maybe all those people have something else they'd rather be doing. *grin*

Yes, that is the life of a doujinshi addict! Staying home on Friday and Saturday nights (not that I have anywhere else to go ~_~) in order to nab that dream doujinshi at the last second. But I can't believe it! I got Kuri's Hanky Panky for only $9.99 + $5 shipping! That's AMAZING!! Even on Yahoo Japan, Kuri DJ's usually go for crazily large amounts of money (although I've seen some go as crazily cheap deals, too! ... not to me unfortunately! >_<)

But anywho, I am so happy right now! My collection of Kuri doujinshi will be increasing very shortly! That's just so awesome!

I'll talk more about my 'doujinshi journey' later (LOL, it's pretty sad, I just LOVE talking about dj's, they're all I ever want to talk about! ^_^) ... you know, the various things along the route of my journey as a doujinshi collector that stand out in my mind and had an impact not only on my collection, but also on me as a person.

Well, that's all for now!