Moominworld Naantali

Not being able to travel abroad due to Covid-19 restrictions, we had to plan something else for our summer vacation. After some thought we decided on traveling to Naantali, where the Moominworld theme park is located. As we had been to the Moominvalley park in Japan, I thought it would be fun to be able to compare the two. 

Moominworld park in Naantali opened in 1993 while Moominvalley park in Japan opened in 2019. So, Japan’s park was practically brand new when we visited the place a few years ago and the Finnish park is almost 30 years old now. You could definitely see some wear and tear in places inside Moominworld and some of the attractions probably could use some fixing up. 

The weather was a bit unstable, the day started as sunny, but as more and more clouds gathered it started to rain by noon.

The cool thing about Moominworld is that the park is on an island. Sadly though, it does not cover the whole of the island and everything is packed tightly around the “main road” that goes across the island.

The normal price for 1 adult is 35€ at the ticket booth or 31€ if you buy it online beforehand.We bought our tickets online, to get the 4 € discount, and just had to show the verification email at the entrance.

There were about twenty minutes before a theatre show was about to start, so we spent that time looking around inside the Sniff’s shop. The shop’s selection of items was really pathetic compared to the one in Japan. Can’t say I’m surprised, just disappointed, like usual.

Well, it wasn’t all that bad. It just didn’t cater to my taste personally. If they hadn’t been so expensive and if I happened to be in need of a backpack they had some really cute designs. I especially liked the Stinky and Hattifatteners prints, but I ain’t going to pay 40-60€ for a bag I have no use for.

As I’m never able to leave anywhere empty handed, I ended up buying 6 small Moomin figures for 20€ total and a Moomin shaped lollipop.

So the show at the outdoor theater was about to start, so we headed there. A positive thing about their theatre is that there is a roof on top and a lot of seating, two things that the theatre in Moominvalley park was lacking. They even had a TV screen that showed subtitles in Swedish and English. They were very limited though, only just enough for anyone to get the very basic story of the play. 

The play was called “Moomintroll and the missing pearl” and it lasted about 20 minutes. The characters included in the play were Moomintroll, Little My and Snorkmaiden and then there was a giant octopus, who <spoiler!> stole the said pearl. Nothing spectacular, but it was mildly entertaining for what it was.

From the theatre, we started walking down the main road until we finally saw the Moomin house. Right next to it was Moomintroll’s house just like in one of the TV episodes, but it was built to be a kid’s playground, so nothing for adults. 

The iconic bridge that leads to the house was pretty darn pathetic looking compared to the Moominvalley version. Smack dab right there on the asphalt is a plastic pond with a tiny bridge over it. It was the most unaesthetic thing to look at. Without some of that childlike wonder, everything is obviously fake at the park, but that bridge scenery is one of the fakest fakes ever to be faked because it looked so unnatural.

So the good thing is that you are freely allowed to enter the Moomin house, unlike in Japan where you have to pay extra to get a tour of the house. The downside to that was they weren’t keeping count on how many people were in the house, so it got really crowded in some of the rooms and of course there were kids running amok everywhere, as to be expected. The house could use some refreshing too, there were places where you could tell people had been nabbing some souvenirs off the walls.

I guess it’s a weird thing to complain about in such an obviously fake environment, but everything looked so staged. Like, this isn’t a house, this is an attraction that is designed to look like a house! Ha ha haa! This is why I hate writing down my own thoughts, because I always feel even more like a moron than I normally do.

We didn’t pay for the house tour in Japan, so I can't with first hand experience compare the two. I saw a video on YouTube (can’t find it anymore) that was filmed on the tour inside the Moominvalley park’s house. The only thing I can say is, it just gives off a totally different vibe, because the house is treated more like a museum, rather than a place where the kids run wild.

In Moominvalley park the only character we saw roaming around the park (outside the theatre play) was Snufkin, while in Moominworld the characters were more present outside the house. Snufkin (again) was the only character we encountered off the main road. 

From the Moomin house we followed the road to Hemulen’s house. It was very small, but I thought it was nicely decorated. It didn’t feel as staged as the Moomin house.

From there we continued down to the beach where the “Bathing Hut” and “Edward the Booble'' were located. In Japan the bath house was locked and you could only peek inside through the windows, but it was much bigger. I’d say at least five adults could fit in there, while the Moominworld’s hut is so tiny it barely has room for two adults. Next to the bath house is Edward floating in the water. And that is all it is, a float or pontoon, whatever you call it. I don’t know why, but I always imagine it to be an animatronic or something more engaging. Nope, it just floats. If it ever was cut loose and drifted away it would make a perfect local “Loch Ness monster”.

From the beach, we took the “Nature trail” that winds through the woods on the left side of the main road. It’s all wooden walkways, so not much nature about it. We walked by Snufkin’s campsite, it was a little bit nicer looking than the Japanese one, but not by much.

We wandered around some more until we came to the “Scenic Lookout Point” that has this big ass telescope mounted on the ground. What do you know, the telescope is fake, and you can’t view shit with it. Or sure, you can look through it, but it doesn’t work like binoculars do. It’s almost like somebody thought it wasn’t such a good idea to mount a working telescope right across from the President’s summer residence or something.

We walked back to the main road and, looking at the map, found this path labeled “Fairytale trail” that would lead to some attractions on the right side of the main road. There was Alice’s Herb Garden (we didn’t see Alice anywhere), Hattifatteners’ cave (featurin’ a very pathetic looking Groke) and the Witch's House. The Witch was there and even had a large audience, lots of kids asking her questions. It was quite sad, in an immersion breaking way, that the actors playing the non-moomin characters had to wear those plastic face covering visors, due to corona, but the current situation is what it is.

The last thing left was “the rapids and suspension bridge”, which sounds kinda impressive on paper, but alas, wasn’t quite as impressive in real life. There was an alternative route to take if you wanted to skip the bridge. I thought it could have been longer, but I can also imagine myself being a kid again and being too scared to cross it as short as it was.

Some of the attractions were temporarily closed for some reason or another. We had pretty much seen everything there was to see at the park. But we were not leaving yet. As expensive as it was, 16€ per person, we had lunch at the Mamma’s Kitchen restaurant. They didn’t have any desserts on the menu in the restaurant, so next we went to Thingumy and Bob’s Ice Cream Bar. It was a good thing there was a roof over the deck at the Ice cream bar because it started pouring rain as we sat down to eat. We sat there quite a while, eating our ice creams very slowly waiting for the rain to stop. From the ice cream bar, we had a good view over the entrance to the shop, at least the park made a buck selling umbrellas that day! Eating ice cream outdoors while it rains is a bit chilling experience. Luckily, the rain stopped, so we were able to move out.

From the park we walked back to the mainland where there was another Moomin shop by the harbor. The selection was identical to the store inside the park, so I didn’t buy anything there. A little further down the road was this “ye olde Naantali shop”, that often came up when searching for places worth visiting in Naantali. The shop also advertised that they have the world’s smallest Titanic exhibition, intriguing. I expected the store to be a lot bigger, but it was really small in reality. I don’t see how more than max five people can be inside the store at the same time. The walls were packed from floor to ceiling with stuff, exactly the kind of place where you are too scared to move because you might knock something over. The Titanic exhibition was tiny alright, everything was fitted inside one glass cabinet.

Next to the Titanic stuff was a cabinet with more rare Moomin stuff. Older, now out of production Moomin mugs and even a few stuff from Japan. It was somewhat expensive for one tiny figure, but I bought the Japanese Snufkin figure, just because I thought if I don’t buy it now, I’ll never find one ever again. I also bought Stinky and Groke keychains. I think they are a bit weird looking, so I’m not sure if they are licensed or not.

After visiting the shop, we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

My final thoughts, regarding the comparison of the two Moomin parks. On surface level they are very similar. But Moominvalley Park in Japan is totally the winner here. To be fair, this is mostly due to the fact that I, as a Finnish person, will obviously find the Japanese landscape to be far more exotic than the Finnish woods I see everyday. Also, I liked the more spread out layout of the Japanese park, in Naantali everything was packed too close together.

The biggest thing in Moominvalley Park’s favor is the museum building, as ugly as it was. The exhibitions there give something for the adults to enjoy. A common complaint for Naantali’s Moominworld is that there is nothing really for an adult Moomin fan, and now as I experienced it myself, I have to agree. The Japanese park has managed to find  that “for all ages” feel, while the Finnish park is too “for small children only”. 

I didn’t think Moominvalley Park in Japan was perfect either, but I would totally want to visit the place again. Moominworld in Naantali was somewhat lackluster, I’d think twice if I wanted to go back there again.

Moominworld vs. Moominvalley house

Tokyo Trip 2 Haul

All the things I bought from my second trip to Tokyo! Weight and space became an issue as all of the stuff didn't fit in my luggage, so I had to buy a second one. Generally, I bought  a lot more of everything, small Gachapon figures, plushies and so forth. Every little thing adds up! The biggest space stealer were the new figures still in their boxes. And then of course, I also bought a lot of doujinshi, that probably ended up being the biggest culprit for why one bag was not enough. Even if space hasn't been the issue, the weight of my bag certainly was. My pile of doujinshi alone weighted 8 kilos! If I didn't have to buy them blind, there were certainly a couple I could have saved my money on and left them at the store. Aside from those few doujinshi comics, I regret (mostly) nothing! 

Sorry about the quality of the pictures.

¨¨¨~~~**The Haul**~~~¨¨¨

Assortment of Jason Voorhees masks from Friday the 13th. Bought from Havikoro toys in Nakano Broadway and Radio Kaikan in Akihabara. I used them to make this as a gift for a friend.

Ultimate Gamer Gremlin, Jurassic Park Vehicle and mini Mogwai, all gifts to the same person who got the Jason mask stand.I found the mini Mogwai in Village Vanguard store, JP car from Kiddy Land in Ikebukuro. Gamer Gremlin from Radio Kaikan.

Our coasters from the Pokemon cafe with the my Mew drink decoration. Dragonball Super and Pokemon Sun & Moon coloring books  only a 100 yen each, from Daiso and Gudetama calendar is from Seria, an another 100 yen shop we found in the Venus Fort Mall in Odaiba.

A walkthrough book for the 3DS re-release of Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King. They added a lot of new content to the 3DS version of the game, and although I can't read it, the maps alone are really helpful. Found this one in Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara for 2200 yen.

Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution movie soundtrack. Found this in Pokemon Mega Center in Ikebukuro. I didn't know at the time, that they had made a CGI remake of the first Pokemon movie and that this CD is the soundtrack to that. Because I'm an idiot, I thought this was the soundtrack of the original movie, like an anniversary re-release or something. I realized my mistake when I opened the booklet and saw the horrible CGI characters (free sticker sheet, yay!) inside. What's even worse, this soundtrack sucks. There are 39 tracks here and I only like 1, the rest is just some forgettable background noise. I want my 2750 yen back. Oh, and the CD case was the only thing that got damaged on the way back to Finland.

God of War 2018 bought new from Yodobashi Camera and Detroit:Become Human bought used from Mandarake. Ironic, that I paid more for the pre-owned Detroit than I paid for the brand new GoW game. I had already owned both of these games, but I was just too curious to hear the Japanese voice acting so I bought them again!

Tiny art prints,  12 x 14 cm, of Dragonball Z's Raditz and the Pokemon Meganium evolution line and Mewtwo from Havikoro Toys in Nakano.

Sticker sheets from Seria, IDK, I thought they were super silly and the simplistic style was adorable.

Badges and a roll of Washi tape from Tokyo City Keiba gift shop. The horse badges were too cute to pass up. They had hundreds of them, so it was really hard to only choose a couple. As I expected, on these badges are chibi drawings of real racehorses and their jockey's colors as the background. The badges I chose were the horses Oguri Cap, Gold Ship and Buchiko.

The only Lion King thing I bought on this trip. Scar for 700 yen from Havikoro Toys. 

Miniature Unicorn Gundam (green version) from one of the Gachapon machines right next to the giant Gundam statue in Odaiba.

Random Gachapon items. The two cats are special because they are ceramic rather than plastic, found them on the day we were going to the Kappabashi Utensils Street. The rest of the items are from Havikoro.

Random selection of items, some are from Gachapon machines, some are chocolate egg surprises and others from bath bombs and few second hand items from Hobby Off store.

The classical statues are also from Havikoro Toys. The thinker was 1200 yen while the "zombie" Venus de Milo was only 200 yen.

I was really lucky with the Gachapon machines in the natural history museum. I wanted the black Spinosaurus skeleton and that was exactly what I got! Unfortunately, this is the first time I'm really disappointed about the quality of the item. The joints are really flimsy, I can barely keep the head from falling off. Before I even finished building the whole thing one of the ankle joints broke and I was done with it.

Also from the museum. I really, really wanted the Dilophosaurus skull. On my first try I got the Brachiosaurus skull, but my second attempt was a success! There was also this special Gachapon machine that had these keyring stamps of the various exhibits of the museum. I was very lucky to get the Hachiko stamp  while my mom got the stamp of the life sized Blue whale statue that is placed outside the museum.

Found all of these Gudetama stuff at Daiso! A case for my Hanko stamp, a cute bell charm and a teaspoon. I bought a tablespoon last time, so it was only fitting I bought a smaller spoon this time. 

I bought my pretty pearlescent white Hanko stamp at a Don Quijote store in Akihabara. I haven't mastered the art of a perfect stamp yet, I always use either too little ink or I don't press down hard enough or maybe my stamp just isn't perfect.

Godzilla 1998 coin/medallion I found in a store in Nakano Broadway called Bambool for only 500 yen. The coin is about 5 cm in diameter. Generally, the movie is considered to be pretty bad, but I for one, like the design of the monster in this movie and for some reason, I really like this coin. My only Godzilla item I bought on this trip.

Let's see, the meditating fox figure was from One Up! store in Nakano Broadway, the Dragonball Super box was from Life supermarket and the rest of the boxes were bought from the Kiddy Land shop in Odaiba. I was having a really bad luck with the praying animals figures, I only wanted the fox, but didn't get it until I had wasted my money on the three other boxes before it. This really reminds me why I don't like blind bags/boxes.

It's hard to see, but the bottom two boxes, where something called "The Great Mystery Museum Collection" by MediCom toys and I thought they were very interesting. It was a shame that I picked up the last two they had at the store, I would have liked to buy a few more. I didn't find these in any other store. Inside the box, is a small figure of a crypto zoology animal or other characters/items from creepy paranormal stories or legends. From my series 1 box I got El Chupacabra and from the series 2  box I got the "shaded figurine" which is a Japanese clay figurine called dogu. I was really hoping on getting the Loch Ness monster or the Jersey Devil,  but the two I got were pretty cool too.

Jiren and Vegeta came from the Life supermarket box. Ultra Instinct Goku from a random Gachapon machine on the streets. Cell is from Havikoro Toys, Frost and the Cooler figures from One Up! in Nakano Broadway.

So this was my most expensive item. 15 000 yen or about 115 in euros. Found it in Lashibang store inside the Akiba Culture Zone. Unfortunately, the day after I bought it, I saw the same statue in Mandarake for 13 000, argh! I was really worried it would be broken during the luggage handling at the airport, but it came out without a scratch, whew! I really love it!!

I bought this huge deck of cards at random from Mandarake. I think I was waiting in line to get to the cash register when I noticed this basket with piles of card decks just like this one. Of course, I had to lay my eyes on the one deck that had my favorite character from DBZ on top. The price was pretty cheap for that many cards, so what the heck, I chose the deck with the shiny Cooler foil card. For some reason, 3 random One Piece cards had made their way inside my deck I just bought. There was a disappointing number of doubles inside the deck, but the total of individual number of DBZ cards came to 83 in total.

Cute DBZ badges found in Village Vanguard in Odaiba. The sticker  is from Robot Robot in Akiba Culture Zone. Mewtwo is from Pokemon Mega Center in Ikebukuro and the rest of the Pokemon from the DX store next to the Pokemon Cafe.

Pokemon stuff from all over the place, Yamashiroya toy store, Village Vanguard and from official Pokemon stores. I bought two of the perfume bottles in hopes of getting either Dragonair, Mew, Vulpix or Umbreon. I was happy to get Vulpix, but then I got Pikachu. I always get Pikachu, when it's the one I want the least.

Togedemaru is a chocolate egg surprise, Squirtle from a bath bomb. I was hoping for a Mew or Mewtwo, but got the mail carrying Dragonite. I'm fine with Leafeon, but I would have preferred Umbreon or Espeon.

Pokemon Terrariums. From the left side, I wanted to get either Mewtwo or Raikou, but got the Growlite & Pikachu one, of course. From the right side, that Alolan Vulpix was my first choice and that howling Lycanroc my second, and I ended up with Rowlet. I ain't mad, but that snowy Vulpix would have been so cute!

Pokeballs with a tiny figure and hard rock candy ball inside. I bought three at the DX store and the two others were from Life supermarket. In life they cost 280 yen, but at the official store the price was 308 yen each. I was extremely lucky with the figures I got, I like them all! Or I'm kinda indifferent about Latios on the left, but all the others are some of my favorites!

Pokemon pins from Gachapon machines and Oricorio sticker I can't remember where I got it from.

Porygon from Kiddy Land. Lapras from Yamashiroya, mini Mew from Havikoro Toys and cyborg Mewtwo from a Gachapon.

The first Mareep from Robot Robot 3 in Nakano. Ditto and Mareep from a Gachapon in a Pokemon store. Found Ekans in Robot Robot in AKihabara. Vulpix and Klefki are from Hobby Off.

Lots and lots of Eeveelutions figures! The majority was bought new from Gachapon machines and the rest bought used from different stores in Nakano Broadway.

Eevee cookie rolls from Pokemon Center DX and the  stickers from Mega center in Ikebukuro. The cookies could have used some filling, but otherwise they were good and the box is super cute!

All them plushies! Espeon Flareon and Jolteon were from the Pokemon store in Tokyo station, and they were the last ones they had! Previous year, you could find this style of Eeveelution plushies in all of the Pokemon stores, but this year they were all gone.

Mini Star Wars Wampa plush found in a clearance bin in Kiddy Land on Odaiba. Pokemon plushes from all over, Ikebukuro, Tokyo Station and DX center.

Jolteon from Radio Kaikan in Akihabara. MIni plush horse fridge magnet from the Tokyo City Keiba gift shop and Finally Ditto Mew from DX store. I found the MLP keychains in a Daiso on Odaiba.

I bought these these complete terrarium sets at Yamashiroya toy store. I bought three boxes of the Moomin jam bottle terrariums on my first trip and didn't get the characters that I wanted. Still being upset by this, when I saw that they still had them in their selection I went ahead and bought a the whole set then. The other Moomin set and the Pokemon set were new for this year and I liked all of the them 'ariums and didn't want to miss out on any of them. It wasn't cheap though, the price for all three boxes came to 14 400 yen.

Another one for the collection. The exclusive Moomin Valley Park mug. The illustrations are really cute, but I'm not really liking the colorization, I think it could look better in brighter colors. 

This is the Snufkin mug I bought from the Moomin Cafe, after long deliberation because I had a hard time choosing which one I wanted because the other character mugs were cute as well! Turns out it was the last one they had in stock. 

The sitting Moomintroll is from Yamashiroya and the rest are Gachapons. The Hattifatteners mini mug was the first thing I bought at Narita airport when we arrived in Japan!

Stuff from the Moomin Cafe. Not sure if the Hattifattener stick is supposed to be a drink stirrer or a chopstick. They were sold individually and not in pairs, so I guess that makes it a drink stirrer, maybe? The lip balm has this Moomintroll figure as the lid, which I thought was cute! The rose scent on the lip balm is a bit too overbearing, so I haven't used it much. I bought the Moomin figure set mainly because of Snufkin and the Ancestor figure. Sniff and Moomin are cute too, but I hate the weird oversized hat that Moomin has for an accessory.

The Snufkin xylitol gums were a last minute find at the airport before our flight back to Finland. I think they were melon flavoured.The Hattifattener was a strange find at Hobby Off. The head comes off and there's a tiny hole in the neck while the head part is hollow. I'm left wondering why the head comes off and what may have been inside. The two Snufkin figures were bought at the same store in Nakano Broadway. The left one is a brand called Kubrick by MediCom Toy and is unfortunately missing the feather from his hat. The other Snufkin is a ceramic figurine. His backpack is open and there is a tiny space to put something in there. I think it's a really beautiful figure and wanted to learn more about it. At the bottom side of the base, there is the standard Moomin Character copyright sign and in addition to that there is a stamp that says "Sekisui" in western letters. If I google Sekisui + Moomin this leads me to a website of a company that makes mailboxes. Huh. So, maybe my Snufkin here is some promotional thing the company produced? Who knows.

The Moomin House, Snufkin and Little My are MediCom Toy figures, I bought at Yamashiroya toy store. The five small sofubi figures were bought at the Moomin Cafe. The copper coin was from the park, of course. I'm slightly bothered that it's a little bit off centered.

These tiny Moomin figures are some of my favorites! I'm glad I managed to find so many of them! Four of them were From Hobby Off and the other 4 are all from stores in Nakano Broadway. The Policeman, Sorry-woo and the snow covered Moominhouse are my favorites out of these.

Star Wars: Identities stuff and then some. I bought the exhibition catalog, a Darth Maul sticker, a postcard set and a Darth Vader keychain. The poorly visible metallic badge is the C-3PO I got from the blind bag I bought from the gift shop as well. The square badges and the file set were bought at Yamashiroya. The Maul keychain is the one I bought from the tiny shop in Akihabara called Satellite.

The 3 car set was picked up from the clearance bin in Kiddy Land on Odaiba. If I could I would have only bought the Maul one. The two other Maul's in this picture were bought in Bambool store in Nakano Broadway, the same place I found the two Snufkin figures. I have the Hasbro doll from before, but this one is in better condition. The smaller, talking Maul turned out to be a problem. When I removed it from the box, it was all sticky and gross. It should be fixable just by washing it with soapy water, but this thing has a battery in it, so I'll have to be extra careful with that.

A Kubrick Darth Maul and random badge and a bunch of promotional Pepsi Star Wars stuff just because they were dirt cheap. The Pepsi caps in particular only cost 50 yen each which is less than 0,40€!

Detective Conan Shuichi Akai figures. I've never been into the Conan series and I don't even know who this character is. I've read some of the earliest chapters of the manga and I watched the The Fist of Blue Sapphire movie on the flight back to Finland, but that's about it. I had an idea for a custom I was going to use the bigger figure for and I bought the smaller one to be a practice version. But who knows when I'll ever get around doing that.

Random anime figures from a clearance bin in Lashibang. The figures were 500 yen each, which is less than 4 euros. Again, I had an idea to customize these, but haven't done so yet.

Manga! Mewtwo Strikes Back and Mewtwo Returns, my favorite Pokemon movies. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with buying comics that I can't read. 

Alola Pokedex book and Pokemon Special artbook bought at Village Vanguard along with the Mewtwo mangas. It's a bummer that we only got the five first four volumes of the Special (named Adventures in the west) manga translated into Finnish.

And now my Doujinshi haul: 

Detroit: Become Human So, I had very recently finished the game before our trip to Japan and when I discovered there was DBH fan comics available, I might have gone a bit overboard. I bought 16 of them in total. One of them was actually a fan fiction booklet with no illustrations, which was a little bummer. The cheapest were only 220, and the most expensive were 880 yen each. Some of them had really nice looking shiny holographic covers. Out of the 16, three of the comics had some R-18 material in them and one was “only” R-15. The one with the yellow cover had a particularly adorable drawing style. The book with the black and white cover (Re:prey), seemingly had the most interesting story that I could follow. I really wish I could read it properly. About the art styles, I think my favorite was the one with RK900&Gavin (Secrecy) on the cover. For me, it struck the perfect balance of not being overly detailed, yet not too simplified. All of the characters were recognizable and very expressive.

Hakuouki or "Demon of the Fleeting Blossom: The Mysterious Tale of the Shinsengumi". It's been years since I played this otome video game, but when I accidentally stumbled upon them while I was browsing the shelves at Mandarake I couldn't help but to grab a couple of them. They were usually really cheap too. Unfortunately, 90% of the pairings with the main character Chizuru were my two least favorite boys of the series, Okita and Hijikata. I would nab a comic whenever I found one without those two on the cover. 7 out of the nine I bought were only 220 yen, the two more expensive ones were 660 and 880 respectively. All of them were harmless, so no R-18 material here. My clear favorite, both art and story wise, is the dark cover with Okita and Saito standing back to back.

Dragonball So, I bought 20 of them. I don't know how I ended up buying that many with Cell on the cover. The cheapest one was only 110 yen and the rest the standard 220-880 yen, with one exception that cost me 2200 yen. That one is, of course, the Dragonball AF doujinshi, the author has since then become the illustrator of the official Dragonball Super manga, so I can at least understand the reason for the price tag here. It’s considerably harder to choose a favorite out of these ones. Many of them had either a really nice style or good imitation of Akira Toriyama’s. Many of the jokes came through despite the language barrier, because the illustrations were funny enough. If I have to choose a favorite, I’d say “Mr. Perfection” has the nicest cover, but content wise, the one with Cooler and his special forces on the cover, it really had some of those ‘villains being goofy and doing silly things’ vibes that I like. Any doujinshi featuring the Ginyu Force was guaranteed to be fun. Out of morbid curiosity, I also bought that single one R-18 comic, and well, I’m confused, let’s leave it at that.

Dragon Quest 8 is really in a minority in the Dragon Quest section, which was dominated by the newest title 11 in the series and even the much older ones. I grabbed every comic that had a character from the 8th game I managed to find. None cost more than 220-440 yen. Some of them were far less innocent than what the cover would suggest, considering they didn’t put a warning on the cover.

Pokemon It was really hard to find a Pokemon doujinshi that didn't have this one character on the cover. Like at least 80% of the whole selection has this one character I don't recognize from anywhere, not from the games at least. Maybe it was a character that appears later in the Pokemon Special manga. Who knows, I sure as hell don't. Anyway, I picked up two comics with Guzma on the cover, because he was my favorite from the Sun & Moon games and the others just because I liked the drawing style on the covers. And the cheap prices affected my choice as well. These ones were only 220 or 440 yen each.

Death Note They were cheap, only 220 each. The one with the grey cover was a bit more at 880 yen, but I really liked the cover illustration on that one. Unlike the two others, it didn’t offer any humor, it was very “artsy” and brooding, to me of little understanding.

Okami I would have bought more of them if I had found them. The only place I found any Okami comics was at Shibuya Mandarake. These two were cheap, 220 yen each, but the others they had were too expensive for me, because I spent most of my money that day buying that Ginga doujinshi…. The smaller of the comics had really cutesy art, while the other one had a unique looking style, which was unfortunately considerably much harder to follow what was going on from panel to panel.

Star Wars Nothing had changed in a year. The shelves were still populated with nothing else than AnakinxObi comics. I gave in and bought a few of the expensive ones I had seen last year. The more expensive ones were around 2750 and 3300 yen, and I still can't understand why they were that expensive. Or, okay, one of them was 180 pages long. The main strategy was to buy comics that had other characters on the cover besides Obi-Wan and Anakin. Well, there were not many of them, so next I went for slightly goofy looking covers. Not many of them either. So next up were the cheapest AnixObi comics I could find. Only the two most expensive ones (Galaxies Collide & Family!) really peaked my interest art and humor wise.

Ginga Nagareboshi Gin I was so excited when I saw these, I've been wanting to find one for so long! I only wish they wouldn't have been so expensive. So, the average price range for a standard doujinshi is anywhere between 200-800 yen, but the black and white covered one cost 1650 yen and the one with the red cover was 4950 yen. I'm kind of feeling like I want to make a separate post about these sometime in the future, so I won't say anything now.