A Very Belated and Short J.Garden 59 Report
3 months ago, I went to J.GARDEN again. I then proceeded to not write about the event after getting home because I instead decided to read the BL visual novel Hashihime of the Old Book Town, which I highly recommend btw. Anyways here's a very rambly overview of my experience at this year's spring J.GARDEN.
During this last trip, I met up with several BL fans! I want to write a separate post about that, but J.GARDEN really was the event that united us all, even though we were mostly off going in different directions during the actual event.
The shuffle entry was honestly pretty easy. Pick a line to stand in and pray until you get called in to go. The line Carp, Court, and I were in got called around midway though, which wasn't too bad. Upon going in, I really felt the energy of J.GARDEN this time around even higher than last year's! I had foolishly thought after going once, surely I would be prepared. The hall location was different this time, and I felt lost at times trying to make my way though since it was like a corner shape lolol... Still, I was able to stop by and pick up a good chunk of the books I had set out to get with the lovely help of Carp!!
I was able to meet some more mangaka for the first time, including Chiyozaki, Shiina Suzaka (I missed her booth last year), Minamoto Kazuki (also missed booth last year), Ebino Bisque, Daichi Miki, and Sumiya Zeniko. Chiyozaki-sensei especially was huge and wonderful surprise to me since I didn't see them really mention it much at all on Twitter... I only found out when the circle list came out instead. I also got a chance to see some mangaka I met last year again too, which was exciting~
It was also pretty wild to see more English-speaking overseas fans who went to J.GARDEN this time too, esp outside the group of people I met up with! At one point I overheard two people who were looking for iirc GUILTPLEASURE's space in English and was like, "oh yeah they're over there" before speeding off. Also a few people had reached out to me online saying my guide was helpful, which made me happy. If there's any improvements/suggestions you'd like to see please let me know!
Honestly going around and saying hi after purchasing is truly my favorite part about J.GARDEN. I'm definitely the type of fan who likes to say I've enjoy their work in person if I have the chance. I've probably said this 12498 times but truly it's special as an overseas fan to see some of the mangaka you really like...!!!! Like oh my god you're so cool. I definitely was very giggly when I picked up my copy of Deus Meus.
I was more prepared in my gifts this time too. packed the bags with the Albanese gummies and a sticker of my OCs Leo and Cyrus (left). I wrote more letters as well, though most of them short! Which honestly is better than nothing!!! I did most of them using these Furukawashiko bouquet letter sets I got from my local stationery shop (right).
I also gifted some of the pastel mini Trader Joe's totes (8-ish???), which were luckily re-released a few days before I left for Japan!! I felt very cool for gifting them lmao... I will be doing it again for the coming J.GARDEN. (I got 3 of the striped pastel ones they just released lol, though idk if I'll be able to grab more before they sell out...)
Though looking at what I've bought, I've been thinking about how I've focused more on circles of mangaka who bring side stories for their commercial work. It is what originally drew me to wanting to attend the event after all. But I feel like I'm almost making J.GARDEN a commercial event when it isn't and I'm missing out on more artists and original stories...!! There's just so much out there!
Anyways, my goal for J.GARDEN60 is to go to more circles bringing works that are purely self-published, even though 60 currently has an insane lineup of well-known BL mangaka and will have 2000 spaces. And it's still 4 hours only. I'll do my best hahaha
Also I'm so sorry I never made a thread on my thoughts of the individual books I got this year... Once again I blame it on getting sucked into Hashihime. I still plan to write on some though!!!
I will say some of my fav pick ups were: - Deus Meus [Baka de Yowakute Buzama Demo side story] by Chiyozaki - Fairy in the Snow by Breeze - At a Glance by Bread and Rito - Quality of Life by Totsuka Tsutomu
If I keep going I'll probably just end up listing everything...
To wrap up, I'm grateful I was able to attend again meeting friends and basking in the air of BL... I love staying until it officially closes. Even though I'm tired and hungry I will be there until I actually have to leave hahaha. That being said, I will be going back in October for the 30th anniversary since they're taking a break next spring!! I was like fuck it YOLO, 2000 spaces and anniversary? Hell yeah.
I also want to draw more of my own OCs again!! (Maybe one day I'll make my own doujinshi... We'll see haha)