Ohayocon w/ bishounen_blue

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

I feel silly creating a separate topic for this, but Lamuness seems to have deleted the other topic. I’m sure the constructive direction the discussion was taking gave him pause though.

Anyway, getting back to the topic…I arranged to meet bishounen_blue in front of the dealer’s room on Friday at 8:00PM (the convention runs from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon). We had previously exchanged physical descriptions, and we both agreed to wear nametags with our screennames on them. My friends and I ended up standing there in front of the dealer’s room for half an hour, but he didn’t show (I’ll leave the excuses to bishounen_blue ). I didn’t see him the entire night, and I came home fully expecting that we had missed our only hope of finding each other in that overcrowded convention. As a last-ditch effort, I sent him an e-mail and posted on this board, on the off-chance that maybe he had or could get to a computer with an Internet connection.

There was no reply when I woke up that morning. Sighing inwardly, I returned to the convention and tried to enjoy myself despite the disappointment. As it turned out, the morning’s activities didn’t live up to my expectations, and one of my friends and I found ourselves sitting down to watch a random dubbed anime, of all things. The show was just about to start when a guy came up to me and said hello. By complete and utter random chance, I’d found bishounen_blue (or rather, he’d found me). And I mean really random. As it turned out, he hadn’t realized that all anime shown in that particular room was dubbed, or he wouldn’t have even been there. If I had arrived just a little later, he would have already left…

Anyway, we had a lot of fun after that. We immediately left the dub for the greener pastures of doujinshi reading and ridiculing his roommates (he was staying at an on-site hotel). Feeling a little more confident with him around, I was able to “come out of the closet” and tell my friend about this mutual interest of ours. My friend was okay with it, as it turned out. I’ll have to see if I can get him into it too. Too bad I lent my best goods to bishounen_blue. Oh well.

Anyway, after a while bishounen_blue and I parted with my friend and went back to my place. Luckily my roommate was gone. I showed him Hitomi among other things, though my roommate’s return interrupted our fun. I then force-fed the entire 13-episode series of Elfen Lied to him…in one sitting. He says he liked it, though implicit threats of bodily harm if he said otherwise might’ve influenced his opinion.

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 01-17-2005).]

#2

At that point, my roommate was still present and vigilant, so we retreated to the safety of the bedroom and broke out an H-OVA bb had brought. We had to keep it down so my roommate wouldn’t hear, which was a bit unnerving. bb fell asleep at the end, but I was awake the whole time despite my decided lack of sleep, and it was among the best I’d ever had the privledge to enjoy. bb had to leave after that, as it was almost morning, but while he was here we exchanged games. He let me borrow Utawareru Mono and Duel Savior (and showed me how to play them), and in return I let him borrow Hitomi and Kana (and he calls himself a b-game fan ).

BTW, I discovered that bb has a life-sized Chii doll. I found this…interesting. It has two sides. On one side Chii is in her pajamas. On the other…well, I’ll just leave it to your imagination.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m sure bishounen_blue will chime in with something to add. Now I’ve got to get started on all the homework I’ve put off til now…

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 01-17-2005).]

#3

Hehehe, that’s cool!
Glad you had a great time. :slight_smile:

#4
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
I let him borrow Hitomi and Kana (and he calls himself a b-game fan [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]).
Just out of curiousity, how did you let him borrow Hitomi? Did you have to give him access to your V-Mate account? If he installs it on his system will that count against your three installations limit?

#5

Yes, I changed the password and e-mailed it to him. It’s one he’ll be sure to remember, no doubt. And yes, assuming he installs it on one computer, that’ll leave me with only one more activation. But I knew this when I offered it to him. On the other hand, since V-mate games operate without the CD, I can still play it even though he has the CD right now. This is fortunate for me, as I still haven’t finished Yuki’s routes (I’m probably not even going to touch Yoko). I’ve only gotten one ending of Kana, but I can’t play that since I don’t have the CD. bb is in a similar situation with Duel Savior, I think (I can’t remember if it has multiple paths or not). He was quite nice to bring both games; I’d only expected him to bring one or the other. I would’ve felt bad if I didn’t do something extra as well.

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 01-17-2005).]

#6

bishounen_blue said he would definitely be buying Shiawase no Katachi in the Pick me, Honey! thread. I wonder if he’ll be able to use a second V-Mate account on the same system or if you’ll end up “sharing” that game, too.

#7

All he has to do is use a different username. The games are registered by username/password, not by computer or location. Each activation code can be used a maximum of three times (for three unique installations), and once a game is activated under one username it cannot be activated under another one, according to statements by GC. GC has confirmed in its “update” of my FAQ that a single user could register each game under a different username, thus allowing him/her to sell his/her copy to strangers without giving them access to other V-mate games as well. It would be a pain, and the 3-computer limit would complicate the process, but it could be done.

BTW, all of this stuff is covered in my FAQ, which I do keep updated as more information becomes available:

http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/Forum1/HTML/002033.html

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 01-17-2005).]

#8
quote:
On the other hand, since V-mate games operate without the CD, I can still play it even though he has the CD right now.

Wouldn't this be illegal since your one copy suddenly became two?
#9

Why? It’s within the restrictions set by the V-mate system. If they didn’t want this sort of thing to be able to occur, then it would have been a simple thing to require the CD in the drive for the game to play.

A “copy” in this scenario refers to 3 activations. I chose to give one of my activations to bishounen_blue. Anyway, this topic is about our get-together at Ohayocon, not the semantics of licensing rights. I’d like to discourage a long moralistic debate here in this topic. Feel free to create another topic on the matter if it’s that important to you, and I might debate you on it when I have the time.

BTW, I do hope some people are getting a chuckle out of my original two posts. You know who you are.

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 01-17-2005).]

#10

I’ve always wanted to go to a convention like that, but my geographical location makes it impractical, to say the least…

By the way, why isn’t this thread in the off-topic section? And why hasn’t bishounen_blue posted pics of that Chii doll!?

Chii doll… Mmmmmmm… envy…

#11
quote:
Originally posted by AG3:
By the way, why isn't this thread in the off-topic section?

Because of the Chii doll. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]
She's a bishoujo after all.
#12
quote:
Originally posted by AG3:
By the way, why isn't this thread in the off-topic section?

Err...whoops. -_-; I didn't even think of doing that, since I hardly ever go there.

quote:
And why hasn't bishounen_blue posted pics of that Chii doll!?

Chii doll... Mmmmmmm... envy....

Well, you can't really blame him, can you? I mean, would you post a pic of your high-tech multi-frequency vibrating dildo? [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img] Not that I'm not also envious. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

#13
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
BTW, I do hope some people are getting a chuckle out of my original two posts. You know who you are. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img] [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

*stifles a yawn*

sounds boring to me. :P

#14

Come on, it took some skill to insert that double meaning in there. Bah.

#15

Ah, wow, a whole topic about Dark Shiki and me. :slight_smile: Hmmm… what should I add. Okay, here’s a little extra information. First, the dubbed anime that was being shown when I met Dark Shiki was “Kaleido Star.” It’s not an anime that would normally be too intersting to me, but there was a very “shoujo-ai-looking” poster with of Kaleido Star in the dealer’s room. I stayed in a hotel room with about 15 people in a room for 4. ^^; (students are poor) One guy from the room said that Kaleido Star was on and so I went to see it with him. I didn’t know it was dubbed. I didn’t even think to ask. I always assume that Japanese animation is Japanese by default, but I forget these things when I’m at conventions. An interesing side note is the guy who I originally went with to see Kaleido Star is now expelled from Bowling Green State University. (my school) Someone found a loaded gun in his dorm room along with a hit list. This guy wore a pikachu hat at the convention and bought Hamtaro plushies. Yeah, something was wrong with him. But I ran into Dark Shiki because of him so it’s all good.

As for the ero anime that I brought with me to watch with Dark Shiki, the English title is “Wet Summer Days.” It’s pretty good. The animation is above average and the story is interesting. The cheapest place to buy it that I know of is here:

http://www.animeonestop.com/anime-Details.cfm?info=MBI004136

You can get shipping for $1 within the US, and if you order 2 or more DVDs then shipping is free. A better website for visual reference is here:

http://store.yahoo.com/animenation/kvdvd-0413.html

If you have a few extra bucks and don’t know what to get, you might want to give this a try. I fell asleep watching it because I’ve seen it several times, yes, but mostly because I had no sleep for the past couple of days. I got to sleep on the floor using my jacket for a pillow. Ah, the joys of the 15-person room.

As for the Chii doll, it’s not a doll. It’s a life size pillow with anime versions of Chii printed on both sides. So it’s almost as tall as me. I don’t have a digital camera but some of relatives do. I’ll have to borrow the digital camera and take pictures of my room, including the Chii doll.

I liked the Elven Lied a lot. I would buy it but I’m not buying anything right now. Dark Shiki bought a Chobits doujinshi for $15 that turned out to be a small rough draft sketch book. He liked the perverted Cardcaptor Sakura images but was dissapointed by the lack of a story, and the lack of finished images. I’m out of cash now, but I’m going to trade several of my Chobits doujinshi to Dark Shiki in exchange for Shiawase no Katachi. I bought so many of them when I was in Japan. 2002 was the peak of Chobits. I’m low on cash because my study abroad scholarship fell through so I’m going to be forced to fund my own 2-year intensive language study in Japan. Hopefully I’ll be in Japan by July. I’m going to have to seek out Peter Payne and make him go shopping for bishoujo games with me. Does anyone know where he lives?

#16

He lives in Osaka, if I recall correctly. I think that’s on the central island.

#17
quote:
Originally posted by bishounen_blue:
An interesing side note is the guy who I originally went with to see Kaleido Star is now expelled from Bowling Green State University. (my school) Someone found a loaded gun in his dorm room along with a hit list. This guy wore a pikachu hat at the convention and bought Hamtaro plushies. Yeah, something was wrong with him.

People these days...I mean mean, obviously, if you're going to kill someone, you don't record it for posterity. If you can't remember unless you write it down, they're probably not worth killing in the first place.

quote:
As for the Chii doll, it's not a doll. It's a life size pillow with anime versions of Chii printed on both sides. So it's almost as tall as me. I don't have a digital camera but some of relatives do. I'll have to borrow the digital camera and take pictures of my room, including the Chii doll.

That's sure a convincing argument you have there. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img] I bet you also call the opening near the bottom a "ventilation hole," right? [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

quote:
Dark Shiki bought a Chobits doujinshi for $15 that turned out to be a small rough draft sketch book. He liked the perverted Cardcaptor Sakura images but was dissapointed by the lack of a story, and the lack of finished images.

That, and it had enticing pictures of Chii on the front and back cover, but it only ended up featuring something like three drawings of her. Most of it is dedicated to Card Captor Sakura characters, half of which I can't even recognize. Sakura is cute (again, there's only a couple pictures of her), but I could hardly care less about any of the others. The drawing themselves are nice, but rough-draftish, as bishounen_blue pointed out. Needless to say I'm not particularly satisfied with my first doujinshi purchase. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 02-15-2005).]

#18

Okay, that was a typo. I don’t have that kind of doll in my room. The do exist in Japan, but they cost between 3000 and 8000 dollars. Look:

And hey, you can even dress them up to look like Chii. Wow, now you can have a “fully functional” Chii. You’d better get a part time job, Dark_Shiki. Save up for a year and she could be your new best friend.

#19

All I can say…is wow. As much as people joke around about such things…I never really thought you could actually go out and buy one.

quote:
And hey, you can even dress them up to look like Chii. Wow, now you can have a “fully functional” Chii. You’d better get a part time job, Dark_Shiki. Save up for a year and she could be your new best friend.

“Fully functional” except for the whole, you know, “soul” stuff that Chobits was all about. Besides, why spend all that money for a lifeless imitation when I can imagine the “real” Chii for free?

#20

Looks like a RealDoll( http://www.realdoll.com/ ) product. For sale at about $6000 US. The amount of thought, design, and continual engineering they put into those items is somewhat staggering. Makes me wonder what happens when Sony or Honda robotics meets RealDoll in the future. Sprinkle in a bit of AI emotive coding and you get your own private b-girl perhaps?