Publisher
Tokyopop
Country of origin
Japan
Length
3 volumes
Year of production
2005
Writers
Svetlana Chmakova
Artists
Svetlana Chmakova
Meet Svetlana Chmakova, who we should all vote in as the poster child for the as yet realized “No Mangaka Creator Left Behind” program, a program that sends aid to overworked mangaka in the form of a working staff including screentoners, inkers, background artists and more. Because if Arina Tanemura (Full Moon O Sagashite) as a practical example can somehow manage to feed, bed and house a full staff of assistants (whom she often talks about in the sidebar panels of Full Moon O Sagashite) then we should gather an aid fund to do likewise for Chmakova.
I guess there’s also an object lesson here somwhere. Probably to the effect that if you ever thought you could make it on the manga docket solo, with a dream and a will, then I know somebody who will say you can do just that… just don’t expect to have a life, or anything.
Dramacon, in true The Red Star style, premiered back in 2005, seemingly flying low under the fandom radar and becoming one of those cult classics people always hear about (something you didn’t even know you had to be a part of). The title was low key (like The Red Star’s humble beginnings), was probably underprinted (another The Red Star quirk), and… yes… it took forever to see the second (of three volumes) released. In fact we are STILL WAITING for Dramacon V. 2 (3)!! Word has it Volume 2 will be out in October of 2006 (a year later according to my recent interview with Chmakova), but is it worth it? That long a wait? I say yes, Dramacon (like The Red Star) is “Always late but worth the wait” (paraphrasing, if I may, a die hard strong willed fan‘s thoughts on the title and how it was worth reading even if it took a long time to come out).
Don’t believe me? Fine. Let’s take a look at Dramacon V. 1, from TOKYOPOP, and see what I mean.
Welcome to Dramacon! Not the official name of the convention in this story but it might as well be seeing how the drama flows like an unchecked Antimatter Flow Regulator in Scotty’s engineering section.
Christie is not having a good day of it, especially seeing how her first trip to an Anime Convention is not turning out the way she thought it would go. When amateur manga writer Christie first thought of this trip to promote their manga with her boyfriend slash mangaka partner she never thought things would spiral out of control the way they did. However seeing her present situation you can understand her reluctance.
She is, after all, travelling with roommates from fluffy plush Happy Tree Friends hell in the form of insane psychotic catgirl cosplayer or her Enemy of the State hazard to the living male companion (sidekick)! And let’s not get into the failing love interest, for whom she has partnered with in creating her manga (Wary City), a so-called “boyfriend” willing to chase any cosplaying bunny girl’s barely clad behind at the drop of a rare Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium Puzzle medallion (and then willing to invoke the wrath of the O‘Reilly by trying to force himself on Christie in an emotional scene that should make him about as popular to fans as that female stalker who haunted Yuzuyu in Aishiteruze Baby… I.e. get the lynch mobs).
And that‘s just the hand she was dealt as original companions. Let‘s not forget the hordes of convention goers, rampaging hordes of screaming, trampling, over caffinated roleplayers stalking the hallways of the sleeping areas… (sheesh, get your own convention people!!)… and the many quirkitudes that makes an Anime convention an Anime convention… it eats you whole and spits you out, dammit!
(Obviously you can bet your bells, rupees or simoleons on the fact that Christie is not a happy Otaku.)
However a chance encounter with “I’m damn sure he played Cyclops in the X-Men movies” guy slash “cosplayer” (who “mysteriously” wears dark glasses in an indoor convention, but for entirely good reasons mind you) named Matt who opens new relationship opportunities for Christie, which is a bad thing because she has only a few days with him before he’s up up and away back to his own home turf miles away (E-mail, Christie! E-mail!)
The first volume details her first awkward, painful, scary, disturbing, potential filled, happy happy pain pain oh dear god somebody’s going to get hurt (bludgeoning hurt or trampling stampede hurt or oh dear god the security here are large troll from World of Warcraft size as well as emotional hurt) before it’s over.
When the year ends she has a whole year to wait until she can return to the “field of battle” with the second convention one year later, which gives her another chance to hook up with Matt (because nobody wants to think of former boyfriend after a year’s wait and the events that unfold in this volume).
Oh, yeah, apparently Dramacon’s conventions seem to be held in Animal Crossing realtime because it seems the book really did take a whole year to come out… can we get a live webcam of the con in October?
Uh… breakdown time? Yeah, breakdown time.
Breakcon the Down Convention… uh… the DramaAnime? (2005 Edition)
What’s Hot?
When it comes to praise I don’t throw out high praise very often, severely high praise is something I usually reserve for a few titles I’ve come across over the span of the year -- this, yes, is one of those titles.
It slipped under (or over) your radar last year, was a sleeper hit you didn’t know you needed to know, and was a solid read filled with a ton of quirks, ups and downs, and overall solid enjoyment people were clueless about experiencing… until now.
You have about a few months left before Dramacon V. 2 hits, so take the time now to get your copy of the original Volume 1 before then. You should have as solid a read here as I did, and now that Right Stuf International is having Volume 1 at a discounted price of $7.50 I don’t see why you shouldn’t have the incentive to check it out? Go on, check it! I promise it won’t bite… well, not to the point that you bleed or stuff in anycase.
What’s Not?
To be honest? Nothing. I can even withstand the long wait between volumes. Heck, if I can wait nearly 3 years to finish an interview with The Red Star creator Christian Gossett, then what’s a year amongst associates? I think I can take it.
Moments to Remember?
Why spare you the time from buying it if I tell you EVERYTHING good about it? Go buy it. Can’t you spare the $7.50 to $10 to get a copy? Like I said it was under the radar so you should be able to find a copy, or have your favorite bookstore order a copy for you ASAP.
What to Ignore?
In a bit of shameless advertising see if you can spot the cover to this volume in the convention scenes. It’s not too noticable but you should be able to spot it if you keep an eye out for it.
Also note how Svetlana Chmakova is so gunshy about getting sued by Japanese creators that she used no familiar faces in her convention. Miss Chmakova? They didn’t even notice they’re own character being bastardized in godawful hentai porn like the evil Sailor & the Seven Ballz (1 or 2), or the similar Anime Fiction (No, I don’t need to see it to know I’ll have an allergic reaction to it… probably because I am already familiar with the Cinemanga version of this shown some years ago on the internet, so I don’t need to suffer the ills of it to know it‘s no good).
Oh, and lest we forget let’s not forget the badly done Sailor Moon clones of the recent Sexy Sailor Soldiers (Critical Mass). So as you can see, Miss Chmakova, only you seem to be stressing over this… which is sad since Naoko Takeuchi (Sailor Moon) couldn’t even muster enough energy to fake caring enough to try and stomp on these perverted clones of her characters. Sure, you don’t need it, but still… it’s one to grow on.
Overall?
I don’t usually hand out high praise, but this is one of those titles that deserves it.
Sleeper hits like this, ADVManga’s Aria, Broccoli Books’ Galaxy Angel franchise titles, VIZ’ Aishiteruze Baby and Full Moon O Sagashite, these and more are all deserving of your time and effort to read. Expand your horizons, pick this up, and see the solidness of it’s construction for yourself. Nuff said.
Tokyopop
Country of origin
Japan
Length
3 volumes
Year of production
2005
Writers
Svetlana Chmakova
Artists
Svetlana Chmakova
Meet Svetlana Chmakova, who we should all vote in as the poster child for the as yet realized “No Mangaka Creator Left Behind” program, a program that sends aid to overworked mangaka in the form of a working staff including screentoners, inkers, background artists and more. Because if Arina Tanemura (Full Moon O Sagashite) as a practical example can somehow manage to feed, bed and house a full staff of assistants (whom she often talks about in the sidebar panels of Full Moon O Sagashite) then we should gather an aid fund to do likewise for Chmakova.
I guess there’s also an object lesson here somwhere. Probably to the effect that if you ever thought you could make it on the manga docket solo, with a dream and a will, then I know somebody who will say you can do just that… just don’t expect to have a life, or anything.
Dramacon, in true The Red Star style, premiered back in 2005, seemingly flying low under the fandom radar and becoming one of those cult classics people always hear about (something you didn’t even know you had to be a part of). The title was low key (like The Red Star’s humble beginnings), was probably underprinted (another The Red Star quirk), and… yes… it took forever to see the second (of three volumes) released. In fact we are STILL WAITING for Dramacon V. 2 (3)!! Word has it Volume 2 will be out in October of 2006 (a year later according to my recent interview with Chmakova), but is it worth it? That long a wait? I say yes, Dramacon (like The Red Star) is “Always late but worth the wait” (paraphrasing, if I may, a die hard strong willed fan‘s thoughts on the title and how it was worth reading even if it took a long time to come out).
Don’t believe me? Fine. Let’s take a look at Dramacon V. 1, from TOKYOPOP, and see what I mean.
Welcome to Dramacon! Not the official name of the convention in this story but it might as well be seeing how the drama flows like an unchecked Antimatter Flow Regulator in Scotty’s engineering section.
Christie is not having a good day of it, especially seeing how her first trip to an Anime Convention is not turning out the way she thought it would go. When amateur manga writer Christie first thought of this trip to promote their manga with her boyfriend slash mangaka partner she never thought things would spiral out of control the way they did. However seeing her present situation you can understand her reluctance.
She is, after all, travelling with roommates from fluffy plush Happy Tree Friends hell in the form of insane psychotic catgirl cosplayer or her Enemy of the State hazard to the living male companion (sidekick)! And let’s not get into the failing love interest, for whom she has partnered with in creating her manga (Wary City), a so-called “boyfriend” willing to chase any cosplaying bunny girl’s barely clad behind at the drop of a rare Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium Puzzle medallion (and then willing to invoke the wrath of the O‘Reilly by trying to force himself on Christie in an emotional scene that should make him about as popular to fans as that female stalker who haunted Yuzuyu in Aishiteruze Baby… I.e. get the lynch mobs).
And that‘s just the hand she was dealt as original companions. Let‘s not forget the hordes of convention goers, rampaging hordes of screaming, trampling, over caffinated roleplayers stalking the hallways of the sleeping areas… (sheesh, get your own convention people!!)… and the many quirkitudes that makes an Anime convention an Anime convention… it eats you whole and spits you out, dammit!
(Obviously you can bet your bells, rupees or simoleons on the fact that Christie is not a happy Otaku.)
However a chance encounter with “I’m damn sure he played Cyclops in the X-Men movies” guy slash “cosplayer” (who “mysteriously” wears dark glasses in an indoor convention, but for entirely good reasons mind you) named Matt who opens new relationship opportunities for Christie, which is a bad thing because she has only a few days with him before he’s up up and away back to his own home turf miles away (E-mail, Christie! E-mail!)
The first volume details her first awkward, painful, scary, disturbing, potential filled, happy happy pain pain oh dear god somebody’s going to get hurt (bludgeoning hurt or trampling stampede hurt or oh dear god the security here are large troll from World of Warcraft size as well as emotional hurt) before it’s over.
When the year ends she has a whole year to wait until she can return to the “field of battle” with the second convention one year later, which gives her another chance to hook up with Matt (because nobody wants to think of former boyfriend after a year’s wait and the events that unfold in this volume).
Oh, yeah, apparently Dramacon’s conventions seem to be held in Animal Crossing realtime because it seems the book really did take a whole year to come out… can we get a live webcam of the con in October?
Uh… breakdown time? Yeah, breakdown time.
Breakcon the Down Convention… uh… the DramaAnime? (2005 Edition)
What’s Hot?
When it comes to praise I don’t throw out high praise very often, severely high praise is something I usually reserve for a few titles I’ve come across over the span of the year -- this, yes, is one of those titles.
It slipped under (or over) your radar last year, was a sleeper hit you didn’t know you needed to know, and was a solid read filled with a ton of quirks, ups and downs, and overall solid enjoyment people were clueless about experiencing… until now.
You have about a few months left before Dramacon V. 2 hits, so take the time now to get your copy of the original Volume 1 before then. You should have as solid a read here as I did, and now that Right Stuf International is having Volume 1 at a discounted price of $7.50 I don’t see why you shouldn’t have the incentive to check it out? Go on, check it! I promise it won’t bite… well, not to the point that you bleed or stuff in anycase.
What’s Not?
To be honest? Nothing. I can even withstand the long wait between volumes. Heck, if I can wait nearly 3 years to finish an interview with The Red Star creator Christian Gossett, then what’s a year amongst associates? I think I can take it.
Moments to Remember?
Why spare you the time from buying it if I tell you EVERYTHING good about it? Go buy it. Can’t you spare the $7.50 to $10 to get a copy? Like I said it was under the radar so you should be able to find a copy, or have your favorite bookstore order a copy for you ASAP.
What to Ignore?
In a bit of shameless advertising see if you can spot the cover to this volume in the convention scenes. It’s not too noticable but you should be able to spot it if you keep an eye out for it.
Also note how Svetlana Chmakova is so gunshy about getting sued by Japanese creators that she used no familiar faces in her convention. Miss Chmakova? They didn’t even notice they’re own character being bastardized in godawful hentai porn like the evil Sailor & the Seven Ballz (1 or 2), or the similar Anime Fiction (No, I don’t need to see it to know I’ll have an allergic reaction to it… probably because I am already familiar with the Cinemanga version of this shown some years ago on the internet, so I don’t need to suffer the ills of it to know it‘s no good).
Oh, and lest we forget let’s not forget the badly done Sailor Moon clones of the recent Sexy Sailor Soldiers (Critical Mass). So as you can see, Miss Chmakova, only you seem to be stressing over this… which is sad since Naoko Takeuchi (Sailor Moon) couldn’t even muster enough energy to fake caring enough to try and stomp on these perverted clones of her characters. Sure, you don’t need it, but still… it’s one to grow on.
Overall?
I don’t usually hand out high praise, but this is one of those titles that deserves it.
Sleeper hits like this, ADVManga’s Aria, Broccoli Books’ Galaxy Angel franchise titles, VIZ’ Aishiteruze Baby and Full Moon O Sagashite, these and more are all deserving of your time and effort to read. Expand your horizons, pick this up, and see the solidness of it’s construction for yourself. Nuff said.
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