East Side Stories: Otakus in Love

Otakus In Love and Love Strikes! were recently part of the East Side Stories touring film festival by the Japan foundation at the ICA London and other locations.

Where: ICA London/ Belfast/Bristol/Dundee/Edinburgh/Newcastle upon Tyne/Nottingham/Sheffield
When: 31 January to 27 March 2014
Website: http://www.jpf-film.org.uk/
[rating=7]

Otakus in love (Koi no Mon) follow's tramp, or more accurately low maintenance Mon Aoki (Ryuhei Matsuda) - a mis-understood 'manga artisan' who can’t seem to hold down a steady job. Mostly due to his run down appearance and his stubborn belief that one day his art will actually sell.

The problem is that his concept of manga isn't a comic strip, he arranges and paints rock in wooden boxes which freaks most people out. One day as he follows a hand drawn map on his hand which wasn't too clever as the rain washes most of it off. He bumps into Koino Akashi, she promptly maims Mon with lethal stiletto heel as he reaches for a beloved rock and he proceeds to arrive late at his new part time job at Tsugino Happy Inc.

Coincidentally she also works at Tsugino Happy Inc. The boss is perpetually-enraged at Mon's lateness and poverty stricken look and fires him at his welcome party after Mon reveals his love for manga. Koino immediately becomes fascinated as she is a full bred otaku, and if you watch the film you will find out to what extent.

Thus begins their topsy-turvy 'relationship' complete with mandatory cosplay and panty shots. Imagine getting lucky with the girl of your dreams. This film has, as one of Koino’s fans would put it, “a gift for reckless plot twists” with lots of slap stick humour and geeky references. It's great to see an infusion of over the top otaku moments contrasted with the hatred of Mr Happy and Marimoda at the job trying to tear down Mon's beliefs and talent.

Director Suzuki Matsuo is best recognised internationally for  Ichi the Killer. Matsuo dabbles in playwright, stage direction, novels, columns, essays, and occasional manga artist. Otakus in love was his debut as a film director. His adaptation of Jun Hanyunyuu's manga is fast-paced and vibrantly whatever the mood of the character. Ironically Matsuo himself plays the most laid back character of the manga bar boss.

If you're looking for a film with two hours of geek culture, this is it. From 2004 you can feel it's a bit outdated but some of the references are classics so it wouldn't matter anyway. There are a wide array of characters from the odd circus troupe or band housemates who live with Mon to the quirky people hanging around the manga bar.

Kawaii corner: Kekiko

Photo by Caroline Mound Photography

I asked the founder of the company Amy Leung why she chose pandas.

"Pandas are my all time favourite animal. They are cute, huggable and just adorable fluffy creatures. This is why I chose to have them as my mascots. So far I have a girl panda, Keki, and a boy panda, Kiko, both who I'd like to feature on tote bags, t-shirts and stickers in the future."

Amy the founder of Kekiko has been planning this new store for a year now and has finally introduced it to the world during the MCM Expo weekend 2013. The online store is now up and running  you can visit it at: www.kekiko.com

The headgear were the top sellers at the Kekiko stall, these included the kitty and bunny ears, the tokidoki snapbacks and the bunny ear beanie hats. Everyone loved them and thought they went well with almost any outfit. Amy had also hand made some cute panda bookmarks and little hair pins that were received very well at the expo.

Our favourite items Kekiko sells include:

Molang

Molang is a small and lovable animal.  He’s very curious and a big dreamer. Molang loves to have fun and to make/give/blow kisses. But what he loves the most is to eat strawberries. As soon as Molang catches a whiff of this fruit, its cheeks turn a little pinker and its eyes shine a little brighter. A very kawaii large size Molang Bunny born and bred all the way from Korea! Soft and cuddly and awaiting your love.

Kawaii White Sheep Hand-Warmer Plush Toy Cushion

Keep your hands warm during those cold nights or mornings with these adorable little fluffy sheep hand warmers. Great as gifts or to use as a cushion. Really soft to cuddle. Each comes in a different colour, equipped with its own little scarf. This is one of the most useful things I discovered on Kekiko's site especially for Britain's chilly winter. Keep warm and kawaii with this top product!


Bunny Ears Beanie Hat

This hat is crafted in polyester, featuring a chunky knit design, bunny ear embellished to the crown and a turn-up brim with a ribbed edge. At just $14.00 you can free the J-fashion diva in you  in Black, Navy, Rose Red Beanie, Light Grey colours, why not get a few.

Handmade Kawaii Kitty Ears

Release your inner kawaii neko with these adorable, super soft and fluffy kitty ears. Great for dressing up or everyday use. Simply clip on and go. As you can see these clip on ears won me over with there small but authentic design. For a bargain price of $6.20 two. Comes in bunny style too.

Amongst the headgear and plushies Kekiko also offers a variety of stationary, keyrings, and phone cases with Molang on them too. Great fashionable items and presents for friends. Kekiko bring adorable goodies all the way from Japan and Korea to your doorstep.

FInd updates and giveaways via here Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Kekiko

What is Purikura?

 Purikura or 'photo sticker' machines are a special type of photo booth that produce photo stickers. Jointly developed by Atlus and Sega, the first Purikura machines were sold in July 1995. Still going strong in Japan they have spread throughout Asia to Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Germany and even the UK.

How do they work?

Inserting money in the machine money slot, multiple customers can enter the booth and pose for a set number of exposures. Some common options include the ability to alter lighting and backdrops while the newest versions offer features such as cameras from a variety of angles, fans, seats, and blue screen effects, changing hair colour, eye colour and your appearance.

Once the pictures have been taken, the customer selects the pictures that they wish to keep and customise them using a touch screen or pen-sensitive screen. The touch screen gives them options such as shiny stamps, clip art, colourful backdrops, borders, auto text, date stamp and pens that can be superimposed onto the photographs.

Features that can be found in some sticker machines are customising the beauty of the customers such as brightening the pictures, making the eyes sparkle more, changing the hair, bringing a more reddish colour to the lips and fixing any blemishes by having them blurred. Other features include cutting out the original background and replacing it with a different background. Certain backgrounds may be chosen so when the machine prints out the picture, the final sticker will be shiny with sparkles.

Finally, the number and size of the pictures can be chosen within the layout section so you can pick a few big ones, or multiple small ones to divide between friends. Some photo booths also have email capability to text to mobile phones or email. Other photo places have a scanner and laptop at the cashiers desk for customers to scan and copy their original picture before they cut and divide the pictures amongst their group.

Photo sticker booths are particularly popular among young people as an inexpensive form of recreation. The pictures can be kept as souvenirs or traded with friends.

Purikura in London:

There is actually one known Purikura booth located in China Town, Westend, London. Here staff operate the machines for customers and take payment in pounds rather than yen. With three different types:

Pink Machine - you choose a layout and then take photos according to the layout with a plain white background

Red/Blue Machine where you take photos in font of green background to add different backgrounds/foregrounds and draw on top or add fake ats, stars, hearts or text.

Purikura machine - the only Japanese Purikura, where the staff bypasses the automatic settings for you to take 8 automatic photos. You sit in front of a green screen using sofas and monkey bars to hang upside down create the illusion of carrying your friends too. After you choose your four favourite photos to be large, you can then go to one of the editing pods to add your own unique style to the sticker photos.

Do you have any Purikura machines in your area? If so, post them in the comment section below and help out your fellow Purikura adventurers.