Doujinshi

Don't want to read my ranting? Scroll down to the doujinshi scans!

Okay, so what does a crazed fangirl do once she owns all the Greenwood
manga and OAVs? Buy doujinshi, of course!

Doujinshi are fan-produced comics using characters from anime series,
manga, video games, and, occasionaly, "real life." >_<;; (Okay, can I
just tell you that the idea of doujinshi based on J-pop groups gives me the
willies? SMAP djs? *Brrrrrr*) Doujinshi come in various types: hentai,
yaoi, gag, "normal," etc. Greenwood, being a shoujo manga, seems to
have mostly yaoi (male/male sex) djs written for it, though I've heard of
"normal" Greenwood djs.

Okay, so how does one go about getting doujinshi? There are a few ways.
Many online shops sell djs and there's always eBay, however, Greenwood
djs appear to be extremely rare. I've only heard of three being sold online
in the last year that I've been looking. The alternative is to go to Japan.

I'm a rank newbie in world of djs, so my advice may be obvious, but if
you're crazy enough to go to Japan, here's my two yen on entering the
world of doujinshi.

1) Wear comfortable shoes. You're going to be doing *a lot* of walking
and standing. Japan seems to have a shortage of places to sit.

2) Carry cash. Some stores take credit cards, but some don't. Something
you may not know is that most djs are dirt cheap. 200-600 yen (about
$1.50-$5) for most used djs that are going on eBay for $20 or more. (Keep
in mind that a plane ticket to Tokyo costs $700, though, so don't balk at
spending $30 online if you really want something!)

3) Take a shopping guide with you. I printed out the Aestheticism Tokyo
shopping guide and Cheap Bastard's Tokyo anime shopping guide. The
Aestheticism guide had the best stores listed but was slightly inaccurate in
a few places (to get to the Shibuya Mandarake, take the right fork -- the
*right* fork -- at the building that says in big red kanji:

It's right behind a police box that looks a little like the prow of a ship
chopped out and plunked in the middle of the street.) Cheap Bastard's
Tokyo shopping guide was thorough, and a little more current, but most of
the stores listed had stuff I wasn't interested in (i.e., hentai djs). Even
though I had some extremely minor quibbles, those shopping guides were
invaluable. You have no idea how hard it is to find some of these places.

http://www.aestheticism.net/visitors/reference/tokyoshopping/index.htm

http://www.arcade4home.com/CheapBastardsTokyoAnimeShoppingGuide

4) Once you get to the store, the djs are separated by anime/manga title,
unless the dj you want is by a really famous circle, in which case it'll
probably be under the circle's name. I didn't bother to look under circles
for Greenwood because the no one seems to have heard of the Greenwood
dj-ka whose name I actually knew. Greenwood, unlike Slam Dunk and
Ruroken, doesn't even get its own section. It's lumped with the other
miscellaneous djs under "other parody" or "other shoujo manga parody."
If you're asking for those sections, they're "hoka no PARO" or "hoka no
shoujo manga (no) PARO." Find the section that looks something like:

5) The djs will usually be wrapped in plastic, so you won't know what
you're getting until after you've bought it. Signs that the dj you're buying is
yaoi (whether you think this is a good thing or not is your preference):

- There are no female characters on the cover (this is a no-brainer for
series like Ruroken and Escaflowne, but harder for Greenwood, since
there really aren't that many female characters anyway).

- One (or more) of the male characters on the cover looks more beautiful,
smaller or more delicate than he does in the actual series. I bought an Esca
dj with a really nice picture of Van on the cover. His eyes were a little
larger than usual and he looked a bit frail, which should have tipped me
off. I unwrapped it and: "Whoa, Folken!! Do you really think you should
be doing that to your underage brother?!" o_O;;;

- The male characters are touching each other. I'm not just talking about
kissing, cuddling and other obvious signs like that. If Saitou Hajime has
his hand on Aoshi's shoulder, I'll bet you five dollars you'll be seeing
someone's dripping cone of light within five pages.

Signs the dj you're buying is hentai:

- The female character on the cover will have most of her clothing partially
undone and a sort of "oh! what are you going to do to me?" look. Duh! -_-;;

Signs the dj you're buying is normal/gag:

- There are characters of both sexes on the cover, they look pretty much
like they do in the series and there aren't any obviously sexual overtones.

- Someone is superdeformed. SD characters don't automatically rule out
some form of sex, though (whether yaoi or het).

Unfortunately for you, you really don't have the luxury of being picky, as
you'll be lucky if you find *one* Greenwood dj in Tokyo, but if you're
planning on buying djs for other series it may help. ^_^;; Anyway, if you
don't like your Greenwood dj, you can always sell it to me. ^_^