ALFINE 2 by RAVING PHANTOM

Nip, cut, plant, water... and so on. And sneezing, lots of sneezing. This is spring for me in a nutshell. Every year I like more and more fall, when plants finally go to sleep and I don't have to witness the pathetic spectacle of my aubergine plants looking like sad poodles because they haven't been watered for two hours.

My last haul had a dōjinshi that had been on my wishlist for a while, mostly thanks to a few samples I had seen online. Alfine 2 by RAVING PHANTOM (2010) is, in many ways, the exact opposite of what I reviewed last time: we are far away from artsy land, and back into a more mainstream, hyper-stylish kind of amateur publication which actually comes in A4 format, no less than 52 full-color pages and glued spine (which seems to be pretty much the norm nowadays, showing how much cheaper it's gotten to self print - it doesn't take much funds to pump out a high quality product). Even from a material point of view I got as much value as what I've paid and more.

The dōjinshi is a sort of mock- fashion magazine, themed around colors: the illustrations are mostly pin-ups donning contemporary urban and summer wear, set against abstract and vector backgrounds, or stylish font arrangements which are there more as design elements than actual textual content. The RAVING PHANTOM circle, which has been active since 2001, makes ample use of guests, and there are no less than six here, each with one illustration: the only one I was familiar with, and the best one of the lot, is Lunatic Joker, the 'vanity' circle of prolific artist 月神るな (Tsukigami Runa).

The lion's share is taken by RAVING PHANTOM's artist 'Fuzzy', whose shōjo have a very recognizable style: colorful, realistically proportioned and very well shaded. The 'fashion' presented, as mentioned, is very  prêt-à-porter, the kind of clothing one could actually see on a hipster girl walking down Shinjuku. There are no concessions to anime style fashion, nor the kind of extreme stuff seen on Japanese Streets or such. Bonus points for going all the way with the mock/joke, and actually feature fake advertisements - like the one for earmuffs in the back cover of the book.

 A volume 1 of Alfine also exists, as well as a smilar b&w mock-fashion magazine called OMNi (5 issues). 'Fuzzy' also has published a few commercial things on shōjo manga magazine まんがタイムきらら.

Once again, a publication I highly suggest to those who like their dōjinshi to be something a bit more left fiend than the usual Touhou porn stuff, but who like to feel as if they have gotten their bang for their  buck, holding what could be a legitimate publication rather than a indie zine.