ショートホープライト by ぴこぴこリョウ

"Indie as fuck." This is my first reaction when I think back to most, if not all, of my latest dōjinshi purchases. I used to be one of those snobs who would collect fancy 2d waifu / landscape wallpapers from Pixiv, and now I'm using my poor grasp of Japanese to brute force my way through bizarre indie fare such as this ショートホープライト  8 (Short Hope Lights 8) by mystery circle ぴこぴこ (Piko Piko). Well, maybe not so much of a mystery, since s/he has a Tumblr, which is more than can be said for many dōjinshi circles, who seem not to grasp that exposure is the path to emergence. Then again, maybe the obscurity is part of the allure...

S/he (I seem to recall the name Ryo, which is unisex) does a lot of stuff beside dōjinshi, including billboards and album covers, but his/her ongoing series is ショートホープライト, of which I happen to have in my hands issue 8, because starting a series from the near end is the radical thing to do. Same with uncropped pictures.
The cover is a nice red gradient that really makes it stand out from the rainbow / multicolor covers that are the norm in the dōjin world, while the inside is B&W, 24 pages, stapled - it screams 'alternative', like the kind of stuff you'd see on Ikki. The paper seems almost recycled, which adds to the charm but suggests the book will be creases hell in a few years unless I put it in an envelope, which I never do because I'm not a nerd.

Getting to the contents, about half of the dōjinshi is the (ongoing?) nonsensical comedy skit of two main characters, pompadour-swinging Hiropon and Miiko the brat. I should probably add that, if you're into absurdist funny stuff and non-sequiturs, you will really like this: Miiko threatening a murder - suicide unless she gets to perform at the Budokan before the end of summer had me rolling on the floor, and it's exactly the kind of ridiculous, over the top comedy I enjoy best. The volume also includes the equally far-out adventures of Madame Nombre, a French-Japanese expat who gets into trouble for her tenuous grasp of Japan's most esoteric customs (such as aubergine juice, which I wish I never learned was a thing. The only beverage I really miss from when I was over in Japan is Melon Fanta. Slurp). Finally, there is some prose: a short story by a certain Kitamura (no idea who she is), and one by Chiho Tamura (no idea who she is either), but I'm still wading through those so I won't comment on them.

The part that will certainly seal the deal, or make you run for the hills is the art, which is... idiosyncratic. I think the core of the problem is that you simply have to accept it as a style which either makes sense to you in the context of the story and an overall aesthetics, or it doesn't. Pikopiko's characters are little more than sketches, totally out of proportion / anatomically incorrect, and placed against minimalist that most of the times don't make immediate sense; yet, at least to me, these elements strengthen a certain indie aesthetics the artist seems to be going for, rather than hinder enjoyment. It's definitely as alternative as I am willing to get at the moment, yet I found that Pikopiko's simplistic art has struck a chord with me. It's, at the very least, quite cute in a non-moe kind of way - which is extra points as far as I'm concerned.

All in all, a very offbeat piece that some would describe as naive and overly unadorned, but that I really liked exactly for those same reasons. Highly suggested as long as you can get into the mindset.