So, the much hoped for brand new, exciting new year still has to happen, it seems. Still (sort of) out of a job, aching leg and nothing to watch on TV. I have scheduled to take a new course this April, learning new skills and maybe see if I can turn things around a bit. Only time will tell...
My latest dōjinshi catch featured some items that were on my wishlist for a while, but turned out not to be particularly exciting, in the end. I'm still not sure if I'll end up reviewing them, to be honest.
One discovery that didn't disappoint, however, is パコキリン, the dōjin circle of a certain Suzuki Sanami - who actually turns out to have quite the commercial curriculum too. Might have to pick up some of her stuff...
This time around I got my grubby mitts on ホクサイと飯おかわり, which is an unusually beefy dōjinshi, clocking at 96 pages, including a color insert. The dōjinshi dates from about four years ago, but it already shows the distinctive style that Suzuki displays in her illustration work as well. She has a thick, vibrant line work that I really dig. It doesn't get as messy as with some other artists, and it always remains readable and well laid out on the page.
As one could guess from the cover, the theme is food. The protagonist, clearly a self insert, is a mangaka with a penchant for getting into food-related trouble; be it the search for more, or the search for a way to get rid of those extra few kilos... she often drags her assistants into her hijinks too. There is a particularly funny story about how a session of late-night jogging turns into a hunt for a most elusive dish, created by combining the most unlikely assembly of konbini purchased goods...
And yes, recipes are included. This one was a real fun discovery, and I'll be looking to buy more of Suzuki's output, be it commercial or dōjin.
