Kyoto International Manga Museum

"There's a freaking manga museum in Kyoto?!!"

Now that's something new. As suggested by Nao, I decided to venture to this seemingly dubious museum. What could they possibly exhibit?? Come on, old mangas are so not valued these days.

It wasn't an easy journey because this stupid museum wasn't exactly accessible from where I lived. It also appeared to me that Kyoto folks are not as friendly compared to their Sapporo counterparts. Couple of dudes were pretty unfriendly and directed me to the wrong place. To top that off, Kyoto has the most unbearable summer....

As I turned the corner while cursing and swearing, I saw this bunch of people congregating in the museum.

Damn, so freaking crowded. Must be because its Sunday. I wanna watch superficial Japanese variety programs at home.....

Gosh, what are these people doing?

Precisely! Why so crowded? Omg aren't these people in some weird ass costumes with atrocious hair colours? Ah, naruhodo. Cosplaying in a manga museum. Fitting.

京都国際マンガミュージアム Kyōto Kokusai Manga Myūjiamu

When will Naruto ever end.....?

BECK fever invaded Kyoto as well.

Other than exhibiting some nonsense here and there, the best part of the museum is that...

YOU GET TO READ ALL THE MANGA IN THE MUSEUM FOR FREE!

Of course, there's an admission fee of 500 yen (S$7.5). Very very reasonable though. Which explains why these people congregate here on a Sunday afternoon.

You can even read your favourite manga on a TATAMI!!!!!

Nobody gave much attention to the exhibitions as all of them were engrossed in their yaoi or yuri or whatsoever manga these people are reading.

But as a tourist (proud!), several exhibitions were pretty interesting to me.

Definition of manga?

I'm not sure how to define manga myself. But suffice to say that manga serves as guidelines for my imagination when picturing the story itself.

Although these books are free for all, they are not necessarily up to date. Recall: museum. Then again, the collection is so vast that you can easily find a few titles released in say, 1992.

Spot two of my childhood favourites.

1. Hana Yori Dango. Which girl doesn't like to read about 4 mega rich and handsome guys packaged as one.

2. Kindaichi Shōnen no Jikenbo. CSI not the first to sensationalise crime solving.

Here are the top selling manga!

1. One Piece (but of course!)
2. Nana
3. Naruto
4. Hunter x Hunter (no wonder the author is not diligently drawing nowadays! pissed!)
5. Bleach

A lot of Suzumiya Haruhi fanboy items to go around. Think my otaku bro will love.

Similarly, he will adore these.

For adult males. *winks*

But will not be able to stomach these. Too "graphic" as many would put it.

For adult females. *winks*

I do hope that you are not too flabbergasted by the questionable items above (seriously NO idea why they are even on display!), because if you do visit the museum, there are other sections that display even MORE questionable drawings. If you know what I mean. *winks*

By the way, photography was not permitted in those sections for good reasons.


Moving on to less dubious exhibits.

People watching anime identify with the characters (I think they meant these characteristics).

Do you?

Secret to epic battle number 1:

Secret to epic battle number 2:

Secret to epic battle number 3:


Now we know.

Other exhibits on display.

So much more to manga than I thought.

We have heard so much about how the local cosplay scene suck so much. Those horrible costumes that haunt me still.

I have no qualms about cosplaying. In fact, I would think that it is a rather interesting activity (to see people doing it). But only if you are putting in effort and not half-fucked! For example, if you were to go extreme and put on a purple wig, at least make the same effort for your make up lar!!!

Anime Festival Asia in Singapore

Gosh I can't even look at the photo anymore.

Naturally, I was curious as to what these Japanese have to offer.

But the heat was killing me.

I'm sure most of you remember this female cosplayer of Ace.

Check out her freckles and brows. She even shaved her armpit. Effort max!

But you know what's great about these Japanese cosplayers?

They are extremely friendly. Ace even asked if I wanted her to stand up. Feeling paiseh, I said her current position was fine. I was not even a profession photographer lor.

But maybe it was my misinterpretation. For all I know she could have preferred standing...

Yet another decent cosplay!

Not too bad right!

These two characters look awfully familiar and I'm thinking maybe, just maybe they were trying to cosplay Sister and P-Ko from Arakawa Under the Bridge.

Sister and P-Ko. Erm yes, the guy calls himself a sister.

Omg she is just covering her boobs with these two things I dun even know what's that! Hair, costume, footwear, makeup, everything pretty well done! Only problem is - which character is she??

Now there was this bleach cosplayer and I have no idea who she was cosplaying.

Bleach was so long ago for me.

Compare this purple hair with the previous one.....

BANKAI!

At this point, I must add that not all of the cosplayers portrayed their characters brilliantly. Sad to say, most of the time it depends largely on their looks as well as their body figures.

But I will also acknowledge those who put in real effort!! Seriously the amount of time they spend on this is evident from their outfits.

But in reality, the sad truth of life is that when you place a cute girl next to one that is not as cute.... oh wells.

Give it to the girl on the left - Effort lar effort.

Found a cosplayer in one of my favourite character - Kagura from Gintama.

Her props were pretty accurately.

Found another Kagura cosplayer online.

Does it really all boils down to the looks? Can't deny that its a huge factor and a big plus point.

From the popular Kuroshijitsu:

After some research, it would seem like the two have a thing for each other. Or so the fangirls were made to believe.

Hence the intimacy?

Nah, on second look, both are girls what.... eh wait, are they? Do I see an adam's apple? Gosh I really don't know.

Most of them were just kids.

Kids.

What, no makeup??

Kids.

Is that a pan she's holding?

These cosplayers can strike a pose ANYTIME!

Wait, what? ...What???? Why this of all anime? And.... omg so many emotions I can't explain.

........

On the bright side! We see signs of effort! Look! Drawn eyebrows and freckles!

Quickly moving on to others...

The girl in green hair is freaking white!

I don't even wanna talk about the guy in the middle.

Irregardless of the outcome, these cosplayers put up a good sunday afternoon show to entertain me the tourist. The fact that these people braved the heat and stood outside the entire afternoon was enough to gain my admiration.

Oh, did I forget to mention someone nostalgic?

Ash Ketchum from Pokemon!!! Wtf!

I did a very crazy thing after this.

See this One Piece Gachapon.

Got Luffy on my first try!!!

All the other characters look so cute!! I need to have them!!

Oops.

Without Nami and Sanji though. Sians. (I know very well that I was mad)

Spent the rest of the day repenting in mountains of manga.

And had a wonderful dinner consisting of somen (perfect for summer!), tuna salad and nuggets (those nuggets were absolutely imba! I wished they sold these kinds here too).

The shit-like thing in my somen sauce is wasabi by the way. Those brown like things are call Tempurako. Yep, small pieces of tempura. Awesome much.