Otaku assemblyman’s latest project stars a 1,300-year-old girl from a popular video game franchise.

Being such a big city, central Tokyo is divided into 23 wards, which are called ku in Japanese. So it made perfect sense that in 2015 the citizens of Ota Ward, or Ota-ku, elected an otaku assemblyman.

But don’t think for a second that 32-year-old Minoru Ogino turned in his otaku badge when he took public office. This weekend, he’ll be at Comiket, the twice-a-year gathering of dojinshi (independently produced manga) fans at Tokyo’s Big Sight convention center. Ogino isn’t just going to browse the merchandise selection, though, but to sell copies of the dojinshi he’s created.

On Sunday, the third day of Comiket, Ogino will be at booth Pi 31a of Big Sight’s East Hall, personally hawking State of the Regional Assemblyman Volume 2-Politics the Yakitori Chef is Concerned About. Like many dojinshi, it’s a derivative work using pre-existing characters, and as his star Ogino has chosen Fujiwara no Mokou, a 1,300-year-old immortal with the body of a young girl, from video game franchise Touhou Project.

▼ State of the Regional Assemblyman Volume 2-Politics the Yakitori Chef is Concerned About

While many dojinshi throw the characters in lustier, more explicit escapades than their canon storylines, Ogino’s manga takes a more chaste approach, as Mokou, who has led much of her long life in isolation, learns about modern Japan’s governmental system and electoral process.

▼ Though this looks a lot more dramatic than any of our civics lessons we remember from high school.

As the “Volume 2” part of the title suggests, this isn’t Ogino’s first time to sell dojinshi at Comiket. As a matter of fact, this weekend marks his fourth time attending the event as an exhibitor since his election, and he’ll also be selling reprints of the first volume of State of the Regional Assemblyman.


For the new book, Ogino handled script and layout duties. Though he has taken courses in manga-drawing, his current work schedule didn’t afford him the time to do the final art, though, which was done by a different artist according to Ogino’s specifications.

Ogino’s new dojinshi is priced at 600 yen (US$5.40). However, if you can’t make it out to Big Sight, or simply aren’t quick enough to outrun all the other manga fans and it sells out, it’s also available for purchase online from dojinshi specialists Tora no Ana and Melon Books for 800 yen.

Sources: IT Media, Minoru Ogino official blog
Top image: Tora no Ana
Insert images: Tora no Ana, Melon Books