Welcome back to Part 2 of our Comic Market 87 roundup, courtesy of The Fandom Post’s Japanese cultural and community ambassador, kijakusai. December 30th was the last of three days of the twice-annual convention, full of feverish dōjinshi-buying, rampant commercial promotion, and, of course, cosplay. We have more material from all three days to enjoy, so on to the show.
Day 2 began rather rainy…
コミケ二日目は生憎の雨模様ですが 現在のコスプレ広場をご覧ください #C87 pic.twitter.com/qPxw3zXSNa
— 鰐軍曹@自宅警備隊 隊長 (@WANIGUNNSOU) December 29, 2014
And in another example of convenience store readiness, this Lawson store stocked 1000 Kyubey buns before the weekend. /人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\
?????????????QB????? #C87 pic.twitter.com/DhDxJ1FltV
— ???? ??? (@uragaki) December 26, 2014
To once again get a sense of the amount of people descending on Tokyo Big Sight, this guy saw otaku body heat generate a heat haze when the Gate to Hell opened.
?1????????????????#C87 pic.twitter.com/FD8CKLzM7z
— ??????? (@Azlaelx) December 29, 2014
For another side, on the Rinkai line, the degree of congestion was 400%.
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— ???@??a!????? (@taka_humo) December 28, 2014
But for those waiting for the next train, watch the video below to see how the Comic Market 87 occupied Kokusai-Tenjijō Station, the main station on the Rinkai line servicing Tokyo Big Sight.
Even a bus to Hamamatsuchō was in the Comiket mode. https://twitter.com/rvs1980/status/549832978205904897
Company presence has only grown over the years, and at the NHK booth, a questionnaire:
NHK?????????????(????)?#C87 pic.twitter.com/DXAjg0jd5E
— ???????????C89?1?? (@komikeimage) December 28, 2014
‘What do you think about NHK’s participating in the Comic Market?‘
- Very yabai (in the good sense)
- Yabai (in the good sense)
- Yabai (in the bad sense)
- Very yabai (in the bad sense)
- Neither
‘Yabai’ was an argot word used by rogues and peddlers (think of, say, Shelta and carny slang), and it had/has negative meanings. However, recently some people came to use the word ‘yabai’ as a rough slang term which has positive meanings, like ‘bad’ as a slang word came to also mean ‘excellent.’
And as we get to the heart of Comiket—all of the circles selling dōjinshi—some clarification of a Comiket in-joke we had in Part 1 of this feature (‘Nanoha sold out’) some readers may not get. In the Comic Market 70 (2006), Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha-related goods sold out very quickly, and people who could not buy them grieved over it. Being derived from it, the phrase ‘Nanoha sold out’ came to be used as a joke phrase which people say at the beginning of an event where anime/manga-related goods are sold. (It is said that the reason why the goods in question sold out very quickly was that scalpers cornered most of them.)
Now moving into the aisles…
A (NSFW) sampling of Comiket 87 catalog cover artist and Amagi Brilliant Park light novel illustrator Nakajima Yuka’s dōjinshi.
Popular artist Itō Noizi thanks people who visited her booth. https://twitter.com/itoww/status/549830899575971840
This guy, who is a scaffolding otaku, made a book of which contents were photos of scaffolding. The book sold out at C87.
??????????????????????????????? #C87 pic.twitter.com/d96skXjqu3
— ??????@C97???12/31??10b (@mzkshun) December 30, 2014
A long queue to reach the Yakuyō Sekken booth:
??????????????? pic.twitter.com/3Lljn266Ew
— yoshi (@obsidiana_verde) December 30, 2014
Yakuyō Sekken is a popular ‘circle’ which publishes Love Live!-themed dōjinshi. Animators and illustrators contribute to Yakuyō Sekken’s dōjinshi.
https://twitter.com/elijolemi021lov/status/549750496878006273
A reminder that pop culture conventions are also places of business these days, this Finnish guy, Esa Ryömä, has a plan to establish a manga publishing firm and has visited the Comic Market in order to make a deal with Japanese indie manga artists.
And a notice of how things are seen in the mainstream, TBS covered the Comic Market 87.
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— ?? (@kirifurikogen) December 28, 2014
NHK covered the Comic Market, as well, and will broadcast a TV program about Comiket in January. Otaku doubt whether the square mainstream TV network can cover the otaku event well. [Japanese]
Closer to the source, ASCII Media Works also covered C87. [Japanese; see page links at bottom for more cosplay images.]
But for a quick and concise overview of the experience, Oricon has posted a three minute video about the C87 on YouTube.