Comic Market 88 (Part 1!)

Many anime and manga fans are familiar with Comic Market, sometimes known as Comiket, from innumerable scenes of characters braving crushing crowds, heat (August) and cold (December), and long lines to buy the latest fan-made comic book (doujinshi) from a famous circle before everyone else. Or the characters are in a circle (an individual or group of doujin creators and sellers) themselves, desperate to finish their book before the deadline.

Often in these stories it’s not called Comic Market or Comiket—they’re trademarked names—but it’s almost always portrayed as taking place where the real one does currently, the iconic Tokyo Big Sight conference center. Or some abstract parody of it. And everything else, as absurd as some of it seems—the tens of thousands of people orderly lined up, the acres of tables selling goods, the hundreds of cosplayers, the die-hards with backpacks full of rolled-up posters and bags of books—is all true to life. It often falls short of the real thing.

Since 2004, with Comic Market 66, the event has been drawing an estimated half a million plus attendees, and over 30,000 circles, for three days, twice a year. Attendance, for buyers, is free. As it’s grown (only 32 circles and an estimated 600 attendees in its first year, in 1975) it’s remained true to its mission, providing a place for doujin manga buyers to buy from doujin manga creators. But circles have expanded their offerings into merchandise, games, and animation. It’s become a lightning rod for cosplayer enthusiasts, professional or amateur, and their fans and photographers, to gather, show off, and celebrate. Attendance by foreign visitors has increased every year. And companies and publishers, once indifferent to the phenomenon and purpose of Comiket, have not resisted the numbers of people and the media attention they routinely generate, selling their own goods and staging events.

As a spectacle of humanity celebrating a shared passion and hobby it’s often rivaled, but hard to beat.

Our friend kijakusai has once again cataloged the ground-level view of Comic Market from Japanese-based social media, translating and guiding readers through the three-day event. We’ll feature the lead up and first two days of Comic Market 88 here, and look forward to part 2 for the last day and aftermath.

•••

Comic Market begins to feel imminent about a month beforehand, when the catalog of participating circles is released. Every Comic Market has both a physical (and therefore collectible) catalog, and a DVD-ROM version. And each features a different cover artist. For C88, the artist was, naturally enough, Kaoru Shintani, the creator of the 80s action manga classic, Area 88.

The week before the event familiar scenes and signs begin to crop up in the areas around Tokyo Big Sight. The nearest Lawson convenience stores were stocked up:

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— ???????????C89?1?? (@komikeimage) August 13, 2015

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— ?? (@syuugetu3) August 10, 2015

Buses of the Toei Bus, which is operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, had posters saying they would sell goods related to Minkuru, the mascot of the Toei Bus, at Comic Market 88.

Because of the large numbers of people at Comic Market, land mobile station vehicles are needed to handle the enormous load of mobile traffic. Each mobile company featured a different promotional itasha on their vehicles: NTT Docomo’s land mobile station car was Love Live!. Soft Bank’s was Uta no Prince-sama. AU ‘s had heroes from Japanese folk tales, which have been featured in their live-action TV commercials.

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— ???? (@DATIWAWA) August 13, 2015

The station serving Tokyo Big Sight, Kokusai Tenjijō Station, was also bedecked with posters targeting Comic Market attendees:

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— ???????????PR????? (@nonnontv) August 10, 2015

https://twitter.com/nanoexpTS2/status/631124680657666049

Another common sight are the so-called Tetsuya-gumi (lit. staying-up-all-night bunch), an argot word which means people who wait overnight near to the hall/shop for the venue to open. The Comic Market Committee asks people not to do tetsuya, however. (Some tetsuya-gumi people suffered heatstroke.)

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— aozora@1/26 ????? (@aozora_sora) August 13, 2015

This tetsuya-gumi guy sleeps under a dakimakura.

https://twitter.com/kurumiyuna777/status/631751888325599232

– Continues on Page 2! –