Comike / Comiket discussion

[cyth]

Haven't been there myself, but my friends are pretty well verse with it. It's a shopping convention, tons of different artists, industry booths, limited books, CDs, games, merchandise etc. You have cosplay on the roof, but other than that... Japanese anime conventions are not social gatherings, they are shopping/"event" events.

[Quarkboy]

If you have no intention of purchasing doujinshi, then there is very little reason to go to comiket.

The only thing OTHER than doujinshi that is at the event at all are the cosplay area and the industry booths. The industry booths are very boring compared to say, the Tokyo Anime Fair, and basically are sales stalls where they sell merchandise, some of which is special limited editions of things they only sell at comiket. Expect to wait for 1-2 hours in line though if you actually want something limited edition from one of the major companies like Key or Kyo-ani (and that's assuming you get into the even itself early enough which would require showing up at LEAST 2-3 hours before it comiket opens).

Generally, the short answer is NO. Comiket is about spending lots of money on doujinshi and survival.

I suppose the shear crush of people at 10:00 AM on day three rushing into the halls trying to get the latest porn is something of a unique spectacle to behold, however...

[mandarb916]

hm...
thanks for the input...the only circle i'm really interested in is Vagrancy since they're run by Shikata Akiko...but beyond that, it sounds like it might not be worth it...

Are the comiket catalogues worth snagging for the sheer sake of grabbing?

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by mandarb916

hm...
thanks for the input...the only circle i'm really interested in is Vagrancy since they're run by Shikata Akiko...but beyond that, it sounds like it might not be worth it...

Are the comiket catalogues worth snagging for the sheer sake of grabbing?

Not unless you have a burning urge to spend $20 on what is essentially a phone book.
There is nothing but page after page of very small frames with table information (16 per page or so), not in color.
There are also large rules and regulations sections and maps and advertisements. The CD rom version is identicle except digital.
If you aren't going they are worthless. Heck I bet if you went to an animate the day AFTER comiket they might give you one for free...

[aohige]

It's hot, crowded, hot, long lines, hot, stinky, hot, packed with fatally fashion-challenged geeks, hot, and extremely uncomfortable inside the building or on the train to and from.

Did I mention it's hot?

For me, it was a living hell to be standing in line after line for hours with 300,000 sweaty stinky otaku.
Sure I'm an ani-ota myself, but I never realized how uncomfortable it is until I was packed like sushi with 300 thousand (sweating) others.
Getting packed with people is a normal everyday thing in Japan, on the trains.... but usually they aren't all otaku that were standing in heat for hours, sweating, and smelling funny.

That was years ago, but I doubt much has changed yet.
If this sounds like living hell (for me it was), I advise going to the winter one instead.

[mandarb916]

Originally Posted by aohige

That was years ago, but I doubt much has changed yet.
If this sounds like living hell (for me it was), I advise going to the winter one instead.

C75 is winter i think :P

is there an admission fee of sorts?

[mandarb916]

Not to pull up an old thread but...

Planning on going to C75 on day 2 and 3. Do the industry booths restock on the non-limited edition items on each of the days? There are a few drama CDs and telephone cards I'm thinking of snagging. I'm residing pretty close to Toyosu Station (start station of the Yurikamome Line) so it's not an issue at all getting to Big Sight on the first train of the morning...

Other than that, I'm probably just going to snag a few CDs from Vagrancy on day 2...think it's worth going to day 3 to buy something from Fujitsubo Machine (Itou-Noizi's circle) and nothing else?

[Zenemis]

Originally Posted by aohige

It's hot, crowded, hot, long lines, hot, stinky, hot, packed with fatally fashion-challenged geeks, hot, and extremely uncomfortable inside the building or on the train to and from.

Did I mention it's hot?

For me, it was a living hell to be standing in line after line for hours with 300,000 sweaty stinky otaku.
Sure I'm an ani-ota myself, but I never realized how uncomfortable it is until I was packed like sushi with 300 thousand (sweating) others.
Getting packed with people is a normal everyday thing in Japan, on the trains.... but usually they aren't all otaku that were standing in heat for hours, sweating, and smelling funny.

That was years ago, but I doubt much has changed yet.
If this sounds like living hell (for me it was), I advise going to the winter one instead.

Bring a gas mask, anyone questions you, say you're cosplaying.

[W-General]

Originally Posted by mandarb916

Not to pull up an old thread but...

Planning on going to C75 on day 2 and 3. Do the industry booths restock on the non-limited edition items on each of the days? There are a few drama CDs and telephone cards I'm thinking of snagging. I'm residing pretty close to Toyosu Station (start station of the Yurikamome Line) so it's not an issue at all getting to Big Sight on the first train of the morning...

Other than that, I'm probably just going to snag a few CDs from Vagrancy on day 2...think it's worth going to day 3 to buy something from Fujitsubo Machine (Itou-Noizi's circle) and nothing else?

I hear that line will be insane. You should probably go early. (Fujitsubou Machine)

I am going for the first time but I have roughly an idea of what to expect.



I'm just curious...how uncomfortable is it going to be for winter comiket? Is it just as hot and sweaty?

[Varion]

Originally Posted by W-General

I'm just curious...how uncomfortable is it going to be for winter comiket? Is it just as hot and sweaty?

Nowhere near. Japanese summers are traditionally pretty damn hot, but looking at the Tokyo weather forecast for the C75 days it's not looking very hot at all. Source is TV Setouchi:

28th - Sunny to cloudy, 12 degrees C.
29th - Cloudy, 14 degrees C.
30th- Cloudy to sunny, 15 degrees C.

At least they're no longer saying it's gonna rain though. Not quite cold enough to make everyone freeze to death waiting outside, and you're still bound to get plenty of hygienically challenged people, but the temperature isn't gonna compound the problem massively like it traditionally does in summer.

[LynnieS]

It has been somewhat cold and really windy the past couple of days; I would dress warmly but in the usual layers. Inside the building will be warmer, but the halls can be really hot and (yeah) stinky - even in winter - so you would want to take off the layers and put them away. Probably not a lot of room either, but at least it won't be like the Wonder Festival's displays where with one careless swing of the bag, you'll knock over the entire stand.

[mandarb916]

Well...looks like Fujitsubo isn't putting out anything I'd be interested in...add to that, I don't think I want to brave the early morning temps for 5hrs...

going to try strolling in around 10:30 and try to get some CD's from Vagrancy and call it a day...might go to check out the industry booths still, but I've spent a bit too much the last few days in Akihabara so...going to pass on the C75 stuff.

[Quarkboy]

I'm going tomorrow to attempt to obtain a copy of Yellow Zebra's Touhou 3rd M-1 Grand Prix DVD and/or the Maikaze Touhou Anime DVD...

Wish me luck. Both of those are super high demand I'm sure, but I'm sure they'll have brought a ton of copies with them, so it'll only be a matter of time.

Actually I think the Touhou stuff might get a bit of a breather because they moved it from day 3 to day 2, so it's not combined with the "porn" day and is instead combined with the shounen day. That should theoretically make the lines for the west hall ever so slightly shorter, but we'll see...

I'm not going too nuts, though... I dunno, getting there around 7-8 AM should be good enough to get me a copy of one or the other by noon.

[mandarb916]

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

I'm not going too nuts, though... I dunno, getting there around 7-8 AM should be good enough to get me a copy of one or the other by noon.

Good luck...how are you getting there?

I'm thinking of taking the Oedo line to Tsukishima then Yurakucho to Toyosu and Yurikamome to Big Sight...Not really worried about the Oedo line, but I'm a little worried that the Yurakucho Line might be pretty crowded...

Toyosu's the start point for Yurikamome so I should only be fighting the passengers trying to board...not the passengers trying to board and the passengers already onboard from prior stations..

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by mandarb916

Good luck...how are you getting there?

I'm thinking of taking the Oedo line to Tsukishima then Yurakucho to Toyosu and Yurikamome to Big Sight...Not really worried about the Oedo line, but I'm a little worried that the Yurakucho Line might be pretty crowded...

Toyosu's the start point for Yurikamome so I should only be fighting the passengers trying to board...not the passengers trying to board and the passengers already onboard from prior stations..

Avoid the Yurikamome if you can. I'm coming from Shibuya so I'll just take the Rinkai line in, that's the best route.

Early in the morning the Rinkai doesn't go through on the Shounan-shinjuku line, though, so I'll probably have to take the yamanote to Oosaki and switch onto the rinkai there.

[LynnieS]

Have fun, mandarb916 and Quarkboy. I probably will skip this year - or go late tomorrow instead.

[Ronin Aquila]

I will not be able to make WinterComi this year.

But just out of curiousity, I heard that although it is not "Comiket" per se, there is also a Spring Doujinshi festival that also generates a massive gathering in Tokyo. Is this true?

If so, please provide Name, infromation and Website of said rumored festival.

Thanks.

[LynnieS]

A "Spring Dounjinshi festival"? Do you mean Sunshine Creation that is usually at the Sunshine City complex? I don't think that it's big... but I'm not really into doujinshi too much. There are bunches of small shows that you might find flyers for - and that I've seen - but their ads are usually 1-2 pages (front/back) long only.

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by LynnieS

A "Spring Dounjinshi festival"? Do you mean Sunshine Creation that is usually at the Sunshine City complex? I don't think that it's big... but I'm not really into doujinshi too much. There are bunches of small shows that you might find flyers for - and that I've seen - but their ads are usually 1-2 pages (front/back) long only.

Sunshine creation is pretty big, yeah, but doesn't hold a candle to comiket.

There are literally hundreds of smaller, more specifically themed conventions throughout the year, with the biggest probably "rentaisai", the Touhou themed one that is also held at Tokyo Big Site.
But there are ones for doujin CDs, doujin of specific shows like Naruto, pretty cure, digimon, haruhi (or kyoani in general)...

Those are usually MUCH smaller affairs with 50-a couple hundred circles, and are usually in hotel conference rooms, etc...
It's nice in some ways because you can actually breath and move around and interact with people.

[mandarb916]

guess it's time to start getting ready for this little (not so little?) jaunt...kinda scared about becoming a canned sardine on Yurikamome but oh well...hopefully I'll have time in the afternoon to go visit a few other areas in Tokyo...still have some shopping left to do in Akihabara too :|