Comic Market 74 Summer 2008!

[desioner]

Hi akiba-online members,
I just got back to home to Sapporo yesterday with 22 spanking new comics worth about ¥25,000. (or $230) I had an amazing time there and was told by my wife that Sundays are the worst. Well after waiting in line for an hour and 30 minutes for the new STUDIO ふあん I thought so too.
So I saw quite a few other western guys and a few girls there. Unfortunately I expected none of them to be akiba members but I'm hoping that I'm wrong. surely akiba has enough members for some of them to frequent such events. Did anyone go and if so what was your impression of Japan largest comic book market? Take any photos, I did and I'll put some up. Well it seems that my camera wants to keep the images on the memory card but not allow my computer to transfer them!? What a bitch. I'll have to find another way to get them off.
Finally Please do not request me to scan my books and put them up. I only bought a single copy of each and I'm not about to destroy it for you guys n gals. You can just wait until they start to pour out online and wait like me to collect them.
desioner

 

[Sakunyuusha]

I so, so wish I could have gone! The place I most want to visit in Japan is Akiba and the event I most want to attend in Japan is Summer Comiket. My dream would be to get a spot in Hellabunna's line and secure a personalized-autographed copy of one of the newest へらぶな releases. Highly unlikely, sure, but a guy can dream, can't he?

On a semi-related note, my #2 most desired Japanese event to attend is Hokkaidou's annual snow sculpture festival.

Questions:

• What was your best acquisition in your opinion?
• What was your best acquisition in the opinion of what (you believe that) most people would say?
• What was the weirdest thing you saw in the convention hall?
• The coolest?
• The scariest?
• The saddest?
• What was worse inside the convention hall: the heat or the odor?
• Compared with your experiences in other crowded Japanese places (e.g. the JR), how would you rate Comiket on a scale of 1 to 10? 5 and 6 being average, 1 being much more spacious than other cramped places, and 10 being the most cramped ever?
• What are the otaku actually like inside the convention hall? Do they stick to their own packs of friends? Are the majority loners? Do people talk to each other in line or is everybody quiet? Does anybody attempt to cut in line or otherwise throw off the original queue?
• How many days ahead of time did you order your Comiket guide?
• From what you saw with your own two eyes (i.e. not necessarily based on what the guide says), what percentage of the doujinshi would you say were H and what percentage were non-H?
• Did you get to talk to any members of your favorite circles? If so, who?

I've got tons of questions but if I keep asking it'll be overwhelming. Anybody who's been to a recent Comiket can answer these btw.

I envy you, desioner. T_T

 

[desioner]

Answers:

• What was your best acquisition in your opinion?
  I really like Studio ふあん & 偽MIDI泥の会 those are my best.
• What was your best acquisition in the opinion of what (you believe that) most people would say?
  Based on the number of people standing behind me and staying in line after being told that 2 of 8 books + bags were sold out they think that Studi ふあん is the best too.
• What was the weirdest thing you saw in the convention hall?
  The number of military uniforms.
• The coolest?
  The girls in their custom costumes and leotards
• The scariest?
  Men average & ugly men dressed as women!
• The saddest?
  The guys dressed as bus & train drives/conductors.
• What was worse inside the convention hall: the heat or the odor?
  The heat was worse, in the comike guide is says to shower the morning of and to not eat a, b & c to help combat odor. I was surprised that it didn't smell as bad as I thought it would. The local comic shop smells much worse!
• Compared with your experiences in other crowded Japanese places (e.g. the JR), how would you rate Comiket on a scale of 1 to 10? 5 and 6 being average, 1 being much more spacious than other cramped places, and 10 being the most cramped ever?
  I give it a 10 outside and a 8 inside. They were trying to keep the tens of thousands of people in an orderly fashion outside and take up as little space as there was out there. But once in, we could all go our own ways and it was crowded but I've been in worse places.
• What are the otaku actually like inside the convention hall? Do they stick to their own packs of friends? Are the majority loners? Do people talk to each other in line or is everybody quiet? Does anybody attempt to cut in line or otherwise throw off the original queue?
  They work in a few ways. Some stick to their own pack and actually work in teams. Member A goes here member B goes there. Some are total loaners & outcasts. There are an average percentage of people that speak to others they don't know but a majority keep to themselves. No one even attempts to cut in the queue.
• How many days ahead of time did you order your Comiket guide?
  Well at the local Toranoana the went on say in August and I didn't need to reserve a copy cause there are always more than enough.
• From what you saw with your own two eyes (i.e. not necessarily based on what the guide says), what percentage of the doujinshi would you say were H and what percentage were non-H?
  95%H 5% non H. The entire east hall was H. Only half of the west hall was non H and half of that wasn't even comics.
• Did you get to talk to any members of your favorite circles? If so, who?
  I didn't but I really would have liked to get an signed copy from 偽MIDI泥の会 there was NO line and I'm not sure if he was there or not. All of the circle booths had many people working. Men & women, most likely friends of the artists and I imagine that some do note let there face be known to avoid stalker types.

Thanks for your questions. There were a few other experiences that I'll detail later if you like.
desioner

 

[Sakunyuusha]

I never thought of the "don't let people know what you really look like because of stalkers" aspect. Gee, that's too bad. I'd love to talk to my favorite circles' staff members if only for a couple of minutes just to show my appreciation for all their hard work over the years.

I'm surprised to hear that NISE's line was nonexistent. Maybe that was because he'd sold out and word travels fast?

I'm also surprised to hear that outside was the most crowded you've ever seen a place. Do the cosplayers have a special strip of ground to stand on that's less crowded? I think I've heard this before, though I can't remember where. And it seems (from the pictures we see of Comiket) that people give the cosplayers ample room to breathe and to assume different poses.

Your answers about the heat and the 95% H pleasantly surprise me because these are the suspicions I've had for quite some time but, having never been, I wasn't sure. I remember someone on one message board suggesting to everyone else one or two years ago that 95% of the stuff sold at Comiket is non-H and that if we could see the catalog for ourselves then we would know. It was then that I said to myself, "Forget what the catalog says! Let's ask somebody who's really been there."

 

[Sakunyuusha]

I promised to try to limit myself on the questions but I forgot an important one for myself and anyone else planning on going to Comiket in the near future:

From the time you left home to the time you got back to home, how much money did you spend? You mentioned how much you purchased at Comiket itself, but I'm curious what the expenses were for travel, lodging, meals, and anything else that I might be forgetting. If this is too personal a question, please feel free to fudge the data a little and provide a rough estimate of what you think the average con-goer's expenses are. The reason I'm asking isn't to be nosy but to get an honest approximation of Comiket's total expense.

 

[desioner]

Well it's unfortunate that some people can't get a firm grasp on reality and become stalkers in the first place. But with millions of rabid Japanese fans I guess it's best to keep themselves as safe as possible.
I think that because I went to Nise first thing I avoided a long line. But then again right next to Nise was studio D.N.A. that had a short ~20 min line. One thing I learned quickly too was that circles that offered different dojins always had longer lines because people would choose which to purchase and pay and get change. Nise and some others only offered 1 or 2 things and was easy to choose and pay. therefore making no lines.
The crowdedness outside was prior to the event beginning. They had fair amount of space to put the people that came but tried to keep us as close together as possible. I was surprised that it only took 1 hour to wait until getting in.
Unfortunately I had NO time to see the cosplayers. I would have loved to, but with waiting in lines and not even being able to see all of what I would have liked to I couldn't possibly have seen the cosplayers. But a few did come and go through the event.
Glad you were pleasantly surprised. I didn't know what to expect but was eased to find what I did. It's possible that it changes year to year but I guess that the east hall is always 100% H. The heat was bearable if you have a towel to wipe the sweat off or a fan to cool yourself.
Well being that I live in Japan I spent a lot less on airfare than anyone flying in from overseas. I also got a nice flight & hotel package with my wife from Rakuten Travel. Literally right next to the venue is a hotel! Which I'm sure has some cheap single rooms. I could see an anime poster in the window and knew that the person was somewhere around me. So that would cut the cost & time of commuting to 0. Typical single rooms are around $60-80 a night and they usually include free breakfast. Trains & busses are around $2 a trip. Meals are anywhere from $3 at the convenience store to $25 at a restaurant. It depends on how much or what you eat. As for my wife and I spending 2 days in Tokyo and including the few taxi rides we took the grand total was somewhere around.
¥120,000 or about $1,089.72
If you love doijinshi & manga as much as I do then I totally recommend it.
desioner

 

[Sakunyuusha]

If the grand total was roughly $1100 with roughly $250 of that spent on the actual goods, I don't know if I would go. I would probably tell myself, "If I don't go, then I can't actually get these doujinshi. But if I do go, then I'd be spending $1100 for x stories when I could have spent that same $1100 here at home and gotten 4x stories. :\" Sigh. If only doujinshi were as readily available as H-magazines.

I can't answer whether I love doujinshi and H-manga as much, more than, or less than you do. I can answer that I love them enough -- enough to qualify in your book as being a good Comiket attendee-candidate.

Here's another important question I can't believe I spaced out on (I swear that these are all going to go into a Notepad file for future reference!): how many copies of a particular doujin can one person purchase? As many copies as he wishes and can afford? Can he only purchase one at a time, having to get back in line for each additional purchase? Or can he only purchase one copy period?

I thought the answer was obviously the first one (i.e. as many as he wishes) but then I realized that Comiket must have some kind of limit! Otherwise scalpers would get into the most popular circles' lines and would buy up all of the copies, only to resell them later at a higher price. :\

 

[desioner]

Well I set the limit of what I wanted to spend on the comics pretty low. I saw guys walking around big bags of hundreds of doujins! Also it's possible to go each day and that adds up quickly. My wife & the catalog says that each day is different. Yea, you don't see many doujins here do you?
You seem interested enough. I think you could save up for it and make the dream a reality.
From what I saw & what my wife heard. You are allowed to buy as many as you like. Some groups of collectors spread out and get a copy for each member in their group. Others do just grab about 10 and after the event setup shop and sell them. But I don't think they sell them at increased prices. It seemed that most of the people were picking up 1 or 2 copies. I only got 1 duplicate and that was of Nise's newest book. Some of them are just too damn expensive to get extras. I think the sellers are allowed to limit the number bought but the ultimate goal for them is to sell out. I saw a lot of circles and artists that were staying around leaving their goods out after the announcement said to pack up! They were hoping to sell a few more last copies with the desperate last minute impulse shoppers like me.
desioner