It's not Comiket, but I finally made it out to an event at Tokyo Big Sight!!
It was basically exactly as I had expected since it's been depicted in otaku-centric anime pretty often. For example, below is how it's shown in Lucky☆Star, one of the absolute GOATs of the anime world.
Lucky Star episode 12, 4:10
Tokyo Big Sight has also been shown in a bunch of other anime as well, but I feel like it's been less and less common these days. Maybe I'm watching the wrong things but otaku-centric shows set in IRL Tokyo seem far and few between compared to a few years ago. It's all isekai now (not that I don't have a soft spot for isekai...)
Speaking of Lucky Star (because it's related to what I did today), you can watch Konata and the gang experience Comiket in the embedded video below. I'm not totally sure how or why it's on YouTube and it's in 360p, but definitely worth a watch (it's also on Crunchyroll). I was looking for the Tokyo Big Sight frame from the anime and got hooked and almost watched the full episode lol I think I will actually rewatch this on my flight back to Seattle and when I get back!! It probably would hit way harder and be more relatable since I had watched it before I had ever been to Japan.
(I know the embed isn't working directly in some locales but it's so good that I am purposefully leaving the basically giant YouTube button to entice you into clicking into the video...)
In the video, which I know everyone has seen, the halls were all packed and there were so many crowds that people were getting swept away. It seems kind of realistic when you consider that Comiket, which gets held twice a year, is pulling in around 500k visitors every time!!
In contrast, the event I went to today, COMIC1's COMIC1☆27, seemed much more relaxed. Only one exhibition hall was taken up in the South hall so I'd say it was much smaller. I don't know the partipation numbers but I'd guess in the thousands or tens of thousands instead of half a million.
"But", I hear you ask, "what even is COMIC1☆27??"
Yes, yes, we're getting to that!
Up close, Big Sight is even more imposing! But it's pretty convenient to get to since it has a dedicated train line stop.
COMIC1, like Comiket, is a doujinshi convention. (oh man prepare to get into the weeds here) Doujinshi can be thought of as self-published printed works produced by groups usually referred to as "circles". The doujin in doujinshi means "self-published", and these doujin circles come to events like Comic1 or Comiket with things like art books, magazines, comics, etc. Some groups are dedicated to creating fan art or parodying existing anime or manga franchies, while others choose to create wholly original works. Definitely read through the links for more well informed information source than me lol
One other thing that people may associate doujin with is NSFW content (ero-manga, R18, etc.). While it is true that a lot of doujinshi is NSFW, not all of it is! You can find plenty of wholesome content a doujinshi convention (unless it's specifically a NSFW I guess lol).
That being said, I didn't take any pictures inside the main hall area because I both wasn't sure if it was allowed and also because even if I did take photos I think I wouldn't be able to use most of them on my blog. I mean technically no one is stopping me from putting NSFW stuff here but let's keep it family friendly haha
While the info dump out of the way, I will talk about my experience a little! COMIC1☆27 has a really short distribution window, the main hall was only open from 11 AM to 3 PM (plus I think 1 hour for a small group of early ticket holders). I had woken up later than I anticipated and the train ride there was an hour long and 2 transfers so by the time I made it there, it was something like 11:45.
Luckily, there was no need to wait in line or anything at that point. To get in, you only need to show that you have a copy of the event catalog. The catalog itself is put up for sale at a couple merchants like a month ahead of time and they also sell some at the door. I am a bit anxious and was worried they would run out so I just opted to buy it ahead of time.
The catalog I purchased at Melonbooks ahead of time
The catalog is pretty handy because it has a map of the event and also a list of all of the doujin circles and which tables they will be stationed at. I had been familiar with a few of the names in the catalog and looked up a few ahead of time to see what they would be distributing so I could bookmark anything I wanted.
Once I actually got into the exhibition hall I was a bit overwhelmed actually. It was a little busy, but I'm used to that kind of thing because I regularly attend large, crowded anime conventions in the US. I think I was probably mostly overwhelmed by being a little anxious that I would have to interact a lot in a language I'm not particularly good at lol Also there was just NSFW stuff everywhere, which probably added to the overall level of stimualtion? L O L
Anyway, I was a bit worried that maybe vendors would call out or hassle me when I walked by or made eye contact, but that wasn't really a problem. It does happen to me kind of often in the states though so I always try not to make eye contact with vendors (of any kind in any country lol) because then I feel obligated to look at their stuff.
But it turned out OK, by the time I arrived, it seemed like the crowds were already thinning a bit, so it was easy to walk through the aisles of tables or directly approach a doujin circle's booth if you wanted something.
A standee photo spot at the event. Not totally sure what Tokimeki Party Sensation really is though
I think a lot of people who were really eager to buy specific things probably showed up right on time or even in the early ticket timeslot. Actually even by/around noon, it seemed to me that some vendors had sold out and were packing up for the day. As time went on, more and more vendors seemed to be selling out or in some cases deciding they had had all the customers they would get for the day and heading out. However, there were still lines at some of the most popular vendors, especially in a few cases where the authors were doing signing events! I saw a few pretty long lines for those.
I had only book-marked a couple of vendors ahead of time that I wanted to visit. The first was sold out with their new thing before I arrived, which was unfortunate, but the second did have the Miku card sleeves and keychain I had wanted. Below is the SFW portion (I'm pretty sure they're all safe lol) of my haul!
Not entirely sure what all of them actually are at this point, but one is clearly a wholesome story about Furina turning into a cat, one is some sort of artsy book, one is recounting a trip (actaully looking now it might be a trip record to an NSFW museum but the cover is safe I think!). The other one (the one with the girl with all the... ribbons...?) is probably my favorite of these and is by an artist (circle?) named melodia (but in cursive lol). I actually snagged the ¥1,500 option because it came with an acrylic, file folder, and signed photo card (plus the regular art book!!)
Actually, talking about that a bit, I felt like the prices for everything was really fair. Like actually too fair. For example, if you go to an artist alley in the states and pick up like a full color 11x17 poster or something you'll often see deals like 1 for $15 or 3 for $40 (it's been a few months I can't remember exactly but something like that). At Comic1, vendors are distributing literally full color books for ¥500!! That's like 5x less than a single print in the US!! And sure, the memoria book is only like 10 pages but still! There were a few circles with more expensive invidual books but I think the majority I got were either ¥500 or ¥1,000 each. (For reference the top item in the picutre above was ¥1,800 I believe)
There were some vendors also selling keychains, small acrylics, etc., but the main focus appeared to be on doujinshi itself for the majority of the circles and the customers. For some circles, the event was also where they premiered new products. For example, the book by melodia that I purchased "memoria19", is now open for pre-order on Melonbooks (a doujin specialty shop operating both online and physical locations). However, I think not all doujin artists are in it for the money, and not all will sell more copies online. The Comiket Wikipedia article kind of talks about this a bit (albeit for a different event).
One that I was interested in but didn't work the courage to go up to, had a giant Miku with him. The book he was distributing looked wordy, more like an essay than a comic so I think it would have been a bit hard for me to understand, but he did look passionate! Looking it up afterwards, the guy at the booth seems like he's pretty famous, since he specifically even has an English Wikipedia page about him becuase he had symbolically married Hatsune Miku in 2018. He was distributing "How to Have a Wedding with a 2D Character, 9th Edition.", which I didn't know at the time but I would have totally picked up if I could actually read Japanese properly.
He sold out before I left, but I didn't see him leave. I wonder if he uses a wheelchair to take Miku around? Anyway, seems like a cool guy to me. I think its always cool to share what you're passionate about like that, especially since in his case it seems like Miku actually helped him out in a rough spot.
Finally, there was one circle who wasn't present at their booth that was distributing Girls Band Cry stuff so I wanted to take a look. I thought the sign said they would be back in 10 minutes but it must have said something else because I think I walked around another 20 minutes and they never came back lol
By the time I left it was approaching 1 PM (technically only halfway through the event) and the crowd size had already dwindled a lot and decent number of cirlces had already left for the day, as shown in the COMIC1 tweet below
If I'd come at this time of day, I could have saved ¥700 on buying the entry catalog, but who knows if I would have been able to get the stuff I had gotten in that case.
Overall, I really liked the COMIC1☆27 event and would recommend attending a COMIC1 event in general if you aren't afraid of seeing NSFW things. The circles were all very kind and let me look through sample books before purchasing and language itself wasn't really an issue either. Fun experience! Now I just need to attend Comiket one day, but that's an entirely different beast. If you do go to an event like this, make sure to bring cash because it's the only thing accepted (IDK about corporate booths at big events)
Quick note before moving on. Just some quick context, but you might have noticed that I'd been saying "distributing" for the most part instead of "selling" throughout this post. The reason is just because I think that is the general nomenclature. The wiki mentions there is a preference for this, but doesn't go into more details or explain why. My guess is because "selling" implies the circles are aiming to make a profit, which could be troublesome for those who are making parody content? This COMITIA FAQ post also talks about another reason where "distribution" encompasses when items are given without exchange of money (COMITIA is another doujinshi convention/organizer).
After I was all done, I walked around Big Sight for a bit longer before out. This is what it looks like if you stand right under the inverted pyramid thing and look upward
I wasn't perfectly centered but close enough?
Since I was near Odaiba, I headed over to look around for a bit. I stoped by the Diver City building and saw that they were having a Sweet Potato Fest with a bunch of sweet potato desserts. I got a sweet potato and ice cream cup but the vendor triggered one of my biggest personal pet peeves: touching literally everything with gloves on and then touching food too. He was handling my money, and then a dish rag and grabbing cups and directly touching the sweet potato, etc. So annoying. But I feel like it's gotta be like 80% of all food truck vendors I've ever eaten at have done this. I know kitchens aren't always the cleanliest but at least the cooks in the back generally aren't directly handling money from hundreds of customers. #RantOver
I was having a good day so I didn't let something like that get me down (but I didn't eat the part of the potato I saw him touch LOL). But then it seemed like the world was conspiring against me. I went to use my foldable phone's inner screen and there was a crack right done the middle on the crease. It was toast. I never even dropped it or anything, I wonder if it's a residual effect of when I cracked it the other day? Either way, I'm out of warranty, don't have insurance, and a repair is estimated at like $700, so I'm just gonna buy the latest model and get insurance this time. I'll have to wait til I'm back in the States for that though. Luckily my phone's regular screen still works. But I have to use it like a regular phone??? UGH lol
This put me in a bit of a pouty mood, so I only briefly checked out the other stores in the area before heading to Akihabara for my only place of comfort in this dark, sullen world.
Of course, I'm talking about Sushiro
