Comic Market 87 (C87) is happening and I’m having the C87 blues. With all my favourite circles announcing all their new doujinshi, I want to go back to Tokyo Big Sight right now! I wanna go back to the battlefield! I wanna fight for my ships, fandom, and doujinshi once more!!
Memories of C86
Last summer, I attended my first Comic Market (C86) as part of my research. I had so much fun despite everyone telling me that I’m an idiot for choosing to attend natsucomi.
See, everyone told me that natsucomi was hell because it was hot and there’s just so many people that it’s hard to move around. The best advice I got was preparation. Take note of all the things you want to check out (from industry booths to doujinshi circles). Plan your routes. Bring small cash. Be prepared to lose a whole load of cash. Be prepared to walk the entire time. Bring water and a fan (although, I got tons of fans in natsucomi).
I had friends who advised me that the best way to beat the crowds is by going after lunch. Hence I did. I went to Day 1 of C86 after lunch and while I didn’t have any doujinshi to buy on day 1, I did spend this time to familiarize myself with the place as well as enjoy the industry booths. The crowd in Comiket after lunch was fairly all right. There was hardly any long line to get out of the station but there was a visibly long line to get back home. If anything, the crowds were manageable, enough to get me from one hall to the other with great ease without having to get into the deluge of things.
It took some time to go around (mostly because I was planning my strategy for Day 2) but I was grateful that I wasn’t in any fandom related to Kadokawa Shoten or some big game company. There were long lines in these booths and since I was a solitary warrior, I had other priorities. Like Bandai’s fashion booth that had yowapeda goods! Or TMS entertainment which also had a fair amount of yowapeda goods.
I also visited some circles in Day 1, particularly for Free!, just to see how popular fandoms fared. By 2 p.m., there was hardly any table left in the event. The only one left was Aoi Levin who gave tons of goodies for a handful of dojinshi. She also had a fairly long line, a three minute wait which was not bad.
Day 1 ended in a high and I went home early to prepare for Day 2 which was a big day for me since that’s the day where I get to see the circles for my fandom and research.
The next day, I arrived in the Tokyo Big Sight Area by 9:30ish. My line was obscenely long, starting as far as the train station before breaking from the crowd and towards my first hall of choice. I lined up for the West Hall, the much smaller hall dedicated to other series which didn’t run in Jump. I prioritized my yowapeda doujin since I don’t know if I’ll manage to buy those in time. I managed to get in Tokyo Big Sight by 11-ish (the lines started moving around 10ish) and got to my circles 20 minutes after. I think it was an all right time to go since I didn’t have to wait long hours to get moving. So I didn’t feel bored or tired of waiting at all.
Thankfully, the circles I wanted to get dojinshi from still had a lot of dojins and didn’t have a long line. I did my round in yowamushi pedal and then in daiya no ace before braving the large East Hall to check jump goods and to stop by est em’s table. Things were batshit crazy in the East Hall. I guess, if you want to get some doujinshi early for some Jump titles, you’d have to come in at 5 a.m. to avoid the crazy lines in this area. I had to take the long roundabout to get there and I saw the insanely long lines for Kuroko no Basuke circles. People in line were holding pegs that said the wait for this so and so circle would take 2 hours! WTH! I was worried that this was the same for est em but once I got to the Original BL area, the lines were not insanely long and I managed to get the things I wanted. Still, 2 hours wait for a Kuroko no Basuke dojinshi!?! Had my love for Kuroko no Basuke
The day still fairly ended well. I’m happy I went early in the morning because when I got back to East Hall to buy again some of the things I missed, many of the circles I bought from were already sold out. And this was at 1 p.m., just a few hours after I got in.
After the event, I had time to go around and enjoy some awesome cosplay and eat some overpriced post-comiket snacks. It was awesome but at the same time quite taxing. It was a surreal experience and I kinda hoped I attended it with someone just so I could oggle about it with someone. After the ultra-packed train ride home, I was dead exhausted. That said, there was one thing clear in my mind: I would do it all over again.
C87 woes
Hence, here I am pining and whining for not being in C87. And I’m probably going to whine every time there’s a Comic Market being held.
Prior to attending Comic Market, I honestly thought it was a bit overrated. It probably is, especially if you’re just going to Comic Market to see what Comic Market is like. However, if you’re a fan of something, it’s an awesome event to go to. You could say hi to your favorite artists, say thanks, talk to fellow fans while you’re in line about the doujinshi and the ship you’re buying (I had a couple of folks who were curious why I was cleaning tables in the TouMaki aisle), and bask in the spirit of the event. I will confess that it is a big event and that there are other smaller events (e.g. Super Comic City and other Akaboo or Studio You fandom events) that also gives this awesome sense of community but being in Comic Market makes you feel how big and important fandoms are to many people.
Right now, Yowamushi Pedal (my current fandom) is still going strong and is probably growing stronger. A lot of my favorite circles whom I met in Comiket and various events are selling new doujinshi which I want to read. The industry booths also have new goods that they didn’t have last summer (Kyofushi goods! Finally!!) and I am so curious what people eat in Fuyucomi. Natsucomi was lined with kakigoori stands but what are they having now? Oden? Shiruko?
How I wish I have a dokodemo door just to be in Fuyucomi. For now, I’m just going to sit here and watch the #c87 tag in twitter. I wanna go to Comiket now!
“I had a couple of folks who were curious why I was cleaning tables in the TouMaki aisle”
ã“ã‚Œã©ã†ã„ã†æ„味？　LOL you were standing in those toumaki aisle and were you bored?? or does this mean you bought ALL the doujinshi there? lol
Greatpost!!! This will help me a lot if I ever try battling there.
WHEN YOU BATTLE THIS, WE MUST GO TOGETHER!! *A*) EVEN IF YOUR DAY IS NOT THE FUJOSHI DAY (or even when I don’t have ships!)
Ah, there was a row where I was lining up from one artist to the other. By the time I passed by the third artist, she was like “OMG! ARE YOU BUYING ALL OF OUR DOUJINSHI?” and I said “Yes!” OTL. Five of my favorite artists were in one row! Every time I came in front after lining up, the next artists would laugh and say thank you and to keep on fighting for the next line. ; w;