When our Fearless Leader asked me to go with her to Comiket, I jumped at the chance. After all, what fangirl doesn't want to worship at the mecca of doujinshi?
Well, me.
Don't get me wrong. Comiket was an experience I don't regret having, and I got some good stuff, though not cheaply, and some cute things that I wouldn't have been able to get outside Comiket. But the truth must be known.
First of all, if you're over about the height of five-feet-two-inches, I wouldn't recommend it, because those Japanese fangirls have some sharp elbows on them, and if your elbows aren't at the same height, to defend yourself, you're going to be limping home. ^_-
I'm short, so I survived this, though my elbows and upper arms were bruised.
Comiket takes place at Tokyo's Big Sight (and yes, that's how it's spelled, go figure. It's a hideous Sight by my aesthetics, very art-deco and weird, but that's beside the point). The event takes up pretty much all the halls of Big Sight, which means you better not wear the pretty shoes; wear the comfortable ones. The ones that you can really walk in, that you don't mind getting stepped on, or rolled over with other people's hand carts.
I'm so glad I wear Doc Marten's.
The Comiket Guide is a small phone book, listing all the circles pretty much by series, and where they're located within the halls. The 'big name' circles get the doorways and the walls, where they have lots and lots of space to set up; the middle ones get the ends of the rows, and everyone else is stuck in the middle of the halls.
The crowds are incredible. Lineups for the 'big' names twine around the hall, and stretch well into the outdoors. Fans camp out the night before, and by morning the number of people waiting is mind-boggling. In December, we left about three hours after Comiket opened, and the lineup for people to get in was probably still most of a kilometre long, and about eight or ten people deep. The crowds inside are worse, because there's no space between you and them, and if you want to get anywhere, you have to make space. You know how they say an adult rat can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter? Humans can't do that.
At ten o'clock, the bell rings and you can start to buy. And you have to do it quickly for the most part, especially if you want to get any big-name artists' stuff, because they're going to be surrounded by fans. Choose the circle you want most and get there early, because if they don't sell out, the chances are they've brought more old stuff than new, and the new stuff will be gone in minutes.
The pushing is the worst, I think; the Japanese abandon their legendary manners at Comiket, and it's everyone for herself. I don't exaggerate -- they will shove you out of the way with a ferocity I rarely see outside a football scrimmage, and they do not apologise or excuse themselves.
The artists... the artists are the best part of Comiket. They're friendly, they're generous, but they're busy as anything. They love to talk to their fans, when they've got five minutes (which a lot of them don't!). The big names, of course, frequently send staffers in their places, but the smaller artists are cheerfully working their own tables, often working on doujinshi or sketches for fans.
The doujinshi are of course the reason to go to Comiket. And it's marvellous to go through the tables of the latest series, especially if you have time to flip through them first. At some tables you have that leisure; at others, you don't. Some of the big circles with huge lineups send 'catalogues' down their lineups, so you pick what you want ahead of time, sight unseen, and choose it when you get to the table, and hope it's good when you get it home. Provided it's there when you get to the table, of course!
Overall, it's sort of like going to a really huge, super-crowded amusement park, riding a couple of rides, getting hot and tired and sweaty and then going home with the stuff you won at the arcade games and trying to figure out where your money went. You wait in line and hope that what's at the end of it is really worth the wait. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.
Personally, I enjoyed hanging out with friends that weekend, and am looking forward to Summer Comiket for just that reason. But I'm lucky to be living in Japan, so I can head out to Tokyo and hit Mandarake and K-Books and browse doujinshi at my leisure. Because I've got a better chance of getting what I want at a shop, and no one's going to run over my toes with a hand cart.
Still, I'm glad I wear Doc Marten's.
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