PTD@Comiket 72

“It’s about 8:50AM at Tokyo Big Sight, we’re currently approaching the East Hall. We’ve passed something on the order of 50,000 people waiting in line for the West Hall. This event is big on the scale that you’d think of God’s testicles as huge, and it doesn’t even open for another hour.” (Notes from my voice recorder)

They came from everywhere. Authors and artists, cosplayers and journalists from around the world, all converged on Tokyo Big Sight in scenic Odaiba, for Comic Market, also known as Comiket. The event is a twice-yearly celebration of anime and videogame fan culture in Japan, the largest such event in the world.

This year’s Summer Comiket called tens of thousands of attendees (Friday’s crowd alone was 170,000) to take the early train, all wanting to be the first to purchase comics, CDs, and all manner of goods from the roughly 10,000 sellers. The sellers here are doujin circles, groups of friends with similar interests/hobbies who are selected to receive booth space. Admission is free, but in order to successfully navigate the 22 acres of exhibition space fans must purchase the Comic Market Catalog, a phone-book-sized volume that lists every circle along with a description of items they’re selling and maps of the venue. A CD-Rom version is also available and features a fully-searchable database and the ability to make custom color-coded checklists and maps.

True to its name, most of Comiket is dedicated to comics. East Hall 6 and West Halls 1/2 focused mostly on doujinshi, fan-produced comics, often based on existing video game titles (think fanfiction but illustrated). A shocking majority of the booths in East 6 were dedicated to works based on Sengoku Basara (released in the US as Devil Kings), but attendees who looked hard enough could find doujinshi based on more popular games in the US such as Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, and even Tomb Raider. The West Halls, a 20-minute trek away, were dedicated to works based on RPGs and fighting games with a special section reserved for all things Square-Enix.

Don’t be mistaken, comics aren’t all you can buy at Comiket! There is also an incredibly strong gaming component. The Doujin Software section had rows of booths displaying every game genre. Casual platformers shared space with puzzle games from MOUNT☆PUNCH based on popular anime such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Es, an action shooter from 9thNight, reminded me very much of the Armored Core series. Parody games, such as a title combining the popular visual novel Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai with Phoenix Wright, were presented in every possible way, from slickly-produced packaging to hand-labeled CD-R discs. Even the most obscure of interests can find its place at Comiket. Early in the day we stumbled across a table staffed by two friendly guys in red Atari shirts, promoting their Jaguar fanzine. Yes, the much-maligned Atari Jaguar has a fan club in Japan.

These games are not published by companies, but rather by the creators themselves, all of whom do it for the love of their fandom or their craft. I spoke to Ryo a programmer for Secret Organization Mild Flag , a newly-formed circle currently developing a simulation RPG. He proudly states, “if you think about the commercialization of ‘otaku culture’, it basically boils down to this: people start as amateurs and do what they wanted, and there’s a fanbase that will support that kind of activity as opposed to just walking by it. I think that these people, if they can prove and hone and carve their skills into their pieces of work, they’ll gain the skills and the self esteem to go out and be commercial in the future. From my point of view, this is a really good first step. It’s also a good place for professionals to come back and kind of do whatever they want.” Evidence of this was abundant. Several famous manga-ka were selling their works that day, and many famous manga writers (such as the girl-group CLAMP) have risen to popularity through Comiket. TYPE MOON became famous with their popular novel game Tsukihime, then transitioned into a commercial organization in 2003 before releasing the mega-hit Fate/stay night. The company’s popularity was evident on Friday, as the line to enter its booth zigzagged for well over a kilometer.

Some circles stay true to their roots despite their success. Game designer ZUN is the lone member of Team Shanghai Alice. He is the designer, coder, and composer for the Touhou Project, a shoot-em-up series known internationally for its focus on characters, bullet patterns, and music which is surprising in a one-man production. I got to chat with Shacho and ARM of IOSYS, a popular music doujin circle that released a remix/arrangement CD of ZUN’s original Touhou Project tracks. Their CD sold out just as quickly that day as the new Touhou game itself did. Over 200 booths were selling doujinshi inspired by the Touhou Project and other doujin games, a clear indication of the loyal fan base that such games have.

Jirurun of shoot-em-up game circle SITER SKAIN demonstrated their latest product ALLTYNEX 2nd, to an appreciative audience, maneuvering his 2d fighter ship through intricate patterns of bullets. He and his partner, both with over a dozen years of programming experience, built the game from the top down. “Players [of STGs] want to move around a 2-dimensional surface… they find the simplicity of figuring out the rules to be a great advantage. In that sense, that kind of person will always be there, so I think [STGs] won’t completely vanish,” Jirurun commented in response to the looming “threat” of 3D gaming’s popularity. “However, as the number of games in the area increases, unless you make clear discriminations, they will all turn into the same game, so we’re in a kind of interlude period where everyone’s breaking their heads trying to come up with something new, and I think that’s where the advances are going to come from.”

Music circle groups offered a plethora of arrangement and remix CDs based on anime and videogame themes. While the majority sided towards electronica, rock, metal, and even hip-hop fans could find satisfaction. My personal favorite find of the day was ALiCE’S EMOTION and HARDCORE TANO*C. Their main performer, who goes by either REDALiCE or TANO*C, began making music four years ago, combining his love for club music with his interest in videogames to create songs that will get even the most stationary of otaku on the dancefloor. TANO*C releases hardcore techno and gabbercore for the masses, while REDALiCE focuses on arrangements based on anime and videogame soundtracks.

On the rooftop, photographers snapped dramatically dressed cosplayers posing in the sun. Most were current otaku darlings Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky☆Star. A full group were cosplaying as characters from the rhythm game Pop’n Music sharing stage with a fantastic foursome from the recently-released Square-Enix RPG Subarashiki Kono Sekai [editor's note: check out our preview of SKS later in this issue!]. Pokemon trainers, Ragnarok Online characters, and even Mario and Link could be seen posing for the admiring fans and photogs.

While an event as large as Comiket is certainly impressive in its own right, even more stunning is that applications were being sold left and right to participate in Comiket 73, four months away. Until then, the attendees of Comiket 72, judging from the size of their stuffed bags, will all have plenty to distract themselves with.

For Americans with interest in doujin soft, SimulationStyle.com hosts a community dedicated to doujin games, as well as an archive of games, music, and workarounds toward playing these games on non-Japanese copies of Windows XP. If you visit Tokyo, several shops in the Electric Town district of Akihabara sell doujin soft and usually stock new material in the days following Comiket. Although westerners may not be able to understand character dialogue or plot details without some Japanese knowledge, events like Comiket prove that a gamer’s love for his hobby is truly an international phenomenon.