Okaayyy, I just HAD to go on the highest attended Comiket day in history.

This is every doujin fan’s dream, to be able to attend Comiket. And this is my 2nd time even. It’s great to be me :)

For those in the dark, Comiket is an event where independent (indirectly translated to doujin) artists and developers open their very own booth and sell their stuff. That’s right, apart from the relatively small top-most space, everything else in there are non-commercial products.

It’s an exciting world really. To see the Japanese create stuff out of passion, print DVD covers, bind comics and create hand-crafted accessories, on top of it sell their stuff over a booth is what I’ve been longing to see in the Malaysian creative culture for a long, long while.

Moreover, doujin culture is widely celebrated here. Heck, it might be in a big hall like the Tokyo Big Sight, but it still gets super crowded. To note, on this hot summer Friday, more than 180,000 people attended. A record in the history of Comiket. History ain’t looking bad either, for the past few years they have always breached the 500,000-attendee mark over 3 days. All this just to buy independently-created products? Now that’s cool.

When you see a train station far from Akihabara decorated with anime buntings, you know it’s Comiket day.

The line started faaaaaaarrrr away from the building itself. The artists were not the only ones who had a lot a passion.

Hmmm, if I remember clearly there was a staircase here.

To think that I’ve gone past this much of a crowd, what an achievement!

This building has become the very symbol of the successes of doujin culture.

And its name is Tokyo Big Sight. These ladies here are dragging empty bags and it’s gonna be filled with doujin mangas very soon.

It ain’t over yet! It’s still a long ways to the main hall.

People on the floor. People on the stairs. People on the escalators. People here there everywhere!

Looks like my energy fuel is almost finished. I’m done for!

At least I was accompanied by some lovely vocaloids.

Phew, finally reached the main hall! The lady looks tired and lost herself. Not surprising coz it’s sure hard to find one of the 35,000 independent artist booths in this crowded place!

You create fan-parodies in Japan, companies feel honored. Do it anywhere else and you’ll get your ass sued. I think companies should drop the whole lawsuit thing to expand their fanbase.

Danger danger tueeetttt tueeetttt!

Some of the booths were super popular till the lines for them poured out of the halls!

The booth catalog for the event is super thick. One needs to rest a bit and get his bearing for the next catch.

It’s not only limited to comics and games. Doujin creators also sell lovely hand-crafted fan items that could be easily mistaken for the real merchandise.

This is the resting area. From what I saw and heard here, this is where you exchange goods with your friends. It could prove too troublesome to get everything by yourself, so friends are delegated duties to buy certain stuff in bulk to cover all the halls.

Bought too much stuff? Too heavy to carry on your way back? No worries, pay a little more to have them delivered right to your home!

Time to enter the cosplay (short for costume play) area! Love this one, it’s from Tentai Senshi Sunred, a stupid story about heroes and villains trying to lead normal adult lives. Mind if I show you the awesome intro again? Of coz you wouldn’t.

RUN, it’s the Yotsuba monster!

He had to peek through his shirt to navigate around lol.

Ooh, this is not what you see everyday. Cosplay from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, an anime satire of the Japanese society.

And this is what you see everyday, Asuka and Rei. Even so… school swimsuits, nom nom nom.

Wow this girl makes a good Naruto, don’t you think?

Don’t be afraid, hero. Have courage and go for it!

Well well if it isn’t Shanks from One Piece. Nice!

The whole cast of Code Geass, though the only who looks right in there is Zero :P

One of my faves, Alicia from Valkyria Chronicles! I said this and I’m gonna say this again: Lydia, you should totally do this cosplay!

Wooo classic. I think even non-anime fans know what series this is from.

The Gurren-Lagann duo! Damn, still haven’t watched the 2nd movie in the cinema yet :(

Why stop at anime and games? Even dairy products can be cosplayed!

The cosplay area from the top. Self-titled, “The Colours of Cosplay”!

The new Umineko no Naku Koro ni game sequel was out that day too, line was SUPER long. I salute 07th Expansion for their endless psychotic passion.

And that ends my Comiket Summer. Truth be told, I was feeling very tired even before the event due to game work the previous night, so I ended up only going there on Friday. That was enough for me. I can get the rest at Akihabara in the following months anyways.

Time to head home and get outta the crowd.

…and into another crowd in the train station! God, when will this end?!

Oi budak, apa tengok-tengok? :P

Rats! Forgot to get myself a Yunocchi bag :(

See you again in Comiket 77 this coming 29th-31st December! Meanwhile, it’s time to go to Akiba, gotta make up for lost time!