The Ultimate Guide to Comiket – ZenMarket.jp

What is Comiket?

Comiket, also known as Comic Market, is a Japanese annual comic convention held at Tokyo Big Sight. With over 750,000 attendees (as of 2019), Comiket is the world’s biggest comic convention.

As its name suggests, Comic Market is primarily an event meant for Japanese manga or comic books. However, unlike other large comic book conventions, Comiket’s main appeal is to independent artists.

Comiket allows both professional and amateur artists to sell independent/self-published works known as Doujinshi. Given how many attendees Comiket has each year, Comiket allows Doujinshi and manga authors to reach a wide audience.

(Watch a short video of the most fascinating queue sped up during Comiket81!)

Unlike many popular international conventions, such as San Diego Comic-Con, E3, or Tokyo Game Show, Comiket isn’t run by a large company. Instead, Comiket is organized by a non-profit organization known as the Comic Market Preparatory Committee (ComiketPC). In other words, Comiket is run by fellow anime and manga fans.

Aside from being the biggest comic convention in the world, Comiket is also one of Japan’s longest-running conventions. Comiket was founded in 1975 by Yoshihiro Yonezawa, Teruo Harada, and Jun Aniwa, three Meiji University students who founded the Dōjin circle Meikyu.

(Watch a very interesting coverage of Comiket back in 1985 below. )

For context, Dōjin circles are groups that create fan-made works, such as manga, music, or video games, and during the 1970s, they became extremely popular.

The rise of Doujin circles in the 1970s is due to the immense popularity of sci-fi movies and works in Japan at the time. As a result, many fans wanted to publish theories, interpretations, and fan creations based on popular movies, anime, and manga.

With the demand for an avenue for self-published works, the three founders of Meikyu decided to create a large-scale event exclusively for the distribution of Doujinshi. The result became Comiket, which has endured and remained relevant for the next 50 years.

(Picture above; My dress up darling (Sono Bisuku Dōru wa Koi o Suru) showcases a life of a cosplayer)

Today, Comiket isn’t only an event for selling original art and Doujinshi. Comiket has also become a safe space where thousands of Otaku can gather, cosplay, and enjoy each other’s company.

Comiket has also welcomed corporate booths for video game studios, manga publishers, celebrities, etc. In Recent versions of Comiket, popular manga, anime, and video games, such as Bocchi za Rock!, Demon Slayer aka Kimetsu no Yaeba, Azur Lane, Mobile Suit Gundam, and many more, have appeared.

What is ‘Doujinshi’?

Before we dive deeper into Comiket, let us first learn what Doujinshi is. Doujinshi are self-published/independently published print works, such as manga, magazines, and novels.

They can refer to both original or derivative works of existing intellectual properties. Doujinshi is a subcategory of doujin, which refers to other self-published works, including video games and music.

(Picture above; one of Doujinshi’s stands during a Comiket convention.)

Doujinshi is typically made by amateurs doing it for fun or trying to break into the professional manga industry. However, professional mangaka (manga artists) also write Doujinshi to create alternate works that are different from what they typically release commercially.

 Is Doujinshi Illegal?

Despite the many positive things that Doujinshi has done for the anime/manga industry and its community, it has also presented lots of complications regarding copyrighted material. A large majority of Doujinshi is based on popular copyrighted work. And in most cases, Doujinshi is made without the original author’s consent.

In terms of legality, Doujinshi is considered shinkokuzai under the Japanese Copyright Law. Essentially, Doujinshi authors cannot be prosecuted unless the original author makes a legal complaint.

In addition, in 2016, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that Doujinshi isn’t competing against the original works they are based on. Thus, they do not negatively affect the sales and profits of the original creators.

(Picture above; Don’t Toy with Me Miss Nagatoro was originally a doujinshi work with its first anime released on 2019 and with their second season released this year.)

In most cases, Japanese companies are pretty relaxed when it comes to Doujinshi based on their work. During the 1990s, when manga and anime such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sailor Moon, and Saint Seiya were popular, Doujinshi based on those works also started booming.

Where is Comiket held?

Comiket has gone through different locations throughout the years. Today, Comiket is held at Tokyo Big Site. But in the past, the organizers of Comiket used several venues.

(Picture above; Tokyo Big Site- where Comiket is held every year.)

During Comiket’s infancy, the organizers used several venues not optimized for conventions. However, as Comiket grew in attendance and popularity, Comiket’s organizers moved the event into bigger locations.

In 1996, Comiket officially moved to the Tokyo Big Site, which helped accommodate the event’s rapidly growing attendance. Since then, Tokyo Big Site has become the official home for Comiket ever since.

What can you do at Comiket?

Aside from purchasing goods, Comiket is a great place to experience Japan’s Otaku culture. Comiket is one of the largest events for cosplay. Each year, both amateur and professional cosplayers attend to showcase their high-quality cosplay.

There is also a great variety of cosplay available. Everything from popular Japanese anime and manga to western movie franchises can be seen at the event. Comiket attendees are free to take photos and interact with cosplayers as long as they fall in line or ask for the cosplayer’s permission and consent.

 (Picture above; Enako Japan’s number one cosplayer being photographed by hundreds of people at a Comiket convention.)

Cosplaying has become extremely popular during Comiket and has even earned them their own space in the venue. One thing to note is that cosplayers must pay a fee to acquire a cosplay registration card for the event.

Comiket is also a great place to meet upcoming or even popular mangaka. During Comiket 101’s first day, Bocchi za Rock!’s creator’s booth was unexpectedly greeted by a large number of fans. The lines were so long that her booth had to be relocated into a separate space!

And, of course, Comiket is a great place to hang out and interact with other Otaku. Most attendees are nice and would love to meet new people with the same interests.

Is Comiket free?

Admission to Comiket used to be free. However, starting in Summer Comiket 2019, attendees must pay a certain fee to attend the event. Ticket prices are announced ahead of time through Comiket’s official website.

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