Spam From Japan: Winter Comiket 2009

Tokyo Big Sight by Jasohill

I bought only one doujinshi at Comiket (also known as Comic Market, Comike, etc…) this year, which is in sharp contrast to when I first visited Japan when I couldn’t pull them off the shelves fast enough. In fact, the very first time I went into a store, I didn’t notice the big laminated sign on the front that said ’sample’ and rushed the comic to the check-out. The person at the register had to read out the doujinshi’s pornographic title over the intercom so a member of staff could bring me a proper copy from the rack.

 

The five stages of doujinshi fandom.

What you buy:
(1) All doujinshi featuring your favourite series.
(2) All doujinshi with your favourite characters from your favourite series.
(3) A few nice-looking doujinshi where your two favourite characters make out.
(4) A few nice-looking R-18 doujinshi where your two (or more) favourite characters are going at it.
(5) The one with the alternate universe where they’re all dinosaurs or something

 

Comiket is an event dedicated to doujinshi (fan-made comics) and is held twice a year, in summer and winter. My advice is pretty much the same no matter which one you’re attending.

 

  • Eat a good breakfast and accept you’re probably not going to stop for lunch.
  • If there’s something you really want to buy, go as early as you can and expect queues of more than an hour to get in. By mid-day you can pretty much just walk in. I like to go around 10.45am, when there’s a queue, but not much of one and it’s still early.
  • Entry is free and you don’t need to buy a catalogue. If you don’t have anything specific in mind, walk around until you see something you like. If there’s a particular circle or group you want to buy from, consult their webpage and then one of the maps pinned to the wall.
  • Pay attention to the halls that you’ve visited and which halls are joined together.
  • Make sure you don’t miss the official booth room, where anime/game companies will give you free stuff like over-sized bags, flyers and clear files.
  • If you want to buy something, check the surrounding area to make sure that a queue hasn’t formed elsewhere. It’s really easy to jump queues by accident and annoy people.
  • Do not take photos outside of the cosplay area.
  • In the cosplay area, you can take a picture if the cosplayer is posing and has lots of people taking photographs surrounding him or her. Any other time, ask permission.
  • If you want to cosplay, it’s forbidden to arrive or leave while in costume. You’ll have to pay 800 yen, which will get you a cosplay pass. More detailed information below.
  • Winter Comiket: Bring a coat that’s warm, but light enough to carry once inside.
  • Summer Comiket: Bring water. When I went last year, all the bottled water was sold out and I ended up queuing for half an hour only to have to buy Pepsi Nex, the only thing that was left.

     

    I’ve cosplayed once at Comiket and, knowing the basics already (i.e. you have to pay and you can’t arrive or leave in costume), it was pretty easy. I used to laugh at them, but I now recommend those mini-suitcases on wheels, particularly if you’re wearing an uncomfortable costume.

    First off, go to the changing rooms. The place that used to be the cosplay area is now being used to contain the queues that result from the official booth room. The cosplay area is in a small garden area, which is better for photos. The changing rooms are close by.

    Line up, pay your money (800 yen) and you’ll receive a small pamphlet. It looks like it’s just useless information, but it’s a record of your payment and gives you permission to cosplay. You’ll be asked to show it on your way out of the changing room and when you enter the cosplay area. Don’t lose it.

    I don’t know what I was expecting from the changing room, but it was chaos. It was just a big room with barriers marking a loose path. Everywhere you looked, there were people changing and there wasn’t much space left. There’s also a big sign that said in English, “Do not use color spray or moose.”

    Japanese cosplay seems different from Western cosplay in that there’s a bias towards brand new shows and characters. There are a few cosplayers doing characters from classic anime (Evangelion, older Gundam series), but mostly are cosplaying characters from shows recently aired. Having said that, I saw two people cosplaying Ronald McDonald this year, so if you want to dress up as Sanzou from Saiyuuki, go for it. One more thing — if you are female, pretty and wearing a maid outfit or something similarly girly, be prepared for a lot of excessive attention once in the cosplay area. Some of those photographers creep me out and I’m not even their target!

     

    Which day? (Summer 2010 (Comiket 78))

    Each day of Comiket has a certain general theme and only doujinshi that fall under certain genres will be sold on that day.

    First, search for the magazine your favourite series appeared in (you do know it, right?) and then double-check to see if there’s a specific listing for the creator or series. For example, Inu Yasha was serialised in Weekly Shonen Sunday, and Takahashi Rumiko has her own listing. So, if you wanted to buy Inu Yasha doujinshi, you’d go on day two. (Note: Information is correct as of writing for Summer Comiket 2010 only. All data taken from Comiket Official Site.)

     

    Day 1 (“Anime and Yaoi Day”)

    General: Seiyuu, anime songs, anime and game-based news, overseas anime, magical girl anime, original BL games, one-girl-many-boys dating sims, Neoromance, American comics, and anime for young children. Games covering the genres of action, simulation, adventure, puzzle, sound novels, arcade games and pachinko. Also includes board games, tabletop RPGs, card games, collectible card games, play-by-mail RPGs, play-by-web games and online gaming. This is the day for sports, martial arts, gambling, RPS, pop idols (w-inds, WaT), Takarazuka, Tenimyu and other stage productions and musicals.

    Specific series: .hack (including games), Akatsuki Denkou Senki, Arcana Heart, Atelier, Bikkuriman, Biohazard, Black Matrix, Circadia, Code Geass, Dead or Alive, Devil May Cry, Digi Charat, Digimon, Dragon Quest, Evangelion, Final Fantasy Online, Final Fantasy series, Fire Emblem, Front Mission, Gakuen Heaven, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Gensou Suikoden, Grow Lanser, Guilty Gear, Gundam, Gunparade March, Gyakuten Saiban, Gurren Lagann, Heart no Kuni no Alice, Hetalia, Inazuma Eleven, King of Fighters, Kuuron Youma Gakuenki, Lamento, Langrisser, Lord of Vermillion, Lucky Dog, Majin Gakuen, Megami Tensei, Monster Hunter, Musou OROCHI, Nintama Rantarou, Ogre Battle, Ore no Shikabane wo Koete yuke, Persona, Quiz Magic Academy, Phantasy Star Online, Pokemon, Pop’n Music, Ragnarok Online, SaGa, Saihai no Yukue, Sakura Taisen, Samuraidamashi, Sangokushi Taisen, Seiken Densetsu, Sengoku BASARA, Sengoku Musou, Senjou no Valkyria, Senkou no Ronde, Shining Force, Shinra Banshou, Shin Sangoku Musou, Smash Brothers, Spectral Force, Street Fighter, Summer Wars, Summon Night, Super Robot Wars, Tales of Phantasia (etc), Tekken, Terra e…, Togainu no Chi, Tokimeki GS, Valkyrie Profile, Virtua Fighter, Virtual-On, With Her, Xenogears, Xenosaga, Yuukyuu and Zelda.

    Specific studios: Gainax and Sunrise.

    Game developers: Atlas, Nippon Ichi Software and Square Enix.

     

    Day 2 (“Manga and Yaoi Day”)

    General and Miscellaneous: Home recordings and movies, cosplay goods, music CDs, Vocaloid, drama CDs, internet, blogs, mascots, desktop mascot software, 2ch, Futaba, Niconico Douga, Sound Horizon, Mukashinagara no Seinyuu Shitate, doujin games, independent software developers, retro games, works based on doujin games and commentary and news. If something doesn’t fit into a recognisable genre listed here, it’s probably on this day.

    Specific series: Death Note, D.Grey-man, Eyeshield 21, Fullmetal Alchemist, Ghost In The Shell, Gintama, Hikaru no Go, Houkago Play, Higurashi no Naku Goro ni, Initial D, Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn!, Koukoku no Shugosha, Kuroko no Basket, Kuroshitsuji, Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Mr. Fullswing, Natsume Yuujinchou, Naruto, One Piece, Ookiku Furikabutte, Rozen Maiden, Slayers, Suzumiya Haruhi series, Tennis no Oujisama, Toriko, Umineko no Naku Goro ni and Yu-Gi-Oh

    Specific magazines: Afternoon, Bonbon, Birz, Business Jump, Champion RED, Comic Blade, Comic Gum, Comic Punch, Comic REX, Comic Rush, Comic ZeroSum, Corocoro, Dengeki Daioh, Dragon Age, Evening, Gao!, Jump Square, Morning, Shonen Ace, Shonen Champion, Shonen Magazine, Shonen Rival, Shonen Sunday, Shonen Sirius, Super Jump, Ultra Jump, V Jump, Weekly Jump, Young Animal, Young Gangan, Young Jump, Young King, Young Magazine and Young Sunday,

    Specific creators: Amano Kozue, Araki Hirohiko, Azuma Kiyohiko, CLAMP, Fujisaki Ryuu, Fukumoto Nobuyuki, Higuchi Daisuke, Ishinomori Shoutarou, Kawaguchi Kaiji, Kubo Tite, Kurumada Masami, Nakamura Hikaru, Minekura Kazuya, Yasuhiro Nightow, Shibata Ami, Takahashi Youichi, Takei Hiroyuki, Tezuka Osamu, Touhou Project, Togashi Yoshihiro, Yude-Tamago and Takahashi Rumiko.

    (Note: I’ve romanised all names in accordance with the kana with the exception of ones with well-known Anglicised variants.)

     

    Day 3 (“Hentai Day”)

    General: Original works for boys, original works for girls, original june (BL/yaoi) works, manga clubs, original literature and poetry, commentary and news, original works ‘for men’, anime ‘for men’, games ‘for men’, R-18 hentai games, strip mahjong games, love sims, daughter-rearing sims and historical works on topics such as the Three Kingdoms Era or kabuki. You can find reading material for a wide range of ‘otaku’ hobbies on this day — garage kits, trains, bikes, buses, anime figures, dolls, accessories and cameras.

    Game developers: Alice Soft, AQUAPLUS, August, age, Circus, Leaf & Key, Nitro Plus, PULLTOP, TYPE-MOON, UNiSONSHIFT and Windmill.

    Specific creators: Nasu Kinoko

    Games titles: AIR, Akai Ito, Amagami, Aoi Shiro, Baby Princess, CLANNAD, Comic Party, Dousei, DREAM C CLUB, Fate/Stay Night series, THE iDOLM@STER, Kanon, Koihime Musou, Little Busters, Love Plus, Lyrical Nanoha, Melty Blood, Miracle*Train, MOON, ONE, Sister Princess, Tokimeki Memorial, Triangle Heart, Tsukihime, Utawareru Mono and White Album.

     

    The photo was taken by Jasohill, who made it available via Creative Commons.

     

    • December 31st, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

    Spam From Japan: Tokyo Game Show 2009

    Bayonetta

    Makuhari Messe convention centre was dark, with all lighting coming from booths and large TV screens. I did what anyone would do when faced with massive crowds and sensory overload — I grabbed a program and played the first game with a clearly signposted queue.

    My first game was Dynasty Warriors Multi Raid Special (真・三國無双 MULTI RAID Special / Shin Sangoku Musou MULTI RAID Special) for the XBox 360 (also available on PS3). It was fun jumping and smashing things in ancient China, although I felt as if I was just button-mashing a lot of the time, especially when different body parts of my character would glow for no reason. I also made the mistake of trying to kill all warriors in each area before moving on. When I got to the boss, a magic missile-tossing magician, I had very little time left to kill him and he seemed invincible to my previous buttonmash combo. Having played it though, I got a little something for my mobile phone.

    Kaihin-Makuhari train station had been covered with advertising for Resonance of Fate (End of Eternity in Japan) and I immediately wanted to play it once I saw the trailer. It looks quite Final Fantasy-ish in presentation, design and character archetypes. However, one of the unique selling points is that you can change the characters’ costumes and see it reflected in their cut-scenes. Also, unlike Final Fantasy, there doesn’t seem to be just one ‘hero’ character to represent the player. You control all three characters equally and when one dies, the game is over.

    Armor

    While the queue for the PS3 version was so long they had stopped admitting people, the line for the Xbox 360 version was relatively shorter. The hour-long wait didn’t faze me, although it did use up most of the battery in my phone as I kept posting to Twitter.

    I played a special version of the game intended just for TGS 2009. First, I sat through the tutorial, which consisted of defining scratching damage and direct damage and what weapons you can use to inflict them. Maybe I should’ve waited a bit longer, since I never really got a clear understanding of gameplay from it. I skipped it after about eight minutes (everyone does this, right?) and ended up in a room with a monster hitting the three main characters, without any idea how to hit back. Eventually, one of the booth staff came to help. Press X, then X again, select your path and then buttonmash the hell out of it. I don’t know if he told me the only strategy or if he told me the one that would get someone as clueless as me through the game. If that was all there was to it, I don’t get it. The result looked really cool, but I don’t know how much skill really factored into it. On the other hand, one of my characters (Reanbell) died fairly quickly and so ended the game. This really is something I’d have to play more to tell if it’s good or not.

    While I was waiting, I watched the trailers for Bayonetta and the people playing it. It seems very similar, if not identical, to the Devil May Cry series in terms of gameplay. I really loved the main character’s tough attitude and I think response to this game will depend on how gamers feel about her. One of the scenes I saw was her fighting angelic monsters on a Big Ben-like clock whizzing through space. Very cool. Another one was her fighting a giant whilst standing on the same bridge he was holding in his hand.

    I stopped at the Playstation 3 booth to watch some game trailers. Nier Replicant had a short trailer, but the cutely horrific monster designs intrigued me. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow looked like an amazing blend of Japanese gaming action and character design combined with epic European set designs and camerawork. It had Patrick Stewart narrating too, as well as voice-acting from Robert Carlyle.

    Final Fantasy VIII

    Of course, I have to talk about the Final Fantasy trailers. Final Fantasy VIII will blow you away with individually animated hair strands. The first scene from the trailer, where two main characters are watching fireworks, was a richly imagined world but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from their hair. Oh, and the skin. You can almost see the pores. Um, but that’s the most detailed scene and others haven’t got the same level of animation. I imagine that one also comes with a hit pop song as the fireworks explode around them.

    The Last Guardian (人喰いの大鷲トリコ / Hitokui no Oowashi Toriko) intrigued me but ultimately had some problems. The basic story is that of the adventures of a boy and his giant chimera-like eagle named Trico. The trailer I saw starts with a feather floating down. A tiny crow lands next to it and you see how big the feather really is… A monstrous bird lands and chases after a young boy, who almost goes over the edge of a cliff, until he befriends it. Trico looks adorable, not to mention incredibly realistic. The backgrounds too, have amazing levels of detail and shading and I saw a five minute behind-the-scenes preview that emphasises this. You can even see the dust rising up when shards of sunlight hit them. Why, then, does the boy look like he’s on loan from a completely different game? Flat and cartoonish compared to all other aspects of the world they created. The more I watched, the less I could unsee it.

    I left when they started playing an extended Playstation “Game Face” commercial. Don’t get me wrong, I’m under no illusion that game trailers aren’t commercials too. But they are exciting and interesting to me in a way that footage of people playing the PS3 isn’t. Awesome games with good advertising should be their own adverts for your gaming system. All we need is a quick reminder of which one it is.

    Giant Gundam head

    With not much time left, I opted to play one last game. I chose a less popular one, with a shorter queue and a free gift for having played it. That game was Ghost Trick for the Nintendo DS.

    First of all, I’m a slower reader compared to most people in attendance. If I have a time limit, I can only do so much. After a while, I realised that the compulsory in-game tutorial wasn’t getting me anywhere and I really should just click through to get to the game itself. The story goes that the main character is dead. However, he can possess and jump through objects to activate them. As an example, there is a bad guy pointing a gun at a woman. Your character lies slumped (he IS dead) in front of a bicycle, but his soul can only travel so far (about one centimetre on the screen). Using the stylus, you guide his soul to the pedals and then to the bell. With a tap, you activate the item. The bell goes off, the bad guy is frightened by the sound and he doesn’t shoot the woman. Ghost Trick has a new take on gameplay, but I need to play more challenging problems before I’ll give a stronger opinion on it. I liked it as far as it went.

    One more photograph before I go, which might be considered “not safe for work”: Booth cosplayer. This unusual (but official) costume caught my attention for its weirdness. Click on any other of the photographs to see them in a bigger size on their own Flickr page.

    Thank you for reading my review of the Tokyo Game Show. If you want to read more articles like this, click on any of the tags below or to your right.

    September 27th, 2009 | Tags: , , , | No Comments »

    Amusement Machine Show 2009

    I recently had an article published on the newly revamped Blogcritics: The Amusement Machine Show Experience. There, read my short review of Tetris Dekaris and my ongoing concern about the existence of Unko-san.

    Consider this your reminder that the first public day of the Tokyo Game Show (東京ゲームショウ) is on Saturday (26th September). Hope to see you there.

    September 25th, 2009 | Tags: , , , | No Comments »