Comiket 81: Day 1 Summary

It's that time of year again, where the entire otaku fandom and monarch arrive to participate in the this righteous and holy journey of purification to Tokyo Big Sight for one of the largest and most anticipated conventions of the year; Comiket 81.


This year, Comiket 81 Winter is taking place a day earlier, from 29th (Thurs) till 31st(Sat), unlike the usual Friday to Sunday modus operandi as the New Year is coming.

Wont be covering as much as I did last year, all viewable under the "comiket" tag, as I'm celebrating New Year in Penang at the moment, enjoying Asam Laksa with lots of Char Kuey Teow (and the netspeed here is unstable). Nonetheless, a summary of the event is the least I could do.

This might be my only post on CM81 as I'll be out most of the time visiting Penang, so see you guys in 2012!

Merry (Late) Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Morning coverage of Comiket 81 which aired later that day;

Day 1 had a turnout of 150,000 visitors, just 10,000 short to match last year's. 

Ishihara!?

Local convenience stores or konbini (コンビニ) are veterans at this biannual affair, as they stock up to sate the masses.

Hour by hour images of the queue up area, with the line drastically increasing with each passing minute.

Meanwhile, the NEET Police were present at the scene and at Akihabara, keeping the streets "neat" and clean.

I kinda like these guys... 

But that's Lion and Bunny... 

Denizens of 2ch posting quick messages on the status of the company booths inside.

The first announcement was all Nanoha merchandise being sold out at 10:00am sharp at the same time the gates were opened, closely followed by Madoka being sold out with Fractal not getting much love. You can pretty much imagine the Zerg rush at the front of the line completely buying out everything inside. Aniplex's booth was being swarmed as reported, with the toilets experiencing a similar condition as well.

Dragon Balls... 

Illustration on the carry bags are an awesome idea.