Naniwa at Mangacast covers the biggest show of them all:ComiKet!
Twice a year doujin fans across the world head for the big one. This is the manga mecca. This is where people pass out in line for a book from their favorite circle covering their favorite genre and series. This is where it feels hotter and muggier inside than it does outside and its 30+celsius outdoors and their is air conditioning inside! This is where you can find pokemon doujin’s a few aisles away from Batman doujins a few feet away from Kino no Tabi books. This is where there is a whole hall for train “manga”, airplane doujins and homemade cooking books!!
ComiKet happens twice a year and the attendance for one of these is larger than the populations of many mid-market cities. 500,000 people will come through here. Through the three day event around 35,000 circles will be selling their wares to their fans and fellow artists. This is seriously a comic party and everyone involved is here for to have a blast – spending money and sweating like pigs – to get their hands on original goods ranging from comics, novels, model kits, cd-roms, books, dolls, crafts and games.
You read that right, Half a MILLION PEOPLE come out…not to see movie stars or play video games but to buy fan-made comics of their favorite characters. The Beat has yet to see any real analysis of how and why this show is what it is…it’s as if SPX turned into something four times bigger than San Diego.
And I bet the attendees aren’t all female, either!
Erm. They’re not. Or did you mean “all male?”
Although the closing sentence in the quote states “original goods”, I want to emphasize that in the first paragraph, it says this: “This is where you can find pokemon doujin’s a few aisles away from Batman doujins a few feet away from Kino no Tabi books.”
Out of those “copyrighted” “properties” on sale, I’m sure it is much less than 50% being sold by the copyright owners.
There’s some “magic” going on there too!