Check out the Cosplay piccies HERE!!!

Report : MJ

Photos : MJ

Begging for permission for photos : Risa-chan & Anji

Date : February 1, 2001 (about 6:30 pm Tokyo time)

It was a freezing cold Tokyo December day when, hung over from our company Bonenkai the night before, Risa-chan, Anji and I dragged ourselves to Tokyo Big Sight for the Winter Comic Market.

I'll admit that it was my first time to attend such an event - and although I had been told what to expect - the culture shock of being amongst tens of thousands of manga freaks hit me like a suckerpunch from Ashita no Jo.

The first area we decided to check out was the commercial manga area. This was our first mistake. This area was the most violent and crowded as thousands of fans lined up at the most popular stalls to purchase special edition bits and pieces featuring their favourite manga characters. By line up I mean that there were people standing three-deep between special barriers, while guys with signs ran around shouting and directing. Risa-chan threw herself into the crowd and tried to pick up as much stuff as possible (for you kids out there!), Anji kept busy trying to remain upright and I managed to get pushed into a stall specializing in hentai stuff and let me tell you that I was surprised to discover that even hentai-manga drawings have mosaics over the "naughty" bits! After this amazing discovery I decided it was time for a ciggie break and crowd surfed over to one of the doors. Anji soon came to join me - his energy already sapped and desperate for an onigiri. We were not too concerned about finding Risa-chan again as we're all keitai (mobile phone) toting Tokyoites - but then to our horror we discovered that there were so many people using their keitais that the local system had become overloaded - and for the first time in my life I discovered that I was not able to make a call! There was only one way - we had to go back in and rescue her! Luck was on our side though because we ran into her after only 20 minutes of frantic searching!

Then we decided to wander into the cosplay area and get some piccies - sounds easy but when you consider the number of people into cosplay and their assistants and the crowd of other people wanting to take photographs...well just let me say that if you check out the panorama piccy in the photo gallery you'll get a clearer picture...found out that cosplay is not for the weak - wandering around in a tiny bikini with an elaborate hairstyle pretending you're one of the Ah! My Goddess chicks in 8 degree weather, while people crowd around you to take photographs is a challenge that I don't think I be taking up for a while (if ever)cRisa-chan prevented me from only taking photographs of cute half-naked cosplay boys so after 45 minutes I got a bit bored and decided it was time for another break.

Then it was off to the two huge areas where the famous and wanna-be- famous manga artists have their stalls set up and their stuff on show. Biggest current trend - at almost every stall there was always one character included that has long flowing green hair. Why green? Is there some deeper meaning? Is green ink the cheapest?

Risa-chan also explained to me the concept of Doujinshi. This is when you take a popular manga and copy the drawing style, the characters and usually the storyline to create your own version. I immediately classified anyone into doing Doujishi into the same group as those who are in AC/DC cover bands - I mean what about originality? What about showing how good you can be at drawing your own characters and developing your own storylines? What the hell about copyright (Doujishi manga are offered on sale after all)? Risa-chan offered a pathetic counter-argument to my questions - she said that it gave the opportunity for fans to make their favourite characters act and say how they would like them to, and tell versions of the stories they would like to read. However I still hear the little voice (well one of them anyway) in my head shouting RIP-OFF RIP-OFF! How do you feel about this issue? Have your say at ANIM-ACCESS!

After my artistic-tempered outburst we concluded that it was time to go home... ha ha ha we really entered the realm of fantasy at this point. Tokyo Big Sight is located near Odaiba, on an island of re-claimed land connected to the main Tokyo region by one bridge and one tunnel. Once again not realizing the potential of an area, the train company who own the line to get from Shinbashi to the island, decided to buy trains that don't have enough leg room for two amputee-pygmies to sit down facing each-other, but you forget about that soon enough if you are lucky to get a seat - considering that most passengers are forced to stand up and get very well acquainted with the six people squished up against them. But don't panic girls - it's no chikan line - your chest can barely move enough to breathe let alone some pervert being able to move his hand to feel you up! Of course the fact that the company also designed the platforms so that trains could only have three carriages is another story...

But in retrospect is was an interesting day and both the Winter and Summer versions of the Comic Market have managed to become the biggest manga events on the calendar. And now I must wait a whole six months for the next one...although as it will be at the height of the humid Tokyo Summer - I just might have to think about that tiny bikini, elaborate hairstyle idea...

For detailed information about the Comic Market events - check out the Summer Comic Market 2000 report HERE!