Hey gang, Ethird here.

My summer break is over… so I will be really busy from now onwards. Also, do check out our forum if you haven’t already. I do drop in from time to time and upload a piece or two.

Right, Comike. Hmm… There’s actually not much to talk about other then the fact that… it’s freaking awesome!! I imagined how big and busy it was, but NO, this was way over my expectations… Imagine Armageddon, but like 8 times bigger and 30 times more crowd… If you come late you’re not gonna get in anytime soon. You’d be playing a game called human-sandwich out in the hot, burning sun.

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But really, there’s nothing much I can show you guys; purely because all the stall areas that’s selling doujinshi (which is pretty much all of the inside) are strictly prohibited to take any photos. I guess the main reason for that is because… well, you know… dodgy here and awkward there LOL… Having anyone taking photos of some of the hardcore stuff and sent into the hands of the media or something would probably bring the event to its knees. So I wasn’t able to show anything that was happening inside; though some photographs of the crowds were taken LOL.

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So Comike 78 happened during 13th, 14th and 15th. I lined up for the event from 1am, to get in early on the first day, and got in at 10.30am (it starts at 10am). It’s really hot during summer here, so just imaging having to sit through sleepless hours with an endless amount of people… it was tough, man. I skipped the second day and went on the third day. Was pretty tired, so didn’t really took much photos out in the burning sun LOL.

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I spent like 30000yen at Comike on doujinshis, which is about $450NZ. One thing I realized is that when I asked for an autograph to be signed on the books, quite a few artist declined. I guess it’s because they’re pretty much always busy with the crowd, so there really isn’t time for signing. There isn’t much chance to even talk to the artist there… unless they aren’t doing so well LOL.

I did, however, get this artist to sign my copy of their doujinshi because he sold out like… really fast, so when I asked him he had the time for it. I also had the pleasure to talk with him a little. I had to wait like nearly an hour just to get his art book, but it was so worth it. It’s exactly the size of our 2010 Hiyaku book, only godlike better LOL.

REDJUICE – http://redjuicegraphics.com/

So yeah, overall, it was awesome; but it’s a shame that it was nearly impossible to talk to any of the super hardcore artist. I guess this is just how the way things are in Japan. Since the event has become so super-overly-major-sized, interaction with any artist inside is rather different to what we’re used to in NZ. I think DO might actually be better in this aspect, as you get the chance to really talk with the artist there.

For now, that’s all from me. I will be attending Tokyo Game Shows 2010 in about a month or so; therefore, you can expect another blog update from me around then.

Rollout!!

- Ethird