Comic Market 104, the 104th iteration of Japan’s biggest “doujin” (fan/amateur/hobbyist-made content) event, Comic Market (also known, primarily in the west, as “Comiket”) was held at Tokyo Big Sight on 11-12 August 2024.
Official website (ENG): https://www.comiket.co.jp/index_e.html
COVID-19 led to the event limiting entry following the guidelines determined by Doujin Japan 2020 since Comic Market 99, which resulted in less participants than pre-COVID days: While Comic Market 97 saw a grand total of 750,000 attendees over four days, making for an average of 187,500 people showing up each day, C99 limited attendees to 55,000 per day, and C100 increased the number to 85,000, which was still less than half C97’s count. C101 saw a slight increase to 90,000 attendees per day, and with Japan formally determining that the COVID-19 crisis was over, C102 did away with the restrictions accordingly, resulting in over 260,000 people attending over two days, and C103 similarly had 270,000 people attending over two days. Comic Market 104 saw a similar amount of people attending, with 130,000 people coming on each day for a total of 260,000 attendees.
- Participants (day 1): 130,000
- Participants (day 2): 130,000
- Doujin circles (day 1): 12,000
- Doujin circles (day 2): 12,000
- Cosplayers (day 1): Male – 1794, Female – 2583
- Cosplayers (day 2): Male – 2153, Female – 3617
- Corporate entities: 130
Japan had been seeing a heat wave in the past few weeks, and the temperature at the venue was recorded to hit a high of 36 degrees Celsius on the first day, and this writer (who has been attending Comic Market for over 10 years) found it to be particularly hot compared to most previous summer Comic Markets. It seems that many attendees were not prepared for the heat, and many accounts of seeing people collapsing from heat stroke (or of people themselves reporting that they had collapsed from heat stroke) could be found on social media, and we observed several people who had collapsed being taken away on wheelchairs and carts at the venue ourselves.
While Comic Market is known primarily for its doujin (fan-made content) side, consisting primarily of doujinshi (fan-made comics, books, and magazines) but also including doujin games (not just video games, but analog games like card and board games too), doujin music, and other things like keychains, stickers, and various accessories, the event also has a significant corporate presence including numerous anime and game companies promoting their latest works and selling merchandise, and we compiled an assortment of photographs of the corporate area at Comic Market 104 below.
Additionally, Type-Moon was there as usual, not just with merchandise for sale but also an exhibition for the design documents used for the Fate/Grand Order collaboration event with Witch on the Holy Night.
FGO x Witch on the Holy Night Design Works Exhibition @ C104
While Comic Market might seem confusing to the point of being impenetrable to foreign visitors, the event does in fact have an international desk that can provide aid in English, Chinese, and Korean, and the official website also has a section to help foreign visitors.
Comic Market is something truly special, and anyone interested in otaku culture, manga, anime, Japanese video games, or cosplay should definitely check it out.
We had a professional photographer covering cosplay at the event too: Don’t forget to take a look at the amazing cosplay we saw there!
