Japan Data
Manga/Comics Entertainment 10/20/2023
From a first edition in 1975 bringing together 700 amateur manga enthusiasts in Tokyo, Comiket has grown to a remarkable scale over time.
The origins of the Comic Market, or Comiket, go back almost half a century, to 1975, where the first edition took place in the fire brigade building in the Toranomon district of Tokyo. Some 700 people gathered to share their common passion for amateur manga (wait for it), and 90% of them were young girls who were fans of manga of the type shoujoworks intended for a female audience.
All the designers are part of a circle – a sort of small publishing house – and publish through it.
It was during the summer 1981 edition that the number of visitors exceeded 10,000 for the first time. The scale of the event has continued to grow since then, and it moved to larger and larger venues, eventually occupying the immense Tokyo Big Sight from 1996 .
The record was reached in winter 2019, with 750,000 participants present for a Comiket which spanned four days. But the fervor was stopped dead by the health crisis: no edition in 2020, and a very limited event the following year, then a new cancellation in 2022. This year nevertheless, if it was held without any restrictions, the number of visitors was only a third of what it had been before the pandemic…
(Title photo: Pixta)
2023-10-20 13:57:30
#Comiket #years #return #dôjinshi #enthusiasts #pandemic
