SUCCESS!
So the last couple days I've been worried about going to Comiket. Of course I want to go but I was also dreading it because everything I'd been reading was telling you how you needed to make a route of the artist booths to go to. You'd make this list based off the artists' websites, which are in Japanese so you'd search the page for the characters that spell Comiket. Then once you know they're going you wait for the phone book sized listings and maps that come out (also in Japanese) and plot a course to their booths to create a gameplan. Failure to do so will result in everything you want being sold out, wasting all your time at the con, becoming lost in a sea of booths not relevant to your interests, and expulsion from the country. Holy shit right?
Well I didn't think I really had any specific favorite doujin circles, and the one I did have a website for (Love Potion no9) turned out to be impossible for me to navigate with no listed events. Then last night through some digging I found a US/UK circle's site with an events page listing a Comiket 79 banner! VICTORY! It turns out most pages are much easier to navigate than the other site as most list a off/offline/events link.
1. Through ebay or livejournal communities find a circle name whose art/characters/pairing you like. It's especially helpful to find a ring of sites that lists lots of different pages with the character/pairing you're looking for.
2. Go to MangaUpdates.com and search the circle name in their Mangaka database.
3. Take the link to their site and look for a section marked "Off," "Offline," "Info," or "Events."
4. "Comiket" or "Comic Market" will often be written in english but you can also look for something listed as "79" (current #) over Comiket's dates.
5. Underneath they'll often have a list of the books they'll be selling.
6. Look for links on that artist's page that will take you to other circles that do the same characters/pairings.
I then made two separate bookmark folders, one for circles already listing they will be at Comiket and those to watch because they haven't put up dates for it yet. Closer to the event I'll have to go back to all these sites to get their hall/row/table to create a plan.
EDIT: Also found this website with a listing that should grow as December gets closer. There'll be some pretty non-worksafe things on there in due time.
EDIT2: Found this website which allows you to search by country names and pairings (in Japanese, so use the translations below). Near the bottom you can search for Hetalia things at this year's summer Comiket, so odds are good they'll be at winter as well.
EDIT3: Here are country names in Japanese for fellow Hetaliafags:
Prussia: プロイセン
Russia: ロシア
UK: イギリス
US: アメリカ
France: フランス
Spain: スペイン
Germany: ドイツ
Austria: オーストリア
Poland: ポーランド
Switzerland: スイス
Finland: フィンランド
Sweden: スウェーデン
Iceland: アイスランド
Denmark: デンマーク
Norway: ノルウェー
Turkey: トルコ
Greece: ギリシャ
Sealand: シーランド
Canada: カナダ
Now that I have a easy system down it's been a ton of fun looking for artists that will be there! I'm practically on the edge of my seat to see if 8go!, Receipt/Stamp, or manna will attend. It's pretty much a never ending web of links though, since you have to go from one page to another to find a circle you want to follow. I figured all this out at like midnight and was up till 2am then continued the search when I woke up this morning. Someone should seriously make a list of sites for characters and pairings. Or if someone has done that someone should link me to it.
I'll probably eventually post the circles I plan on stalking and if anyone wants me to get one or two for them as well that's fine by me.
Well I didn't think I really had any specific favorite doujin circles, and the one I did have a website for (Love Potion no9) turned out to be impossible for me to navigate with no listed events. Then last night through some digging I found a US/UK circle's site with an events page listing a Comiket 79 banner! VICTORY! It turns out most pages are much easier to navigate than the other site as most list a off/offline/events link.
1. Through ebay or livejournal communities find a circle name whose art/characters/pairing you like. It's especially helpful to find a ring of sites that lists lots of different pages with the character/pairing you're looking for.
2. Go to MangaUpdates.com and search the circle name in their Mangaka database.
3. Take the link to their site and look for a section marked "Off," "Offline," "Info," or "Events."
4. "Comiket" or "Comic Market" will often be written in english but you can also look for something listed as "79" (current #) over Comiket's dates.
5. Underneath they'll often have a list of the books they'll be selling.
6. Look for links on that artist's page that will take you to other circles that do the same characters/pairings.
I then made two separate bookmark folders, one for circles already listing they will be at Comiket and those to watch because they haven't put up dates for it yet. Closer to the event I'll have to go back to all these sites to get their hall/row/table to create a plan.
EDIT: Also found this website with a listing that should grow as December gets closer. There'll be some pretty non-worksafe things on there in due time.
EDIT2: Found this website which allows you to search by country names and pairings (in Japanese, so use the translations below). Near the bottom you can search for Hetalia things at this year's summer Comiket, so odds are good they'll be at winter as well.
EDIT3: Here are country names in Japanese for fellow Hetaliafags:
Prussia: プロイセン
Russia: ロシア
UK: イギリス
US: アメリカ
France: フランス
Spain: スペイン
Germany: ドイツ
Austria: オーストリア
Poland: ポーランド
Switzerland: スイス
Finland: フィンランド
Sweden: スウェーデン
Iceland: アイスランド
Denmark: デンマーク
Norway: ノルウェー
Turkey: トルコ
Greece: ギリシャ
Sealand: シーランド
Canada: カナダ
Now that I have a easy system down it's been a ton of fun looking for artists that will be there! I'm practically on the edge of my seat to see if 8go!, Receipt/Stamp, or manna will attend. It's pretty much a never ending web of links though, since you have to go from one page to another to find a circle you want to follow. I figured all this out at like midnight and was up till 2am then continued the search when I woke up this morning. Someone should seriously make a list of sites for characters and pairings. Or if someone has done that someone should link me to it.
I'll probably eventually post the circles I plan on stalking and if anyone wants me to get one or two for them as well that's fine by me.