Day 14
We released our inner nerds today, our trip for the day was to Odaiba's Tokyo Big Site to take a look at this year's Comiket, the world's largest doujinshi fair. There are plenty of other things to see and do there, if you are into manga/anime/cosplay/idol culture at all, I'd recommend you go just for the atmosphere and the people.
The main attraction for us were the various cosplay areas. There are designated spaces where people in cosplay can pose for pictures. There are rules in place to ensure the safety of both photographers and cosplayers, photographers always have to ask for permission before taking a picture, and people line up neatly in lines to take pictures and talk to the cosplayers - it's a very friendly atmosphere, it hypes you up. Because of the rules, I don't have any phone snaps to share, unfortunately. I took film pictures only. Christian brought his Hasselblad along, and at one point people were lining up to take pictures of his camera xDDDD; I think if we're ever here during Comiket again, I want to bring my Makise Kurisu costume and spend my day in cosplay. I think it would be fun to experience Comiket "from the other side" so to speak.
We also checked out the corporate booths. I'd check out the doujinshi stalls, but I honestly wouldn't know where to even begin. The fair is so fricking huge, and there are endless lines for the most popular booths, it's complete madness - but in a fun way xD;
I found the 5pb booth and ended up buying a bunch of Steins;Gate merchandise :S like you do~~~~~!
We ended up spending a good couple of hours at Comiket, we had Hawaiian burgers for lunch again, and I stumbled across a huge pop-up Psycho-Pass attraction + store outside Mediage Cinema. So we ran there after having our burgers. I would have loved to try the attraction, but I'm not sure it would have been worth it. It was a real time adventure game. Participants got headphones with instructions on where to go (the show's voice actors guide you through the game, basically). You take on the role of a police inspector, and you're off to investigate the case you've been given. People were running around with these headphones all over Odaiba, it looked like a lot of fun, but... yeahhhhh. I'd hate to pay ¥3000, wait in lines, and then realise I couldn't follow the instructions or solve the riddles 8DDDD; At least the attraction had a shop that was free to enter xD; all the official Psycho-Pass merchandise at Comiket was sold out, so I ended up spending an obscene amount of money at this pop-up store. WHOOPS.
We headed back to Akiba for more geekery. We ended up buying a bunch of manga, so now I definitely have things I should ship by mail before going home :X I picked up the first volume of Hakumei to Mikochi, I have no idea if this has been translated yet, but the cover illustration caught my interest, I leafed through a sample booklet and fell completely in love with the art. I've read the first two stories now, and IT'S SUCH AN ADORABLE COMIC. I really recommend it!
I also finally bought Akira, I've been wanting this in my collection for a while, but could never get myself to buy the English version. They've mirrored the drawings in order to "fix" the reading direction, and unghhh no. Just no.
Anywayyy. We somehow ended up walking around a lot, and carrying a lot of heavy things on what was supposed to be a relaxing day "off" .. so we dropped the stuff off at the apartment and headed off to do karaoke. We ended up doing karaoke until 4 in the morning. I can't even, hahahahahahhaha xD; and I still haven't gotten it out of my system, I am constantly thinking of songs I should have done and would like to do at karaoke, aaaah.
As always, Christian's pictures are here.
The main attraction for us were the various cosplay areas. There are designated spaces where people in cosplay can pose for pictures. There are rules in place to ensure the safety of both photographers and cosplayers, photographers always have to ask for permission before taking a picture, and people line up neatly in lines to take pictures and talk to the cosplayers - it's a very friendly atmosphere, it hypes you up. Because of the rules, I don't have any phone snaps to share, unfortunately. I took film pictures only. Christian brought his Hasselblad along, and at one point people were lining up to take pictures of his camera xDDDD; I think if we're ever here during Comiket again, I want to bring my Makise Kurisu costume and spend my day in cosplay. I think it would be fun to experience Comiket "from the other side" so to speak.
We also checked out the corporate booths. I'd check out the doujinshi stalls, but I honestly wouldn't know where to even begin. The fair is so fricking huge, and there are endless lines for the most popular booths, it's complete madness - but in a fun way xD;
I found the 5pb booth and ended up buying a bunch of Steins;Gate merchandise :S like you do~~~~~!
We ended up spending a good couple of hours at Comiket, we had Hawaiian burgers for lunch again, and I stumbled across a huge pop-up Psycho-Pass attraction + store outside Mediage Cinema. So we ran there after having our burgers. I would have loved to try the attraction, but I'm not sure it would have been worth it. It was a real time adventure game. Participants got headphones with instructions on where to go (the show's voice actors guide you through the game, basically). You take on the role of a police inspector, and you're off to investigate the case you've been given. People were running around with these headphones all over Odaiba, it looked like a lot of fun, but... yeahhhhh. I'd hate to pay ¥3000, wait in lines, and then realise I couldn't follow the instructions or solve the riddles 8DDDD; At least the attraction had a shop that was free to enter xD; all the official Psycho-Pass merchandise at Comiket was sold out, so I ended up spending an obscene amount of money at this pop-up store. WHOOPS.
We headed back to Akiba for more geekery. We ended up buying a bunch of manga, so now I definitely have things I should ship by mail before going home :X I picked up the first volume of Hakumei to Mikochi, I have no idea if this has been translated yet, but the cover illustration caught my interest, I leafed through a sample booklet and fell completely in love with the art. I've read the first two stories now, and IT'S SUCH AN ADORABLE COMIC. I really recommend it!
I also finally bought Akira, I've been wanting this in my collection for a while, but could never get myself to buy the English version. They've mirrored the drawings in order to "fix" the reading direction, and unghhh no. Just no.
Anywayyy. We somehow ended up walking around a lot, and carrying a lot of heavy things on what was supposed to be a relaxing day "off" .. so we dropped the stuff off at the apartment and headed off to do karaoke. We ended up doing karaoke until 4 in the morning. I can't even, hahahahahahhaha xD; and I still haven't gotten it out of my system, I am constantly thinking of songs I should have done and would like to do at karaoke, aaaah.
As always, Christian's pictures are here.