Comic City
The Comic City conventions, organized by the news agency Akaboo (sponsor name for the events organized by Kei Corporation), are exhibitions and sale spots for amateur manga, dōjinshi (同人誌). In the past, Akaboo used to organize those events in partnership with several printing offices. Those exhibitions are held about twenty times a year in Tokyo, in Osaka and in Fukuoka. Those events are the biggest in scale in Osaka and in Fukuoka for this category of events. In Tokyo and in Osaka, most of the participating “circles” are women who present work oriented to a women audience.
Introduction[edit]
Akaboo is a corporate body specialized in the organization of exhibitions and sale spots of amateur manga (dōjinshi) with over 20 years of experience. Based on the theme: “Write, draw and make books, sell books, buy books”, this company offers, at fixed intervals, sale spot events to amateur artists who have few opportunities to see their work exposed otherwise, and also provide a place where fans can gather, interact and exchange.
In the past, Akaboo used to organize events at various places but more recently this company focus its efforts on medium and large scale events in 3 towns: Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka, in the same way that Sudio You (スタジオYOU) organize in different towns its “all genre” events, Comic Live.
Akaboo also organize events with a unique theme: "Only", such as the ZR series called “Personification of the Monarchy”. Inside Comic City conventions, including “only events”, there are also small and creative events called “Petit Only”.
Depending on the events, up to 13 000/15 000 exhibiting spaces can be rented. In one day, for large scale events, the number of exhibiting spaces can be higher than for the Comic Market.
More recently, since 2014, preschool children are not allowed to come to the events, neither as “circle” nor as regular participant.
Exhibitions and sale spots[edit]
Tokyo[edit]
There are 6 exhibitions, each year, at Tokyo Big Sight which is located at Tokyo Kokusai Tenjijo on Odaiba Island. Haru Comic City, Super Comic City and Comic City Spark are especially big scale events.
Super Comic City is held for 2 days for the Golden Week.
This event is taking place during the long interval between the winter Comic Market and the Summer Comic Market. There is an important number of participants, circles as well as regular participants.
Regarding the scale of the event, this exhibition come in second after the Comic Market.
For 2 days, this exhibition occupy all the available space of Tokyo Big Sight.
During Comic City events in Tokyo, Cosplay only is accepted. For this occasion, a Cosplay corner is arranged.
Haru Comic City is held on March for the Vernal Equinox Holiday.
Even though this event is held for only one day, Tokyo Big Sight is often occupied to its full capacity.
Good Comic City is held in August.
Moreover, Super Comic City Kansai is often held the following week.
Comic City Spark is organized in autumn, usually in October.
In 2013, during this event, more than 20 000 exhibiting spaces has been rented.
The two Comic City events are taking place in Tokyo, in January and in June.
Osaka[edit]
Six events per year are held at Intex Osaka.
The January Comic City Convention and the Super Comic City Kansai Convention are respectively organized after the Comic Market Conventions. For the people living in the Kansai area, those events are complementary. Due to the large number of participants, Circles as well as regular visitors, those events are comparatively large-scale events.
Fukuoka[edit]
Three events are held at Fukuoka Dome (in January, in May, and in September).
The Comic City Conventions are the most important exhibitions and sale spots in scale of dōjinshi, all genres included, of the Kyushu area. Unlike other dōjinshi exhibitions organized in others areas, Cosplay is, since the beginning, authorized at the Comic City Conventions of Fukuoka. Due to regulations in Japan, Cosplay events and dōjinshi exhibitions must be separated in order to avoid any kind of annoyance. However, since the Fukuoka Dome is big enough, it can host the two kind of events simultaneously. More recently, Cosplay events are sometimes allowed at dōjinshi exhibitions in Tokyo and in Osaka.
The “Only” events[edit]
The ZR series of events, organized since 2003, are called “Only” events. For each exhibition, the work utilized as the theme for the event changes. Those events are taking place at Tokyo Big Sight, at Tokyo Ryutsu Center and at Intex Osaka. It happens that those exhibition halls organize joint-events with Akaboo. Among the ZR series, there is a series of events of sale of anthropomorphism work, called the “Personification of the Monarchy”.
Comic Treasure[edit]
Comic Treasure is a male-oriented exhibition and sale spots of dōjinshi, all genres included.
This event takes place two times a year at Intex Osaka after the Comic Market Convention and after the Comic City Convention.
Even though all those events are organized by the same company, the name of the sponsor differs because the management of this event is separated from the management of other events.
The sponsor of Comic Treasure is the News Agency Aoboo.
References[edit]
Notes
- Comic City Osaka 102, Japan Times, May 2015
- Comic City 2012, Japan Today, January 2012
- The Gallery in Japan, Anime News Network, 2009
- Comic City Osaka, Japan Travel, 2013
- (jp) Yoshihiro Yonezawa, 『同人誌ハンドブック』、久保書店、1994年1月、P229、P235。
- (jp) 永山薫・昼間たかし『マンガ論争勃発 2007-2008』、マイクロマガジン社、2007年12月、PP116-117。
External links[edit]
(jp) Akaboo
Akaboo Twitter Account
This article "Comic City" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
