Tokyo Big Sight Comiket December 2009

I did finally manage to get to a Comiket before leaving Tokyo, and am glad I did.  What a zoo!  Tokyo Big Sight is a great space for big events like these, and I had been there before for a few Design Festas and other assorted shows.  But I couldn't have left Japan without at least one Comiket under my belt.  

For those of you unfamiliar with Comiket, it is a massive comic convention run entirely by and for amateurs.  Even if you have a passing familiarity with Manga and Anime characters, you will no doubt recognise some of the characters in comics as you stumble around slack-jawed at the sheer scale of the place.  Nope, these are not the creating artists, this is all fan-based homage comics, self-published, and occupying a very grey area of copyright in Japan.  Called 'Doujinshi', these are magazines (mostly manga) that can be original works, but are often 'parody' works with existing, copyright characters in new stories, or even just shagging each other. (Yeah, baby!)

The owners of the characters tend to turn a blind eye to this kind of unlicenced use of their characters, provided the fan comics aren't making a comfortable living off doing so.  

Of course, this is also a great excuse for cosplay on an epic scale, and everyone is out in force dressed up as their favourite character.  The costumes are, for the most part, hand made, and it's hard to know when to put the camera down.

All photos are copyright Peter Pascoe.  

If you appear in one of these photos and wish to be removed from this blog, contact me via the blog and I will remove the photo. 

 

 Gravity Canon!

 I don't care what it is, I'll have one

 While in girls costume, these Kigurumi cosplayers are generally boys underneath.

My images do not belong to the Public Domain. All images in this portfolio are owned and © copyrighted by Peter Pascoe. Any reproduction, modification, publication, transmission, transfer, or exploitation of any of the content, for personal or commercial use, whether in whole or in part, without written permission from myself is prohibited by law. All rights reserved.