Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

Yes it was judgement day. It’s one’s last chance to grab whatever commercial booth goods that was unavailable for the past two days and this is the day where most of the best doujin circles around gather. Kwok and I had our precious targeted doujin in mind and so we went to start queuing at 6pm after Day 2 ended. The problem was, the queue line was missing and we figured that it was rather weird to not have a significant line queuing up for the last day of Comiket 73. We approached some Comiket staff who were waving light sticks and they said something like, “Nothing better to do? Why don’t you take a stroll in the park behind Big Sight?”

It sounded lame but we did anyway, and to our horror, there was a 600-metre long queue already forming there. Undeterred (or rather, highly demoralised but Kwok told me to join the queue anyway) we carried out our 14-hour queue for one last time. Apparently they expected three times as many people to queue up for the last day and they got everyone to queue in the park instead. The huge line stretched through the winding path of the park and all the way to some deserted expressway. The huge group otakus were then led around in freezing cold temperatures around the entire area of Big Sight, made to stone in a chilling carpark for an hour or more and then brave the strong winds at the foot of Big Sight. It was one crazy, long night. No pictures were taken as my camera couldn’t handle night scenes well and DarkMirage’s DSLR wasn’t with us as he had a press pass. That guy always receives lucky free things in his life, I wonder if that’s a skill of some sort.

Which brings me to the “Help me buy ItoXNanao collab release plz” issue. As far as I know, if one did not brave the winter night before, it would be highly unlikely for him be able to obtain that collaboration release, which you can witness why, later in the photos below. So if you ask ANY OF US to help you buy one, 3500 yen isn’t enough to cover the shivering, the mind-screwing, the aching legs, the drop-dead fevers or endless swearing at the winds. You’re literally asking your “usable friend” to stone in that hell just so that you can get your fap goods. Where’s your damn conscience man? I’m definitely keeping my ItoXNanao release for all that crap I went through to get it and you can only persuade me to sell that not-exactly-very-exciting-and-overpriced release only if you offer me $500 or something. USD. Hey, it’s still cheaper than an air ticket to Japan’s second-hand store, what an awesome offer. I recommend Yahoo auctions too. So those who requested and added a “buy only if possible” line, you’re good to go. For those who said “Please buy kthxbye go to hell, I gave you money so you MUST buy”, please consume your own crap. Now I understand why Tokyo Hunter charges high rates for his services and I hereby salute him.

So what I’d like to state is this. As people who spent our own money to travel, we own every single right to have our own fun as it lasts. Our tour does not comprise of fapping your penis. Giving us money in advance is a beg for help, not an order. Giving us money only after the trip is unreasonable so don’t complain about anyone going overseas for not having helped you get your wank merchandise. I can’t believe I walked from Kuramae all the way to Sakura Hostel in the freezing winds just to pass some guy’s 5000 yen to another group of otakus. Dude, I’m travelling Japan, not working as a courier. I should have thrown that money out of the window. Grow up kids, shiachan isn’t your slave, neither is any of us on the trip.

For this post, I shall go with a back-to-front approach by starting with the gloating.

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Whoever is standing on the right must be really damn lucky because the person on the left is Range Murata himself. I think I’m that guy.

I think the value of this excellent Goto P release should worth ten times more if the person owning it is by the name of ‘Kwok’

Wouldn’t it be great if you owned this Range Murata book AND your name was “TJHAN”? Damn I think I deserve a treat or something.

After queuing for one whole night, Kwok and I landed at the front of the entire line again. I emphasize once more, this is the start of the line.

Another view of the head of the line

This, my friends, is the status of the queue of the ItoXNanao booth in front of me when I reached there.


And this is the status of the queue behind me a mere ten minutes later. I guess I camped all night for this spot, how lame. The goods weren’t even impressive to begin with. The booth allowed 2 purchases per person at first but when my turn came, they only allowed one purchase, so I’m keeping that copy. No way would I enter the queue once again just to satisfy anyone’s penis.

By the time I got all my doujin stuff, everyone was leaving Big Sight and Day 3 was about to end. The cosplay forum had already ended by then, sadly.

For cosplay pictures, check out DarkMirage’s site for a possible post. I was unable to lay my hands on Stage Nana’s Narcissus because I was stupid enough to queue for the inane Indico Lite booth just beside PSE(Range Murata). It was a costly price to pay and I mourn my loss. For that mistake, I shall use the Indigo Lite releases to wipe my ass.

I met Shingo of Heisei Democracy in person and we had a little chat. Got to buy one of his releases which was pretty interesting. In any case, it was cool to meet a relatively foreign anime blogger in Comiket itself and I hope we meet again or something. Until next time, which would probably be two years later.

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