Hello everyone!

In this article, we are going to completely dissect the world’s largest festival of doujinshi: Comic Market !
With Comic Market 108 (C108) coming up in about two months, let’s dive deep and learn all about it!

If we were to describe Comiket in a single phrase, it is simply “Japan's largest doujinshi exhibition and market.” However, its actual scale is not just the largest in Japan—it is the largest in the entire world.

Comiket is held twice a year, once in the summer and once in the winter. The upcoming event will be the 108th regular milestone. Since the event has been running for 50 years, it is no exaggeration to say it is a legendary, long-lasting festival. The pure passion of people wanting to “create things” is what made Comiket grow this big!

Currently, it takes place at Tokyo Big Sight. The number of participants reached a massive 300,000 at the previous event, C107. You can see how lively and packed the actual event is in this video!

As we mentioned earlier, this upcoming event is the 108th Comiket. Having reached its 50th anniversary in 2025, a special commemorative exhibition titled “Comiket 50th Anniversary Exhibition: 50 Items Associated with Comiket” is being held until June 15th. In addition, unique 50th-anniversary merchandise is being produced, keeping the celebratory spirit alive and kicking!

The results for circle applications for Comiket 108 are scheduled to be announced on June 5th! As soon as the results are out, we will quickly create a feature page summarizing the most anticipated circles.
Please look forward to it!

Comiket’s long history began with a critical viewpoint toward the manga industry by a certain doujin circle. A group named “Meikyu” (Labyrinth) launched Comic Market as a rebellion against conventional manga and manga criticism, which were facing a period of stagnation. Their goal was to create a brand-new field for manga enthusiasts—in other words, it was an antithesis to existing commercial events.

The very first Comiket started with only 32 circles and around 700 attendees. At the time, most participants were students belonging to manga research clubs in schools, and young female fans of shoujo manga (girls' manga) made up about 90% of the crowd.

As the event was held repeatedly, both original creations and fan-made derivative works (secondary creations) grew rapidly. After 1981, the number of participants surpassed 10,000. Around the same time, the mainstream popularity of anime and manga like Urusei Yatsura and Captain Tsubasa exploded, expanding the scale of the event even further. Its growth never stopped, eventually shaping the event management style that we see today.

The core philosophy of Comic Market states: “Comic Market is a 'place' designed to expand the possibilities of expression, with the goal of accepting and continuing all forms of expression, centered around doujinshi,” and “We aim to accept as many creators as possible.” This philosophy has undoubtedly become the foundation in Japan where anyone, whether professional or amateur, can become a creator, stay free from rejection, and give birth to diverse works.

Furthermore, there is no such thing as a “customer” at Comiket; every single person there is called a “participant.” The idea that everyone is a builder of the event makes the space incredibly welcoming, while also encouraging self-discipline and mutual respect. Comiket is a unique place where freedom and self-governance blend together, which is one of its biggest charms.

Now, let’s shift our perspective and look at the doujinshi themselves. While our website mainly carries original and fan-made doujinshi for male audiences, that is certainly not the only thing distributed at Comiket. Our sister site, Otaku Republic, handles doujinshi for female audiences, and those are widely sold at Comiket as well.

At Comiket, you can basically distribute absolutely anything as long as it is “something you made yourself.” This means you can sell not only doujinshi, but also original daily goods, accessories, or even self-made indie movie DVDs. Some works are close to daily life, focusing on food or travel logs, while others cater to hardcore fans of trains, cars, mechanics, and plastic models. The event even widely accepts seemingly formal genres like commentary, medicine, and education. Once you step inside, we guarantee you won't be able to leave without buying something! According to data from 2011, a staggering 9 million doujinshi copies were distributed during a single event weekend. It is truly the ultimate event where fascinating independent works gather under one roof.

Comiket also offers great content beyond individual doujinshi booths.
One major highlight is the Corporate Booth section. Anime and game companies, publishers, and VTuber agencies set up shops to sell official new releases and event-exclusive merchandise. More than 100 companies participate, offering not just merchandise sales but also lotteries and autograph sessions.

Additionally, there are countless cosplay participants. You will see people dressing up as popular anime characters, embodying viral news topics from that year, or even turning themselves into inanimate objects! The Comic Market Preparatory Committee views cosplay as a form of “physical expression” and highly respects this freedom of creativity.

On a slightly different note from entertainment, the winter Comiket features a blood drive organized by the Red Cross Blood Center. They often run collaboration events with anime and games, where you can receive exclusive posters by donating blood. In recognition of these great contributions, “Comic Market” was awarded a letter of appreciation from the Japanese Red Cross Society, receiving the prestigious Golden Order of Merit in 2023. We are overjoyed to see a wonderful connection between fields that seem completely unrelated at first glance, like blood drives and anime!

With the circle results for Comiket 108 just around the corner, are you getting excited for the upcoming Summer Comiket?
Let’s look forward to August while eagerly awaiting the new books that creators are working hard on right now!

We look forward to seeing you in our next post!