This Week in Japan: Comiket Turns 50 and Still Pulls 260,000

Comiket 108

Comic Market 108 ran August 15 and 16 at Tokyo Big Sight. 260,000 people. This one closed out the 50th anniversary series, three shows counting back to December 1975, when a few hundred people met up to trade fanzines. It ran smaller than usual too, East 4-6 halls under construction. A quarter million at reduced capacity, in Tokyo, in August. Real.

Comiket mints its own artifacts. Merch sold in those halls circulates for decades after, like the Comiket 58 Evangelion phone card in the archive. Saturday table stock becomes the grail twenty years later. In due time.

Takopi goes theatrical

Takopi's Original Sin gets a compilation film November 27, Thank You, See You Tomorrow. The six episodes recut with new scenes, in theaters. The show that ruined everyone's week, now on a screen you cannot pause. Cool.

Oshi no Ko calls it

Oshi no Ko dropped the teaser visual and trailer for season four. Confirmed final season. The story that opened with a murdered idol gets a planned ending. Endings are rare in anime. Planned ones are rarer. Cool.

The cat that smoked too much

Hong Kong pulled Chainsmoker Cat from streaming under its tobacco advertising rules. The show is about a cat who chain smokes. The premise is the violation. Was the cat advertising? Was the cat sponsored? Did the cat sign with a tobacco company? The regulators did not elaborate. Somewhere a cartoon animal has a legal team now. Real.

The net cafe is not dead

The Japan Times checked in on the net cafe. Chains like Kaikatsu Club are renovating out the smoky all-male booths and courting women customers. The net cafe exists because Japan needed somewhere to be alone at 3 a.m. That need never left. The furniture just got nicer. Oh well.