Kuroko's Basketball has been having it rough. The popular basket manga, or rather its creator, has been continuously threatened since last October, which has led to the cancellation of all Kuroko's Basketball-related events, including a stage event at Jump Festa. More recently, Japan's biggest independent doujinshi event, Comic Market (better known as Comiket), announced that Kuroko's Basketball-related doujinshi would be prohibited from being sold there. This led to one of the saddest sights regular attendees of Comiket have ever seen.
On December 30th, the area of the Tokyo Big Sight that had been dedicated to Kuroko's Basketball doujinshi was the picture of a ghost town. Numerous empty tables lined with folding chairs on top, untouched, with security guards walking up and down the sparse isles was a somber sight indeed.
Sadly, the Comiket organizers had their backs against the wall for this one. With the cancellation of Kuroko's Basketball events and mounting pressure from both the police and from the owners of the Tokyo Big Sight, the regular hosting location for Comiket since 1996, the organizers were left with no choice but to either ask that the roughly 900 Kuroko's Basketball doujinshi artist circles withdraw their participation, or to cancel Comiket outright. In the end, they opted for the former and the result was a morgue-like space in the Tokyo Big Sight East Hall 1 where crowds of people should have been.
Despite the blemish in the mood, Comiket 83 still managed to pull in around 550,000 attendees, setting a new record for the winter Comiket. Of course, that number could have been bigger if someone hadn't decided to make their disturbed little vendetta national... At present, the Kuroko's Basketball-hating suspect still remains at large. Dammit.
リメンバー1230。コミックマーケット83を忘れるな [Kotaku JAPAN]
コミケの「黒子のバスケ」エリアが大変なことに…… [DS PSP初心者講座]
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(Top photo: Kotaku Japan)