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Comic Market 99 Rescheduled for 3 Days in May 2-4
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The Comic Market Committee announced on Sunday that the planned Comic Market (Comiket) 99 event will now take place over three days on May 2-4 next year, instead of the previously announced four day event from May 2-5.
The announcement explained that the committee has continued to discuss ways to hold the event next year, as well as future events after that, and that the situation with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the Tokyo Big Sight venue has continued to change throughout the year, which led to the change in schedule.
The organizers plan to hold the event at Tokyo Big Sight's WEST. and South Exhibition Halls, and the event will not use the Aomi Exhibition Halls.
The committee previously stated that, due to new capacity restrictions, it is "extremely likely" that a lottery will determine those chosen to participate. Therefore, not all circles, companies, general attendees, and cosplayers who wish to attend may be able to receive passes. Although past Comikets gathered 200,000 attendees per day, the upcoming event will be limited to tens of thousands of participants per day.
The Comic Market Committee announced in July that they were aiming to move the planned winter Comic Market 99 event from this winter to the Golden Week holidays in 2021 (which will take place in April and May, 2021). The committee cited scheduling issues considering Tokyo Big Sight's East Exhibition hall will remain unavailable until fall 2021 due to the Olympics, and the difficulty of taking preventative measures restricting the maximum capacity of each hall due to COVID-19. The committee also stated it is considering projects for the 45th anniversary of Comiket in December, building upon the "Air Comiket" concept that it used in May when Comiket 98 was canceled.
The Comiket 98 event that was planned to take place from May 2-5, 2020 was canceled to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The event was planned for May instead of the normal August timeframe due to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics scheduled to take place in July-August. However, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are now postponed to a planned July 23, 2021 start.
