For once I’m writing on something that happened very, very recently!
However, I apologize that the English version of the post will take another bit, especially when it’s the case when I’m just about to hit the Con.
As with all the other articles that need translation, I’ll be working on them as quickly as I can.

In the previous article, I wrote about prepping to attend a comic convention – specifically on attending Comic City; in this article, I will go into detail about the actual event I attended – Comic City Osaka 77 (henceforth as CC Osaka) – along with hints and tips about what to do on the day of the event.

It was a first in a while for me to attend an event of this sort, let alone the first time for me to attend one at the beginning of a year. I debated as to whether I wanted to get there bright and early in the morning from the start, or to go later in the day when it is slightly less busier – I ended up choosing the former.
The venue for CC Osaka is Intex Osaka; I was expecting to get to the venue from the nearest station – Nakafutō Station for New Tram, so I, as I’ve always done in the past, got off at Cosmosquare Station to transfer to the New Tram, till I noticed some signs posted at the station. As it turned out, attendees were advised to walk from Cosmosquare Station (instead of Nakafutō Station) – this was a measure taken by the station (and transit system) for crowd control.
I have to admit this was somewhat unexpected at first, though it became clear why it’s necessary after seeing the amount of people inside the station and in the train.

I arrived at the venue a bit before 9am, yet there were an astounding number of people waiting to enter the venue.
Intex Osaka consists of 6 sections (section 6 is further divided into 4 sub-sections), of which section 1 was used for line-ups standing by for entry into the venue, and the rest were all used for booths for artist circles. Circles were allocated to a section according to their main genre of work.
In all areas of the venue, there was music played in the background, ranging from J-pop to anime tunes. While waiting, many attendees were checking their pamphlets and marking the circles they are interested (and sure enough, I was doing the same).

The pamphlet contains a map of the venue and an index of participating circles. There are two types of indexes – one is a list of circles in alphabetical order with corresponding booth locations, and the other is a list of circles categorized by genre accompanied by a “circle cut” (small sample of their work). You would want to use the alphabetical list if you know exactly which circle you want to see, and you would want to use the index with the circle cuts if you just have a generic idea of what genre you are interested.
Here’s a sample of the venue map:

As you can see, you can detach the map from the pamphlet, though keep in mind that the map will not serve as a substitute for an entry pass – in other words, you are still required to be in possession of the actual pamphlet in order to enter the venue. That said, make sure not to discard the pamphlet after detaching the map if you haven’t officially entered the event venue (and no, being in line to enter does not count as “being in the venue”.)

The event opens at 10:30am, yet due to the amount of people, it took me until around 11am to enter the venue.
After entering the venue, it really depends on each person where to go first. If you are with a group of people, you would naturally want to “split the workload” by assigning each person to a section – this would definitely increase the chances of being able to acquire the merchandise you want. This CC Osaka, given that it was the first event of the kind of the year, was especially large-scale, which meant that the more genres/series you are interested in, the more you had to run around all over the venue.
As there would be no way to split the workload when you are at an event on your own, you would have to simply set your priorities in that case. Keep in mind that those circles that are positioned along the wall tend to be the “big-name” circles – if they are the kind you are aiming for, be prepared to wait in line for a while.
As well, events that expect to have a large number of attendees tend to have some traffic regulations (such as one-ways) within the venue – it would be a wise idea to check such regulations on the venue map in the pamphlet while waiting to enter the venue.
For this particular event, there were some traffic regulations around the escalators, creating some one-way paths and detours to get to Section 6C and 6D. While I was planning ahead about how to get to those sections, it wasn’t until after I got to the escalators that I got a clear grasp of the traffic regulation.

As far as convention etiquette is concerned, most of it is common sense, though I do want to mention a few things.
When you want to look a their samples, give the artists some acknowledgement by saying a few words such as “May I?” (in Japanese it would be “ii-desuka?”) before looking, and “Thank you” after looking. It does become somewhat awkward just looking at samples without saying anything.
Another thing to watch for is payment. Do not *ever* use large bills (5000 or 10000yen) for payment, especially not at the beginning of the event in the morning. For big-name circles, it does not become as much of an issue, but if you start using such large bills toward the beginning of the event, circles will be running low on change and it will severely inconvenience them. To avoid needless trouble, it is best to prepare small change in advance.

Given it was the first event in a while for me, I felt somewhat inclined to ask for a sketch from one of the artists.
Some artists are willing to do on-the-spot sketches (and they will likely have a sign of some sort at their booth if that’s the case). Attendees would bring their own sketchbooks for artists to draw something.
However, keep in mind that the artists will be multitasking and have a limited number of sketches they can do.
It is definitely a great way for attendees to interact with the artists, so I would recommend asking for sketches if you have a chance.
If you do not have a sketchbook with you, the vendors inside the venue usually carry some for this very purpose.
When asking for a sketch, be respectful and don’t feel offended if the artists are unable to fulfill your request. If an artist does agree to do a sketch for you, do show your appreciation, and don’t forget to pick up your sketchbook before the end of the event.
As well, keep in mind that artists are doing sketches as a favor – don’t make requests for something complicated (difficult pose, asking for multiple characters in the sketch) – chances are, you are not the only one who are getting sketches done.

For the most part, I got to do everything I intended on doing, from buying most of the books I wanted to getting a sketch done by one of the artists I really like.
Overall, it was a great experience and it was honestly worth going.
I do realize this is not much of an objective report on the event, but hopefully these past two articles gave you some idea of what to expect out of a Japanese comic convention.