My experience going to Dokomi for the first time
July 2024
I’ve never been to a Anime convention before, infact due to the social anxiety created by the Depression i had avoided big crowds alltogether for a good while.
But after the stay at the Day clinic was over at the start of June, i decided to go with my friends, as i was staying in the area of the convention anyways.
What is Dokomi
The Dokomi is one of the biggest anime and manga conventions in europe, receiving well over 100.000 guests.
Why would i go there
To be entirely honest the main reason i wanted to go was because my friends where going. But i have a weakness for Anime art, especially drawings. I did draw some manga myself a while back. I never really watched a lot of anime but that didn’t stop me from really getting to like the drawing style.
And since the main friend i was going with is also into art, we spend the time together mostly in the Artists Alley. Where you could see art from over 700, yes 700 artists and buy prints, stickers, pins, cards, key chains and more… Besides the Artists Alley there are stands from game devs, manga sellers, merch sellers…its huge.
How my experience was
Better then i thought, before the first day it was not entirely clear if i would be able to handle the big crowds and i mean there where extremely crowded moments, especially on the weekend. But the extreme anxiety i was fearing did not come and besides some small incidents it went pretty well.
The saturday was the worst day on which it was hard to keep moving sometimes, the other two days where fin’ish but still full of course.
I was entirely blown away by the amount of amnazing anime art there and fully emerged there for a good while, looking and (also) buying amazing art.
Besides the art we bought on sunday we also participated in a scavenger hunt which gave you tasks like to do a photo at stand x or play a game at y and so on…(and follow our sponsor on instagram). After finishing the scavenger hunt we got to choose from some goods and i went with a blue mousepad to have a cool reminder.
Besides that there where a lot of cosplayers from across the entire gaming and film scene, though anime characters from popular games or shows where represented the most obviously.
Conclusion
If you are someone who likes anime and manga you will not want to miss this convention, you will find something to do or buy you love, but for art enthusiasts i warn you, your wallet will suffer. But for me me that was definitely worth it.
Here are the artworks i claimed at the convention(the video contains one NSFW piece!):
See you at Dokomi in 2025 maybe!