One of the fascinating phenomena observed at the Comic Market (Comiket) event is the practice of attendees camping overnight outside the venue gates to secure an early spot in the queue. Those who take part in this activity are commonly referred to as Tetsuyagumi (徹夜組, loosely translates to “overnight group”). Although the organisers prohibited this activity due to safety concerns, it continued every year. This practice finally stopped after the introduction of online ticketing, which was implemented at Comiket events after the pandemic.
Also read: Interview with Comiket Organiser
A similar Tetsuyagumi phenomenon has also been observed at Indonesia’s biggest comic market event Comic Frontier (Comifuro). However, unlike at Comiket, the Tetsuyagumi at Comifuro do not camp overnight. Instead, they arrive very early, sometimes as early as dawn. Because of this, they are often referred to as Pejuang Pagi or Pejuang Subuh, which translate respectively to “Morning Warriors” and “Dawn Warriors.”
During Comifuro XX, we also decided to become one of these “early risers” to secure a good spot in line before entering the venue. We wanted to know how different the experience would be compared to if we simply arrived at a regular time. We also observed how attendees behaved during the activity, and how early they came to the venue.
We departed from our apartment near one of the largest malls in BSD, AEON BSD City at 0612 West Indonesian Time (WIT) and booked an online motorcycle taxi to head to the venue at Hall 10, ICE BSD City.
We arrived at the parking lot of Hall 10 at 0627 WIT and secured our place in line by 0634 AM. When we arrived, many attendees were already at the venue. After asking around, we found out that some of them had already been in line since 0330 WIT.
At 0710 WIT, the first Lorena shuttle bus entered the venue. The bus brought several attendees from the Cisauk Intermodal Terminal to the Hall 10 parking lot. The passengers from this shuttle bus added to the growing crowd, which by then had formed into six separate lines.
Even though the weather was cloudy from as early as 0600 WIT, the morale around these “early risers” attendees remained high. Some came well-prepared with food, drinks, umbrellas, and raincoats, ready for the unpredictable Jabodetabek weather.
By 0730 WIT, attendees were allowed to start moving toward the ticket box tent where they could exchange their digital receipt for the event ticket. Finally, the ticket counter opened at 0800 WIT, and the ticket exchange process ran smoothly without any major issues.
After redeeming our tickets, we immediately moved to the main entrance area of Comifuro XX at Hall 10. Those who redeemed their ticket early before the event gate officially opened will be guided to a designated area just outside Hall 10 ICE before the gates officially opened at 0930 WIT. This area felt refreshingly cool with air conditioners inside, a good place for attendees to wait after they stood in the heat during the ticket exchange process.
After waiting for a little over an hour, we finally made our way into Comifuro XX, held across Halls 6 to 10 of ICE BSD City. With that, we just finished our experience as one of the Pejuang Pagi of Comifuro XX.
The Indonesian Anime Times | Report by Aldin Firgiawan | Translation by Dany Muhammad
