Doujin Market, popularly known as Doujima, is back again for the 2024 segment at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Center. The event this year is celebrating its 10th edition, here at Suntec from May 11-12. This annual event sees a vibrant gathering of pop culture creators and stands as Singapore’s largest community-centric pop culture art fair, focusing on self-published and original works. Let’s take a visit and explore.
A Brief History and Evolution of Doujin Market
Originally, Doujin Market started as a small event in Singapore community centers, it provided a starting platform for artists and creators to showcase and sell their independent works. Also, these works included comics, illustrations, crafts, and other creative products.
Moreover, as Doujin Market grew and gained popularity in numbers. Consequently, in 2017, Doujin Market moved to it’s current home here at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre. It allowed for the event to accommodate the growing number of exhibitors and attendees.
A Celebration of Pop Culture
Furthermore, similar to the Singapore Comic Convention (SCC) held at the end of the year, Doujima aims to be a premier pop culture creators’ convention in Singapore. Besides stores, there were a number of cosplayers dressed in their costume livery and roaming the market floors too.
It celebrates art, illustration, and derivative content inspired by various pop culture genres, including anime, manga, and gaming. Additionally, Doujima fosters a vibrant environment where fans can interact directly with the creators, enriching the community experience.
This year, Doujin Market at Suntec City spans three vast halls. It features over 500 independent creator groups and brands, known as “doujin circles.” This makes it the largest Doujima event to date. Organizers from the Neo Tokyo Project have expanded the event to include a third hall, located in halls 403 to 405 of the Suntec City Mall.
Also, show tickets are priced reasonably at $10++ for a Day Pass or $18 for a Weekend Pass. This is especially compared to similar events like Anime Festival Asia (AFA) and the previously mentioned SCC, where tickets can cost twice as much. Note that tickets are only available online via Eventbrite, with no physical sales at the door.
Exploring the offerings of Doujima
For those planning to visit, it is recommended to attend on the second day to avoid the larger crowds typically seen on the first day. Last year’s doujin market experience highlighted this advantage. The spacious convention halls allow ample room for attendees to explore the diverse array of creator booths.
Products on sale include popular mediums such as stickers, keychains, and prints. However, despite being branded as a Doujin market, there is limited actual self-published doujins (or Doujinshi) such as manga comics or magazine content available for purchase here.
This could be due to media regulations. This is unlike doujin markets in the Japan- Doujinshi’s country of origin where their markets there are largely known to offer mostly self-published comics works for as a staple show item. Self-published works here in Singapore indeed has a different meaning.
Nonetheless, the event features over 600 talented artists, designers, and illustrators from 15 different countries, including Japan, the US, and Canada. Many booths showcase work inspired by popular genres such as Genshin Impact, Spy x Family, and Pokémon. However, the repetitiveness in themes across booths can sometimes make the offerings feel monotonous.
The event layout includes smaller creator booths along the periphery of halls 403 to 405, with more premium booths and a gaming area centrally located in the middle hall 404. This year, the center space also features indie gaming content, where you can have a go at tabletop gaming. This is in collaboration with industry partners Origame and the Singapore Games Association. Also, you can explore various indie board game and video game developers, adding an interactive dimension to the event.
Wrapping up Doujima 2024
In conclusion, that wraps up our visit here to Doujima 2024. You are good here for about 2 hours tops and probably a whole afternoon if you were to check out each shop in details. The event is more than just a convention and is tad a vibrant gathering of creators and fans alike. It has content catering to a diverse audience, whether you are an artist, a creator, someone in the creative industries, or simply a pop culture enthusiast, Doujima 2024 is an event not to be missed in Singapore’s buzzing pop culture event line-up.
