Kazuki Sendo is in his third grade of high school. Because their school is on an “elevator” system of promotion, Kazuki can relax because he already has a college entrance permission. On one lazy day, Kazuki and his best friend, Mizuki Takasei, are intercepted by another one of their eccentric friends, Taishi.

He leads them to Odaiba – to Kazuki’s first ever Dojinshi Convention. To normal people like Kazuki and Mizuki, such a convention is a very strange place indeed. The convention centre is crammed with all sorts of Otaku, Dojinshi artists and cosplayers. It’s an overwhelming situation that threatens to drag one under in its eccentricity. And it literally does.

Kazuki is sort of saved from the masses by a young girl called Yuu Inagawa. She is the creator of the doujinshi called “Heart-Beat”. At her side, Kazuki slowly comes to realise just what an interesting thing manga really is, and with Taishi’s influence, perhaps he too should pick up the pencil and brush.

And the next day when the eccentric Yuu joins his class, he knows for sure that his journey into the world of doujinshi has begun!

Comic Party is a 13 part 2001 slice of life, romantic comedy anime series directed by Sudo Norihiko and produced by KSS and OLM.

An anime series poking fun at the anime, manga and otaku scene is generally quite fun and in this regard Comic Party doesn’t let one down. It’s a decent, if a little slow paced slice of life drama with a lot of laughs, a hint of romance (with harem elements I guess), and thanks to the eccentric Taishi and all his shenanigans, interesting enough to stick with for its short run.

To be honest, based on a romantic adventure and dating sim video game means that most of the characters come across as a little bland, particularly the doujinshi girls, thankfully the quite eccentric Taishi does stand out as being brilliant addition to the cast, adding a bit of excitement to what is a sometimes plodding show.

The animation is of a good standard, and it is nice seeing that they aren’t being forced to switch to a deformed style to depict the humorous events of the story. The voice acting is a bit annoying though, especially for the girls’ voices. It’s just to cutesy for my liking.

It’s not an exhilarating watch by any means, but it will pull a couple of laughs and it is an interesting look at the world of otaku and producing doujinshi.

(Historic Note of interest: This review was written back in 2004)

Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Party