Dokomi – The Review!

In what is a first for me I finally attended the largest Anime Convention in Germany, Dokomi which is a 3 day event held at the Messe Dusseldorf Center in you guessed it… Dusseldorf, Germany. I’ve finally attended my first European convention so I guess that makes me an “international cosplay photographer” now!

Unlike many people who only go to the con itself. I went for a whole week so I could experience the country and do a bit of sightseeing also. So think of it as a travel holiday with a convention tacked on. Now this was all done on top of a last minute decision to attend Secret Con at Gloucester Prison the weekend before I was due to fly out! I literally had only one day to travel back home, unpack, change clothes and start packing for my departure on the Tuesday morning.

When booking flights I went with Eurowings (a Lufthansa budget airline) as they did direct flights from Manchester to Dusseldorf in around 1 hour 30 mins. The only flight times available on that day were either early morning 8.05am or a late night flight. So I finished packing around midnight on Monday and after only 3 hours of sleep made my way by taxi to Manchester Airport to arrive at the ungodly hour of 5am.

The process of check-in and going through the security checks went fairly smoothly. My camera backpack weighed in at around 7kg and went through the scanner without a hitch. Boarding the plane was also straightforward and after stowing away my bag and getting seated it wasn’t long before we were on our way.

Landing in Dusseldorf was easy, the only minor thing that happened was at the German border control where I was quizzed by one of the staff about why I was in the Non-EU lane when I had a German name, but that was quickly resolved. Now the fun part was playing the waiting game as I’d arrived around 10am Dusseldorf time and couldn’t check into the Holiday Inn Express until 3pm. After making a video call home I spent some time just sitting in the airport people watching to pass the time. Then I decided I was thirst and tried my first interaction in German and ordered a coffee and a pastry. They love their bread and pasties in Germany!

Once it was getting near check-in time I ventured outside and was then struck by the blast furnace of the German Summer. I had to lookup on my phone how to ask for a taxi in German as despite my studying for some two months my knowledge in those situations was not enough. I did eventually manage to explain to the driver where I wanted to go and arrived at the Holiday Inn Express near the airport. I’d chosen this hotel because it was probably the cheapest I could find with the Euro’s being held in Germany. I wanted to be close to the airport for the first time to avoid the risk of arriving late and missing my flight home.

When I got to my room I pretty much crashed out for the rest of the day. I had in my head the idea of heading into the city and start exploring but my body had other ideas so that was a non starter. I did go out for a little walk around the general area which is something I’ve always done in a new place, just trying to get by bearings and familiarise myself with the area. Not far up the road I came across a large bridge and watched the planes taking off from the airport as well as looking at the various trains that were passing through. On my way back I found a couple of park benches in the central strip of green in-between E Plus Straße and Wanheimer Straße and had a sit down and I thought to myself “fuck… I’m in Germany..”. After that I headed back to the hotel and made my way to the bar and order a much needed drink (God I miss German bier!) a meal and a much needed good night’s sleep to catch up on the previous day.

The next morning I went down for breakfast German style. Now since around February I’ve been on a low carb, high protein diet as I was advised that I was close to becoming pre-diabetic due to my weight. I had to force myself to eat more than I would normally do to make sure I wouldn’t suddenly start feeing hungry at the wrong time. The Germans love their bread rolls and I sampled a selection of them, accompanying them with various cheeses, sliced meats etc.

Next was working out how to navigate Germany’s transport system. I used the Citymapper app to work out how to get to the Messe Center so I could check out shooting locations in the adjoining Nord Park. There was mention of another app called Eezy or mobile.nrw but neither of them would work with my payment details. I only found out about this while on the road! Anyway I took the SB51 bus to Kaarste-Mitte from outside the hotel and at hopped off part way to catch the 722 the rest of the way to the Messe Centre.

Nord Park is an absolutely stunning park which is divided into several sections.

Each section is different ranging from lots of trees to a small field of tall grass not to mention the stunning water display as well as the Japanese garden.

I had made one critical mistake though… On the Wednesday it was 31 degrees C and I didn’t take any water with me. There was meant to be a cafe but that was closed for refurbishment and there were no drinkable water dispensers around. After walking around the park for a few hours I was getting very dehydrated so spotted the Aquazoo and found that if I bought the Dusseldorf Card I’d get free admission as well as free transport.

The Aquazoo is an amazing place but it doesn’t have any kind of cafe (!). For a place with all that water the only source of water for visitors was a tap you could slurp from and I barely had the energy to do that! I then decided it was best to head back so made my way to the bus stop outside the park and waited for the 722. I somehow missed the stop at Am Hein and ended up at another stop right alongside a busy dual carriageway. For a few minutes I thought I was stranded until I spotted a path and then used Citymapper to guide me back to the Messe Center via a 20 min walk in the baking heat. When I did finally get back to the changeover spot I took the SB51 again but in the wrong direction as the app failed to notify me of which direction the bus was heading in. So off I went on a scenic bus tour of the ‘burbs of Dusseldorf. When I realised I was going in the wrong direction I started looking for places to get off and eventually spotted a place where another bus was making a turn to go the other direction and got off there. I was desperately thirsty and walked around looking for a shop to buy a drink. This is where carrying Euros really pays off as when I went to pay the shop owner said something to me that I didn’t understand until he showed me that his card reader wasn’t working. At least I could pay in Euros and get that much needed drink. Once I got on the SB51 going the right way I chugged a 1.5 litre bottle of lemon as I was so dry it was unreal. So lesson learned, always take water with you in Summer!

On Thursday I ventured into the city itself via the SB51 and getting off at Theodor-Heuss-Brücke and going down the stairs to ground level and catching the U78 tram to D-Steinstraße U, which is where the Königsallee, Dusseldorf’s upmarket shopping district is located.

I then decided to do the touristy thing and take the city tour bus and ride around until I saw somewhere I wanted to get off. I then wandered around the Medienhafen area near the Rhine known for its eclectic architecture, and yes I love architecture. German architecture looks very stark and stoic at times but the former warehouses in the area were restored using avant garde architecture that looks totally different to anything else.

When one of my photographer friends saw my post on FB about going to Dokomi he recommended visiting the Rhine tower which was something on my must see list. And, given that I could see it from where I was I made my way there to check it out.

The Rhine Tower is an imposing structure standing some 240m above ground level that was completed in 1981. When I entered I checked the price list for admission and when I asked for a ticket (in my basic German) then man said “wie alt?” and for a second I was confused until I realised he was asking if I was old (!) so I said yes and got in for 9 Euros instead of 12.50!

We took the elevator up to 163m and got off at the viewing lounge and bar. Unfortunately we had a party of school kids on a summer trip that were noisy. There is also a very highly regarded Japanese Sushi restaurant on the next level above but you need to make a booking as it is heavily in demand. I was happy to just order a cake and some coke and enjoy the view as well as take some video and pictures of the stunning views of the Dusseldorf area.

I then walked back along the Rhine and tried retracing my steps to get back to the Königsallee, this was when I realised that while getting into the city from my hotel was easy, getting back wasn’t as I couldn’t just go the same way I came. My legs were aching from all the walking as well as carrying a backpack with my camera gear, so I needed to figure out how to get back and that’s when I caved in and used the Freenow taxi app and booked a taxi back to the hotel. I think it cost me something like 26 Euros but I didn’t care as when you’re in a strange city I just want to get back to the hotel as quickly as possible.

I ought to mention that my friend Sian who was a cosplayer was also going to Dokomi with some friends and by spooky coincidence was staying in the same hotel having arrived on the Thursday.

Dokomi – Day 1

Me, Sian and her friends set off for the convention around midday and took the SB51 bus and followed some other cosplayers who looked like they knew where they were going (ha!ha!) and proceeded to go the wrong way on the tram. Actually if we got off at the Aquazoo stop there was an Aldi nearby and we could have bought some drinks and made our way to the Messe Center by going through the park. Instead we jumped off at the next stop and took the tram in the opposite direction and once we’d reached the right spot we got off and continued on foot following the other cosplayers. I was already feeling the heat and the weight of my backpack were taking their toll so I was slowing down and walking at my own pace until I decided to take a break for a few minutes and then carried on. I eventually made it to the Messe Center and then joined the long queue to get in. The process of checking attendees in was really slick as there were several lines of people getting their tickets scanned. Once inside I made my way upstairs initially to the workshop area and found a place to sit before heading back down to the ground floor and then walking around hall 1. I think that they were using at least five halls and considering their size they were packed out with people. If one of the Brit cons had this hall they would have half filled it and completely wasted the remaining space with pointless backdrops that were of no real use to anyone. 

Seriously though, if I were to compare Dokomi with a Brit con there would be no comparison. There is so much to see and do I doubt you’d have seen all of it in the whole weekend. The gaming areas were huge and divided into banks of retro console games, Nintendo Switch games, a multiplayer tournament area with lots of seating and a big screen projector with live commentary. Honestly they really understand what con goers want from an event. I used the first day as a chance to wander around the con and enjoy it as a member of the public rather than a photographer. I did towards the end manage to get a quick shoot with a couple of Nier Automata cosplayers and also an amazing Estinien cosplay from Final Fantasy 14.

By 5pm I was beat and was waiting outside for my friend to come out but she’d lost the other two inside the con which is not a hard thing to do given how huge the event is. So I was standing outside watching a stream of cosplayers leaving the event and I have never seen so many people in my life. Once we had all assembled we decided not to take a chance on the free public transport as it was rammed and took a taxi back to the hotel.

Dokomi – Day 2

Well day 2 followed a similar formula with the difference that we followed Citymapper’s advice and get off at D-Birkhahnweg to catch the 722. This is where public transport failed us again as the bus was rammed as was the next one so my friends decided to walk on. I stayed at the stop a while longer before giving up and walking there myself except this time I crossed the road and entered Nord Park in search of my first shoot.

By this time there were a number of people making their way to the con and it was just randomly asking people if they were free for a quick shoot. I would then move onto another area and repeat the same. Not having any scheduled bookings made it a little more work but I think I did pretty well for my first visit to this con. I had noticed that there were a large number of other photographers who seemed to have had the best cosplayers lined up for a shoot one after another.

As the afternoon progressed and temperatures got hotter people were setting up gazebos, pop-up tents and blankets throughout the park with boom boxes playing music everywhere and cosplayers just chilling. It was such a relaxed vibe around the park that you’d never see at a British con! 

Most of the afternoon was basically a “rinse, wash & repeat” process until I decided to head back into the con for another pass through the halls. What I wasn’t aware was that on the Saturday they were still open until 8pm which is unheard of here in the UK. One advantage of this is that the con quietens down a bit and you can take a more leisurely look around. I left the con around 8pm and went back to the hotel on my own.

This was the night when the heavens opened up in Dortmund during the first half of the match and dumped the contents of a large reservoir onto the stadium!

Dokomi – Day 3

Day 3, ah well that went off to a great start when I heard an alarm and an announcement in German at roughly 4.45am saying we had to evacuate the building by the emergency stairs. I was really groggy (as you’d be at that time) and when taking the stairs my ankle gave way and I fell backwards onto the stairs twice. Once outside it was only a few minutes before we heard sirens and the Fire Brigade came to the hotel to investigate. A short while later we were allowed in and had to go up by four flights of stairs to get back to my room. I slept on for an hour or two but was now still tired as well as limping on a bad ankle. Not a great start to the final day. Also I thought the alarm message wasn’t emphatic enough as I was expecting more like “Achtung!, Achtung!, Schnell!, Schnell!, Raus!!!! Like Dortmund it had also rained just not as heavy.

Once I made my way to the park I only managed to get one shoot as it was already really busy and then the weather started to change and become cloudy with the potential of rain. I headed back to the con slightly disheartened as I was hoping to have a more productive day’s shooting and then ran into a Steins;Gate meetup which I was not expecting and it really lifted my spirits hanging out with them and taking some group photos as well as some video.

I finished the day walking around taking some more video including the “over 18’s” area (for which I had to show my passport to verify I was really over 18!) including Hentai, which some people would think was full of pervy guys when in fact there was a large female contingent with some of them actually being the artists themselves!

Then at 5pm I heard the announcement that Dokomi was over for this year and that people should make their way to the exits and at the same time I saw lots of traders packing up as well as the Messe staff taking down displays and cutting the carpets for removal. It makes you wonder what event was taking place on the Monday.

Monday – Last Sightseeing day

As Monday was my last day I decided to head into the city and do some last sightseeing before I head back home to blighty. I started off walking around the Königsallee area, taking the time to go into some of the shops as well as the shopping centre. Did you know that the Aldi in Dusseldorf has an air conditioned restaurant! So different from what we have here in the UK. Carrying on with a leisurely stroll through the city I stopped to take pictures of the trams passing by as well as some of the local buildings and fountains.

By this time is was around 2pm and my ankle was playing up a bit so while walking through the Little Tokyo district I stopped outside Hokkaido Kitchen one of the many Japanese restaurants in the area and waited in a line to be seated and order some food.

Being my last day I decided to go for their special offer of 7 pieces of sushi, 2 pieces of Karage Chicken and a half portion of Udon Ramen. The ramen bowl was pretty big for a half portion but I managed to get through it.

After that I had planned on walking to the Altstadt but in the end I went into a few of the Manga stores that were there and browsed for a bit. I had hoped to be able to go back to the hotel by public transport but all of the routes Citymapper came up with had multiple changes which seemed odd so in the end I took the taxi back to the hotel.

Tuesday – Homeward Bound

I was already packed the night before and as I had an early flight at 6.45am I got up around 3am somewhat sleep deprived and decided to freshen up for the journey home. Well while it was around 14 degrees outside some bright spark at the airport decided they needed to turn the heat up and it was sweltering. One I’d gone through the baggage check where they checking my camera gear for traces of illegal substances, I then made my way to border control and there was a massive line in front of me! I was starting to feel the heat and had to stay in line or lose my place while we slowly made our way closer to the final checks. By the time I’d reached the border control booth I was sweating so much it wasn’t funny. Thankfully I got through that and then after a short sit down had to stand again in another long line to board the plane.

Our flight was delayed by 15 mins for some reason but we were soon in the air again. The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful as it had been cloudy that morning and I could hardly see any break in the clouds for most of the way back. I only realised I was in the UK when we passed through the clouds and I saw the Stockport Pyramid and then I thought “s**t I’m home now”.

After getting home I crashed out in bed for a few hours to catch up on some sleep and felt tired the day after also. 

And that is the end of my review of Dokomi. I hope you found it enjoyable.

So if you’re wondering if Dokomi is for you let me put it like this…

• Are you a fan of anime/artists & gaming?
• Are you disappointed with the convention offerings in your own country?
• Are you looking for a convention that doesn’t feel like a cash grab for the organisers?
• Are you looking for a well organised but super chilled out convention vibes?

If you answered yes to any/all of these then yes Dokomi is for you! I’ll be honest here and say that in the seven years I’ve been attending cons, Dokomi is the first one that I can genuinely say has taken my breath away and has given me so many great memories!

Useful things to know

• While most Germans can switch into English some of them can’t (especially taxi drivers, and some of them couldn’t understand German wither from what I heard) I’d recommend you think about learning some German. Start with Duolingo but don’t rely on it and use other resources like Deutche Welle and Easy German on YouTube to supplement your learning. German is a hard language with many rules so don’t be afraid if you make mistakes.
• German Summers are really hot. Temperatures in excess of 30 degrees are commonplace here in June/July so always carry at least one water bottle with you at all times and fill up where you can!
• Always carry some Euros so you can pay in cash if the card machine is out of order/no working.
• Install the Freenow app (available in the Apple & Google Play store) to book taxis.
• Book your hotels early to lock in cheaper prices.
• If you want to see more of the city you have two choices, pick a hotel in the city for the non-convention days to make sightseeing easier or stay at one of the hotels near the airport and use a mixture of bus & taxi services.
• While the Dokomi ticket includes free transport on the days of the convention be aware that they are frequently full and not always reliable. Personally I’d book a taxi for travelling to and from the con.
• Be aware that after 5/6pm some bus services stop running which could make getting back to your hotel take much longer. Budget for a taxi on those days.
• All shops are closed on Sundays so if you’re staying somewhere that’s self catering like an apartment stock up the day before or go out to a restaurant or order food in via the Uber Eats/Wolt app.
• The “Little Tokyo” district has some awesome Japanese restaurants if you like sushi, ramen or karage dishes.