AnimeJapan: Big City Getaway Part II

On March 26th, Japan hosts their biggest anime convention. I went early before opening, knowing Japan's propensity for long lines. But I was still unprepared for the massive queue I encountered. The line started far away from the property, all the way at the coast, snaking through a massive parking lot before doubling back towards the event halls. Thousands of people were already there, eagerly awaiting the doors to open.  After waiting for about two hours, I was able to get inside. Considering the amount of people, the line actually moved incredibly quickly. I checked into it later, over 135,000 people attended, so I am happy I managed to get into venue as soon as I did.

AnimeJapan's format is practically identical to TGS. This meant there is not much merchandise, and most of the booths were promo displays, and the cosplay section was again tucked in the back. This makes sense to me now though, since people can buy practically anything related to their favorite shows 30 minutes away in Akihabara. 

I met up with Jefferey and his friend James. Together we explored the convention. Seeing as Jefferey is a huge Yu-Gi-Oh fan, we lined up to have our photo taken with Dark Magician Girl from the show. I am sure 10 year old Charles would be quite jealous.

The Fate series had a strong showing, with cutouts of characters from the upcoming game, and professional cosplayers posing with decorated sports cars. It was amusing to see the hobbyist photographers layered on top of one another to snap a good shot of the models.

As I wandered around I saw a huge Garo display celebrating an anniversary I believe. I didn’t realize it was such a popular show, especially considering the anime adaptations of the live action series had only begun recently. The booth functioned as a museum of sorts, with props and costumes from the show set up on display, and art from the anime lining the walls.

Some of the coolest parts of the convention for me were sections which featured key frame art from notable series. One booth in particular had iPads featuring art and interviews of famous animators and directors. Another one had screens displaying 4 different periods of production of a show simultaneously, with each quadrant playing a different part.

I was able to find more keyframe art from the Monogatari series, which were different from the material I had seen in Hokkaido. The art was featured side by side with the final scenes, which was a cool comparison to see! There was also Gurren Laggan keyframe art, which is a fantastic series known for it's stylistic flair. Near that collection was full size Gurren statue!

Many other booths had life size cutouts of characters, or replicas of items from the shows. Some things I saw were the Berserk Sword, C.C. Sakura wands, and a real life Koro-sensei! A cool display had a Phoenix Wright and Detective Conan wire-frame illusion statue, which shifted characters depending on the angle.  Nearby were also official Phoenix Wright cosplayers to take a photo with!

Another  interesting booth featured a manga artist's desk, where an actual background artist was currently producing art! Hanging above were tons of other pieces of background and key art for various movies and series. 

There was also a large section with all of the upcoming series posters, which was cool and a bit overwhelming to walk through.

Within the halls I found a booth promoting tourism to Tottori. Our prefecture is known for a famous supernatural manga called GeGeGe no Kitaro, as well as the setting for the popular swimming anime Free!  It seems our prefecture is trying to capitalize on this and attract visitors. And of course there was a pear themed mascot in attendance, with lots of paraphernalia which seemed to pull people in, if nothing else just to get some fun swag.

An interesting section, which was also at TGS, was the career development area. Various colleges from around Japan feature their digital art programs with student work and live teaching sessions. AnimeJapan went even further, having career counseling on-site.

Close by to that section we saw a guy narrating manga on a projector. He even did the sound effects! 

At one point we walked past the food area of the convention, which, unsurprisingly, had an unreasonably long line. Yet the cause for this line was understandable, as the cafeteria was serving meals straight out of notable anime series! As cool as it would have been to eat a Jack Rocket's Burger from Blood Blockade Battlefront, we opted to actually see the con. And honestly, there is a good chance the meal would have sold out before we even got to order.

Later that afternoon, one of the open stages held a brief concert! This was odd to see, since most of the concerts and panels are lottery based, and have to be entered into months before the event. Thankfully this one was right on the showfloor, which served as a fun distraction.

One funny thing I saw was a small booth for Bananya (the japanese onomatopoeia for "meow" is "nya"). And yes from that description, the character is indeed a cat inside of a banana. Apparently a Japanese stationary company occasionally creates these characters, which spawn massive merchandising opportunities. Cute sells in Japan, no matter how absurd (there is also a somewhat unsettling egg yolk character who is quite popular, so Bananya is not some one-off oddity).

In another section of the massive event center, Good Smile, a figurine company, had a massive display celebrating their popular Nendroid line.  The line features characters from popular franchises in an adorable, bobble-head like form. Interestingly enough, not a single item was on sale in the entire booth.

Speaking of missed sales opportunities, there was an entire wall in the the convention aptly described by Jefferey as the Wall of "You Missed it Sucker". Every item enshrined in this display was a product that just stopped or is no longer in production. Japan clearly puts different emphasis on supply and demand. Suppliers never seem to be at fault, with consumers who missed out feeling ashamed for their lack of enthusiasm and prioritization, even if the items were obviously under-stocked.

We stayed until the end of the convention. At closing time anywhere in Japan, the locations will play a particular tune which equates to an announcement of "we're closed, please leave". I have found it both amusing and effective, so I decided to document it this time.

On our way out I got to walk under the architectural marvel of Big Sight. This strange supported reverse pyramid is an iconic building in Japan, but is actually not the main convention space. It is reserved for small, special events, with the more standard open halls being used for the actual bulk of conventions.


My visit to AnimeJapan was a great day spent with good friends geeking out over our favorite media.