Exhibitions

We picked up some exhibitions that caught our attention from the diversity of Anime exhibitions by more than 160 leading business players from the Japanese animation industry (in alphabetical order). We hope that these photo reports could help you feel the atmosphere of the huge and busy festival and the trends of the current Japanese animation industry and market.

Aniplex

Having one of the largest exhibition spaces, the Aniplex booth was filled with content ranging from TV series to movies, an interactive installation for Cells at Work!, one of the biggest hits in Japan last year, which scans and evaluates what kind of cell you are, and a photo spot for The Promised Neverland, and a life-sized figure of Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist.

Inside the booth were stations where Aniplex’s animations were showcased in categories such as “ON AIR,” “SPRING,” “SUMMER,” and “MOVIES,”, where visitors could find the latest information on each title, autographs of directors and casts, props related to the title, and original scripts.

They also had their own event stage adjacent to the exhibition space, and held 11 talk events in addition to the 9 stages held on the official AJ “Rock” Stage.

The huge Aniplex booth.
The huge Aniplex booth.
Stations introducing titles in categories.
Photo spot for “The Promised Neverland”.
“Cells at Work!” ©清水茜/講談社・アニプレックス・davidproduction
“The Promised Neverland” ©白井カイウ・出水ぽすか/集英社・約束のネバーランド製作委員会

Attack on Titan

Dedicated solely to Attack on Titan, the popular 24-minute TV animation series with its fourth season starting in April 2019, the space recreated the town within the curtain walls in miniature scale, so the visitors themselves would become the invading “Titans.”  Figures of the characters from the Survey Corps could be recognized jumping on the rooftops and climbing walls using the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment.

Bilibili

As one of the few of international companies that exhibited, the Chinese streaming company Bilibili announced its new partnership with Funimation on-stage. Since AnimeJapan is targeted mainly towards the general public, it was a rare occasion to witness a business partnership announced.

Comic Wave Films

A simple but eye-catching installation with the key visual of Makoto Shinkai’s new film, Weathering With You appeared in the Cosmic Wave Films booth. Appearing in theaters on 19th July 2019, the movie is a complete original, written and directed by Shinkai as was the big hit Your Name.  (This was one of the few booths which had English flyers!)

KADOKAWA Corporation & KADOKAWA (Isekai)

Right after entering the public gate, visitors were greeted by the big Kadokawa booth consisting of two sections: the Isekai booth and special event stage. The Isekai booth showcased 4 animations: Overlord, KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World!, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World and Saga of Tanya the Evil, all based in different parallel universes, and which will come together in the new anime series Isekai Quartet, a crossover between these 4 titles featuring featuring petit-chara (small, deformed characters, also known as “chibis”) starting this April.

The special stage held 10 events in 2 days, consisting of live performances of opening theme songs, radio programs by voice actors, and the announcement of new projects. Original paper bags were handed out to visitors with the key visuals of Re:Zero, KonoSuba, Bungo Stray Dogs and The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Isekai booth featured each of the four titles relating it to four seasons.
Isekai booth featured each of the four titles relating it to four seasons.
Inside the booth visitors could press a button to have characters joining into the screen on the floor.
“The Rising of the Shield Hero” ©2019 アネコユサギ/KADOKAWA/盾の勇者の製作委員会
“Bungo Stray Dogs” ©朝霧カフカ・春河35/KADOKAWA/2019文豪ストレイドッグス製作委員会

NBC Universal

The NBC Universal booth featured three TV animation titles in particular; A Certain Magical Index Ⅲ, Star-Myu and Golden Kamuy. A spectacular set of panels of the 51 characters from the popular novel-based animation series A Certain Magical Index greeted the visitors. Additionally, a key visual of the new TV series, A Certain Scientific Accelerator, based on a spin-off Manga series of the A Certain Magical Index novel series, was newly uncovered in the form of a large poster, next to the characters panels.

On the other side of the wall was a section for Star-Myu (see the stage report for details) with a photo spot and an installation of 28 gift boxes, where visitors could open them according to the number they obtained from the official website. Inside the box were gifts from each of the 28 characters, including original props which visitors could take home. Golden Kamuy had a photo spot where they also handed out posters to those who shared the photos on social media.

NBC Universal booth crowded with fans.
The “A Certain” Project panels of 51 characters.
“Star-Myu” gift boxes.
“Golden Kamuy” ©野田サトル/集英社・ゴールデンカムイ製作委員会
“A Certain Magical Index Ⅲ” ©2017 鎌池和馬/KADOKAWA アスキー・メディアワークス/PROJECT-INDEX ㈽
“A Certain Scientific Accelerator” ©2018 鎌池和馬/山路新/KADOKAWA/PROJECT-ACCELERATOR

NETFLIX

NETFLIX expanded their booth this year and had two event stages of its own, holding 13 events with 30 guests in two days.  This included stages for their original animations, as well as collaborations with other IP holders such as Pony Canyon, Avex Pictures, Production I.G., WIT Studio, etc.

The exhibition space was mostly dedicated to ULTRAMAN, their newest original full 3DCG animation available globally from April 2019, based on the hit comic title.  It featured an interactive fighting game named “ULTRAMAN BATTLE – Road to a Science Patrol member.” The movements of two players were projected and converted simultaneously onto the huge screen behind them, allowing them to perform special attacks as superheroes.

Netflix booth with fans queuing up to get numbered ticket for the stage events.
ULTRAMAN BATTLE

Shogakukan Shueisha Production

Besides Detective Conan and MIX, a new TV series, the main exhibit of the Shogakukan Shueisha Production booth was the newest Pokémon movie Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution, which will be in theaters in July. An enormous inflatable Pikachu flew over the booth, while people queued up to experience the “black light challenge”, where visitors would be led into a space where they could search for Pokémon monsters using blacklight torches. A mini calendar was given out to the participants.

SQUARE ENIX

With an enormous screen at the entrance, half of the SQUARE ENIX booth was made so visitors could play a life-sized version of the RPG app Toaru Majutsu no Index Imaginary Fest, scheduled to be released for Android and iOS devices this year. It also had a shop area which sold and new merchandise from several titles including Black Butler, with some only available at AnimeJapan 2019.

The BANDAI NAMCO Animation Airport booth

The BANDAI NAMCO Animation Airport booth was one of the most elaborate of all exhibitors, with the concept of “Airport.” Visitors are asked to first go to the ticket counter where the staff were dressed in orange uniforms (i.e. the color of BANDAI NAMCO Group) would welcome you and hand a “passport”. Then, there is a passport control, where staff would press a stamp on your passport before staring the tour. The first “boarding gate” features the history of the Gundam franchise, which has been one of the most popular and famous Sci-Fi robot Animation series in Japan for 40 years, followed by other gates introducing other major or upcoming titles including the Love Live! Franchise, a successful cross-media animation project and ANEMONE: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution (2018), the second film in the trilogy Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution. The gates were categorized into 5 areas; Gundam area, TV area, Cinema area, Web area, and A-on STORE area, with passport control for each area.

Ticket counter.
Passport control. You must have your passport stamped to get in.
Overseas fan taking photos at Gate T6, the “One-Punch Man” section, wearing the Saitama mask (a freebie).
The baggage claim featuring “IDOLiSH7”, a game-based anime content featuring 7 male idols. The luggage represents each member.

ufotable

The ufotable booth was mainly filled with merchandise of which the biggest feature was the big mosaic of Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] and Kimetsu no Yaiba made up of button badges featuring the scenes from each title.

Warner Bros. Japan

Walking into Warner Bros. Japan’s booth was like wondering into a town of chaos and excitement, and in fact made it like an actual town with street signs and crossings. On a large Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure poster, one of the character’s eyes follows you from any direction, and an AR game where you can instantly play via web was provided and visitors started shooting games right in middle of the booth. Big panels of the upcoming movies NINOKUNI and The Wonderland were set up along with other major titles including Mob Psycho 100.

[The images in this article are used with permission from the respective copyright holders. Unauthorized use of them is prohibited.]

[Photos and texts by Aya Tanaka]

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