Shopping Guide
 was held in Chiba at Makuhari Messe.)
On March 30 and 31, the 2013 Anime Contents Expo (ACE) was held in Chiba at Makuhari Messe. Seventy five companies participated at the expo with booths at which popular anime goods were displayed and new information on upcoming anime was released. According to the ACE Executive Committee, the attendance for the first day was 35,631 and for the second day was 35,044. The event set a record over its two day run with more than 70,000 people attending.
In spite of the bad weather during the event, the convention center was packed with fans. Compared to last week’s Tokyo International Anime Fair 2013 (TAF), ACE had a strong element of being a purely fan-driven event. Fans’ passion for anime could be felt by the long lines of fans waiting to buy goods.
ACE 2013 also had many events happening on the different stages that had been set up, including the Red Stage, White Stage, and Open Stage. Fans’ voices could be heard resounding through the convention center when stage events were being held. Many anime related events for popular anime such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Story of Betrayal and THE iDOLM@STER, as well as new anime to start this spring, including Valvrave the Liberator and Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, were held. Furthermore, popular voice actors and musicians in charge of anime theme songs took the stage one after the other. The concerts and talk events were impressive and clearly conveyed the appeal of the works to the fans.
TOM will be bringing you a detailed report of the events and booths at ACE 2013, so please look forward to it!
Anime Contents Expo 2013 Official Site:
http://www.animecontentsexpo.jp/ (Japanese)
