Shopping Guide
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For two days, Nov. 2 and 3, at Ikebukuro Sunshine City in Tokyo, the Animate Girls Festival (AGF) was held. AGF brought together every otome genre including otome games, anime, BL comics 1, hobby, cosplay, and more. Over 70 companies, including publishers and game makers, exhibited at this huge event. The main hall of Sunshine City was divided into four areas––Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow––and there were rows of company booths in each one. An area for cosplay was also set up in the Green Area.
The areas that attracted particularly impressive popularity were the booths selling goods related to the anime Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club and Kuroko’s Basketball. These goods were worth obtaining, and attendees lined up to buy them starting with the arrival of the first train in the morning. Many attendees from overseas could also be seen walking around the venue. American girls living in Japan who attended the event purchased anime and cosplay goods with the goal of being photographed in the cosplay zone.
AGF had its fair share of great cosplay. Because it was possible to travel between the event, a nearby park, and the Animate Ikebukuro store, cosplayers dressed as a variety of characters could be seen walking around regardless of the light drizzle of rain outside, and their presence livened up the event. Companies focused their efforts on male cosplay models dressed as the characters from their works as well as creating eye-catching booths. Rejet, which has released many female-oriented games and situation CDs, had a lineup of gorgeous cosplayers dressed as the characters from the currently broadcasting anime Diabolik Lovers. They were also able to attract customers to their booth by creating an intriguing world with the theme “Next 2014 Have a Nice Trip.” Using this theme, there booth was designed after a London bus and the staff were dressed in trad clothing. On the other end of the spectrum, Broccoli, the company behind the series Uta no Prince-sama, created an airline counter at their booth complete with illustrations of the idols from the work dressed in pilot costumes and the logo “Shining Airlines.”
Kotobukiya, Alter, and Megahouse had an adjoining figure area at which figures of characters from Naruto, Gintama, Sailor Moon, and Kuroko’s Basketball were on display. Attendees were in a daze as the snapped pictures of these figures using their cell phone’s camera. Among the figures on display, there was a long line of attendees waiting to capture a picture of Alter’s figures of Haruka Nanase and Makoto Tachibana from Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club in their unpainted state. In addition to the character goods, 2pmWorks picked up attention for selling stylish fashion items like nail stickers and stockings that were collaboration items with popular works like Evangelion and Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
In addition to the sales area, stage shows and specials events were held in a satellite location. A unique event among these was a keyword rally that used AR technology. Participants downloaded an exclusive app to their smartphones and scoured the area in search of AR character panels that when looked at through the smartphone’s screen, displayed special images and words. Those who collected the three keywords within the time period received a special AGF smartphone wallpaper. Panels were set up of characters from Hakuōki the Movie, Attack on Titan, and Diabolik Lovers in three areas. In addition to the keyword rally, there was a 6-meter by 3-meter message board set up in the Green Area which proved to be a popular addition to the event on which female fans conveyed their feelings to their favorite characters through words and illustrations.
AGF is an event that is growing year by year. For female fans who enjoy anime and cosplay, why not come to Japan next year to sightsee and attend this event at the same time?
^1^ BL stands for “Boys Love.” This is a genre of manga dedicated to romances between males. Many are themed after romantic relationships between bishonen characters.
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article written by Megumi Higashiashidani and translated by Jarrett Meuser.
