AnimeJapan 2015 was a Great Success! Over 120,000 Visitors! AnimeJapan 2016 Coming Up in the Next March!!

AnimeJapan 2015 was held for 3 days, from March 20th to 22nd, at Tokyo Big Sight and successfully completed its mission. The total number of visitors reached over 120,000 people, more than their original goal.
Over 149 leading anime companies (138 in Main Area and 39 in Business Area) across Japan came to run their exhibition.
In the Main Area, the exhibitors carried out many characteristic programs including animation display, sales, promotion of various contents and services, and stage performances. The Business Area was established as a showcase of international market, to provide domestic and overseas companies with meeting opportunities and information exchanges. In addition, to seek for more appealing anime event, AnimeJapan 2016 was officially announced to hold on March 25th to 27th at the Tokyo Big Sight in 2016.

Opening AJ Night, a Crazy Party by the Music Artists!

At the AJ Night, the audiences were heated up by the constant switch between LIVE ACT songs and DJ performances, with the visual aid of 3 large screens.
DJ Kazu, the leading DJ, kicked off the night with his excellent choice of popular anime soundtracks, followed by the first singer Konomi Suzuki with her rock sounds. The next DJ was D-YAMA. He struck the crowds by four on the floor in anime songs.
The second Live Act comes with Sumire Uesaka. She started with Nanatsu no Umi yori Kimi no Umi and finished her role with Enma Daiō ni Kite-Goran . DJ WILDPARTY came in right after and played soundtracks from Love Live!, making all the fans crazy.
The third player of the Live Act was Suzuko Mimori. She made her first performance of Wonderful Love in live concert ever, along with other popular song like Aitaiyo…Aitaiyo!
Kai Kawasaki (p.m.works), who was involved in Is the Order a Rabbit? soundtracks, appealed in the audiences with his sophisticated techno and house.
The next Live Act player Maon Kurosaki amazed the crowds with her powerful singing of X-encounter , and Rakuen no Tsubasa , followed by the AJ Night - only version of her debut song Magic∞world . The next DJ part was lead by The Idol Master Creators, choosing the most popular titles of the series from one after another.
The last of the Live Act was by LiSA. Once she started singing Rising Hope , the entire atmosphere in the venue was altered. She continued with her overwhelming stage performance of crossing field and Shirushi .
motsu×DJ KAYA played a finishing role of the night. When they began the last song CYBER CYBER , Maon Kurosaki suddenly made a surprise break-in to the stage with Satoshi Yaginuma, a member of her music group ALTIMA. This performance created more heat-up among the audiences.
With all these powerful performances, the AJ Night had ended.

Assembly of the Two Symbolic Anime Genres: Idol Anime and Mecha Anime

With support from Newtype magazine, “Idol Anime Series” on Saturday 21st broadcasted 12 series including Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel and THE IDOL M@STER . From the old to the new, from kids to adults, they were chosen from wide genres and long history. When Love Live! was on air, there were many audiences lighting up penlights, showing how enthusiastic they were with the story.
“Mecha Anime Series” on Sunday 22nd broadcasted 12 stories from various genres such as classic Mazinger Z and unique Eureka Seven . Every time the show ended with touching scenes, the audiences always gave a loud applause.
We also placed anime history chart on the wall to show people from the world the history of Japanese animation.

The Whole View of Gundam Reconguista in G in its Production Process

Using anime series Gundam Reconguista in G as a sample, this program showcased anime production process with various materials, along with the staff profiles and Q&As.
Starting with planning, the exhibition went over script, storyboard, designing, key animation, in-between animation, background, CG, finalization, photograph, editing, audio, and finally video editing in order. The exhibition was visual-friendly for visitors by placing staff’s desk replica and showing production process in manga. There were also a video that showed the complete work of anime and “Productization” corner where it shows merchandizes. The program was designed so the visitors could feel anime-making from the beginning to the end.

Face-to-Face Feedbacks by the Best Creators

Many participants joined this workshop-style lecture where they could get direct advices, surrounded by audiences.
Instructors projected their assignments on screen and went over reviews in detail, giving direct feedbacks on them. Their lecture was very specific and useful for the participants.
During the lectures, instructors occasionally talked about their past career, as for how they got involved in anime production and how one could survive the anime business. They received wide range of questions from the attendees during the Q&A session and answered in detail. It seems that interacting with youth and their energy was quite exciting for the instructors as well. At the end, they gave the future creators a word of encouragement.

Cosplayers Assembled in Cosplayers’ World!

Cosplayer’s World came back this year again. Having a larger changing room and outdoor cosplay area, more cosplayers than the last year showed up this time.
In the Anime Official Situation, background screens presenting GEKKAN SHOJO NOZAKI KUN , Kantai Collection , Kuroko’s Basketball , and Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie lined up together. Original screens such as rainbow, mug-shot, and KEEP OUT were also setup. Many people joined the queues for photographs. Colsplay Challenge, where you could try out cosplay for ¥1,000 an hour, was another popular program. You could see a variety of anime characters walking down in the AnimeJapan 2015 venue, making it enjoyable both for cosplayers and people who watch cosplay.

From Rare Items to “the Right to Visit 2D World” and “Right to Portrait Yourself,” Many Item Displayed

In Charity Auction, the exhibitors showcased various rare items. From the old to the new series, many of the items were things you could never obtain outside of AnimeJapan.
They came from the most popular recent series such as RIN-NE , The Fruit of Grisaia , and Yuki Yuna is a Hero . Sabagebu! even presented its 1/1 size character panel.
They also presented Mobile Suit Gundam and Star Blazers 2199 for the “Right to Visit 2D World” and Chibi Maruko-chan for the “Right to Portrait Yourself.” Fans were especially attracted to these items.
The charity is going to be donated to support organization for disaster recovery and other purposes.

Limited Clear File Folder for the Gift! Releasing the Limited Information of the Upcoming Anime!

Riddle game was carried out this year again. By solving the riddle, participants could receive the secret information of the latest anime prior to their official release. In that sense, the whole game was more directly connected with current anime than the last year. The story full of entertainment was written by Natsuko Takahashi, a scriptwriter for Yo-kai Watch and Cute High Earth Defense Club Love! The illustration and original characters were created by MAAKO.
The type of anime information you could get was intriguing like new anime’s story setting and event information. With additional gift of AnimeJapan-limited clear file folders, the program got to be very popular among the participants.
This program, which you could try freely, in a way symbolized the idea that “you can enjoy AnimeJapan from multiple ways.”

Gundam & Golden Folding Screen!? Collaboration Showcase Seeking for the Future of Anime and Traditional Crafts.

Collaboration Showcase ran the exhibition with 2 themes: “Anime × Traditional Craft” and “Anime × 47 Prefectures.”
There were 7 collaboration items dedicated to AnimeJapan 2015 on display as well as on sale. Those include byōbu in collaboration with Mobile Suit Gundam, showing Gundam and Char Zaku on the screen. Kasama-yaki from Ibaraki prefecture also worked with Girls und Panzer for tea cup. A display of the production process for these items was another popular feature for visitors.
Anime × 47 Prefecture project was portrayed on a country map to project a sense of regional promotion being bigger in today’s anime business. This whole project was dedicated to support further collaborations.

©SOTSU・SUNRISE

AnimeJapan 2015 Emphasizing Anti-Piracy. Promoting MAG PROJECT at the Booth.

In the Main Area, the anti-piracy circle MAG POJECT ran their booth, advocating anime fans to love their anime in rightful way.
MAG stands for Manga-Anime Guardians. It is an inter-corporate project founded by publishers and anime companies to counter an increasing number of pirated products. Its mission is to advocate customers to enjoy manga and anime in legal and proper ways and to support productions for healthy business activities.
One of the interesting features in their exhibition was a large-size illustration panel named “JOIN US, FRIENDS” and an educational video “Thanks, friends.”
Some of their promotions involved gifting clear file folders for those who photographed the panel, and a video in which popular anime characters would say thanks to the fans who did not follow pirated works. All of these were dedicated to educate visitors for more anti-piracy awareness.

Family Anime Festa: An Opportunity for Kids to See, Touch, and Feel!

You could see children having fun once you go through a dedicated gate. There were kids in PreCure cosplay who enjoyed as if they were in a festival. AnimeJapan is a huge event. Just walking around the venue can be too much for children. In this quarter, however, kids and parents can enjoy anime without worrying about such thing.
Family Stage presented a variety of stage shows including dance, quiz, and shake hand event. Children were having fun with every show.
At the “Let’s Make Anime” corner, they looked very excited when their drawing started moving as animation.
There were also many other corners where kids could have fun with. That included “Play Corner” where game booths such as super-ball and accessory making were open. Also, there were “Character Greeting” and “Let’s Take Pictures” corner in which anime characters (kigurumi) took pictures with children. All of these were enough for the kids to enjoy for the whole day.

41 Programs in 2 Days: Rich Contents by Main Casts and Artists!

From TV anime series near the end to the upcoming spring (or even summer) anime, the stage shows brought up a wide variety of series.
AnimeJapan also successfully assembled all the gorgeous guest speakers. Staff members and casts from each anime gathered up on stage. Some stages even presented more than 10 speakers. RGB Stage was particularly popular during the event for having famous seiyu altogether, staffs revealing secret during production, and even artists having small concerts. Some stages presented anime news and trailers of the upcoming series for the first time in public, and some of them even made their first appearance in AnimeJapan.

A Unique Event Featuring Full of Games, Anime Songs, Goods, and More Genres

Starting with an introductory seminar named “AnimeJapan 2015 Opening,” “Anime × SEGA New Project Presentation” highlighted SEGA who is popular among dedicated gamers. “Discussion Panel by Publishers” hosted magazine editors to discuss relationship between anime and their source materials. “Anime Latté Art Championship” assembled the best baristas across the country.　Then, “Animelo Summer Live 2015 Press Conference” promoted the event that’s taking place for 3 days. “Discussion by 3 Major Anisong Fes” hosted their producers to explain what’s appealing about anisong fes. Aside from these, there were many other intriguing programs such as “The 1st Aniraji Award” to nominate the best radio programs, “Competition for Anime Merchandise Planning” for actual merchandising, “Cosplay Performance Stage,” and “Serious Anime Discussion” by the youth who work for anime industry.

Seminar Stage to Reveal Anime Business: from Overseas to Local Regions

“International Business Seminar AnimeJapan × JETRO × Project Anime – Expanding Popularity and Business Scheme of Japanese Anime –” hosted representatives from overseas to discuss the appeal and the future of Japanese anime.
“Business Seminar by Anime Consortium Japan” made a presentation on the streaming of anime to overseas. Then, “International Business Seminar: Anime Streaming Overseas, the Present & the Future” invited business leaders from the US, France, and China to go over the future of their business.
Manga-Anime Guardian Project also hosted their stage-talk to introduce their anti-piracy policy and practices, supported by the Ministry of Economy, Technology and Industry.
As a program to promote anime in regional development, “Machi-Asobi: Then and Now” brought up the topic to showcase their disseminating anime from Tokushima. Also, “Collaboration between Anime, Community, and Local Corporations ~ Case from the Eccentric Family and Kyoto City ~” went over the result of their collaboration with anime.

Official Goods: from Collaboration Item to AJ Gachapon.

Animate booth carried out official goods sales, limited-editions for AnimeJapan.
On their counter, there were a number of cross-story collaboration items including rubber strasp (Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] & GOD EATER), acrylic straps (Uta no Prince-sama & GEKKAN SHOJO NOZAKI KUN), another acrylic straps (THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS & Kyoto Nishijin-ori), stationary set (SHIROBAKO), cup / saucer set (Is the Order a Rabbit?), and T-shirts with RGB Stage logos. Many fans looking for AnimeJapan original items joined the queues.
AJ Gachapon containing badges with 30 different illustrations was also another popular feature.

Business Area Makes Positive Results, for Exhibitors and Visitors

This year, the second AnimeJapan established Business Area as an international market for Japanese animation. The area was opened on March 20th, one day prior to the opening of Main Area where ordinary visitors come in. On Friday and Saturday, the whole area was dedicated in purpose of supporting business.
The venue with approximately 40 Japanese companies running their exhibition was lively for 2 straight days. There were many business meetings in session at the company booths and the other separated meeting spaces were also full of businesspeople. Buyers from overseas were also there for possible purchasing of anime contents.
Anime Business Concierge, a new trial of the organizer’s project, offered a counseling service for those who plan to expand their business into anime. The fact that many people visited the counseling desks may indicate a growing future of anime.
A quiet business environment on a weekday seems taken positively as well. The number of the total business visitors reached over 2,500 and the area was fully utilized for exchanging business ideas and information.

Business Networking at the Reception Party

At the Friday night on March 20th, AnimeJapan held the Reception Party for the overseas buyers and domestic business representatives. Unlike their serious talks in the Business Area, the meetings were done in casual style for networking. Many businesspeople joined the conversations with each other.
At the greeting by Kenji Uchida, Chairman of the AnimeJapan Executive Committee, he explained the reason for creating the Business Area and reported that the day 1 was a great success. He also emphasized to the participants that he wished them to promote networking and exchanging ideas, as well as feeling the atmosphere of the Main Area, which was the feature of the event that mixed both business and entertainment aspects. Kyoko Kashiwabara, a department chief of the Contents Division of the METI, was invited to the party and gave a speech that the “Japanese animation is something the country can be proud of and plays an important role,” addressing her expectations for Japanese culture and the future of their contents business.

Individual Business Meetings Presented by JETRO

Aside from the Business Area full of corporate exhibitors, another key player in anime business matching was AJ X JETRO Anime Biz Match by JETRO. It was a business meeting opportunity for Japanese companies to get in touch with foreign business representatives invited by JETRO.
While Business Area was a place for overseas business demands come to Japanese, Anime Biz Match was where Japanese needs got to go outside. They are two side of a coin for AnimeJapan’s business aspect. JETRO has always been creative when inviting foreign companies. They pick up the ones whose businesses are getting wider while they also try to analyze current business trends. Companies from the increasing role takers in anime business such as Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Turkey, and Thailand came to the venue. A number of active business meetings were carried out to seek for globalizing Japanese anime.