The fourth Anime Convention, India was inaugrated on the 27th September, 2013 at Marwah Studios, Film City, Noida by H.E. Joon-gyu Lee, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, All the invited speakers and guests were feliciated by the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, HE Joon-gyu Lee and Sandeep Marwah, President, Marwah Studios. This was followed by the launch of Sri Ratna & Kim Suro, a Graphic Novel, publishd by National Book Trust of India.
The editor, Kumar Vikram and the Graphic Artist, Soumitra Dasgupta unveiled the Graphic Novel along with Sandeep Marwah and HE. Joon-gyu Lee. “A rare experience to the world of animation, gaming and more a space of learning, discovery and interaction.This year Anime Con is a journey unlike any other event” said, Nitesh Rohit the festival director and co-founder of Cinedarbaar.
Anime Convention opened with a tremenduos crowd and housefull sessions. First day saw film showcase of Korean and Iranian Animation and Workshops for the children on Voice Acting, Manga and a fun workshop on understanding ‘type’ in the context of design. Fragile Heart of Moe, a non- fiction film on the Dojinshi culture of Japan was also showcased at the convention in the presence of the Director, Bharath Murthy, who introduced the film followed by a Q&A session. Historian Ryan Holmberg offered a glimpse at manga produced in the wake of the catastrophic events of Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Meltdown and Tsunami in Japan in 2011.
The second day saw presentation of works of Production I.G, by the producer Nao Hirasawa; Myriad world of Mariovon Rickenbach, an independent Video Game Designer from Switzerland, Comics and Collaboration by ShoheiEruma and Vidyun Sabhaney. A full day Manga Drawing workshop was also conducted by Bharath Murthy, Mangaka and a Filmaker on Saturday.
The most popular and the crowd puller event of the Convention, the Gaming Tournament also started on the second day and saw a record footfall this year. With blockbuster games like Injustice: Gods Among Us and Marvel Vs Capcom 3. The lounge was full of gamers on all three days. The arcade console booth, the gaming lounge offered, turned out to be a real crowd attraction, with everyone from kids to adults lining up to get their hands on some classic fighting games likeTekken Tag. The lounge also hosted a two day tournament which saw 150 participants, battling it out with two winners being awarded with the latest PS3 titles on the third day.
The final day of the convention saw talks like Design Education by Kshitiz Anand, Head of Ecole Nantes Atlantique Design School, Bangalore, A Crash History of Manga by Ryan Holmberg, Manga Historian from US and a conversation on Asian Animation by Nao Hirasawa from Production I. G, Japan and Nitesh Rohit, the Festival Director a session on The Aesthetics of Game Art, Design and 21st Century Convergence by Mario von Rickenbach, video gamedesigner from Switzerland. The last day also saw the participants hunt down the whole venue to find the trasure in theTreasure Hunt and many walked the ramp for Cosplay Competition with amazing costumes and roleplays.
Kids Corner, now a regular feature at the convention, had some very interesting workshops for children like Voice-Acting by Raj Kumar, a theatre and voice over artist, Fun with Type, a new and innovative workshop to help students understand fonts, typography, poster design using Newspaper cuttings and chart papers was conducted by Kshitiz Anand, Dean & Director – India Operations at L’École de Design Nantes Atlantique. Manav Sachdev, Graphic Artist, took a workshop on illustrating superheroes using geometric designs and Bharath Murthy, Manga-Comics Historian and now filmmaker conducted a full day workshop on Manga drawing for children and also helped them make a comic of their own.
The three day convention also saw many exhibition stalls of comics, books, anime merchandise, food etc. In all it was a big success with participation from multiple countries like Korea, Japan, Switzerland and USA, and an approx footfall of 8000 on all three days.