Whew! It was indeed fun while it lasted. As this year’s AniManGaki draws to a close, we want to take a step back and recall some of the best moments we’ve experienced. This is also to give a little perspective from us attendees and what are our thoughts in arguably the biggest anime event of the year.
So sit back, and let us take you on a recap of our journey of AniManGaki 2023!
The Guests Were Superb!
Having been to AniManGaki before, we know for a fact that there will be stellar guest appearances. Even when we brought in such expectations, we were still blown away by the sheer talents they had on display.
A couple of celebrities that caught our attention were Keisuke Ito the composer for multiple Naruto soundtracks and Kozaki Yusuke, the illustrator for household JRPGs like Pokemon and Fire Emblem. Despite knowing their accolades and what they’ve achieved, it was awesome seeing them in action; them describing their work and the processes behind them. It was poetry in motion.
Also, we’ve managed to speak with Kozaki himself where we enquired about Ash’s victory and finally—after so many years—was able to become the Pokemon Champion. He said that he was overwhelmed with joy as he had been working with the franchise for a long time, hitting close to home since he was a player of the older-gen games himself.
And with highs, lows are to be expected. With all that was going on, we unfortunately missed out on meeting Hakken, the legendary cosplayer. It was indeed a bummer because we were truly looking forward to seeing what she would be cosplaying in real life.
The Cosplays Were Good But Shy of Great
Of course, this is all down to preferences and if you’ve liked the cosplayers walking around that day, good for you! Maybe we’re just old and would really wish to see more of the classics like Naruto and Bleach in the current cosplaying scene.
Ultimately, we felt that the cosplay variety was a little lacking. Don’t get us wrong, the Star Rail, Genshin Impact and Killjoy cosplayers were amazing; seriously, cosplaying has come a long way when it comes to makeup and costumes. Still, some of our crew wanted more variety because, with every turn, we are seeing similar characters again!
Excellent Crowd Control and Management
One of our biggest fears before heading into this event is the crowd. On the weekends, there is bound to be an ocean of people flooding the event. As such, we’ve mentally and physically braced ourselves to squeeze and barge through numerous people. Surprisingly, it wasn’t so bad!
For one, the spacing was brilliant. The booths were situated strategically so that both visitors and merchants could navigate easily. Honestly, compared to many anime conventions that we’ve been to, this year’s AniManGaKi is up there with the very best when it comes to area management.
Hopefully, this will be the standard for future anime events because everything was so organised and even with the crowd, we were still able to have a comfortable experience!
Final Verdict: Hella Fun With Promising Potential
Truth be told, organising such a huge event is no easy feat. Especially considering that it was a three-day event (typically anime events last for two days only). As much fun as the entire AniManGaKi 2023 was, we would really like to see some more local love. Sure, big names are needed but having such a huge event foster the artistic scene in Malaysia is sorely needed. Local artists like PrawnM33, Ben, Keith and Zint should have their own booths to showcase their talents. All in all, we really enjoyed the event and here’s to more successful AniManGaKis, added with more spices of local talents!
