Manga/comic show 2011

Once again the comic and manga show of Getxo was held in Las Arenas near the underground station, just as it has during it’s last nine editions. Afortunately for me i was able to assist the event during the three days it lasted for. The event gathered lots of shops and little businesses from the comic sector, which displayed their merchandising and products to all the curious faces and fans of such amazing world. Besides the activities offered by the shop stands the show was the perfect place for the most popular manga and comic fans to gather and exchange experiences.

Many of them were disguised as their favaorite characters and performed some of the stances and moves of their alter egos. During the Sunday which was the last day, the show focused on the manga world by allowing a special stand where different groups could gauge their musical skills by challenging each other for the first position. Among all these activities it was possible to find special stands where seveal professionals could use their make up and dyes to change the appearance of the ones who dared to expose themselves to the curious sights of the people walking around. And finally in the bottom of the show it was possible to find little groups of artists showing the people how to draw using different techniques.

The first day was the most intense one. I ventured myself into the swirling mass of people gathered in the square. This year has been the first in few editions having the biggest amount of people due to the fusion of both manga and comic shows into the same space. The stands were distributed into perfect rows, each of them marked with the name of the shop they were representating. There was an infinite offer of products, such as old fashioned video games, disguises, wallpapers, small figures, art works, thousands of different comics, and cultural products from Japan. Despite the small size of the show, it took me more than two hours to roam and see the whole place. As you can see, i took some pictures of the cosplayed people and the customes they strived so much to create. Just as any formal fan of such event would do i bought two T-shirts and a pair of key chains.

Probably and due to the day being Saturday the second day was the less populated one, however it was a relief to walk through the stands without having to push the people every time i wanted to get somewhere. The activities held during the Saturday were the same as the ones of the previous day, so i decided to see the ones i hadn’t have time for the last day. And so i ended up watching the make up section where three young boys were being tunned up with different types of make ups and sticky goos untill they resembled real zombies. After that i payed a brief visit to the speeches that were taking place in a small room, the subjects were as diverse as the people who were there listening to them. They talked about the 15M effect on some of the new comics being introduced those days in the show, and about freelance artists who were trying to make some noise in the artistic world in order to carve their names into the pages of time.

The Sunday was the last day of the show, nonetheless it was surely the most attracting one, despite of not having the same volume of people as the first day. It was due to the parade of cosplayers and their karaoke shows. I solely attended the last day to see their performance. The disguised boys and girls gathered together in the room at which the last day, the comic drawers exposed their speeches. All of them were introduced to the seers by two men who were wearing anime kind cloths as well. One by one all of them displayed different stances whilst they sung their favorite themes in front of the people. Some of them succeeded in their performances offering a great show, while some others just looked hilarious in the best case.

This show is one of the best places for those willing to experience the unique enviroment offered during these three days, at which the comic and manga fans are able to obtain some of the most rare and precious objects they would never find during the rest of the days of the year.