Belgians love their anime so a week after FACTS we have Asianim.
The fourth edition of the Asianim festival is taking place on the 24th & 25th of October in Luik/Liege at the Palais des Congrès. The activities of the festival will be focused around 3 themes:
1 – Traditional Japan
- martial arts demonstrations -Karaté – Aikido – Jujutsu – Kobudo- by JAPAn asbl
- Sumi-e –traditional painting- by Suely Shiba
- Shogi, Japanese cooking by Passerelle Japon
- Go by Club Go Liège
- Tessen demonstration –fan fighting- and painting on silk by “l’Orient en Occident”
- Viêt Võ Dao demonstration –Vietnamese martial arts- by Vovinam
- Tea ceremony
- Bonsai exhibition by Bonsai Club Liège
- Origami by BelOrigamo
- Calligraphy by Mrs. Manda
- Go
2 – Contemporary Japan
- an Avatar village
- Dance Dance Revolution booth
- AMVs
- anime projections
- movie projections – 20th Century Boys on Sunday
- Video Games – console, arcade, pc
- Inflatable Sumo
- various fanzines
- cosplay competition on Sunday at 14:00
- Jpop/Jrock/Visual Kei Concerts on Saturday
13:00 – Guren
14:00 – Pinky Doodle Poodle
16:00 -Bernard Minet
3 – Commercial
- 23 different vendors
Aside from this there will be Speed Painting and contests, karaoke, quizzes by Bulle Japon.
Practical Info
1 – Food & Drinks
Asianim announced it will provide reasonably price sushi. Menu should look something like this :
- Sushi €1,5
- Pack of 6 sushi – €7,5
- 2 Maki – €1,5
- Curry Rice – 4,5
- Sandwich – €3
- 0,33 soda can – €1
2 – Tickets
Pre-sale at Fnac and Slumberland: €7/day , €12/weekend
At the entrance: €8/day, 15€/weekend
3 – Hours
From 10:00 to 18:00
All in all
So they seem to have all that I’d expect from a anime event in Belgium : cosplay, concerts, merchandise, games and touch of traditional stuff. Why tamper with a proven recipe, one might say. Other might say that we’ve seen it all before. However, I believe that, like myself, the ones attending Asianim are looking forward to learning another origami figure from the guys of BelOrigami or practicing their Shogi / Go or one of the other activities they’ve enjoyed at other events.
After FACTS, I’m hoping to find the “manga for €1 booth”, which showed up at Animansion and Made in Asia and maybe some other reasonably priced goodies. Assuming that the 3 years of experience will show, Asianim should be the best Belgian anime event so far.
See ya on Saturday if you’re heading there.
So, yeah... 