These days the twenty-eighth edition of Manga Barcelona has been held, which, taking advantage of the festivity of December 8, the Day of the Immaculate Conception, started four days full of editorial news, activities, projections, talks, …
There was expectation, not only did they change their usual dates (from November to December) disrupting different events, but this year’s Manga Barcelona would also be held in a new location, going from Fira Montjuïc to Fira Gran Via. This new edition also had another novelty compared to the previous one, not taken into account by many, it was finally a Manga Barcelona without mandatory masks.
Many variants that could cast doubt on its entry feasibility, but sold out days and weeks before opening its doors, managing to break attendance records with more than 163,000 visitors and that time has not been good these days. But if something has shown this #28MangaBCNis the good health of manga and anime that has been reinforced with great success titles (Haikyû!, Guardians of the nightor the most recent Tokyo Revengers), a wide variety of offers for all types of readers (Manhwa, Boys Love, …) that year after year expand the titles published by large and small publishers.
It is worth noting the great strength of manga in Catalan with large editorial announcements, which will publish novelties in parallel to Spanish and/or will recover classics in the language. To this we should add how the fan pressure, and the lack of alternatives, the recent return of the SX3 (Super3) is being a success, where the Catalan regional channel recovers the television spirit of the 90s and 2000s that opened the doors to anime for many generations with this new platform that offers premieres in Catalan of the new fashion series.
In 28 Manga BCN, among its many offers of activities, it has had several stages, having one dedicated to musical performances with the presence of Japanese artists, from yōko takahashiresponsible for the opening of evangeliona Mahousyoujo Ni Naritai or the J-Pop revelation of the moment, faky. And this scenario is one of the buts of this edition, not so much its location at the end of pavilion 7, but its arrangement, having a front full of nooks and crannies that made it difficult to see beyond being in front of the stage, and through networks could read from the annoying proximity of the FOH (sound control).
And, taking advantage of the fact that we are getting buts, one of the great losses with this Fira Gran Via compared to the one in Montjuïc has been the auditorium, an aspect that I hope can be improved in future editions, because replacing the comfort of some seats with more rigid seats, and lose the wide screen for a smaller one, it shows. One more, the lighting, what’s wrong with it? The feeling of being in the dark at many times was notable in the large pavilions.
Cosplay, merchandising imports, gastronomy, video games… because not everything is manga and anime here, Japanese culture, entertainment, costumes are part of the attraction of these fairs. For both the attending public and the participating public, being able to wear your best clothes or be photographed together with characters that you love to see and read about does not happen every day.
But the biggest attraction for us is still the meeting with authors, being able to chat with them, that they can dedicate their sleeves to you, discovering what new work they are doing. A unique experience. And this is another symptom of the good health of the manga that we are experiencing, the great production made here, authors who make manga capable of competing with the Japanese one. In fact, an important annual event for a few years now is the presentation of news from Editorial Standard to the public where the winner of the Manga contest they organize is revealed. This year the winning work is The great duel from Gemrine Y Nisandre, who will receive a €3,000 prize and will have one year to finish their first manga; ready to publish in the future edition of Manga Barcelona.
And this is not all, because we took advantage of our time at Manga Barcelona to meet some of the authors who brought something new under their arms to talk about their publications, as well as how they were created and their work processes. A Fidel de Tovar Y Dani Bermudezauthors of time for three or of Liquid Memories of which they have launched an integral, to wade otaku Y Drawillwhich premiered the second volume of Blood Moonand finally to Carlos Dalmauwho has published an excellent artbook with Editorial Spaceship, Journey. These interviews will be published soon here, in Underbrain Mgz.
And what will be next for Manga Barcelona with these new changes? It seems that they will be permanent, as they announce in their latest news on the webso we will say goodbye in the same way «See you, then, in December 2023 for the 29 Manga Barcelona».