The guests of the 5th Wave

Japan Expo Sud is the festival of manga and anime in Marseille and this 5th anniversary didn’t lie about it thanks to many guests from manga and animation fields. They were delighted to share this moment with the attendees who were equally happy!

Many attendees rushed to the signings and the conference by Naoyuki ONDA, Berserk chara-designer. He was with the animation director of the trilogy, Satoshi IWATAKI. Both artists enjoyed the festival on Friday and Saturday by meeting many fans.

Keiko ICHIGUCHI, signing on Kana’s booth during the whole festival, presented her new book, Les Cerisiers fleurissent malgré tout, a tribute to March 11, 2011 victims. An exhibition showed illustrations from the book and she talked about it during a conference with Yves SCHLIRF, publisher Kana’s director.

As for animation, Sailor Moon and Utena fans were glad to meet Kunihiko IKUHARA, anime director, for a conference and signings. As for Kia ASAMIYA, he made the fans of Silent Möbius happy by offering them a live drawing performance.

J-music has been a hit on the main stage of the festival: it was predictable with artists such as Kanon Wakeshima, MAN WITH A MISSION, AMARANYX or DJ O-ant!

Kanon Wakeshima took you to her J-pop universe to the sound of cello and was very close to her audience! Her showcases brought together many fans on Friday and Saturday, and it was the same for her signing sessions and her conference which she beautifully illustrated with a live drawing performance.

On Saturday, Japan Expo Sud unleashed the wolves! Nothing to get scared about: MAN WITH A MISSION expressed their wildest side on stage. Their showcase was full house: a hit! They audience followed them for a conference and signings.

Visual kei is always a success and AMARANYX even more: many fans attended the showcase, conference, and signings on Friday. A first day that rocked!

The electro sets of DJ O-ant charmed the attendees who were ready to dance to remixes of anime themes and J-pop songs.