News
Hyper Japan Runs from Friday to Sunday
posted on by Andrew Osmond
The next Hyper Japan festival will run at London Olympia from Friday July 12 to Sunday July 14, with tickets and a 3-day pass as of writing. There will be two different sessions on Saturday, one from 9.45 a.m. to 2.45 p.m., and the other from 3.30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The festival will feature the artist and illustrator Mitsuhiro Arita, pictured right. Arita has worked on the Pokémon Trading Card Game continuously for more than twenty years. He worked on Final Fantasy XI for eleven years and created concept design for the Berserk: The Golden Age Arc cinema film trilogy. He was also a planning assistant on the film Napping Princess and has designed for books and magazines.
Arita will appear on the Friday from 3.45 p.m. to 4.15 p.m., on the Saturday from 12.30 p.m. to 1 p.m., and on the Sunday from 12.30 p.m. to 1 p.m.
The festival will also include both "COSTest" and "COSParade" cosplay events. COSParade takes the form of a catwalk show on Saturday at 4.30 p.m., while COSTest (pictured left) will take the form of a performance on Sunday at 1.15 p.m. Both involve "contestants walking on and off stage and posing, to show their costume to the audience."
The Hyper Japan Theatre includes anime presented by Crunchyroll (Saturday 9.15 a.m. and 12.15 p.m., Sunday 1.45 p.m.): cosplay panels (Saturday 1 p.m., Sunday 10.45 a.m.); a panel presented by the winners of the UK Manga Jiman competition (4.45 p.m.); and a screening of the Hatsune Miku "Magical Mirai" event in Japan (Saturday 6.30 p.m., Sunday 2.30 p.m.).