Local Japanese culture festival haul

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Yesterday morning, I went to a festival dedicated to Japanese culture (mostly weeb and food though) near Montpellier called "Japan Matsuri", so here's a post about my impressions and what I bought.

Honestly, I felt very out-of-place as a GAINAX/KyoAni generation guy. Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt got a fantastic new season after 15 years of wait but not a single reference in the whole festival! Even stranger is that Sousou no Frieren got the same deal and it's an extremely popular seinen (really, this isn't wishful thinking).

Well, I guess that nothing exists outside of shonen, numerically speaking.

I somewhat expected a lot of cosplaying, but not the furries nor the gachashit/MOBA/fujoshi characters… For the other, "proper" part, the distribution was roughly as follow:

  • A good 80~90% of Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer). I still fail to understand the popularity of cookie cutter Shonen Jump flagships like these (though monster design wasn't bad and the mangaka had an interesting technique).
  • The remaining 10~20% for other currently airing shonen, video games (think I saw some FF) and shitsekais (yes, I put Overlord there too).
  • A literal handful of Chainsaw Man (NB: which I love) characters; briefly complimented a girl on her Kobeni.
  • The ever enduring Dragon Ball/Naruto/One Piece/Pokémon fans, mostly restricted to kids and the rare oldfag accompanying their children (or the Chris-chans this place always attract).
  • Maybe I'm showing my age, but a bit surprised I didn't spot a single Asuka/Rei…

I won't even mention the TikTok/Twitch "influencer" authograph corner because I want to keep my last meal down.

The other strange thing is that a non-negligible part wasn't about Japan at all! There was a lot of "young adult" fiction crap, some MCU slop guzzlers and even a large stand about some obviously American TV show called Supernatural. No thanks.

I really wanted to eat there, but I didn't fancy the massive waiting lines so who care; and I already had gotten Japanese for Friday's lunch …

Now for the good stuff! There was an immersive Initial D sim-racing thing that claimed to reproduce the famous Mount Akina street course and you could even choose any car used in the original! As someone who got into cars due to the series (my MX-5 ND2 is the nearest modern alternative to a S2000), I really wanted to try it, but I wasn't alone… so, again, I bailed; I didn't come here to stand in line.

Some of the graphic artists had pretty good stuff, even though there was obviously some pandering to the shonen supremacy. This is where I spent most of my time, looking through their stuff and discussing with them.

So here's what I got:

haul.jpg

From left to right:

  • A Hunter x Hunter poster parodying the French American Psycho poster. The author has a few other creations in the same style, all very good. The two coasters were graciously offered as a bonus.
  • This interesting showcase of the world's "largest Ghibli collection". I'm not a big Ghibli fan, but the book is very pretty and the incongruity of the items - from music boxes to watering can - is really charming (and the editor girl manning the stand was really cute, heh). Link.
  • And finally, this cool Faputa (Made in Abyss) artwork from the stand right next to the one I bought the poster from. Had a pleasant conversation with the artist, like the movie poster guy. Both were some of the few rare offering non-mainstream stuff, noticeably.