Tokyo Anime Fair 2010

The Tokyo Anime Fair or TAF, is a large animation exhibition held yearly at the Tokyo Big Sight (the same place as where Comiket is held). We were fortunate enough to experience first hand the Tokyo Anime Fair 2010. Here are some Supermerlion exclusive shots of the event.

Apart from a focus on different media (Comics vs Animation), the Tokyo Anime Fair also targets a different audience by emphasizing on the promotion and business expects of animation. This doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have anything to offer to casual audiences though.

This year, the Tokyo Anime Fair 2010 was held during the 25-28th of March. The first two days were for business clients while the fair was opened to the public during the weekend. The exhibition held a total of 618 booths spanned across 3 expo halls.

Inside.

Totoro blimp.

Inflated Anpanman.

Seiyu and staff talks.

The Good Smile Company ran one of the most popular booths at the halls. The toy hobby manufacturer is famous for their popular Nendoroid and Figma figures of popular animation characters. Their main feature this year was their new cash cow known as Black Rock Shooter. An alternate fan art version of their already hugely famous Hatsune Miku character.

Good Smile Company booth was popular.

Announcement of a new figure.

Black Rock Shooter models.

Closeup.

Another figure.

One of the new figures.

Gundam 00 Riser.

Nearer.

Gundam Unicorn.

Special thanks to Gabriel for helping to identify these.

Kornit. They advertised a revolutionary t-shirt printing machine.

Tamagotchi.

Life-sized Naruto model.

Most of the booths were opened by local animation companies advertising their latest works. Lesser know studios, or people looking to break into the industry held smaller booths at the “Creator’s World” section of the hall. There was also some foreign input in the form of associations from China and Korea. Half of the first hall catered to the general public. It featured a collection of otaku-centric shops selling Anime goods and two stages where special announcements and music concerts were held.

Kaku. China's take on the Super Sentai series.

The toys.

Giant black panther from Zan.

Bleach.

One of the other highlights was the Tokyo Anime Award 2010, where different animations and their creators were recognized for their contributions to the industry. Madhouse’s science fiction film, Summer Wars took the top spot this year together with most of the other awards. K-On! got an honorable mention though for its popular presence on television.

K-On booth.

Cutout.

K-On's new trading cards.

At the Astro Boy booth.

Transformers.

From the animated series.

Creepy bear.

Bear merchandise.

Pink.

Featuring Hakushon Daimao's Akubi.

Suits of armor from Garo.

This one moved.

Stay tuned for more exclusive photos from the Tokyo Anime Fair 2010.