Tens of thousands of comic book and anime fans pushed and shoved their way into this year’s Comic Exhibition in Taipei yesterday to seize limited-edition products at the annual expo.
Large crowds of mostly students sprinted into the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1 as soon as the doors opened at 10am, knocking over portable railings as they dashed toward the more popular booths.
Comic book fan Vincent Chiang said he and more than a dozen friends had taken turns camping outside the venue for a week so that they could buy limited-edition gift boxes of action anime Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works.
Photo: CNA
“I like the special effects and the portrayal of human nature in the anime,” the 17-year-old high-school student said.
Chiang and his friends almost cleared all of the Fate gift boxes from the shelves. The boxes, priced at NT$650 (US$20.47), consisted of posters, notebooks, project folders, signatures of one of the voice actors and other items.
One fan who did not manage to get a box was heard begging the others to spare him one.
Another comic book fan, 25-year-old Yen Tzu-fa, purchased NT$3,000 worth of products related to best-selling Japanese manga One Piece.
Yen, who was planning to spend NT$5,000 at the fair, said he is attracted to One Piece because “it is passionate and the story is touching.”
As of noon yesterday, the fair had already attracted about 50,000 people, according to initial figures released by the event’s main organizer, the Taipei-based Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association.
More than 70 publishers have set up 610 booths at the fair, a 15 percent increase from last year, the association said.
Fifty graphic artists, authors, voice actors and animation producers from Taiwan and Japan are to hold 34 book-signings and other events at the fair, now in its 16th year.
Among them are Japanese authors Chise Ogawa and Ryo Takagi, as well as Taiwanese light novelists Yanghane (楊寒), Yu Wo (御我) and Mao Luo (貓邏).
A booth featuring Star Wars products was set up for the first time at the fair.
Heads were turned when several people dressed as Darth Vader and stormtroopers marched into the venue to open the fair, with the Star Wars theme tune playing in the background.
Although Typhoon Soudelor is expected to bring wind and rain to the nation in the next two days, Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association secretary-general Roger Kao (高世樁) said the exhibition would not be canceled or postponed and would continue as planned.
Safety measures have been taken and fans would be asked to line up indoors instead of outdoors, he said.
Last year, the fair attracted 601,000 visitors and generated about NT$260 million in sales, according to the association.
The Taipei Comic Exhibition runs until Tuesday.
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