Instead of the World Forum in The Hague AnimeCon had a new motto this year: “Goes South”, in the direction of Ahoy Rotterdam to be exact. For three days Ahoy was thé location for cosplay and Japanese street culture and of course delicious foods. Because of the extra space, they had the opportunity to set themselves up to bigger than ever before, too.
Accessibility
Ahoy itself has really good accessibility, with the subway or the bus you get off pretty much in front of the venue, and by car, you can park to the side of the venue on the large parking area.
Anime, Cosplay, Manga and delicious foods
I took a look on the Saturday of the three-day event and quickly came to the conclusion that there were more than enough cosplayers everywhere. Most outfits I saw were hand-made as well as the props used, but there was a lot of laughter and games too. With a separate room for the video games and arcade games respectively there was more than enough space to enjoy your favourite kind of game in peace with likeminded people around you, and if you prefer the peace and quiet to read manga in the library or watch anime in the designated rooms you had all the space to do so. Of course, there was enough room for workshops as well, or to just enjoy the foods in the food court.
The dealer room was really large this time and neatly categorized so you could easily navigate to the area you wanted, like art, clothing or merchandise.
Musical performances
There were multiple activities on the main stage during the evening hours, among which the show of SATSUKI. The show was short, but powerful. With new songs like BE YOURSELF and YOU, SATSUKI easily won over his audience and got them to participate almost immediately, but the highlight of his show was his own personal favourite song TWILIGHT.
After the show, there was an opportunity to buy some of his merchandise and take a cheki photo with SATSUKI as a memory.
The organisation of AnimeCon did some rhyming this year with the names of the main acts MYTH & ROID and Teddyloid. MYTH & ROID had a show on Saturday and Teddyloid had two gigs, on Friday and Saturday, including one during the Deshima Sounds program, which made it extra fun. The performances attracted a large audience, who went all out on the well-known songs of both main acts, from VORACITY to ME!ME!ME!.
Conclusion
AnimeCon Goes South 2019 was a successful event with something for everyone.
Whether you were looking for merchandise or would rather make new friends, these kind of events are the places to do so, as long as you have an interest in Japanese culture!
Photography: Arlequin (Satsuki), Kitsune Photography (Cosplay)
