This was the fifth edition of the anime and manga festival Gatfest. As reported in this article, this year it was held for two days on 18 and 19 October. Various events were held, but the 'pain car festival' and 'cosplay' were particularly impressive! We went to cover the event because we had heard that it was a great event. Here is a report on how Furumachi and Bandai were enveloped in a strange feverish atmosphere, although it is only a small part of the event (compared to the whole event).

When you get off the bus at Furumachi, this is suddenly what you see in front of Next21. A painted car is sitting in front of Next21! And it's a B◯W! This is something to look forward to.

In this edition of Gatfus, there is a project linked to an app called Niigata Furumachi, which provides information on events and detailed guidance with a navigation system.

That was closer than I thought it would be... (laughs)

This is where the pinpoint search is executed. It gives you pinpoint guidance. This is useful as the events are held in really different places.

As soon as you enter Furumachi 6, you start to get a 'poo' feeling.

'Pain' car festival. Under this...

Even a red carpet is available. This scene goes on for a long time! Spectacular.

It was almost the first time I had seen a painted car in front of me, but the quality was too high.

It is also perfectly depicted on the Galui-Wung. Amazing... (laughs). This scene continues all the way through the arcade in the 6th district.

Food stalls are being developed, giving it the appearance of a festival.

The woman dressed as Ram-chan from Urusei Yatsura gave me a bottle of 'regain', which gave me invincible activation power.

Incidentally, 'gata fusu' is not only held in Furumachi, but also in the Bandai area.

Free shuttle buses operated every 20 minutes. This is very helpful as many events are being held over a fairly wide area. Incidentally, Hanano Furumachi and Sasadangoro gave Niigata sightseeing information on board the shuttle bus. It was cute and relaxing. And people from Tokyo were saying, "Hey, isn't this voice Fatty?" They guessed it. Yes, the stage events were very well organised this time, with a superb line-up of performers taking to the stage. Naturally, many fans of the voice actors attended.

Arriving at the Bandai area, where the Manga and Anime Information Pavilion is located in BP2, a special stage was set up right in front of it. This is a free stage and anyone can participate (the timetable looked like this ).

The museum's permanent exhibition is open to the public free of charge for the duration of the 'Gatfus' exhibition.

An exhibition of original artwork from Ghost in the Shell was also held (until 30 November), and on 19 November Kenji Kamiyama, director of Ghost in the Shell STAND ALONE COMPLEX, was on hand for a talk show and autograph session (there was a long queue for the autograph session!). .

The goods shop was very well stocked. In addition, the 'animate cafe caravan', a collaboration between 'animate' and 'A of Diamonds', opened a stall. Special drinks inspired by the characters were on sale.

DJ booth. Of course, they played anime songs! As an aside, for some reason they played all my favourite songs, so I ended up staying longer than I had planned...

And this is a project linked to the Niigata Furumachi app, but if you start the app near the Bandai area, you can get a bonus image. This is a seven-headed version of Sasa-Dangoro and Hanano-Furumachi, which you can't get anywhere else! It's quite rare. This kind of linked project is fun.

costume parade

In the meantime, it was time for the 'Cosplay Parade' to be held in Furumachi, which I had been looking forward to. We hurried to the shuttle bus stop.

Arrived. Oh no, it's already started..!

The crowds are so large that it is difficult to even get close to them.

I managed to get the closest and took some intense photos. The contrast between the familiar shopping street and the cosplayers who look like they have just stepped out of an anime world. Chaos..! The children were delighted.

With the painted cars, the cosplay Daimyo procession and the old town. For a moment, I almost felt like I didn't know where I was. LOL.

They parade towards the top (kami) of the old town. The spectators moved in a big way to match it (laughs). The crowd around the procession was moving like a cloud, and it was an interesting sight.

Even before the parade took place, they were seen everywhere. There were impromptu photo sessions everywhere, and they were having a lot of fun posing with the characters.

At this year's Gatfest, we mainly visited the 'Director Kenji Kamiyama Fan Gathering (talk show & autograph session)', the 'Niigata Pain Car Fest' and the 'Cosplay Parade'. During this time, we lined up at food stalls, bought goods, took photos with cosplayers and chatted with them... and when we were slowly making our way around, we realised that it was late in the evening. It was hard to stay long in some parts of the park unintentionally. The more times you go to the event, the more fulfilling it gets, so you need to have a solid strategy in order to get around to some extent (laughs). It was truly a festival. Also, when I was walking around asking people at various places, I had the impression that more people came from outside the prefecture than I had expected. At the Ghost in the Shell Original Art Exhibition, six out of ten (!) visitors came from outside the prefecture. The number of people who came from outside the prefecture was 6 out of 10 (!) at the Ghost in the Shell Original Art Exhibition. I think Niigata has a large population of anime and manga fans to begin with, so this was a good event that also provided an opportunity for horizontal exchange between fans!

Events

Niigata Anime & Manga Festival "Gatafuß Vol. 5"

• Official website
• Niigata Furumachi, a regional navigation application.
• Ghost in the Shell: The Great Original Art Exhibition