Through the Looking Glass - Hyper Japan 2011

Written by A. H. on 25 Jul 2011

The last time we made the journey to Hyper Japan, we found ourselves within the relatively spacious yet low-key confines of East London's Old Truman Brewery - not a bad place to hold an event by any means, but in comparison we can't pretend that Hyper Japan 2011 has enjoyed anything other than a significant upgrade, as we braved multiple random tube closures and a snapshot of London where everyone and their goat was getting married (well, we might be exaggerating the goat part but there were lots of big hats and public service calls for a missing bride to be on the underground) to make our way to Olympia Two in Kensington.

Even upon our arrival little more than half an hour after the doors opened for Saturday's festivities, there was already an impressive queue forming at the door - one that we quickly side-stepped thanks to the luxury of press access, although we were informed that entrance to the show was being processed quickly and efficiently at that point - more on the crowds and queues later however.

Once we were inside and ready to find our way around the show, it soon became clear just how much of an upgrade Hyper Japan 2011 was compared to its predecessor - stalls were placed closer together to squeeze in as much as possible, while the show also got to enjoy two floors worth of content rather than one to make for a definite step forward from 2010's already enjoyable event.

A quick skirt around the show floor showed plenty for us to be getting on with, with an entire segment of one floor dedicated to Japanese food and drink (perhaps ill-advisedly, as it made for some major queues and congestion come lunch time and a mass of hungry show-goers) and a lower floor with some big name gaming companies joined by a couple of prominent UK anime and manga retailers.  In-between all this we had everything from record labels (namely Wasabi Records) through to (and I kid you not) toilet manufacturers... oh, and Yakult were there too as a random but still decidedly Japanese addition to proceedings.

While we were keen to explore a little further, before that came one of the day's events on the main stage which we were keen to check out - a screening of Sunrise's Tiger & Bunny, as streamed by Anime on Demand (who for their part were offering free season passes via a coupon code exclusive to the event; the jury is still out on whether anybody actually figured out how to use said code on their web site).  Although we've been keeping up with the series as it is, we were curious to tag along on a couple of fronts; firstly, to watch an episode on a big screen, and secondly to gauge the viewer's reaction to the series.  With the event sensibly screening the first episode, is was pleasing to see a positive reaction from the not inconsiderable crowd of viewers to what they were watching on screen - they laughed heartily at its more comedic moments, and I didn't spot anybody wandering off out of boredom, so it seems as if it was well received - good news perhaps both for Anime on Demand, and for Manga Entertainment who will be releasing the series on DVD on behalf of Kaze in the not so far-flung future.