20th Manga Fair

A not-to-be-missed event for all fans of Manga culture, the 20th edition of Manga Fair in Barcelona has required not only a significant extension in terms of space, from 35,000 to 50,000 m2, but also in opening hours – this edition will open at 9 am on all four days.

As is customary, the Fira de Barcelona will be packed to the hilt with Manga stands, displays and merchandising. Guests for this edition include such illustrious names as Takeshi Obata, the author of Death Note and BAKUMAN, or the current Manga star, Ken Nimura, who also designed the poster for this year’s fair. These and other “Mangakas”, as professional manga artists are known, will be signing books and offering a series of workshops.

In addition, the fair will also include proposals which, though they may not have direct links to the world of Manga, are present in some aspects of the phenomenon. Japanese popular culture will be present in the form of concerts by bands such as Loverin Tamburin, Anime Song and Cosplay competitions, a space dedicated to Japanese spiritual and natural therapy traditions and a number of Japanese cookery workshops, all in addition to dance and martial art exhibitions, screenings in the Arena cinemas, awards ceremonies and video games, among other activities.

The Manga universe includes a wide range of genres and branches, the term having derived from the combination of the characters for “man”, meaning “informal”, and “ga”, meaning “drawing” or “sketch”. Manga is one of the mainstays of the Japanese publishing market and, since the early 1980s, of the European market also, with thousands of volumes being published every year.

The 20th Manga Fair will take place from the 30th of October to the 2nd of November in the Fira de Barcelona, in Montjuïc. The general entry price per day is 7 euros, though multiple-day tickets and discounts are available. More information is available here.