Leipzig Book Fair 2019 – Manga-Comic-Con

On March 24 we were guests at the Leipzig Book Fair and dove into the world of cosplay and East Asian pop culture. In our report you'll find out how we fared in a world that has nothing to do with Star Wars.

Every now and then, our hobby takes us away from Star Wars toward completely new experiences. For example, we've already been at the Microsoft Partner Conference in Darmstadt and recently took part in two music videos. On March 23 we took a trip into the world of manga and anime, because we were guests at the book fair in Leipzig, which is a popular destination especially for fans of comics from East Asia.

So when we arrived at Hall 1 of the huge book fair early on Saturday, we immediately came across the first cosplayers and were delighted by the same passion and dedication of the fans that we knew from the Star Wars fandom. Whether manga, Star Wars or Star Trek – in the end, passion for a hobby unites people, even if the fandoms may be very different.

We used the morning to brush up some of our choreographies and polish our program, which we got to perform on the big stage in the afternoon.

After a fairly successful training session in bright sunshine, we strolled leisurely across the grounds, chatted with cosplayers, marveled at the book fair's extensive and diverse offerings and took in many a curiosity.

With the flood of impressions, the day flew by and our show quickly approached. Since we got the time slot between the cosplay contest and the award ceremony, we were happy about full stands, even if the audience might not primarily be our target group.

Right after a K-pop performance we fought our way across the stage and were especially happy about the commitment of our young talents, who gave a great performance. To our annoyance, the sound system failed, so our sabers couldn't be heard and our musical backing was missing too – elements that were actually meant to make our show even more impressive. Nevertheless, the audience created a great atmosphere, so overall we can look back on a successful show. In the host's interview afterwards, we also had the chance to talk a bit about our hobby and maybe infect one or two people with a passion for lightsabers.

Some time later the Leipzig Book Fair closed its doors for the day, and it was time for us to say goodbye to each other too, since some of us headed home that same evening. The rest of us let the day wind down in a cozy pizzeria and exchanged our very different impressions of the day.