Hong Kong Ani-Com 2024 to showcase city’s comic culture globally, organiser says. Photo: May TseHong Kong’s annual comics and games fair’s 25th edition will take a global approach with the event’s line-up of international guests when it launches at the end of the month, according to the organiser.
An inaugural mainland Chinese version of the fair, held in Shenzhen later this year, would also help spread Hong Kong’s comic culture beyond the city’s limited market to the rest of the world, the organiser added.
Ani-Com and Games Hong Kong 2024, scheduled for July 26 to 30, will mark the 25th year the event is being held.
Tickets will be sold at the fair’s website, unlike previous editions in which passes were available for purchase at the venue.
This year’s fair will span a space of more than 19,000 square metres (204,500 sq ft) and feature 140 merchants as well as 650 booths, according to organisers.
Hong Kong Book Fair eyes more visitors from Greater Bay Area
The event’s CEO Leung Chung-pun said that while attendance numbers were typically not revealed, they had been in the “hundreds of thousands” in past years.
He added that there was a growing number of new, younger-generation comic fans, and said he was “not worried there wouldn’t be enough visitors, just that there wouldn’t be enough space to fit them all”.
Leung also highlighted how the event has evolved since the first edition in 1999.
“Back then, we focused mainly on local Hong Kong comic publishers and brands … it gradually became more international throughout the years,” he said.
Looking ahead, Leung said the goal was to attract more attendees from around the world, adding that last year’s visitors had come from more than 30 different countries.
Highlights of this year’s Ani-Com include a “Comics Masters Gathering”, where eight teams of comic writers and artists from Europe and Shanghai will hold demonstrations and workshops with local artists.
Another 30 international comic artists from Europe, South America and the rest of Asia will take part in a major exhibition showing the latest comic trends.
Well-known cosplayers from around the world will also make appearances this year, including Clow from Spain, Thames and Jasper Z from Thailand and Japan’s Saki Miyamoto.
Organisers also highlighted on Tuesday the first Greater Bay Area Ani-Com, an event co-hosted with mainland counterpart ACG, would take place in Shenzhen from September 15 to 17.
“While Ani-Com has a 25-year history, the Greater Bay Area is a relatively new concept,” Leung said.
“The idea is to take Hong Kong’s Ani-Com concept and bring it to the mainland.”
“The current market in Hong Kong is actually not enough to support the development of the entire industry,” said Alan Wan Siu-lun, vice-president of the Hong Kong Comics and Animation Federation.
He said some in the industry were hoping for growth through the bay area, and eventually the rest of the mainland.