Made in Asia: Cosplayers and tech fans meet in Brussels twice a year

Thousands of anime, manga, and pop-culture fans flocked to the Brussels Expo Centre in Heysel on April 8-10. According to an event's spokesperson, 73,624 people attended the exhibition centre over the three days of the festival, making the event the largest organised to date.

Those who missed it have a second chance. Made in Asia is hosted twice annually and will return to Brussels Expo on 24-25 September 2022.

The organisers said that thanks to their new multilingual communications, this year's event has attracted guests from neighbouring countries such as France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands.

“Already through social media and by email, we are seeing that the community was dying to come back to the event,” the spokesperson for Made in Asia stated, “as you can see, there are smiles on every face. The public responded in droves. The community, like us, is very happy to see the return of this event.”

The event offered not only days of activity, shopping, and fun for visitors, but also a glimpse into the pop culture scene of Brussels, the Belgian French-speaking community, and more.

Dozens of artists, clubs, societies, communities, and charity groups took part in the festival, exposing pop-culture fans to new hobbies and trends, from board game clubs, to sword fighting, K-pop dancing, and hobby railways.

Cosplay community

Cosplayers are a subculture of pop-culture enthusiasts who dress up as their favourite anime, manga, video game, comic book, or movie characters.

The trend was originally born in Japan, where its popularity has spread across the world. In 2020, the cosplay outfits industry was estimated to be worth more than $4.6 billion.

For some enthusiasts, the hobby is almost a full-time job. The best cosplayers usually design, tailor, and fit their own original costumes that can take months to make and hundreds of Euros in supplies.

Belgian young artists

Manga and anime have always been very popular in Belgium, partially due to Belgium’s long history of Bande Dessinée, or comic book culture. At the festivals, thousands of stalls and vendors sold imported or translated manga books and anime DVDs.

At this year’s Made in Asia festival, a large area in Brussels Expo’s Palais 6 was dedicated to exhibiting the work of young Belgian manga and comic artists.

More than 70 young artists set up stalls, selling original artwork, commissions, self-published manga and comic books, as well as giving autographs to fans.

Belgian manga and comic artist Coralie Smeers, who goes by the name Lost Memory, wanted her art to raise awareness about disabled people.

“I started to draw when I was hospitalised for several years. As I was bored in the hospital, I started drawing and since then I’ve stuck with it,” Smeers said.

(VIV)

© Belga Photo (Jean-Marc QUINET) Made in Asia is the appointment for mangas, Asian cartoons, video game, tv series fans.