XI Manga Festival of Las Palmas & Can Gran Canaria Comic, written by @loretosocorro
11 (eleven) is a number that stirs and inspires, that enraptures and engenders collective creativity, that connects with darkness and with light.
And 11 (eleven) are the editions that the Las Palmas Manga Festival has given to brave, happy and free people who are visiting the fairgrounds of the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria these days (from December 09 to 11, 2022).
Behind the liquid doors of the venue, applause, selfies, gestures of admiration and many comments such as: The costume is brutal! How handsome! Very curvy!
The advertising poster refers us to the illustrations of The Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones, although the characters we come across have more faces than a thousand mirrors reflected in a thousand others.
Between Ingrid, who is a personal trainer, and her daughter have resurrected one of the "Freddy" from five nights at freddys. The fifteen-year-old girl designs and makes the cosplay of both. They say that as soon as they entered they already posed for more than a hundred fan photos and, while we talked to them, they asked for more and more photos. They plan to launch others cosplay of the same character during the three days of the event.
The atmosphere is relaxed and every time we ask the answer is the same: two years without a festival has served to gain strength and enjoy everything that both people who dress in their own creations and enjoy, as well as those who they are celebrity guests. We also include people who "don't dress up" but who confess to us that they really enjoy it, walking around the entire venue.
They are all protagonists: people who want to see up close those they admire or simply value the work of anonymous others and who are professionals in comics, manga, illustration for sharing their work and knowledge, both on stage and at the table.
The festival brings together the public and celebrities. We heard a group commenting on the schedules to organize and not lose the signature that they want so much.
The names of local illustrators and others from far away who are located in one of the tents are heard in the corridors. They have in common that they have been able to show their talent by publishing in the best publishers, either in manga or in comics.
Newcomers are also a trio of friends who speak to us with that joy that is contagious: “The atmosphere is very cool! We really wanted to after two years of hiatus!
The cosplay The ones that surprise us are “made from scratch” and it took them a month of work, according to Kenny, another of the “final freddy".
"He is a craftsman – Bárbara, dressed as a security guard who watches over Freddy, tells us – and is used to working with his hands, both cardboard and eva rubber” –
In addition to their own cosplay, Kenny helps his friends with the details, like making them a guitar or whatever they ask for.
From pavilion to pavilion we see how living his passion is offering to pose and thanking people for asking for photos. We learned that there are those who worked yesterday -festive-, or took vacations, to be able to come to the festival today because they know that, in addition, there are many activities, thematic exhibitions, contests, talks, classes, shops with unique merchandise and stands where artists of the image and illustration show their works.
Eida and Laura, pose with their cosplay. Eida tells us about Inuyasha and Chinese animations, little known, in anime and that arrive little by little. We are also curious about gender literary romance between boys and that is frowned upon in China. With so many contributions we are learning, while enjoying.
The stand of La Escuela Japonesa caught our attention because there were many people around queuing up and actively participating. «Actually there are several stands -a very kind young woman tells us- right now they are giving Japanese classes, They are being taught to play Go, which is a traditional Japanese game, like chess, and you can see how people dance this dance, which is not Japanese but is very fashionable and encouraging. This is a Korean song."
The music winks at three spontaneous dancers on the floor. They move in front of the screen, imitating the dances of the game: hands up, hands down, bending, stretching, jumping... pim-pam-pum! What a sweat, Christian!...and, meanwhile, a queue of many other people are following the movements and waiting their turn to move with funny gestures and happy music, in that corner of the pavilion, on the top floor.
The Japanese School has also organized a talk about living in Japan and has prepared a dream landscape for whoever wants to take a photo with clothes from the Japanese country. There is, in front of the photocall image, traditional Japanese clothing -Yukata- with which visitors can dress to take the picture. Next to that stand we observe uno tail that is growing and that ends in a h postelado japanés -Kakikgori-, what is ice with un syrup.
Outside, in the green areas, next to the fountain is Kira, an artist who poses from afar and also with her fans. Her partner, who does not dare to dress in a cosplay, informs us that this time she did not come to compete but to enjoy. She has competed in the festivals of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, winning prizes. Kira is dressed today as Sara, who is a character from Genshim. She has won prizes for her work and she sews everything by hand. She works for approximately four months, for each cosplay, alternating it with his classes.
Here, in this jungle of colors, designs and tastes for the "geek" we meet Sheila and we want to highlight her cosplay: is a skeleton wolf. The merit of this girl is that she has not only given life to a cosplay, which looks very professional, but she has invented the character by herself. Her father accompanies and supports her. The skeleton wolf is recent, but she promises.
We are getting closer to the start wanting more and we love the variety and diversity of this festival. Some people put on stuffed pajamas or a cardboard sign announcing that they are looking for their cosplay, the thing is to participate and have so much fun the people who make cosplay handmade or who buys them already finished to save headaches. They all have in common that they love the cosplay and that they are, as we said: brave, free and happy.
