untitled design

Rio hosts Latin America’s biggest Asian pop culture festival this weekend

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the biggest event dedicated to oriental pop culture in Latin America returns to Brazil. Anime Friends aims to offer an immersion in the universe of anime, manga and games. The fair will be held on Saturday (16) and Sunday (17), in Rio de Janeiro.

The event has already passed through São Paulo on the 8th, 9th and 10th of July. In Rio, the organizers expect around 30,000 people to participate in the attractions. Tickets for the first day of the fair, on Saturday, are already sold out.

Brazil is a great consumer of Asian culture. The volume of manga published in Brazil in 2021 was the largest ever recorded since 2001, according to the Biblioteca Brasileira de Mangás.

The Asian streaming platform Rakuten Viki, available in more than 190 countries, has the second largest consumer market here in the country. There are more than 4.5 million registered users. K-Dramas (Korean dramas) and C-Dramas (Chinese dramas) are the most watched by Brazilians.

Visitors to Anime Friends will be able to participate in cosplay contests, talks with international artists and Brazilian voice actors. One of the confirmed names is the Japanese actor Takumi Tsutsui, who was the protagonist Toha Yamaji, from the series “Jiraya”.

Singer Matsuko Mawatari, who interprets the opening of the cartoon Yu Yu Hakusho, will perform her last concert of her career at the event and is one of the most awaited attractions by visitors.

Among the Brazilian names, three highlights make up the programming of the fair’s main stage and auditorium. Called the ‘father’ of anime in Brazil’, Eduardo Miranda became known for having introduced the genre on Rede Manchete and will be present at the fair.

The voice actor Guilherme Briggs, who voices the character Freakazoid, from Buzz Lightyear, in “Toy Story”, and Cosmo, in “The Fairly OddParents”, is also among the expected names. Wendel Bezerra, the voice of Goku, from “Dragon Ball Z”, and actor Jackie Chan, is also part of the program.

Source: CNN Brasil

You may also like

Get the latest

Stay Informed: Get the Latest Updates and Insights

 

Most popular