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No anime review for this week, as this weekend was the Made in Asia festival at Brussels Expo. Normally once a year in March, but repeatedly postponed due to Covid-19, Made in Asia is an opportunity to see all things Asiatic. In fairness, its title should probably be "Made in Japan or Korea", as these two countries dominate. Even more precisely, it's actually "Western fantasies on Japanese and Korean pop culture". I admit that "Made in Asia" is quite a bit more catchy, though.
My take on the exposition has always been quite double-edged. On the one hand, it is a great place to see other Europeans interested in Japanese pop culture. The children adore it, seeing costumes, playing games, listing to music, following quizzes, walking along the crowded booths of vendors for manga, figurines, swords, wigs, and so much more. If the organisers describe this as a festival "plein de de joie, plein d'amitié et plein d'amour", it's not so far from our perception. It's a colourful crowd with thousands of participants cosplaying their favourite characters, often happily crossing gender barriers on the way. It's a crowd where even more than Japanese flags people show rainbow colours. The kids enjoy this wonderfully diverse crowd in which — for want of a better word — minimalist cosplays naturally walk next to visitors in long dresses or hijabs as a matter of course.
On the other hand, even a peaceful, friendly crowd is still a crowd, and personally I don't enjoy much being sandwiched between (literally) tens of thousands of other visitors with a sometimes ear-splitting level of noise. This is already not my thing under normal conditions, but even less in Covid times with a sizeable fraction of visitors unmasked (needless to say, we stuck to our FFP2 masks). There's also no doubt that Made in Asia is a commerce feast, with sales of manga and anime paraphernalia of all stripes in countless booths. The festival capitalises on Western fantasies of the Oriental and in particular of Japan and Korea with little real information on Japanese or Korean cultures.
Even this orgy of commerce has its calm parts, however. One hall is partially dedicated to associations looking more deeply into Japanese or Korean languages and (sub)cultures. A small library in a corner allowed to browse through volumes of manga — a place a happily fled to restore a minimum level of (literal and figurative) calmness.
On the whole, will we go back in March? If I ask the kids, the answer is clearly yes. And I already know that I'll comply, and comply gladly. Ultimately not to see what was Made in Asia, but to celebrate a diversity Made in Europe.
Le deuxième jour de la Made in Asia 2021 (caveat: on a public Facebook page)
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