Animated heroes come to life in Graz

An attractive building made of bricks and with a self-standing 50m tall chimney along the river Mura at the southern suburbs of Gradec. Just waiting outside in line was an adventure on its own. Many visitors came dressed as their favourite heroes, mostly from the world of Japanese animated movies (anime) or comics (manga). As it’s custom for such conventions, the halls were full of stands with popular comic books, cartoons, computer games and many other merchandise connected to the best known contemporary fantasy heroes of Japanese pop culture. There was a special place dedicated to playing the newest in video games and also to play eastern board and card games and even traditional games such as go. There were also many shows, lectures, contests and workshops (for dancing, singing, making costumes…). The centrepiece of the convention, was, as it’s usual for such occasions, the cosplay contest that took the centre stage. The coined word cosplay comes from joining two words together – costume and play. The fans take this opportunity to transform into a character of their choice. They not only dress like the character, but also talk and act like one. This truly makes the fantasy heroes come to life and you get to enjoy mostly Japanese anime and manga characters come alive before your eyes. The contestants show their skill in creating costumes and imitating the characters and the people enjoy the show. With creativity it is possible to make a costume rather cheaply, although there are those who spend thousands of Euros on a single costume!

 

 

Anime is a phenomenon of Japanese pop culture that started developing about half a century ago and its popularity keeps on growing. There are not your everyday cartons for kids, these handle serious topics from the fantasy and real life. They are drawing on the tradition of Japanese comics and many stories are based on real life events. Such animations are extremely popular in Japan with over 50 being produced annually. The fan base includes all generations from children, students and elder fans. 

 

There’s more and more fans of Japanese culture in Slovenia as well and you can visit the convention in Ljubljana as well – Makkon. There’s also a well visited Anime fair organised in Izola by the society of animated movies, comics and board game lovers. This fall they also gathered in Maribor, where there’s the society Animoku that organizes the ChibiMakkon. The conventions in Italy and Austria are more often and there’s even a shop dedicated to Japanese pop culture in Trst. 

 

 

The anime conventions have begun in 1975 in Tokyo and were visited by only a couple hundred people at first. Today they draw hundreds of thousands visitors and are organized in USA, Australia and Europe as well, and can last for several days. 

Gradec is so close to Slovenian border I didn’t need to book an accommodation, but if I’d have to, I’d look for a hostel in the HI network. There’s none in town, however, but luckily I didn’t need it. Anyway, this is a town with a nice centre, that is worth taking a day to discover. The most attractive part is jammed between the mountains with the fortress and the river Mura. You’ll find many shops here, restaurants, churches and museums. There’s also the nice Riverwalk along the Mura. In December there’s always something going on in front of the town hall. It’s decorated in the sense of the advent calendar, ready to celebrate winter festivities. You’ll also find nativity scenes there – made of ice and the people are really proud of them. They are set up annually in the inner courtyard of the state house  (Landhaushof), and international artists create them from 50 tons of ice!

 

 

There’s also the Museum of contemporary arts, which – honestly – looks like a spaceship would land in the baroque part of town along the Mura river. The building was made in 2003, when the town was the European capital of culture and got a complete makeover. It was also then that the centre of the town got closer to people by making the artificial island ( Murinsel ). It started as a temporary project that became a permanent artistic installation, resembling a half open shell with metallic splendour to it. It’s actually a boat connected by two bridges to both river banks. There’s a café on it, and an open air theatre for events in the warmer parts of the year.