Japanese animation festival celebrates 15 years in Wales

Nation.Cymru staff

A festival celebrating Japanese animation is returning to Wales for its 15th anniversary with a programme featuring anime classics, new releases and appearances from leading artists.

The Kotatsu Animation Festival will take place at Chapter in Cardiff on September 26 and 27 before moving to Aberystwyth Arts Centre from October 16 to 18.

This year’s programme includes Akira and Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature film as director, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, alongside more recent titles including Children of the Sea and All You Need is Kill.

Japanese CGI animator Masaya Inaba, who worked on both Children of the Sea and All You Need is Kill, will also appear at the festival.

He will give a masterclass exploring how traditional 2D animation and CGI are combined in Japanese anime and offer an insight into how the films are made.

The programme will also mark the 101st anniversary of the birth of Japanese puppeteer Kihachirō Kawamoto with a screening of his stop-motion film Dōjōji, which organisers say has rarely been shown in the UK.

Emerging filmmakers will feature in a screening of short films made by Japanese animation students, while musician JERO11 will perform music combining rock with traditional Japanese instrumentation.

The guitarist and shamisen player will use a homemade electric box-shamisen to perform traditional pieces with a modern twist.

Other attractions will include a Comic Café where visitors can browse donated manga, Japanese calligraphy from Yukiko Ayres and a marketplace selling anime, manga and Japanese-related goods.

A British Sign Language interpreter will be available at the Cardiff event on September 26.

More details of the festival are available here

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