photos and text by Walter Zeick
This year Fana Manga celebrated its ten year anniversary, taking place February 10 & 11 in Yzeure, a small town in the center of France. At its beginnings in 2009, Fana Manga was only a tiny cultural event about Japanese Pop Culture, with some board games, exhibitions of manga art, and an anime screening at a local cinema.
Eleven by Inês Gouveia
Over the years, associations of entertainment about cosplay and geek culture have brought a new dimension to the event, with cosplay contests, concerts, and guest stars, making it now “the most convivial geek salon in central France.” Other highlights include Karaoke, video game competitions, origami, and Japanese calligraphy.
The Crow by David Spidey / Rei Ayanami (Evangelion) by Asile
Last year the con featured guest stars such as Corin Nemec (Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Stargate SG-1), female Japanese rock singer Ne-chansan, and Hoshi, a French K-Pop singer and dancer. This year the con invited Ross Mullan from Game of Thrones, Lightning, a French guitarist-singer-composer with a J-rock music style (who also writes songs for Alys, the French vocaloid/virtual singer), and notable French voice actors including Vincent Ropion (Ryo Saeba of anime series City Hunter), and Jean-Paul Césari, singer of the City Hunter French opening theme.
Space Marine by Darkchoube Elaldor Cosplay
Each day the con hosted a cosplay contest in a very relaxed and friendly environment, and everyone had a lot of fun. Although the venue is not ideal for shooting, lighted stairways helped make the most of portrait shots. There is much anticipation for next year’s event as Fana Manga continues to grow.
2B (Nier Automata) by Freya Cosplay
cosplayers:
Talion (Shadow of War) — Willfyr Cosplay
Velma — Gabrielle Arts
Shaggy — Anthony Lafranchise
Daphne — Chlo Hey
2B (Nier Automata) — Freya Cosplay
Trafalgar Law (One Piece) — Yoru’Cosplay
Rei Ayanami (Evangelion) by Asile
Space Marine (Warhammer) — Darkchoube Elaldor Cosplay
Ahri (LoL) — Clem Cosplay
Joker / Harley — JOKER Gag Cosplay
Nami (One Piece) — Hyukki Jaggerjack
Eleven & Agent Mulder — Inês Gouveia & Walter Zeick
City Hunter & Nicky Larson — Meurise Marco Mammouth Saitama & Meurise Kinemon
Ciel Phantomhive — Sakuma Uchiwa
Helios 44M (1978) — Freya Cosplay
The Crow — David Spidey
Some of the cosplayers pictured are members of local cosplay club Auvergne Community Cosplay
see more of Walter’s work here
