Animagic was held August 1rst till 3rd of 2025 in Mannheim, Germany
Animagic 2025 was another great one for me. Kôsuke Ôno the author of the manga Way of the Househusband that I like a lot was a guest of honour as well as alot of other interessting guests from voiceactors, producers, character designer and other artists. I was most excited for Yoko Takahashi, the singer of the Neon Genesis Evangelion opening.
Thanks to a friend I tried to win a few slots for signing sessions. Sadly I didn't win for Kôsuke Ôno but somehow I was so very lucky that I won a place for a meet and great with Yoko Takahashi! I also won a slot at the signing session with Makoto Furukawa. He is the voice of Saitama from One Punchman, Miyuki Kurogane from Kaguya-sama-Love is War and alot more!
Of course I made a plan with what panels and concerts I wanted to and was well prepared.
Friday
The lines were so much better this years than all the other years before! Really a great improvement. I had zero wait time to get my entry bracelet. For entry I started waiting like 20 minutes before opening and I got inside after like an hour of waiting even though there were alot of people. An hour after opening there were no lines at all. So you didn't have to fear missing panels because of long lines.
After entry it was a bit crowded inside. I wanted to check out the artist alley, but gave up half-way and went upstairs. There was a big booth by Bandai Namco where you could play one of the newer Dragon Ball Budokai games, but more prominently the new Digimon game that comes out in october 2025. After you played the demo you got a Digimon branded laneyard.
I also followed the sound of a bell and went to the Togen Anki booth. There you could shoot with a Nerf gun at "monsters" and get a branded cooling pack. As the wheather was thankfully not very hot (around 25°C with a bit of rain here and there) so it wasn't really needed.
15:15 till 16:15 I went to the Mappa panel. I sat second row right behind Ai Yoshimura (director of the new Rose of Versaille movie) and Mariko Oka (character designer for the new Rose of Versailles movie). Both talked their love for Rose of Versailles and the making of the movie. Mariko Oka was a bit nervous but she did great at answering the questions. I haven't watched the new Rose of Versailles movie yet but are a big fan of the TV series that I watched as a child so I wanted to know more. After the Rose of Versailles part we got to see a trailer for the chansaw man movie that is currently in the making and afterwards Scott Dolph talked about his role as producer at Mappa and his experiences.
At 17:00 I went to the Kyoto Animation panel with Atsuhito Sato and Shinichiro Hatta. They showed a trailer and talked about the new Dragon Maid movie (Sorry, I haven't watched the show yet) and about City The Animation, a news series. I stayed for the screening of the first episode of City - The Animation and quite enjoyed it. A really fun show.
After that the crowds in the dealers room an artist room were alot better, so I did some shopping and went home with a bag full of nice things.
Saturday
The main day of Animagic!
After entry I more or less went straight to the Way of the househusband panel with Kôsuke Oono that started at 11:00. Since I was early I sat right in the first row with perfect view. It was a very fun panel. Kôsuke Oono answered question about himself and his inspiration for his work. Staff from Carlsen where the german edition is published also shared info about the localization and made the guests including mc and interpreter fold t-shirts to show who is the best houseman/wife.
At 13:00 I went to see the Chiai Fujikawa concert and directly afterswards at 14:00 the Ryota Kikuchi X Budo Piano concert. Both pianist came out in full cosplay: Kikuchi as Porco Rosso and Budo as Sephiroth. They seemed to have a lot of fun :p
Next at 15:30 came the Toei Digimon panel with Nobutara Takada (producer for Digimon Beatbreak) and Ryosuke Hara (producer for Digimon Story: Time Stranger). Everyone got a a goodie bag and Agumon and the Chameleon Digimon from the new Anime came visiting too.
At 17:15 I went to see the Asterism concert because I had time to spare. Sadly, I don't know what it was, but it didn't sound that great. Maybe it was a me problem.
In the evening at 19:30 I was glad I could get a seat for the Yoko Takahashi concert. I even could see the stage nicely...well till everyone stood up. Still a very great concert and a nice way to end the day.
Sunday
The day of the Meet & Greet with Yoko Takahashi, so I was a bit nervous. Since it was at 11:30 and we had to meet up earlier in the hotel lobby there wasn't really time to do anything before it started. Me and the other 19 winnders of the meet and greet got picked up at the hotel lobby and led to another room were we got a few instructions and then it started. Everyone got to ask a question to Yoko Takahashi who was very lovely. We took a group picture and then everyone got to take a photo with miss Takahashi and got an autograph.
Very hyped I rushed to the signing session with Makoto Furukawa which started at 12:45...I was a bit late, but luckily not too late. Compared to the meet and greet the signing here was (of course) a fast affair...which was great since the line for the 14:00 signing session with Makoto Nobuhara Takada, the director of Digimon Beatbreak was just a few meters away
At 16:00 was the Yoko Takahashi concert, so I went to the Mozart hall half an hour earlier to get in line. I super enjoyed the concert the day before but could barely see anything I wanted to get a place upstairs. The hall was so crowded that I (and lots of others) couldn't get in...I rushed downstairs to try there but it didn't look good...the ushers tried their best and it was my luck that two people in front of my line gave up and the guy in front of me and I literaly got the last places for the concert. I really thought I'd miss the concert but instead I got a place in the first row on very last place (those places are meant for people with disabilities but since the places weren't taken they were given out like normal chairs). The ushers really always give their best to fill in gaps and organize the lines and people. I'm very, very grateful I was able to experience the concert. I had a full few, the atmosphere was great and a few things were even different to the day before. I really got emotional and had tears in my eyes I was so happy.
There were alot of cool panels and concerts this year. So much that I had to skip the Hiroshi Kitadani concert and also couldn't make it to Anime in Concert. So overall a great experience.
My loot!
Because of the current state of streaming I try to get my hand on physical media. Lucky for me you can get a few gems for very cheap: I got me blue ray sets of Scrapped Princess (which I know but didn't watch back in the day), Nadia (which I saw as a child on TV) and Texhno Lyze (which I never heard of before). In the artist alley I only got some manga and in the dealers room I gave in and bought to blind boxes I wanted to have a while.
And here the two autographs:
