Last weekend, I was in Leipzig to visit the Leipzig Book Fair 2010.
The Leipzig Book Fair is the most important spring meeting place for the publishing and media sector and has evolved into an attractive hallmark both in Germany and across Europe.
But after I arrived at the exhibition grounds, it was obvious that the fair isn’t only about Books anymore. Cosplayers, as far as the eye could see.
Since Animes and Mangas are becoming more and more famous in Germany, Cosplay is pretty popular among the fans and instead of taking pictures from books and their authors, I focused on capturing all the amazing costumes I saw during my time at the fair.
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I watched the second Anime during this years Berlinale, the world premiere of Welcome to the Space Show or Uchuu Show e Youkoso / 宇宙ショーへようこ if you are more familiar with the Japanese title.
A tiny mountain village in a remote woodland region. Five primary school kids have come together in this idyllic spot in order to spend their summer holidays at a camp. At first the children enjoy carefree days amidst unspoiled nature far away from adult supervision. But their life changes dramatically when they come across what they believe to be a small dog, badly in need of help.
The creature turns out not to be a dog at all but an alien on an important mission. It seems there is a mysterious substance on earth that is coveted throughout the universe.
The movie was produced by the same guys who brought you R.O.D -Read or Die-, Ishihama Masashi Masunari Kouji, Hideyuki Kurata and Tomonori Ochikoshi, all of them were parts of the audience.
There was only one thing I found a bit disturbing, I watched the movie in three languages, Japanese language, English subtitle and… a German translator for every single sentence and also totally emotionless.
But overall It was a really great movie with an interesting science-fiction story and cute characters.
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So I watched Summer Wars today at an official cinema of the Berlinale 2010. It’s the DVD premiere in Germany and the movie was shown two weeks earlier, of course in Japanese language with English subs.
The movie was about a boy called Kenji, a computer technician for a virtual world called Oz (a massive social network in which everything is connected with the real world) who was invited by the most popular girl at his high school to her expansive family’s home for a summer job.
During their trip, the world of Oz became infected by a virus, Kenji’s Account got hacked and so the chaos begun.
Hosoda Mamoru, the producer himself, was one of today’s guests and at the end, he answered a couple of questions about the movie which I can’t tell you without spoiling you the story. The only thing I can tell you is that he got his inspiration from his own family… oh yes and that he loves Germany.
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Seems like this years Berlinale is pretty popular, people standing in line for about one hour to get a ticket for their favorite movie or a chance to meet one of the many stars who came to Berlin to present their newest creations.
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The Berlinale in Berlin has begun, artists from around the world came to Berlin, to present their newest creations. Up to 400 films are shown every year, more than 19,000 film professionals from 136 countries, including about 4,000 journalists, are accredited for the Berlin International Film Festival every year. The Berlin International Film Festival sees itself as a showcase for what is happening in cinema, but also as an actor and propagator on the international film circuit.
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With this much snow, it’s pretty common to build a snowman, but some kids in the neighborhood have selected a very strange place for their snowy friend.
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Merry Christmas Everyone
It’s Christmas Eve in Berlin, people celebrating this day with their families and relatives, singing Christmas songs and giving presents (yep today, not tomorrow). Therefore and for the last time of this year I will show you some fancy Christmas decorations.
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The Story of the Fall of the Wall, the Berlinale and the Friedrichstadtpalast, told by little animals.
That’s what you can see if you visit the Galeria Kaufhof near Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. Four shop windows were decorated with a really plushy Christmas decoration. Ten month were necessary to create, place and animate every single puppet, the senior decorator himself had the idea.
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So, after I’ve showed you Sony’s sparkling tree-formed decoration, it’s time for a real Christmas tree. I can’t say how many trees I’ve seen on my way through the City, but this one is definitely the prettiest, standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
Christmas is near and what is Christmas without decorations. The City of Berlin has some really spectacular decorations this year and I want to start with Sony’s vision of a modern Christmas tree. The Sony Center, located at Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, thought that, it needs something special to pull the attention of nearby visitors.
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