Taiwan Today

Cosplayers swarmed to National Taiwan University’s Sports Center in Taipei Oct. 23 and 24 for Fancy Frontier, the biggest animation, comics and games festival in Taiwan. The festival-cum-trade show featured over 900 booths. This year for the first time a special section highlighted original comics and animation series created by local Taiwanese, organized by the nonprofit Taiwan Animation and Comic Promoting Association. Though cosplay was introduced from Japan, and most of the characters appearing at the festival were taken from Japanese comic books, popular fiction and video games, both the public and private sectors in Taiwan have encouraged original comics and animation creations. “The event is a great platform for the public to see how our young comics writers have been capable competitors against their Asian counterparts,” according to the TACPA. In addition, the Government Information Office began to offer subsidies for the publication of cosplay series composed by local authors this year, a GIO official said. “In Taiwan’s market, even professional comic book writers are having difficulty getting their books out, not to mention younger ones,” the official said. “The publication sponsorship project is intended as a channel to bring their creativity to the public’s attention.” The private-sector-sponsored Fancy Frontier was first held at the NTU venue in 2002. It has since attracted young Taiwanese as well as Japanese cosplayers, with businesses trying to catch their attention with the latest gadgets. (THN)