Manga Barcelona to celebrate 35th anniversary of 'My Neighbor Totoro'

The 2023 Manga Barcelona comic fair will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Japanese movie 'My Neighbor Totoro' with a large exhibition focused on the main character. 

This year's edition will also have more exhibitors and activities than ever before, as the goal is "for attendees to be the main characters." 

The diversity of the event is what illustrator Míriam Bonastre used as the concept for the fair's poster.

Manga Barcelona is scheduled to take place from December 7 to 10 at Barcelona's Fira de Gran Via exhibition center and will see new awards for Catalan artists.

The Best Comic published in Catalan and the Best Anime Dubbed into Catalan will be the new additions to the list of prizes that the event gives out every year.

The 29th edition of the fair will also see a screening of the new film, 'Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine', dubbed in Catalan.

The fair saw 242 exhibitors in 2022, attracting over 163,000 attendees, many of whom arriving in colorful cosplay costumes.

And in fact, during the event, Ficomic will organize the Spanish classifiers for the World Cosplay Summit 2023, which will see the two winners traveling to Japan to represent Spain in the biggest international cosplay contests.

Also this year, the first Spanish final of the 'Kpop Dance Fight Fest' will see the winners, also representing Spain, in Naples Comicon European final in 2024.

For those interested in audiovisual media, there will be the 'Manga Stream' area, an open space for podcast recording, interviews, and content promoting the latest comic news.