AnimeJapan 2017 Blowout

The first day of Anime Japan at the iconic Tokyo Big Sight building in Odaiba was hectic, with two sprawling exhibition halls of anime-related vendors and producers offering untold amounts of exclusives and displays of both projects and fan favorite classics. Even the long leadup of moving walkways and curving high-ceiling halls to the main event was spattered with banners advertising a ton of new material.

Of course, things got a lot more crowded on the main event floor, as press and attendees both beelined to their favorite booths for a look at the themed cosplay, elaborate displays, and whatever limited goodies you could get your hands on. We were so tied up taking as many pictures as possible before the crowds swarmed in that my commentary may be brief, but there's plenty of great pictures of the biggest standouts at this overwhelming show below.

It may not look so intimidating from the photos we took before it was open to the public, but this otaku in Japan right now, and the booth was situated in the dead center of the main exhibition hall, so it was a perfect storm of hype for a hefty number of attendees.

As usual, Franchise success aside, Black Butler definitely lends itself to some impressive costume reproductions and fun merchandise like the teacup-perching Sebastians.

The most unexpected star of the show today was probably Production I.G booth. Along with a gaggle of prototypes for the soon-to-be-released toys themselves, which reacted to ing guests with "Ohayo gozaimasu!" among other phrases, there was also a life-size version of the adorable robot rolling around on a big stage, who took commands from a handler. She guided him back and forth on his tether and spun his little pincers. It was extremely cute and attracted quite a crowd throughout the day.

There was plenty of Godzilla love on the show floor as well, for both the anime project and the smash live-action hit, Shin Godzilla. I don't know much about the anime version yet, but I think it's safe to say that it takes place in the future, given those replica props on display.

In light of next year's new CLAMP hit's history, along with some perky guardian Kero beasties, of course.

Perhaps the most heavily d property at the show today was Fate/Grand Order, which had expansive displays at every booth associated with the project, from the mobile developer to anime producers to character goods being promoted. Regardless, one Fate display definitely stood out among the rest; you could try a VR version of Grand Order if you were willing to wait in line at the giant cyberlab for it. At least you didn't have to go all the way to the moon like in the show!

Garo might not have much new in the works just yet (aside from a new pachinko machine promotion), but its booth made a grand statement with an enormous and downright intimidating golden warrior on horseback. There were also designer shoes and a few of these aforementioned pachinko machines around back, which had roaring animatronic mask components that clamped their teeth down over the screen and writhed at pivotal moments. Spooky!

GochiUsa wasn't the only franchise with a character goods cafe at Anime Japan, but I think Natsume Yuujinchou's "Nyanko-sensei Cafe" was just a teaser for a different location elsewhere. Regardless, I can see why Japan adores Nyanko-sensei himself after finally seeing the show for myself right before season five aired. There'll definitely be no shortage of Nyanko plushies and toys heading into season six this season!

Good Smile always has the fans covered when it comes to quality figures at a reasonable price (I can't get enough of Nendoroids personally), and they definitely proved they were on top of their game at AJ by previewing a Serval figure right away! Because it was such a surprise hit, Kemono Friends merchandise is pretty thin on the ground right now, so it was a treat to see some companies like Good Smile striking while the iron was hot with such super-cute new toys. Of course, there was a lot more than Serval to show off, so we have a heap of pictures from their booth if you want to see all the new Figmas that may be in your future.

Gen Urobuchi to hype up the puppet power even more! You can also see how tall those puppets are in person for scale; they're pretty big!

The Ancient Magus's Bride had one of the most gorgeous displays in the exhibition hall, with a towering library set where Crunchyroll), I can't wait to see what the full TV series is like this fall!

Wolf's Rain so much, I was especially happy with their giant "animals of BONES animation" mural!

Makoto Shinkai's previous works were also well-represented around the corners of the booth.

cosplayers and props rather than artwork or sale items, but the message was clear: Titan is finally coming back after four long years of waiting!

At long last, this season's new Atom The Beginning", but I must it that I'm pretty curious now.

That's far from everything that Anime Japan had to offer, and we'll have lots more content to share with you over the weekend, but for now I'll leave you with one of the most adorably strange parts of the show this year. While gigantic character balloons are no stranger to Tokyo Big Sight around this time of year, I definitely wasn't expecting these more modest handmade balloon-animal-characters to be lurking in the spaces between booths. Because they're each at least four feet of inflated rubber, you can often smell them before you spot them, but stinky-ness aside, these oddities were one of my favorite parts of the exhibition this year.

Stay tuned, because we'll have a full photo gallery up soon with tons more pictures from all the smaller booths at the event (and the big ones we missed in this writeup). What are you most looking forward to from the next year of anime? Let us know what's got you hyped in the forums!

Big thanks to our photographer Matt Hodgkins for his assistance with this piece.