“Animate Girls Festival” is a large-scale event held every year in Ikebukuro celebrating “everything for girls”—anime, manga, voice actors, merch, otome games, cosplay and more. This year, the festival was held over November 5 and 6 at Sunshine City in Ikebukuro, Tokyo—with the option to participate online—drawing 188,816 attendees total.
The event was held and managed in accordance with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s COVID-19 infection prevention guidelines as well as the venue’s rules.
At the main event hall in Sunshine City, a huge number of customers enjoyed the displays and merch sales run at the 99 booths and 177 sections featuring woman-focused content including anime, games and more.
Several popular franchises were showcased on the exhibition stage this year: the audience was particularly excited by the reveal of “URADOL,” a new CD series by the label eternal voyage, and a trailer and new key art for TV anime “The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague.”
Footage of the stage presentations will be available here and here on the animate Times YouTube channel until 6PM November 11 2022, so make sure to check it out for anything you may have missed.
The city of Ikebukuro also held a “Downtown Project,” which visitors could enjoy without a ticket for the “Animate Girls Festival 2022” main hall. A huge number of attractions were set up surrounding Ikebukuro station in a “ring” of entertainment, including a riddle-solving collaboration coaster campaign between AGF 2022 and VTuber units VOLTACTION and Luxiem from the Japanese and English branches of NIJISANJI, “Takeshobo Bono Fes x Gratte in AGF2022,” and more.
Main Event Hall
The main event hall (Sunshine City, Ikebukuro) hosted 99 booths and 177 sections that each held displays, merch sales and events.
Ikebukuro Sunshine City Fountain Plaza
Dangerous guys hijacked the Ikebukuro Sunshine City Fountain Plaza…! On both days of the event, the “BlackStar: Theater Starless” and “MAGATSUNOTE” franchises put on special talk shows and live performances!
NIJISANJI & NIJISANJI EN x animate Girls Festival 2022 Special Collab Project
VTuber units VOLTACTION and Luxiem from the Japanese and English branches of NIJISANJI collaborated with Ikebukuro City's downtown! Fans who visited the "Luxiem x VOLTACTION ~Secret Mission~ in AGF2022" spots set up around Ikebukuro and solved the riddles could get a free acrylic key chain (1 type). There was also a "Luxiem x VOLTACTION Collab Coaster Campaign in AGF2022" campaign, which saw participating stores giving out free coasters featuring limited edition art (9 types).
Enjoy AGF2022 Area @ Naka-Ikebukuro Park
Multiple events were held at Naka-Ikebukuro Park, including "Ikebukuro Autumn Culture Market 2022," which featured many delicious food tents, and the 2nd annual "AniBisMate ~supported by Toho Gakuen~" job fair.
Takeshobo Bono Fes x Gratte in AGF2022
This collab, which was very popular in 2021, was supercharged this year. 18 artists from the labels Qpa, Reijin and moment were featured at a special event space in the Ikebukuro Sunshine City Alpa B1 Hall. There were iced cookies, bonus gift acrylic coasters, and new merch available for sale, as well as an art exhibit.
ShuCream BL Virtual Exhibition & Event in AGF2022
ShuCream and AGF2022 collaborated to showcase hit boys' love manga such as "Yoake no Uta (Lullaby of the Dawn)" (Ichika Yuno), "Night and Day: After - Until the Love Blooms (Akete mo Kurete mo Zoku Itsuka Koi ni naru made)" (Tomo Kurahashi) and more!
On November 5, ShuCream held a talk show, plus the very first autograph event for "What We Do When the Curtain Comes Down (Maku ga Oritara Bokura wa Tsugai)" author Same Zarame. There was also an online "virtual exhibit," where visitors could experience replica genga and color art from ten different titles. You can view the virtual exhibit here online until November 20 6PM.
acosta! ~Animate Girls Festival 2022 Special Edition~
This event saw a huge number of cosplayers participate.
After AGF2022
Some of the merch sold at Animate Girls Festival 2022 will be available at animate International. Don't miss this chance to get your hands on AGF2022 exclusive items!
SALES PERIOD: November 23 2022 10:00AM－December 11 11:59PM
WEBSITE: animate International
WARNINGS:
・Sales may end early if stocks run out.
・Not all items from AGF2022 will be available. Only a select line-up will be available.