The third and fourth day (15 and 16 September) of the Gwangju ACE Fair 2018 at the Kimdaejung Convention Center, Gwangju, Republic of Korea were an out and out B2C affair.
The third day of the fair was open to the general public and being a weekend, it attracted a large number of families, teenagers and animation fans. Even some schools had organised field trips.
ACE Fair is an amalgamation of categories spanning across broadcasting, audio visuals, animation, games, character and merchandise, edutainment and licensing, VR and AR, and much more that happens in Gwangju every year during September.
The fair had also organised a half day culture tour for all the foreign delegates who were picked up in a bus from the convention center. The tour started with a guided trip to Gwangju Biennale which is an international contemporary art exhibition.
They were treated to a traditional Korean lunch at a ‘Hanok’. In a broader sense, Hanok refers to thatched roof house which was the traditional method of building Korean houses.
Post lunch the delegates were taken to a Korean temple followed by a Korean fan painting session, where they were invited to take part in a staged Korean wedding.
A Chinese couple was asked to play the bride and groom while the other nationalities enacted the role of various relatives. The third day ended back at the convention center with all the satisfaction the third day had intended to achieve.
The fourth day continued along the line of its previous day and similarly witnessed a huge number of attendees and visitors.
A section of the fair was converted for board game makers and game companies, where a lot of gaming technologies were kept on display.
The concluding day of the Gwangju ACE Fair saw a brilliant display of cosplayers in which adults and kids participated wholeheartedly and went to great lengths to prepare and get dressed as their favourite anime characters.
But the highlight of the day was the fan interaction session with 12 famous Korean YouTube stars. The fans fully enjoyed this session as they got a chance to meet their favourite sensations and interact with them. It was one of a kind experience for them as some of their dreams were turned into reality.
Since 2006, ACE Fair has become the largest specialised exhibition in Kimdaejung Convention Center as it is enjoyed by global media professionals as well as everyday consumers. Just like last year, AnimationXpress has been a part of all these events and garnered a lot of valuable insights from this fair and hopes to continue in the coming years as well with even bigger and successful ACE Fair at Gwangju.
