Kamen Rider cosplay! Photo by Brett Homenick.
It's that time of year again. January 8 saw Super Festival 73 invade the the Science Museum in Chiyoda, Tokyo. I was interested to have another look at the show, but it's starting to feel a little too familiar.
If you're a toy collector, Super Festival probably has a lot to offer. But if you're like me, and your toy-collecting days ended when you were 12, it can get a little repetitive, especially when the displays continue to look more and more similar as the months pass.
I walked around the various rooms of memorabilia to see if I could find anything interesting, and for the first time in a while (and perhaps ever), I left the show without having purchased anything. The only thing I paid for was my 1,500-yen ticket to the show. I was actually rather pleased that I didn't buy some old book or DVD, but at the same time, it does make it seem like something's missing.
The highlight, of course, was seeing my fellow fans wandering the halls. I also enjoyed seeing Return of Ultraman suit actor Eiichi Kikuchi, who wished me "Happy New Year" in no less than three languages! Kikuchi-san is truly a class act, and he's always awesome when I see him.
With Eiichi Kikuchi.
Another familiar face on hand was Sojiro Uchino, a child actor who appears in episodes of Ultra Q, Ultraman, Kaiju Booska, and even Gamera vs. Viras. Uchino-san is a staple of Super Festival, and when I didn't see him at the last show, it certainly didn't feel the same without him.
With Sojiro Uchino.
When all was said and done, I didn't spend that much time at the show. Maybe an hour, hour and a half. Super Festival can be an interesting show, but for a person who just isn't into collecting stuff, I find it has less and less to offer these days. Here's hoping the next one will be a lot more exciting.
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