This year the New York Comic-Con collaborate with Anime Expo to host the first-ever Anime Fest @ NYCC at Pier 94 from October 4th to 7th, alongside with the New York Comic-Con in the Javits Center at the same time. Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, and organized by the Taipei Cultural Center in NY and the Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association, nine Taiwanese comic publishers including Tongli Publishers, Sharp Point Publishing, Ever Glory Publishing Co., Ltd. Kadokawa Taiwan Co., Dala Publishing Co., Gaea Books, Friendly Land Creative Co., Ltd., Uei-Shiang Co., Ltd., and VMage Co. Ltd., and two Taiwanese video game companies including Red Candle Games and Toii Games, will be participating at a special Taiwan Pavilion. Golden Comic Awards winner Chang Shang has also been invited to hold activities to interact with fans, with the hopes of representing Taiwanese comics in the American market.
The Taiwanese Pavilion will spotlight Taiwanese comics, video games. Following on the Chen Uen exhibition at the National Palace Museum, the Taiwanese Pavilion will also introduce works of Chen Uen to exhibition participants, including Banzai, The First King, Heroes of the Eastern Chou, and translated editions of Legend of Assassins and A-Bi Sword, brought for the first time to America to be seen by readers. Well-known Taiwanese publishers including will bring works such as Ever Glory Publishing Co., Ltd.’s Attentively Listening to the Heart series, Taiwan Kadokawa Co.’s Words in the Night series, hoping to give American comic fans a different experience.
Outside of this, the Taiwanese Pavilion will allow participants to experience two different video game works, the mystery horror game Detention, and AR-based cell phone game Unforgivable: Eliza. Both are highly creative works engaging with modern Taiwanese history, which may allow American gamers to experience Taiwanese culture and history.
The opening reception of Taiwan Pavilion will be on October 4th between 12-13 pm with free goods available for participants. Besides, there are two panels organized by them. On October 4th, the panel discussion on Unforgivable: Eliza will be held at the 350-seat capacity Mirai Stage, with Taiwanese-American author Ed Lin, a three-time winner of the Asian American Literary Awards. On October 6th, another panel event will be held by Dala Publishing Co- founder and editor-in-chief Huang Chien-Ho to discuss the recent exhibition on the works of Chen Uen exhibited at the National Palace Museum, including discussion of the history of Taiwanese comics in the 1980s and 1990s and the accomplishment of Chen Uen.
Another Taiwan booth is located in the Javits Center’s Artists Alley, with Golden Comic Award winner Chang Shang invited for four consecutive days of signings. Chang’s work Hidden Checkpoint THL won the Kyoto International Manga Award and the 8th Golden Comics Awards in the Youth Comics Category. Chang’s style is less like Japanese comics, but more similar to American comics, which may be of interest to American comic readers.
【Taiwan ACG Carnival Pavilion 】
Anime Fest @ NYCC：2018/10/4-7，10 am - 19 pm
Venue 1：Pier 94，Booth number #5422
Venue 2: Javits Center，Artist Alley ＃G27
Game Introduction
1.Mystery Horror Game Detention:
Created by Red Candle Games, Detention is set in the martial law period of the 1960s, in a high school in the mountains during a storm, and incorporates elements of Taiwanese culture, spiritual beliefs, and culture. This includes elements such as city gods, Heibai Wuchang, chimimōryō, weimiaofan, poe divination, shrines, fulu, and the White Terror persecution of communists, secret reports, and the political blacklist. The game is set in Cuihua Middle School, with the high school students Wei Zhong-ting and Fang Rui-xin trapped in the campus, and the two of them seeking a way to escape the school. However, they encounter ghosts and other mysteries within the school.
2.AR-based Cell Phone Game Unforgivable:
Unforgivable is an AR-based game, which utilizes the GPS function of smartphones, with a story which involves Taiwanese history and culture, particularly regarding the martial law period. The game hopes to introduce players to Taiwanese history, with a scenario written by Taiwanese-American author Ed Lin, involving political persecutions during the Chiang Ching-Kuo period.
An Introduction to Chen Uen
Chen Uen is the representative master of a generation of Taiwanese artists. Born in Daxi in Taoyuan, he was the first Taiwanese artists to establish a reputation for himself in Japan with his work, Heroes of the Eastern Chou, winning the Excellence Award from the Japan Cartoonists Association in 1991, and designing Chen Uen’s Three Kingdoms, as the first Taiwanese artist to make his name in the world of Japanese video games. He was hailed as a talent without equal in twenty years by the Asahi Shimbun, and combined eastern and western styles in his work, using watercolors and acrylics, employing dramatic tension and exquisite detail in his work. This spotlight Taiwanese comics in the international world. At the end of 2018, the exhibition, The Legacy of Chen Uen: Art, Life and Philosophy, was held at the National Palace Museum.