Once a year - around early spring - we are blessed with the occurence of the local Leipzig Bookfair, which also hosts Mangacon (which is probably the bigger attraction here). So this time around I decided to go on a Saturday, as last year when I went on a Friday it was rather empty and slow going!
The convention really doesn’t cease to amaze me, for the little it offers it attracts quite the huge crowd. People from all over Europe come here to either converse about literature or to immerse themselves in the world of Manga, Gaming or Anime - and honestly I love it. Leipzig as a city has so much to offer so it makes me happy that we get one time in a year to share that with the rest of the world, this place is really under appreciated.
This year, like last year - you had namely famous authors and publishers - but even public broadcasting services like ARD and ZDF - showcase different things and tackle several topics at their own individual panels. Over at the Mangacon area you had brands like Nintendo where you could play smash against fellow enthusiasts or buy merch, but also a huge amount of amazing artists (from regular Artists to even Manga / Comic artists) that you could fanboy over and support by buying from them.
Considering it was our second time going to LBM, I am rather surprised that we found ourselves a favourite artist of ours, they make really awesome japanese and shiba themed art, stickers and more. We ended up spending close to 100 euros again at their stand!
Now, enough about the con itself - this year around I decided to bring my full fursuit, and I managed to clock in at about 5h of fullsuiting which I call a major achievement. Especially considering that the weather constantly swayed from rainy and windy back to super sunny and hot. This caused alot of air humidity and made breathing in suit really difficult. I tried attending the Mitfurs photoshoot but wasn’t able to, due to them changing the location short term and me being unable to see that information on my phone due to me being in suit, and then all the human masses. A tiny bit frustrated about it - but whatever, it’s just a photo. I still went to the location and got to meet a couple friends, so we goofed around a fair and hung around. Also got to meet a couple other local furs that I haven’t talked to yet and it’s easier for me to network in person rather than online, and some of the furs from around here are just super lovely.
Photo by @FluffyBarks
Outside of being amazed by the sheer amount of furries attending this convention space and receiving overall very positive comments and having some fun interactions, it’s always so nice to see that also “normal attendees” appreciate me being around and doing silly goof things. The children with their parents also really appreciated me being around and I probably took atleast 50+ photos with someone’s children - very glad about the kids usually asking politely if they can have a photo with me. Only had really one instance where a kid kept tearing at my fur to get my attention.
The only nitpicks that I’d have would be the lack of ventilation, I know it’s not a furry convention so having a “fursuit lounge” isn’t a necessity. But a “cosplayer lounge” with some ventilators and couches and some still water to cool down would be so much appreciated. Not just furries but also the guy in the Gears cosplay is probably close to a heatstroke in his big armour costume. Oh and of course the con really needs to ban the pro-russian and religious shills. They constantly harass people and try handing out literal propaganda, which is making me super uncomfortable and makes me really want to do bad things to them.
Outside of that - overall, I really really really enjoyed the Leipzig Bookfair / Mangacon this year, but I swear to god, if I see one more Allistor Cosplay from Hazbin Hotel I am going to loose it. There was so many of them.
I do hope you had fun reading this, if you haven’t thought about attending the con - then I hope you do now!
First Photo (@MikamiKitty) - Second Photo (My BF)