Hong Kong Ani-Com 2025: thousands of comic book fans brave summer heat

Cosplayers dressed as characters such as Dr Mario, Pikachu and Hokusai were among the thousands undeterred by the summer heat who joined an outdoor queue before streaming into Hong Kong’s annual comics and games fair on Saturday.

A snaking queue formed beyond the Convention and Exhibition Centre across the street on a footbridge into Central Plaza on Saturday and was constantly moving without any signs of ending as of 2.30pm.

Jonathan Nguyen, who came as Dr Mario – the main character of the eponymous Nintendo video game – has attended all five days of every edition of the show in the last two decades after moving to Hong Kong from the US.

“I tell myself the budget is HK$2,000 [US$255] every year, but I go over budget all the time; it was double last year,” said the kindergarten teacher, who is in his forties.

The 26th edition of Ani-Com & Games Hong Kong began on Friday and will run until Tuesday at the convention centre in Wan Chai, featuring a record-high number of 160 exhibitors and more than 788 booths.

Nguyen observed that certain products were cheaper – such as figurines that used to be in the region of HK$600 and were now priced at HK$400. He said the price difference compared with some recent editions was partly due to the Japanese yen’s relative weakness against the Hong Kong dollar.