Anime fans sprint into event center to see their favorite voice actor, the Internet chuckles

A video of attendants entering into a recent comic exhibition held in Taipei, Taiwan has surfaced online, causing cheers of encouragement from sympathetic anime fans and laughter from everyone else.

August 16 marked the second day of the 2013 Comic Exhibition held at the Taipei World Trade Center. Around 300 people lined up for their chance to see Iori Nomizu, the (very cute) actor behind the voice of Yoshino from anime, Date A Live. The mostly male audience shouted and called to Iori as she appeared on stage, but it was what happened before she showed up that has everyone talking.

Anime fans sprint into event center to catch a glimpse of their favorite voice actor, the Internet chucklesFans were made to stand in line and enter the event one-by-one. Unable to contain their excitement, each otaku hurriedly sprinted into the exhibition center, turning the event into a track meet for anime fans. Some of the participants are actually in pretty good shape, taking long confident strides and easily running towards the stage. Others…not so much. But don’t take our word for it, see for yourself:

The event planners should have used a bride and groom to trick these overly eager convention goers into calmly walking into the event center just like they did at Comiket 84 in Japan. But it did make for a spectacle of an entrance that had a lot of netizens talking:

“This is probably the fastest these guys have run in their entire life”

“If someone were to time them, they’d probably have a decent sprint time”

“Nice hustle!”

“All they’re doing is entering the exhibition center, but they’re running with all their might. I laughed so hard!”

The six-day event, held from August 15 to August 20, saw 49 Taiwanese and Japanese manga artists at 39 signing events and brought in nearly NT$200 million (US$6,675,600) in sales. Overall, the event was a huge success with many anime fans going home happy after seeing Iori Nomizu as she laughed and giggled on stage.

▼ Iori Nomizu addresses her fans

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▼ Fans who came to see Iori Nomizu

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▼ A message from Iori Nomizu herself and a news report on the event

Source: Hachima Kikou