Oarai Angler Fish Festival: Girls und Panzer tanks, bus, figures, and more as fans invade the anime holy land

Posted on Nov 17th, 2014

by spartanchef

The popular tank anime, Girls und Panzer, has turned the small Japanese coastal town of Oarai into a sprawling anime holy land, and with its annual Angler Fish Festival, entire battalions of Girls und Panzer fans have flocked to Oarai to join in on the celebrations

People from all over Japan traveled all the way to this small town in Ibaraki Prefecture not only to celebrate the Angler Fish Festival, but also the Girls und Panzer events and festivities.

Last year, over 100,000 people visited the festival, and this year looks to be a repeat with such a huge number showing up. And since this year’s festival also has a lot of Girls und Panzer events, the Angler Fish team’s Panzer IV and several other tanks were also seen.

Several cosplayers dressing up as Girls und Panzer characters were also spotted.

The visitors also caught a glimpse of Ibaraki’s Girls und Panzer-inspired rice patty artworks.

Some of the festival goers even got to Oarai thanks to this Girls und Panzer bus

Speaking of buses, fans even got to express their love for both Oarai and Girls und Panzer thanks to this Graffiti Bus

And of course, there are itashas.

And since Oarai is Girls und Panzer crazy, figure makers Max Factory and Kotobukiya also attended the event to announce a few new Girls und Panzer figures from Kotobukiya’s new Miho Nishizumi Cu-Poche figure and 1/8 scale Yukari Akiyama to Max Factory’s newly announced figma Mako Reizei and upcoming Girls und Panzer figFIX figures featuring Anchovy, Darjeeling, and Katyusha.