The world's top theme park event celebrating Manga has returned for 2019. Universal Studios Japan has opened its latest run of Universal Cool Japan.
The "Spring Term" of the fifth annual event features Detective Conan and Lupin the Third and runs through June 23, while the "Summer Term" kicks off May 31 and continues through August 25 and features Attack on Titan, Godzilla, Evangelion, and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.
For the event, Universal has transformed its indoor Mack spinning coaster Space Fantasy - The Ride into "Lupin the Third Car Chase XR Ride." From the park's description...
Hop on Lupin the Third’s iconic escape vehicle and zip forward full-throttle! Race through the forest and swerve along the cliffs to escape Inspector Zenigata in hot pursuit! Join Lupin the Third's crew and make your escape on this thrilling, high-speed chase in a world that stretches as far as the eye can see, made possible with the power of XR technology!
In previous years, Universal has employed VR overlays on the ride for Final Fantasy, Evangelion, and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.
For Detective Conan, the park is bringing back its upcharge escape room experience and adding a "Detective Conan: Mystery Challenge" where visitors will search the park for clues. Lombard's Landing is transforming into Detective Conan Mystery Restaurant and Azzurra di Capri is becoming Lupin the Third Ristorante Amore for the event, as well.
Here's the commercial for the event:
Universal Studios Japan is by far Universal's most-attended theme park — the fourth-most popular theme park in the world, with nearly 15 million visitors a year. Its Super Nintendo World land is now under construction for a planned debut next year.
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Well, a great number of the properties are based on manga. Sailor Moon, DBZ, Lupin, Conan, and One Piece all originated in manga form.
It's amazing the kind of production values they put into temporary attractions. I doubt that we'd ever get something like this stateside but if we ever had an American equivalent I think they would use Dragonball, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy.
Can they PLEASE do something similar in Orlando?
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Universal Cool Japan is an awesome event and if luck allows you to, try visiting during that window im June when all of the limited run attractions are on simultaneously. Celebrates Japanese popular culture with intellectual properties that otherwise rarely are seen in themed entertainment. And most of those IPs are NOT "manga," mostly anime, video games, film, television and other media forms. Wish they kept last year's Final Fantasy though they did extend Sailor Moon after the event and that one is returning for the summer.