Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival 2026 Brings Japanese Cinema to Wales

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The October Focus Is Aberystwyth

The 15th Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival connects Welsh audiences with Japanese animation through a cinema program. Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre hosted September 26–27; the upcoming leg is October 16–18 at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. Keeping those dates separate avoids sending visitors to a Cardiff program that has already taken place.

A Weekend Across Animation’s Range

The Aberystwyth program opens with Akira and includes Kiki’s Delivery Service, the running film listed as 100 M, All You Need Is Kill, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes and Angel’s Egg. Together these selections offer a route from established landmarks to more recent filmmaking, rather than a single-franchise celebration.

See the Work in a Cinema

A festival built around screenings asks for a different kind of attention from a convention floor. Viewers can compare visual styles, storytelling rhythms and approaches to familiar genres across several films. Akira, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Angel’s Egg make animation history part of the same weekend as newer work. This is an editorial reading of the lineup, not a claim about audience reactions.

Planning Your Screenings

The official program states that films are in Japanese with English subtitles unless otherwise noted. Consult the Aberystwyth Arts Centre box office through the linked program for tickets, age ratings and the latest screening schedule. The Japan Foundation lists registration as required. Cardiff-specific talks and performances should not be assumed to repeat in Aberystwyth.

A Welsh Setting for Japanese Film Culture

Kotatsu shows another form of international anime community: a regional arts venue where films, rather than convention attractions, organize the experience. TBM’s Ireland film-festival retrospective offers a companion look at how Japanese cinema can reach audiences through local venues beyond Japan’s own festival circuit.

What To Know

Kotatsu shows another form of international anime community: a regional arts venue where films, rather than convention attractions, organize the experience. TBM’s Ireland film-festival retrospective offers a companion look at how Japanese cinema can reach audiences through local venues beyond Japan’s own festival circuit.

Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales, United Kingdom

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Original Japanese

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第15回コタツ日本アニメーション映画祭は、カーディフでの9月開催に続き、10月16日から18日までアベリストウィスで開かれます。