JEDDAH: Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Master Roshi, Piccolo and other “Dragon Ball” characters showed off their breakdancing moves on stage at the City Walk’s Anime Village on Wednesday.
Team Anime DXB are a group of versatile dancers and performers-turned-cosplayers based in Dubai, UAE.
They performed as different characters from “One Piece”, “Demon Slayer”, “Dragon Ball” and “Naruto” throughout Jeddah Season.
Filipino Carl Dalitan, who performed as Gohan on stage, said performing in Jeddah was delightful because of the character recognition from the audience.
Dalitan was surprised by the roaring reaction of the audience when the group went on stage.
“I didn’t have any idea (there was a huge “Dragon Ball” fanbase in the Kingdom) that’s why we felt surprised and happy that they love ‘Dragon Ball’ and anime,” he told Arab News.
Impressed with the Anime Village event space, the performer said: “I thought it was going to be a small pavilion, but when we reached here in the City Walk it turned out to be really big, (it) looks amazing and the buildings are fun.”
Dalitan highlighted that he enjoyed the audience interaction during their roaming sessions the most. “I liked how they watched our show and especially when we were roaming on the ground,” he said.
“It was very easy for them to catch our attention, they wanted to take photos with us as our characters,” he added.
HIGHLIGHT
Team Anime DXB are a group of versatile dancers and performers-turned-cosplayers based in Dubai, UAE. They performed as different characters from ‘One Piece,’ ‘Demon Slayer.’ ‘Dragon Ball’ and ‘Naruto’ throughout Jeddah Season. The team has previously performed in other Arab and Middle Eastern countries, such as the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt.
British performer Thomas Carre, who played Piccolo, said the Saudi audience was very receptive. “Which is amazing for us — just to see the love for the characters themselves and us as performers, it’s all we could ask for,” he told Arab News.
“The Saudi audience love all the performances we do, it’s amazing just to see the resonation with them, with us on stage. The more energy you guys give us, the more energy we give back, that’s what we love from all of them,” he added.
Carre said the team was expecting one or two styles of anime events at the City Walk, but were impressed by the wide variety of events.
“Everything that goes on and all the experiences they bring per day — the bands, the artists, the anime creators — it’s amazing what they’ve done to cooperate this for the last three months, it’s amazing,” he said.
Webster Gonzales, from the Philippines, played Master Roshi’s character and said he had fun entertaining the children.
“Performing on stage is really amazing, you can see from the crowd that they are enjoying it, especially the kids screaming,” he said.
“When you enter Anime Village you can feel that you are in Japan, the structure is amazing here,” he added.
Team Anime DXB has previously performed in other Arab and Middle Eastern countries, such as the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt.
Eyad Qasem took his children to attend the event, telling Arab News that this form of entertainment is inclusive for all ages.
“I know ‘Dragon Ball,’ it’s an anime classic. This was so entertaining for me as a grown-up and it is something my kids really enjoyed too; they immediately started jumping and dancing along with the music,” he said.
