The International Comics Festival of Angoulême (France), a prominent yearly meeting for all European comic fans, has long been a place where manga was frowned upon, if present at all, despite the genre's popularity in France. At last, this year's edition, held from the 25th to the 28th, gave manga what it really deserves, trying once more to put an end the cultural elitism that so often runs abound in the euro comics environment. Japan was thus the guest of honor this year, with four quality guests: Masakazu Katsura (Video Girl Ai, DNA²), Yuu Watase (Fushigi Yuugi, Ayashi no Ceres), Kia Asamiya (Silent Möbius, Nadesico) and Tsutomu Nihei (Blame).

According to the first press reports, the festival was a huge success this year. The festival ended on Sunday, but people interested in meeting Kia Asamiya can still do so, provided they're hanging around near Paris: Kia Asamiya will be attending an autograph session in the bookstore Librairie d'Images (84 bd St Germain, Paris 5) on Tuesday January 30th, from 2 PM to 4 PM, to celebrate the french release of Dark Angel #5. Mr Asamiya was also be available at the Fnac Les Halles (1, rue Pierre Lescot, Paris 1) store on Monday January 29th.