If you thought Paris was just a sleepy city of beautiful architecture and dusty museums, you’re in for a shock. This bi-annual event is a mecca for cosplay fans, and your chance to meet Dave Prowse (the actor in the Darth Vador suit), sing some crazy karaoke, get your favourite manga signed by the author and generally have a pretty crazy day!

You may never have seen anything like it, so get ready for the 13th edition of Paris Manga, a mix of video games, J-pop, collectable figurines and goodies, actors from science fictions films and TV series, Japanese mangas, concerts, a zest of steampunk, a whiff of gothic and quite a few surprises in between.If you’ve never see cosplay before, you’ll either find it highly amusing or completely ridiculous, but much effort is made by those taking part, so be careful who you laugh at; some of them have unfeasibly large swords/guns…

The show attracts around 70,000 people for each edition, and with 240 stalls to check out, you’re sure to find something out of the ordinary to take home!

The Paris Manga & Sci-Fi Show is on 4th & 5th February 2012 at the Porte de Versailles (here)

Open from 10.30am – 7pm (opens an hour early for those with pre-paid tickets)

Admission: 10€ / free for under 6 year-olds

Official site: www.parismanga.fr

Facebook: here

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ParisManga (but there hasn’t been a single tweet in the past three months!)

The bilingual press release is below. Click the first button bottom left to go into fullscreen mode, or simply click here.