31 October7 November
2025
31 October
2025.10.17
The 36th San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival has, as part of its Animedon. San Sebastian Anime Fair, organised a series of activities for fans of Japanese animation, between 31 October and 8 November.
On this occasion, the section's programme will include three feature film premières, a tribute to the authors of Doraemon, two exhibitions, presentations of manga in the Basque language, and a conversation between the dubbing actors on one of the series of the moment: One Piece.
As with Akira Toriyama last year, Animedon will be paying tribute to Fujiko Fujio, mangaka and author of landmark works such as Doraemon, their most well-known work, which ultimately became an icon of Japanese pop culture, Kiteretsu Daihyakka (popularised in the Basque Country under the title Kiteretsu, Nobitaren lehengusu azkarra) and Hattori Ninja. Fujiko Fujio is the pseudonym of a duo of comic authors: Hiroshi Fujimoto (1933-1996) and Motoo Abiko (1934-2022). They began publishing in the early 1950s, and over the course of nearly 40 years produced more than four dozen series together, many of which resulted in anime adaptations.
In the Basque Country, Fujiko Fujio's work became familiar thanks to the animated version of these three series, which were broadcast for years in the Basque language on the first EiTB channel. In tribute to these mangaka, Animedon has organised the event Gora eta gora beti, Doraemon eta lagunak, scheduled for 1 November at 12 noon at the Victoria Eugenia. The session will include a screening of the first episode of the Doraemon series from 1979, of which more than 1,000 episodes were ultimately made; the seldom-seen special chapter Doraemonen jaiotza (1995), narrating the creation of the cosmic time-travelling cat; the first episode of Hattori Ninja (1981); and the first episode of Kiteretsu, Nobitaren lehengusu azkarra (1988). Entry is free of charge, and invites can be collected from the box office at the Victoria Eugenia or acquired from the Donostia Kultura website from 11:30 a.m., Monday, 27 October onwards.
This year there will be three premières, two of them shown for the first time in the Basque Country, and another previously unseen anywhere in Spain: The Last Blossom (2025), All You Need Is Kill (2025) and Make a Girl (2025).
The parallel activities will take place in part at the FNAC presentation venue. As last year, Mikel Muro from the publishing house Harriet will be presenting the latest releases for the 2025-2026 season by their Kabe imprint, the first to take the plunge and publish manga in Basque. The presentation will take place on 23 October at 7:00 p.m. Two days later, the same venue will at 12 noon be hosting the talk Luffy eta Luffy, bi ahots, bi belaunaldi, focused on one of the current anime phenomena, the series One Piece. The event will feature Xabier Alkiza, who provided the protagonist's voice for the Basque version of the animated series now available on Primeran, and Jon Samaniego, the voice of the same character in the live action version of One Piece produced by Netflix.
Role-playing games in Basque will also be featured on the programme through the Animerrola initiative, a collaboration between the Festival, Rolariak kolektiboa, the Ebla bookshop in Egia, and Donostia Kultura. On 7 November, Egia Kultur Etxea, and 8 November Ebla, will be the venues for four games based on series such as Death Note and Dragoi Bola.
Animedon features two exhibitions this year. First of all, Cinegēmu: Fantasy and Horror in Japanese videogames, which will be running from mid-September until 7 November at Okendo Kultur Etxea, with guided tours by its curators on 1 November. One day earlier, the Central Library will launch the exhibition Euskadi Fantastikoa 21 – María Jiménez & Letucse: Manga and illustration.
To get the Horror and Fantasy Festival off to a lively start, on 1 November San Sebastian's boulevard will be the setting between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. for Animedon plazan: Dragon-con, focused on the Asian tradition of dragons. There will be dragon-making workshops, make-up stands where visitors can be transformed into a fantastic creature, escape room boxes and a photocall. Pijamaman will also be on hand to entertain the crowd, on board the Fuyur Express.
