Interactive AR activity was originally planned for AnimeJapan 2020 before its cancellation

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime was originally planning to hold an interactive activity at this year's AnimeJapan event, where visitors would use the Augmented Reality function on their phones to summon the dragon Veldora to Tokyo Big Sight... Then AnimeJapan got cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns, so that plan went bust.

But fun can still persevere in the home, and the anime has launched a new campaign for fans to summon Veldora into their own homes. Bandai Namco Arts posted a promotional video for the campaign on Friday, which wryly points out the last-minute change of plans.

An AR camera will be available through the campaign's website from March 21 to 31. Fans are encouraged to take photos of Veldora and post them on Twitter with the hashtag #自宅にヴェルドラ (Veldora in the home). Five submissions will be selected for a prize, and the posters will receive a shikishi illustrated by manga artist Taiki Kawakami, signed by Rimuru voice actress Miho Okasaki. The person who posts the coolest photo, the MVP (Most Veldora Photo), will receive a shikishi illustrated by Kawakami, with signatures from voice actors Miho Okasaki, Makoto Furukawa (Benimaru), and Tomoaki Maeno (Veldora), plus theme song vocalist TRUE. Winners will be contacted through Twitter DM, so they'll need to be following the anime's official Twitter account to be eligible for prizes.

Only people living in Japan are eligible for prizes, but the AR camera should be open to anyone who wants to summon Veldora into their homes.

The television anime of Taiki Kawakami's manga, which in turn adapted author Fuse and artist Mitz Vah's That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime light novel series, premiered in October 2018. Kawakami launched the manga in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Sirius magazine in 2015. Kodansha Comics is releasing the series in English. The anime will have a second season in October 2020.

AnimeJapan 2020 was scheduled to take place from March 21-24 at Tokyo Big Sight. Concerns over the Covid-19 virus have led to the cancellation or postponement of numerous events in Japan, as well as Japanese companies announcing their absence in overseas events, conventions, and trade shows.

Source: Veldora Summoning Campaign website



Disclosure: Bandai Namco Arts Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. Bandai Namco Rights Marketing Inc., another wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.