TAF was very noticeably driven by the industry, and the industry only cares about the newest stuff. Sure, there was an NHK booth with en exposition dedicated to NHK's 35 years in business (they showed a set of short videos there which were quite interesting). But overall, it was all the upcoming stuff everwhere. I don't remember any materials about Naruto or Bleach there (there must've been, but not prominent at all).

Gurren-Lagann was an exception. GAINAX dedicated it huge booth, which must've costed them. And it's for a show which was off the air for months. The booth had a roof, and fans were taking pictures of it like crazy. I took one too, although the significance of the signage was lost on me.

They also trotted out cosplayers (TAF forbids amateur cosplay). It was a success every time they came out, but not as big as when seyuus visited around noon on Saturday. The whole area was mobbed and I became concerned about possibility of trampling. No, seriously. I've never been in a situation like that at AX.

So yeah, Gurran-Lagann is popular. But from what I know about it, it's deserved.

DiGiKerot e-mails:

Weren't they announcing details on/promoting the forthcoming Gurren Lagann movie at TAF? That'd probably explain why they had such a large area.

Why didn't I think of that? I didn't see any promotional materials, but quite possibly it was the reason.