Month: June 2009

Anime Expo, Fake out!

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I have never been to Anime Expo. It would cost me a good chunk of change to make such a trek and honestly it seems an unlikely venture, maybe ever. Beside the fact that it would mean giving up east coast conventions which is so hard to do! So, Expo and their amazing guest list will remain a dream for a while longer. However, instead of crying over how much it sucks that we won’t be in attendance for Anime Expo 2009, we decided to pretend we ARE going! I am not sure if this is actually helping but hey it’s a way to pass the time! So it goes without saying, don’t look for a con report from us about Expo!

Someone I was following on Twitter posted about that the schedule for Anime Expo was out. After glancing through it I was inspired; I wanted to make a schedule like we usually do for conventions we attend but for a convention we aren’t going to. Making this schedule was much like a fantasy baseball team. The post is sort of random and pointless but also sort of fun. Plus, I hope it makes some people go to the panels I wanted to go to and report back how interesting they are. Anime Expo seems like a great con this year. If I had the cash I would attend it without a doubt. So I hope people ask good questions of Yasuhiro Nightow and all the other guests in my place. Oh, and have an awesome time! 

Our dream schedule is as follows:

Thursday
Yun Kouga panel
Toshiyuki Morikawa panel
Morning Musume panel
Hiroyuki Imaishi and Atsushi Nishigori Panel
Right Stuf panel
Anime News Network panel
Gundam Model Building panel
Rocking Android Inc. Presents: Japan’s Hottest Doujin Videogames panel
Gainax Focus panel
JAST USA PC Dating Sim Games panel
Making of Gurren Lagann Documentary screening

Friday
Dreams to Reality: You Too Can Travel to Japan! panel
Bandai Entertainment panel
CMX Manga panel
Seiji Mizushima panel
Aniplex panel
Gundam: The 30th Anniversary Year panel
Manga as High Art panel
Morning Musume concert
Viz Media panel
Resin Anime Figure Building panel
Without Watch the Anime: OPs and EDs panel
FUNmation Sneak Peek
Giant Robot Rumble panel

Saturday
Yasuhiro Nightow and Satoshi Nishimura panel
Digital Distribution of Anime and Manga panel
FUNimation panel
Jet Program panel
Anime and Manga in Academia panel
Mirai no Neiro VOCALOID: The Sound of the Future panel
Gundam Model Building workshop

Sunday
Artists panel
Directors panel
Crunchyroll’s Offical Anime Expo 2009 panel
The Problem with Otaku panel
Production IG panel
Get Paid to Work in Anime panel
Gundam oo Focus panel

AnimeNEXT 2009

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Narutaki and Hisui’s schedule:

Friday
Anime Through the Generations Panel
Anime’s Pirate Legacy Panel
Anime Princesses Rule Panel
Japanese Crime Fiction in Anime Panel
My Stereotypes are More Offensive than Yours Panel
These are a Few of My Favorite Scenes Panel

Saturday
I Can’t Believe You Haven’t Seen This! Panel
Psychology of Anime
Vertical Panel
ParaPara Dance Workshop
Directing! Panel
Funimation Panel
Bad Anime, Bad! Panel
As the Otaku Grows Panel

Sunday
History of Manga Panel
Otaku Perceptions and Misconceptions Panel
Anime Blogging Basics Panel

Aren’t cons exciting? No matter how many I go to, I always look forward to another one. This has become especially true in recent years as I meet more and more people from blogosphere and other outlets. AnimeNEXT usually kick starts my con season every year and this time around is no exception. It was one of those inbetween conventions that holds a special place because of the dates it usually lands on. There was a major location change this year so it the con had a bit of a unknown factor going in.

I have to agree with Narutaki. As I am more and more a part of the menagerie that is the anime community, I look forward to going to conventions more than ever. It is a great opportunity to see old friends, meet up with people you have only talked to on the Internet, and discover awesome people you have not yet met. I know people are always disappointed that I am not actually an emotionally dead red-headed magical maid when they meet me. Then again I am actually emotionally dead so that is something, right? AnimeNEXT also has very good panels thanks to some very knowledgeable old time fans attending every year. There is also a strong and growing blogging presence. Since the thing I like the most about anime conventions, besides Japanese guests, are the panels it is always nice to seem some quality lectures about fascinating topics.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #048

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I picked up a copy of No Girls Allowed from the MoCCA Arts Fest. After hearing a bit about it online, I was pleasantly surprised to see the artist there selling copies along with some of her other work. The price was less than the intended amount and how could I resist an anthology of real cross-dressing women throughout the ages. I had also not heard of many of them which is certainly a tip of the hat to the book. Eventhough all the stories are written by the same author and then drawn by the same artist, some are much better than others. The story of James Barry a female doctor was by far the most developed and Esther Brandeau was also good while Ellen Craft seemed to have the least fleshing out leaving you wanting. The stories are made for a young audience and I think that is important to know going in. Overall, I learned a bit and was also entertained so my 8 bucks was well spent.

Disappearance Diary is an autobiographical manga by Hideo Azuma, the man often considered the the father of lolicon. He tells stories from four very different times in his life. We see him when he was homeless, when he worked as a pipe-fitter, when he worked as a mangaka, and when he was in a rehab clinic. Hideo gives us a sneak peek into his life during many times in which he was at his lowest. He mentions right off the bat that he is going to focus of the humorous and interesting parts of the bad times. It helps keep what would otherwise be a bleak and depressing manga enjoyable and lighthearted. Overall the aim of the manga is to entertain you while showing why he had to run away from being a mangaka and what the results of the decisions he made were. The art is simple and cartoony which has a distinctly retro feel. Disappearance Diary shows you that you can tell a powerful story (and a true story) while still being fun and light. This is an amazing manga that everyone should read. As a side note, the more I learn about manga the more I have to tip my hat to any mangaka. The lifestyle seems amazingly harsh. Even if I had the skill and opportunity to be one I’m not sure I would have the strength. I recently found out there is a sequel called the Depression Dairy. I am curious to pick that up as well.

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