Le Tableau was my final film for the festival, luckily this screening also featured the director and writer in a little Q&A after. This film while still for children is a little more mature in its execution. The animation and colors of a painterly quality will strike you first and captivate you, indeed it was the reason I wanted to see the film in the first place. Happily there is also an under current of independence and creating your own destiny making it more than just pretty to look at.

Le Tableau means The Painting, so that is where our story begins, inside an unfinished painting. A three caste systems has developed, diving those who are fully painted, those only half-painted, and those that remain sketches. Lola, a Halfie unperturbed by being “incomplete,” decides to journey to find the painter in hopes of helping her friend Claire who is in love with the free-thinking Alldunn Ramo. Ramo joins Lola on her quest as does the Sketchie Plume. Their adventure takes them beyond their painting into the world of the painter, meeting his other creations along the way.

Lola is the heart of this story and she remains the most abstract in her thinking and in her ultimate choice at the end of the film. From the beginning she thinks bigger than the other characters, she can see the world beyond her painting and yearn for it. But that doesn’t mean she acts above them, she strives to help everyone she comes in contact with learning their story. And that in turn informs her story and her path. Just as Ramo and Plume seek the painter in order to complete their world, they unexpectedly end up learning how to shape their own destiny. But Lola, she seems to know she’s had that power all along.

Jean François Laguionie the director of the film took questions after the viewing. He expressed his wish to have done the movie in hand-drawn animation but lamented the time and money needed to do so made it impossible. But even then the project took eight years for completion. Anik Le Ray, the writer, mentioned that all the names with the exception of Lola and Ramo are inspired by paintings and painting terms. She knew the only person who could make this come to life as Jean François. Jean François Laguionie is considered legendary in the field and yet this is the first film I’ve seen sadly. Anik went on to describe the furious way he works drawing frame after drame, hundreds of drawings one after the other in the early concept stages.

I was only able to see three films this year, but two of them were French which is an area I’d like to expand my animation knowledge in so it worked out.

First, I really must thank the New York International Children’s Film Festival for bringing one of my wish list movies of 2011 to the event this year. This French CGI production played in 3D and was the opening night feature to kick off the nearly month-long festival. This comedy adventure features wonderful animation, great music, and charm on all levels.

Our story begins in a flooded Paris of the early 20th century, giving a magnificent backdrop to the tale. When Emile and Raoul make a delivery to a scientist’s lab, they take the time to explore. Their experiments accidentally create a giant insect that promptly escapes into the city. With the pompous police commissioner in pursuit, the now infamous “Monster of Paris” meets young singer Lucille who takes him in after recognizing his noble heart.

Lucille is a great lead heroine. She is talented, quick-witted, and brave as anything! The musical numbers of her on stage are magical, helping to enrich the life of the story. Everyone in the film has big dreams as well: Raoul as inventor, Emile as filmmaker, and Lucille as singer. Raoul  and Emile evolve emotionally over the course of the film too, at first being unable to tell the girls they are in love with how they really feel. And our dear monster, who proves the age-old case of not judging a book by its cover, is central in bringing people together and creating change. The daring adventure of friendship that this becomes is vibrant.

I was so impressed by the construction of A Monster in Paris. Little actions that happen early are relevant to the end of the story. While the movie is fantastical, anything could happen, they still take great care to ensure that nothing happens out of thin air. It is all connected. I was similarly pleased with the character relationships. The film continually shows its ability to juggle without getting tangled up or overly exposition heavy.

This classic story of a monster with a gentle heart is brought to life with all the right flourishes making it so very memorable. Far and away my favorite film at the festival this year and maybe my favorite from the festival ever. Please, please, please give it a wider theatrical release; not only does it deserve an Oscar nomination, I’d like to own to watch over and over.

The New York International Children’s Film Festival in a unique opportunity to see translated animated films from around the world. This means they often play anime films even before they appear on the fan sub circuit giving the festival a unique appeal to anime fans. It is one of the few times you can still go in cold to an anime. I certainly had no knowledge about A Letter to Momo other than the blurb on the website. That is just a feeling you don’t get as much any more. Just the ability to see something and judge for yourself if it is a gem is a fun little treat. That sometimes means you sit through some mediocre material as well but the chance to get a relatively clean movie watching experience free from hype or prejudice is worth it by itself.

Two anime were being shown at the festival this year, A Letter to Momo and Children Who Chase Voices From Deep Below. A Letter to Momo is one I had only read about being in production, but little else after it premiered. I was pretty much going in blind other than knowing Production I.G worked on it. But a lot of times I put myself in the hands of the festival, if for nothing else this may be the only chance I’d have at seeing these films. A Letter to Momo brings brightness to the subject of grief but over stays its welcome to a degree.

Momo is a taciturn 13-year-old girl who has recently moved to her grandparents house after the death of her father. As she tries to fit in she discovers that three mischievous spirits are also living in the house and are making trouble in the neighborhood. But only Momo can see these three troublemakers. But how is this trio of spirits linked to a letter that Momo’s father never finished before he died?

This is a quiet story, Momo talks rarely unless it is screaming at the top of her lungs when she encounters spirits. It is an emotional journey for her to begin again after her loss. It is quite literally about moving on, from Tokyo to Shio, from earth to heaven. The spice in all that are these loud, boorish spirits looking after her.

Momo is a very reserved young lady. I got the feeling she was hardly talkative before the move but after the death of her father and being brought to a strange new town she seems to close herself off even more. She seems to be very reluctant to open herself to anyone. It does not help that she is both trapped in a strange in environment externally and by her father’s death internally.So when the spirits enter her life it forces her to get involved with them despite her usual manner. When she realizes that she cannot easily chase them away she at least tries to minimize the damage they do to the area as they steal food and accessories from the island. At the same time despite the fact that the three spirits have a job to do they mostly just raid the local fields for food. The biggest imp seems to be the leader and while he is a gentle giant he also seems the closest to being the brains of the operation. The tall skinny imp is clearly the lazier and sneakiest of the three who is more content to throw out a snarky quip than lend a hand. The smallest imp is the innocent of the group. He is a bit of a space cadet but he seems the most genuine of the group. This trio is not the greatest at the their jobs and the fact that Momo can see them only complicates their assignment more. Momo spends the first part of the movie running scared from them but when she gets the upper hand on them she almost becomes their patrol officer as she tries to keep them in line. But in the end they form an odd friendship from their misadventures letting Momo open up a bit after all the circumstances closed her off from the world.

Momo is struggling but she isn’t a caricature of a grieving teenager. Because we never know Momo before this lose it could be easy to overemphasize her emotions, but this film is generally subtle. In fact, the ones acting out most are the spirits, for which she gets blamed heartily. Still she has her moments, as is natural to her, though I will say, her final argument with her mother does come off as a too perfect storm though necessary for growth. Speaking of her mother, I think we all visibly cringed at her attempts to get Momo to be more social. Momo is able to get there on her own as she learns to open up with the spirits. And my those spirits contrast with her wonderfully. Each one embodying a sort of selfish recklessness. But they do have the commonality of learning to see another perspective. Just as Momo at first doesn’t understand her mother’s plight so to do the spirits not see their actions.

Momo’s mother is a strong woman who is obviously holding in a tremendous amount of pain.  She want to move on. She knows that being upset won’t help anyone but both Momo and her mother have both retreated into themselves. It is just that Momo wears a mask of eternal sorrow  to cope whereas her mother wears one of seemingly endless optimism. They carry their sorrow singularly and therefore cannot move on. At she same time I get the feel no one in that family is great at social interactions. When Momo’s mom basically begs the children of the island to be Momo’s friend it is amazingly awkward for everyone involved. The kids from the island seem to genuine wish to make friends with Momo with the leader of the gang being interested in the attractive new girl but Momo seem unwilling to take the leap both literally and metaphorically.

I have to say that family movies all get the most delightful budgets and when you team up that money with a studio like Production IG you get same amazing visuals. Any given scene has amazingly beautiful backgrounds. From the rustic charm of the village, to the majesty of the forest, to the captivating vistas created by the archipelago every scene is just wonderful eye candy. With a movie with as many scenes that just live in a mood this is a necessity. At the same time the fluid animation of the chase on the hills and storm at the climax is breath-taking. I feel A Letter to Momo was going for a Studio Ghibli level of pomp and circumstance as a visual treat and in the respect they succeeded.

Despite the praise to give this film on its characters and setting, I really found it too long making my enjoyment falter considerably. It has moments of repetition that are necessary and some sagging moments as well. It is a slow, quiet film but that doesn’t mean it needs to be stretched out. I liked many things I saw, but wish a good editor would go in with some scissors. That being said, it is still a nice addition to the family film genre and something to build on. Children will and did surely love the antics of the spirits and Momo herself remained a relatable figure throughout.

I enjoyed the movie but it really needed to be at least a half an hour shorter. As we get to the end I knew they were going to do what too many overly long movies do and have several ending points. And soon enough I was proven right a the movie basically has three endings in a row. Each of them resolved something about a character relationship with either with Momo and her family, Momo and the spirits, or Momo and the other children on the island.  Each was important but it only made the movie feel longer than it already was. I know the movie wanted show and not tell you about these characters which was important but they needed condense a few scenes. It has a strong characters, beautiful visuals, a touching story all which could have been amazing if they just trimmed the fat a bit. Like Welcome to the Space Show this was clearly meant to be a family movie but I wonder how much the movie will be able to keep the attentions of kids for 2 hours. There are some funny scenes and even some action and suspense but when the plots slows down to drink in a feeling it often holds that feeling for too long.  Then again the children in the audience at the film festival seemed engaged for most of the movie so maybe I am underestimating a younger audience. Still I hope to see more from Hiroyuki Okiura. He showed a good deal of promise with this movie as long as he learns to condense the stories he tries to tell a bit.

Tatsuya Nagamine

While Tatsuya Nagamine does not have the most extensive resume I thought his work on HeartCatch PreCure! was an innovative and standout addition to the PreCure franchise. I would love to see how the project came together and what it was like to work on such a unique magical girl show.

Ai Yazawa

I adore Yazawa’s style and stories. Her beautiful art combined with fashion and music in NANA is unforgetable. Yazawa has taken a sabbatical due to illness from her manga. I’d like to think the NANA manga will continue soon and this would kick it off.

Miki Yoshikawa

I know it is almost impossible to get manga-ka but I would love to be able to talk to Miki Yoshikawa. She has an amazing comedic timing and the ability to write for a shonen audience while retaining a wonderful shojo sensibility. I would also love for Yankee-kun to Megane-chan to get more exposure in the U.S. It might be impossible to get her due to her recently starting a new manga title but it never hurts to ask.

Shinichiro Watanabe

A director who will be forever remembered for Cowboy Bebop, and to a lesser extent Samurai Champloo but one who also debuts a new series this year. Sakamichi no Apollon premiering this spring looks quite promising and reunites Watanabe with Yoko Kanno. He can come to talk about his past successes and show off this new work.

Kenjiro Hata

I just love Kenjiro Hata. With the first Hayate movie just coming on Blu-ray in Japan, a third season of the Hayate anime on its way, and some secret project in the works I would love to pick his brain. I think he would make a wonderful guest if for nothing else he seems to be a straight shooter about the realities of being a manga-ka in this own work. That alone might make him a great guest.

Yuki Kajiura w/ Kalafina

I’m always interested in musical guests who have their hands in a lot of anime and not just one opening. Kajiura along with the group she formed Kalafina would be a great eclectic ensemble to have come. Kajiura worked on the currently popular Madoka Magica and Kalafina performed the ending song for the series as well.

Kunihiko Ikuhara

I tried to choose creators who had not been to the U.S. in the past but I made an exception with Ikuhara. While Ikuhara has made several U.S. anime convention appearances his recent return to directing makes him a wonderful choice for a return visit to talk about Mawaru-Penguindrum. Theoretically he would also be coming because someone picked up the Penguindrum license. But there is so much in that show I would love to be able to ask him about the intricate layers its story and characters.

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto

Founding member of Gainax and long-time character design, Sadamoto has worked on everything from Evangelion to Summer Wars, and is the manga-ka for the recently concluded Evagelion manga. He may have some free time! He also did the character designs for Mamoru Hosod’a newest film.

Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi

We have to beat Sakura-Con. They got Gen Urobuchi for 2012. The only way to defeat them in the East Coast/West Coast convention arms race is to get the ultimate Type-Moon related guests. It is totally for the pride and honor of everyone on this side of the country and no other reason I suggest this. Can we let them win? I don’t think so. Also with Fate/Zero streaming in the U.S., Carnival Phantasm looking to be picked up,  Mahōtsukai no Yoru theoretically being released, Red Dragon looking to become a multimedia franchise it would a good time for them to make a first U.S. appearance.

Mamoru Hosoda

Hosoda’s films are getting more and more attention. Titles like A Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars will not soon be forgotten and he even has things like Digimon and One Piece under his belt. With a new film coming out in Japan this summer, it is a perfect time for Hosoda to visit Otakon and like last year’s guest Makoto Shinkai, he can show his new work as well!

Vertical Vednesday may be much less frequent but it is hardly dead and this week was a grand celebration worthy of Dionysus. To promote one of their more high-profile titles Vertical held a wine tasting at the Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit shop in Manhattan. The Drops of God is a moderately famous manga outside of the manga world for its ability to actually influence the international wine market when it talks about a vintage. It single handily created a great demand for wine in several Asian countries that had never been big wine drinkers beforehand. So Vertical decided to go all out with the first volume. They had the first volume on sale along with the new Vertical catalog with a Drops of God cover. Apparently the mixture of wine and manga is a good draw because the shop was quite crowded when I arrived and it only got busier by the time the event started in proper.

I’m not going to lie to you I mostly came for the free food and the conversation and I got both in amble amounts. The night started with a blind tasting of three wines. The challenge was to determine which of them was the Italian wine. I did not sample either of the three nor did I ever find out which was which. I am curious how many people in attendance had enough of a palate  to discern such things. After that Ed Chavez gave a short speech about the manga of honor and the featured wines we could be sampling. Most of the wines we were tasting were from later volumes but they all appeared at one point or another. Since more people attended than expected we were given tickets to try 2 of the selected 6 wines from the manga. As the night went on they dispensed with the need for the tickets at often came around and gave a sample of any of the 6 selections. I mostly stuck to the red wines as I have never liked the taste of white wine. I was also a bit of a barbarian and used the same glass for all the wines I sampled but I can’t say I have ever has the most refined taste for alcohol in the first place.  There was only Swiss cheese to eat but the choice of cracker was quite varied. I had quite a bit of fun seeing how the various crackers went with the various wines.

Overall it was a very enjoyable evening. Bottlerocket was a very accommodating store and the staff was amazingly friendly. I chatted with various people at the event effortlessly for two hours. I do feel a bit guilty we hardly discussed the manga that was the star of the night but much manga discussion was had in general. I hope that the Drops of God does well for Vertical. Like Chi’s Sweet Home it is a manga that has the potential to attract readers outside of the normal manga reading demographics.  I am glad that they decided to do a theme night for the Drops of God. A MW themed party might have also been able to have a have touch of Dionysus but not in such a pleasant way.

I will be the first to admit while I think we here at Reverse Thieves do a fine job as press we are hardly big time when it comes to media outlets. This is doubly true when you leave the anime universe and go to something like the NYCC. So when I am allowed access to a real deal press panel I feel pretty good about the site and what we do especially when it involves a show I care about like the Venture Brothers. I was a bit surprised that Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick seemed to know several members of the press quite well. I suppose when you work the nerdy entertainment circuit long enough certain faces become commonplace but it was still something I had never seen before. I had originally planned to put up my audio of the press panel but I found this much nicer video on the Venture Brother Blog.

Every time I have seen the Venture Brothers crew they put on a pretty fine show for the audience. They are usually witty with a nerdy mix of humility and cheek. They realize they are lucky do be doing what they are doing but they also realize they are popular in equal measure. I think since this conference was with the press as opposed to the public they were a little more willing to delve into the mechanics of the show which was enlightening.

I distinctly got the impression that while parts of the show are planned long in advance other parts are totally made up on the fly. As always no plan goes unchanged when you meet the enemy named deadlines so scripts seem to change on the fly as well. I liked their joke that if they rebooted the Venture Brothers it would be grittier and humorless because that is what all the modern reboots do. I found it very interesting that if they were given complete freedom on the show the main thing they would change would be they would use all sort of licensed material they just can’t normally afford. Popular songs, name brand products, iconic characters, and various celebrities would appear all the time. But as for content while there are some notable exceptions Cartoon Network mostly lets them get away with most of the things they want to do. Apparently Family Guy has pushed so many boundaries on network TV that they have an amazing amount of freedom on their show. Sadly there are no Venture Bothers comics, video games, or movies in the works.

I was also very amused that the realized that there are different parts of the fandom that love and hate different parts of the show and that the parts that one segment loves the other hates and vice versa. I think it is an important lesson for any creative team that is trying to please their fan base. But I think my favorite part on the interview was the Doc Hammer spoke about how firmly integrated their partnership on the show was even likening it to being an old couple. They now feel free to criticize each others work and view that criticism positively while at the same time there is a distinct ease of knowing you are going to continue working on the show with your partner and being cool with that.

I sadly did not get into the main Venture Brothers panel. By the time I ran down from the State of Mecha panel it seems that there was no more room left at the inn. But from what I heard about the panel from our companions who did get in it was not as entertaining as it was in past years especially since they did not have any exclusive footage of the new season. You can judge the panel for yourself here.  I want to believe that we were so entertaining at the press panel that we stole all of Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick’s energy before the main event. And for that I apologize. But like everyone else I look forward to see to see what they have in store for us in season 5. Maybe will see continuing tale of Liam Neeson and his Russian child bride.

More NY Comic Con and Anime Festival and 2011 posts:

NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Tweets
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: General Impressions
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: The App
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Exhibitors Hall
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Panels
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Screenings

Premieres have been something that I’ve started associating with New York Comic Con the last couple of years, it is something that really draws me. Between anime, movies, cartoons, and television you could have probably just seen premieres for the bulk of the weekend! While I didn’t get to attend as many as I have in year’s past, I was still pleased with the overall choices.

The biggest premiere I went to was the showing of Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below. I missed seeing it at Otakon to cover some panels with the Japanese guests. I heard very mixed review about this movie. While everyone enjoyed it the real contention was where reviewers felt it stood in his body of work. Hardcore Makoto Shinkai fans usually felt it was a promising but highly flawed work while people who felt Makoto Shinkai was a one trick pony loved it as a sign of his maturation beyond his normal habits. Truth be told both sides are correct. They are just focusing on different things so it makes their opinions seem very different. This is clearly a film in which Makoto Shinkai has one foot in what he has done before and one foot in new waters. The movie has many flaws but it also has many beautiful elements. Children Who Chase Voices has the most action of any of his films and often  shines when these scenes occur. But often times it seems his blending of contemplative and energetic don’t mix as nicely as you would like. Also the common complaint that he is cribbing off Studio Ghibli which I feel is unmistakable. All that said I thought it was a wonderful movie. If anything the criticism of the flaws of the movie are so intense because it is clear that Makoto Shinkai has the potential to be a legendary director if he can learn from his mistakes in this movie. If you have the chance either see this movie in theaters or pick it up when it inevitably gets licensed. If you go in with reasonable expectations you will have a film experience that will stick with you.

Marvel Televisions’s panel was a lot of maybes and things in the works for live action but the animation portion was most exciting. First we were treated to the first preview of the new Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. It is young, but not too young, and has a good voice for Peter. It also includes plenty of his quipping and making remarks to the watcher. I was also very happy to hear J.K. Simmons reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson which has and always will be spot on casting. One hopes there will be some crossover with Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. And speaking of, one of the highlights of the weekend was seeing the premiere of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes S2. It picks up quite close to where we last left off (I won’t spoil, but seriously if you haven’t watched the first season what are you waiting for? It is up for free on Marvel’s site!) jumping right into the story though it isn’t totally apparent at first. This episode guest stars the Fantastic Four and one of the biggest villains of the Marvel U, Doctor Doom. There are some very hilarious moments between Hulk and the Thing which were welcome, too. The only real disappointment for the episode was Wasp and Invisible Woman getting rescued. Sigh. Though when I asked if we would be seeing more of Mockingbird and Ms. Marvel and whether more women would join the Avengers permanently I was told I would really like where S2 is headed.

I went to the Fate/Zero screening for variety of reasons despite the fact that I had already seen and reviewed the first episode. The first reason was the Aniplex rep said there were going to be raffles at the Aniplex screenings that weekend. Sadly that was not the case with Fate/Zero and so my heart was broken. I also just wanted to see the reactions of people who are not me to the series. For what I could tell the crowd was a mixture of people who were already Type-Moon fans and people who were aware of the franchise but had not seen much just from snippets of overheard conversation. There was at least one really loud fan who kept going “WOO! TYPE-MOON!” (and they were not me believe it or not.) I was a bit surprised that for all the energy the audience had before the screening the were relatively quiet during the hour-long episode. I guess I am just used to rowdier crowds during anime screenings at a con. The thing that got the most fan reaction were the appearance of characters people already knew like Rin, Sakura, and of course Saber.  The other moment that got the most reason was the infamous circling conversation scene that got several chuckles. But in the end when the episode ended the crowd reaction was enthusiastically positive which always warms by heart. But of course the third reason I went was simply that there not really a chance I was NOT going. As a side note: Dear Ilya fandom, I know you exist and you are not going anywhere but try to be less obviously creepy. At least pretend to like her for less than pedo reasons.

There is traditionally a DC Animated panel every year at NYCC and I always attend whether they are showing something or not. Bruce Timm is usually in attendance as well as other various talent. This year’s panel I expected to focused on Batman: Year One but sadly they didn’t show anything from it and didn’t talk all that much about it either despite it being a rather new type of project for them considering the source material. They did show the 10-minute Catwoman short included with the DVD. The later half of the animation features a fun swing through the city chase and a good fight that takes place in the front seat of a truck. The earlier half of the film has two stripteases, one of Catwoman and one of another random girl. I was more surprised than anything else, especially because I felt they should have given a verbal warning in an all ages panel taking place in the middle of the day. There is no on-screen nudity but it was still a very mature short. After that they showed the trailer for Justice League: Doom which is an interpretation of the Tower of Babel story in which Batman has plans on how to take out each heroes if they were ever to go bad. These plans of course fall into the wrong hands. Kevin Conroy showed up for this part of the panel which was exciting, he is the Batman voice. Everyone had a good laugh when the panelists were discussing how Batman shouldn’t leave information lying around to which Mr. Conroy (in the Batman voice) said, “Damn that iPhone.”

I had not originally planned to go see Level Up but I was roped into going when I found out that Ben Levin and Matt Burnett were working on the TV series. I later found out that the are only working on the TV series and did not work on this premiere movie but I was still glad I went. If nothing else I got a very nice sports bottle for my effort. The premise of the story is that three kids who play a MMORPG that is clearly World Of Warcraft discover that the monsters are entering the real world led by their evil master from the game with the intent of enslaving humanity. The problem is that the kids who discover this plot are a jock, a punk, and a nerd. So they must learn to work together using like they do in the game even if they hate each other in real life. There is also a girl from the school newspaper who is also trying to uncover what is going on. It was enjoyable but I felt a weird tug of war within the script. Parts of it felt like very clever parody that was trying appeal to a younger audience while at the same time giving an older audience something to enjoy. Other times there was some distinct bog standard kiddie fare plotting, dialog, and humor complete with cliche dialog and multiple fart jokes. The script oscillated back and forth as if there were written by two teams forced to work on the project but refusing to budge on their vision. I also have to say that the guy playing the billionaire designer of the game was channeling Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark so hard I expected him to accidentally call for Pepper Potts. Still it was more enjoyable than I thought it would be and I am curious to see if Ben and Matt can influence the show to focus more on what I enjoyed about the premise to help counteract the written by committee feeling in the premiere.

I was disappointed that I didn’t attend Kono Danshi Uchujin to Tatakaemasu’s international premiere but in order to do so one was required to be in the Masquerade line. The thought of actually doing that made me cry and laugh at the same time, needless to say I skipped that. And still there were others I didn’t even attempt such as Beavis and Butthead. And I saw many a line for everything that was getting a screening over the weekend. I overheard one guy saying he didn’t get why people would do that when it would be out in a month or two and just had to shake my head. Seeing something early is special, why wouldn’t you want to! While there is no one reason I go to New York Comic Con, premieres are always a stand out piece to me and make the experience that much more special.

Man I am ticked off that I had a chance to get into the Marvel Television panel after it started. I really wanted to see what they had to offer. But I suppose sometimes you just have to see what you can get into if you try. Other than that I was pleased with the anime premieres at the NYCC. While the NYAF might have gotten the shaft in many ways the anime premieres were still high-caliber. The ability to see the second episode of Guilty Crown before it aired in Japan is nothing to sneeze at. Even if the NYAF goes away I hope that they continue to provide just as high quality exclusive anime content at NYCC. But even if all the anime content goes away the premiere cartoon material alone is worth the price of admission for any fan of animation.

More NY Comic Con and Anime Festival and 2011 posts:

NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Tweets
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: General Impressions
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: The App
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Exhibitors Hall
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Panels
NY Comic Con 2011: Venture Bros.

I have grown far too used to attending anime conventions. Most of the time the anime fans who attend conventions don’t come for the panels. The panels are there for the older fans and the more academically inclined. But while the dealer’s room in always filled at a comic convention something like NYCC has a rhythm to getting into panels that I had forgotten. So I set up my schedule like I was attending an anime convention which made me miss several things I could have attended had I only prepared better. First of all I would have never even thought of going to the Avengers panel and I would have waited a bit more in advance for some of the bigger comic panels I wanted to attend. Narutaki knew how to play the game and got into more of her prime time panels. But I still got to see and do quite a bit and now I know better for next year.

There is no shortage of things to do at New York Comic Con, and that makes almost every panel big. That also means that it is best to line up a little earlier than you might elsewhere. I felt that 45-minutes was a fairly sweet spot time but screenings and big panels on Saturday seemed to need closer to an hour-and-half. Everyone has their personal limit on how long they are willing to wait. Still the programing proved well worth it in most cases. And I was able to get in an average of three events each day.

I being slightly less of comic book fan than Narutaki tried to balance my time equally between comics and anime unlike Narutaki who is a bit more starved for the comic convention experience she craves. I was sort of amazed that the Aniplex panel was standing room only since they normally are only half filled at other conventions I have been to. The most interesting point not usually mentioned in news reports is that they outright stated, “Hey if you have a siscon then Oreimo is the anime for you!” I was surprised they were so blatant about that when the anime itself dances around it. They also seem to be going all out on Madoka with a wide variety of editions you can buy. But they are also going for singles on a 13 episode show. Not sure how that is going to work out. Madoka is popular but is it “Put up with singles in this day and age” popular. They did not have much of a Q&A. I  asked about the success of the international streaming initiative of Fate/Zero but they played their cards close to their chest. I assumed that would be the case but I figured it was worth a shot. I also went to the Vertical industry panel. Ed ran a good panel as normal. The big announcements were Adolf and Sakuran. Adolf has been long out of print in the US and Vertical has wanted Sakuran for a while. Vertical also licensed the 5 Centimeters Per Second manga which seems like a nice solid one shot release. I don’t think it will light the world on fire but it will probably make their money back with a small profit.

This was my first year attending any DC panels. Obviously I’ve become interested since the New 52. Unfortunately, both panels I attended were rather subdued and not very good at creating anticipation. Both All Access: Batman and All Access: Young Justice started out introducing a smattering of creators and editors on the books each of which would talk about the book’s story followed by some pages from upcoming issues. Things felt very introductory while it seemed like the audience was already well aware of the works. And it took up most of the panel before getting to questions. It was great to hear Greg Capullo talk about Batman and then wax poetic about how Scott Snyder will become a legendary writer in comics. This was one of my favorite books from the reboot so I agreed immensely. At the Young Justice panel I noticed a few fans that left quickly when they realized it wasn’t about the cartoon. I was able to ask about the appearance of Gen13 characters and whether we’d see more and would they be playing a major role. But I was given the standard wait and see answer.

We so rarely get manga artists in the U.S. so I had to see Hiro Mashima when I had the chance. He started the panel by drawing a picture of Natsu from Fairy Tail. When he finished it they raffled it away with 4 other pictures he drew. The Q&A that followed went fairly smoothly. People asked a bunch of questions that were either spoilers for the American audience or the future of the manga that just could not be answered. I was surprised no one was a jerk enough to ask if he was picked up because his art style is similar to the mega popular Eiichiro Oda’s. We thankfully avoided that Faux pas. But on that same note I learned that Fairy Tail just had a time skip. I have to say that if that if  Hiro Mashima wants to shake of rumors that the was hired just to be Shonen Magazine’s Oda the way to NOT do that is to have a time skip right after One Piece did. If nothing else he confirmed a weekly manga-ka crazy hours as he always works 6 days a week and sometimes as much as 16 hours a day. His favorite manga is Berserk and he likes Assassin’s Creed. And Monster Hunter. But it is only really news if a Japanese nerd does not like Monster Hunter. I also braved the anime ghetto to see the State of Mecha panel in the anime cafeteria. Most people assumed the panel would be old mecha fans crying over the death Halcyon Days of the genre. But it a positive look at what is currently out and coming out that might interest mecha fans. There was a bit of tokusatsu as well as what you would traditionally consider the topic of conversation in a mecha discussion but I thought it was relevant. It was a nice panel for anyone who loves mecha but is not sure what is coming out anymore. I hope they run an updated version at a con where they will get a bit more of an audience when they are not banished to the outlands.

It was lovely seeing Makoto Shinkai again and with a very packed house who wanted to hear words from him. This panel was set up differently than a typical Q&A. Instead of opening the questions to fans first or using stock questions, Roland Kelts was brought in to conduct a sort of live interview. As we found at Otakon, Mr. Shinkai is a very humble creator. Some of the more interesting things we learned were how his new film relates to his other works and his frame of mind. He likened 5cm Per Second to how time was seemingly standing still in Japan; showing that things were not changing, that they would be the same forever. But in the last couple of years things have changed and the unease of that change as well as the realization that things must change is shown through Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below.

After I saw Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below they had another quick Q&A with Makoto Shinkai. Right out of the gate we had the trinity of awkward fans questions in one person.  Someone asked a question in mediocre Japanese (without also saying it in English), made a big rambling speech about how they were a creator just like Shinkai, and then asked what his motivations were. There was nothing wrong with his question per-say but it did open up the floodgates for everyone to try to ask their question in Japanese which almost always makes the guest and the translator scratch their head as to what you are asking. I will also mentioned people seemed oddly fascinated by what his computer set up was. People asked that at both Q&A sessions. We did learn that he is a cat guy in the eternal battle between cat and dog lovers, that he believes that any work he does comes from stand on the shoulders of previous animators, and that called the creates in Children Who Chase Voices the Quetzalcoatl because he was the god who gave humans intelligence in Mesoamerican mythology.

Marvel panels are always fun, they have a great rapport when it comes to talking with fans. The Avengers: Shattered Heroes panel was very early but still had a good turn out. They showed off the end of Fear Itself along with some side stories coming up for it. Then even pulled fans from the audience to read some of the comics early and give their reactions. They were a lot of announcements that got me excited including The Defenders ongoing series which is supposed to have a sprawling, core mystery and includes big characters like Dr. Strange, Namor, Iron-Fist, and She-Hulk. Then I nearly jumped with joy to hear Avengers Academy will be meeting The Runaways in March. Since losing their own title I’ve been hoping they could find a permanent home with the younger set at the school. They didn’t give away any story hints so we’ll just have to see. The youth are doing big things right now in the Marvel Universe as Children’s Crusade continues and will have major repercussions. I was also happy to hear the cosmic portion of the cast will be getting some play in the near future including Guardians of the Galaxy. There were a few announcements at the Cup O’ Joe panel the most fun being Prep and Landing: Mansion Impossible, a Christmas tale about elves trying to get into the Avengers mansion. They also had teaser image that implied we can expect Phoenix in some form for 2012. Then it was primarily questions and things stayed very positive. I’m always impressed by how well Marvel and especially Joe Quesada interact with fans, he always comes off as gracious but candid. Things were a little less positive at the Women of Marvel panel. It was great to see so many women talking about and loving superhero comics, but of course the topics were heavy because they have to be. It was unfortunate to see the “it makes money” reasoning being used when discussing the male gaze and other topics. While that is the truth of the matter, it doesn’t further the discussion. But everyone on the panel did feel things are getting better overall and encouraged the women creators in the audience to be confident and not be afraid to walk into an office full of guys.

Since Narutaki was bound by ancient oaths more scared than the Holy Grail to see the Cup O’ Joe panel I went to see the Womanthology panel in her place. The Womanthology project was started to team up professional female artists with up and coming female artists to create an anthology project with a wide range on appeal around the theme of “Heroic”. The panel was made up of several of the contributors to the project including Renae De Liz who started the project. They went over a history of the project, what it took to get it together, the overwhelming support for the project and what they hope its impact will be. It was a highly encouraging panel with a good deal of positive energy. I think the mainstream American comics industry could learn a great deal from the project. Woman can and will draw all sort of comics if given the chance. Most people would like to have a creative career but know that few people can actually be lucky enough to land such an opportunity. A woman can gamble on being an artist or they can work just as hard to be a doctor or lawyer and be guaranteed a good income. But this project showed that people are willing to gamble on a risky endeavor if you meet them half way. I look forward to the finished Womanthology project. On a more somber note I also went to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund panel about manga. The panel was an overview of the recent court cases involving manga being found indecent and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s defense of the medium. I did find it a bit fear mongering but they brought up many a good point. I was tempted to play devil’s advocate and argue that perhaps they should abandon the lolicon cases and save their time and resources for other issues but I did not feel like playing the bad guy for a point I don’t really agree with.

I attended the Comixology panel because it sounded like an open forum and it was that indeed with a good portion of the staff in attendance. They started the panel with a very brief overview of the company, site, and applications associated with it. Since we were all familiar with Comixology, they moved on to questions and discussion quickly. Some hot topics were brought up like subscriptions, digital store fronts, and of course the price of digital comics. There is a constant comparison to something like Hulu, but the Comixology reps were right to point out the amount of people who watch television is nowhere near the amount that read comics. They also don’t set the price of comics, that is in publishers hands. I personally think that $1.99 is a better price point with $2.99 for special or event books. Things like Marvel sales every Monday and DC dropping their price by a dollar after one month are also helping. Speaking of DC, the New 52 has helped show store owners that digital comics sale aren’t impeding their print sales. Nearer the end of the panel, I asked about why the reading and buying on the web has been rather neglected compared to the apps. As someone who doesn’t have a fancy phone or anything this impacts me a lot. They said they often don’t hear from people about reading primarily on the web and that now they have a fire lit under them to make some updates. I felt a lot better about buying digital comics after this panel.

As someone who had a brother that quite often frequented the Chinatown Fair I was curious to see the Meet Me at the Arcade panel about the documentary covering the famous Manhattan arcade. It consisted of the filmmaker who shot the documentary, a former Chinatown Fair employee who started his own arcade, and some notable patrons of the establishment.They reminisced about the rise and fall of the American arcade scene, why the arcade has mostly died out, and what it meant to each of them personally. They also talked about what made Chinatown Fair a unique experience for good and for ill. It had a vibrant community but it was also a bit of a dive. My roommate did note for as much as they talked about the community and comradery being the key to arcade’s success they all seemed more focus on the competitive aspect. The documentary was still in the middle of being edited so we only saw a short trailer at the end of the panel. I would be curious to see the end result given the chance.  Out pure schadenfreude I had to see the Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark panel. They had some of the creative team behind the musical explain how they were brought in to retool the project and the difficulties they faced. The panelists were very upbeat but the fact that is was a troubled piece that has had countless problems was unmistakable no matter how positive they tried to sound. Still when they got around to the Q&A section the people who asked questions were the biggest super fans and only had love in their hearts with their questions. I myself got a good chuckle out of the whole events and that is what I really wanted all in all.

The no room clearing policy was both a curse and blessing depending. On the one hand, it actually encouraged you to check out panels you might not have otherwise just to be sure to get into another one. It also allows there to be more programming on the schedule overall. On the other hand, this prevented people who really wanted to see some panels that some fans were just suffering through for the next. For the most part, volunteers were good about finding you seat and space when it was available. I found the panels strong and entertaining for the most part this year. I can only expect that to continue as the convention grows.

Live and learn. I wish I had seen more of the DC panels because I was curious to see the fan reaction to the  Justice League, Batman, and Superman reboots. Que sera, sera. That is what You Tube was made for (and silly cat videos.) Despite not getting into all of the panels I wanted to see I did quite a lot every day. I got into everything I wanted to without major problems on Sunday. It is just a matter of changing the way I plan for Saturday which is a true madhouse. Next year I will hit NYCC and not the other way around.

More NY Comic Con and Anime Festival and 2011 posts:

NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Tweets
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: General Impressions
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: The App
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Exhibitors Hall
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Screenings
NY Comic Con 2011: Venture Bros.

Episode #49- NYCC/NYAF Part 1 with Kate, Sean, & Twitterless Ron

Panel, premieres, sneak previews, guests, and are all strong reasons to go to big time comic conventions. But the number one draw of any major comic convention is its dealers room and NYCC is no exception. All the major and most of the smaller comic publishers have booths showing off their latest titles and any animated or live action tie ins they have. There are also video game and toy companies out in full force. And then there are countless booths selling swords, costuming products, nerdy books, boardgames, card games, and anything else even slightly geeky. Also there are dozens of small shops selling everything from classic comics to every conceivable piece of Dr. Who merchandise. And most booths have something free for you can take or at least try to win alongside merchandise you can only get at a con. I did not spend a dime but I left with everything from a picture of me with the Justice League to a collection of housewares. If I had any money it would have quickly disappeared. I am not made of stone and they had many a wondrous item.

Promotional, early, and exclusive merchandise is one of the big draws to a pop culture convention such as NYCC. This is a place where companies show off, talk up, and sell you the consumer on their latest wares. This becomes a rather profitable situation for fans. Many booths aren’t actually selling anything so talking with people has less of an expectation. And anyone who is selling is so overwhelmed that you can browse without bother. In any case, you can leave the exhibitor’s hall weighed down by mountains of stuff whether you wanted to spend money or not.

The 4-day pass truly paid for itself when you went out on the Exhibitors Hall on Thursday. While there were a sea of people on the floor it was always manageable on Thursday. Certain booths always had lines especially if there were unreleased video games to play. I played a demo of Wakfu with minimal waiting and walked right up to a Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG.You were even able to try Skullsgirls or Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 without burning up most of your day waiting in line. There were still lines on games. I skipped trying to play the Star Wars: The Old Republic because of the line but that was more a sense of sticking to priorities than the line being unmanageable. I did get my picture taken on a green screen twice which would have taken a silly amount of time any other day. We did notice that some of the giveaways only started on Friday but it was the only time during the weekend where it was not a struggle to get anywhere. You could take your time and browse the aisles at your leisure and that is priceless.

The look and feel of the show floor is bold and bright with red carpet covering much of the floor. Things were nicely spread out with the exception of the “Cultyard” which housed the vinyl and designer toy booths. This really got crowded on Saturday so I hope they break it apart like the rest of the booths next time around. The most notable booth this year was Hasbro making a splash for its first year in NYC. The way they displayed toys was magical sometimes like the case featuring action figures of the X-Men battling Sentinels around a mostly destroyed Xavier Institute. This booth captured what your imagination did with toys. There were also tons of photo opportunities with giant-sized action figure boxes, huge KRE-O (their answer to LEGOs) Transformers, and a replica set from Star Wars. Photo opps seemed to be the popular thing this year with Marvel ushering you on to the Avengers, DC putting you into the Justice League, and frequent other spots throughout the convention.

As I mentioned I played a bit of Wakfu on Thursday. It seems like a bit of visual styling of a Korean MMORPG with a Western MMORPG backbone. The only think that made me raise my eyebrow was that every month the three nations on each sever choose a player to be their governor. The governor can declare war, set taxes, and play with the weather. Knowing MMORPG players I have a feeling most of the time the worst human beings are going to be the ones running for office. Just like real life. Not sure that is the best idea in the universe. But I got a neat plushy for playing the game so it was all good. Also I watched some games of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for about 10 minutes. I found it very odd that despite the fact Phoenix Wright and Nova were playable characters no one was touching them the entire time I was watching. I figured everyone would want to try the new characters but apparently they were sticking to what they already knew. Fighting game fans just puzzle me. But Carl from Ogiue Maniax went into a great deal of depth about that insanity on his blog. I did not play the Star Wars: The Old Republic or Mass Effect 3 demos because there is no conceivable scenario I could see where my roommate would not own those games the day they come out.

I can tell that NYCC is gaining momentum as the free stuff gets better each year. And I like to think I have a pretty good nose for finding goodies at the convention. But let me tell you, free starts a frenzy and it was not rare to see people grabbing handfuls of things. It got to be pure insanity on Sunday and yes there was good stuff, but it wasn’t THAT good. In any case, some highlights from my bag were a Optimus Prime KRE-O, a Cookie Monster ladies wallet, a Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword shirt, Avengers movie poster and shirt, and mounds of buttons which I am always on the prowl for. There are also lots of bookmarks, postcards, and stickers which actually do encourage me to check out new things (I have a pile sitting on my desk right now to go through). It really isn’t fair to be disappointed with any of this, but it was a bit sad to see so few actual comics being pushed. As far as exclusives went, I grabbed the Spider-Man Carnage Mini-Muggs set. I also snagged a Thor set of Minimates from SDCC happily, picked up a T-Rex t-shirt by Walt Simonson from Epic Props, and finally got my own copy of the boardgame Small World.

I did see one thing I almost bought. There was an anime-themed living card game called Tanto Cuore. Living card games are great because they have the deck construction element of CCGs but you get call the cards you need in one box so you don’t have to chase rares to play effectively. The cute anime maid theme was mega moe but it seems like a fun game. I did not have enough money on me to pick up the game but I might try picking it up in the future. It seems like a nifty thing to review for the blog, too. My favorite giveaways were oddly enough the drinkwear I got. I got a wonderful ceramic travel mug from Intel and a nifty sport bottle from the Level Up! premiere. I got a lot of sugar-free gum which I am sure was a godsend to my breath that weekend. Other than I also looted  my normal assortment of free comics, posters, pins, and pens. I got a bunch of free library stuff for Caleb. The only booth that actively annoyed me was this streaming movie site that had a spin a wheel for a prize game. You could actually get nothing from it if the arrow stopped on Sorry!. It annoyed me so much I am not even giving them the free publicity of naming their site in this report. Is it SO hard to give people who come up to your booth a prize especially if they get your email address?

Artist Alley is another significant piece to the show floor. This year they set up shop in the top right with blessed large aisles. While the space itself was better, it could be tricky to get to at busy times. I’d like to see it pushed along the entire right side wall giving it easier access from the escalators. There was of course a great line up of artists if you could use your map well. I know there is a reason, but they must change the fact that artist alley tables are listed by letters. Letters that do not correspond with an artist name which is utterly confusing. Still I was able to speak with some great artists and see some original artwork that I could totally not afford to buy. Cliff Chiang was selling an awesome postcard set which I was able to snag and I was able to get quite a few signatures.

Overall I have to say as the convention has grown the exhibitor’s hall has not only gown in size but also in the quality of its wares and giveaways. I am not the worlds best person at getting free items but even I came away with a fabulous haul this year. If I had more free cash I think I would have enjoyed shopping a bit more but I had a nice time browsing the aisles. My only advice is avoid the Exhibitors Hall on Saturday if you can. Friday was busy but manageable, Sunday was almost as busy but a great time for bargain hunting. Saturday it was just a meat market. But every day it was a treasure trove if you knew where to look.

Many a time, the dealer’s room is not of special circumstance. Every convention has one and everyone usually spends some amount of time there, but they are very alike. New York Comic Con’s on the other hand is a colorful wonderland and a place once could easily spend the bulk of their convention time. It is actually a place of discovery for me. I go to booths I familiar with, but I also wander around and learn about new things from all over the geeky map.

More NY Comic Con and Anime Festival and 2011 posts:

NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Tweets
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: General Impressions
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: The App
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Panels
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Screenings
NY Comic Con 2011: Venture Bros.

First the part that ushers in the Hallelujah Chorus. The app downloads itself to your device so it can be used while you are offline. This made the app go from a novelty to  something that was indispensable. I never opened up my con book during the convention (I did look at it when I was home) because whenever I needed to look up something I just checked it on the app. They were a good number of ways to look for content. You could browse for panels, guests, exhibitors, events, and artists. Each section also had several formats in which you could break down the listings. There were times I wanted to break down panels by day and other times I just wanted to see what panels I had put in my schedule. Also all the sections were nicely cross referenced.  Clicking on a panel would show the description of a panel, the topics tagged on a panel, and the speakers involved. You could then use that to hop to a selection of all the panels involving that topic or to the bio of any of the speakers involved. Clicking on a guest would get you their bio, their panels, and signings. You could easily explore any subject and deep as you wanted which was great especially if you wanted to follow someone or something.

As well as the spectacular features there were some workman parts that brought the app together. The first was the search function. Any good con app has a robust search feature if it is worth its salt. The search did a good job of getting any instance of what you were looking for. There was also a rather detailed maps section that had each section of the convention alongside a wonderful map of the exposition hall.  There was a built-in QR Code Reader which I did not use but I am sure would have been helpful if I had a dedicated WiFi connection. There was also a good deal of social media integration. You could post to Twitter and Facebook through the app quite easily as well as go to any of the related web sites to see if they had any updates. Thankfully the app was as integrated with social media as you wanted. You could tweet through it if you chose to but it did not constantly bug you to connect it to your twitter account like some other tools. You could also mark anything from artists to panels as favorites for your personal schedule and just see the items on that list at any time.

But while I have overall good things to say about the new app it is hardly a bed of roses. My old friend and mentor in college Alex Feinman once said on of the main reasons people watch NASCAR is for the crashes. The announcers know that but it is ghoulish to talk about looking forward to potential injury so they use the code word “action” instead of “crash”.  Well they is plenty of action going on with this app. It felt like every 10th action would cause the app to crash. It was worse than the Guidebook app and that crashed quite a bit as it was. It was not helped by the fact that the NYCC app could be as slow as molasses in the winter. The app sometimes took 30 to 45 seconds to load which is forever in app time. And certain pages like the showroom map seem to take an eternity to load on top of the already glacial load times. Having to wait for the app to load again after it just crashed could be extremely infuriating. Also I know this is just part of the NY Comic Con being a for profit con but I did find the pervasive integrated ads a little cheesy.

There are a few things I would like to see in the next iteration of the app. The first is chart view of the schedule. Nothing helps me plan my time better and visualize what is going on like a chart view. I am not sure why con apps don’t often have them but they are a priceless feature. The second would have been an option to send your favorites and personal schedule to an email address. That would be a nice further network integration and let you print a physical schedule if you needed it. I also wanted a complete map of the Javits Center. There were maps of the individual sections but no uber map that shows where each section is in relation to the other sections and the convention center itself. Since I know the Javits Center I figured it out rather quickly but not everyone has that knowledge. I would have also liked if it could have given me reminders for signings and panels. That is always a helpful feature for a forgetful person like me. Also while the app frequently updates it did not mention what it updates when it updates itself. If there are schedule changes or new panels added you have hunt down and notice those changes on your own. They should make a page that just list what updates, schedule changes, and cancellations have taken place on the app.

I know that I did go on a bit of what was wrong and what could be changed about the app but overall I was impressed. As I said I never needed to crack open the con guide with the app in my hand. The convenience and power it provided more than made up for its limitations. Also they seemed to have listened to the major complaints from last year so I hope they will continue to do so this year. With some tighter and less buggy code plus a few tweaks here and there this could be even MORE of an essential tool for anyone attending NYCC 2012.

P.S.: This is only a full review of the iOS version of the NYCC app. If anyone has any comments on the Blackberry or Android versions I am curious to hear what the differences are.

More NY Comic Con and Anime Festival and 2011 posts:

NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Tweets
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: General Impressions
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Exhibitors Hall
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Panels
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Screenings
NY Comic Con 2011: Venture Bros.

The writing has been on the wall for a while now. Since New York Comic Con started in 2006 it was clear they wanted to be the East coast version of the San Diego Comic Convention. New York Comic Con went straight to being a big con even in their first year with a cavalcade of big name guests and over 30,000 attendees. But this year with an estimated attendance of over 100,000 it is clear that while it has still not caught up to San Diego Comic Convention it seems that NYCC has finally gone from being a big con to a megacon. This is for the better and the worse. I know that I heard more grumbling than ever before from people I knew on twitter. For some people this year the convention crossed a line and has become simply unpleasant. But for others it was finally reaching its true potential and they reaped the rewards of that growth.

As someone who attends two or three anime conventions already every year, I wanted New York Comic Con to be a crazy, huge bonanza like the Las Vegas of conventions and this year really felt like that was coming to fruition. It was a place where I spent a lot of money, ran on adrenaline, and sometimes forgot what day it was all the while surrounded with great friends, a-list talent, similarly minded strangers, and a few out of control jerks you hope to never see again. New York Comic Con like any great event is unforgettable but hard to describe and capture for those who did not experience it. Still I’ll try my best to relay the overwhelming weekend experience.

With any convention this huge the first question you have to ask how good was the crowd control. While people frequently (an unnecessarily) line up for almost everything at Otakon the lines at NYCC are essential as 70% of the panels were filled and had to turn people away. So getting in the right line at least a half an hour in advance was vital to see anything vaguely important on Friday or Saturday. The staff was usually pretty good at being on top of keeping the lines orderly. They had signs to mark the end of lines and were usually polite but firm in stopping the lines from blocking traffic. Of course it was just my luck to get into an altercation with someone on a line because I was just obeying the staff’s instructions. Fortunately the staff was on my side and it was mostly just a nerd with big mouth and a bad attitude so nothing really happened. No pens were stabbed into anyone’s eyes. From what I understand most of us ran into at least one person on a line like that throughout the convention. I think staff could have used a little more rope or taped lines. Every panel room had a distinct area for people to line up for them but a physical indication of were the lines where it would have made the staff’s job of line wrangling a little easier. The major problem as always is there are some distinct bottle neck points. While this made checking for badges easier it also made entering and leaving certain places arduous whenever a big event let out. Getting on the escalator out of the panel section could be a nightmare. It was often easier to talk to the escalator in the B section than wait for the escalator right in front of A.

This was the first year an extra “preview” day was added to the convention. Thursday’s appeal is really shorter lines for demoing games and picking up the exclusive toys. And with only 3 hours on the clock that is the most you can hope to accomplish because this convention is big on a massive scale. However, Thursday is not really an option since it is only included on the 4-day passes. So Friday is actually a great time to go if only one day is in the cards for you because it is a full day of conning as opposed to most Fridays at a typical convention. Many people are working or in school so the crowds are not at horde levels and there is still plenty of free promotional stuff that day along with first class programming. Still crowd control with the exception of Sunday was very well done and definitely improved over the last year. I was pleased to see clearly indicated “end of the line” signs as well as many line staffers with megaphones in order to direct traffic. A nice addiction to the end of the line signage would be what line it is exactly because many of the longer lines where not directly outside their destinations. This could be accomplished with dry erase boards on polls to be held up. Also queuing lines in the same place all the time would be helpful too so if you’ve been to that panel room earlier you are already ahead of the game. For example, on Friday they weren’t having people queue up for the IGN theater in the special queue hall but that was changed around by Saturday.

I think that I was one of the kindest people towards the New York Anime Festival last year. I don’t think I was anywhere as insulted by the placement and treatment of the anime events as compared to my fellow anime bloggers. I also had the most optimistic look on the future of the NYAF. I will admit I was so wrong. This year the New York Anime Festival was totally the anime ghetto. Everything was smaller and less important. The NYAF hall was clearly separated from the main events like last year but was even more of a hike to get to. There were only a handful of fan panels and they were in area that could only be called a cafeteria with a screen. All the anime and manga industry events were with the rest of the comic panels which gave them legitimacy but anything else had a distinctly discount feeling. Least year I felt people were letting their self loathing give them the impression that the NYAF only existed to keep anime kids corralled away from the rest of the convention. This year it was impossible to get any other impression. I wonder if they will finally put the NYAF out of its misery next year and just have manga and anime content integrated like any other form of entertainment or will they just keep the NYAF as a playpen for the young otaku.

As I see it, the real problem with combining an anime con with a comic/videogame/entertainment con is that the core values and structure of programming are vastly different. NYCC proper doesn’t have amateur fan run panels but that is what most anime cons are primarily built on. Big comic conventions like this are extreme, glitzy, and have a lot of commercial push. Now I’ve never been to Anime Expo, but Otakon never has that feeling, even for how big it is it feels more grassroots because it is. That being said, I can understand why Reed Exhibitions has decided to combine them. First, the attendance numbers of NYAF were abysmal for the cost of the space and if anyone walked into a fan panel room last year you’d see it about 25% full which is an unfortunate waste when you can get wall to wall people for other things. Many con kids are content to hang out and look at artist alley (which was nice and large) so that is exactly what they made the priority. There was a lot of anime programming going on as a smaller piece to the larger whole. I don’t see why it should be anything more than that in a mixed media convention, with more than 100,000 people anime is just a piece of the pie. They should just eliminate the name NYAF and make it a collective NYCC, period, which would make it less confusing and less of an expectation.

I did notice the number one complaint is still as true as it was last year. The reception in Javits Center is horrible. There are dead zones littering the convention center and getting any sort of wi-fi is a challenge. I heard even if you sprang for outrageously expensive wi-fi at the convention center it was still spotty depending where you were. Thankfully the convention app was functional while you were offline this year. That said it is still a major pain to get a text 10 minuets late or have to go outside to tweet. With all the construction going on I can’t see why they did not do something to boost the signal inside the event. I can’t see other trade shows not having the same problem and being equally upset.

Food still seems to be a bit of a toss-up at the Javits. On the plus side, there were more options in the convention center itself though of course that says nothing of the prices. Outside on the street were tons of hotdog carts but they were all selling the same thing. If you went down a little ways on 11th ave there was a Halal cart or two. But where are the food trucks? New York City is in love with food trucks! Perhaps the street construction was the hindrance to that this year, but I hope they can tempt some over for the coming cons.

When I got home on Sunday I got into a big discussion with people on twitter who had an absolutely miserable time this year. As someone who grew up going to sci-fi, comic, and tech conventions I was far more used to an exhibitors halls focused convention. I will admit that I started the convention with an anime con mindset. I expected to go from panel to panel and if I could not get into what I wanted I would just go a room over and see a panel there. You have to be much more deliberate with a megacon. Any panels at a peak time require major thought into how you are going to get in. If you want to see the panel on the new show you have to get in line at least an hour in advance. And it might be better to show up a half an hour in advance to the panel before the one you want to see and just camp out in the room like you would with a Hall H event at San Diego Comic Con. After you leave a panel you go to line for the next panel you want to see in an hour not the one just about to start. I know to someone who is not used to this way of thinking it can be aggravating and possibly just ruin your experience. Since NYCC broke a six-figure attendance this year I only see this trend getting more extreme. Bigger guests and more high-profile events mean more attendees and longer waits. If you enjoyed the con like I did I see it only being bigger and better next year. Bigger guests, more premieres, nicer giveaways, and more selection in general. If you dislike the con it will only be worse. More waiting, bigger crowds, less anime content, and just a greater emphasis on pomp and circumstance.

While NYAF had a huge seating section, it was the only one found in the entire convention center. There was a small section near the Intel booth on Saturday and Sunday, but there needs to be more, more, more of that. Bringing in benches to line some of the walls in the show floor would be great. I realize they want to prevent people from congregating for too long but we will just sit on the floor. However, if there is designated seating, people could be directed there in the hopes of keeping other areas clear. But there would need to be very good road signs. More signage and directing is always welcome as long as everyone is clear on it. I’d really like to see TVs with an updated schedule of events around the con as well as new additions and autograph signings. Luckily not a lot of things had cancellations and changes which was impressive.

For all that I have said so far I don’t want to come off as disliking the convention. NY Comic Con has some amazing guests and some impressive talent. The fact that they were able to get Hiro Mashima and Makoto Shinkai was fairly amazing. There was so much American comic talent in the artist alley and on panels. There were high-profile video game, movie, and TV show premiers and sneak previews.  I can see this being as an important an event as San Diego Comic Convention in a year or two. The problem is that if you are going exclusively for anime content you will be disappointed. Despite the fact that they kept the NYAF name the anime and manga programming is merely a track of the show more than an actual sister convention occurring at the same time. It is like going to a sci-fi convention and hoping to do nothing but Blake’s Seven related events the whole convention. You really have to want to see the comic content and see the anime content as a just an occasional treat. Otherwise you are going to be insanely bored.  NYCC has ascended to a whole other level with all the benefits and flaws the brings. I always had something to do. I got a ton of free swag and saw some amazing stuff in the exposition hall. If I could not get into the panel I wanted to could always go up to the dealer’s room or go outside to tweet. I had a great time but I understand why some people would not be coming back next year.

I had a spectacular time. I suspect we’ll see even more space in the Javits next year as the final bits of construction are completed. If there was an ounce of unused space this year, I’m pretty sure that will be rectified for the next convention. New York Comic Con is a place where a lot is going on, there is rarely downtime because the convention brings comics, TV, anime, movies, books, and videogames right to the fans. This year was a big leap over last year. I can’t wait to go in 2012, it’ll make for a grand ole time.

More NY Comic Con and Anime Festival and 2011 posts:

NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Tweets
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: The App
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Exhibitors Hall
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Panels
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Screenings
NY Comic Con 2011: Venture Bros.

#NYCC IS FINALLY HERE!!!—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 13, 2011

Truly Outrageous! twitpic.com/6zw84f—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

Couldn't make the Jim Lee signing, line cut off. #nycc2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 13, 2011

Transformers Roll Out twitpic.com/6zw8pv—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

Mickey poster roll holders but no more being given away today :( #nycc2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 13, 2011

Tiger & Bunny figures #NYCC twitpic.com/6zw9sq—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

Best cosplay of con #NYCC twitpic.com/6zwbrb—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

Controversial #NYCC twitpic.com/6zydek—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

At diner with the gang. One day of #nycc2011 over! I boght so much >.<—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 14, 2011

Getting read to leave for #NYCC Day 2. Already a little tired and Day 1 was mostly a warm up day. ;)—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

Back to the Future Delorian at #nycc2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 14, 2011

Venture Brothers press panel was awesome! #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

Having at great time in artist alley! Waiting in line for Greg Capullo to sign my Batman 1 #nycc2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 14, 2011

State of Mecha panel was oddly optimistic! #NYAF http://t.co/KFWmJ60q—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

Picked up Cliff Chiang's postcard set, I expect they will go fast #nycc2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 14, 2011

More of More than meets the eye. #NYCC http://t.co/H4XAPQmG—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

I have a book bag, another bag, camera, and poster tube hanging off me. I'm pretty sure I'm twice my normal size. #nycc2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 14, 2011

I have never not been able to get into so many panels. #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

Saw a girl with awesome Yoda backpack that looks like she is carrying him like Luke. #nycc2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 14, 2011

The NYAF panel room makes think of a cafeteria. #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

45 minutes before seems like a good panel line up time. #nycc2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 14, 2011

@VinnieAve_AGC I recorded it. Will do a report on it. Can give you the audio if you want it. #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 14, 2011

There are Ugly Doll books!!! #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 14, 2011

Sunset at #NYCC twitpic.com/70h6ct—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 15, 2011

Anime artist alley is really big! #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 14, 2011

@Kaminomimemo I am "old." This #NYCC has made me acutely aware of this.—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 15, 2011

Wow didn't expect much of a line for Comixology panel, but I was wrong. Still got in luckily. #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 14, 2011

Can't believe it is only Friday of the con! So much has happened and so tired! #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 15, 2011

Up and watching Young Justice before #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 15, 2011

Avengers: Shattered Heroes, Makoto Shinkai w/ Roland Kelts, Cup O' Joe, Kono Danshi are my priorities today! Let's see if I get all 4 #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 15, 2011

Fate/zero screening had no raffle. Lying Aniplex rep! ;) #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 15, 2011

I've been seeing a good variety of people at comic panels including anime fans. #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 15, 2011

Close to SDCC levels of lines at #NYCC. Just give it a year or two.—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 15, 2011

Avengers panel was good! Avengers Academy meets Runaways in March! #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 15, 2011

Chatted with a old college buddy. Good times. #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 15, 2011

Overheard: ''It smells like sweat and popcorn…but it's AWESOME!!!'' #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 15, 2011

Panels right now were just impossible to get into even with a half an hour before they start. #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 15, 2011

Saw S2 premiere of Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes, awesome! #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 15, 2011

The womanthology panel was quite good. #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 15, 2011

Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon looks good from the clips and love that J.K. Simmons is doing Jonah's voice. #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 15, 2011

Also got into an argument with jack ass in line over listen to the staff. Dude trying to looks tough in front of his lady. #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 15, 2011

Asked about Mockingbird + Ms. Marvel coming back / becoming permenant members in AvengersEMH, told chances are good! #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 15, 2011

Just went down a spooky dead end street.#NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 15, 2011

Don't understand why there are no food trucks at #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 15, 2011

Just chillin' now, was gonna see Kono Danshi but it's w/ masquerade and f that line! #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 15, 2011

Got a free Avengers movie tshirt, too big but it's keeping me warm at the moment! #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 16, 2011

Man. I love #NYCC but I am SO glad to be almost home.—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 16, 2011

Yes I stayed up to watch Fate/Zero before the last day Of #NYCC. What of it?—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 16, 2011

ATM run then the last day of #NYCC—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 16, 2011

Heading to Women of Marvel first thing this morning. #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 16, 2011

The show floor seems crazier today more than any other! #NYCC—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 16, 2011

Saw Young Justice panel and that ends #NYCC for me.—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) October 16, 2011

Finished our #NYCC dinner. Great con but happy to be heading home.—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) October 16, 2011

More NY Comic Con and Anime Festival and 2011 posts:

NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: General Impressions
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: The App
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Exhibitors Hall
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Panels
NY Comic Con & Anime Festival 2011: Screenings
NY Comic Con 2011: Venture Bros.

As a helpful tip: they don’t seem to be updating the website as often as necessary, especially for Japanese guest info. For autograph sessions check here.

Pre-NYCC Podcast

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Friday:

11:00 am – 12:00 pm: Meet Me At The Arcade
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Aniplex of America Panel
1:15 pm – 2:15 pm: DC ALL ACCESS: Batman
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Mythbusters: Anime Edition
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm: The State of Mecha
4:15 pm – 5:00 pm: The Venture Bros.
5:15 pm – 6:15 pm: ComiXology Open Discussion: Everything Digital!
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm: Hiro Mashima and Kodansha Comics
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm: Mark Hamill Spotlight
8:45 pm – 9:45 pm: Vertical, Inc. Industry Panel

Saturday:

11:00 am – 12:00 pm: Fate/Zero Screening (by Aniplex of America)
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: DC ALL ACCESS: Justice League
1:15 pm – 2:15 pm: DC ALL ACCESS: Superman
2:45 pm – 3:45 pm: Makoto Shinkai in Conversation with Roland Kelts
3:45 pm – 4:45 pm: MARVEL Television Presents
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm: Womanthology
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm: Winter Is Here: Epic Fantasy Takes The Throne
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm: CBLDF: Defending Manga
8:15 pm – 9:00 pm: Black Dynamite
9:00 pm – 10:00 pm: Tell Your Friends! The Live Show!

Sunday:

10:15 am – 11:00 am: SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark
11:00 am – 1:00 pm: Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm: MARVEL: The Incredible Hulk
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm: Anime News Network
3:45 pm – 4:45 pm: DC ALL ACCESS: Young Justice

I am not a huge reader of webcomics, but I’m hooked on Hark! A Vagrant which never ceases to give me a good chuckle. So it comes as little surprise that the writer of such a hilarious and witty comic is those same things in person. This was the book launch party and you could tell she was very happy about it. And even with technical difficulties, she just rolled with it. Once she started telling her little history a lot was learned and laughed about. She comes from a very small town where her classes through primary school were 22 people large.  She was the only artist and she always felt that comics and drawing were things she did but not jobs she could have. It was rather inspiring to hear how in college in life and then after further after graduation, with no formal training, others encouraged her to do it. She did say she feels it is much harder now to really get a webcomic going, when she jumped in it was just a fairly new idea. Showing off many of her comics over the years it was fun to track her progress and ideas. She also showed which comics went over really well for her like the Tycho Brahe one that pretty much went viral. It was also evident how much more freer her style has become, by her own admission because she wants to continue to evolve and can’t image drawing the same things in the same ways forever. This was a great talk with a wonderful turn out.

I found out about Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant from Otaku USA’s own master of moe Caleb Dunaway. He of course loved it because it is a slightly off kilter mostly historical based comedy web comic. Narutaki and I being fans of history in general were drawn to the comic as well. So when Kate Beaton was giving a talk in New York we had to go. The Housing Works bookstore was a cozy little shop that is run by volunteers where all proceeds from the café go to providing support services for homeless people living with HIV/AIDS. You quickly realized that the bookstore was not huge when the events started with about a hundred people in attendance. Fortunately we can early enough that we had seats but the place was packed. When the event started she tried to do a reading of some of her strips but technical problems with the projector nipped that in the bud. I put up a little video of that if you were curious. When that was not working out she went into how she got into web comics and the processes that she uses to make her comics and how it has changed over the years. She then did some Q&A which she eventually just had to cut off so everyone could get a signature. I think the most interesting thing was that growing up in Canada she knew almost nothing of American superhero comics. But when she got involved with the web comics community she picked up an interest just by osmosis due to going to various conventions and talking to other artists. A was also impressed with the amount of research she does. I always knew she had to do research for the comic but the amount she does seems insane. Overall she was quite friendly, intelligent, and witty. Also by the end of the night she was a bit tipsy but she was extremely cordial and gave everyone a personalized sketch with their copy of her book. We got Elliot Page a sketch of Sir Issac Newton, Clarissa from AWO a sketch of one of the Strong Female Characters, and Caleb a sketch of Queen Elizabeth. Also if you see an Einstein comic in the future we are going to take full credit for that.

I finally read my first Yoko Tsuno book On the Edge of Life which was much as had always imagined it was. Nancy Drew plus Johnny Quest plus pseudo-science with great art. In this particular adventure, Yoko goes to Germany to visit a friend but when she gets there she finds out the friend is mysteriously ill. And what’s worse, a strange figure is sneaking into her room at night replacing her friend’s natural blood with an artificial kind. Things get even more complicated from there with an underground lab, a secret history, and look-a-likes. It was a ton of fun! The book is rather expositiony, in old comic form, which isn’t surprising since this is from the 70s but again that is what gives it its charm.

As the season wraps up I finished watching Hanasaku Iroha. Hanasaku Iroha is a roller coaster ride of quality. Its highs could be very high but its lows could be equally low. Anything involving the grandmother or Koicihi is very strong, anything involving Nako is usually sweet, and anything with Taro is usually HORRIBLE. The rest of the cast can vary on how entertaining their material is with Minko having the greatest extremes in caliber. It never gets as bad as the infamous third episode but some episodes will have just a pinch of service where as others (the trip to the beach comes to mind) would make you think this is a harem show. Minko can be complex at times and then a one-dimensional jealousy machine at other times. I enjoyed the ending as I was a bit surprised at now conclusive it was. I expected a life goes ending in which it concludes exactly how it started but the finale was surprisingly conclusive. They left themselves with more than enough room for more if they wanted a second season but ending strongly. Overall the final two episodes made the ride worth the effort but some of the middle made me totally understand why Narutaki dropped this show. The payoff is only worth it for those who can stand some suffering.

I picked up new Ultimate Spider-Man #1 to see what Miles Morales was all about. I’ve never really read much of the Ultimate Universe, and what I did read I wasn’t drawn in by, however this new Spidey was able to capture my curiosity. While by the end you can see Miles’ powers will be different, he comes into possession of them in much the same way as Peter and you can also similarly thank Norman Osborn for it. But so far that is where the similarities stop. I’m happy to see Miles with a family and hope they don’t bite the bullet any time soon. The letters section at the end fascinated me, so much anger. I love Peter too, Spider-Man is my favorite, but he is still alive and doing his thing in the main Marvel Universe, what’s there to be upset about?

 Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth is a gentle show and distinct proof that we here at the Reverse Thieves don’t hate everything that is an atmospheric slice of life show. You just have to have something more than cute girls do cute things. Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth has a plot and a well realized historical atmosphere that elevates the show beyond the tales of hanging out in the sign shop. Yune and Claude learn to deal with each others cultural background and baggage as a key element of the show but there are other things going on as well. In a surprising turn Claude has a romantic background that is more complex than just having some girl to be a useless rival for Yune. The conflicts have just enough meat that and I am intrusted to see what happens every episode even if most episodes are just about bathing in the atmosphere and Yune’s antics. An unusual setting also helps keep my interest as well. I know a lot of people complained that the ending was not decisive enough. Maybe I am a child of 80′s anime where the “READ THE MANGA NOW” ending was prevalent enough that I easily accept such an ending. I thought we got some nice closure to the run of the anime with learning about Claude’s dad. Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth is just a nice relaxing show that keeps me awake while putting me in a good mood. I would like to read the rest of the manga but I am satisfied with we have.

Show #96 – Makoto Shinkai Press Conference

Just as I was going to bed, I saw the Reverse Thieves sign in the sky signaling it was time for me to podcast (or a text message . . . I forget). So I teamed up with Basil and Kevin from the OSMcast! to tackle Saturday, the biggest day of Otakon 2011. We talk about the highs and lows of our experiences including premieres, guests, porn, detectives, gals, and ultra violence! During the breaks Basil interviews the average fans and sees how they are experiencing the East Coast’s biggest anime event. Listen and hear why we all try to return to Otakon every year without fail.

OSMcast: Otakon 2011 8-22-2011

There was quite a bit to just love about this app. First and foremost, even if I don’t have a persistent internet connection on my iPod Touch, all the content of the app was downloaded to the iPod. I would not have been able to use the app without that feature. I did not get the super keen constant real-time updates that other people did, but the fact that I could update the app anytime I was near a wi-fi hotspot was great. The ability to see what was going on and what was upcoming was invaluable and mostly replaced my physical schedule. Plus, the ability to set an itinerary you could instantly refer to and then set alarms in advance was equally helpful. The maps of the convention center, dealers room, and artist alley with a directory of all the sellers was very convenient, too. I know I told people when things opened and closed at least three times a day with the listed hours of operation as well. It is nicely set up and instantly intuitive.

Despite all my praise, they are some improvements that could be made to make a great app even better. If you were setting up a schedule or just looking at what to do at a certain time the app was great. But if you were looking for a specific event but did not know when it was it was less helpful. They really need to add a search feature and the ability to view the full schedule like it is presented in the physical booklet. Also a desktop version of the app would be very helpful. I know several people who don’t have a device that can run Guidebook but would want a copy to do some planing on their computer. I would have even downloaded one copy for my desktop and one on my iPod Touch had I the option. I would have also like the ability to set multiple alarms or custom length alarms if possible. Lastly the software was slightly buggy. It would occasionally crash me after prolonged use. I never lost anything important because of it but it was less than convenient.

Overall, even with all my suggestions for improvement, I still feel the app was invaluable. I used it all the time during the con and it often made my life a dozen times simpler. Even if none of the suggestions I mentioned were implemented I think Guidebook was amazing. I really hope more cons start using it. It is a handy tool for a panel hopper like me.

This is a bonus segment of the Speakeasy Podcast we like to call Crime Scene Investigations. These are random bonus podcasts that we record live from various events. There is no regular schedule for these. We will put them up as quickly as we can when the opportunity for one occurs. We suspect they will mostly be from conventions but we might work in some interviews and conversation from NY events as fate allows.

In this edition of Crime Scene Investigations, we talk about our experiences on Friday at Otakon 2011 with Basil and Kevin of the OSMcast, Patz from Insert-Disc and Podlabor, and Carl from Ogiue Maniax. There is discussion of the Otakon Game Show, Angel ScandyS, Makoto Shinkai, Masao Maruyama, CLAMP, Remembering Satoshi Kon, and Art of Akira. Of course we discuss memes, sandwiches, and the little things we both love and hate at the convention. By the way check out the transformation of opinion over the Ice Cold Water guy from this to this.

Crime Scene Investigations #002 – Otakon 2011

As far as directors go, Makoto Shinkai is one of my top choices to hear talk about his work. So imagine my delight when Otakon announced his first U.S. appearance would be right there in Baltimore. Despite being relatively young in the business, nine years, he has produced memorable and beautiful films. To top off his interactions with his fans, we were privileged to see the English-language premiere of his latest movie Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below.

There was one Japanese guest that everyone was looking forward to (unless you are a major Hetalia: Axis Powers fan) and that man was Makoto Shinkai. He is known for his mostly solitary work on Voices of a Distant Star, his longer work on The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and his stellar work on 5 Centimeters per Second. His distinct visual style and reoccurring motifs make him stand out in people’s minds. So when he came to the U.S. to promote his latest movie, Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below, even people outside of the normal mega geek blogging circles took notice. Narutaki was able to attend the premiere and a panel while I had a chance to hear him speak at the press conference.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below was somewhat of a departure from what we’ve come to know Mr. Shinkai for. He still explores the themes of emotional and physical distance, but he does it through a more literal journey with fantasy and adventure. CWCLVfDB (omg, look at that acronym) is not totally successful and feels a bit more derivative than reasonable. It has a simple theme about loneliness and realizing the living are more important than the dead. But it becomes overly complicated with too a large cast, an unclear path for the heroine, and a high running time. It still contained beautiful images and quiet, touching moments. It was a valiant first effort that gives me hope for the next film at least. After the showing, Mr. Shinkai came out to talk about the movie. He spoke about struggling against or accepting life and fate and how he wanted to explore this with the different generations in the film. He also mentioned how much traveling to the Middleeast as well as seeing an exhibit about Quetzalcoatl at the National Gallery influenced the setting. In the end, he hoped to show that loneliness doesn’t disappear all at once but rather bit by bit and even through being lonely with others.

Apparently no matter what Q&A you went to you got certain questions that were always asked. Everyone wanted to know the difference between working alone and working with a team. He always said that working alone gives you complete freedom but working with a team gives you the ability to create a work outside your normal boundaries. Also people often asked about his feelings on digital vs. cell animation. So while he admired cell animation and the feeling it provides, he was clearly a child of the digital age. I asked him if his endings were purposely open to interpretation to which he answered he preferred endings that were ambiguous and wanted the audience to really think and decide if his works were happy or sad. But he decided that with CWCLVfDB he would shoot for a wider audience by using a more definitive ending. In fact, changes to his normal formula like more action and a wider range of character ages was also to get a bigger crowd to see his newest movie. His action style came from studying the works of Hayao Miyazaki, chanbara movies, the manga Mugen no Juunin, and the anime of Rurouni Kenshin. I thought the most interesting fact mentioned during the whole press conference was that he only truly felt like he had become a director as opposed to an artist working with a team during CWCLVfDB. I think it speaks quite a bit to the changes in his style with this movie.

There was a wealth of information at the Directors and Producers panel. Mr. Shinkai admitted to being nervous on stage with Noburo Ishiguro, this was just the start of his many humble answers. When asked about working solo (Voices of a Distant Star) in comparison to a collaboration (all films thereafter) he said it was really only out of necessity. He much preferred groups because of the encouragement as well as being able to expand ideas. Mr. Shinkai revealed just how in-tune he is with youth as he explained as he sees it, Japanese youth experience the pain of life through anime and manga a lot now. Going on to say that this is a new initiation into adulthood and it was the same for him. He elaborated by saying that facing reality seems a lot easier in fiction and anime is a way of reflecting on this. When an audience member asked the panel about their approaches to non-verbal communication, Shinkai shocked everyone by saying he wasn’t very good at it to which the translator exclaimed, “but you do it so well!” and everyone heartily agreed. When his mecha design came up, he said he pretty much wholesale lifted it from Gundam which was embarrassing to mention when he met the designer a couple of years later. The Q&A wrapped up with a question about digital animation where Shinkai said he wished new animators would look at and appreciate analog more.

If you are super upset that you could not seen Makoto Shinkai, do not worry, all is not lost. He will be appearing at the NYCC/NYAF this year as well. So everyone in the U.S. has another chance to see him. I myself hope to get enough free time to see his new movie but with the crazy NYCC/NYAF schedule I might have to just wait for it on DVD.

The best thing about meeting Mr. Shinkai was discovering how humble he is and the attention he gives to his fans. During the autograph session he stayed an hour and half later to accommodate everyone in line. Not only that, he personalized the autographs, shook everyone’s hand, asked where you were from and whether you were going to see his new film (like we wouldn’t have!). I am looking forward to hearing him speak again at NYCC.

With so many premieres, I felt like I neglected the fans panels a little this year at Otakon. Since panels is usually the biggest draw for me, I feel a bit guilty. There was a great variety, but one only has so much time. Still beyond our own two panels I did squeeze a few others in over the weekend.

I consider a healthy dose of fan panels part of a balanced convention diet. At some cons my entire schedule is filled with nothing but fan panels with the occasional guest panel if they have an interesting Japanese guest. Plus, as I become more active in the fan community I begin to know more of the people doing fan panels so I sometimes just stop in to support my friends who often do very intelligent panels (or at least entertaining panels). Fan panels have this passionate rawness that makes them unique and special. Sometimes that means you go to some real stinkers but such is the price you pay for some incredibly unique and eye-opening content.

I wrapped up a very busy Friday with Otakon Game Show. I ran into a lot of familiar faces who were waiting to take the qualifying quiz earlier in the day and once I heard Hisui made it on, I knew I had to check it out. It was a packed panel 6 where I was greeted with high energy and a handout with instructions on how to play along with your cellphone. This is what really set this game show apart and it actually worked really well. You simply sent a username to a special number by text (or you could use web if you had it), then subsequently sent your answer of 1, 2, 3, or 4 from then on. While the contestants where contemplating, the audience was doing its own deductions. This also seemed to cut down on people shouting out answers. There was even a leader board and small prizes for the crowd. I made it into the top slots for both rounds, which kinda makes me want to try out for the real show next year! This actually ended up being an unexpected highlight of the con.

Although I have been meaning to do so for a while, I finally got around to trying to be a participant on an anime game show. To be a contestant on the Otakon Game Show you had to complete a 15 question quiz mostly (but not entirely) made up of questions about anime from the last decade. Some questions were multiple choice or fill in the blank but there was one matching puzzle. I apparently knew enough to get into the top 4 positions even if I referred to Rolo from Code Geass as Lelouch’s fake brother. When the other three contestants and I  got on the stage, they had a pretty slick set up that used Buzz! controllers for the contestants while the audience could use their phones to answer alongside us. The setup was mostly like Jeopardy! but there was no penalty for missing a question. The categories were usually pretty amusing including a “Is it a magical girl show, a hentai, both, or neither?” category and a “Name that shower scene” category. And basically I got schooled. I started out strong but as time went on I firmly took last place. Even though I came in 4th I still got a nice assortment of prizes (and traded away my Soul Eater box set for a copy of Armitage III box with another contestant.) Everyone who participated was a good sport and I hope they had a good time. I know I enjoyed myself despite my somewhat embarrassing performance. Also since I could not recognize the Chun-Li shower scene, I was asked to turn in my manhood by several people. What people do not realize is that I never had it in the first place. You can watch my shame here and see me have to run off to the bathroom halfway through the show.

On the more educational side, I attended Daryl’s Remembering Satoshi Kon panel and the Anime and Manga Studies panel. The Satoshi Kon one is just what it sounds like, a celebration of Kon’s body of work which was cut short. The panel was extensively full of fans of the director already so Daryl smartly kept introductory information to a minimum. Instead the focus was on themes and motifs as well as some discussion of Kon’s otaku characters and their evolution. Kon himself was quite a fan and one of the clips goes on to show this perfectly as he tries on traditional samurai armor under the guise of research. While this was a celebration, it was also quite melancholy knowing Kon is no longer with us. Even more academic was the Anime and Manga Studies panel which featured people currently doing research or PhDs relating to the subjects. This panel was less formal than it sounds which was a good thing. Each panelist gave good advice and anecdotes about their work. Subjects that were discussed included anime and manga not being subordinate to another field of study; how not speaking Japanese can affect research; and how studying anime and manga contributes to the fan community. It certainly would give people curious about studying anime and manga a good place to start.

The rest of the weekend saw me going to two different styles of fan panels. First there were the highbrow intellectual panels. I went to the Ani-Gamers’ Fandom & Criticism: The Art of Active Viewing which is one of their war-horse panels. Evan manages to keep it fresh by always having a different person in the third seat and this time it was Elliot Page alongside himself and Ink. The discussion was fairly lively and there was one young gentlemen in the front who was extremely engaged in the conversation. At first I assumed he was totally against the idea of the panel but it was eventually clear that he was just passionate. They had to limit the audience to three responses to each topic or they could have been there all night. Charles Dunbar and Ed Sizemore weighed in their feelings as well. I would have spoken up but I was just on the panel at AnimeNEXT so I already used my Toaru Majutsu no Index, Type-Moon, and Macross 7 analogies enough as it was. While Fandom & Criticism went off without a hitch the Cyborgs, Cybernetics and Metal Men was plagued with problems. The lady running the panel had a Mac that refused to cooperate with the projector so no matter how much the staff tried. But she was a champion and still did a good panel despite no longer having her visual backup. She started with a quiz on the truth and lies about real world cybernetics that showed that while we don’t live in the Ghost in the Shell universe we might not be that far off. She went into the controversies that cybernetics bring up in real life and what they reflect in modern society about our hopes and anxieties for the future.  The interaction between the audience and the panelist was good and I would like to see the panel again when everything was working. Even though he was a guest, I am throwing Roland Kelts’ Japan’s Intellectual Property Problem panel in this section. He started with a look at what IP is and how the Japanese and American view the protection of such rights is very different. This of course has led to many conflicts which is only exasperated by the fact that American anime fandom is a fandom built on piracy. Of course someone in the audience had to make the defense of piracy argument but in his defense he was much more polite and rational than most people on the Internet with that same stance. Christopher Macdonald was in the audience and piped up that physical media sales are in a major decline and streaming video profits are still chump change for most titles. If nothing else the conversation about the revenue sharing licenses explains why ANN retires certain streams after a while.

And of course, we ran our own panels, too. I was quite worried about Best Manga You Never Read having a Friday 9AM time slot because of past years with panelists and attendees being able to get in the building early. No need to worry though, Otakon was on top of it! We were able to pack panel 4 that morning. This was also a bit frightening to be honest. Once again this panel focused on TokyoPop titles that are either forgotten or sold so badly as to be canceled. Unfortunately, since the panel was first thing were weren’t able to scope out what series were in the dealer’s room. Some titles got crowd reactions like Sgt. Frog but for the most part I think we were able to give people new things to check out. The crowd was smaller, but still attentive, for Investigating Detective Anime. This was our third time running it so we are finally getting the hang of it. This is an introductory panel so we are still contemplating doing something a bit more advanced as some point. There was a lot of good questions and discussion after we finished our presentation, too.

I did not just go to high-minded panels where academics pondered complex concepts from ivory towers while smoking pipes and drinking brandy. I also went to some down and dirty fun panels. I unfortunately started my fun panel run with the Let’s Play Ero-ge! panel. I was hoping to learn about a few obscure but story rich porn game titles. The problem was this panel had two distinct sections. One was very strong and one was very weak. The part that I cared the most about was weak: the actual explanation of eroge was slapdash and shallow. They really only mention three titles and their guide to finding and installing games was full of important holes. They did not even mention how to use AppLocale which is vital in the installation and use of Japanese games and is often the most tricky part of getting into eroge. The strongest part of the panel was when they played Yume Miru Kusuri while selected audience members dubbed the dialog. At this point, the audience was really having fun and the panel worked well. They should just drop the pretense of being educational and just make the whole panel a “Lets dub some eroge” panel. It would be more honest and far more popular. On a lighter note, I saw the Gyaru Culture Revealed panel. The panelists looked at both the Gal culture in Japan and how there is a small but vibrant Gal community in the U.S. as well. It was informative look at the history of Gal culture and how western fans have made it their own. They even did a makeup demonstration. They were obviously big fans of the Gal lifestyle and it showed.

Having to choose between the many mecha panels, I went to the What Makes Gundam Great panel to meet up with some friends I don’t normally see. The panel was mostly interesting to me as a way of gauging the pulse of the Gundam fan community. Even though it was an introductory panel, almost everyone in the room was a decently hardcore fan. So as the panelist went through the Gundam series you got a good sense of what was popular and what had its haters. Of course Zeta got nothing but cheers but what else to you expect from an audience of hardcore Gundam fans. The two shows that got the most hate were SEED and AGE. I already talked about Age at length on the blog but I did get an interesting insight about SEED. The guy running the panel mentioned that SEED was very popular among non-mecha fans. Is SEED’s more mainstream popularity why it gets all the hate it does from the hardcore Gundam fans or is that putting the cart before the horse? Of course there was one guy with a very Nazi like uniform and a Zeon flag shouting “Sieg Zeon!” the whole panel. You know, just in case someone had not been scared off by crazy Gundamn fans by the point. And from one form of insanity to another I went to Anime’s Craziest Deaths. I was going to go to the Manga Gamer panel but since some my suitemates were holding me a place in line I decided to go to Anime’s Craziest Deaths. I was a bit depressed after losing the Aniplex raffle so watching people being eviscerated picked up my mood. Daryl’s clip show panels are usually very entertaining and this was no exception. It was full of bloody goodness with people dying in the most spectacular manner. It was heavily 80′s-centric but that is when you tended to get your most entertainingly gratuitous deaths. I would be curious to see it again in a few years to see what Daryl adds and removes as the panel evolves.

Fan panels are the heart of conventions and Otakon goes to such lengths to create a quality fan experience. This fan produced programing is what sets them apart from the other big conventions around. While there were some questionable scheduling decisions, there was a robust amount of panels to attend all times of the day. A great job was done by all! Thanks everyone for coming out! Please fill out the feedback form from Otakon if you have time.

I think I went to a good selection of fan panels this year. This did not stand out as a the best line-up Otakon has ever had, but I don’t think it was as weak as I heard some people say it was. I had a good time and most of the panels I did not like were mostly a matter of not being what I wanted rather than being flat-out bad panels. Of course I always miss out on panels due to various running around. I am curious if anyone went to any of the following panels: The Weirdest Games You’ve Never Played, Deculture! A Macross Panel, Mythbusters: Anime Edition, Underrated Mecha Anime, Toei Tokusatsu, or the Madoka panels. If you saw those panels, would you kindly leave me a comment on what you thought? I would appreciate it.

The presence of industry at events such as Otakon has been evolving and changing over the last couple of years. Instead of focusing on what is coming out now, which is still done, there is a shift to talking about streaming or the next big thing. This was driven home by Sunrise running their own panel this year. While there were no huge announcements from Otakon (which we’ve come to expect with Anime Expo and San Diego Comic Con in the same month), there was still much to talk about.

I have mostly decided to follows Patz’s philosophy and avoid going to industry panels unless I have a burning question that needs to be asked. With so many bloggers and news sources reporting and commentating on industry panels as they happen there is little need for me to show up. The nitty-gritty will be available for everyone to see as soon as it is announced. This lets me sit back and pick what I want to comment on. I like that approach.

Vertical, Inc. is really good about making the rounds at conventions. That being said, you should always attend a panel with Ed Chavez because it is impossible to not learn something. The panel started with the usual presentation of current and upcoming titles. There were big cheers from the crowd for the beautiful job on Princess Knight. When GTO: Shonan 14 Days and The Early Years came up, Ed mentioned that TokyoPop was still around when they made this deal so the first 10 books of The Early Years weren’t an option. Ed also showed the first cover design for Drops of God which was wine labels but the creator wanted more character art. As a designer I actually like the new covers better. The series is available for preview on the New York Times website of all places (this was way too hard to find). I wasn’t excited at first, but now I’m really looking forward to the release. The floor opened up to questions, biggest on minds was digital releases of manga which Ed said they are negotiating, but it is hard and things like Tezuka aren’t an option for them since Tezuka’s estate is doing that on their own. I was curious about flipping/not flipping in their upcoming titles; No Longer Human was actually made in left-to-right format; GTO will remain unflipped; and Drops of God while they hope to be an international success was too difficult to flip due to the wine labels, etc. You could also catch Vertical, Inc. in the dealer’s room where they did very good business over the weekend.

With all that said, I still went to the VIZ panel on Sunday mostly because it was a bit of an unusual event. For the last few years VIZ had not come out to the East Coast so I was curious to see the new and improved VIZ. Thanks to a recent ANNCast with Jim Vowles we learned that VIZ is trying to get back in touch with its core audience and this is part of that plan. Of course they had Naruto news. They mentioned a contest with the new movie and a possible speed-up with the digital manga. Even if there is more fan backlash against the manga it is still the title to beat in many respects. They talked a bit about their digital initiatives and their plans for the future. I think it is proof that while no one is fully taking the plunge, manga publishers still know they have to do something about the digital frontier before it is too late. They also mentioned some new titles in the Haikasoru line which I am pleasantly surprised is still alive. VIZ is releasing some new art books including the second Color Walk and also more omnibus lines. When it came to Q&A the rep only gave a half answer to why Rin-ne is no longer being translated. The earthquake was brought up but that does not seem to be the whole answer in my opinion. Overall, I am glad to see VIZ back in the game giving out prizes and opening communication a bit more with fans all over the country.

The most surprising industry guest this year was, as I mentioned previous, Sunrise hosted by Executive Producer Masayuki Ozaki. Some familiar faces from Bandai’s U.S. branch could be seen on the panel too as they traditional distribute Sunrise works for the states. This panel was part celebration and part special preview. Mr. Ozaki started the panel by asking the crowd, which was fairly sizable, to shout out their favorite works from Sunrise; I, of course, yelled Gundam. As if on cue we were then shown a short film entitled World of Gundam which introduces the franchise. Rounds of applause burst from the fans throughout which gave the impression that G Gundam is the most popular series in the history, that probably threw Mr. Ozaki! There was also a spoiler-filled Tiger and Bunny promo video which I closed my eyes and ears for and a trailer for Gundam AGE that looked promising. I was surprised to then see previews for totally new shows, ones I’d never heard of, including a shonen series Phi Brain Puzzle of God and a booby-laden, warring states title Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere. It hit me then that this is what Japanese companies should be doing: showing us the new product in a big way! Simulcasting is full under way, we are a known market now. That can be said less for the European market which Eeeper asked about during the Q&A session and which Mr. Ozaki seemed to be stumped over. You really got the feeling that Mr. Ozaki wanted to gauge fans and hopefully he took plenty of notes back with him.

Directly after Sunrise was Bandai’s After Dark panel where they let down their hair a little and all manner of guests showed up for a few minutes here and there. This is also a popular panel because they tend to give away a lot of goodies. There was a lot of music going on this night with an impromptu jam session with Johnny Young Bosch. This was followed by the very talented Hiro Yura talking about his work on the The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzimiya film which he finished up by playing the ending song on violin. I wasn’t familiar with the movie, but his string solo was very moving and received quite an ovation from the audience. Then came a sing-a-long with some of the dub cast for K-ON! I wasn’t overly impressed, but then it is me. However, when one brave audience member got up to sing I had to laugh and applaud. Nearing the end of the panel we got a few announcements like Star Driver streaming in August (too little, too late?) but no news about the DVD release format which interests me most. Bandai has also decided Nichijou and Gosick (yay!) are worth releasing on DVD as well.

Hey people, why has no one picked up Mawaru Penguindrum? I so want to watch that legally but it is the only show I crave that is still not been given a legitimate streaming option. I better hear some good news at NYAF. Survival Strategy!

This year’s industry panels held little gems that made seeing them worthwhile. A lot of companies are shying away from a very corporate/marketing presentation and instead going toe to toe with fans. Free stuff also helps pack those seats!

The problem with Otakon’s announcement schedule is that every year it falls into the same pattern. Anime Expo releases its lineup and everyone goes wild. Then we don’t hear much from Otakon and everyone gets worried that it is going to be weak. Then with only a few weeks left they pull out their lineup and everyone is impressed. This year was no exception with Makoto Shinkai, Masao Maruyama, Noboru Ishiguro, and Atsuhiro Iwakami in attendance as well as a slew of other guests. I think that everyone was extremely excited to see Makoto Shinkai but we should not forget the other great guests who showed up from Japan. They had a great many things to say. Sadly to see Mr. Maruyama and Mr. Ishiguro I had to skip out on the Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below premiere but I think the things I learned at their panels was well worth it.

The Angel ScandyS panel was an odd beast. Apparently the show is about a trio of angels and a trio of demons who are trying to become pop idols to win the soul of a music school principal. The show is still in preproduction so most of the show was still in the form of a pitch with some sample animation. But Ishiguro mentioned that most of the show was still subject to change. It seems the novelty of the concept was all the actors and actresses were picked before the characters were finalized to adjust their characters to the performer. The three voice actresses from the show that came to the U.S. put on a little skit for the audience. First it was in English and then in Japanese. The main problem was their English had you longing for Ryoji Kaji’s performance at the beginning of Evangelion 2.0. They did their best but they were obviously not used to speaking it. It was odd to see the show in such an early state of being. I am now curious to see how the show turns out. If nothing else Ishiguro wrote the song they used it the animation previews we saw which made it a unique experience. The best part of the panel was it was listed to be an hour and a half long but was only an hour so I decided to take a quick nap before the panel began. When I woke up I noticed that someone decided I had a good idea and took a nap before the panel in the same row as me. That person was Noboru Ishiguro.

If you have a chance, going to panel with Masao Maruyama is always worth it just because he has been in the anime industry forever and is very friendly. His age lets him say almost whatever he wants without having to participate in the politeness games most of the younger staff is obliged to play. But he is also talkative and friendly unlike some of the more reserved creative talent from Japan. The worst news he delivered in his Q&A was that The Dreaming Machine is currently on indefinite hiatus. Apparently there’s no money for the movie and Maruyama has even gone as far as to start his own production company to raise the funds to finish it. That was heartbreaking news to anyone who was a fan of Satoshi Kon‘s work. I wonder if Maruyama could start a Kickstarter fund-raiser for the film. It might not raise all the money needed but it would at least show sponsors that people are interested in the project and willing to open their wallets to see this movie made. On the positive side, he strongly hinted that the second season of Kaiji was doing well and that more Akagi or Kaiji was on its way. He also confirmed my theory that serialized anime movies are basically the new OVA market. These films usually get extremely small releases mostly as commercials for the physical copies. Glad to see I was right for once. I did note there was one area that he was fairly well-guarded on: any questions about co-productions with the U.S. Given what a straight shooter he normally is, this was unusual but hardly unexpected. It is just good business.

Mr. Ishiguro spent the first half of his personal Q&A telling stories and they were pretty awesome stories. He started off talking about how all the animators of his generation looked to Disney for inspiration and told a bunch of stories about the creation of Snow White as he studied the production as a young man. Right after that he went into stories about the production of Cream Lemon as if that were the next and most logical step. He wrapped up with some stories about Space Battleship Yamato and Yoshinobu Nishizaki. It sadly ended with the distinct awareness that many of the people he knew when he started have been passing away recently. The most important thing I learned was why the misstep known as Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Golden Wings exists. Apparently it was made to appeal to fans of the manga but in the end it just wound up appealing to no one. Also it turns out the Legend of the Galactic Heroes musicals are doing extremely well and seem to be all anyone cares about in Japan now.

The last big guest panel was the Producers and Directors panel. It turned out to only be a panel of directors but it was still extremely enlightening. There was a strong mixture of old and new. Ishiguro has been in the business for almost 50 years whereas Kazuya Murata and Makoto Shinkai are comparatively young pups. The audience threw some good questions at the panelists including how they were affected by the terrible March 11th earthquake, how they expressed non-vocal communication through animation, and Blu-Ray sales. Evan Minto used my favorite question of asking what they thought were anime everyone should watch. Murata picked Future Boy Conan and Shinkai chose Legend of Galactic Heroes. Then Ishiguro threw out some obscure choices like Czechoslovakian puppet shows, the work of Norman McLaren, and even a little known Chinese animation project. Carl capped off the panel with the controversial request to have the younger directors give Ishiguro some advice on digital animation. At first, the translator did not want to ask Carl’s question but Ishiguro pushed it through. It led to a good discussion about the generation gap between animators and how they have to learn to work together.

Overall, I was impressed by the turn out for the Japanese guests. They were nowhere near as amazing as the turn out for the American guests but everything other than the Angel ScandyS panel was well attended. People had more questions than time to ask them and most of the questions were intelligent. It was not the ferocious turn out I would have liked but it was better than the nightmare scenario I had in my head considering what the guest panels were often up against. As always I learned a great deal from the panels and had a good time doing it. My one request to any Otakon staff reading this is that they try to get Kinoko Nasu and Takeshi Takeuchi from Type-Moon. With Atsuhiro Iwakami mentioning they were trying to stream Fate/Zero in the U.S. so they might be willing to come over to promote their work. I would of course love for this to happen. Oh, so very much.

The last couple of years, Otakon has been quite overwhelming for me. Perhaps the cause is my further immersion in fandom each year. I feel pulled in a million different directions at such a huge gathering; never feeling as though I’ve done enough of the provided events. Otakon 2011 compounded that feeling which speaks to the quality and quantity of its guests, panels, premieres, fundraising, and all the other programing that went on over the weekend. Heck, we even witnessed the birth of meme. On top of all that, a myriad of stellar companions from all over the world were in attendance.

This year Otakon felt like a humongous buffet. There was more on the table than any one person could eat so you had to take what you could and then swap experiences with other people at the party to get a more complete picture of the event. Therefore I was almost always doing something and running into someone I knew. At the same time, I also felt a bit lonely despite being constantly surrounded by people as I did go to some of the more under-attended events. I had many a short conversation with a wide variety of people, but I can’t say I spoke to most people for any extended amount of time; being too tired to go to any parties did not help that matter. I swear next year I will make time to hang out! If nothing else I might have had a very unusual but enjoyable Otakon as compared to most of the other people I knew. But like Narutaki, whenever I did one activity I felt like I mas missing out on two other events. I was rarely at a loss of what to do, it was more prioritizing what I wanted to do most. And in the end that is usually the main appeal of a convention like Otakon.

The layout for the convention this year was virtually identical to 2010, which isn’t a bad thing. In general, there seems to be enough space with this floor plan to provide for the current attendance numbers. And it seems, finally, many more fans discovered the Hilton was part of the convention, too. So, while more than 31,000 people showed up, they were a bit more spread out. The addition of roped in lines was a big improvement over just tape on the floor; this was very helpful in the autograph area. Major props have to be given for Otakon actually opening their doors at 8:30AM, it was supposed to happen in previous years to very little success. It really happened this time around though as I saw a lot of people milling about as we walked to our 9AM panel on Friday. The foul up that stood out was Press Ops being located in the Sheraton instead of the Hilton, this was a last-minute change that I know Otakon was not happy with either. I normally stop by a few times a day, but this time around I, and many others, rarely visited. The “cheat sheet” part of the pocket guide listing the times for areas and where they were was an incredibly helpful addition.

Easily the smartest move the convention made was to open the doors at 8:30AM but have panels start at 9AM. This meant that all the panels were well attended and started on time. Plus they gave panelists a pass to register and get in early so they could easily setup their panels without waiting in line 3-hours before the con starts which was also a great idea. I also enjoyed the fact that they had snacks in the panelist room. They usually had either popcorn, cookies, or brownies and coffee or other various drinks. I stopped in two or three times during the weekend for a quick little snack that was greatly appreciated. It was hardly necessary but is not a huge expense and it makes you feel appreciated for your hard work. The second best move they made was using Guidebook for the convention app. I only had a iPod Touch but the ability to update the schedule electronically in the morning despite not having constant net access was amazing. The guidebook app could be improved but overall it was amazingly helpful and well designed.

It seemed obvious from Friday morning that the convention had gained a higher attendance than previous years. Events were filled more often than not, as the aforementioned 9AM panel was filled up, but also even when popular things were pitted against one another you were almost assured a decent turn out. The exception being, once again, some of the incredible Japanese guests. Happily, Makoto Shinkai had great turn outs for his film and autograph session though less so for the Q&As. The fans themselves were the usual suspects pulling from a wide variety of life. The more fans I get to know, the more robust the community feels. But a packed house in nearly 100 degree weather presents the problems one might expect. AC was finicky on Friday in the BCC, a place that is normally so cold I’m wearing a jacket became humid and hot but things seem to be working better on Saturday and Sunday. I saw an ambulance once each day going to the con, but since I heard of no major incidents I attributed them to dehydration/exhaustion. Luckily no one decided to pull the fire alarm again! The Sharp Street hallway continues to be the biggest bottle neck, but unlike previous years there were no “no stopping/photos” signs to be seen or traffic lines. I have no idea why this was done away with, it didn’t eliminate the problem but it helped at least a little. As for lines, for the most part while sometimes unwieldy, never prevented me from getting into an event and at most needing an hour before to make sure; but I also didn’t attend things like the masquerade, rave, 18+ panels, etc. Thanks to Ani-Gamers “Otaku Bingo,” the little tics and annoyance at conventions became a game that eased the tension a bit of meme shouting and the like.

I did notice the horrible meme shouting was far less than it was in the past two years. It actually took me a decent amount of time to get Marco and Polo on my Otaku Bingo sheet and I only heard one or two buttscratchers the whole weekend. I did not even see one glomp or free hugs sign. It might be because I was staying away from the problem areas but I think everyone was a bit more well-behaved. I know people complained about lines but they were never much of a problem for me and I never used my press badge privileges once. I even got into all the 18+ panels I wanted to. When I tried to get into the “Let’s Play Ero-ge!” panel there was a big mess where three lines melted into each other causing quite a bit of confusion but eventually staff members came along and cleaned up. Despite being on the wrong line for a half an hour, I still got in. My biggest bit of advice would be to have Panel 1 and Panel 2 line up in different hallways as they were the only two rooms that consistently had people get into each other’s lines. But I think the talk of pre-line lines on the forum is madness that proves people are just plain obsessed with forming lines when even when they are utterly unnecessary.

With more and more going on, I seem to spend less and less time in the dealer’s room and artist alley (though I did pick up some pins in each). But there were very good reasons, beyond blowing all your money on merchandise, to at least stop in to each. Artist Alley hosted a very special display of original cells, sketches, and a few pieces of merchandise from the landmark film Akira. Upon talking to the man at the table, came to find out this traveling exhibit is his personal collection. It was an impressive sight considering he had key frames. Sadly, the exhibit seemed thrown to the side at the convention as most of us stumbled upon it by sheer chance. In the dealer’s room, you had a chance to pick up your Otakon merchandise along side special Japan relief unique wares from keychains to t-shirts to an exclusive Maho Shojo Madoka Magica poster. This was a great way to show support and I was pleased to see a huge line for the booth throughout the convention. This, along with a charity auction on Sunday and the relief ribbons you could purchase with your badge, brought in more than $65,000 in funds.

Sadly I was far too poor to do any major browsing in the dealer’s room or artist alley. So I mostly just said hello to Ed Chavez and the Vertical Booth and got my free Nico Nico t-shirt. The prospect of the Nagi and Hayate Nendoroid tempted me but my bank account would not allow it. Also that Saber picture in the charity auction was amazing but I knew it would be far too rich for my blood. (If anyone wants to donate it to me I would very much appreciate it. I swear I will give it a good home.  But somehow I don’t see that happening. ) I did spend some money on good food which was thankfully in abundance. The Abbey Burger Bistro was an amazing Thursday night dinner. Due to one wayward lamb I did not get to the restaurant for a while but the kangaroo burger that awaited me made it all worthwhile. If I had more cash on me I would have tried one of their delicious shakes. The place was small but the food was amazing. They only recently opened up a Jimmy John’s and a Potbelly Sandwich Shop in the area but they were both great places to eat for good but quick food. The added selection was greatly appreciated but nothing beats have a good deal of healthy snacks along to keep to you energized.

If there was one major issue it would be some scheduling decisions like Japanese guests up against one another; genre panels like mecha all mashed into the same time slot; or having random panels back to back while others had hour breaks in between. But as has been said, if my biggest problem is deciding between events then they are doing something right. I never had to look for something to do at Otakon. Though one wonders how they can expand the programming with all the space of the BCC filled, perhaps another floor of the Hilton can be utilized or less video rooms. I was glad to be apart of the programing and felt like more of a fan this year than press. I saw more than my fair share of friends this year too, as the convention continues to grow I hope that only increases. Otakon staff, guests, and attendees, I commend you for another great year.

Overall there are always problems at cons. While no one was rude to me I did see several staff members be rude to people around me. But as someone who has worked in customer service most of my life I can tell you that it is just the effect of an insanely busy day. Also some of the schedule conflicts seemed to be oddly chosen because they broke up small fandoms as well as large fandoms. All the mecha content directly against each other seems foolish. Mecha fans may be vocal but they are hardly numerous. Also having Maruyama and Ishiguro against the Shinkai movie made me made a hard choice that I don’t think needed to be made.  But other than one bit of tragedy I can’t really complain about my trip. The bus ride was fairly comfortable and we did not have our normal insane wait for the Megabus home. I saw all the guests I wanted to, found some amazing panels, and got to see friends from all over the world. Unless some major tragedy comes down the pike I can’t see any reason for me not to go next year. It truly is the best East coast anime convention you can attend.

We've arrived @sdshamshel @hisuirt @patzprime @vamptvo @qx_20xx #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 28, 2011

I had a kangaroo burger tonight. That is the way to start your #Otakon!—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) July 29, 2011

Up for #Otakon day 1. This I swear! I will not freeze again so help me Saber.—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) July 29, 2011

People coming in for Best Manga panel #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

Saw lots of peeps after our panel @elliotpage @thebasilfeed @wah__ @thebign @geomarty and many more! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

Our panel was packed which was terrifying, but things went well! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

Perched atop the fountains near halls a and c, not too crazy over here yet. #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

Playboy bunny version Asuka… #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

It is kind of amazing to see almost empty DDR machines. #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

Saw a girl dressed as Hatsune Miku take off her pigtails like Chiyo-chan o.o! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

Bunraku was a lot of fun! Better than I expected, awesome visuals too. #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

Really great Gosick cosplay! Victorique, Kazuya, and Grevil with drill hair! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

Hey @hisuirt is a contestant on otaku gameshow! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

Actual Akira cells and boards on display in artist alley! Amazing, why was this not played up? #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 29, 2011

Got in the top audience members for both rounds of otaku gameshow! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 30, 2011

Podcasting w/ @hisuirt @sdshamshel @patzprime @thebasilfeed and Kevin from OSMcast #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 30, 2011

I lost on jeopardy … I mean the otaku gameshow. But I had a great time! #Otakon—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) July 30, 2011

Disappointed with the ero game panel. Should have gone to the Eva panel. #Otakon—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) July 30, 2011

New Shinkai movie is first thing on my schedule today! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 30, 2011

Enjoyed the Shinkai movie. Cant believe how many people left when he came out to talk, you are sad people! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 30, 2011

I appreciate everyone who came to the detective panel despite what it was up against. #Otakon—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) July 30, 2011

Eating at Pot Belly's for the first time. #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 30, 2011

Time to get onto a good mood for #Otakon. I can't let fate beat me.—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) July 30, 2011

Sunrise plans to stream Gundam AGE. #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

Glad ill be able to buy Gosick on dvd, thanks Bandai! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

Relaxing and writing. Its been a helluva weekend so far! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

Alarm went off but everybody is pretty exhausted. #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

Please Saber, don't let me get sick until I get home. #Otakon—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) July 31, 2011

Going to the academic anime studies panel first thing this morning. #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

Heading to the Japanese directors and producers panel next. A lot of good dtuff to do on Sunday. #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

So glad they are playing the Trigun movie again! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

Major props for clean women's restrooms all con long! #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

Picked up little Shizuo and Celty pins. #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

All done and on the bus :( #otakon2011—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

On the bus home from #Otakon 20211. Thank Saber the bus was on time.—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) July 31, 2011

I had a great #otakon2011
, cant wait for next year!—
Narutaki (Kate) (@narutakiRT) July 31, 2011

#Otakon 2011 was a success. I may have not gotten the one thing I wanted but I had fun.—
BrainwasherDetective (@hisuiRT) July 31, 2011

Pre-Otakon podcast

Our tentative panel schedule:

Friday:

09:00: Best Manga You Never Read (That’s us!)
10:00: Japanamerica
11:00: Remembering Satoshi Kon
12:30: Bunkraku premiere
01:30: Journey through the CLAMP Universe
03:00: Angel ScandyS Q&A
04:00: Japan’s Apocalyptic Imagination in Anime, Manga and Art
05:00: Otakon Game Show: Qualification Quiz!
06:00: Fandom & Criticism: The Art of Active Viewing
08:00: Otakon Game Show!
11:00: Bad Anime, Bad!!
12:30: Let’s Play Ero-ge!

Saturday:

09:00: Gyaru Culture Revealed: Destroying the Myths
10:00: Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below premiere
10:00: Masao Maruyama Q&A
11:00: Noboru Ishiguro Q&A
12:00: Mythbusters: Anime Edition
01:00: Special Surprise premiere
03:00 Investigating Detective Anime (That’s us!)
04:00: Vertical Industry Panel
05:30: Atsuhiro Iwakami Q&A
05:30: Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos premiere
07:30: Underrated Mecha Anime
09:00: Bandai Entertainment After Dark!
11:00: Cyborgs, Cybernetics and Metal Men
12:30: Anime’s Craziest Deaths

Sunday:

09:00: Toei Tokusatsu, 35 Sentai & 40 Years of Kamen Rider
10:30: Japanese Directors & Producers
12:30: Japan’s IP (Intellectual Property) Problem
12:30: Kylee concert

For everyone who has a long trip to Otakon I have decided to give you another Pre-Otakon podcast for your journey. I returned to the Nigorimasen! podcast hosted by Tom alongside Patz from Insert Disc and Donald from Otaku no Podcast. It is like two podcasts in one as we talk about the 2011 Summer anime season in the first part and our Otakon plans in part 2. We start by gushing about the anime we loved this season and cursing the foul names of the anime that hurt us. Thankfully none of us sat through Titty Chop (aka Manyuu Hikenchou) so our brains were still intact for this podcast. After that we strategized for out Otakon battle plans. There is quite a bit to do and see in Baltimore this weekend so hopefully we will give you some good tips and make you aware of events you might have overlooked.

Nigorimasen Podcast #12: Low-Rent Victorique

When it comes to panels AnimeNEXT has its own draw as a mid-sized convention. While they will not accept any darn panel they are pretty fast and loose with what they accept as long as you make a convincing argument. It makes it the perfect place to test out new panels, play with old ones, or try radially unusual topics. All four panels we ran were either new panels or majorly overhauled from the last time we ran them. At the same time the convention is big enough that most panels get a good draw no matter how esoteric. But don’t let me fool you into thinking AnimeNEXT is the amateur hour. There are some great high-level panels as well as wildly popular clip show presentations. AnimeNEXT has a solid enough panel lineup so that you always have something do.

AnimeNEXT is a place of familiar faces, even if you’ve never spoken to them directly. This is never more true than when attending panels. You get a variety of veterans who run a number of panels old and new. I like to think we are included in that bunch by this point as well. But there are also new people throwing their hats into the ring.

Usually the most packed panels are always the clip show panels. The Best Of Martial Arts Fight Scenes 2: The Rematch was a selection of fight scenes from various martial arts movies. Since it was just videos of the fights it was all killer and no filler. The guy running the panel  would give the clips some set up and then jump fight into the action. Apparently every time the guy in charge runs this panel he picks a different theme and this year was pretty clever. Each of the clips was part of a duet. At first he would show a pair of martial artists fighting in one movie and then the second clip would be the same actors in a different movie fighting again but as different characters. It was an inspired idea and rather well executed. I also went to the AnimeNEXT classic clip show panel of These Are A Few Of My Favorite Scenes. I am surprised they put it in a workshop room as panels like this can usually fill an event hall. The panel was amusing as always but we only saw he first hour. I wish I could have stayed longer but we had to drive home and we were all tried as it was. The Yakitate!! Japan clips were hysterical and I always enjoy more attention being paid to the Secret of Kells. Always a great panel and always has something new to see. Fanthropology: Behind the Study of Fandom was a Charles Dunbar panel so it was done professionally with a sense of fun. The panel looked at anime fandom and the unique challenges and benefits to its study. Charles interacted with the audience quite a bit. I myself would have piped up but there was almost always three of four people who had something to say about any given topic so I just let them talk.  It is always interesting to see anime fans talking positively about fandom as opposed to the less than bright picture the internet paints. My favorite panel of the convention was the JoJo’s Posing School panel. It was simply brilliant. Based on the Jojo’s Posing School in Japan the idea was to learn how to strike the insane poses from the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure manga. At the same time as the panelists were teaching you the poses they also taught you about the manga. It was great because the interactive nature of the panel made everything fun and more likely to stick in your head more than any lecture on the manga would. It even changed the way I look at doing panels. I will add some element of interactivity to any panel I do in the future after seeing how effective it was. I don’t think every panel I do will be this interactive but I am sold on the principle. Plus it helped wake me up Saturday morning because I sorely need some pep. If you see this panel on the schedule of any con you go to I highly recommend it.

One of the earlier panels on Friday was Inside the Industry, I wasn’t immediately sure what it was going to entail but decided to pop in before going off to do our first panel of the convention. Robert Axelrod and Leah Clark hosted what essentially was an invitation to ask them whatever you wanted to know about the American voice acting business. Mr. Axelrod was a hoot as he told some stories. Like many others he started out to be a traditional actor. One job offered to send him to do voices in Japan when he was just 19-years-old, but he turned it down and didn’t end up voice acting till many years later starting with a show called Banner the Squirrel. He even did a funny high-pitched voice! Vertical Inc. was the only company to be running a panel at AnimeNEXT that I saw. There was much GTO talk as it expands their manga line in yet another new, and unexpected, direction. Though Mr. Chavez said this has been his hope all along as he is a big Onizuka fan. He also showed off the first couple Drops of God covers and the sadly final book of Black Jack which is a departure from the current designs but isn’t set in stone yet. While not there in any official capacity, the American Animation folks showed off what is upcoming. This seemed like a good route since there is a massive amount of works, so picking a theme was a good call. Some of the titles were the new installment in the Avatar franchise, Legend of Korra; Thundercats which people were excited about but I still maintain looks bad; Tin Tin with a lot of big names behind it; and a few different DC superhero titles. They also talked about Sym-Bionic Titan, which is not upcoming but absolutely deserved to be discussed. I was a bit sad that when I brought up Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated, no one seemed interested. It also made me realize that the panel was really favoring action cartoons, rather than embracing the whole of American works, but that may be for the best at an anime convention.

Anime in the 90s seemed like revenge of the 2009 version of the As The Otaku Grows panel (which was also at this con and apparently is still horrible according to Ink). [updated 06/19/11] It was basically a panel about how 90s anime was the best anime ever which is always a claim that makes me roll my eyes. It is worth nothing that when they say 90s anime they really mean anime that was released in the US in the 90s as opposed to anime from the 90s. They pretty much wanted everything to be Cowboy Bebop. While we all wish everything could be that good it clearly ignores the classics before the 90s and the good shows that have come out since then (as well as all the garbage that came out in the 90s.) I think the most telling sign of why they thought as they did was no one on the panel was watching the Noitamina block. Also someone in the audience brought up MD Geist as an example of superbly crafted anime. Everyone in our little crew physically reacted to that amazingly insane statement. Speaking of insane the Tenshi ni Narumon: Anime Under the Radar was quite unexpected. I really enjoyed Tenshi ni Narumon but that show is hardly popular so I was curious to see where this panel was going. The panel was run by a professor whose daughter got him into anime. He decided to try to promote this cute little series at cons to raise awareness about it. Since he teaches about fables and mythology most of the panel was analysis of the story, themes, and symbolism. It could be a little dry at times and feel like a lecture but it was a distinctly unique approach to looking at the series. He did have a lot of clips to back up his points and throw some energy into the panel. I will say my biggest problem was the panel was filled with major spoilers. I think that an intro panels should avoid major spoilers when it can but to each their own. I also went to the Fandom Podcasting: An Overview panel because I always go to podcasting panels. It had Jefferson from the Otaku Generation podcast. Jefferson always strikes me as the most awkward member of the current cast of the podcast and since this was his first panel it started off  really slow. But eventually Matt from the podcast threw in a little help and Jefferson started to loosen up and the panel fell into place. Narutaki sort of threw off the panel by over-examining one slide with the various types of fandoms in podcasting but I think we all had to know that clickie podcast was. The most surprising fact we discovered was over half the audience was not just podcasters. Since most podcasting panels are made up solely of podcasters it was an interesting change of pace.

I was quite curious about Otaku on a Budget since I’ve oft thought of doing something similar myself. This panel run by Natsuki from NaruNatsu was fun, if a little scatterbrained, and her focus was mostly on how to save for conventions and at the convention itself. As a cosplayer she also had quite a few tips in that area which I know very little about. She also told a cute story about how she had only just met the two other girls on the panel with her. This panel was fun all three days of the con so I wonder how the other sessions went. The Anime Openings and Closings panel was a little less successful, but had some good elements. The big issue arose after he showed Astro Boy and Lupin openings, good start, but then jumped almost 30 years into the future for the rest of the panel. He had some other good pieces like talking about Ali-Project who does many openings and discussing dancing themes. Any of these subjects could have probably been their own panel honestly so he was only able to briefly touch upon them. I got the feelings he was just more familiar with modern anime, but it was a good attempt. There were two panels stressing opinions Fandom and Criticism and Anime Incorrect. Ani-Gamers Evan and Ink as well as Hisui sat down to have a rather philosophical discussion with each other and the audience in Fandom and Criticism. Everyone watches anime differently, but watching it thoughtful can create en enriching experience. Questions were posed about how many episodes you give a show to grab you; anti-intellectual fans; and about pinpointing what exactly you liked or didn’t about a show. There was a lot of audience discussion and I threw in my two cents now and again as well. A less academic session occurred Friday late night with Anime Incorrect, a rif on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. This panel too had some familiar faces like Greg from Reisen Goes to School by Bus, Scott V. from Anime Almanac, and Evan from Ani-Gamers. The folks on the panel took on such controversial subjects as the new live action Akira and Bill 156 (The Tokyo Youth Ordinance Bill). It took a little while to warm up but things started to get more lively as the audience and participants got comfortable with each other and debates started to heat up.

I think all our panels went well overall. They all experienced some technical difficulty but that is Reverse Thieves way. Some of our panels were in workshop 2 where there was no projector. This meant that our the Best Manga you Never Read panel was just us talking. We had run this panel before but because of recent events I decided to make the selections all under-appreciated or forgotten Tokyopop titles. I figured now was the best time to talk about them before they became near impossible to find. Despite the lack of graphics the panel went well and I think we got some good responses.  I finally got to test by infamous Type-Moon: Unlimited Panel Works panel. I got a projector for my panel but I started about 10 minutes late do to set up problems. This meant I cut a lot of the introduction to the plot, themes, and characters of the assorted works of Type-Moon as most of the audience knew the score. Plus I had an audience filled with some real wisenheimers so jumping to the obscure stuff was probably for the best. But while the audience may have been cracking wise but they were enthusiastic and supportive. It gave the panel a good flow back and forth as we celebrated the collected works of my favorite Japanese creators.  The Q&A at the end was sort of no holds barred discussion with a mixture of very silly question and some actual real deal questions as well. My general feeling was the panel was good but needs some work for bigger cons. I might run this panel again at small cons and run a more advanced Type-Moon: Mystic Eyes of Information Perception at bigger cons.

Our own panels had good turn outs and good feedback from the audience. It is always nice to talk with people after to gain even more tidbits of knowledge and maybe even make some friends. Our Investigating Detective Anime panel was more refined than the version we ran at Genericon. We added clips in, which cut down the number of shows we could discuss. I’m a little on the fence about how to get a good balance. Overall, it went well but we will still be doing some tweeking before presenting it at Otakon. Brand new to our panels list was Real Men Watch Shojo, another clips centered panel encouraging people to look beyond the genre classification “shojo” and hopefully show them the variety therein. I talked with a number of people after this panel and got even more suggestions for titles to use in the future. Thanks everyone for coming out!

I totally missed the WTF Moments in Anime & Manga, The Anime Geek Glossary, One Piece Podcast, and Totally Subversive Toons panels. Either I did not wake up in time, was eating dinner, or was shut out. If anyone attended those panels I am curious to know what their reaction was.  Also if anyone who attended our panels has any comments or criticism I am curious to hear that as well. My Type-Moon panel was completely new so I would love to know where to expand and where to cut for future versions. I had a great time with the panels at AnimeNEXT this year. We have a few panel ideas on the back burner that we might test out. I know we are thinking of trying out a Legend of the Galactic Heroes panel. That might just be divine.

AnimeNEXT’s main event for me is usually panels, it makes up the majority of what I do at the con. Luckily this year was another one of great variety and overall competence from a number of sources. While most panels didn’t start on time either due to previous panelists or technical difficulties, the actual knowledge presented was still entertaining.

More AnimeNEXT 2011 posts:

AnimeNEXT 2011: Tweets
AnimeNEXT 2011: General Impressions
AnimeNEXT 2011: Production I.G
AnimeNEXT 2011: Artist Alley

 In the last few years, many conventions’ fan artwork sections have become a little dull; there has been a sameness creeping into the works where I found myself wondering where the personality of the artist was in it. I wasn’t originally planning to do a special post on AnimeNEXT’s artist alley, but once I got to take a look around the quality and diversity made me need to do one. Artist Alley ended up being one of my favorite parts of this year’s convention and helped restore my desire to see what people were doing with fan-art again.

The first thing that struck me was the abundance of unique wares. Instead of mostly prints being sold, of which there were still many, you could find everything from bags to pillows, buttons to cellphone straps, clay figures to magnets, and even paper craft. Below you can see the Kenshin folded paper figure I picked up. I actually have a couple of these from Japan of generic girls in kimonos so it was a treat to find anime character ones. Upon speaking to the artists Lily and Alan they revealed they probably won’t be making anymore because a full day was spent crafting each one. I hope I was enthusiastic enough to change their minds with my urging. I also picked up a funny Zoro standee (and I know Evan at Ani-Gamers picked up a Vegeta one, too) by nakira which adds a little extra by bringing it into the 3D realm. Continuing my way around the alley there were some adorable and hilarious giant pillows like a penguin onigiri, but it was a little out of my price range at $50. Hand stitched bags and small purses jumped out at me as well.

There were still plenty of prints to be seen, but even within that there was more variation of styles displayed; cute or intense, traditional media or digital covered booths which was truly refreshing. And it was rare to walk by and not see many artists hard at work sketching. I picked up a couple of laminated bookmarks as I like a little more function in my prints. It was great to see Katizua displaying delightful Sailor Moon artwork rendering each senshi with an astrological sign (and no I’m not a Capricorn). project Icicle who I picked up the Howl’s Moving Castle piece from was a large team of 8 so they had many styles and seemed more business minded. While not the most unique items in tow, I’m pretty much a sucker for buttons, nothing makes me more happy than adding a few to my already unwieldy collection like a cute, little Prince from Katamari Damacy made by kristilyn. Yoon had some of my favorite stuff and she did a lot of non-anime related pieces. She said she’s been a big DC fan for a while hence my luck in picking up some Young Justice buttons! There were a number of people showing off other series too including a couple of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic artists (and cosplayers) about.

Attendees and artists alike seem to be divided on the move of Artist Alley from the Double Tree hotel to the convention center proper. At first, I found it generally pleasing and thought it gave the artists more traffic being near the dealers room. On the downside, since it stays open later, it also dealt with noise from late-night main events like concerts and the masquerade. Plus, throughout the day the line queue for major must-sees resides next to it. While none of this was a problem for me just walking through, I can imagine artists sitting there for hours were having their nerves fried. Wherever they decide to put it next year, I will be there!

More AnimeNEXT 2011 posts:

AnimeNEXT 2011: Tweets
AnimeNEXT 2011: General Impressions
AnimeNEXT 2011: Production I.G
AnimeNEXT 2011: Panels

 Lucky for us AnimeNEXT has hosted people from the esteemed Production I.G studio back to back. Last year it was director Kenji Kamiyama and for 2011 key animator Satoru Nakamura along with storyboarder and episode director Koudai Kakimoto visited the New Jersey convention. They are key parts to what makes the studio unforgettable and known for good quality. While they weren’t announced till very close to the con, that didn’t prevent them from being a bright spot in the weekend.

Just like Otakon recently always has someone from Madhouse every year I wonder if we will regularly have a guest from Production I.G at AnimeNext. Production I.G is a great studio so if this remained a trend I would hardly be upset. Satoru Nakamura may not be as flashy a name as Kenji Kamiyama but he has a celebrated career in the animation industry and has worked on titles as diverse as Macross Plus and Steamboy to Hyper Doll and the U.S. cartoon Galaxy High School. Plus we got some amazing news out of the Production I.G panel that put Narutaki into a state of pure orgasmic bliss. One line alone was enough to make it all worth while.

 Their talk on Friday was a fairly calm affair where the audience got to ask a ton of questions. But Mr. Nakamura surprised everyone on a couple occasions first by asking the audience to tell him how Eden of the East made them feel. A number of people got to wax poetic about the series without fear of taking up precious question time! I told him how much I enjoyed the contrast in the first episode; starting with wacky humor and ending in true suspense. And I think the series carries a nice balance throughout. He mentioned wanting to really engage viewers and look at modern problems and solutions. Mr. Kakimoto talked a bit about the animation process and production schedules citing that the first episode of Eden of the East took them a full six months to finish. But said of course the rest were much tighter.  As could be guessed there were many more questions about Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex than anything else. Nothing could be better than the second, and biggest, surprise of the event when Mr. Nakamura and Mr. Kakimoto leaned their heads together then unofficially announced more Stand Alone Complex is in the works (update: also reported by AnimeDiet since I know some people wanted more sources). Later on, I couldn’t resist asking Mr. Nakamura about why he used Ishikawa as his image in the guide for the con. He responded that he feels their personalities are very close. Both seemed happy and eager to talk with fans.

I did get a few questions that got that classic Japanese dodge. I had hoped that the extremely long production of Steamboy would result in some amusing stories. Apparently Katsuhiro Otomo is a perfectionist so nothing was done until it was up to his exacting standards. I suppose that is the most diplomatic answer you can get from someone who does not want problems in the industry. Mr. Nakamura did some time as a character designer. He did not seem extremely passionate about it either way but he did mention that it seems he only did character designs on some pretty obscure shows. I wondered if he had a desire to be a director given that key animation and animation direction are often steps before being tapped as a director. While he had thought about being a director for time to time he was happy doing what he is doing. He also did not go into a lot of detail about his work on the 3D Solid State Society opening. I wonder if we could have pried out more details in a more intimate Q&A. My last question got one of the most interesting answers. I was curious to see what Mr. Nakamura and Mr. Kakimoto thought were must see anime. They of course both answered Eden of the East but they also said Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Planetes. The Hayao Miyazaki movies were hardly surprising but it was great to see a Mamoru Hosoda and even more shockingly Planetes on that same level. I suppose it merely shows how great those two pieces of animation are.

 As always I behoove people to go see the Japanese guests! They are an amazing window into a medium that we all love so well. Both Mr. Nakamura and Mr. Kakimoto play significant roles in the creation process. And for the most part we rarely get to speak with a key animator or storyboarder in the U.S. con circuit.

I saved a few question in reserve just in case we got an interview but that never came to pass. I was waiting to ask him about Galaxy High School as I would have liked to have known the difference between his feelings on making a show for America as opposed to Japan. Que sera, sera. If nothing else if AnimeNEXT could get more staff that works at Production I.G  I would love to see more. If they could get Kazuhiro Furuhashi or Tsutomu Mizushima that would be greatly appreciated. Furuhashi’s work on Le Chevalier D’Eon and Mizushima’s work on the upcoming Blood-C would make them amazing guests. I can’t wait to see who they get next year.

More AnimeNEXT 2011 posts:

AnimeNEXT 2011: Tweets
AnimeNEXT 2011: General Impressions
AnimeNEXT 2011: Artist Alley
AnimeNEXT 2011: Panels