Category: Events

New York Anime Festival 2009

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Everyone’s question was would NYAF live up to, exceed, or fail compared to the two previous conventions? There was quite a bit of talking with the announcement that NYAF would join with NYCC for 2010 so there was also the question of what would NYAF do as its last year as an independent convention? Although those are all pressing questions my main question was if I was going to have fun? Was I going to be able to do as much as I wanted to? We were also running two panels one of which had a lot of people looking forward to it. The Bloggers Roundtable had some big names on the marquee but it was a the first time we ever ran the panel. I had the most expectations for the panel because I felt it could succeed or fail so much more than any of our previous panels. On top of all that I had two guests staying at my humble abode during the convention so I had to play host as well as press.

It was no secret that we were looking forward to New York Anime Festival, probably more than any other con previously thanks to a killer guest, director Yoshiyuki Tomino. This sent NYAF which I always enjoy but never as much as say Otakon right to the front of the line this year. That being said, the rest of the con experience remained the same though I was happy to see quite a few license announcements this year. Since NYAF’s space has basically stayed the same from its first year, there weren’t too many surprises but that also means it still has some of the same problems. Javits, is Javits, its a bit of a walk from the train, the hotels, and most food. Though it also means that for the most part events went off without a hitch and things seemed to be well in hand with the staff.

The convention for me started on Thursday night since most of my main convention group went to see the Eureka Seven movie. Although not officially a part of the convention experience it felt like a great way to spend an evening before the big show. The movie itself was bizarre. I will never forget the line, “I am an enemy alien spy robot” as long as I live. It was a visually appealing movie but otherwise a utter train wreck. I appreciated their attempt to do something new with the original story but their execution left something to be desired. Though I was happy to watch a film with my friends and be able to talk about it afterward because I often feel like I hardly watch any anime at anime conventions. On Friday morning my two guests the spectacular OGT, the amazing PatzPrime, plus the remarkable SDShamshel all met up and went to the Javits center early to get Tomino autograph tickets. We were all a little worried when we heard that people were already starting to line up at 7am. We finally arrived at 10 and got progressively worried when we saw how the VIP line was growing but we were able to get our autograph tickets. Since we got there before the con officially started getting our press badges was a snap. We all went for some delicious Go Go Curry before starting the convention. Starting the con with curry is a tradition I could get behind.

Once again, the staff of NYAF as far as tickets goes were on top of it. Not a moment more than one was I in line for my press badge, which incidentally looks very different this year. This goes for the weekend con badges and VIP ones as well and only half for individual day passes. I’m not sure what to make of them, on the one hand I really like the hard plastic but on the other hand the badges aren’t very fun. Maybe that sounds like a stupid complaint, but too bad, many of us have a grand time trying to guess what show or characters will appear on the badges before going to a con. The speculations can even spawn forum threads, so it has become a popular and expected part of anime conventions. And I was surprised to not at the very least see the badges sporting the logo from this year’s contest winner. Since I never made it to the convention center before opening time, I have no idea what the lines looked like but from the massive crowds on Saturday I can imagine there was a pretty good wait in the morning. However, panels seemed to be well organized in this regard though having a press badge prevented any problems for me. The Javits space allotted for NYAF was insufficient for Saturday but was tolerable on Friday and Sunday. Happily this mean the Tomino panel was rightfully full.

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Live Action Gundam Sousei at New York Anime Festival

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Eventhough New York Anime Festival is still a baby compared to most other big cons, it has grown up rather quickly! Since it is in my own backyard I look forward to it but this year it had a special surprise in store that made me and others drop our jaws: Yoshiyuki Tomino. A guest this big just blows everything else out of the water for me. If there was nothing else to do at this convention, it wouldn’t matter one bit. I’d pay $50 to see Tomino so this is just like having a bunch of bonus features. And a press pass. No, don’t worry readers, I won’t actually only be reporting on the Tomino related goodness. Another feature of the con I am really looking forward to is the Cencoroll showing and we have a new panel this year! There is plenty to see and do, as always, though some industry absence is mysterious (Yen Press?). I have a feeling it will be good times again at this year’s New York Anime Fest!

Year three of New York Anime Festival has a lot to live up to. The past two years have been amazing for the con and prove that there are definite merits to being professionally run. There is a certain feel that can not be replicated by anything but being fan run but NYAF has the ability to get people like Yoshiyuki Tomino which is enough for me. I am curious how much of Tomino’s pure insanity is going to come out during the con. I mean this is the guy who just said video games are evil. I am sure whatever comes out of his mouth is going to be gold. Other than Tomino the thing I am most looking forward to is our Bloggers Roundtable panel. It’s our first time trying it out but I feel it has a great amount of potential. You take a bunch of people who are known for being insightful and eloquent then have them talk about fascinating topics. This is why people always talk about the Industry roundtable but this is a good deal more personal. We are going to have bloggers from About.com, Ani-Gamers, Anime Almanac, Anime Vice, The Gaming Dungeon, Ogiue Maniax, Reverse Thieves, and Subatomic Brainfreeze, all on one panel. If you are not attending the masquerade I really hope you can stop on in. We are also running our trusty Anime Recruitment panel on Sunday so if you are still around visit us there as well. Other than that we will be around all three days. We will have our homemade Reverse Thieves badges and t-shirts so look for us and say hello!

Our tentative schedule is as follows:

Friday
Opening Ceremonies
FUNimation Industry panel
Basics of Intellectual Property Rights panel
How I Broke Into the Anime and Manga Industries panel
Yoshiyuki Tomino Keynote
Aniplex Industry panel
Games from Japan vs. Games from The U.S. panel
Fighter’s High: Extra Curricular Battles panel
Cencoroll Premiere

Saturday
Del Rey Manga Industry panel
Steampunk in Anime panel
Bandai Industry panel
Yoshiyuki Tomino Q&A
Anime News Network Industry panel
Spoiler: The Panel
Bloggers Roundtable (We are on this panel! 8-9 PM)

Sunday
Convention War Stories panel
VIZ Media Industry panel
State of the Anime and Manga Industries panel
CPM Retrospective panel
Anime Recruitment (This is our panel! 4-5PM)

As a reminder: No Ongoing Investigations this week!

Ongoing Investigations: Case #057

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I recently attended the Student Anime Film Screening & Discussion with anime scriptwriter Dai Sato at the Japan Society. There, 25 students attended the A*NI*ME: Japanese Animation Production class for two weeks to learn the basic philosophy, theory, and techniques behind anime production. They were split up into 5 teams which had to create a full write up for an anime series or movie complete with character descriptions, plot outline, and a small trailer for their pitch. After the trailers, Dai Sato and the other instructors mentioned what they liked and what could have been worked on. They were always very polite and kind but Dai Sato did give them legitimate feedback in a constructive manner. The first group did a pirate adventure very similar to One Piece called Casa Dulce in which a band of pirates are looking for the legendary Utopia but instead find family through their crew. The students in group two did an adventure series called Floreixen about a society were peoples’ destinies are determined by the eggs they are hatched from. The third group did a western horror influenced series called Scindo in which a mad scientist calling himself Grandfather kidnaps a group of teenagers and injects them with a drug called Scindo. The fourth group proposed a title called 99 where everyone is a partial conversation cyborg but one day a man who is 100% human is found and he is quickly draw into a conflict. Our last group was the only on to pitched a movie, it was called Hybrid where a half human/half robot boy goes on an adventure that makes him wish to seek peace between the warring human and machine sides. We were then shown a dubbed episode of Samurai Champloo about a graffiti battle. After the episode each of the groups was given an award. The first group won the grand prize but all of them got some award of recognition for what they did best. Even though the projects were clearly amateurish they were enjoyable considering they only had 2 weeks to complete the project and much of their time was spent learning how to do the writing and the philosophy behind it. Kishotenketsu the 4-part structure for Chinese and Japanese narratives seemed to be an important part of the classes and was mentioned by each group. After the award ceremony I got my Eureka 7 case and Narutaki’s Cowboy Bebop case signed by Dai Sato.

The Walking Man by Jiro Tanaguchi is a simple, short piece about a man exploring his new town which emphasizes the beauty of noticing the little things in the world and taking a minute to appreciate them. It also seems like a great excuse to draw incredible backgrounds and environments. In fact this is one of the few times where those take precedence over our character so much so that he doesn’t even have a name. The dialogue is sparse with some chapters having none at all. It doesn’t even come across as slice-of-life but just these very brief, serene moments in time.

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