Category: Events

AnimeNEXT 2016: Roanapur and New Jersey Now Have Yet Another Thing in Common

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hisui_icon_4040_round Now Roanapur and New Jersey will have their connection to  Rei Hiroe to add to the evidence that they are pretty much the same place.

I think we all know about the lack of dissemination of information in relation to debauchery while visiting the most populous city in the state of Nevada but there is no such prohibition in reporting on Atlantic City so I am going to be covering all that I can about AnimeNEXT 2016. Since Kate is still recovering from her three-week long trip to Japan I will be attending this convention solo like I did with Anime Fan Fest. Since this is AnimeNEXT’s first time in Atlantic City it is going to mean I am going to work a little harder when it comes to my coverage of the event. Hopefully I will be able to survive Monopoly City on my own.

It seems like the trip will be worth it with their line up of guests. As I mentioned at the top Rei Hiroe of Black Lagoon fame will be in attendance. It is always nice to see a high-profile mangaka guest at a convention especially if they have worked with Type-Moon. Of course that means I will have to ask him about that as well as the character he worked on for Fate/Grand Order.

Anime Next is also welcoming back Akitaro Daichi as well as several members of Studio Trigger. Since Akitaro Daichi is one of few Japanese guests who has a picture of me (or more precisely the Animation Runner Kuromi shirt I was wearing in 2005) I am very excited to see how he has changed since he was last in New Jersey. Studio Trigger has become a welcome part of the convention.  They really go all out for their American fans. I am curious to see what surprises they bring with them this year.

I don’t know too much about Megumi Kouno but I always appreciate being able to learn a little more about the over looked grunt work positions like key animator. While key animators are vital to the industry they can easily go overlooked in favor of some of the more glamorous parts of the industry.

Naoko Matsui is a fairly veteran voice actress who has been working since the 80s. Since she is Sonoko Suzuki in Detective Conan she pretty much has job security for life. I am curious about her Roux Louka in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ as well as Dorothy Catalonia in Gundam Wing. I also want to ask about her work as Ribbon in HappinessCharge PreCure! (even if we all REALLY want to ask about Miyuki Kobori who played Glasan.)

If there was anything at the convention to get Kate to go it was the ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D concert. Since she was them in 2014 I think she will be fine but I am excited to see them again.

If you’re attending AnimeNEXT this year come and say hello to me. Otherwise I hope you enjoy my write up of the next phase of AnimeNEXT!

I have panels! Attend them if you can!

Friday 03:45 PM – Anime Recruitment in Panel 304
Saturday 10:00 AM – Mecha Fight Club: Debates in Robots in Panel 318
Sunday 10:00 AM – Epic Grail Battles of History in Panel 301

My tentative schedule for the convention:

Friday
10:00 AM – A Snack on Titan : Snacking Etiquette for a Colossal Hunger
11:45 AM – It’s Showtime! A Tokyo Mew Mew Panel
01:15 PM – Anime Burger Time
03:45 PM – Anime Recruitment
05:30 PM – History of Magical Girls
06:45 PM – Elements of Style: Anime Openings Since 1963
08:00 PM – ROOKiEZ Concert
09:45 PM – “THE WORLD” of Jojo’s & Pop Culture
10:15 PM – History of Hentai Games in English

Saturday
10:00 AM – Mecha Fight Club: Debates in Robots
11: 15 AM – Q&A with Rei Hiroe (Black Lagoon)
01:00 PM – Rei Hiroe Autographs
02:30 PM – TRIGGER: Inferno Cop World Premiere
04:30 PM – Power Hour with Rei Hiroe (Black Lagoon)
06:00 PM – Studying Anime at University Level
07:15 PM – AnimeNEXT: 15 Years OF Convention
08:15 PM – Every Con Until You Like It: A Nasuverse Fan Panel
09:30 PM – The Fine Art of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
10:45 PM – The Touhou Retrospective: Your Guide To Gensokyo

Sunday
10:00 AM – Epic Grail Battles of History
11:15 AM – Space Patrol Luluco with Studio TRIGGER
01:15 PM – Let’s Dive: The History of Cyberpunk Anime
02: 30 PM – Fight Like a Girl! The power of the Magical Girl

Conventional Wisdom: Summer 2016

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hisui_icon_4040 You might have noticed that we have not been posting any All Points Bulletin posts while Kate is on vacation. Normally this would not be a big deal. They are more a lark for Kate and I that just happens to benefit the readership more than anything else. But as it turns out Kate went on vacation at the start of the beginning on the anime and manga convention season. I have been using All Points Bulletin as a way of highlighting convention coverage that I thought people reading the blog may enjoy. Since the APB is on break until Kate comes back I noticed the con reports were piling up a bit so I decided to do this quick post in order to clear out that backlog before then.

Anime Fan Fest 2016: General Impressions

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hisui_icon_4040  Kate and I balance each other out in our convention reports. When we both attend a convention it is not just an incremental improvement in the coverage but an exponential one. With two of us at an event we can cover more ground, view the same things at different times, and run in different circles of the attendees. But it is more than just having two sets of eyes. A good example is the fact that Kate is far more insightful on Artist Alley. While Artist Alley tends to blend all together to me, Kate has a trained eye thanks to her education and profession that sees a good deal of nuisance in what people are selling and how it stacks up to other offerings at previous years or other conventions. But even when we attended the same things we usually have similar but distinctly different perspectives on panels, guests, concerts, and events. I have done convention reports on my own. I think my coverage of Castle Point and Providence Anime Conference was solid but both of those reports could have been even better had Kate been there as well.

I’m going to bookmark that thought as I think it says a lot about Anime Fan Fest as well. But let me talk about the convention first and then I think it will all make much more sense.

Anime Fan Fest is the latest anime convention to pop up in the North East. Since AnimeNext has gown to a size that it could no longer be held Garden State Exhibit Center it seems that a new convention felt that the old venue would make the perfect area for a new convention to make its debut and fill a niche. I have talked to several people who have not been thrilled about AnimeNext’s move to Atlantic City. While I understand, and even support the move, it leaves a fairly sizable hole in landscape of the Tri-state area convention scene. Anime Fan Fest clearly hopes to step in and make a name for itself thanks to this opportunity.

While it seems like an open and shut matter of a new convention soothing an old itch it is not that simple. It is not like AnimeNext gave up the ghost, is being held during a completely different time of the year, radially changed what sort of convention it was, or moved to another state. If anything given that they are only a month apart so it seems more like they are in some degree of competition. It is not a crazy Anime Expo vs. AM² head to head contest but they are close enough in time and geography that while a lot of people can easily go to both some people are going to have to choose which of the two they will be able to attend.

Can New Jersey support these two anime conventions right next to each other? Will AnimeNext feel a pinch during their critical move to Atlantic City? Will there even be an Anime Fan Fest 2017? These are all questions I don’t have the answers to. But I feel the roots of all of the answers will be 100% visible with hindsight. Lets examine these roots, make some predictions, and then see how many of them are accurate.

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