AnimeNEXT 2010: Fan Panels

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The con had a mighty list of fan run panels with both new and familiar faces. Fan panels have become my main source of entertainment at cons in recent years and they take second only to the Japanese guest events. They are places to learn, to debate, to laugh, and even to make friends and connections.

hisuiconI have always attended conventions be they anime or not to see the panels so they make up the bulk of my con reports. Fan panels can be a gamble because their quality can vary so very much but when a fan panel is excellent it can be one of the most memorable events. A superb fan panel connects with you on a personal level in a way that a professional panel usually cannot because of a layer of formality between the audience and the panelist. An exceptional fan panel teaches you something while having a free flowing dynamic between the audience and the panelist.

“Fandom & Criticism: The Art of Active Viewing” was run by fellow bloggers and podcasters Ani-Gamers. The focus was on engaging anime on many levels even if you aren’t a reviewer, whether or not that leads to a happier viewing experience is still up in the air. The discussion was robust as they related their own habits to the audience and discussed what they look for when watching a show. The crowd had plenty to share in return and it was clear that many were casual fans so Ani-Gamers seemed to be reaching the group of people they were aiming to. There was a bit of debate, a little from myself, about the notion of whether something is actually bad. I can easily point to another panel we attended, and a personal favorite of mine and many others, “Bad Anime, Bad!!” and say definitively that yes, there are bad shows. This year’s “Bad Anime, Bad!!” gem was Frankenstein which literally doesn’t have credits, probably because no one wants to own up, but there was speculation it could have been the same crew who created Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned. The host commentary was as amusing as always, the catchphrase of the night for me was “Quick! Crab-walk for your life!” Of course our host had to shush the crowd a number of times in order for us to enjoy the horrid dialogue of the show. I don’t want to spoil anything as its worth seeing and the ending was quite a surprise.

hisuicon I always try to see any panel given by the noble old school fans of AnimeNEXT Walter Amos, Rob Fenelon, and Brian Price. They always have a mixture of professionalism and joviality. Friday night ended with their “These Are a Few of My Favorite Scenes” which is always a treat. Walter, Rob, and Brian took turns playing clips of different shows in hopes of whetting your appetite for things you might have otherwise overlooked. The video from the Space Battleship Yamato pachinko game was disturbingly well-produced. There was also an amusing clip from an anime with a super powerful pink bunny rabbit mecha in an apron with a heart. Coincidentally that same robot was in a mecha guide that Evan had in this room. This meant they had to bring up Legend of the Swordmaster Yaiba which I think they mention every panel but rarely show anything from. Moving on to prove that everyone on the panel had good taste they had a clip from Summer Wars with King Kazma. They also had a cool cut scene from Xenosaga showing that above all else they are huge space opera fans. They also played a bunch of clips from Ralph Bakshi’s film Wizards that I mostly remember as the non-anime movie that was always in the anime section at video stores in the 90s.

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AnimeNEXT 2010: Industry and Guests

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For me guests are key at conventions, maybe that sounds a little obvious to say but truly it isn’t as I attend more and more cons and have realized many attendees never set foot inside a room to hear people speak. For many the con going experience is more social than educational, I like to have a little of both. This year’s AnimeNEXT really made that possible with a variety of guests, though not too much industry presences, that really filled out the roster of the con and made it feel solid again.

hisuiconA panel with guests is usually a sign of quality so I tend to go out of my way to attend any panels with a guest that remotely piques my interest. Of course an event with a Japanese guest trumps all others if for nothing else you may never get another chance to see them but more because they can give you  incredible insight and perspective into the mediums of anime and manga. Sadly other than a few rare exceptions American fans tend to skip panels with Japanese industry guests. Therefore I feel it is also my duty to attend such panels to show my support and let conventions know that their investment in such guests is important. But I assume most of the people reading a blog like this feel the same.

Funimation was the only industry panel in attendance a sad fact considering how close AnimeNEXT is to New York City and such a turn out doesn’t inspire much confidence on the state of things. On that front, Funimation’s panel, run by newbie Josh, started with a little “the sky isn’t falling”-type bit followed by some trailers and the usual Q&A session. My mind is always a little boggled by how many fans turn out for the Funi panels but perhaps that is a testament to how much people are liking what they do. I gave a big shout and started a round of applause as their Initial D releases appeared on the PowerPoint. They mentioned Part II of Fourth Stage being available early in the dealer’s room, though mine came in the mail right before I left for the con. The trailer for My Bride is a Mermaid got me interested. There were no real surprises during the panel which wasn’t too shocking and Josh did mention some big stuff will be happening at upcoming Anime Expo though it wasn’t clear whether he meant license announcements or events pertaining to already licensed stuff. He did say specifically you can expect to see a push for Hetalia at the rest of the summer cons. As the Q&A got rolling we all learned very quickly just how new Josh is as the audience ended up answering quite a few of the questions asked. There was also a rampant amount of DBZ questions. But Josh had a good attitude and I’m sure he’ll grow into the role, we’ll see how he fares at Otakon!

hisuiconI got a good deal of the American guests in one go when I started the convention with the “Big Bald Broadcast” recording. Host of the podcast Kyle Hebert had along Uncle Yo, Tony Oliver, Martin Billany, and Kroze. There was no real theme to the podcast as Kyle threw out questions to the panel for everyone to answer. It was more of a getting to know everyone session with questions like what was everyone’s favorite piece of memorabilia. It was amusing that science fiction and Power Rangers came up far more than anime or manga in everyone’s responses. The panel ran smoothly although I could have done without the people in the audience who felt they were funnier and more interesting than the guests. I regret not going to any of Martin Billany’s (aka littlekuriboh) other panels because he seemed like an amusing and friendly guy. I then went to “How to Spot Bootleg Merchandise” with Greg Ayres. The panel was informative but it has the flaw that every Greg Ayres panel has: it is half informative and half moralistic lecture. While there was many a good tip on spotting bootlegs, he could have toned down the rhetoric especially since he was already preaching to the choir. I feel it would have been better served just putting the information out there and using a little less hard sell but that is sort of what he is famous for. Kevin McKeever’s “WAR STORIES FROM THE CONVENTIONS” was much like the one he ran at PAC in format but almost all the stories were new. He had the audience give him a topic and he would then relate an amusing story related to said topic from his many con experiences over the years. There was everything from sexually aggressive con moms to really scary fans of all stripes. Overall, Kevin tried to keep the stories positive and give the impression that no matter how bad some of the stories were his overall experiences were positive.

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AnimeNEXT 2010: General Impressions

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AnimeNEXT is spending only its second year at the Garden State Exhibit Center but they have made a great transition into the new space, of course there are still kinks but there were vast improvements from last year. And when asked about moving back to Secaucus it was a firm and unanimous “no.” This space has room to grow they said (though I didn’t notice too much empty space, but Secaucus has even less so) and that’s exactly what they want to do.

hisuiconWhen AnimeNEXT is firing on all cylinders it is a great anime convention with a little bit of everything despite not being one of the big boys like Otakon, Anime Expo, or New York Anime Festival. This year NEXT had a good mix of American and Japanese industry guests, solid and diverse panels, entertaining musicians, and good-sized dealer’s room and artist alley. With Kenji Kamiyama as a guest AnimeNEXT felt more like a top ten anime convention than Anime Boston despite having less attendees. Even if the location has become more inconvenient for me I still watch to see who they get each year.

As press things were better organized this time around and they were even able to setup an impromptu round-robin press conference with Kenji Kamiyama which was, to say the least, the brightest moment of the convention. While we’d all, including the staff, like to know things further in advance, I realize with guests sometimes this just isn’t possible. There was some confusion about whether press could get into panels early or not, and I’m not even sure of the answer myself. So next year I would like to see press privileges a little more outlined, concrete, and communicated to the staff. And then I can print-out the rules to keep in my back pocket!

hisuiconI know everyone assumed they would be allowed into the “IT CAME FROM FRANCE!!” panel because they were press but were a bit thrown off by not being able to get in. I myself was lucky enough that never came up as a problem. We made sure to arrive a little early for the “Bad Anime Bad!” panel after hearing that. But I have have been to several cons where there is no set press privileges which can definitely be a bit confusing. Clear rules would help everyone involved on both the press side and the staff side. But I was always treated very politely by the all the con staffers of AnimeNEXT and they were as accommodating as they could be.

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