anime-expo 'exclusive'
a n00b in 0t4KU L4ND
by jonathan on 07/24/2002 00:46:56 -0700
Friday, July 5 2002
Thanh said something about how on most nights you get like 3 hours of sleep. Well I showed him; I think I got almost 5! I woke up at later than Wes because I originally had no intention of going to the Ruroni Kenshin panel featuring Nobuhiro Watsuki. (He's the creator of the manga.) I'm not really a big Kenshin fan; I feel the series as a whole is a tad overrated.
Regardless, I decided I had nothing better to do. I'm glad I went, because I got this great picture of a bunch of people cosplaying characters from the series.
Watsuki-san's panel was easily the most popular panel during the whole convention. It got so packed that there was standing room only despite hundreds upon hundreds of chairs being set up. The panel itself went well, with Watsuki-san answering mainly questions related to the anime even though he didn't have that much control over it. One fan managed to spoil the ending of the new OAV series, which got a bunch of people pissed off. I felt sorry for the guy; I'm sure he just didn't think his question through before asking it. You can check out a transcript here.
After the Kenshin panel, I decided I had nothing better to do and I so I got in line for the next panel, which was Hojo-san's panel. Now, I knew very little about City Hunter and his other series, but his quote "There is no man in the world who doesn't love women" fit completely with my image of the man responsible for City Hunter. I was also glad to see he brought the president and editor of Raijin Comics.
My gut feeling tells me something like Raijin Comics could succeed in the future, but I just don't know if Americans are ready for it right now. The idea of a weekly comic magazine showcasing new and old manga hits appeals to me, but I can see why others won't like it. First of all, many people don't like comics in “black and white” as well as the fact that you have to read right to left instead of left to right. However, I will say Raijin is much further along than their competition, Weekly Shonen Jump. (WSJ is responsible for popular "men's manga" such as GTO, Kenshin, and Initial D just to name a few. Ironically, even though they originally printed Slam Dunk, SD is a Raijin title for the US.) I like how Raijin is supposedly in touch with manga editors from Japan and whatnot, but I can't help feeling they are a bit too ambitious. Hopefully I'm wrong and Raijin as well as WSJ will sweep the nation, so American anime fans can have some of the manga roots Japanese fans have. I haven't decided whether to drop money for a subscription since it's quite expensive and I dunno if the political manga I like will be kept in. Although you also get FUJIN, which is a sister magazine insert covering anime, gaming, and other otaku topics. (With some of the horrible writing in the English Newtype magazine, this might be a better deal.) The manga selection in Raijin basically works by popular vote; if a series isn't popular it'll be finished in novel form and taken out of the magazine. I'm pretty sure American tastes are such that series such as "The First President of Japan" will be gone in like two weeks, which is a shame. (Go out and read Sanctuary, published by Viz comics. You'll be glad you did.) I also don't know how Americans will react to sports manga, especially Slam Dunk. Will America accept a Japanese high school basketball team? Doubtful methinks. Hopefully I'm wrong and people will experiment and branch out to try new things.
The next panel I attended was with Maria Kawamura, a voice actress (seiyuu). This was the highlight panel of the convention for me. Kawamura-san was nice and she apologized profusely for being late. She led some audience members in dubbing some scenes from Slayers and Char's Counterattack. These dubbings produced a male Naga, English Naga, and a heavily-Asian-accented Char. It was the funniest moment of the day. Kawamura-san impressed me so much that I decided to get her autograph the next day.
Upon walking out of the panel, I was shocked to notice there was no line to the dealer's hall. Before the line was outside and snaked all around. So of course I went in. This turned out to be a good choice, because on Saturday and Sunday, the line grew to Disneyland proportions.
So how can I describe the dealer room? I can't really, but I can try. Imagine an E3 room, only with more people (some in costumes) and with all the booths hawking anime and game stuff. There were some exceptions, of course. You could buy live action HK and Japanese movies. One booth sold sword replicas and other weapons. I was pleased to see Gameskins was among some of the clothing booths. Oh, and they had random autograph sessions, including pr0n stars! Later, I learned that these turned out the longest lines for autographs short of Watsuki! (I'm hoping my perception was exaggerated.) I'd like to take a moment and comment on what a great idea this is, using porn stars to dub hentai anime. I mean, they are voice actors and they have experience doing this type of work! It's brilliant, and it's one more reason I could never run an anime studio because I would never think of an idea like this.
I picked up some Slayers stuff, including a pencil board so Kawamura-san could sign it. After exploring around for a bit, I picked up Riding Bean on DVD for only $16 from the AnimeEgo booth. I looked for Hellsing stuff at the Pioneer booth but I only got freebies. I was seriously considering breaking the glass case in the back of the booth and stealing the blood pack and box sets among other things. I was starved for Hellsing stuff but in retrospect I do already have a cool pencil board. Rounding out my purchases were Love Hina vol. 3 and Initial D manga vol 2. (Little did I know what was in store for me when I read that manga, but that's another article.)
The highlight of the dealer room was being in the right place at the right time. It turns out, in a surprise move (to me at least), Koichi Mashimo appeared in the Bandai booth starting from 5 (the room closed at 6) and he was signing autographs. Since I like .hack//sign, I got in the short line to get an autograph. I asked him to autograph the Bandai catalogue DVD case.
After leaving the dealer room, I decided to prepare for the Anime Music Video contest at 8 PM. I retreated back to the hotel room for a shower and the nearby Subway. Once again, it was my first and last meal. So how did the AMV contest go? Not good. You can read all about it in from someone actually involved here. I just have a couple comments.
There was no line to get in. We mobbed the front of the building and there was absolutely no crowd control until they started letting people in. This apparently was the way things always were and I guess how things will always be. It was also funny seeing the Japanese fascination with the wave; I guess they don't do that over there. Watsuki lead a wave and he fell over as well. I'm glad he didn't get hurt!
Despite the disaster of the AMV contest, the day was good because I got pics of the HachiRoku (86) from Initial D.
Click to enlarge.