While attending Fanime 2009 in late May, I recorded most of the panels I went to with the exceptions being Meet the Anime Vice Squad (forgot) and Nerd Courting (because it was 3 hours!). You may hear some rustling noises caused by when I was shifting around or, in the case of Carl Horn’s panels, flipping through the samples he gave the audience pass around.
Music during lead-ins: “Blue Little” by 10:32 (album: Ghostly Swim – link)
A week ago, I wasn’t seriously considering travelling down to Anime Expo after last year’s long drive and feelings of fatigue afterward. But an hotel room offer came up recently from someone I know (not sure if I can say who) and since my family doesn’t have plans for the weekend, I decided to seize the opportunity. I pre-registered last night so unless I want to let my $65 go to waste, I’ll going to spend some time at the LACC next weekend.
Here is my preliminary schedule (subject to changes):
Thursday
10am: Digital Manga Publishing (will miss because I’ll be driving)
5pm: Nozomi Ent./Right Stuf
7:30pm: eigoMANGA
10pm-12am: TTGL Focus Panel and Documentary (missed this at Fanime)
Friday
9am: Bandai Ent.
11am: CMX
12pm: Aniplex or Yosuke Kuroda/Seiji Mizushima (leaning toward Aniplex) ***Why are these at the same time? ***
3:30pm: Viz Media
6pm: Without Watching the Anime: OPs & EDs (by Alex Leavitt)
9pm-12am: AMV Contest (list of finalists)
Sunday
10am: Directors Guests of Honor Panel
11am: Crunchyroll
12pm: The Problem With Otaku (Alex Leavitt again)
1pm: Production I.G.
2pm: NIS America (if I’m not exhausted by then)
Day 2 at Fanime (May 23rd) for me consisted of learning about the early days of fan subtitling, taking a slower walk through Artists’ Alley, getting something free for asking a question, eating an Italian dinner, and watching on-the-spot pitching of scenarios. Read the rest of this entry »
Two weekends ago, I drove myself and a press buddy down I-80/280/680 to San Jose over the course of about two and a half hours. We checked into our room at around 2pm and then walked down to professional registration to grab our badges. After that, I took a cursory walk through Artists’ Alley and the Dealers Hall before heading to the first panel I wanted to see. Read the rest of this entry »
Seven days from now, I will drive down Interstate 80/680 with some friends and arrive at the San Jose Convention Center. I missed last year’s Fanime in order to attend my brother’s high school graduation. This time around I will have a press badge clipped somewhere on me, if they still make clip-on badges.
However, I don’t know how often I’ll be exercising that privilege since a bunch of potential news might come out of another convention in the east, Anime Boston. (Other conventions that weekend include Animazement in Raleigh, NC; Anime North in Toronto [ETERNAL will be there!], Canada; JACON in Orlando, FL; and NipponCon in Neumünster, Germany.) I’m not going into thinking Fanime there would be a lot of news since the convention isn’t meant to be a wellspring of industry news – hence the “fan” part of its name – but the fact that only one publisher is holding a panel (Dark Horse) depresses me. Thanks, AB, for stealing some of our thunder. (Just kidding, though – I don’t want to start an East Coast-West Coast battle.)
Of course I’ll being stopping by one of my favorite events, the Swap Meet, to see if there are any bargains (I’m a sucker for old magazines) and I might try to get a few artists to draw me and compare their results (something I should. Some better-known names among the list of dealers’ hall vendors are Media Blasters and Aksys Games but there will also smaller operations like Kimonokitsy Studios (makers of the nemu nemu comic) and PMBQ. The maid cafe has reportedly improved since 2007 so I might peek into that and if I somehow get the courage to do karaoke, I’ll try to have someone record it for potential future embarassment.
A pocket guide version of the schedule went live on the convention’s website Wednesday – it’s good that it’s earlier than usual but it’s also a little frustrating that it’s a collection of images with no uniform document file offered, namely, PDF. I’m sure I will get one in a bag upon check-in, anyway.
In this nose-in-the-books edition of Potluck: a once-missing 14-year-old anime fan is found, a few blogging community matters, Kurokami on domestic DVD, and an update on Kadokawa’s subtitling efforts. Read the rest of this entry »
Continuing a tradition from last year’s Otakon, I decided to do another con report while far away from the actual convention site. I won’t go over all the announcements and panels, just the ones that I found interesting enough to mention. As for why it took a week, I think it’s because I’m being secretly sponsored by the Pony Express. Whatever the reason, it gave me a reason to look through Creative Commons-licensed pictures so if you’ve already read the news before (it’s very likely you have), I hope you at least enjoy the pictures that other people took last weekend. Read the rest of this entry »
I have attended SacAnime twicebefore but two Saturdays ago, I went around the Scottish Rite Center wearing a press badge for the first time. The overall experience wasn’t very different but there were some highlights worth mentioning. Read the rest of this entry »
When I began composing this in the afternoon, I thought it would be just another collection of news items baked into a Potluck post but then a few more things came to light this evening and the above image suspiciously gained more relevance.
UPDATE 1/18 12:37AM PST: AnimeNews.biz has issued a retraction to their story about Best Buy and how they shelf anime in their stores. Instead of removing sections entirely, they are “in the process of realigning the anime section of each store depending on title popularity”. I have accordingly adjusted that portion of this post. Read the rest of this entry »
Slowly progressing through the second floor in Etrian Odyssey
I have yet to compose parts seven and eight of this year’s series of memorable things and as I am already two days behind, I decided to end it early with a single post listing what I might have written about individually if I cared enough to do so:
Nagi’s frustrated “I’ll grow into it!” assertion in Kannagi ep. 6 when she goes clothes shopping with Tsugumi.
The bullfight in Michiko to Hatchin ep. 6 for the rescue and the scene’s entertainment value
Winning a game show during AOD 2008 and getting a Bleach pin (which I have since lost)
Seeing Evangelion 1.0 on 35mm with a large crowd at AX, admiring the visual updates, and cringing a little during that awkward Rei-Shinji scene (you know the one)
Being included in the special thanks section of the Emma Season One Set [pic]
I don’t feel too bad about calling off the remainder since many other writers are still proceeding on schedule and I think I did a good job with the ones I did finish. I felt pressured to catch up on more than I could actually manage; now that has lessened, though still lingering, and I will pass along my relevant feelings as I finish each. I still plan to do the regular predictions/resolutions posts.
Finals week means much studying (
Slowly progressing through the second floor in Etrian Odyssey
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