Otakon 2010 was my first East Coast convention and it turned out pretty well despite my own logistical flubbings. I was attending as just a fan without any special press or panelist so this writeup is more experiential than HARD JOURNALIST COVERAGE but I hope you can get a sense of what I did two weekends ago in Baltimore.

THURSDAY
It’d been three years since I last flew into another time zone but the flights eastward weren’t bad – I got to read through most of the first Book Girl (Bungaku Shoujo) novel. The process of picking up my pre-registration badge went smoothly with the new barcode scanning system. I then spent some time walking up and down Pratt Street before hanging out with TheBigN, omo, momotato and others at Pickles Pub and watching the Orioles beat the Royals in 11 innings on TV while having a rum and coke. I took the light rail back to my hotel near the airport and quickly learned the correct stop to get off at after leaving a couple stops before I should have; luckily, another train came about 5-10 minutes later.

Blurry smartphone photo of Big Windup cosplay

FRIDAY
I had planned to wake up early and get to the con in time for the Japanese Mahjong, Vertical, and Anime Journalism panels but I got up around 11am and missed them all. (Thankfully, the last one was recorded and posted onto Manga Out Loud as well as a transcript done by animemiz.)

Attending the Opening Ceremonies was a good experience as a first-time Otakon member and I was introduced to some of the guests in person. I found Hiroaki Yura to be charmingly honest and the Home Made Kazoku boys pumped up the crowd with their “Otakon, Ichiban!” call-and-response. The opening animation, which I guess was supposed to be the highpoint, had a rocking song but the characters and “story” felt so-so. Shihori came on stage and sang that opening song, “Shackles of the Night”, with a backing band named School of Rock (not to be confused with the 2003 Jack Black movie).

Next was Alex Leavitt‘s What’s the Point of Anime Intro & Ending Themes?. I had gone to his AX 2009 panel about the same subject but this time, he had a proper slideshow presentation. Astro Boy (American dubbed version) and Cutie Honey/Re: Cutie Honey (remake doing homages of original) appeared again but new additions to me were Urusei Yatsura and the propensity of giant robot shows like Zambot 3 and Combattler V to repeat the robot’s name and highlight at least two of the its moves. (While writing this post, I found that Balatack also fits this category.) He also did a couple cool side-by-sides of Dragon Ball “Cha-La Head-Cha-La” & the Lucky Star karaoke version and of Yamato’s opening with Isao Sasaki singing it at a concert. Alex did his best 3 at the end, which included the Eden of the East opening and the Paradise Kiss ending (I don’t remember the third).

After it finished, I skipped next door to the in-progress Aniplex panel in time to hear a few Durarara! dub cast announcements including sleeper star Darrel Guilbeau as Mikado (he voiced Gainer in Overman King Gainer) before leaving to get a cheeseburger from a food truck near the convention center.

I thought of Jon I. when I saw this

OGT and pontifus teamed up for You Don’t Like Moe — And Here’s Why!, which got off to a dry start in trying to explain postmodernism and Azuma’s grand non-narrative theory from Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals and finished off with examples of different character types: “pure” moe, dojikko, tsundere, megane, genki, onee-san/imouto, and silent/serious. I seemed to follow along since I’d recently finished Azuma’s book but much of the audience was probably bored until the Q&A began. The most exciting part might have been when one girl who stood up and complained that Darker Than Black‘s second season was ruined by the addition of a moe character (Suou?). They had set up a videocamera to record so the video version might show up online soon.

I had dinner at a sushi place many blocks up the street with Alex, Alex’s girlfriend, Ed Sizemore, and Mechademia editor Andrea Horbinski (and entirely skipped Bad Anime, Bad!! – sorry, Narutaki). Afterward, we all returned to the BCC for the Yoshida Brothers concert. It was a very entertaining experience seeing their swift finger movements & feeling the folk fusion rhythms — and it fulfilled one of my resolutions to attend more music events.

I was unable to attend Dubs That Time Forgot due to my homebound flight time so Anime Cult Classics was my primary Mike Toole experience. It was a hilarious look at some anime productions funded by cults such as Soka Gakkai, Dahn Yoga, HAPPY SCIENCE (Hermes: Wings of Love), and Aum Shinri Kyo. Much of it was bad and that was kind of the point – the clip that made me laugh the most was from The Laws of Eternity and had both Nietzsche & Hitler in it (YouTube).

This was actually from Anime Openings/Endings prep but whatever.

SATURDAY
I managed to awake as planned this time and made it to my second Alex Leavitt panel of the weekend – Experiments in the Anime Industry: noitaminA. This one was more analytical than the themes panel; for example, Alex pointed out that some of the source material is non-traditional: josei manga (Nodame Cantabile) and novels (Tatami Galaxy). I’d honestly forgotten that Hataraki Man was part of that block. (ANN has a formal writeup of the panel including some of the ratings figures Alex produced.)

I ended up meeting Evan Minto after his Changing Faces of Anime panel finished early, then got Masao Maruyama to sign one of my DNA^2 DVD’s. I then walked around the dealers hall and bought X Diary from Netcomics’ booth, which I began reading while standing in line for Space Show seating.

There was much buzz for Welcome to the Space Show beforehand and I thought it turned out to be a pretty good film. The animation flowed very well and though it felt a bit long toward the end and took an odd plot turn, I came out of it happy. Seeing everyone leaving the convention center afterward was confusing until I heard the fire engine sirens approaching. (You can read about the fire alarm here.)

I wandered around a few blocks and then went into the still-operating Hilton for the latter part of the Hiroaki Yura, Hiroki Kikuta, and Shihori panel where they answered some game music questions and then Hiroaki went through one of those photo slideshows I like seeing from foreign guests, although he speaks English so well that he passes as a non-foreigner to me. The Space Show focus panel right after was alright – ANN has a proper write-up. The three main creators took questions from the audience and then asked the crowd a few questions. Like a number of other panels, I wasn’t able to come up with good things to ask.

I had marked The Phenomenology of Shinji Ikari on my schedule beforehand, anticipating something I might enjoy attending. Unfortunately, the discussion was fairly tedious and the main lady panelist used the sort of pretentious language I dislike hearing aloud, like “whereas” and “in re”. The only time I wanted to desperately raise my hand to chime in was when the subject of a perfect world turned to words defining reality (color names, in particular) and I made a comment to the people behind me about shades of blue. It was underwhelming for someone with a philosophy degree but I did remind me that I am lacking in some core theorists who were mentioned, particularly Hegel. (I wasn’t the only disappointed one – Ed Sizemore remarked during the panel that “seem[ed] like a lot of philosophy” and felt like argument for argument’s sake.)

Unable to get into the packed 10 Anime You’ve Never Heard of but Must See! (full list here), I went to Artists Alley in search of Ensign Sue Must Die, which I had seen Andrea & her friend look at the night before. I was unable to track it down but luckily, it’s also online. The artwork up for auction looked nice but I didn’t bid on anything because I wasn’t sure how I would get them home.

The original panelists for Fanthropology never appeared but the impromptu panelists, including Charles Dunbar, did a pretty good job on engaging the audience. Discussion topics included the origin & use of the word ‘otaku’, crossover between reality & fandom, and if fan art creation is detracting from official merchandise sales. I hadn’t heard about the “fanfiction” edition of Don Quixote Part Two before this panel. Recommended reading suggestions from the panelists included Henry Jenkins’ Textual Poachers and Roland Kelts’ Japanamerica.

Instead of pushing my way into the Bandai After Dark panel next door, I supported wildarmsheero (a previous podcast guest) and his presentation on The Life and Times of Akiyuki Shinbo. He was detailed about details and talked with enthusiasm about each major series with much focus on Bakemonogatari near the end. Afterward, some of us hung out in the hallway checking Twitter feeds on our phones for the remaining Bandai news, which turned out to be K-ON! simultaneous DVD/BD release and Mio & Yui dub casting (saving Ritsu & Mugi for NYAF?).

Sadly, the last panel I wanted to attend at Otakon - Feminism, Fandom, and Fanservice - didn’t actually happen: it was cancelled after 15 minutes of waiting for the panelists to appear. I really wanted to know who was putting it on and maybe I’ll never know. Because I had the rest of the night free, I went with Hisui, Evan and OGT to the Dave & Joel cool people party at the Marriott where I met Daryl Surat, Erin Finnegan, and saw Ed Chavez sitting in a chair. I ended up talking with Patz for a while and then taking a cab home after 3am.

SUNDAY
I got plenty of rest before checking out of my hotel room around noon. On the flights home, I finished up Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime (fantastic), read through Bakuman vol. 1 (good enough for me to read vol. 2 but wasn’t bowled over), and also enjoyed some good articles in an issue of Harper’s. I even indulged and played a bit of video poker during an overlay at the Las Vegas airport.

I would like to attend next year’s Otakon (July 29-31, 2011) now that I have a good sense of the convention center and the general atmosphere as more like Fanime than Anime Expo. It was nice to meet face-to-face many of the East Coasters I knew from online including the catgirl-loving Scott and Lauren Orsini. (If we met & I didn’t mention you, speak up in the comments!) It was also an extended weekend vacation from work. There are a few panels I wish I could have gone to, like Madhouse, but couldn’t because of schedule conflicts.

Wrapping up, here’s the Flickr photoset for the weekend and a 10-minute portion of Baltimore light rail.

The Otakon schedule got posted last Thursday & I discussed it that night with Kate (Narutaki) & Alain (Hisui) of the Reverse Thieves. There was some crackling and then other noise from my microphone due to interference, likely from my cellphone (and aliens?!)

I tried to do my best to salvage those parts in post-production but you’ll have to deal with my cyborg echo voice for much of it. Thank goodness my East Coast friends recorded their own end, preventing it from sounding worse, but don’t listen to this with the volume way up.

The Reverse Thieves also posted their tentative schedule so check that out either in addition to, or in substitution of, this podcast episode.

Opening: “Shoot You Down” by APB [Free Music Archive]

[00:50] Introduction

[02:05] Starting the schedule talk

[04:35] CLAMP was at Anime Expo 2006 (Anime Cons)

[06:25] Otakon autograph policy for this year

[08:20] Voice actor tip: the correct way to pronounce Vic’s last name (min-yah-nah).

(interim music is Spoilers reveal from Double Dare – source)

[10:45] The panels the Reverse Thieves want to attend

[14:40] We all want to see Welcome to the Space Show.

[14:58] I cut out my loud static for the listeners’ sake.

(interim sound is a letter falling into place from Scrabble – source “in puzzle”)

[16:09] Resuming the podcast after the audio attack

[18:15] Ed Sizemore’s & Alex Leavitt’s panel times DID change! Ed’s “Anime Journalism” panel is now at 12pm-1pm Friday while Alex’s “Anime Intros and Endings” panel is at 3:30-4:30pm Friday.

[19:30] Kate lists off their Friday “likely”s for fan panels

[23:58] Dave Cabrera of ANN’s Astro Toy and Colony Drop gets mentioned for the mahjong panel he’s doing with Carl (SDS) of Ogiue Maniax, “Riichi: Japanese Mahjong, Anime, and You”, at 9:30-10:30am Friday morning.

[24:14] Kate says “Yeah, right” to me being interested in the game in Saki and suggests Akagi as a better series for mahjong display. (Though “lesbians with shiny thighs” could be a good catchphrase…)

[25:04] Vertical and Ed Chavez’s separation of business & casual. Also mentioned Lychee Light Club announced during Comic-Con.

[29:05] Aniplex panel mention leads to general industry panel anecdote (FUNimation & free goods)

[35:30] I now have to go to “Bad, Anime, Bad!!” for a particular reason.

[36:50] I geeked out a bit about game shows re: Anime Press Your Luck

[40:10] My cyborg voice returns…

[42:30] HOT TIP: Visit the information booth for updates on schedule changes!

[45:33] Saturday begins with Alex’s noitaminA panel.

[49:13] Yuji Mitsuya and Anpanman

[54:41] Alain mentions Blue Flames while we’re talking about the “Feminism, Fandom, and Fanservice” panel.

[57:00] HOT TIP: You can possibly skip the first 45 minutes of RAINBOW with Hiroshi Koujina Q&A if you’ve already seen episodes 1 & 2 online. Koujina also directed Kiba and Grenadier so ask about those if you’re too disturbed by the prison story.

[59:55] Kate makes me feel bad about liking Highschool of the Dead.

[1:04:17] Apparently, 30% of Vocaloid song sales on iTunes are from users outside Japan. Followup: distribution company KarenT says 51.2% of iTunes sales from Japan and 40.9% from America. [@krnerdnews: 1, 2]

[1:04:49] Another game show: Anime Name Your Tune

[1:07:35] Actually, this went up the day before the convention started, not a week before. “Dubs That Time Forgot” has almost the last timeslot of the convention! Funimation once had shows on Gaia.

[1:12:19] Oh yes, concerts! Home Made Kazoku, Yoshida Brothers, and Masquerade halftime appearance by Yoshiki and Sugiko. Also: pondering the gender of kanon.

[1:16:57] Tips for first time Otakon attendees like myself (and breaking news that kanon is a dude)

[1:24:47] Ending: “Suihei Leibe ~Mahou no Jumon~” by Kakki & Ash Potato (Element Hunters ending)

Fanime 2010 was Memorial Day weekend (May 28th-31st) and even though it felt like the same sort of convention as in 2009, it was more personally entertaining than last year because I met up with many of the other writers/bloggers there for lunch and other times over the course of the weekend. I also attended some interesting panels as well as a few that weren’t as compelling.

Jump to: Friday | Saturday | Sunday | The Rest

FRIDAY #
My first panel of the convention was Being A Strong Woman in the Industry on Friday night, presented by Karen Dyer, who was staying on stage from the previous panel, Reuben and CAPCOM – Mo-Cap and Action! Karen admitted that the title was somewhat misleading. She has voiced Sheva in Resident Evil 5 as well as acting and performing on many stages. She explained her Eva La Dare burlesque persona and showed a music video for an upcoming single “Candy Love”, which was shot over the course of five hours using a Canon 7D. The single is expected to be released this summer, though no dates are final.

Karen also told some funny anecdotes about having to voice all of Sheva’s different possible deaths, working with Michael Jackson, and having to do a bed scene with Ice-T for a movie.

SATURDAY #
Saturday began for me with the History of Gainax panelist featuring Hiroyuki Yamagi and his interpreter. Yamagi first talked about how the company formed in 1983 and showed the Daicon IV short and a collage put together (we were told) by Hideaki Anno of Gainax’s work up until Petit Princess Yucie. He pointed out that while researching the history of the studio for the panel, he discovered it had no releases in years ending in “6″ (1986, 1996, 2006) and that those are times when they were working on new projects: 1986 – Wings of Honneamise, 1996 – Evangelion (the movies), 2006 – Gurren Lagann.

Dark Horse editor Carl Gustav Horn posed a couple questions to Yamaga before leaving to do his own panel: first, how does only speaking Japanese in the office affect their international business strategy and second, does Gainax get any awareness of how foreign audiences like their works? Yamaga said they used to have non-Japanese working for them but now they just rely on translators and that even though he’s gone overseas, he still doesn’t know what foreigners like so Gainax will continue to make projects for a Japanese audience.

[Related Yamaga links: ANN interview; Otaku USA writeup of panel]

Right after that and a brisk walk away was Dark Horse Manga and Carl Horn to lay out the imprint’s releases through about September. No new license announcements this time around but Carl made sure to pitch Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse as Shinji becoming cool because he’s got a gun in this alternate universe series and something distinctly different since it was originally serialized in the shojo magazine Asuka. (The romantic comedy manga Angelic Days was also serialized in Asuka; Shinji Ikari Raising Project runs in Shonen Ace and so did the main Evangelion series before being moved to Young Ace when that magazine launched.)

When Carl was asked putting manga on digital devices, he said they’re looking into it. Titles would be on a case-by-case basis and they have to consider their retailers’ needs as well. He emphasized that books are three-dimensional objects – “that’s why we put effort into the books” – and that Dark Horse is a publisher, not a content provider.

Following Dark Horse was a blogger lunch meetup at Sonoma Chicken Coop organized by Deb Aoki. In attendance were Deb, Gia Manry and John Martone (both formerly of Anime Vice), Heidi Kemps, Danielle Orihuela-Gruber, Sam Kusek, Emily, Nancy Thistelwaite (who does editing for Viz), Jason Yadao of the then-Honolulu Star Bulletin (now the Honolulu Star-Advertiser), and Sean & Mike from Colony Drop. Sean later wrote a report for Otaku USA focusing on how little anime-focused content there was at the convention.

The Intern in the Manga Industry panel had Stevie Wegrzyn, Danielle, and Sam talking about their experiences interning for Tokyopop and, in Sam’s case, with Fanscape, a social media marketing firm. Each got in using similar methods: Stevie applied as a sophomore in college and was currently in negotiation to be hired, Sam got his through a scholarship program at Emerson and one of his assignments was Naruto Shippuden, and Danielle went for an editorial internship which involved copy editing and researching licenses. Stevie said it’s not really what you’re doing but more what’s going on around you.

Even if you don’t have plans to work in a creative media field anytime soon, they provided some good advice that could be applied to many job areas: when applying, always look at the qualifications and reword; personalize your cover letter and mention notable skills like words per minute or computer program experience; never sell yourself short; ask for criticism; be patient. (Danielle also recently posted some guidance – and warnings – to potential manga interns on All About Manga.)

Late Saturday night was Gilles Poitras’ Sex Trade in Anime & Manga panel, which required 18+ ID checks. Gilles primarily used books written by others for his research and lamented the lack of good, reliable information about the Japanese sex trade available in English. He recommended Tokyo Vice and Pink Box while also mentioning other books that are out of print and aren’t entirely useful for conducting research. He pointed to scenes in manga and anime like GTO, Ikebukuro West Gate Park, and City Hunter to demonstrate certain terms and elements including compensated dating – you can see the list of what he covered in his own writeup.

(Gia, who now writes for ANN, posted a long interview with Gilles that begins with a focus on this subject before moving onto other things. Gilles also wrote up the panel on his blog.)

Pre-panel entertainment: Danemon Ban short (1935)

SUNDAY #
The next morning, I went to Older Titles for Newer Fans, where Gilles & Jonathan Osborne talked about & showed clips from eight anime that are more than 10 years old and still in print. Among the more familiar Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne were more obscure offerings such as Hakkenden, The Dagger of Kamui, and Doomed Megalopolis. In talking about Gundam 0083, Jonathan commented that he liked Cima having a zebra skin chair.

K Valentine presented Working as an Anime Critic Sunday afternoon and the small audience in attendance seemed to share his cynical tone. The advice he gave was nothing surprising but I thought the Artists’ Alley raffle giveaway was a nice way to promote some of his friends’ tables.

All About Figure Collecting was presented by Heidi Kemps and had expanded from one hour to two after the panel afterward, DIY Deco Den & Sweets Jewelry, was canceled. She introduced the different types of figures from action figures to fixed pose and was starting to move onto specific manufacturers when I left halfway through to attend the Nujabes panel next door. (Destroy All Podcasts DX has an audio recording of the panel.)

Rest in Peace: Nujabes was a learning experience since I never really identified him with the music in Samurai Champloo until I heard of his death in February. Many people stepped up to the microphone and paid tribute to the late music producer and I could feel the deep relationship they felt to his music. The session wrapped up with a call-and-response rap led by hip-hop artists Noka and Lone Wolf and the songs mentioned included “Feather”, “Aruarian Dance” and “Eclipse”. By the end, I got the sense that his music was one way that a popular anime (in Champloo) introduced people to Japanese hip-hop or simply provided them an aural refuge from the stresses of the world.

Some friends from my old anime club put on Touhou Hijack LOL, based on a thesis by Tomoaki Hirai entitled “Tōhō Project and Its Connections with Classical Aspects of Folklore and Culture of Japan”. Using NicoNicoDouga videos to illustrate points, the spread of Touhou’s popularity was explained along with the religious meaning behind the characters and games.

The final panel I attended for the weekend was Character Design at 12am Sunday night into Monday, which I noticed on the schedule only a few hours before. It was pretty low-key with artist BentoBoxBobby giving some advice about designing characters, presenting artwork to potential clients, and how to maintain a steady flow of ideas. Some books he recommended for serious artists were The Elements of Color by Johannes Itten, Manga Mania: Magical Girls and Friends by Christopher Hart, and the annual Artist’s and Graphic Designer’s Market.

I couldn’t resist asking Glenn if I could get a picture of his jacket.

The Rest #
Let’s wrap up on the rest of the activities. During a couple trips to the dealer’s hall, I picked up a few small boxed figures, three manga volumes (Eden vol. 2, Ghost Talker’s Daydream vol. 1, Gakuen Prince vol. 2), a water bottle from the Red Cross after donating, and a Kanji de Manga book. I actually managed to strike up a conversation with Manga University founder Glenn Kardy about Japanese baseball after seeing his Yakult Swallows jacket draped over a chair.

The swap meet found me gaining many Mixx/Tokyopop Magazine back issues, some individual comic volumes, FLCL manga volumes 1 & 2, X-Day vol. 1 (I’d bought vol. 2 the previous weekend), and a used library copy of Samurai from Outer Space. I only took one brisk, cursory look through Artist Alley and didn’t return a second time, which shouldn’t be taken personally. I didn’t feel like spending a lot of time in there, unlike last year, and I guess my defense is I’m not enough into fanart to buy from many artists, even though I acknowledge a fair percentage is original art.

During some downtime, I watched some older anime in the video rooms: Fushigi Yugi eps. 1-2 on Sunday night and Ranma 1/2 eps. 1-5 at the head-nodding-off-into-shoulder-tapping-as-a-warning time of 4-6am Monday morning (don’t think I’ll try *that* again!). I might watch more of Fushigi Yugi but I’m not so inclined to continue with Ranma.

As press, I felt less pressure this year to try to cover the convention hard – I didn’t try to take any video of panels but I did take a bunch of handwritten notes. I think it was due to increased confidence from no longer being a university student (and therefore not having homework waiting back home) and from seeing peers I’d seen last year or met in person for the first time over the weekend.

I already decided months ago that I wouldn’t attend this year’s AX because 1) it’s a long drive and 2) I’m going to Otakon later in July so that’ll be my big “industry” con of the summer. However, I still want to briefly write about these two pricing matters. First, I can understand charging for concerts because they are an extra event (people often pay more for concerts, right?) but the Masquerade, despite being a well-attendance event, is not something I would be inclined to do as an organizer because of the amateur, fan-based nature of the event.

Those who don’t want to pay but still want to attend the events do have a last-resort free option:

If a particular Main Event has not sold out, a limited number of tickets may be available for free after the start of the event at the discretion of the Main Events ticketing staff. It is recommended that interested attendees purchase a Reserved Seating ticket either online or at the Main Events Ticketing Booth.

Anime Expo is a large event – last year’s attendance was 44,000 – and so there are significant costs in putting on such the entire ordeal. Part of that cost is paid through the registration fees from attendees. (I think other sources include exhibitor and artist alley space costs as well as sponsorships.) This year’s pre-registration price for a 4-day pass is currently $75 and I suppose some attendees may have expectations that concert or masquerade entry fees would be included in that.

Now onto the iPhone app, an easier subject. The features of the application [iTunes page] include a sortable schedule, an searchable exhibitor index & map, a map of nearby businesses, convention announcements, the ability to save items to your favorites, and some upcoming items such as a crossword puzzle, blog articles, and photo gallery. I assume there are some development costs involved in putting the app together so $1.99 sounds reasonable for what you get. If you don’t want to pay for the convenience of having all that on an Apple mobile device, that’s fine – there will still be daily PDF schedules you can download or the listings in the printed guide you’ll get in the registration bag.

I would prefer there be a platform-neutral mobile schedule for convention updates, like Fanime had this year. (I wouldn’t be able to use the AX app because I have an Android phone.) It was nice to quickly know about changes to panel times and get a quick glance at which events were happening concurrently, something that I could check in the printed Pocket Guide except for the events that has scheduling changes over the weekend.

To sum up: both the priced ticket events and the iPhone app are optional things that many fans may not need to deal in order to attend and enjoy the convention. The ticket costs are a bother for those who do want to attend those events and I’m sure a fair number of people are willing to pay for the concerts and not very many, if any, will pay for the masquerade. No one is forcing anyone to purchase and use the iPhone app so the pricing should be less of a concern, particularly for resourceful attendees who do some planning ahead.

Update 5/27 12:45AM PDT: Be sure to check Fanime’s mobile schedule – m.fanime.com -  for updates and changes! For example, I just noticed “Being A Strong Woman in the Industry” was added at Friday 9-10pm in Panel Room 3 as well as “Fandom, College & Career” on Saturday 10am-11am in Panel Room 2.

Swap Meet (Friday 8pm-1am, Exhibit Hall 3)
I’ll be looking for cheap manga and magazine back issues. It’s also operating on Thursday night with the same 8pm-1am hours.

Akira (Saturday 3am-5am, Stage Zero Concourse)
I suppose it would be somewhat appropriate to see this in the pre-dawn hours. It’s also being shown at the more manageable time of Friday 6:30-8:30pm in Video Room 2.

Evangelion ?.?? (Saturday 8am-10am & Monday 10am-12pm, SJCC Ballroom B)
This seems to tease the second but it could just be the first. (Eva 1.11 is being shown Friday 1-3pm so maybe it *will* be the 2nd remake film?) There will also be Summer Wars screened in the Ballroom on Saturday 1-3pm and Monday 8am-10am.

Hiroyuki Yamaga presents History of GAINAX (Saturday 10am-12pm, SJCC Ballroom B)
I believe this has been presented in the past but I haven’t been to it. I feel like asking about Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt.

Dark Horse Manga (Saturday 12-1pm, Panel Room 1)
You wanna see Carl Horn talk about CLAMP, Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse, and other projects? Carl recently wrote a piece called “Love & Wonder” on Dark Horse’s site that I’d recommend reading. (There’s a mainly manga bloggers’ lunch meetup planned for Saturday so that will be after this.)

Intern in the Manga Industry! (Saturday 7-8pm, Panel Room 2)
Even though I don’t have intense desires to work in publishing, I would want to listen in for advice being given about networking and workflow.

Sex Trade in Anime and Manga – 18+ (Saturday 10-11pm, Panel Room 1)
Gilles Poitras is also presenting “Anime for Parents” (Fri. 7-8pm, Panel Room 2), “Anime and Manga for Grownups” (Sat. 3-4pm, Panel Rm 1), and co-presenting “Older Titles for Newer Fans” with Jonathan Osbourne (Sun. 10am-12pm, Panel Rm 3).

Anime, Illustrations, and Manga (Sunday 12-1pm, Panel Room 3)
Guest of Honor Mamoru Yokota will be presenting this panel.

Work as an Anime Critic (Sunday 2-3pm, Panel Room 3)
Tom Tonthat (aka K Valentine) has written anime reviews for The Escapist and earlier this year, he put on a “Criticizing the Anime Critic” panel at Animation on Display. (Panel on YouTube: parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

The Psychotaku: import gamer (Sunday 4-5pm, Panel Room 1)
I’m mildly interested because it’s games that weren’t brought overseas. Wondering if he’ll mention the Sailor Moon fighting games.

Rest In Beats: Nujabes Tribute (Sunday 5-6pm, Panel Room 2)
The hip-hop producer/composer who met an early death in February will be remembered. There’s also a “Tribute for Jun Seba” at Stage Zero on Saturday 5-6pm.

Touhou Hijack LOL (Sunday 9-10pm, Panel Room 1)
This is one of two Touhou panels happening on Sunday – the other is “What the Hell is Touhou?!” (Sun. 3-4pm, Panel Room 2). I think one of my friends is doing the later one (Hijack) while another is doing a panel on Umineko (Sat. 8-9pm, Panel Rm 2).

I don’t think I’m going to make an honest attempt at cosplay this year because I didn’t plan ahead aside from picking up a dark green jacket recently from a thrift store that’s a little long in the arms.

It has been many months since I last wrote about CPM’s bankruptcy case and Prede of Central Park Media News reminded me of that fact over Twitter a few nights ago. So I went into PACER and saw that there was a “Response Due Date” action filed on March 17th with a March 29th Due/Set date. The related documents detail the sale of U.S. Trademark No. 2,870,643, “Anime Channel”, to “an undisclosed Japanese client” represented by Smith Patent Office for $5,000.

The Motion Pursuant to Bankruptcy Code Section 363(b)(1), Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 6004(f)(1) and Local Bankruptcy Rule 6004-1(a) to Sell Trustee’s Right, Title and Interest in U.S. Trademark Registration Number 2,870,643 – I’ll shorten it to just Motion Pursuant – reveals the main reason why there has not been an auction announcement yet: “[t]he Trustee’s professionals performed a thorough inventory and analysis of [CPM's assets] and determined that there exists insufficient equity…to make an estate sale of the Assets under current market conditions.” However, the trustee, David R. Kittay, knew some of those assets “might still be of value to particular purchasers” and therefore “remained open to entertaining offers” for them “in whole or in part”.

Regarding the Trademark, the trustee “firmly believes” a private sale, rather than a public auction, is “in the best interests” of CPM’s bankruptcy estate; the trustee hasn’t received any other offers and doesn’t believe “there would be sufficient interest [in it] to justify the expense of marketing and auctioning [it].”

Also among the documents is some correspondence sent from Smith Patent Office (SPO) to the trustee firm Kittay & Gershfield, P.C. According to a December 17th e-mail, the client’s initial offer was for $800. (The Motion Pursuant states the Trustee rejected the $800 offer as too low because “the costs of consummating such sale, including seeking Court approval of such sale, would easily exceed $800.”) After some telephone conversations between the two firms, SPO sent an e-mail on January 22nd to report the client’s offer had risen to $5,000. Finally, a Federal Express was sent on March 10th with a $1,000 check enclosed as a deposit toward the trademark purchase; SPO will provide the remaining $4,000 balance upon Court approval of the sale, according to a Notice of Presentment.

So what will happen next? The Notice of Presentment of the Motion will be served by the Trustee to a number of parties including the Office of the U.S. Trustee, CPM’s counsel, each of CPM’s secured and unsecured creditors, and all parties who have filed a Notice of Appearance in the case. That notice states Kittay will present the proposed order to approve the Trademark’s sale to Hon. Shelley C. Chapman, newly sworn in U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, for signature at noon on March 29.  Any objections to “the relief requested in the Motion” (the $5,000 sale) must be received in writing no later than 10 a.m. that same day.

Background on the Trademark
I’ll conclude this post with some information about CPM’s use of the “Anime Channel” trademark based on documents I downloaded from TESS, the Trademark Electronic Search System. CPM initially applied for the trademark on August 10, 1999, and in a July 10, 2000 response to the Assistant Commissioner of Trademarks, CPM’s in-house counsel Gamal Hennesy provided the following additional information:

• Anime Channel is a unique portion of the animeone.com web portal.
• Anime Channel is one of the largest free sites for anime video and audio streams, available in either Real Player G2 configurations.
• Anime Channel provides trailers of anime programs available in VHS and DVD formats. Prospective customers who access Anime Channel can purchase the VHS and DVD formats of the programs as they view the trailer.
• The prospective customer for Anime Channel is primarily males and females ages 13 and up who have access to the World Wide Web.
• The channel of trade for Anime Channel is exclusively the internet and World Wide Web.
• The words Anime Channel do not have any significance in the anime industry.
• Anime Channel provides only Japanese animated programming. The subject matter of the programs include various fantasy and science fiction related programs available for sale on VHS or DVD formats.

The trademark registration among the correspondence states CPM first used it in commerce on November 4, 2002 – that date comes from Statement of Use documents signed by CPM president John O’Donnell, stating that it was first used “in connection with the goods at least as early as November 4, 2002″, the goods being. (It seems like an interesting coincidence that ADV’s Anime Network channel was announced soon after on November 6.) An Internet Archive snapshot of the animeone.com home page on February 29, 2000, shows “Anime Channel” in the left sidebar.

So who is this Japanese client buying the trademark and will they actually put it to use? I have a feeling that it could be Kadokawa – there already exists the Anime Newtype Channel website with some Bandai Channel integration and Kadokawa’s YouTube channel is branded “KADOKAWA Anime Channel” – but I’m wondering what other companies might have been that sole interested party.

UPDATE 3/20 2:30pm PDT: Dave of Subatomic Brainfreeze pointed out on Twitter that the YouTube channel Bandai is using to promote Gundam Unicorn is under the account name AnimeChannel. That seems to be an extension of Bandai Channel based on the b-ch.com links in the Gundam video descriptions and Top wo Narae! (aka Gunbuster) videos being region-blocked because they contain content from BandaiChannel, which is a Japan-only service.

I don’t think there would be any problems with that channel’s name and URL because I feel like the trademark being sold may have lost some distinctiveness over the years – FUNimation and Section23 (through Anime Network) have their own video portals along with their own respective YouTube channels and Crunchyroll has developed into a notable simulcast website. If the new owner did decide to enforce the trademark, they would have describe how a particular use by someone else is likely to be confusingly similar to consumers.

I should remind readers that I am not a patent or trademark lawyer so this is just an informed opinion.

I tried to watch the videos of the hour-and-a-half panel but my listening comprehension has become somewhat rusty so I decided instead to translate the panel’s description and a summary I found online. You can watch the panel or listen to the audio version here. (Those of you who are better versed at German, feel free to correct me in the comments.)

Description (translated from this):

Panel Discussion: Is the Anime Culture Faced With Ruin?
…because fewer and fewer fans want to pay for anime.

Many places on the Internet can one download anime for free or watch on a stream.
On video platforms like Youtube, websites of fansub groups and relevant plundered copy portals, all of what the anime heart demands is provided – for nothing, of course. More and more anime fans therefore take it as normal that anime costs nothing and are not ready to pay money for their hobby. However when nobody no longer pays for anime, there will soon be no more businesses to produce and distribute the new anime. No money – no new anime! That is not a distant vision of a decline but a development that is already in full swing worldwide.

Fault for this crisis in the anime business is naturally always placed on someone else: the publishers who want too high a price for DVDs and video-on-demand, the fansubs that ruin the market with their pioneering zeal, the notorious pirates who consider themselves Robin Hoods of the Internet age, and the anime fans who think it’s normal that everything is free on the Internet.

Recently, publishers, fansubbers, and fans are sitting in the same boat. To keep this boat from sinking, old rivalries must be given up and new cooperations must be forged. At Connichi 2009 representatives from all groups of the anime culture will sit on a public stage at one table for that purpose.
There’s never been anything like it!

The panelists included moderator Andreas Vogler from Animexx; two people from German distribution companies (Anime Virtual & Tokyopop); two people from fansub portals; three “fan activists/campaigners” (Fanaktivisten); Dr. Matthias Leonardy, CEO of GVU, a group that prosecutes copyright infringement; and Claude Moyse from Koneko magazine.

A summary of the panel, translated from this post on anisearch.de (parentheses kept in):

Is the Anime Culture Faced With Ruin?
…concedes a somewhat scorching title for the panel discussion that would be conducted on September 19 at Connichi 09. Representatives from the fan(sub) scene and from industry had been invited to discuss the overall situation of the (especially) German anime market.

The problems should have been openly addressed, to unite themselves around a common denominator. In the foreground stood however the communication between the scene and the industry.

Central themes of discussion were:
What are anime DVDs, what are fansubs and how did both originate?
What are the effects of fansubs, DVD rips and bootlegs on the German anime DVD market?
What are the approaches/method of resolution in order to not burst the anime bubble?

And the organization/arrangement was also correspondingly structured, in which the debaters first introduced each’s own area of operations. The most interesting showed to many the process of how an anime makes its way to Germany. By way of lengthy license negotiations, the sophisticated localizing, to the point of distribution. As currently in the region, many fans partly have very illusory ideas. Mostly as myths that passed around between forums.

The second part concerned itself with the effects of the illegal (to put it simply) stolen copies on the industry. That DVD-rips and bootlegs on the market, not only those in Germany, damage be allowed still the most evident. That but also fansubs – especially in English – partly more damages throughout the make use of publicity effect, be allowed for many still a shock. Intolerance helps however on the sides not straight by a possible approach.

The third and last part is a so-called brainstorming, with various ideas coming up from them, about the anime market getting back on the right track.

Obviously the discussion wound up being not really professional, which began with the moderator’s rather clumsy beginning and the clear gap in knowledge of (most) participants – primarily and regrettably from the fandom. Nevertheless I think that, with this recording, many prejudices, myths, and legends can be cleared up. Even though I personally consider so many proposals and objections very naive.

That such a panel happened at a German convention shows American anime companies aren’t the only ones in the West concerned about piracy. Even though it seems like not much was accomplished, it brought some awareness of the issue to the audience that attended and contributed to the overall effort of combating illegal downloading.

Thursday night, I attended a lecture that Frederick L. Schodt gave on Osamu Tezuka and Astro Boy, on the eve of the theatrical release of Imagi Films’ CG adaptation, to a small audience at UC Davis consisting mainly of Japanese studies students and faculty.

[Update: I have been reminded that I forgot to request permissions from Mr. Schodt and from his publishers regarding any audiorecording, which I should have done since it is Fred's intellectual property, so I have removed the file from the website pending further developments.]

As someone who has had very little background on Tezuka and his works, I found it to be his lecture informative in providing perspective on Tezuka’s upbringing and how he came to acclaim in Japan, partly due to good timing. After the lecture, I looked inside a copy of Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga sitting on the table and I’m somewhat interested in borrowing it from a library.

I forgot to bring along my copy of Pluto vol. 1 – I had gotten around to reading it earlier that day and found it thoughtfully engaging in that Urasawa way – so I figured I’d have him sign the back of a homemade business card.

Related Links:
- Cover of Sept. 4, 2006 New Yorker issue, which Fred refers to in his talk
- Opening of live-action Astro Boy TV show (1959)
- Dororo listing on Vertical’s site
- LA Times’ Charles Solomon gives some background on Astro Boy

Looking at the schedule of fall 2009 premieres, the only series that isn’t an adaptation or a sequel appears to be Anyamaru Tantei Kiruminzuu and that disappoints me. It doesn’t surprise me, though, since production has been cut back in recent years and adaptating a known property is a safer bet than trying something new.

The news items that initially sparked this post were the announcements of Kaichou wa Maid-sama! (Maid-Sama! for short), yet another season of Hidamari Sketch, and Black Rock Shooter. I’m less irritated by BRS because the only real source materials are a Vocaloid song, an accompanying music video & illustrations of different characters by an artist called HUKE. I liked what I saw of the first season of Hidamari (3 episodes worth) but not enough to go back to it at the moment, though I’ve considered checking out the manga. (I’m currently not too fond of slice-of-life stories so maybe not right now.) And I managed to read the first volume of Maid-Sama! and thought it was mildly entertaining with material that should be easy to adapt into a series of episodes.

However, with each adaptation announcement I read, I begin to care less and less about each subsequent one because I would rather have something truly new. Sure, the adaption effort will get the overall story out to a broader audience and more likely than not spur sales of the tankobon volumes of an adapted manga. But the basic framework and the characters within are known quantities.

As a viewer, I get excited at not knowing what will come next and occasionally speculating about those unknowns. That feeling is higher for me when watching original series than with adaptations because there’s little chance of seeing complaints of not sticking to the material, excluding certain elements or characters, having unneeded filler, or going too fast or too slow through the story. Of course, there is the potential for bad planning as there is with any production and originals may a little more susceptible to that because there is no base source material to fall back on.

A similar level of excitement might be shared by those unaware that a series is an adaptation or with basic knowledge of the plot/universe and I’ve pretty much done that with the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films, knowing I may not get around to reading all the original books in the near future but could eventually. Examples of more plausible ignorance of origin on the viewers’ part might be something like Blade Runner, The French Connection, and Jurassic Park.

In my post three years ago, I pointed out opinions shared by Satoshi Kon and Hiromu Arakawa that “manga and anime are different methods of conveying stories to the masses” (my words). Hayao Miyazaki, during his appearance in Berkeley this July, said that manga and animated films have different concepts of time and space and lack of knowledge about that differences will ultimately result in boring and uninteresting products. I would prefer creators of manga and of animation be knowledgeable of the pros and cons of each format and produce material that takes advantage of its artform and amazes its readers/viewers instead of just trying to make a serviceable version of whatever the originating work may be.

I think that last sentence could be more clearly expressed by something Barrett Garese wrote in relation to the future of online content:

Online and traditional content have begun to blur a bit when both are being consumed online. The lines between what constitutes television and what constitutes online content are continuing to get ever closer. This is very dangerous to the long-term health of online content. I’ve often said that the job of a creator is not just to make good content, but to make good content specific to a certain media. Each medium has unique advantages and disadvantages, and the creator must craft an experience that accentuates the advantages and mitigates the disadvantages of the medium in which it lives.

Like I said three years ago, I don’t assume all adaptations are bad – in fact, some improve on their source material – but I’m expressing my increasing dismay and disinterest at the proportion of them. I must disclose that of those anime premiering this fall, I am somewhat interested in Book of Bantorra and Darker Than Black: Comet of Gemini, although the latter will have to wait until I finish the first season of DtB. Consider that my very short fall preview.

I decided to write about the swag, purchases, and other tangible spoils from AX 2009 separately from the standard report because I figured I would be including many pictures, which you may gaze at below.

Assorted Things From The Exhibit Hall #

Vertically from top left:
– BlazBlue clear file from AKSYS
– flyer for Katayanagi Institute
– DVD of 2006 Creative Works Collection from Manga Animation Dept. (Nippon Engineering College of Hachioji)
– MangaGamer trial DVD (I have two other ones…)
– Gundemonium Collection flyer
– Tenshinma postcard from www.ouranimelife.com
– DS stylus shell/extender, bought from NIS America booth for $1
– Neo Steam postcard flyer with promo code on back (found in Atlus bag?)
– JTVA flyer

Vertically from top left:
– MangaGamer flyer
– ShoDojo postcard from FUNimation
– Gaia Online with code for item (found in registration bag)
– Marble Pop free shipping from Amazon (2DVV2CZZ until Aug 31st)
– Crispin Freeman & JTVA flyer for panel
– FUNimation “Stay Connected” bookmark

Disc 1 of Tylor for asking a question during Nozomi’s panel & a Pangya foam golf ball from TOMY

Every once in a while, we’d get approached by these electronic music promoters. I read a little bit of the edm magazine.

The registration bag and the comparatively larger bag I got from Atlus’ booth.

Not pictured: a KIRAKIRA poster bought for $3 from the MangaGamer booth.

Three Exhibit Hall Fans #

Front side: Otakushoptokyo.com, Shuffle! (MangaGamer), and Prinny (NIS America)

Back side: Otakushoptokyo.com info, Suika A.S+ (MangaGamer), Rosenqueen.com

Eva Magazines From Kinokuniya #

I bought the August Newtype ($12) and Evangelion Special ($6) from the Kinokuniya booth.

The summer Eva special consists of chapter 13 through 26 of Sadamoto’s manga, five EVANGELION@SCHOOL strips, three “Anthology” short tales (including one where Keroro shows up!), and a 20-page teaser for the Summer Wars manga that is set to start running in Kadokawa’s new Young Ace monthly magazine. Vol. 1 of Young Ace came out in Japan on July 4th and there were many reminders of that throughout the issue including a full-page color Summer Wars image with the slogan “Magazine for people who never give up reading Comic!”.

Part of the Summer Wars section. (I’m digging Natsuki and the movie hasn’t even come out yet.)

The Newtype issue came with an Eva 2.0 T-shirt with Asuka on it (with dominant flash…).

The other side of the wrapping.

The shirt folded out. This one seems to be an adult small, like another shirt I’ve gotten from a Japanese magazine.

Autographs #

Booklet from Madlax volume 1, signed by producer Yosuke Kuroda

Inside of Trigun manga vol. 1: Yasuhiro Nightow on top, Satoshi Nishimura on the bottom

Seiji Mizushima’s autograph on Shaman King vol. 1. Yes, he did direct this.

I also had Mizushima sign the inside booklet of the FMA movie special edition.

A closeup on that page. He drew a quick Al sketch after starting to do a Gundam one.

Book-Off Purchases #
After leaving the Convention Center but before heading home to northern California, I went down I-110 and stopped by the Book-Off in Gardena. I’d never been in one before but it was nice to saunter down the aisles and pick up some manga I had planned to look for as well as discovering ones I hadn’t.

Book-Off bag with the manga stacked up within it.

The manga laid out.

Vols. 1 & 2 of Natsu no Arashi and vols. 1 & 2 of Shikabane Hime

Interior pages from Natsu no Arashi vol. 1

Interior pages from Shikabane Hime vol. 1

Now I have the first 4 volumes of Mahoraba – I already owned vol. 2.

Interior pages from Mahoraba vol. 1

First two volumes of The D.E.D. Trick!

Interior pages of The D.E.D. Trick! vol. 1

Sutekina Ai no Monogatari (すてきな愛の物語), WORKING!! v.1, and Shibuya Guardian Girls v.1

Interior pages from Sutekina Ai no Monogatari.

Interior pages from WORKING!! v.1

Interior pages from Shibuya Guardian Girls v.1

I forgot to venture into the other half of the store since I wanted to start my journey home and already spent too much time in there so I don’t think I came across the artbook section like Alex did. Maybe next time…

Anyway, my plan for each Book-Off item is to try slowly reading through them (some will be slower than others) and writing a post for most of them. My in-store buying strategy was to not get a volume of something I’d already read or was already available in English, meaning I had to leave the Ghost in the Shell manga, Hayate no Gotoku! vol. 6, Manabi Straight, and a few others behind. That was partly from wanting to support those works with retail purchases but it was more motivated by the desire for discovery. I hope that decision pays off once I manage to get through these.