AnimeCon '91
Noel Gamboa
The con was rad. The dealer's room was alright; most of the
dealers there I've already seen at the San Diego Comic Con, with the
exception of U.S. Manga Corps and Gainax/General Products. Manga Corps'
"I Give It All" video was hilarious, and they had some rad Dominion
posters up. General Products had some awesome stuff (call or write for
their current catalog, there's just too much to describe) and a Japanese
PC VGA system running what looked like a Silent Moebius adventure game.
I bought from GP a manga called Mindy Magazine ($8), which has some
really funny parodies of popular anime. My favorite is a two-page story
called "Totoro The Neighborhood Monster" which includes the death of a
cute little girl with pony tails... ^_^. Books Nippan was there, of
course. I tried not to buy anything from them but when I spotted
Miyazaki's "The Journey of Shuna" I grabbed it. Nikaku had a small
information booth and was giving away Patlabor CD singles to mail order
customers. We checked out their store and was shocked by how low their
prices were ("Art of Nausicaa" at Books Nippan, $50; General Products,
$45.90; Nikaku, $38). We told the very friendly salespeople that they
should have more than just an information booth at the con, but one lady
said it was just too much trouble to haul their anime section to the
hotel for only four days.
Some friends of mine were able to chat with Mikimoto, and got some
interesting info. Mikimoto draws/inks/tones Marionette Generation all
by himself; he has no assistants. Aside from Marionette, he's also
working on character designs for four video games, two anime features,
and illustrations for several stories and novels (like the one in Dragon
magazine). His current favorite character is Noriko Takaya from
GunBuster (he drew a lot of Norikos at the con for autograph hunters),
and the project he enjoyed doing the most was Macross. As had been
posted earlier, Mikimoto is working on an OAV series that will be a
sequel to Macross. He thinks that American fans "have a lot of energy."
We were also able to corner Sonoda (who speaks a little English).
His favorite character is Bean Bandit, and the project he enjoyed doing
the most was Riding Bean because he got to design, write, and direct.
His latest projects include "Gall Force: New Century" and "Otaku no
Video", Gainax's latest. A Japanese-speaking friend asked Sonoda what
"Otaku" was about and he said that we can check it out for ourselves
since Gainax brought it in 16mm. We went crazy! "Otaku" (which means
fanboy, I've been told) hasn't been seen in Japan yet, and they were
going to show it at the con! We found out (by asking just about
everyone we could find) that they were going to show it at 3:30 a.m.
Sunday.
So Sunday morning, seven of us went to the viewing room (the one
with the film projector), and found only two other people there. Hmm, I
guess word didn't get around. Anyway, "Otaku" was hilarious, it's the
story of a guy who goes to college around 1982 and meets several "otaku"
who introduce him to the world of anime. There's a guy who's got tapes
of everything, a girl who wants to become an animator, a dude who's into
guns (someone said this a parody of Sonoda himself), and a couple of
other interesting characters. As the story progresses, Mr. Main
Character develops a liking for anime, learns to enjoy cons, grows an
anime-belly, and walks around unshaven. Later, his girlfriend dumps him
because of the changes in his lifestyle. Much much later, while waiting
in line for Nausicaa, he sees character design sketches for Macross the
Movie and immediately falls in love. The story ends there, showing how
the first generation of "otaku" was born. Squeezed between the animation
are live action pretend-interviews with "otaku" people, including a
computer programmer who has a Char's helmet under his desk and a video
collector who had to quit the interview because a show he wanted to tape
was on.
Overall, I really enjoyed the con, and I'm glad I finally met some
net people face to face like Anime Kami, RadBoy, Bruce Carlson, Operator
7-G, Mike Tatsugawa, Robert Gutierrez, Hiroshi Haga (you jumped out of
the elevator while I was getting in; Kong called your name so I knew it
was you), Jeff Okamoto (I read your name badge), Robert Woodhead (by the
way Robert, "Gundam" is pronounced Gun-dumb, not Gone-damn ^_^) and
others who I can't remember right now.
Thanks to everyone who made the con possible. It was awesome. Now
next year, if you can bring Miyazaki, Tomino, Akemi Takada, Kitazume,
Shirow, Kikuchi/Kia Asamiya (let's settle this issue here!), Otomo,
Matsumoto, and Hojo Tsubasa, I'd be very grateful. See you next year!
---
Noel Gamboa
no...@pnet01.cts.com
Operation X Coordinator
Cal-Animage Beta, UCSD
Conty
>
[GAINAX's Otaku no Video] ("otaku" = fan)
>
> Anyway, "Otaku" was hilarious, it's the
> story of a guy who goes to college around 1982 and meets several "otaku"
> who introduce him to the world of anime. There's a guy who's got tapes
> of everything, a girl who wants to become an animator, a dude who's into
> guns (someone said this a parody of Sonoda himself), and a couple of
> other interesting characters. As the story progresses, Mr. Main
> Character develops a liking for anime, learns to enjoy cons, grows an
> anime-belly, and walks around unshaven. Later, his girlfriend dumps him
> because of the changes in his lifestyle. Much much later, while waiting
> in line for Nausicaa, he sees character design sketches for Macross the
> Movie and immediately falls in love. The story ends there, showing how
> the first generation of "otaku" was born. Squeezed between the animation
> are live action pretend-interviews with "otaku" people, including a
> computer programmer who has a Char's helmet under his desk and a video
> collector who had to quit the interview because a show he wanted to tape
> was on.
I want to see this!!!!!
--
E n r i q u e C o n t y
The Amazing Man-With-No-Life
jes...@ihlpl.att.com
David Louis Williams
articles in r.a.a. alone, but these are some of my comments on AnimeCon.
First off I hooked up 3 VCRs and a Laser Disc player to the tv in our room
myself and saved the $15/VCR hook up. I sat in the hotel room for 3 hours
waiting for them to come and hook up the VCRs and after repeated calls, (he's
on his way up, he'll be there in a couple of mins., etc.) we just asked if we
could do it ourselves and they said go for it. I used a 4-way splitter and
signal booster and everything came out just fine.
About the only complaint I had was with the video staff which caused me to
get my slang dictionary out after I ran out of things to call them. :-) It
was upsetting during the con but after I had time to think about the size of
the task they were undertaking, I calmed down and gave them two thumbs up.
I mean I did come home with over 45 tapes of anime thanks to them. I just wish
they had stuck to the schedule a little more since I didn't want to stay in my
room the entire con. As it was I just ran to the room long enough to change
tapes, then back downstairs. The video operators did a fine, if sometimes
frustrating, job. BTW, anyone else stay Monday night and copy all the subbed
Ikkoku, KOR and Dirty Pair they showed after the con? I did and it was little
gems like that that really made a boring Monday night into something special.
Thanks guys!
The dealers room was big enough for me. Between it and two trips to Nikaku,
I dropped almost $1000 dollars, not counting the hotel and travel costs.
Nikaku was packed both times I went there. I'm glad they didn't advertise more
than they did, I could just move around the anime section as it was. And their
prices beat the dealers room hands down. I bought both of the Sonada art books
for $25 each at Nikaku and they wanted $38 for them in the dealers room. CDs
were cheaper there too.
I can't believe it, some of you actually drove 6-7 hours to get to the con?
:-) :-) What's the longest anyone had to drive? I drove about 34 hours to get
there. Had to have plenty of space for video equipment as well as all the LDs,
CDs, books, posters, tapes, etc. that we picked up there. We had 2 drivers and
one non-driver and it was packed.
I made a lot of new friends and met people I had only talked to through email
and smail in the past. I was great meeting all of you!
Now I have the massive task of actually watching all the tapes I brought back
since I only caught bits and pieces during the con. I'm sure that all of you
who didn't go to the con hope my VCRs burn out now. :-)
I wish they had shown the panels on the 3rd channel as planned.
I knew there was no way I could go to all of them and I was looking forward to
watching them later but the only thing they showed was the costume skit. I
don't know who was working the camera during this but they need to take some
lessons. Between my own footage and that the con filmed I think I have a good
taping of the costume skit. The only other non-anime item I saw was something
someone taped with the Pinesalad crew as they tried to track down someone using
their name or phone number or something, I wasn't sure what that was all about
since I came in on it towards the end. It was one of the items shown Monday
night.
I had some of my LD covers autographed at the con and met all of the major
guests. That in itself almost made the con worth it, those guys were great.
You couldn't stop Sonada from drawing sketches and some of the con people tried
:-).
I'd give them a 95 overall. Depending on the guest and video list, I'm saving
for AnimeCon '92.
--
----
David Williams I'm not a free man,
d...@mbir.bcm.tmc.edu I'm an email address.
Bill Barnes
>I can't believe it, some of you actually drove 6-7 hours to get to the con?
>:-) :-) What's the longest anyone had to drive? I drove about 34 hours to get
>there.
*34 HOURS*?!?! Good God, is that impressive! Did anyone out there
actually drive more than this? I think David may have set a
net.record here! 8^]
>Now I have the massive task of actually watching all the tapes I brought back
>since I only caught bits and pieces during the con. I'm sure that all of you
>who didn't go to the con hope my VCRs burn out now. :-)
Yes, we do. 8^/
And then we want copies.
8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^> 8^>
--
Bill "ARGH!! I couldn't go to AnimeCon!!" Barnes wba...@sura.net
Disclaimer: Don't assume anything I say is truthful, accurate, or worthwhile.
Datclaimer: My employers wouldn't WANT to share some of my opinions.
David Louis Williams
>*34 HOURS*?!?! Good God, is that impressive! Did anyone out there
>actually drive more than this? I think David may have set a
>net.record here! 8^]
It was non-stop too! :-) Took a little longer getting back, the car was really
loaded and I did most of my driving in my sleep. :-)
>>Now I have the massive task of actually watching all the tapes I brought back
>>since I only caught bits and pieces during the con. I'm sure that all of you
>>who didn't go to the con hope my VCRs burn out now. :-)
>
>Yes, we do. 8^/
Sorry but the VCRs are still working :-) but I still have tons to go through.
>And then we want copies.
Copies could be difficult if my VCRs burn out, better hope they don't. :-)
Matthew Clark
(I had to fly cos' of school & work...) They said it took 2.25 days...about 54
hours.
Matt
cl...@jupiter.csee.usf.edu
"I just wanna get you on the beat..."
'Time to Countdown' by TM Network
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Michael Studte
>I can't believe it, some of you actually drove 6-7 hours to get to the con?
>:-) :-) What's the longest anyone had to drive? I drove about 34 hours to get
>there. Had to have plenty of space for video equipment as well as all the LDs,
>CDs, books, posters, tapes, etc. that we picked up there. We had 2 drivers and
>one non-driver and it was packed.
How about a total flight time of 38 hours from Western Australia... I think
this is pretty much the record both for time, money and distance...
>I made a lot of new friends and met people I had only talked to through email
>and smail in the past. I was great meeting all of you!
It would have been nice if the @! party had been a "little" bit more organised
and not just a wild bunch of people talking in small groups...
>taping of the costume skit. The only other non-anime item I saw was something
>someone taped with the Pinesalad crew as they tried to track down someone using
>their name or phone number or something, I wasn't sure what that was all about
>since I came in on it towards the end. It was one of the items shown Monday
>night.
Now, did that girl from Pinesalad look slightly annoyed, or what? <smile>
I was expecting them to break out the baseball bats at any time... Mine you,
her Gundam uniform fit her personality 100%!!!
>I had some of my LD covers autographed at the con and met all of the major
>guests. That in itself almost made the con worth it, those guys were great.
>You couldn't stop Sonada from drawing sketches and some of the con people tried
>:-).
Breakfast with him was interesting too... Some interesting facts about BGC and
BGC! were "released"... <smile>
+-------------------+-----------------------------------------+-----------+
| Michael Studte | Coordinator of: Japanese Animation Fans | Bubblegum |
| 46 Hackbridge Way | of Western Australia | Crisis |
| Bayswater 6053 | Australian chapter of CAL-ANIMAGE (Zeta)| Down |
| WESTERN AUSTRALIA | | Under |
+-------------------+ InterNet: mich...@DIALix.oz.au +-----------+
| FidoNet: 3:690/728 (MegaTokyo 2033) |
+-----------------------------------------+
David Louis Williams
>How about a total flight time of 38 hours from Western Australia... I think
>this is pretty much the record both for time, money and distance...
At least you didn't have to sit in the pilot's seat for most of the trip. :-)
Next year I think I'll rent an RV an take a couple of extra friends to help
out, only had one other driver this year. 34/38 hours is a long time to sit in
a car or a plane. The things we do for our hobby. :-)
>Breakfast with him was interesting too... Some interesting facts about BGC and
>BGC! were "released"... <smile>
So what did he "release"? What interesting facts? Comeon, give.
Ta-Wei Mou
>AnimeCon '91 details...
[lots of animecon stuffs....]
First of all, good article. I wish most of the messages on r.a.a. (including
mine) are as informative. (^_^)
Those of you who missed the film showing at ACon, also including me, and would
really like to see it, the video will be available in Japan by 9/27/91.
Produced by Toshiba Soft and Gainex, the name of the OAV is "Otaku no Video"
or in English "1982 Graffiti of Otaku Generation". The subtitle translates
as follows - 'Gainex brings you the unregrettable radiance of youth.....
Fight! Fanboys! Defend the dream and the hope of the fanboy!' The LD
will go for Y7900 and, in case you want to place order at your local LD store,
the disc number is TVLA-5011.
The ad in Sept. Newtype looks really interesting. At casual glance I almost
thought it was a sales ploy for BGC reprints. :) Maybe Oct. Newtype would
have a review of the video, as well as ACon?