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What about Otakon?

ADVision never has a big booth at Otakon. They let Suncoast handle sales for them in the Dealer's Room, and they participate in Industry Panels at the event. Dave Williams, one of the producers for ADVision, was there, and mentioned Otakon in his blog yesterday, along with links to the torrents for Madlax and Godannar. You'll need this codec to view these.

As a semi-professional anime promoter, I can tell you that the market for anime in North America is as large as if not larger than the one in Japan. Anime is a HUGE moneymaker, and the article is fairly off-base.

Next month, in Baltimore MD, 22 000 anime fans will descend upon Otakon, paying as much as $50 a head, to celebrate anime. There are similar conventions on a regular basis all around the country and in Canada. Media Play makes a large portion of its profits from the sale of anime DVDs and manga. Waldenbooks (a mall bookseller) would likely no longer be in business were it not for its reliance on manga (Japanese comic) sales. (The market is so lucrative, they even sell untranslated Japanese comics).

As for the article, far more than 1% of anime make it to the US. Shows are being licensed at staggering rates by many many companies. Some shows are marketed to/released in the United States BEFORE they're debuted in Japan!

Fansubs are dying, but that has more to do with the fact that shows get licensed for US distribution almost immediately now, leaving little time for the semi-legal phase of the practice. (The industry turns a blind eye to fansubs released for non-licensed shows).

Even despite the shady dealings of many fansubbers, anime is wildly profitable, and its market is growing rapidly.

There's definitely one or tow floating around on the bittorrent networks here and there. I saw the GiTS:Innocence preview at Otakon 2004 in the Production I.G. panel and it looked FANTASTIC.

Sadly, you might not be that far off. From the background, it looks like these pictures were taken at Katsu instead of Otakon though.

Otakon always holds its conventions in Baltimore Inner Harbor, just off the waterfront. This would be nifty for running portable netcams and updating weblogs/fan pages with details about fanmade works and cosplay.

I mean, if you're going to geek, geek out fully, right?

Most anime conventions are great places to learn about anime and asian culture. This yeat Otakon has so far announced Frederick Schodt (author of various books on anime and manga) and Dr. Susan Napier of the U of Texas.

Otakon will have as a guest this year Susan Napier of the University of Texas.

Well, one lousy bit of scheduling is that this Thursday conflicts with Otakon; I'm not going to be anywhere near my home base. I'm not really complaining; I'm sure every day has something at least tangentially geek-related. So, er, that's one less person in Grand Rapids.

Otakon will be showing a lot of old and new stuff. There is a 35mm film track that should have some nice anime. More info and a panel schedule is up at http://www.otakon.com

Otakon.

I got the idea that anime was selling well in our (US) theatres. Why are producers only interested in releasing to such a limited area?

- kaoruAngel

Also, don't forget Otakon, which will recur next August, probably at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Apparently there are many of us anime fans in the geek world. Some anime fan engineer at Motorola managed to get them to name a uP "DragonBall" fercrissakes! Team Anime Expo (convention in LA) is ranked 73rd on SETI@Home (6 spots higher than Team Slashdot). Hell, the first User Friendly animated short had an anime reference in it.

WE ARE EVERYWHERE. And it's just a matter of time until we come for your children.

Dave
- who just helped run OTAKON, where about 7500 anime geeks descended on Baltimore for a 3-day party.

For all of you anime fans out there, Otakon 2000 is august 4,5, and 6th in Baltimore, MD. Tons of neat events, and really fun. I went last year and loved it so much I am going again this year. hope to see some slashdotters representing.

Why? hmm.. greed? :) and the fact that most anime is bought by Disney (yes, another dark secret they don't tell you) and then licensed to the anime companies.

That last bit about Disney is utter bullshit. Disney does own the rights to most of Studio Ghibli's titles (Nausicaa, Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service), but nothing else. The anime companies get their licenses direct from the producers in Japan. Hell, some of the companies now distributing anime are nothing more than US arms of the Japanese companies (Pioneer, Bandai), while others have gone so far as to co-produce anime with the Japanese (ADV Films, Manga Entertainment).

I have to wonder where you people come up with this stuff sometimes. ^_^

--
David Christopher Asher
OTAKON 2000: Convention of Otaku Generation
August 4-5-6, 2000 at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, MD

Macross Plus
BubbleGum Crisis
Tenchi Muyo!
Kodomo no Omocha (aka Child's Toy)
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Kareshi Kanojo no Jijoo (aka KareKano, aka His and Her Circumstances)
Vision of Escaflowne
Maison Ikkoku

If you really like lain, I'd suggest you go to OTAKON (an anime convention in Baltimore, MD). The creator of lain and also the character designer will be attending as guests, as will the British Band that did the opening theme..

--
Dave

I second your opinion on the Vision of Escaflowne, I was looking to see if anyone else recommended it before I put my two cents in. I myself was disappointed with the ending, felt it was rushed. The producers knew they had the leeway of making a movie to tie up loose ends (in production now).

The producers decided not to go that route. ^^; Escaflowne the Movie will not be a followup to the series, but an entirely separate storyline. You can catch Escaflowne the Movie at its American premieres at Anime Expo and Otakon.

IFor more information, everybody, on anime and manga, the best English language online resource I've seen is EX.org , which might be the best online magazine I've seen, period.

I second that EX recommendation, although I'm somewhat biased. =)

Any true Fan of Serial Experiments Lain needs to be heading to Baltimore Maryland Aug 4-6 this year.
The anime convention, Otakon. This year, "guests of honor, will be Mr. Yoshitoshi ABe and Mr. Yasuyuki Ueda. Mr. ABe would best be known to us in the US as the character designer for serial experiments lain. Joining him will be Mr. Yasuyuki Ueda of production 2nd, the creator of lain. The pair are currently working on a new series together, and hope to have a preview ready by O2K."

Also on the same note, The band Boa will be at the convention. That is the group that does the amazing opening song to lain.

For more details, goto Otakon

Any true Fan of Serial Experiments Lain needs to be heading to Baltimore Maryland Aug 4-6 this year.
The anime convention, Otakon. This year, "guests of honor, will be Mr. Yoshitoshi ABe and Mr. Yasuyuki Ueda. Mr. ABe would best be known to us in the US as the character designer for serial experiments lain. Joining him will be Mr. Yasuyuki Ueda of production 2nd, the creator of lain. The pair are currently working on a new series together, and hope to have a preview ready by O2K."

Also on the same note, The band Boa will be at the convention. That is the group that does the amazing opening song to lain.

For more details, goto Otakon

"Lain Perhaps the best Anime I've seen thus far. The story of a young girl, a drug culture, the future of the net, etc etc. It'll leave your jaw on the floor. It makes the internet look unreal but somehow believable at the same time."

Somewhat OT plug from an Otakon staffer:
Otakon 2000 will be hosting a number of guests associated with Serial Experiments Lain:

"...We would also like to take this opportunity to announce our first two guests of honor, Mr. Yoshitoshi ABe and Mr. Yasuyuki Ueda. Mr. ABe would best be known to us in the US as the character designer for serial experiments lain. Joining him will be Mr. Yasuyuki Ueda of production 2nd, the creator of lain. The pair are currently working on a new series together, and hope to have a preview ready by O2K..."

In addition, the band bôa, writers and performers of the Lain opening song Duvet will also be appearing at Otakon. Of course, as the largest anime convention on the east coast, Otakon will host numerous other guests, premiers, and a huge dealers room. The convention will take place August 4-6, at the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland, USA. For more information, see our website, or call (814) 867-3478.

"Close the world. Otakunize the nExt..."

"Damn, I'm only about a 5 minute walk away from the Convention Center! Consider it marked on my calendar!"

We'll be glad to see you there! For others interested in attending Otakon 2000, the convention will be held August 4-6 (Friday through Sunday) at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD. Registration for all three days is $45 at the door ($40 if you pre-register by May 27th). Single-day memberships and groups discounts are also available, see Otakon's website for details.

For more information, please visit Otakon's website at www.otakon.com, or write:

OTAKON(TM) 2000
PO Box 149
Morristown, PA 19067

"Lain, DBZ and Battle Athletes"

Well, that's a pretty eclectic selection. We've got:

Lain: Complex and surreal, at times expressionistic. A classmate of the main character, Lain, commits suicide. Shortly afterwards, members of the class start receiving e-mails claiming to be from the deceased girl. That's not what Lain is about, but to explain further would require interpretation on my part. I highly recommend you watch it and make your own interpretations. Requires patience. Also recommended for viewers of Lain: Key the Metal Idol, Angel's Egg, Neon Genesis Evangelion.
(Plug from an Otakon staffer: Both the creator and character designer for Lain will appear at Otakon 2000, the East Coast's biggest anime convention, located in Baltimore, MD.)

DBZ: Journey to the West meets the WWF, anime style with some SF thrown in. Loosely based on the ancient Chinese tale of a monkey king who was born from a stone, and I do mean loosely. Fun, but not very cerebral. The story breaks down in later episodes as characters spend much of their time hurling chi-blasts at each other. Also recommended for DBZ fans: Er... I haven't a clue what would appeal to DBZ fans.

Battle Athletes: Cute schoolgirls compete for the "Cosmo Beauty" prize. A little silly, takes a while for the story to kick in. Animation quality is pretty good, on par with most of Pioneer's other stuff. Also recommended for Battle Athletes fans: Sailor Moon, Gunbuster.

Close the World. Otakunize the Next

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