Here’s the last entry on the Con journal, hopefully reading this will get you enticed to join our Facebook group or to check out the forums. The last bit of this massive con was pretty much all about cosplay and fun little events. Read on for our take on it.

Karaoke!

The Karaoke event was the first of the series; four brave contestants took to the stage and sang songs from many an anime. I’ll admit that I don’t recall the names of most of the songs, all I can say is that one was from Dragon Ball, another from Digimon and of course Aozora no Namida…Plus one I didn’t know. The contest was fun since three of contestants happened to be cosplaying, they were admittedly nervous but they all performed nicely. Particularly a girl cosplaying as Nyu/Lucy from Elfen Lied who sang Aozora na Mida, a theme that I always wanted to hear live (there’s a video of it on my youtube channel).

The contest was great and the competition fierce, it came down to Aozora na Mida and the Dragon Ball tune, which in Venezuela may have been a given victory for the Dragon Ball one. I took some pictures of the contestants and we moved on to explore the rest of the con.

Cosplaying Goodies

My friend and I spent most of the day going after some cosplayers that arrived a little later than most at the con. We caught an amazing Hatsune Miku and Bolt Crank (Eat-man 98’), as well as a Link and a Zelda. It was a friendly competition between all the fans to catch a picture of any of them and some of the other cosplayers walking around the con casually (all the pics can be inspected on our Facebook page).

It soon became time for the cosplay contest. Not just any contest, a fashion show. Contestants took to the stage and pranced around for the audience, some were really nervous and could only muster a short walk before stage fright took its toll, most did an amazing job to which I did little justice with my amateur video. They all took their turns and awaited the finalists, after receiving awards for best charisma, runway diva and pop icon, all there was left was to announce the winner, who turned out to be none other than Hatsune Miku! (You can actually see her receiving her prize in one of the pictures).

The Bulk of the Day

We had been there for hours but it seemed like only minutes, a couple of videogame tournaments took place on the sidelines and we had fun looking over people’s shoulders as they struggled with SSBB and Soul Calibur IV. We had Renzo Jimenez take to the stage and give us his opinion on fan dubbing, as well as general anime dubs and Venezuela’s role in the industry, it was rather fun and insightful (particularly when he did Kel’s “orange soda” routine).

The organizers then announced the dance contest. The first runner ups were a trio of girls dancing to Korean pop, who were then followed by two “Gothic Lolitas” doing a routine that I partially recorded before my camera died on me (I’ll think about adding the video to youtube later). The final dance number came courtesy of a couple doing a set of two songs, the first of which was Po pi po!

The trio of girls took the trophy and we all got ready for the final show.

Acting!

The final bit for the day took place around six in the afternoon; it was a cosplay/acting extravaganza! The cosplayers were tasked with representing the role of the characters they were dressed at. The first to take the stage was Monkey D. Luffy, who in all honesty delivered a somewhat flat monologue that caused a funny reaction from the crowd akin to “Comic Book Guy” moment, one of the audience members exchanged factual corrections over the character’s attributes with the cosplayers and it was quite funny to be honest. The other highlights came by way of a pair of Naruto cosplayers staging a battle between Pain and Jiraiya, it went very well and had some nice choreography…Until the end when Pain got overexcited and used some inappropriate language (still in character, though). We also got to see a small face off between Alucard (in his little girl form) and Walter.

The winners were a group of girls playing the parts of Rei, Misato and Joker (from Kuroshitsuji) doing a mix of both universes that got them a spot in the tied first place, who was the other winner? None other than the Naruto cosplayers who were promptly disqualified for use of improper language, seeing their reactions to the fact was rather comical to say the least.

Wrapping It Up

There was a lot to do and a lot to buy, the convention was a great success and a lot of fun. I can’t stress the fact that ACAM did a great job organizing it, I extend my thanks to them for the invitation and giving me such a good chance to take part in it.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading these two articles, why don’t you show whether you did or not by liking us on Facebook or posting in the forums?

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Those of you that keep up with the site (we know someone does) ever since I took over should know I’m not from the US of A. I’m actually a Venezuelan, which means that as far as conventions go, I’ll be screwed. Unless my country happened to be a hot bed for Otakus and we had a sweet ass con, which totally happened.

Welcome to Venezuela

I have to take a moment to say that Venezuelans, just as many other Latin Americans, happen to be very fervent Otakus. Venezuela in particular counts with the distinction of having some (really) good dubbing, as is the case of M&M studios, who have given Animax some of the best voices in its line-up; not to mention that many other anime shows have been dubbed here (The Slayers happens to be amongst them and it’s a personal favorite).

Venezuelan Otakus will do their part in showing love for the medium; wearing badges, shirts, caps and anything you can slap an anime character on! As well as downloading or buying the shows from the many stores you’ll bump into when DVD hunting in one of our cities, many of our local Otaku will band together in clubs, take lessons to draw manga, and learn Japanese. If that doesn’t sound impressive, it’s because what I’m trying to say is that we are like any other Otaku, we do have our kinks and peculiarities (everyone does) but when it comes down to it, we are all part of the same family; a group of people worldwide who happen to love the same thing.

Showing the Love

I arrived at the convention with a friend of mine in tow to help around with the pictures. We got to the convention around nine in the morning and spent some time checking the halls from the outside. We moved on to the main entrance and found the pleasant surprise of a long line already forming by the ticket desk. Many of them were in cosplay and shuffling their feet anxiously to walk in.

One of the event organizers, and a friend of ours (he runs RoleToys, a local anime store I frequent), met us at the door as we got our passes. We were shown inside after greeting each other; the hall was pretty damn big. We had gone to a con before (before I “worked” for AnimeMB) but this was impressive.

We walked around the stands greeting the vendors and taking a few snap shots of the goods for sale before the crowd blotted out the tables. They let the general public in after a little bit and we got to thank God we had a chance to take early pictures. Every stand was swarmed like an undefended Terran base manned by an eight year old facing a Korean Zerg champion. This was the point when my friend and I had our inner Otaku shout “The things we could buy are probably being bought off now…We gotta move!”

Into the Fray

Several posters, badges and DVD’s later we resumed our duty of reporting on the site. It had become full with convention goers busily going over the goods on sale and watching anime videos. More importantly, though, was that it had filled with Cosplayers and we took our chance to stop many of them on their merry way to take pictures. Some kept eluding us throughout the entire day but we caught them on the stage.

We had been at this for several hours now and it was time for the opening ceremony. The organizers threw on a bit of cosplay of their own as Daft Punk, playing away on DJ Hero while the video for the song “One More Time” played on a huge projector screen. The crowd was rather cheery and there were plenty of asses on the seats.

The events for the day were planned out and we got to write down our schedule; Karaoke followed by a cosplay fashion show, moving on to a visit by Squidward’s voice actor, Renzo Jimenez (he’s a master at dubbing, having done several anime characters as well as freaking Kel Kimbel) to finish the day off with a dance and acting contest. A DJ Hero contest was also planned but most participants simply shied away from it (myself included) so it had to be cancelled. I still regret chickening out on it as it seemed fun, though, embarrassingly hard.

The general outline of the Convention can be appreciated on our Facebook page’s photo gallery as well as my personal Youtube channel, where a video of the show can be found.

Check in tomorrow for more of this great con!

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The virtual Idol and Vocaloid superstar Hatsune Miku will now be gracing the pages of Weekly Young Jump. Her most recent incursion into manga-land will take up four panels a week to bring her fans a bit of joy with each edition of the magazine. Starting on September 2, Kentarō Hayashi will begin his work on this particular release.

A Brief Bit Of History

Hatsune Miku is well known to all otaku whether it’s because of her musical talent or because of the many fan renditions of her. But who is she anyways? She’s a Vocaloid, a character created to serve as a mascot to represent Crypton Future Media’s music synthesizing software, which has the remarkable ability of bringing words to life in the form of songs interpreted by the ”voice” of the Vocaloid that accompanies each release, thus giving all of them a different personality and beat.

Hatsune Miku went so far as to become an idol, one that’s more immediately recognizable than many of her flesh and blood counterparts. She has voiced hundreds if not thousands of songs, has been the star of many a videogame and manga and it’s even poised to have one of her alter-egos come to life in a OAV, Blackrock Shooter, that’s right Miku’s so big that she even has more than one persona. Perhaps more remarkable of all is how she and her fellow Vocaloids starred on their massively successful concert (they were shown as holograms).

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The past two days have brought forth interesting (if not somewhat disappointing) revelations. Fans of the Macross saga can now look forward to a somewhat definitive release date for the new film, as well as some goodies to tag along with it.

Better Late Than Never

This past Sunday, August 15th, Bandai Namco gave followers of its official Twitter account the slip on the new release date for “Sayonara no Tsubasa”. The company followed through with the new release date the next day during the Macross F Girasama Carnival, confirming February 26th as the official release date in Japan.

The film will follow after “Itsuwari no Utahime”, which was released last November. Fans of the Macross universe may also look forward to a new release of musical themes; the compilation is to take the shape of both Blu-ray and DVD sets. Those that are fans of the show but not necessarily of its music can look forward to “Merry Christmas Macross”, an event taking place this December 22th in Tokyo and the 24th in Kobe. Hopefully the event will bring forth several new developments regarding Macross as well as a complete confirmation on the date for the next film.

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Those of you that keep up with the site will remember the announcement made to report on To Love-Ru’s new anime incarnation. You will also remember that the announcement was sketchy enough as to not clarify what form the animation would take. Read on for that.

“A Second Seasons Coming”

It has been confirmed that the newest take on To Love-Ru will be in the form of a TV anime. The animation will take the name of “Motto To Love-Ru” airing during this year’s fall season. So expect to hear news about its development and reception around October (if the release date doesn’t get pushed back).

It’s still largely unknown whether or not the anime will take things from where it left off during its first season, thus animating the many chapters not shown during its original run nor the OVA’s, or if it will go beyond the manga’s open-ended conclusion.

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Here’s some good news coming from the anime world’s rumor mill: prepare yourselves for some flashy big robot action in the nearby future! Super Robot Wars is getting another anime adaptation, read on to get in on the scoop.

Satoshi Kubo, the man behind shows such as Fullmetal Alchemist and Eureka Seven, has let his tongue slip on Mixi (a Japanese social networking site) about his decision not to join the staff behind a new anime rendition of the Super Robot Wars franchise. The reason why? The participation of a certain staff member. Kubo later clarified that he was indeed referring to a new anime adaptation, due to the fact that the comment section on his Mixi profile was filled with inquires regarding this matter.

Here is a little background information for those unfamiliar with Super Robot Wars (shame on you!) Super Robot Wars consists of a 19 year old franchise that began as a tactical RPG. The games were brought to us by Banpresto, a division of Namco Bandai, and it’s worth noting that the franchise’s rise to fame is due to the fact that it brings together various Mechs from popular anime and manga (such as Gundam and Evangelion). The games became as popular as to spawn various anime adaptations over the years including (in a way) the 90’s anime Cybuster.

Fans of Mechs now have something good to look forward to in the nearby future if the show ever gets released in the west!

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Remember how we nodded towards our mechanical friend in the paper craft article? Well, he can now nod at you! He’s back in top shape (movable head and all) and casting a shadow in the city of Shizuoka.
It’s A Gundam!

The city of Shizuoka has been graced by the fully functional 1:1 Gundam RX-78-2 statue, which now has a mighty Beam Saber by its side. The saber glows in the dark (as do many of the Gundam’s components) and it’s up to scale like the statue. The display is set to last from now until the end of March 2011, so we expect to see many weddings or major events being held under its watchful gaze as it happened when the Gundam made its debut in Tokyo.

The statue looks as impressive as ever; it’s located north of the Shizuoka Station and so it’s standing tall right next to enough buildings to give a true sense of its scale and carry the vibe of the anime.

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DEVA LOKA is a bold exhibit of pieces inspired by American pop culture, especially comics and automobiles during Amano’s early art career of the 60′s and 70′s. Much of his pieces are coated with auto paint and metallic glitter, a sort of ode to his childhood.

Amano began freelancing in 1982, after leaving Tatsunoko Productions where he worked as a character designer for popular shows such as, Gatchaman and Time Bokan. In 1983, Amano illustrated the novels, Vampire Hunter D, written by Hideyuki Kikuchi. The story follows that of D, a lone wolf, half vampire in a far-future, post-apocalyptic Earth. Amano worked on the 1985 animated film, although was unhappy with the outcome. Since then, there have been twenty novels and a second film made, closely mirroring Amano’s artistic style. Kikuchi was quoted saying in early 2010 that Vampire Hunter D is currently in the early planning stages of becoming an anime.

Amano began to receive worldwide recognition for his talent after he began concept designs for the Final Fantasy games in 1987. Since the 80′s, Amano has gone on to work on title sequences and promotional art for many of the Final Fantasy titles, including involvement in the three Final Fantasy XIII releases. In 1999 he worked with Neil Gaiman on the novella, The Sandman: The Dream Hunters. It was nominated in 2000 for a Hugo Award and won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Narrative.

Yoshitaka Amano’s most current news is that he is directing his first ever anime film, entitled, Zan, which is set to release sometime next year. Headed by his own studio, Studio Deva Loka, the film is set at the end of the 19th century, where a samurai named Zan is sent to an alternate world to battle evil. At the Tokyo International Anime Fair of 2010, Amano had an unmanned exhibit which featured only two white walls with the word, ‘Zan’ on them and a giant, steel Panther on display, a character which will become Zan’s partner in the film.

Take the opportunity to stop by the SUPERFROG Gallery in San Francisco if you will be in the area, before Amano’s exhibit leaves the States again!

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Kawamoto is a co-founder of the anime studio, BONES, other crucial people being, Masahiko Minami and Hiroshi Osaka (who passed away on September 24, 2007 after fighting cancer). One of the first projects BONES worked on was the feature film for the Bebop series, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, and has since been behind such famous shows as, Ouran High School Host Club, Soul Eater and RahXephon.

Currently, Kawamoto is the chief animation director for Stan Lee’s Heroman, which has been turned into an anime and scheduled for release this spring. (Madhouse is currently working and releasing the Wolverine and Iron Man animes.)

Hiroshi Kawamoto became interested in animation due to Macross and the character designs of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. He applied and enrolled into what was then called Tokyo Designer Gakuin College and after graduating was employed by Group Donguri. His debut work appeared in the 1986 film, Arion. It was soon after this that Kawamoto began his work on several Gundam Wing shows.

Kawamoto apparently modeled the Cowboy Bebop character, Edward, after anime and video game composer, Yoko Kanno, Spike on the famous anime character, Arsene Lupin III and Ein, the dog, after a friend’s pet!

Alongside the guest of honor, other Japanese industry professionals attending Anime Expo will be director, Shinichi Watanabe (Excel Saga and Tenchi Muyo!) as well as voice actress, Yuu Asakawa (Love Hina, Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, Final Fantasy XIII, Naruto: Shippuden). Musical guest to the convention will be Japanese rock band, SOPHIA.

Anime Expo takes place from July 1st through the 4th at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Between Kawamoto in California and Nobuo Uematsu in Boston (famed Final Fantasy video game composer) 2010 is shaping up to be a good year for anime conventions. Are there any readers who have already bought or are planning to get tickets for Anime Expo?

The festival had a terrific exhibition floor, dozens and dozens of tables full of anime, manga, j-rock, costumes, imported Lolita clothing, swords, food and an enormous array of toys for every show imaginable. Many of the sellers were having great sales and discounts, which could also be found in the artist alley, where some of the featured work included, posters, clothing, key chains, and jewelry.

The most fantastic part of an anime convention however, is the cosplay. I was simply out of energy by day three and combined with rain and poor subway service, I wasn’t able to gather photos on Sunday, but I did from the previous two days and there were some amazing costumes. Some of my favorites were the White Mage from Final Fantasy, Pain from Naruto, Sir Integra and Seras Victoria from Hellsing, and Kadaj and Yazoo from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Everyone was very friendly and always happy to stop and pose for photos, Pain especially popular on Friday and Seras Victoria on Saturday.

There was a hilarious dance competition on Friday, which starred, oddly enough, Spider-man, the Predator and the Chicken from Family Guy. They were all back the next day to continue the spontaneous dance tradition that seems to follow anime crowds, Chicken walking around with a boom box, playing Caramelldansen. Later in the day, when there was a wait between shows and panels, attendees decided to entertain themselves by starting a conga line. It began with only seven or eight people and the next time it ran by me, it was at least 100 people long with every sort of cosplay mixed in.

The masquerade skits featured characters from Death Note, Chobits, Vampire Hunter D, and Slayers, while some of the shows and movies screened at the event included, Eureka Seven, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, St. Frog, Gravitation, Gurren Lagann: The Movie, and the 20th Century Boys trilogy.

Who else attended the convention? Did you dress up, because there is a chance I saw or took a photo of you! With New York Anime Festival being combined with Comic Con next year, who’s looking to go?

He was considered a “super animator” amongst his peers and a great representative of Japan. Yoshinori was famous for his exaggerated perspective and posing, as well as an all new style to timing in animation. He is also responsible for the ‘extremely shiny’ look seen in such anime like, Sailor Moon and Fushigi Yugi’s opening sequence. Yoshinori’s animation was, simply put, known for its movement. Characters were very quick, very stylized, like everything in the scene is anxious, yet still so clean and professional.

Yoshinori began his career in the 1970′s on shows such as the legendary science fiction piece, Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999. He worked on an assortment of other shows such as, Cutey Honey, Mobile Suit Gundam and Cyborg 009. He was famous throughout the 70′s and 80′s for his robot designs and was imitated by many other artists in style.

Yoshinori soon became heavily involved with Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli when he began work on, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind in 1984. From then on, Yoshinori worked on Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, and Princess Mononoke, credited as animator and key animator on these renowned pieces of film.

Yoshinori Kanada didn’t stop at Studio Ghibli, continuing to work as an animator, animation director and opening sequence animator for many so well known shows, they’ve become household names. Some of these works are, Akira, Sailor Moon, Metropolis, Vampire Hunter, Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie, Fushigi Yugi, and CLAMP’s X/1999. His talent is so easily recognized by being able to work on such diverse pieces, from the shojo anime of Fushigi Yugi, to the extreme science fiction of Akira, and the fingerprint he leaves behind of his own style serves to only make the show better.

Yoshinori Kanada also let key animators bring their own sense of design to a piece of animation, so not every scene in a film would match the work of the animation director, but instead each would resonate with the personal look of that particular animator. It was originally a way to save some money in the industry, but Kanada became very popular for his lack of conformity.

Originally airing on October 3, 1988, Soreike! Anpanman has stayed strong for over twenty years. Each episode is twenty four minutes long and cut into two parts, each twelve minutes in length. The show is aired by Nippon Television, who have also shown such anime as, Death Note, Ouran High School Host Club, and Miyazaki films. The series has had twenty feature films that have been released since 1989, several animated shorts, and sold over fifty million books since 2006.

Bandai opened a Anpanman Children’s Museum in 2007 in Yokohama, Japan, even going so far as the open an Anpanman hair solon inside the museum later that year. The show is heavily promoted through merchandise, anything from video games to clothing, snack foods and even the “Anpanman Train” in Matsuyama, a train painted bright pinks and blues with characters from the show along the sides.

The producers originally applied to enter the show into the Guinness Book of World Records with 2,000 characters in May, but some of them, such as, Pan Kojo and Baikin Shiro were not accepted, so the number was dropped to the current record of, 1,768. This coming August 28th, Anpanman will be airing its 1,000th episode, a historical event within itself.

The creator of Anpanman, Takashi Yanase, is currently 90 years old and apparently said the person who was most surprised by the record the show had produced was actually Yanase himself. Even at his age, Yanase is still working in the manga realm as a judge for the Japanese Cartoonist Awards.

Takashi Yanase began writing the Anpanman manga in 1968, having been inspired when he was a solider struggling through World War II. Anpanman is a superhero who fights his enemy, Bacteria Man, in each episode of the show while helping those who live in the town. He patrols the area around Uncle Jam’s house and is a symbol of justice.

Many of the characters are designed or named after foods, such as, Melonpanna (melon bread), Currypanman (curry filled bread), Shokupanman (sliced white bread), and of course, Anpanman, who is named after a bread filled with a bean jam.

Yoshiyuki Tomino, creator of the original Gundam show, is celebrated this summer with a Gundam convention. The 30th Anniversary Project has been broken into three main segments, Real-G, Feel-G and Soul-G.

Real-G, which happened on Friday evening at Tokyo’s artificial, was the unveiling of a 18 meter or 59 foot tall, life size Gundam, the RX-78-2, which not only lights up, but can move its head as well. The Gundam has been under construction for some time and photographs and videos have been posted throughout the work in progress.

The figure is fiberglass and plastic over a steel frame that has fifty emitters all over its body to light up at dark and can shoot mist from fourteen different points within its structure. The model stands just four train stops away from the Tokyo Big Site, where the Gundam Big Expo convention will be held. Bandai NAMCO is currently determining what to do with the statue once the allotted two months are up and it is to be removed.

The statue was honored by voice actor Tohru Furuya, was acted as Gundam pilot, Amuro Ray, Gundam fan and vocalist of the theme songs for the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam movie trilogy, Gackt, and of course, Yoshiyuki Tomino himself. Tomino spoke about the Gundam, remarking how he was initially against the project to build it, but after seeing the toy-like colors against the Tokyo sky, he said he was very moved and felt great strength and power come from the statue. A transcript of Yoshiyuki Tomino’s speech to the Foreign Correspondence Club of Japan will be released next week.

The Feel-G event is the Gundam Big Expo, which will be held at Odaiba from August 21st to the 23rd, where reportedly, the screening of Ring of Gundam, will be held. The film is credited to Yoshiyuki and it was reported by Bandai President and CEO, Kazunori Ueno, that a film was going to be produced specifically for this event. The Gundam Big Expo homepage, www.gundam30th.net, features a list of screenings at the event, special guests, collectables sold at the convention, some available for the first time, information about the new series, Gundam Unicorn and much more.

The final segment, Soul-G, will be a Gundam commemorative live concert, the exact date not yet released, but it will be held sometime during the current year. The overall theme of this Gundam event is, “Always Beginning.”

Otakon was proud to present, Hidenori Matsubara, character designer and animator, best known for his character work on Oh! My Goddess OVA series, The Count of Monte Cristo and the game series, Sakura Wars. Matsubara has worked as an animator on Bubblegum Crisis, Gunbuster, Perfect Blue, Gunsmith Cats, and the original Neon Genesis Evangelion. Currently, he is working as animator for the new Evangelion movies.

Coming to Otakon for his first time is director and producer, Noboru Ishiguro. Ishiguro is president of Artland studios and original director of Space Battleship Yamato, Macross, Legend of the Galatic Heroes and Tytania. He also wrote the story of Megazone 23, as well as directing the show.

Their last new arrival is producer, Yukio Kikukawa. Kikukawa has spent a decade of his animation career producing the 162 episode d show, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, as well as its three feature movies. He also worked with Noboru Ishiguro, producing the twenty-six episodes of Tytania.

Otakon is certainly living up to its massive size with other guests like, American voice actors, Crispin Freeman, Travis Willingham, Tony Oliver, and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Director Yutaka Yamamoto(The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens), producer Masao Maruyama(Vampire Hunter D, Trigun, Card Captor Sakura, Devil May Cry, and Death Note), as well as Japanese seiyuu, Kikuko Inoue, voice of the famous Belldandy from Oh! My Goddess.

They have several concerts prepared including the US debut of two vocalists, Naomi Tamura and Kanon Wakeshima. They will also have shows by, MELL and the famous j-rock band, VAMPS, who changed their US tour schedule in order to meet Otakon visitors.

Otakon hosts more than just concerts and panelist discussions. They have costume judges wandering the halls all weekend, seeking out the best of the best. A Masquerade will be performed, where winners will receive tickets to Otakon 2010. There is LARP-ing (live action role playing), model contests, the Otakurave which will be hosting a myriad of DJs, anime music video screening contest and of course, the artist gallery.

This enormous convention runs from July 17th to the 19th and tickets are still on sale. Otakon is put on in Baltimore, Maryland, at the Baltimore Convention Center. See their website for details on directions, housing, contest rules and regulations and anything else you may need to plan your trip.