C2E2 2011: Day Two
The second day of C2E2 had more of an anime feel to it. Surprisingly it mostly came in the form of an American company- Marvel. It was a panel dedicated to the current state of Marvel on television in the US. That pretty much means they were limited to the new Avengers cartoon currently airing on Disney XD, of which they premiered a never before seen episode (spoiler: Thor dies!). But they also discussed the upcoming Marvel anime series premiering soon on G4.
Iron Man was advertised as being a part of the panel, so seeing them show off this series wasn’t much of a surprise. But all they showed was a clip, & not a full episode like expected. A raw, Japanese clip. Yeah, not even subbed. Considering a large portion of the audience probably wasn’t really into anime, I gather they were largely confused by what was going on & said. As it turned out though, Iron Man was just an appetizer for the main course.
That’s right, for the first time ever in the US they showed the premiere of the Wolverine anime! Quite impressive considering it’s still about half a year away from airing on G4. & yes, it was subbed this time. The Marvel guys running the panel had to warn parents & children in the audience about the violence in the series. Because even though they were showing it closely after the Avengers episode, the violence level of two were quite different. Ah, I love anime.
Back on the show floor, I noticed that yet another anime-related booth decide to not show up at the last minute. Called Yes Anime, they were supposed to be selling anime goods, but alas C2E2 got even less anime love.
At least Comixology had their booth still. The digital comics app hasn’t made a giant leap towards manga yet, with their only big title so far being Hetalia. But I asked then rep there what their plans were for manga in the future, & if they planned to add more titles. “Stay tuned. Real soon” was the response I got. Sounds promising!
& they weren’t the only ones going digital. Dark Horse had a giant “booth” on the show floor. One of the things they were showing off was their brand new digital comics app for the iPad, which has yet to be officially released. It was all for the playing with at C2E2, though. Of course, Dark Horse has some manga titles too. The only one that showed up in the beta though was “Lone Wolf & Cub,” which is a promising start. Hopefully we’ll be seeing even more though.
There was also some anime presence in the Artists Alley, such as this random but highly appreciative “Panty & Stocking” sighting.
Voice actor Spike Spencer held yet another panel, this time about being a voice actor & tricks of the trade. Once again it was very amusing & entertaining, & this room was utterly packed to the brim with fans. A much better turnout then the previous night’s, & that one wasn’t a bad showing at all either.
The final event of the night was the masquerade. & even though there weren’t really any anime-related cosplayers (save for perhaps Link & Zelda), the entire thing was presented by cosplay expert & giant anime fan Mario Bueno. While the players were getting ready, he serenated the audience with some music, a few of which were Japanese anime tunes, including the above performance from Code Geass.
Lots of really nice costumes up there on the stage, but by far my favorite act was Skeletor singing “I’ve got You Babe!”
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