Anime Central 2007
It's about time I gave a "brief" report on the happenings at Anime Central 2007, the 10th anniversary of ACen. This is about various different interesting panels that I observed & other fun activities. If you're looking for reports on the industry panels, you can find those here. So let's get started.
Kari Walgren (Haruko in FLCL), Kirk Thornton (Jin in Samurai Champloo), & Travis Williams (Mustang in FullMetal Alchemist) were doing autograph sessions early the first day, so I made sure to get there. Kari's one of my top favorite actors in the entire industry (listen to her as Haruko of Fuu in Champloo & tell me she's not awesome), & Kirk goes back to my childhood as the voices of Gabumon & Mummymon in Digimon. So I got them to sign some of my goodies & got a picture with Kari & Kirk. & yes, I blocked out my face. =b Courtesy of the Laughing Man Hacks You site. Check out the goodies they signed here:
Up next was an Evangelion panel with Tiffany Grant (voice of Asuka), Matt Greenfield (director for the dub), & Spike Spencer (voice of Shinji). A lot of interesting things were discussed here, such as the TV ending versus the movie ending, Shinji & Asuka's relationship, how Rei & Asuka have become sexual icons (Tiffany shouts "they're 14!" & Matt explains how they gradually changed from A-cups to bigger sizes over the past 10 years), & Tiffany & Spike doing a sexual awareness radio add together but it was never aired because it sounded "too real." Check out some video highlights here:
Click to viewEven though it's not really anime, there was a Gargoyles panel with creator Greg Weisman. Now I LOVE Gargoyles. I watched it everyday when I was a kid, & have been collecting the new comics that have started to come out in the past year by Weisman that officially continue the story where it left off 10 years ago. Greg talked about a lot of things, such as how the show got started, why it ended, & the future of the series in the form of the comics. I never thought I'd get to meet Mr. Weisman at an anime convention, but I'm glad I did. The man's a genius.
Next up was the much anticipated Yu-Gi-Oh GX is Not Just for 12 Year Olds panel! I meant to take more videos & pictures of this panel, but it wound up largely turning into a group discussion about the series. The guy who ran the panel did a few activities such as trivia contests, showed some music videos, & well done GX cosplaying at other conventions. But mostly we just talked about the series as a group (both dub & Japanese versions), & it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed geeking-out with the people there about the series, since it's extremely rare to get to do that IRL. The panel leader even made his own Winged Kuriboh, & showed us this disturbingly well done Chronos (it's a guy):
Spike Spencer had an interesting panel called "What Happens at the Con, Stays at the Con" about his book of the same name. Basically he's gathered the craziest stories he's ever heard at the conventions he's gone to & humorously wrote them into a book. He read a few off to the audience, including one of a young girl who was most likely underage that was wearing a very skimpy outfit with the sign "Hentai $5" around her neck. Many people wondered what the sign actually meant, so one guy gave her the five bucks & she sat down & lifted her tiny skirt up to show she was wearing nothing underneath. Needless to say, she was escorted out of the building shortly after that. Spike actually has a pretty loud & has filthy mouth, unlike his characters (Shinji in EVA, Ginta in MAR, Hanataro in Bleach), but he's a pretty fun & cool guy. After that was Anime Hell & Midnight Madness, which was a bunch of crazy videos (usually having something to do with anime of Japan, but not always) & hilarious fandubs.
Day 2 brought "Inside the Voice Actors Studio" with Kari, Kyle Hebert (Kiba in Naruto), & Travis. Well Travis was SUPPOSED to be there but he overslept, so Brett Weaver (Nabeshin in Excel Saga) took his place. =b Kari talked about her first role ever in FLCL & how she started out, & also her most embarrassing moment in the anime fandom when she first found out about anime conventions & she couldn't believe they (nor anime fans) existed. =b Video highlights of the panel will be towards the end of this post.
Of course, High & Mighty Color performed at ACen this year. The crowd freaked out & were screaming like crazy when they started to perform "Ichirin no Hana" from Bleach. Couldn't get any video of the concert, but for those of you unfamiliar with their songs:
At an ADR panel Greg Weisman (3x3 Eyes), Christopher Ayres (Nerima Daikon Brothers), Tiffany Grant, Matt Greenfield, & Kirk Thornton talked about the behind-the-scenes world of anime dubbing. Most interesting was Weisman talking about his experiences on the American CGI cartoon "Max Steel," which aired on Kids WB at the turn of the century. He talked in quite detail about how horrible the experience with the show was, & how it wound up ruining his career for several years. You can see him talking about it in the recap video towards the end of this post.
I was able to get Tiffany Grant's autograph, who voices my favorite anime girl of all time. I brought along with me my 10th Anniversary Evangelion 2007 wall calendar, which I imported from Japan at the end of last year. I thought the Asuka poster (which just so happened to contain my birth month as well) was perfect for her to sign. You can see what she wrote above, which I have mixed feelings for. It was pretty cool & witty of Ms. Grant to come up with something like that on the spot, but I had always pictured in my head that she was calling Shinji (or me =b) since I'm such an Asuka/Shinji fan (or an Asuka/me fan =b). So now every time I see it I'll be thinking she's calling Kaji. =b
FUNimation showed their newest dub Suzuka at ACen on Saturday night. For the first time ever, the first 3 dubbed episodes of the series were shown to those attending. FUNI actually has the first episode streaming for free on their website right now, so make sure to check it out here:
http://funimation.com/suzuka/
One of the biggest events at ACen for the past 3 years has been a panel called "Your Favorite Anime Sucks," where audience members shout out the name of any anime & the guys hosting it will tell you why it sucks. Seriously, ANY anime. These guys have done their homework & are prepared for anything that comes their way. I remember when I went to check them out at Anime Central 2005. It was held in a small room, but the room was completely packed to the brim with people laughing like crazy. Because of the great turnout, it was moved to a much larger room last year & still got full. This year the line went around the block, I looked at it & realized there was no way even half the people in line would make it into the large room the panel was to be held. So I couldn't go this year. ACen really has to put them in the Grand Ballroom for next year. It's become that popular.
Instead I was able to go to "Improv Night with the Guests," which featured a bunch of the Texas voice actors from FUNimation & ADV Films doing improv. Due to obscene cussing & use of naughty dialogue, the event was 18+ only. But it was extremely funny & a lot of good stuff was thrown around. It was lead by Mike McFarland (director of DBZ & FullMetal Alchemist) on guitar, & featuring improv performances by Chris Ayres, Leah Clark (Suzuka in Suzuka), Colleen Clickenbeard (Rose/Hawkeye in FMA), Tiffany Grant, Brittney Karbowski (Anna in Chrono Crusade), Brina Palencia (Nina in FMA), Xero Reynolds (Satoh in Elfen Lied), & of course Travis Willingham. Travis got grilled more than anyone else, & was constantly at the butts end of everyone else's jokes. Check out some highlights I recorded of the Improv event here:
On Sunday, the last day of the convention, I was able to get Shinichi Wantanabe's autograph. He's the creator of many hilarious anime including Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemy, & Nerima Daikon Brothers, & has also appeared in several of his anime as his character Nabeshin (who he always dresses up as in real life). I asked him to sign the inside of my Excel Saga artbox. Watanabe-sama was surprised by this, & apparently I was the first person ever to ask him to sign the inside of a box. I'd say he did a good job though:
A DragonBall panel was held at ACen this year, lead by Mike McFarland (director; Master Roshi) & Kyle Hebert (teen/adult Gohan). The two got along real well & acted like old buddies while talking about their good times with FUNi's flagship series (Kyle did leave FUNimation after all to join the California group of voice actors). They talked about practical jokes the actors played on each other, people fainting from screaming too much, how much Vic Mignogna (Ed in Full Metal Alchemist) hated playing Broli, & other good memories. Kyle mentioned how while currently recording shows like Naruto & Bleach, the directors frequently apologize for parts where the characters have to scream. To which Kyle replies "I worked on DragonBall Z. This is nothing!" A few video highlights from the panel can be found in the recap video towards the end of this post. Kyle also recorded coming to ACen for his video blog/website, Kyle TV (I was actually talking to one of his "rangers" for awhile at the con without even knowing it =b):
A bunch of Japanese actors from Madhouse were at the convention too, but I never got around to seeing them. Which was a real shame, since I was looking forward to getting Yuko Minaguchi's autograph. She played Pan in DragonBall GT, & since I'm a big Pan fan I really wanted to get that one. I was able to get the autographs of the guys behind Trigun, though. Yasuhiro Nightow is the creator of Trigun, & Noriyuki Zinguji did the weapon designs for the anime series. Both were very nice gentlemen & gave nice autographs in my volume 1 of the Trigun manga:
There were many other panels & events I attended, but I was trying to keep this as brief as possible. AnimeOnDVD has a run-down of some more of the events, some of which I went to as well. Before I knew it, the closing ceremonies had arrived. A lot of the guests had left early, but those that stayed seemed to have fun attending the final event. Mike McFarland & a few others had fun clapping in weird ways. Since I was sitting somewhat near them, I had fun matching their clapping. Mike realized what was going on (although had no idea where it was coming from), so would clap again every time I clapped after him. It was kind of an endless cycle. =b But that was that, & ACen came to a close. I took a video of Mike & Kari saying their farewells, which you can see here. This recap video also includes footage of Greg Weisman, Kari's early experiences with dubbing anime, & the DragonBall panel:
The Dealers Room is fun as always, & I bought a bunch of cool stuff:
The interesting Haruhi thing that Bandai had at their booth was a gigantic poster for "the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya." It was free to people who spent $50 or more on Bandai DVDs at their booth. They also had the Haruhi boxset to show off at their booth, although they can't sell it until the 29th, though I received mine a few days ago.
To see all the other Anime Central pics I took, including many shots of cosplayers, check out the picture gallery below. & if you want to see other ACen videos that other people have uploaded (some of which were used in this post), you can check them out below too:
Pictures: http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/Nebs66/ACen/
Videos: http://www.youtube.com/acen