アニメ Republic

Anime Expo recently posted up their schedule for the 2009 convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center. After taking a look at it for a few minutes I realized that there were even less industry panels (from US based anime and manga publishers, as opposed to companies that are industry related but do not actually publish or release the stuff) then there had been last year. No longer do you see companies like Geneon, Central Park Media or even ADV as these are just a few examples of those who have folded up, reduced to just re-releasing old stuff or gone dormant.

In the past 18 months there has been a high number of what some people call “license rescues” of various anime titles. The sad fact is that, as noted by John Sirabella on the AnimeonDVD forums, these are less about rescuing anything and more about getting a cheap, already produced (translation, subtitles, dubbing, etc.) show that they can move quickly out the door in Stack-pak type cases. Sadly, it seems that gone are the days of higher end packaging that we once saw in abundance in the early 2000’s. While this doesn’t seem to be a big deal to many of today’s fans who appear to be in an ever increasing quest to find that “absolute zero” of price points, it is still somewhat disheartening.

Some folks have speculated that with the current state of the anime industry and these trying economy times in general that anime and manga in the US will shrink back to the levels it was in the mid-1980’s and prior. Given the degree of impact that technology has had on the anime market/fandom/industry over the past decade I doubt that will ever be the case. A few industry folks have claimed that the dreaded “fansubs” have caused all this economic tragedy. They fail to mention (or realize?) that fansubs have been around since the 1980’s. It’s the delivery method that has changed making it much easier to make and distribute these items. Baring a giant asteroid wiping us all out, technology will continue to improve and therefore as long as anime and manga are made in Japan, there will always be a high level of access available to pretty much anyone who wishes to put in even a minimal amount of effort. And of course you will also still see some amount of commercially released anime in whatever form is the hottest thing at the time whether it be Blu-ray, on-line streaming, crystal or digital projection into your own mind.

One thing I would love to see is anime companies stop trying to please all groups of fans. They try to release one product that will appeal to everyone and at the same time end up appealing to mostly no one. You will never get it cheap enough for the cheapest cheap-ass anime fan and you will never release the highest of high-end for the collector/fan-with-money with only one release. I would love to see companies try a two tier level to releasing anime in the US. If you are going to do “series sets”, as is common with main-line US TV DVD/BD releases, then consider this: two versions where one is ENGLISH AUDIO ONLY and priced VERY low (the Japanese companies will not care about this as there would be no Japanese audio track so what Japanese fan would EVER consider reverse-importing it!) being released as a mass-market item to the likes of Wal-Mart and Best Buy and others of the like. While the other version would be a mirror image of what is released in Japan (but with the obvious additions of English audio and subtitle options) and would be priced much higher – say about 20-30% less then what is charged in Japan, so even if a Japanese fan imported it back to Japan once they added in shipping costs it would be about the same as going down the street and buying it locally – reverse importation eliminated. The only group you haven’t pleased with this scenario is the cheap-ass whining “fans” who want everything in ultra perfect packaging with multiple language options on Blu-ray for $5 per season delivered to their home yesterday by a hot supermodel – naked.

Enjoy!!

I have added a link in the ‘Recommended Sites’ section for long time friend and fellow old schooler Dave Merrill’s site ‘Let’s Anime’. You will find lot’s of cool aritcles and other interesting historical anime stuff there. Check it out!

Enjoy!!

This past weekend was the 20th year for Project A-Kon in Dallas, TX. It was held at the fine Sheraton (formerly the Adam’s Mark) in downtown Dallas where it has been for the past several years. It’s been getting a little crowded, but fortunately there has been a little down-turn in the anime industry and of course economy as a whole so it seemed to me at least that there were not too many more people than last year, if not about the same. I think many cons will start to see their attendance levels hitting a plateau and perhaps even lowering a bit in the coming years. They would be wise to plan for such possibilities.

Thursday was my travel day which started with the plane trip from Orange County to DFW. The flight was thankfully quite pleasant if not that roomy. As fun as it is, I can’t afford to spring for the First Class seats anymore in these trying economy times. I ran into one of the folks from Bandai’s card game division who happened to be on the same flight heading to the con and we ended up sharing a cab ride into the city. That was cool because I got to learn about another part of Bandai, make a contact for possible activities at Anime Los Angeles and also saved on the cab fare.

Getting to the hotel and checking in was pretty hassle free. It really helps if you don’t “fan-out” on the hotel staff. Standard room in the North tower, the only drawback being that it was on the 29th floor and as the con got underway so did the wait time for an elevator. I headed over to pick up my badge which didn’t take that long all things considered. Meet up with long-time friends Mike and Alicia and ended up spending the rest of the evening chatting in the lounge on the 38th floor.

Friday started late since we didn’t turn in until after 2 am but that was okay since there wasn’t too many panels I wanted to see. I ended up meeting another friend, Rich, in line waiting for one of said panels. Turns out we were in the same line for several minutes about 6 people apart before we realized it. Friday was another late night taken up in part by what has become something of a tradition for Rich and I. We find a table and a couple of chairs somewhere in the con with no signs or other identifiers and just sit there casually chatting. Invariably people will start coming up to us asking various questions about where things are, what times things are at and other info desk type questions. We’re cool of course and try to help out as best as possible because it’s the right thing to do, but it’s still fun.

Saturday was more of the same, including an even later start to the day allowing for the even latter crash time the night before of about 4 am.  We hung out in the 38th floor lounge for a while before heading to the hotel room to watch the cosplay on the con TV channel.  The channel was a little on the sketchy side due to some tech issues on the hotel side of things. But it was good for mocking. Then we went back down to the con to check things out and watch people hang around taking pictures and other fun stuff. We sat around the convention center for a while before heading back to the hotel room for a bit. I then headed back down to video room 3 where the Classic Anime Fest was running. This was the same one I had helped run last year since the person who normally does it wasn’t able to make it back then. That ended around 6 am which makes it the latest I have stayed up at a con in many, many years. I did think about just staying up but ended up crashing for a few hours before getting up and heading down to the con registration desk to see about getting a membership for next year. Since I was rather late I ended up with number 11.

After checking out of the hotel I hung out for a brief period before heading back to DFW for the plane ride back to the OC. Fortunately I was able to hone in on someone’s Super Shuttle ride, so that trip only cost me $17. The plane trip back was okay except that it was a full row this time. I really feel sorry for the guy in the middle seat, that’s why I try and book my seats early.

Project A-Kon will return in A-Kon 21 : Revenge of the Penguins to be held May 28 – 30, 2010 once again at the Sheraton in downtown Dallas, TX.

Enjoy!!