This year saw a return of many previous guests like Halko Momoi and Hiroyuki Yamaga, with newcomers including Mamoru Yokota and hit musical group FLOW! The swap meet was the largest one to date brimming with rare goods for sale. Check out our reports and interviews as we talk to Halko Momoi about her return to Fanime, and with Mamoru Yokota.
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The Fanime Charity auction has been around for awhile and every year items are sold off for an important cause. This year’s beneficiary was the Red Cross. The auction was hosted by Ric Meyers, who is a martial arts expert and has hosted Fanime for a couple of years. There were many items up for auction. While most items go for a little less then a hundred dollars, there were some that went up to a couple of hundred dollars. Of course these items are original art pieces and sketches. There were other items that were interesting including an acoustic guitar, tambourine, and a cow bell. All three instruments were sold with signatures of all the musical guests at this year's Fanime including Flow, LM.C and Halko Momoi. Probably the most interesting item sold was a unique figure that went on a special trip to Japan. Last year, the figure was sent to studio GAINAX and has returned this year to Fanime. The figure comes with a complete set of signatures from various artists and animators from the studio. In addition, pictures of characters from various GAINAX series and signed character accessories were included in the auction. The charity auction is always an interesting event to attend. The reactions of fans to high bidding is quite amusing. Charity auction is one way for otakus to do something good for the society instead of spending all of their money on items without a cause.
With less than a month away, we’re gearing up for the impending interviews that we will be conducting at Anime Expo. The only problem is, there are an overwhelming number of guests! So here’s what we’ll do, let us know who you think we should interview and we will add them as a priority on our list. Also feel free to post any questions you might have for any of the guests and we will do our best to include them in the interview! I have included a list current list of guests as of this post update inside, you can also find the guest list with descriptions on Anime Expo's site here.
What are you waiting for? Add your suggestion and questions in the comments NOW!
Fanime is known for its well informed panels and open forums. Many of these events are light hearted and for entertaining purposes. This year’s Fanime had a special panel that was just the opposite. Nujabes: Rest in Beats was a panel opened to the fans of the late and great Seba Jun aka Nujabes. Nujabes had died last February in an accident in Tokyo, but the announcement of his death didn’t happen until weeks later. News of his death spread quickly thanks to social outlets such as Facebook. Nujabes was well known for his soothing beats and music compositions from the anime hit Samurai Champloo. At the panel, fans were allowed to express their remorse and the impact Nujabes had on their lives. The panel was hosted by Austin and Thomas from eigoMANGA who are both fans of Nujabes. They were accompanied by two hip-hop artist Noka and Lonewolf who later performed a tribute song to Nujabes using the fan favorite Aruarian Dance composed by Nujabes. Nujabes will always be remembered for the great songs he made and it will live on in the hearts of his many fans.
Anime Expo announced on Wednesday that Japanese seiyuus, voice actresses, Yui Horie and Eri Kitamura will be joining as Guests of Honor this year to promote the American release of Toradora! Horie has worked on the anime adaptation of Love Hina as Naru Narusegawa, and more recently as Tsubasa Hanekawa from Bakemonogatari. Kitamura has voiced Saya Otonashi from Blood+, Rin Kokonoe from Kodomo no Jikan, and more recently, Yachiyo Todoroki from Working!! We had somewhat hinted both guests' attendance previously. With already an impressive lineup, we can promise you that Anime Expo still has a few surprise guests up their sleeves. Stay tuned... Press release inside.
Despite some of the problems Anime Expo has experienced within the last few years that has put the convention's future into question, they have managed to assemble an impressive guest list this year. What’s even more surprising is that it doesn’t end there.
Rumors and chatter within the industry are running rampant, and we can say with confidence that we expect to see a few more well known voice actors and possibly a couple mangakas apart from Hiroe that may show up at this year’s Anime Expo!
Stay tuned as we’ll keep you posted, and don’t forget that we will also be bringing coverage of this year’s Anime Expo including photos, reports, and interviews!
Merely a couple months earlier, Sakura-Con held the world premiere of the Trigun: Badlands Rumble with Director Satoshi Nishimura and Character Designer Takahiro Yoshimatsu present in Seattle, Washington. Not to be outdone, Anime Expo has announced on Tuesday that they will be premiering the first episode of the next installment of Black Lagoon titled Roberta’s Blood Trail. The series’ original creator Rei Hiroe as well as Mell who sang the opening theme song for the anime adaptation, will also be attending as a Guests of Honor. Press releases inside.
This is turning into quite an impressive guest list AX is having this year despite the mass protests and resignation of various members of the staff earlier this year.
Megumi Nakajima and May'n, who sing the parts for Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome respectively in Macross Frontier, have just been announced as official guests of honor for Anime Expo 2010. The two will join the festivities in the first weekend of July as they participate in guest panels, autograph signings, and a concert featuring the two of them and a special, unannounced guest. Considering that Macross Frontier has not been licensed yet in North America, is this a hint of what's to come? Full press release follows the jump.