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Friday, 14 May 2010 13:34

Danny Choo @ Anime Expo 2010

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Reliable sources had told us Anime Expo was negotiating with famed otaku blogger Danny Choo a couple months back. On Thursday, Choo has confirmed on his Facebook page that he will be attending:

"Tonight I'll be sending in my confirmation to attend AX. アメリカの大型アニメイベントANIME EXPOで講演します。"

Choo runs the popular otaku blog site dannychoo.com which started originally as a figure and hobby blog site. Over time, the site's exponential growth lead to worldwide media attention allow Choo to start his own business based on the site, Mirai Inc. Anime Expo is the largest anime convention in the United States roughly bringing in over 40,000 fans worldwide.

Stay tuned as we bring you more news and coverage and we are in the process of interview arrangements!

Tonight I'll be sending in my confirmation to attend AX. アメリカの大型アニメイベントANIME EXPOで講演します。

Thursday, 06 May 2010 14:18

Gainax Booth at FanimeCon 2010

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Gainax studio is no stranger at the San Jose anime convention, FanimeCon. Gainax's Executive Director and Co-Founder,  Hiroyuki Yamaga has made almost yearly appearances since the convention began. What's interesting is that for the first time on Fanime's official dealer's list, Gainax is listed as having a booth. Currently it is uncertain as to what they will be using the booth for, though we're hoping it will be used to sell exclusive Gainax merchandise and goods from Japan.

Update: FanimeCon has removed Gainax from their dealer's list. A moderator on the official Fanime boards has stated that the company will not be holding a booth. Thanks to jimsha for the information.
Friday, 30 April 2010 18:08

World Cosplay Summit @ FanimeCon '10

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Rumors were floating around online that the World Cosplay Summit (WCS) will be holding a preliminary at this year's FanimeCon in San Jose, California. Staff and organizers have stressed that the competition will be held as a panel independent of any Fanime run events. An official post has been made on Fanime's forum supposedly by one of the event organizers on the topic. Little details are provided, but what we do know that the panel will be held on Sunday May 30, 2010.

Roughly 15 countries compete yearly since 2003 and is sponsored by TV Aichi. Preliminary rounds are held in each respective countries with finals typically taking place in Nagoya, Japan.

Wednesday, 28 April 2010 00:50

Noizi Ito Panel

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Sakura-Con 2010 kicked off with autograph sessions by various guests including Noizi Ito, probably best known as the original character designer for the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Shakugan no Shana. Ito-sensei also held a Q&A panel later the same day offering fans in America to ask her questions. We have included a full summarized transcription inside.

Tuesday, 27 April 2010 20:50

Mamoru Yokota @ FanimeCon 2010

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FanimeCon announced on Tuesday that artist Mamoru Yokota will be joining the guest list this year. His more prominent roles include working as animation director for the anime adaptation of Death Note, and as a producer for the 2002 anime version of Kanon, and Air the movie. As an artist, he has released various artbooks and has also contributed promotional artwork to popular series including Code Geass, and Macross Frontier. Interestingly, Anime News Network has noted that he will be appearing at a 18+ only panel. Yokota is also the character designer for several adult themed hentai such as Magical Kanan, and Angelium.

Sakura-Con is one of the largest anime conventions in the northwest and like all anime conventions, it has its usual events like the Masquerade and AMV contest. What made Sakura-Con stand out from the rest, was the Anime Swimsuit Contest Panel. This year’s Anime Swimsuit Contest was a lively, comedic affair with jokes thrown one after another. The Anime Swimsuit Contest is an unique event for an anime convention and is one of the more entertaining adult events that an otaku can go.

Trigun is one of the most beloved anime series of all time. Unlike most other series, Trigun is a science fiction western, which is strange to see in a medium saturated with animated school girls. Trigun is a one of a kind series and now, thanks to the effort of the fans, a new film has been made to complement the T.V. show. Thanks to the good people at Sakura-Con, Badlands Rumble had its world premiere screening in Seattle, Washington with Director Satoshi Nishimura and Character Designer Takahiro Yoshimatsu in attendance. Fans got to see the movie even before it was released in Japan. The movie was shown without any dubbing or even subtitles with raw Japanese audio. Even though most of the fans at Sakura-con could not understand the dialogue, it was still relatively easy to follow.

Friday, 23 April 2010 12:15

Charity Auction

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The Charity Auction for Sakura-Con 2010 was held in room 2AB from 11:00am to roughly 2:30pm.  The benefitors of the auction were the Make-A-Wish Foundation®.

Sakura-Con had a huge pile of items to auction off.  Everything from DVDs, to key-chains, to autographed posters to exclusive sketches, this event was sure to be exciting.

The most notable (high-priced) items that were auctioned off were mostly exclusive sketches and autographed items.  Noizi Ito had provided four sketches for this event.  Two Haruhi Suzumiya sketches and two Shana sketches.  Each with the words Sakura-Con 2010 written across the top or side, her autograph and the character sketch in a shade of red.  Each exclusive sketch sold for $2000, $1500, $1600, and $1600.

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The three hour event finally ended around 2:30pm.  Most of the items were sold, though some items never found a home.  At Sakura-Con, items that are not sold during the Charity Auction are cycled to next year's Charity Auction.  With a total of over $27,000 raised, Sakura-Con's Charity Auction in 2010 was a definite success.

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