News from Anime Expo - Sunday 18 July 1999

ANAHEIM, CA.—Right off the bat, the second day of Anime Expo 1999 saw a remarked improvement in what every convention dreads: long lines. Registration lines were noticeably short with the average wait around 30 minutes. Some of the massive shift in processing from what is usually the busy Saturday to Friday can possibly be attributed to a change in convention attendee demographics. A younger age group is more represented in attendees this year the expected light Friday registration became a non-factor.

The Name Game
Conventions make the best podiums for industry companies to announce new titles and acquisitions. AX '99 seems to make the biggest podium.
Finally... finally, the question that has eluded American fans for two years now has been answered: Who has the rights for USA distribution to... the EVANGELION movies. Our reader email certainly underscores the undying need for fandom to know the answer to this question. The answer is: Manga Entertainment has secured the rights to the pinnacle series-ending and confounding movie to NEON GENESIS EVANGELION. Details about exact release dates and formats will be announced at a later date.
They're not dead yet: having been written off as, at the very least, dormant if not dead by fans, AnimEigo made a stunning announcement at AX '99—they have acquired the rights to an anime title! Announced Saturday, AnimEigo stated that they have the subtitled rights to... the SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS: MACROSS television series. This 1981 series is more renown in America as the Harmony Gold edited series, ROBOTECH.

Con Quotables

"It filled in the gap between the South Park movie and Bambi."

—The Disney/Tokuma panel, discussing the PG-13 rating MONONOKE HIME received from the MPAA for the limited October 29, 1999 theatrical release in New York City and Los Angeles.

"God only knows."

—Nobuyuki Ohnishi, visiting guest and renown Japanese artist for his contributing art to the film WINGS OF HONNEAMISE, talking about where he sees the direction that art, in general and in Japan, is heading toward.

Delays, delays, and yet, more delays
Slated to start at 8:00 p.m. PST, Anime Expo's head-lining Masquerade event did not start until almost two hours later. Technical difficulties with both sound mixing and video broadcasting equipment for the webcast/hotel TV broadcasts attributed to the delay that the event regularly has. Fans were not pleased with the extra-long delay, citing that there never seems to be any effort made in rectifying the situation as every year's event is delayed.

Some images from Saturday evening. The last image is a shot of some of the EX staff. The guy to the left is Charles. The guy second from the right is Ken Cho, and the rightmost guy is Keith.

News from Anime Expo - Saturday 17 July 1999

Some images from Friday evening:

News from Anime Expo - Friday 16 July 1999

"Very nice, very interesting... very cultural. I like the costumes. But only a few are willing to pay for valet parking."

—Renato Moran, Anaheim Hilton Towers Valet Parking

With a rush, Anime Expo 1999 kicked off July 16, 1999 once again in Anaheim, California. The largest anime convention in the United States, AX '99 boasts 14 Guests of Honor, including composer Yoko Kanno (ESCAFLOWNE, COWBOY BEBOP), character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto (GUNDAM 0083, COWBOY BEBOP) and character designer Sachiko Kamimura (CITY HUNTER)... just to name a few. EX will have a full convention report for our readers in Vol. 4, Issue 5. Until then, these daily updates will hopefully whet your appetite until then.

The bane of any convention, long registration lines struck again at AX after what seemed a line-free AX '98. That no-wait attitude of 1998 may have been the problem for 1999. Attendees, expecting the same comfort of instant registration, seemingly didn't bother to pre-register this year and just showed up to pay at the door. That, along with the unexpected high attendance for a non-holiday Friday, added up to what every convention producer despises: long lines.

"There is a rumor that Ed of COWBOY BEBOP is modelled after [Yoko] Kanno-san. That rumor is true."

—Toshihiro Kawamoto, character designer for COWBOY BEBOP

"There is no PATLABOR 3. [The next movie] is in the same universe, but it is not the same. However, you'll see some cameos."

—Yutaka Izubuchi, mechanical designer for the Patlabor series

AX always embraces new technology in bringing ways to deliver content to attendees when space becomes a premium: the simulcast room of AX 1997 is a prime example. Taking it further for those who truly can't be at AX, the official web-cast of main programming was broadcast at http://www.pixelshow.com/axlive/index.html. A full schedule is available at the address.

Be sure to keep checking in with EX's News Section for daily (and perhaps more than daily) updates for convention happenings and pictures!