By Ashley Stagner Feb. 24, 2006 I’m a little behind with this article because the Vericon VI convention that I went to at Harvard University was from January 27-29. My main purpose for this article is to remove the stigma that most conventions have; that they are only for geeks, nerds ubernerds, etc. I don’t believe this is true.
A convention is only a group of people coming together with a common interest to share their passion for it. An example is a car show. Car shows don’t receive the same treatment, and yet all they are is a group of people coming together to share their passion for cars. I know that people who go to car shows reading this will claim it isn’t the same, but fundamentally it is. I have been to car shows before, and have seen the airbrushed cars that say “love machine” on the side. People can be just as eccentric about cars as they can be about anime.
The convention I went to, Vericon VI, was presented by the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association in conjunction with the Harvard Anime Society. I went with the Hamilton Anime Club. We left Friday afternoon and came back Sunday night. And yes, this convention was for anime.
For those of you in the world who do not know of this glorious Japanese form of cartooning, well, according to whatis.techtarget.com, anime is “a term for a style of Japanese comic book and video cartoon animation in which the main characters have large doe-like eyes. Many Web sites are devoted to anime. Anime is the prevalent style in Japanese comic books or manga. In Japan, the comic book is a popular form of entertainment for adults as well as for younger audiences. Story lines are often very sophisticated and complex and extend into episodic series. Typical anime themes or genres include Ninja and other martial arts; the supernatural or horror story; the romance; and science fiction including robots and space ships. Foils for the main characters, including robots, monsters, or just plain bad people, often lack the doe-eyed quality.”
(Borneo Bulletin Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)A Japanese anime lecture organised by the Embassy of Japan at the Orchid Garden Hotel in Berakas attracted a big crowd of anime fans from throughout the country.
The event conducted by Koji Takeuchi, a leading anime producer from Japan, was attended by more than 300 children and adults.
The guest of honour at the function was Dato Paduka Hj Hamdilah bin Hj Abdul Wahab, Deputy Minister of Industry and Primary Resources and the President of Brunei-Japan Friendship Association.
The function began with a speech from Mr Yoshinobu Nisaka, Ambassador of Japan to Brunei Darussalam.
The Japanese Ambassador in his speech hoped that the anime lecture would give Bruneians an opportunity to learn about the ways animation is produced and how the robust and popular anime industry has been successfully developed in Japan.
He said the anime industry has grown rapidly over the last 50 years and has become an immensely popular pastime for many Japanese people.
He added that making good animation is not an easy task as it requires exceptional drawing and computer graphics skills, a good sense of art and PR.
FORT WORTH, February 22: FUNimation Entertainment has reached a deal with Rainbow Media for the IFC channel and VOOM HD’s Animania HD to air an anime series inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.
Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai 7will have its U.S. premiere on Animania HD on March 1 as part of its new Wednesday Animayhem block. On April 1 it begins its IFC run, airing at 10:30 p.m. in conjunction with IFC’s popular film strand, Samurai Saturdays. Shot in high definition, the GONZO Digimation-produced series revisits Kurosawa’s epic tale of a small village in feudal Japan.
It’s celebration time for kids, the space for children on television is seeing a fierce churn with the Animax channel gearing up to muscle its entry into a territory dominated by Turner’s Cartoon Network, Pogo and Disney’s Channels.
Animax, the animation channel from the One Alliance bouquet will bring into effect three new shows for the young adulthood. The channel will introduce ‘Game Max’, and ‘JC, the Ninja Girl, and ‘Ranma ½’.
Rohit Bhandari, Animax, Director-Sales & Marketing, said, “For a channel just 14 months old and facing established multi-national broadcasters, even nosing up to No 2 is quite a feat, Animax will try to establish it presence in this Indian Market. From the next fiscal we will be introducing new Indian initiatives to lure the Kids, the Initiative also will have Local programming.”
‘Game Max’, a weekly show is in its period two, it provides information on the Asian gaming industry and offer advice on how to become a top professional gamer. The show starts from February 18 at 5 pm.
‘Ranma ½’ is about a 16-year-old martial artist Ranma Saotome, who is stuck with a peculiar curse after falling into an enchanted spring - whenever he gets wet with cold water, he changes into a girl! His father suffers from an even worse fate - he turns into a big fluffy panda whenever he touches cold water. Their only consolation is that upon contact with hot water, the curse is reversed and they revert to their original forms. The show begins on February 23 at 5.30 pm.
