The Vile One's Dungeon: Anime Expo 2008 Preview
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 07.02.2008
The Vile One invades AX '08, and things will never be the same again!
Greetings otaku. Long has this establishment, 411mania, ignored us. Not only us, OTAKU, but the widespread cultural and global phenomenon known as Japanese anime. Well ignore us, they will no longer. The Anime Expo is just gearing up, moving out of Long Beach and relocating to the Los Angeles Convention Center. So for the next several days of the July 4th weekend, instead of being deluged with Will Smith'sHancock, it will be awesome Anime Expo 2008 coverage from yours truly!
Los Angeles Convention Center, site of the 2008 Anime Expo.
Many questions this year will be about the industry's recent decline and contraction, after several years ago the industry tried to grow and oversaturate too quickly. This year panels and keynote events will focus on the issues of illegal fansub downloads, are they the main problem that's been killing the industry? Formerly, the country's largest distributor of anime, ADV, suffered a terrible year. They lost many of their licensed titles such as Gurren Lagann and their magazine division (Say goodbye to the US edition of NEWTYPE and the short-lived, PiQ). Anime News Network basically thinks the industry is doomed. We shall see. The industry also has to face evolving technology and the format of web streaming episodes. Crunchy Roll, a website that formerly forced fans to pay for illegal fansub downloads they didn't even make has now "gone legit", and made deals with the Japanese anime juggernaut producer Studio Gonzo and even ADV Films to stream free ad supported episodes of anime. These and many more will certainly be among the issues discussed as the keynote events this week.
But still at the end of the day, we are fans of anime which is not a genre, but an artform. For an anime can encompass multiple genres and execute them to a degree that most Hollywood movies constantly struggle to. Here is what yours truly has planned for what is the year's biggest and best anime convention:
Interview with David Hayter
Do not adjust your eyes, The Vile One has indeed sat down and spoken with David Hayter, the voice of such legendary characters as Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series, and also Captain America from the 90's Spider-man animated series. You might also know Hayter's work as a screenwriter for such movies as X-men, X-men 2, and finally Watchmen which is due for a spring 2009 release. The interview has already been done, and will be up soon. And in a 411mania exclusive, David Hayter will give his personal thoughts on the ENDING OF METAL GEAR SOLID 4. Stay tuned.
US Theatrical Debut of Evangelion: You Are Not Alone
The legendary mecha/drama series returns to US shores with the brand new movie that already made huge waves in Japan. The new EVA movie will be part of the 35mm film programming at the convention this year. Besides this, the other popular live action Death Note movie, L: Change The World, will also be shown.
Premiere of Batman: Gotham Knight
If you are in the LA area and you haven't cheated by downloading this on torrent yet, it's time to get off your tuckus and get to the LACC to see this movie on the big screen, which will also feature a live QnA. This will be the perfect way to get you and myself geared up for the awesome looking movie, The Dark Knight.
This will just give you an idea on what's in store for this holiday weekend. Day 0 of the convention consisted of the official press junket, where the media reporters were given one on one time with the guests of honor for the convention. Things were running late due to the fake terrorist bomb threat at LAX where all the guests were coming in from. But most of the scheduled interviews were still able to go off as planned, albeit later.
My advice to people flying into Los Angeles: avoid LAX at all costs, and go to Burbank airport.
