The 11th annual Anime Weekend Atlanta event was held on September 23-25 at the Waverly Hotel off Cobb Parkway in Smyrna. This year was the first time I have attended the event. The only other *con experience I have to draw upon is DragonCon, which is much broader, but still much the same in format. You’ve got your same basic elements: discussion panels, presentations, special guest appearances, video rooms, game rooms, costume contests, an artists’ gallery, and a vendor room. Basically, everything aimed to please a targeted fanbase. With AWA, there’s a noticeable shift in the emphasis on video rooms, as anime is a visual medium.
The first panel I attended covered anime production from the US side. It was headed by translator Neil Nadelman, ADV staffer Mariela Ortiz, and producer/voice actor Mike Sinterniklaas. Voice actress Monica Rial was slated, but did not attend the panel. Specific topics included deadlines, rush jobs, the trouble with acquiring materials, and working with our friends in Japan. I came away with the impression that producing anime is definitely for the dedicated.
Next up was the Production I.G presentation. The presentation consisted mostly of demo discs and closed with a short Q&A session. We were shown clips from I.G’s recent works including Ghost in the Shell 2nd Gig, Innocence, IGPX, and the Prince of Tennis movie. CLAMP’s Tsubasa and XXXHolic were mentioned, but no trailers were shown. We also saw trailers from Production I.G’s sister company, Xebec, whose recent works include Negima. The closed Q&A was rather disappointing as the I.G representative was unable or unwilling to go into any great detail about current projects.
The most impressive showing at the Production I.G panel was definitely IGPX, or Immortal Grand Prix, the product of a collaboration between I.G. and Cartoon Network. It looks to be a violent and fast-paced form of mecha racing and the animation looked top-notch throughout the trailer. IGPX is scheduled to air in Japan this October and in America this November.
I perused the dealer’s room after the I.G panel and caught the tail end of Full Metal Fantasy, a live-action fan film based on Full Metal Alchemist which is currently only being screened at *cons, followed by J-pop idol Yoko Ishida in concert. The concert, while enjoyable, was quite short and I only recognized one song, the O.P. from Ai Yori Aoshi. Geneon, the concert’s sponsor, seemed intent on pushing "Para Para" dancing, which I can only assume to be related to the rhythm and dance game Para Para Paradise. I didn’t stick around to learn the details.
Instead, I sat in on a two hour showing of Space Battleship Yamato: The Making of an Anime Legend. The documentary detailed the formative years of the Yamato anime dynasty, which included no less than three TV series and five feature films. I had only heard of the US release of Yamato, Star Blazers, only in passing, but I was impressed with the evolution of the animation over the course of the Yamato timeline and the formative role the title played in the sci-fi subgenre of anime.
My first AWA was a pleasant opportunity to immerse myself in anime fandom. I look forward to the spending more time there in the future.
I picked up the first US release of the Battle Royale manga under the impression that I would be treated to the many of the same quality literary elements found in the original novel. Unfortunately, I found the manga lacking in comparison to the novel.
As I mentioned in my last post covering the novel, Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale novel spawned a feature film and a manga series in Japan. While the movie doesn’t seem to have made it to the US, Tokyopop picked up the distribution for the manga series. A quick glance at their Battle Royale lineup shows that the series is still ongoing and it looks like new releases could continue into early 2006. Tokyopop hired experienced comic book artist and writer Keith Giffen to handle their English adaptation. More on his contribution later.
The first thing to really catch my attention when leafing through the first volume was the artwork. Illustrator Masayuki Taguchi’s applies an odd caricature-like style to most of his character designs that I found jarringly at odds with my own perceptions drawn from the novel. I found the cartoonish style impressing a derisive slant on the entire first volume that seems out of character coming from the novel.
English writer Keith Giffen lends his dialogue to Taguchi’s imagery. Battle Royale is clearly intended for an adults, but Giffen inexplicably seems to be writing below his audience. Volume 1 is full of hackneyed lines that range from merely annoying to downright grating. There’s also some question as to the extent to which Giffen altered the dialogue. An Amazon reviewer provides an example were a student says, "It was you or me," which becomes, "Red isn’t your color," in Giffen’s alteration. The scene comes easily to mind and it’s an excellent example of how the writing gives the manga an unfortunate "dumbed-down" feeling.
Tokyopop’s first release of the Battle Royale manga series comes as a great disappointment for me following the excellent novel. I imagine that Keith Giffen was probably first exposed to the series through the manga. He might have had the novel as a reference, but it was likely as an afterthought. I would further surmise that Giffen would probably have handled the writing for Battle Royale differently if his initially impressions were grounded in the novel. If I hadn’t read the book first, I would probably find more sense in his interpretations. As it is, I am hesitant to continue any further with the series.
Vance’s recommendation to read Battle Royale turned out to be an excellent suggestion. He was also kind enough to loan me his personal copy, which will serve as the basis for my review.
Battle Royale is an intense thriller written by author Koushun Takami and originally released amid controversy in Japan in 1999. It was ultimately popular and successful enough to be later adapted into both the manga and film mediums. VIZ Media handled the localization for the State-side release. With the exception of a few typos, I felt like they did an excellent job with the translation and writing.
Battle Royale is staged in an eerie alternate Japan gripped by a strong-arm dictatorship known as the Republic of Greater East Asia. The Republic has developed the "Program," a twisted battle simulation in which entire classes of high school students are inserted into a controlled environment where they are forced to kill each other to survive.
Takami leads us through a gritty trail of terror, betrayal, and death as the students of Shiroiwa Third-Year Class B come to grips with their situation. Some follow the familiar "kill or be killed" paradigm while others unite under uncertain bonds of trust. Like any good Japanese fiction, no characters are one dimensional, although the impassive Kazuo Kiriyama comes close. Every character is developed in some form either before or shortly after their unfortunate demise.
While reading, I couldn’t help but feel like Takami is taking a long, hard look at the political and social climate that lead Japan into World War II. Battle Royale is clearly a work of fiction, but it is deeply rooted in some very real fears of oppression that I think many of us carry around every day.
I’ve been following the US localization of the D.N.Angel manga series very closely since its initial release, largely because I was quite taken with the anime series. The domestic releases of the manga series have generally lived up to my expectations set forth by the anime series.
Volume 7 takes the series through the "Second Hand of Time" ark. It’s probably my least favorite part of the series, and it can be somewhat frustrating to wade through as the greater plot seems to halt as the author delves into the substory.
Earlier volumes of D.N.Angel featured a fair number of noticeable differences between the manga series and the anime series, but the Second Hand of Time sequence plods along in much the same fashion in both mediums. It still makes for enjoyable reading, but I will be looking for things to pick up with the next volume.
I came across this little gem in Books-A-Million the other day while browsing the manga section as I usually do in bookstores these days.
I’’s is a another comedy-romance series. It doesn’t break much new ground in the premise. You’ve got your bumbling guy and at least two gorgeous girls for him to pursue. The first volume concentrates heavily on one Iori Yoshizuki, but an old love interest has already been introduced by the end of the first volume. Where I’’s stands alone is in it’s unique style and skillful execution.
Masakazu Katsura’s artwork has a definitive style; I recognized it immediately from time spent browsing online galleries. Katsura’s style comes across as a bit more natural than some of the exaggerated features typical of Japanese manga. The exaggerated emotion is all still there, so you don’t lose any of the manga flavor, but the style of I’’s sets it apart from your typical manga series.
Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised with the first volume of I’’s. I was enthralled by a charming set of characters and Katsura’s unique style. Better yet, Viz has priced their new Shonen Jump Advanced line, of which I’’s is a part, at $7.99, a good 20% cheaper than the going rate for localized manga.
