Events (134)
Children categories
In 2008, Macross Frontier shook the anime community with it's action packed mecha action and muscial performances. The show's lead singers, May'n (May Nakabayashi) and Megumi Nakajima rose to stardom touring Japan leading to a grand finale at the prestigous Budokan Arena. Almost a year and a half later, both singers were invited to perform live at Anime Expo 2010 in Los Angeles. See what both singers had to say about their experience and performance in front of their American fans in our full press conference transcription.
For three years running, Anime Expo has taken place in the Los Angeles Convention Center. It would seem that AX would get in the groove of things and host the most successful convention yet. Instead, this year was marred by changes in management, hikes in fees for merchants, and almost an overload of guests. The result was disorganization and inconsistency in almost every possible event, an exhibit hall that was only about half the size of Anime Expo 2008’s, and problematic scheduling that forced attendees to choose between different guests they wanted to see.
There were still positives to this year’s Anime Expo, though. While many directors and character designers appeared last year, the theme this year was certainly idols and voice actors. From the idol group AKB48 to Macross Frontier stars Megumi Nakajima and May’n to veteran voice actor Yui Horie and Eri Kitamura, AX 2010 had something to satisfy every fanboy.
From panel coverage to exclusive interviews, read on for The-O Network’s coverage of Anime Expo 2010!
Stay tuned in the coming week as we add more content!
Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage is a new spinoff of the Warriors series from Tecmo Koei. It combines characters from the Fist of the North Star manga with the hack and slash action fans have grown to love from Koei’s iconic series. We checked out the demo at E3 to see how the two mesh together.
Often known for its RPG flagship titles, Square Enix has released its fair share of experimental games in the past; at E3, they showed off their latest WiiWare titles, The Tales of Bearworth Manor: Chaotic Conflicts and The Tales of Bearsworth Manor: Puzzling Pages. Both games use the same basic control scheme and concepts, but different goals to create two different experiences.
Hidden within one of the corners of E3 was GAEMS, or Gaming and Entertainment Mobile Systems. GAEMS is working on a portable case, which will include everything needed for a gaming session, for the Xbox 360. GAEMS representatives demoed the first prototype for us and we have the details for you after the jump.
Brought to us by the same brilliant minds that created Super Stardust HD, Dead Nation brings us more of the same gameplay that enthralled gamers when it first hit PSN in 2007. This time, the game takes an adventure approach to game progression, pitting players against a city of zombies rather than just endless waves. The-O Network Online checked it out at E3; read our thoughts after the jump.
Prequel to Sega Genesis’ Contra: Hard Corps, Hard Corps: Uprising (working title) was one of the simplest, yet outstanding games on the show floor at E3. It is a side scrolling shooter where players assume the role of Bahamut, the antagonist from the original Hard Corps, as they explore his origins. Being a shooter, Uprising had a big emphasis on gameplay and we were begging for more by the demo’s end. Read our impressions to find out why.
At the Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) booth, we were able to get some hands-on experience on the game, The Agency. The game is aimed to be a massive multiplayer online shooter with a touch of role-playing mashed together. Exclusively on the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows, SOE is aiming to be the first to change the way online shooters are played. Will this game be a hit for the PlayStation 3 or just another first person shooting game? Continue reading for more information about the game.
Dance Masters is probably one of the more interesting game debuting at E3 and is being made by the creators of Dance Dance Revolution. Naoki Maeda, probably best known as simply NAOKI from the Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) series and producer for Dance Masters, introduced the game by dancing with us to the fan favorite DDR song, Night of Fire.
With very little information on it other than its sci-fi roots and the fact that it’s created by Shinji Mikami of Resident Evil fame, Vanquish may not have caught everyone’s eye. Luckily, a playable demo was available at E3 and we were able to try it. Considering Mikami’s past successes, we were prepared for another exhilarating, fast paced game. Read on to see our impressions.
More...
Hunted: The Demon's Forge is a brand new IP from Bethesda Softworks, focusing on two characters, E'lara and Caddoc. During E3, we got a chance to play through the demo and break the game down. Read out impressions to find out more about this interesting new title.
Yukie☆AniMelody took place on May 29th on Stage Zero Concourse. Yukie Dong is a local live anime song performer located in the Bay Area. She has performed live concerts at various events such as, FanimeCon, Anime Expo, and many more.
FanimeCon's Swap Meet is one of the place to be if you're looking to get rid of some of the old anime stuff lying in your closet. As a buyer, it's also a great place for some awesome bargains and rare goods. To make clear, this is not a traditional swap meet where people trade their stuff; instead, people buy and sell.
The event is held on Day 0 and on the first day of the convention from 8 PM until 1 AM in the gaming room. The hall was probably more packed with people than the dealer’s hall, with shoppers squeezing by each other in order to get around. The sheer variety of anime goods at the Swap Meet significantly outweighed what was available in the Dealer's Hall. Items ranged from huge selection of pencil boards, posters, keychains, and accessories, to rare figures and of course tons of manga. We found people selling manga volumes as low as $0.50 each.
For first time shoppers, I highly recommend going early to scout out some of the stuff you may want. Rarer items such as limited edition goods may disappear faster so grab those first. Don’t forget, most sellers are more than happy to haggle. If you can’t get it for the price you want, come back later and try again. If the item remains unsold, the seller might be more willing to sell at a lower price.
With the overwhelming popularity of the Swap Meet at Fanime, we can only hope that more conventions will hold similar events.
The Illustrations of Bishoujo panel was held on May 29th, in Salon 3 at the Marriott. This 18+ event was carded and the special guest speaker was Mamoru Yokota. Unfortunately this event was not very well planned, and instead of being a presentation of Yokota’s illustrations, it became more or less a Q&A panel about his work and his personal experience working in the industry.
Mamoru Yokota is an experienced character designer, director and producer. Mr. Yokota has also worked on well-known anime titles such as the Toei version of Kanon, the theatrical version of Air, Magical Kanan, DEATH NOTE, True Mazinger Impact! Z, Macross Frontier, Astro Fighter Sunred, and HELLSING IV. His most notable work is probably his illustrations in the light novel series, Rune Soldier Louie.
The first half of the panel was filled with Yokota’s personal experience at Fanime. He was very delighted to see that Fanime held a video room dedicated to hentai, but more so he was surprised that the room had guys--and girls. After the short monologue from Yokota, he opened the floor up to questions from the audience.
In summary, the audience asked questions concerning Yokota’s feelings about the growth of hentai visual novel games in America to his views about eroge companies blocking international visitors to their websites. He stated that he didn't know very much about America's preference for hentai games apart from what is heard from local news mediums, and he was a little surprised about the blockage of foreign visitors from eroge creator websites. He mentioned he would talk to one of his good friends back in Japan who is the founder of one of the companies mentioned.
The panel lasted until 11pm and ended with Mamoru Yokota selling off some of his doujinshis, figures, and t-shirts he had brought with him. None of goods he brought along were phenomenally amazing, but interesting at the very least.