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The first appearance of famed artist and character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto at Katsucon V came at the opening ceremonies. Mikimoto had arrived at the hotel just before the ceremonies began, after a long trip to the Washington, D.C. area. Mikimoto is beloved by anime fans for his work on the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Megazone 23, Gunbuster and Orguss series. |
| Not far from Mikimoto on Friday night sat Hiroki Hayashi (left), best known for his direction of the Tenchi-Muyo and El Hazard series. Hayashi is one of the hottest directors in the anime industry with his work on the new Bubble Gum Crisis television series. Sitting behind Hayashi was Rio Natsuki, voice actress who has appeared in several of Hayashi's series, including the roles of Nanami Jinnai in El Hazard and Linna Yamazaki in the BGC TV series. |  |
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The Virginia-based comics publisher Studio Ironcat is the "home team" at Virginia-based Katsucon, and used the convention to unveil its newest promotional twist: young women dressed as Ironcat's comic mascots. Here they are shown entertaining Kuni Kimura of Ironcat while Steve Bennett of the publishing house welcomes the crowd. |
| Watching the stage antics were manga-influenced comics creator Colleen Doran (left), a Katsucon regular, and Trish Ledoux (right) of Viz Communications, editor in chief of Animerica monthly. |  |
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Also in the audience were animator Scott Frazier (left), one of the few Americans to build a career with animation companies in Japan, and voice actor Michael Brady (right). Frazier told the opening ceremonies crowd that he was going to direct two anime films in Japan in 1999. |
| A rare look at Virginia artist Fred Perry (1) in a trench coat, (2) on stage and (3) not in the Katsucon artists' alley. As is his practice, Perry arrived at the convention, went straight to his assigned table and started creating commissioned drawings for his fans. |  |
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Mark Mandolia would rather be at the artists' alley, but he decided to be the chairman of Katsucon V. That meant Mandolia spent most of Friday trying to get the late convention events to run on time. (He is seen in a picture that wasn't taken at the opening ceremonies - Mandolia dressed up for that.) In what has become a Katsucon tradition of sorts, the dealer room opened late. |
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Katsucon Day 1 |
| Katsucon Day 2 | |
| Katsucon Day 3 |