Nan Desu Kon - Shinpei Itoh

	For most of the weekend, artist Shinpei Itoh could be found in this pose at the Studio Ironcat table. Fans enjoy the art produced by the Hyper Dolls and Moldiver creator, and Itoh's sketches were in great demand. Itoh was one of several Japanese artists who were connected to Ironcat who had been scheduled to appear at Nan Desu Kon at one point. However, after Kuni Kimura was removed as the head of Ironcat, the other artists (including Ippongi Bang and Mio Odagi) chose not to travel to Colorado.
	Itoh made the trip, however, and proved popular with everyone, including Steve Bennett of Ironcat (partially obscured by a Hyper Dolls cover). Bennett repeated his AnimeIowa promise to improve the quality of the company's releases. He joked about how the original edition of Flag Fighters won a "worst comic of the year" award, then noted that the deficiencies would be corrected in the graphic novel reprint.
	Itoh's comics (among them is Tokyo Bomber School girl) tend to feature two-fisted young women who spend a lot of time beating up men. "Maybe there's a little bit of me that likes women who are strong," Itoh said through translator Sachiko Uchida, "but when the main character is a violent man, I feel bad. As long as they're high school girls who are violent, it's okay...they're prettier that way." Itoh said Hawaiian glamor girl Lena Tanaka is more of his idea of an ideal woman, and not one of his rough-and-tough manga characters.
	Westerners marvel at the artwork of creators such as Itoh, but there also are stories to be told to make manga entertaining. "It takes a lot of practice to come up with a story line. You should practice by looking at movies and books," said Itoh, whose favorite movies come from American director James Cameron. One fan wanted to know how Itoh got into the business, and the answer was "from the back of the book." Manga publishers sponsor talent searches; Itoh entered one of those searches and got a job.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three