FanimeCon - Day Three - Anime Authors

If you're going to be an anime and manga fan, you have to read something eventually, even if it's just subtitles. That might explain why three book authors gathered on Saturday to talk about their projects. Left to right, they're Gilles Poitras, Fred Schodt and Ryan Omega. While all are working on books, no two projects are the same.

Poitras is following up from his Anime Companion book, which sought to explain the cultural subtleties found in anime, but not always explained. His new book will introduce new fans to the art form and prepare them for the reading and viewing adventure ahead. "I'm contributing to the further otakunization of American culture," said Poitras.

Schodt is working on two books, but he'll talk about only one. That's a historical story of a 19th-century American, half Scottish and half Indian, who traveled from the Hudson Bay Co. trading posts to Japan in 1848, when that nation was still closed to the outside world. It's a true story that inspired a manga in Japan. Schodt wouldn't say much about his other book, except that he hoped to release it on April 7, 2003, the day that Astro Boy was (will be?) born.

Omega's book, ironically enough, was inspired by his 1999 experience at the FanimeCon game show, where some of the trivia questions were too hard for fans to answer. So he decided to write a book on anime trivia, to give fans a better idea of what's going on in the shows they like. Omega added that he's anxious to learn what impact the expected U.S. telecast and cablecast of Gundam Wing, Card Captor Sakura and Tenchi-Muyo will have on fandom.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four