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Anime Expo - Monday - Charity Auction
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The difference between Anime Expo and other anime
conventions is the charity auction, which raises money for the City of
Hope medical charity. Spokesman John Taylor hoped that the charity would
collect more than the $21,000 raised at the convention in 1999, but he
never could have imagined what the auction would bring. He also couldn't
have foreseen that the charity auction would become one of the convention's
most spontaneously entertaining events. |
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As in previous years, guests of honor donated items
for the auction. This Trigun wall scroll autographed by Yasuhiro Nightow
was sold for $750. A small Karoneko doll from the Trigun series was auctioned
for $300! Yu Watase art sold for as much as $3,750, and a beautiful Utena
drawing from Chiho Saito went for $2,800. However, the oddest part of the
auction came... |
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...when voice actress Rica Fukami presented an idol
singer dress that was designed to be worn by fellow actress Michie Tomizawa
during an appearance of Sailor Moon actors. Tomizawa never wore the dress,
which was identical in design but different in color from the dress that
Fukami wore to the auction. One person shouted to Fukami, "Does it come
with what you're wearing now?" She replied, "We'll talk." The winning bid
of $225 came from a big, burly member of the Anime Expo staff - and the
dress was far too small for him. |
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This year's most valuable artist was character designer
Akemi Takada, in a bidding splurge that stunned the audience. First, the
bidding for one Takada drawing started at $2,000 and quickly rose to a
winning price of $5,200. Then came the final piece of the night, an Akemi
drawing of Ayukawa Madoka. The bidding opened in the thousands and shot
above the previous convention records. When the bidding reached $10,000
for the drawing, the crowd staged a standing ovation - but it wasn't over.
The winning bid for the Akemi drawing was $16,000, more for one drawing
than the entire auction had reached two years earlier. Overall, the City
of Hope charity auction raised more than $68,000, three times the 1999
total. |
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The unusual auction action continued when Taylor
added a Dutch auction of extra Anime Expo staff shirts. One of the shirts
was modeled by a strikingly cute young woman, and she created such a stir
that Taylor announced that the highest bidder for each of four sizes of
shirt would get the shirt off the woman's back. One instant admirer in
the audience proceeded to outbid the crowd for three sizes of the staff
shirts, and three times the woman had to take off the shirt and give it
to the same man. (She was wearing a dress under the shirt, as shown here.) |
