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Sakura
Con - Sunday - Special Features
 Anime comes
from Japan, but many fans haven't gotten a full introduction into that
nation's native culture. Mary Ohno filled that gap with a couple of enthusiastic
introductions to the world of kabuki entertainment. Most fans don't seen
kabuki as a form of dinner theater, but Ohno made it clear that kabuki
is more than stylized theater and dancing - it's a kind of night out on
the town. She began by telling fans about the elaborate preparations needed
to provide that entertainment: a woman's kabuki outfit can take two or
three hours to put on. Then, after singing to the accompaniment of the
three-stringed instrument that provides kabuki's unique sound, she explained
the reason of the sound of the wooden blocks that is used in kabuki (and
some anime); it's to let the audience know that a performance is ready
to begin. |
 Ohno performed
to a packed room at the convention's opening ceremonies. She told the audience
that kabuki isn't played in silence, but that the performers are encouraged
by shouts from the crowd - which the audience was glad to provide. At a
Japanese kabuki performance, people enjoy three or four hours of singing
and dancing, during which they'll eat meals in much the same way that North
American audiences go to dinner theaters. Kabuki audiences pay $80-$150
for the privilege of attending these events, she said. |
 If anime is
derived from kabuki, it's expanded to include the newer tradition of the
giant fighting robot. For all of the fictional creations from Iron Man
No. 28 to Mazinger Z, there's no giant bipedal robot in real life...yet.
Mechanized Propulsion Systems brought their plans for a real two-legged
running and walking creation to the convention. The company's two representatives
spoke about how they'd like to use conventional hydraulic actuators from
farm equipment and combine them with some electromechanical devices to
make a robot that could run 160 miles an hour - although it might take
some extra work to get the robot to stop from that speed. They're planning
to power their first model with a turbo-diesel piston engine that charges
the batteries which would make their mecha run, although they're planning
to eventually use stored power from a flywheel to make the mecha move.
But they emphasized that it's not going to be a flying Gundam - or an Eva
that runs only for a minute if the umbilical cord is disconnected. |
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