Headquarters
a few hours' drive down the interstate in Des Moines, The Right Stuf is
the home team for AnimeIowa. Marc Ray of The Right Stuf noted that the
company had saved its big recent product announcements for Comic-Con International
in San Diego, but they still saved something special for Cedar Rapids,
a premiere of the Dangaizer dub. "I feel it's a cross between Eva and Yamamoto
Yoko," he said, noting that the series is abut a video game fan who turns
out to be the descendant of a race that built long-forgotten robot weapons
which are brought back to life. Ray also said he know of change in Gravitation,
referring to rumors that the gender of one of the male lovers in the series
might be changed by rewriting the translation script.
The visiting
team for this convention was AD Vision from Houston. Vice-president Matt
Greenfield usually speaks about the future plans of the company, but he's
keeping mum on a couple of items. One item is any progress toward creating
an all-anime cable TV channel, something mentioned the previous month at
Otakon. The other secret is the identity of the second Excel in the Excel
Saga dub. The actor who replaced Jessica Calvello has been chosen and has
started to record the balance of the series, but Greenfield plans to keep
her identity a secret until all of the episodes with Cavello have been
released. (Calvello dropped out of the Excel role because of vocal stress,
but she's recovered.) After ADV has completed Excel Saga, they'll likely
start dubbing Puni Puni Poemi, a series that Greenfield described as more
talky than Excel. ADV will be ready to handle that job, since they're going
to have eight production studios when the renovation of their Houston and
Austin facilities is completed.
Artist Robert
DeJesus' work is being seen by an audience that goes beyond the gaming,
anime and fantasy fans who have enjoyed his work. DeJesus has been one
of the artists on four Spider-Man books from Marvel which aim at children,
titled "Spider-Man's Heroes." The books tell the stories of police officers,
firefighters, doctors and other everyday public safety and emergency workers
who have donned the mantle of heroes since the Sept. 11 attacks. The books
have proven to be popular with children, and the police and fire books
have sold the best so far.
Cel collecting
is one of the most colorful, addictive and potentially expensive branches
of anime fandom. One dealers' room vendor at AnimeIowa had a Asuka cel
from Neon Genesis Evangelion on sale for $600. Several cel collectors brought
small portions of their collections to the convention to share their art
with others. However, the future of cel collection is questionable, because
cels are going out of use. Anime frames now are increasingly being created
on computers instead of on sheets of celluloid. Computer-aided animation
is faster and less expensive than cel animation, but it also means no cels
to collect. The cel collectors said they'll have to switch to collecting
production sketches, or look for limited-edition cels that will be made
exclusively for fans.
Headquarters
a few hours' drive down the interstate in Des Moines, The Right Stuf is
the home team for AnimeIowa. Marc Ray of The Right Stuf noted that the
company had saved its big recent product announcements for Comic-Con International
in San Diego, but they still saved something special for Cedar Rapids,
a premiere of the Dangaizer dub. "I feel it's a cross between Eva and Yamamoto
Yoko," he said, noting that the series is abut a video game fan who turns
out to be the descendant of a race that built long-forgotten robot weapons
which are brought back to life. Ray also said he know of change in Gravitation,
referring to rumors that the gender of one of the male lovers in the series
might be changed by rewriting the translation script.
The visiting
team for this convention was AD Vision from Houston. Vice-president Matt
Greenfield usually speaks about the future plans of the company, but he's
keeping mum on a couple of items. One item is any progress toward creating
an all-anime cable TV channel, something mentioned the previous month at
Otakon. The other secret is the identity of the second Excel in the Excel
Saga dub. The actor who replaced Jessica Calvello has been chosen and has
started to record the balance of the series, but Greenfield plans to keep
her identity a secret until all of the episodes with Cavello have been
released. (Calvello dropped out of the Excel role because of vocal stress,
but she's recovered.) After ADV has completed Excel Saga, they'll likely
start dubbing Puni Puni Poemi, a series that Greenfield described as more
talky than Excel. ADV will be ready to handle that job, since they're going
to have eight production studios when the renovation of their Houston and
Austin facilities is completed.
Artist Robert
DeJesus' work is being seen by an audience that goes beyond the gaming,
anime and fantasy fans who have enjoyed his work. DeJesus has been one
of the artists on four Spider-Man books from Marvel which aim at children,
titled "Spider-Man's Heroes." The books tell the stories of police officers,
firefighters, doctors and other everyday public safety and emergency workers
who have donned the mantle of heroes since the Sept. 11 attacks. The books
have proven to be popular with children, and the police and fire books
have sold the best so far.
Cel collecting
is one of the most colorful, addictive and potentially expensive branches
of anime fandom. One dealers' room vendor at AnimeIowa had a Asuka cel
from Neon Genesis Evangelion on sale for $600. Several cel collectors brought
small portions of their collections to the convention to share their art
with others. However, the future of cel collection is questionable, because
cels are going out of use. Anime frames now are increasingly being created
on computers instead of on sheets of celluloid. Computer-aided animation
is faster and less expensive than cel animation, but it also means no cels
to collect. The cel collectors said they'll have to switch to collecting
production sketches, or look for limited-edition cels that will be made
exclusively for fans.
