Otaku no Podcast » sdcci

Holy crap, that’s a lot of people!

Donald Burr — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:05:50 +0000

If you’re a long time listener of Otaku no Podcast, I’m sure you’ve heard certain of our panelists complaining about the large crowds at certain of the more high-profile anime/comic conventions. Indeed, when you look at the attendance figures for two recent events, Anime Expo (reportedly 44,000) and San Diego Comic-Con (reported by Wikipedia as “[n]early 140,000, at least 125,000″ but suspected to be much higher, perhaps as high as 250,000), you can’t help but be impressed by those numbers. Comic-Con attendance, in particular, has eclipsed the population figures of most small to mid-sized towns here in the USA.

But even that pales in comparison with the news I received today that, according to early estimates, Japan’s Comic Market (“Comiket”) welcomed a record 560,000 attendees at its Summer Comiket event this past weekend (August 14-16, 2009). Comiket’s organizing body reports that the high attendance figures also indicate a spike in new attendees, which should come as good news to the manga industry.

Think about that, people. FIVE HUNDRED SIXTY THOUSAND. Holy crap, that’s a lot of people! Sure makes our grousing and complaining sound petty and immature, doesn’t it?

Comiket, as it’s called by the cool kids, isn’t the same as your typical western Anime convention. For one thing, it’s frakkin’ HUGE. It dominates the entire Tokyo Big Sight, a massively huge (one might even say “Xbox huge”) convention center with a total floor space of 230,873 m². It’s almost exclusively devoted to manga, specifically doujinshi, essentially self-published manga. Most doujinshi “circles” (the groups who sell their doujinshi at Comiket) are unknown fans, though many well-known manga artists choose to publish doujinshi in order to publish outside of their usual publisher relationships. And they sell a TON of this stuff at Comiket – perhaps as many 20 acres (81,000 m² according to one source). It’s also known for its epic and legendary cosplay. There is plenty of photographic evidence to back this claim. Search for yourself. (I would post links, but there are really too many to post here, and I don’t want to make this article over 9,000 pages long!)

On our last episode I expressed my doubts as to whether my stamina would hold me through a Comic-Con. Well, after reading this, I don’t think I’ll be attempting Comiket anytime soon… perhaps ever. *sweatdrop*

Episode #0008 – San Diego Comic-Con 2009

The Ghost in the Machine — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:09:54 +0000

Once again, I have convened one of our famous Panel Discussions of Doom(tm). This time, our topic du jour is a look back at the recently-held San Diego Comic-Con 2009. And we’re joined by a new guest this time! We also go over a few news items (this is a “news lite” show – I wanted to get the Comic-Con discussion out ASAP), but I still manage to squeeze some “Weird Japan” into the mix. And I also debut a new segment as well – be sure and listen for it!

News:

Weird Japan:

Comic-Con Recap:

ANIME! High Art – Pop Culture exhibit at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- Running now through Sunday, August 23, 2009

Picks:

Danny – Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, Hayate no Gotoku! (Season 1 on DVD, Season 2 on Crunchyroll), G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Season 1.1

Lupin the III

Hayao Miyazaki (Writer). Manga Video 1991, DVD, $9.97

Hayate the Combat Butler

Artist Not Provided. Bandai 2009, DVD, $21.86

G.I. Joe A Real American Hero

Shout! Factory 1983, DVD, $17.12

Dave: The Mighty Boosh (info page on Adult Swim website)

The Mighty Boosh Special Edition DVD (Seasons 1-3)

BBC Warner 2009, DVD, $47.49

Me: Ghost Hound

Ghost Hound Vol 1

Artist Not Provided. A.D. Vision 2009, DVD, $38.83

Cool finds of the week:

“PixelPerfect” shows you how to draw and color Manga in Photoshop
Robo-maid will make your coffee for you, kill your houseguests for you
Mahoromatic:

Mahoromatic

Artist Not Provided. Section 23 2009, DVD, $26.68

Plugs:

Photos from Comic-Con

Donald Burr — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:36:35 +0000

Friend of the show Dave “Paradox” Fayram (no, he hasn’t been on the show yet, but he is still a friend of it) is attending San Diego Comic-Con and has started putting up his pictures. Check them out on his San Diego Comic-Con Flickr set. Looks like he’ll try and upload new ones every day, so check back often!

San Diego Comic-Con is Here!

Donald Burr — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:03:14 +0000

I can’t believe that it’s that time already. Yes, that awesomely huge comic convention, Comic-Con, is set to rock the San Diego Convention Center this Thursday through Sunday, July 23-26, with a special Preview Night on Wednesday, July 22. But if you’ve procrastinated up till now hoping that you could get in at the last minute – sorry! You’re out of luck. All memberships are sold out. WOW! This year’s attendance is going to be epic!

Our intrepid reporter Danny Barer will be there and we will be talking with him after he has come back (and has had a chance to decompress) about all that went on at Comic-Con. Look for that episode sometime next week. (I just learned that one of my other friends is going as well, so I’ll try and wrangle him onto the podcast as well).

For more information, check out the Comic-Con website.

Episode #0002 – Convention-al Wisdom

The Ghost in the Machine — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:51:39 +0000

Like many things in life, anime and manga are best enjoyed among groups of like-minded individuals. There’s nowhere better to accomplish this than at an Anime Convention. This week, we’ll discuss what anime conventions are, and what you should expect to encounter at one. We’ll also bring you reviews and commentary on two of the biggest anime and comic conventions in the world: Anime Expo, and San Diego Comic-Con International (SDCCI), which both occurred this past July. If you missed them, don’t worry! There are plenty of conventions coming up in the next few months, and we’ll give you the skinny on those as well. This is a two-part series, so there will be even more convention talk next week, so stay tuned!

As a reminder, please check our web site:

http://otakunopodcast.com/

for show notes, news about the podcast, and other items of interest.

Also be sure and check out our forums, and leave a comment by email or voice mail.

Upcoming Anime Conventions:

(for even more, be sure and visit http://www.animecons.com/)

Animation on Display

http://www.aodsf.org/

August 25

Cathedral Hill Hotel, San Francisco, CA

Little Tokyo Anime Festival

http://www.myspace.com/littletokyoanimefestival