Author Archives: I-hsiu Lin

Otakon returned to the Baltimore Convention Center and the Hilton for it’s 17th year. From July 29 to 31 (in the midst of the impressive heatwave,) cosplayers, attendees of all ages took over the inner harbor for the biggest convention … Continue reading →

Yoshida Toshifumi assisted with the interpretertation for Ishiguro Noboru-san and Murata Kazuya-san while another staff interptered for Shinkai Makoto-san. Yoshida began by introducing the panel itself, with the comment that “But none of the producers actually want to come up … Continue reading →

The press conference for Shinkai Makoto-san was held in the Sheraton on the 2nd floor. Many people were in attendance and below is the verbatim transcription of the interview. Shinkai Makoto-san gave his introduction that has become very familiar in … Continue reading →

Aniplex never cease to surprise me. They have always utilized the current media trends to get attention, to advertise. They know the net is a cheap way to get the fans to get the word out. At NYAF 2010, they … Continue reading →

Shinkai Makoto is a native of the Nagano prefecture in Japan. While in middle school, exposure to manga, anime, and novels birthed his desire for creation. One of these anime was Castle in the Sky by Hayao Miyazaki which he … Continue reading →

Ishiguro Noboru is best known as a director, with some of his notable titles including Space Battleship Yamato, Macross, Megazone 23, Astro Boy (1980), Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Tytania. Ishiguro drafted the story for Megazone 23 based on … Continue reading →

Nobuo Uematsu is one of the most celebrated composers in the video game field. He has achieved global recognition for his work on the FINAL FANTASY series that has been performed by world-class orchestras around the world. Nobuo Uematsu has … Continue reading →

Shirohata Bob has directed various well loved series such as Gravitation, Diamond Daydreams, Let’s Dance With Papa and the smash hit series, Hetalia Axis Powers, Hetalia World Series and Hetalia the Movie, Paint it, White!. Sasanuma Akira has lent his … Continue reading →

AnimeNEXT had its 10th year anniversary on June 10 to 12 at the Garden State Exhibition Center. AnimeNEXT which started in 2002 had a steady growth in attendance from about 1000 attendees to over 8000 in 2010. It has also … Continue reading →

The panel was well underway when I entered the room. As expected, Vic was surrounded by the usual throng of fangirls. Throng? No, more like his own private army…or harem. Harem of mostly underage, screaming, hormonal females. Its pure chaos … Continue reading →

A collective group of geniuses in creative expressionism : Mix Speaker’s, Inc. The band began their activities in 2007. They go by a company name of Mix Speaker’s, Inc. and their activities move forward with stories associated with music, original … Continue reading →

The fashion line Sixh. unites visual-kei artistry with the imagery of popular host and hostess clubs. A new theme, ghost-kei, was created by combining the words “gothic” and “host” into “ghost”. MINT launched the line with the New Japan Mode … Continue reading →

Almost all the voice actors were present, except for Vic Mignogna and Greg Ayres. From left to right: Chris Niosi, Michelle Knotz, Robert Axelrod, Leah Clark, Trina Nishimura, Tom Wayland and Bill Rogers.

Sakurai Takamasa-san sat up front welcoming people into the room which brought some laughter from the crowds. “Good morning…cosplayer.” After everyone was seated, Sakurai-san started with talking about the Cosplay Burlesque which they saw yesterday. “No matter which cosplay it … Continue reading →

Last year when the series and movies for Higashi no Eden were just licensed by Funimation, Kamiyama Kenji-san was the guest at AnimeNext. This year, we were able to meet Kakimoto Koudai-san who did the storyboard for the latter half … Continue reading →

From July 30 to August 1, thousands upons thousands of anime, manga and media fans converge around the Batimore Convention Center. Any decrease in the still recovering economy is disregarded as the attendence numbers continue to rise totalling 29,274 in … Continue reading →

Producer Ochikoshi Tomonori worked on Blood+, Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maiden as well as the currently airing Senko no Night Raid. Director Masunari Koji was the original creator for Kamichu! and directed many popular series including Fullmoon wo Sagashite, R.O.D. and … Continue reading →