The Anime Almanac

This was originally going to be part of my Katsucon report, but I feel that there is enough content here that it deserves its own post.  I’m going to have many unfavorable things to say about this convention in tomorrow’s post, but the truth is that my weekend actually started off on a positive note as I attended a panel for voice actor Greg Ayres.

My long time readers probably remember the controversial interview I did with him two years ago over the issue of fansubs. I approached Ayres before his panel last weekend, and much to my surprise, he remembered me very well. We actually got into a very friendly, and somewhat gossipy, conversation prior to the panel. Then I sat with the rest of the audience to hear his interesting story.

And this time, it really had nothing to do with fansubs.

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Just had to start off with this photo caption pointed out by MangaBlog this morning. While reporting on the Handley sentencing, The Iowa Independent pictured several shojo comics like Tokyo Mew Mew with the following caption:

Seven manga books, intercepted and seized by federal authorities, led to a 40-year-old Iowa man being indicted on child pornography charges. Similar although non-explicit graphic novels, like the three pictured above, are available at most public libraries.

Now, in a way, they’re right. Tokyo Mew Mew is kind of similar to The Animal Sex Anthology because they’re both Japanese comics. That’s just like how Star Wars is similar to Debbie Does Dallas because they’re both classic American films from the late 1970’s.

But I think that there might be some misleading conclusions formed when you compare children’s entertainment to hardcore pornography, even if you state that one is not quite as sexually explicit as the other. You can kind of see why Handley didn’t really stand a chance facing a jury of his peers when that’s how the Iowan media handles the story.

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So yes, I survived Katsucon. As you can see, I wasn’t able to post my daily con reports this time around, but if you’ve been following my twitter feed, you would have seen that I was not quite happy with my experience at the con this weekend. I’m going to spend a little time working on a “Highlights of Katsucon” report to detail just why things didn’t really work out for me. But at the same time, I’m planning to also highlight some of the things I did like about the con, including a very interesting panel from the ever controversial voice actor Greg Ayers.

So be sure to stay tuned to my full con report, which I’m expecting to post within the next few days. However, let me just go over news items from the convention and the little bits and pieces that won’t make it into my report.

Though a bit of a warning, FUNimation was the only company presenting at the convention last weekend, so of course, mostly all of the news will be centered around them.

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Christopher Handley, the man who pleaded guilty last year to possession of “obscene” lolicon manga, was finally sentenced today to 6 months of jail, followed by 3 years of supervised released and an additional 5 years of probation. ANN has the complete details on the court documents released today, which includes a lot of background information on the case that had yet to be known to the public.

There are no words to describe this. Somebody is actually going to be in jail for 6 months just for his manga collection, and that is one of the most ridiculous things that could possibly happen in this country’s judicial system.

I’ve been writing about this issue for years on this blog, about the dangerous precedence being set when you make such works of fiction illegal. But the problem is not getting better, it’s been getting worse – far worse – year after year.

And nobody seems to care. Because after all, what about the children? Won’t somebody please think about the children!

Those fictional, big eyed, blue haired children!

But what’s worst is that when looking over Handley’s background information, you realize that this guy is your average American otaku. He had no prior criminal record, graduated college with a 4.0 GPA, spent a brief time in the US Navy, and then had a solid 12 year professional career as a computer programmer.

The guy had no criminal record! He was a regular, law abiding, tax paying, American citizen.

And now he’s going to jail for fictional pornography?!

He’s spending time behind bars because he read comic books?!

How the hell did this happen?

How the hell could this possibly happen?

But most of all, where does it go from here? Will more American otaku get sent to prison for the contents of their anime and manga collection, or will we finally get rid of this ridiculous law once and for all?

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Sure enough, the big “Secret Project” that FUNimation’s Events Manager Adam Sheehan was teasing about last week was the War on Pants promotional campaign. As explained in this hilarious Inglorious Basterds parody video, otaku going to Katsucon this weekend will be on a mission of killin’ Nazis creating panty paper airplanes. Lt. Ano May then goes on to call on the brave soldiers to fly these “weapons of pants destruction” and show those damn khakis who’s boss.

Two new paper airplane designs will be available each day of the convention at the FUNimation dealer booth, and supplies will be limited. There will be a special panel on Saturday night were con goers can enter paper plane contests and win prizes. And finally, the company has once again enlisted the services of American Cosplay Paradise to supply the booth with Strike Witches cosplayers through out the entire weekend.

As always, keep it locked to my Twitter feed this weekend for live, round-the-clock coverage direct from the frontlines in Katsucon as the War on Pants continues.

Do not weep.

War is kind.

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