The Daily Almanac: Katsucon Aftermath
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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First off, check out my interview on The Fan’s POV by Out Of Time Production on our impressions of the convention. Now, remember that I wasn’t in the best of moods on Sunday, so forgive me for being a little too bitter in this interview. But I think it went rather well, even though I completely lost my train of thought whenever anyone walked in front of the camera.
But yes, I am now a level three certified maid. (^_^)
Jon and Ernie also totally hooked me up with hotel and transportation last weekend, and that couldn’t have gone any smoother than it did. I rate the Out Of Time travel experience an A++++ and would be willing to travel with them again in the future.
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FUNimation had their big War on Pants promotion last weekend, and I actually had a lot of fun with it. As always, American Cosplay Paradise provided top quality cosplayers (pictured above) who played their roles quite well. Not only were the bottomless outfits quite sexy, but the girls said a lot of cute things to keep with the moé theme of the show, and they also said a lot of funny things to keep with the tongue-in-cheek nature of the campaign. I don’t know how ACP finds these girls, but you can see why FUNi and Bandai continues to turn to them for all their promotional needs.
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Another panel at Katsucon that I really enjoyed a lot was the Anime Marketing Workshop that was run by FUNi’s con guy Adam Sheehan. For the most part, you break up into partners and run through the scenario of marketing a brand new anime license. From announcement to advertisement to packaging, your product is constantly running into unforeseen road blocks created by the Japanese rights holders, the fan community, and your manufacturing centers. You and your partner discuss each obstacle and plan out the solution to dealing with it.
As a total industry geek, I just loved talking about this kind of back end business stuff. According to Sheehan, all of the obstacles that were described in the fictional scenario have actually happened before with real life titles that FUNi was trying to market.
The workshop was a lot of fun, and I recommend you all check it out when Sheehan brings it to a con near you.
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And finally, the only news from Katsucon that made it to all the other news sites was the rescue license of Trigun. You know, there’s not much I can really say about the series. Trigun is an excellent anime, and it has become very popular with otaku of my generation because of its run on Adult Swim in 2003.
And I think that right there may be the interesting thing about this announcement. What’s the demographic of this re-release? Are new anime fans who have never seen the series really interested in seeing it now, or is this purely for the fans who remember it from 8 years ago? Has the anime market gotten to the point where the “Adult Swim” generation is now a form of nostalgic appeal?
I think this might be a trend we’re starting to see with the FLCL and Trigun re-release happening in the latter half of this year. Notice how both series aired on Adult Swim, and both series will now be upgraded to HD on Blu-ray discs. These are clearly going to be collectibles marketed to that slightly older fan base. In the post anime boom era, we’re actually seeing a reemergence of boom era anime.
It’s just funny how it only takes 8 years for an anime to be considered a “classic.” I’m expecting to hear Evanescence and Fountains of Wayne on the oldies station any day now.