Media Report: Holiday Anime and Manga Party 2010

Even though it was raining, fans of anime and manga came out to celebrate the holidays.

Tony Yao the host for the event introducing the panelist for the Unofficial One Piece Podcast. The attendees learned things that one may not have noticed before in the series.

Megumi Sato from Samurai Beat Radio and Yao conducted a 10-minute “commercial break,” which continued to happen in between panels. This is also known as “fillers.” It was a good way for the following panelist(s) to be prepared for his or her segment or simply, we were just waiting for them to arrive.

During the Kodansha Comics Launch Event, Yao was introducing Dallas Middaugh, the Associate Publisher of Del Rey Manga, who is now at Random House Publisher Services (RHPS), to the anxiously waiting audience. Middaugh announced the Summer 2011 continuing and debuting titles under the Del Rey and Kodansha Comics brand. When fans brought up certain titles, Middaugh realized that he forgot to include it in his presentation. Regardless we enjoyed his presentation.

Also, the attendees had the opportunity to ask questions about the releases and the company. People wanted to know what was going on with the publishing aspect of both Del Rey Manga and Kodansha Comics USA.

After the panel and Q & A, there was a Kodansha Comics Raffle. The following are the prizes that were given out, in order: four One Piece posters, two sets of the complete Ghost in the Shell manga series and the top prize was a character towel. So, if your name got picked, that is the prize you would get. No picking and choosing like the previous raffles in Kinokuniya.

Once the final prize was given out, postcards of Gon the cute creature that looks like a dinosaur were given out to the fans. It was close to being a mob of fans, but with Middaugh’s quick hands, he was able to pass it out peacefully.

Because I was hungry and I left before the Translating Tezuka panel with Mari Morimoto, translator of Ayako, began. However, I was able to grab a photo of the freebies laid out by the speaker herself.

The man we all been waiting for and love, Uncle Yo! Pictured here is Chris Troy, who is the man in the red hoodie, and Uncle Yo, in black, during their comedic stand-up routine, which lasted for an hour. We all laughed at his jokes about anime, manga, video games and other popular entertainment references. In the end, Uncle Yo presented his funny Christmas poem. Thanks for all the laughs, Uncle Yo!

After the event with Uncle Yo, people obviously left. However, a good classroom size group, 20 – 30, stayed behind for the screening of Jose Velasco's "Calypso Agency." As the speaker guessed about what was going through our minds, “who is this guy?,” which is probably what most of us were actually thinking. So, who is this person? Well, after watching his six minute movie, him and his core team of FOUR are living proof that you do not have to be Japanese to have talent in doing Japanese style animation. If you ever get a chance to watch it, go watch it! Yes, it was that impressive! Need I say more? Check out the images below!

New York Anime Festival Raffle time! Here are the prizes that one can pick from when his or her named is called. Thanks to Yao and the representatives from NYAF for helping out!
© 2011 Linda Thai

Photography by Linda Thai
Thank you Jose Velasco for providing the lovely images of Calypso Agency

For more pictures, check out the Something Deeper: Anime, Manga and Comics Page on Facebook