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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2488 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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Thanks for taking my question on how to pitch and do a panel at an anime con. It's actually a relief that I've been thinking along some of these lines already.
Actually, I do about 20 sessions a year at iOS/Mac developer conferences, so the presenting part I'm good with… one thing I'm focusing on is how anime cons would be different (more fun than "stepping through the LLVM debugger", obviously, but also the fact that they're called "panels" at anime cons even when it's just one person's presentation). Technically, rather than dual-screen mode on a laptop, I've had really good results just using an iPad and swapping out from Keynote to other apps like the video player as needed. In Keynote, you'll get presenter mode on your screen and slides on the projector automatically, and most other apps will just mirror. Easy peasy. I noticed some of the Japanese presenters using iPads at Anime Central this year, notably the Wake Up, Girls! producer, who was using iBooks to show screenshots and publicity photos while members of the cast were speaking. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5517 Location: Iscandar |
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As usual, a very informative and engaging supernerds podcast. I am glad and happy to hear that ANN was able to find writers for the new daily stream feature; I am looking forward to it.
Speaking of Summer shows, I have been fairly impressed by Argevollen. On the surface it appears like a generic mecha show revolving around an armed conflict. But I am liking the characters (it has plenty of cute girls), and the art and animation by Xebec is very nice. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2703 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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I'm no pro at doing panels, though I've generally gotten positive responses whenever I do them, but I think the best advice one can give is simply to focus on subjects that you are passionate about. If you really like what you're planning on talking about then people will enjoy your panel. While I didn't actually go to Otakon this year, I had planned on doing so originally & even got a panel approved for it before I had to cancel out. The thing, though, is that the panel that was approved was one that sounded neat in concept (productions that essentially have the same name but are completely different from each other), but whenever I worked on the slides & getting everything together I just couldn't really get into it. In the end I'm kind of glad that I didn't go to Otakon, because I worry I would have given a subpar panel that really didn't showcase the best that I could do.
In comparison, at AnimeNEXT my second panel was late morning on Sunday, yet had a packed room & everyone was really into what I was offering, and I had tons of fun doing the panel. The only issue I've really had (I've never had technical problems, luckily) is when I offer a subject that gets barely any attendance, but I have been thinking about trying it one more time next year with naming that works more in its favor. --- As for my question about bad anime that's still in someone's collection, I had a feeling Mike was going to answer Galaxy Angel Rune due to that last volume's rarity. I added a personal example with me owning a complete VHS collection of AWOL -Absent WithOut Leave-, including the dubbed tape that Bandai released. Man, AWOL was rough to get through due to it's non-existent (read: slow as pitch) pacing in the first half, and even the second half could have been paced a little better. Why do I feel like keeping those VHS tapes, especially since I recorded the episodes to DVD while watching it? Because our release is the only one in the world. Not even Japan got this TV series on home video, and this was from 1998 & aired on a late-night slot, which means that it was made to be sold on home video! That kind of exclusivity makes me feel like a complete AWOL set is a collector's item. Having said that, I did manage to see AWOL Compression Re-MIX recently, which was a highly compressed & re-edited version that acted as Japan's home video release of the show. Wow, it's amazing what the removal of four episodes worth of content, which includes all of episode 3, can do to help a show out! Compression Re-MIX was actually pretty enjoyable, and probably the closest anime will ever get to having something like The Dirty Dozen or even The Expendables; it's not hidden gem, but AWOL Compression Re-MIX did improve my opinion of the title enough. --- I say Justin would be the extra member of the group, who debuts half-way into the story & sometimes acts on his own. That would make him colors like green, an alternate red, white, gold, or (including the Power Rangers-exclusive creation) even titanium. --- I'm with Daryl in that Tsukasa Kotobuki is a good character designer. He also did the designs for the Battle Arena Toshinden series, which had some cool artwork (& amazingly music, but that's from other people). I think some other favorite designers would be the late Shingo Araki, Masami Suda, & Isamu Imakake (he's generally a key animator & director, but he did some designing in the late-90s & his art style looked nice & sleek). Another great episode with the Supernerds. |
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Anime World Order
 Posts: 390 Location: Florida |
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Keynote definitely works fine (Mike's used it in the past), but the downside to it is that you can't dynamically make changes to the presentation as you're doing it without other people seeing. For years I was pretty staunchly anti-PowerPoint, but it looks like the most recent versions properly support having both video along with still images.
I actually named him while trying to brainstorm a character designer I don't particularly like (hence the urgency at which I corrected myself when I first said "Tsukasa Hojo" by mistake!), but even he's talented. I remember having particular reservations when I heard my R1 Zeta Gundam box set was going to feature Kotobuki's art on the cover since he's quite the departure from YAS, but it turns out he can draw robots quite well. That box art ended up being one of the few things about that infamous release I wasn't mad about. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8503 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Stop pretending the high school musical episode wasn't the best episode of Space Dandy.
The Captain Harlock CG movie looked gorgeous, but the plot was at least Grade B bullshit, especially the "twists", like what really happened to Earth. There are some anime titles I own that while I don't necessarily regret owning, I probably wouldn't buy now if I didn't already have it, like Bubblegum Crash (only for completion), Iria: Zeiram the Animation, the first Inu Yasha movie, and a few of the lesser Lupin III TV specials (that were in a boxset). Gundam is still mostly a boy-driven franchise. Boys are the ones buying those gunpla models. It'd be interesting if there was a female main in a Gundam series, and oddly, a lot of the Gundam male characters are androgynous enough as it is, but nobody wants to take the risk. There's a female base, though. |
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Graceful Nanami
Posts: 303 Location: United States |
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Dante Basco is indeed a pretty decent human being; he really deserves all the love he gets. And yeah, he was amazing as Zuko. Come on.
And what exactly do you guys hate so much about the Lodoss OAVs? That was surprising. |
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danilo07
 Posts: 1580 |
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I couldn't disagree more about Space Dandy musical episode, a big number of great animators worked on that episode and it was constantly full of movement. Especially the ending sequence where even lazy Yutaka Nakamura experimented with his animation.
The only a studio with similar structure to Ghibli's is KyoAni and despite couple of flukes, they seem to be doing fine.Also, as far as I can remember Miyazaki said he would allow Anno to direct those Nausicaa sequels, so Ghibli isn't even needed. I don't know if I would classify myself as a Japanophile. Besides anime and manga, I watch a lot of their movies and I like their music ( not J-pop though, that thing is horrible ), some of my favorite writers like Haruki Murakami or Ryu Murakami are of course Japanese. I guess that there is uniquely Japanese approach to art that personally appeals to me. |
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Anime World Order
Posts: 390 Location: Florida |
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I covered this in my podcast review (man, that episode was from seven years ago!), but the short version is that despite being one of the most high-profile OAV titles of all time and a significant "gateway" in getting non-anime geeks to try out Japanese animation, it isn't written or animated all that well and the awesome characters we all remember are in fact barely in it. While it's true that I'm biased against high fantasy in general, it's best for that to be a nostalgic memory. |
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invalidname
Contributor Posts: 2488 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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DVDs I regret owning: Diamond Daydreams and True Tears. I really dig anime dramas set in the real world, but it helps when they're actually, y'know, dramatic. DD and TT are dull as dirt.
At least True Tears is pretty… it seems like P.A. Works has a thing for "beautiful but boring" anime: Hanasaku Iroha, Glasslip, etc. Hard to believe they're the same folks who did Angel Beats!. |
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Cheesecracker
 Posts: 240 |
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What happened to Peter Jackson's plans to make a live action Nausica? 12 installments of pure gold!
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nightjuan
 Posts: 1473 |
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The combination of the new Jojo anime and the recent PS3 game have done a lot to turn my only passing interest in the property into a minor obsession, so there's definitively a fortunate convergence of factors at work.
I've been greatly enjoying Space Dandy myself. I really like all the variety it throws at the audience every other week. In addition to introducing me to any number of both obscure and well-known creators that I haven't necessarily cared about before, it's also nice to see some formerly famous folks can still get interesting work from time to time instead of just hiding under a rock. In particular, I liked that Goro Taniguchi did storyboards for two of my favorite episodes. Nobuteru Yuki definitely does some great art. I liked how he updated the Yamato 2199 and Toward the Terra designs, plus I'm still sort of fond of his older work on Escaflowne and Heat Guy J, even with the quirky noses. That said, character design is not a make or break issue for me. I've eventually come to the realization that a certain degree of "same face" is a lot more common to both new and old anime or manga than what many people seem to consciously admit, so I'm not especially bothered by Hisashi Hirai. His work doesn't impress me, but I can still watch a series with those designs if the actual content is interesting or entertaining enough. The relatively recent Majestic Prince would be a good example. On the other side of the coin, even having somewhat stylish character designs did not stop me from disliking Guilty Crown. I'm looking forward to hearing what the Under the Dog folks have to say. I wish them the best of luck with their Kickstarter project, in spite of the odds seeming a bit sketchy at this point.
I remember enjoying that podcast at the time, even without knowing too much about the subject back then. Curiously enough, despite not watching the entire OVA series until only a couple of years ago...I didn't think the Lodoss War OVA was too bad, at least for those who want to see vanilla-flavored medieval fantasy. It's nothing special, in the grand scheme of things, but I would say the writing was more stereotypical and unimaginative than inherently problematic. I guess some fans of the genre might still appreciate that familiarity and traditional approach, even though more demanding viewers might consider it to be insufficient these days (right now, I'd have to say something like the redundantly named Legend of the Legendary Heroes would be a better pick, regardless of having a few flaws of its own). The animation being surprisingly limited can be a little hilarious, of course, but they did try to make up for it with the detailed character models and backgrounds. And yes, the OVA was noticeably better paced than the TV show, which was an absolute chore to get through, despite the comedy shorts desperately trying to keep me from falling asleep. |
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invalidname
Contributor Posts: 2488 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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BTW, Daryl, thanks for the mention of Muv Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse among female-fronted mecha shows. That's actually what my would-be panel is going to be about. Or, more accurately, it's going to trace the crazy path through âge visual novels and anime such that Total Eclipse, an end-of-the-world mecha-versus-alien-monsters show, is technically a sequel to the angsty romantic drama Rumbling Hearts.
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Graceful Nanami
Posts: 303 Location: United States |
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Hm. I guess I need to watch my DVDs again to see if my opinion has changed on Lodoss or not. I still think the overall atmosphere of the OAVs is wonderful with it's mostly dreary and gritty mood and the artwork is still lovely. That's what lasted about it with me the most.
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Lodoss might feel kind of like a generic fantasy romp now, but it's still one of the closest to a Western styled fantasy we have in anime without treading into Berserk's territory and also without infusing a bunch of manic 90s anime humor like later fantasy series added. I'd also advise against watching your DVDs when the remaster has come out, the transition is unbelievable and highlights how crappy the old masters were. On Aramaki's Harlock: I forgot what Daryl's view on Rintaro's Endless Odyssey OVA were, but I hope he's not referring to that when talking about the bad ends of where the name has gone. Cosmo Warrior Zero, Gun Frontier, and maybe that Ring Cycle OVA? Sure, but Endless Odyssey was great and embodied what Harlock stands for: fighting fear itself, and I think that's also my problem with the new film, it just felt like a soulless and bland script by committee to get something Harlock out there. There's no mystique or depth to the character and I found the transition of the Leiji designs to be rather ugly even if the overall CG animation was fine. Maybe it'll serve as a gateway to Harlock and the Leijiverse for some, but I think Kawajiri's Nazi pilot story from The Cockpit is a better Harlock story than this, and that's not even Harlock. |
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Graceful Nanami
Posts: 303 Location: United States |
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Very true. Also, is America getting the blu ray? if that's what you're referring to.
I generally don't really mind old animation... at all, actually. I own a handful of bu rays but the only player I have is my PS3, haha. I should probably upgrade but eh. Money. |
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