Sheffield, Cannes and California in rapid succession

by Helen McCarthy

AD FILE 3 was a welcome respite after three months chained to either Japanese textbooks or the keyboard. Once again the Sheffield crew excelled themselves and we had an excellent con. (Thanks to everyone who showed up for my talk and the AUK panel, and thanks to my fellow panellists Jim Swallow and Steve Kyte.) I hear that a number of people had to be turned away when the con hit its fire limit of 265 people, and talking to Rick and Daz I discovered that they planned to look for a bigger site, capable of taking 350-500, for 1994. However after discussion with the Rutland they've decided to stay with their present site, and take mote/bigger rooms to cope with more attendees. One thing I'm sure won't change - the quality of the event itself. A con run by a committee this dedicated, experienced and completely insane is sure to be worth attending.

Of course dear old BR didn't help by holding one of their train strikes on Friday 16th April. This meant we had to go up by coach. That wasn't too bad - it was going back by coach that turned into a nightmare. The 6pm vehicle back to London was overbooked but the hostess assured us another one would be along in just a minute, and THIS one would be even faster as it wasn't due to stop at Milton Keynes. 6.30pm came and went. 7pm sneaked towards us. The hostess who had given us such blithe assurances was nowhere to be seen - doubtless cowering in the office to escape the gathering wrath of about thirty or forty stranded passengers for London - and a man with a mobile phone assured us that the coach we wanted had left Leeds at 5.15 and should have been with us just after six. When eventually it rolled up, it transpired that the reason for delay was that the driver had been given an incomplete address for The Sheffield Coach Station and so had to wait at the motorway junction until he met another National Express coach and could ask the driver for direction.

We eventually got home about 11.30pm. This wouldn't have been a problem had I not been off again at 4.30am on Monday, heading for Heathrow airport and Cannes. The South of France hosts MIP TV every April, and the Marche International des Programmes de Television, plus its sister video exhibition MIPCOM in October, are two of the best places in Europe to meet Japanese animation companies. The fact that they take place in a beautiful city, set right on the Mediterranean coast, with great restaurants and endless streams of some of the best wine in the world, is, of course, totally irrelevant... honest...

I went with ANIME UK MAGAZINE's publisher, Peter Goll, to introduce the magazine to those Japanese companies who hadn't heard of us yet and talk about future plans for features and sourcing pictures. A remarkable number of Japanese companies DID seem to have heard of us and many politely flattering things were said about the magazine. We were astounded at the range of anime available for sale in the UK -slowly, the Japanese are beginning to realise that there really is an interest out here! Twenty-eight companies either had stands at MIP TV or had sent representatives, and among the huge range of goodies on offer for the world's markets were classic robot shows like ORGUSS and DANCOUGAR, comedies like NG KNIGHT LAMUNE AND 40 and RANMA ½, space epics such as LEGEND OF GALACTIC HEROS and countless kids' shows from a retelling of the classic LITTLE WOMEN books to Miyazaki's early TV series FUTURE BOY CONAN. Of course it wasn't just anime - the whole TV industry was there, with everything fro BBC educational shows to DEEP SPACE NINE, all on five floors of an ultramodern building whose back doors literally opened onto the beach and the Mediterranean. What a way to do business! It was certainly more palatable than Sheffield, and, in its own way, just as much fun. The food was definitely better and I think some of the waitresses, barmaids etc would have got the otaku seal of approval as potential anime heroines.

I heard that MANGA ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED are negotiating lots of new purchases for the MANGA VIDEO label; expect to see stuff from KSS, makers of BATTLE ANGEL ALITA, who are now working on ARSLAN 3 & 4 - watch MEL's promotional newsletter, MANGAZINE, for details. A couple of other UK companies, divisions of major entertainment groups, were also there, being very cagey about their plans but definitely buying anime. MOBILE POLICE PATLABOR and the APPLESEED OAV are also the subject of negotiations.

The first thing we noticed about California was the heat. We arrived in the middle of what even locals described as a warm spell, with the temperature in the lower hundreds and the sky a flat, cloudless, unvarying blue.

The second was the welcome we received. On our first evening, with less than thirty-six hours to go before his registration tables were due to open and a whole clutch of Japanese guests to look after, ANIME AMERICA chairman James Matsuzaki took the time to escort two tired and incoherent foreigners to a local eatery for a snack before we finally crashed. this set the keynote for the whole of our visit - the American community couldn't have been kinder or more welcoming.

But what about the cons themselves? What were they like, and - the question everybody has asked us since we got back - which was better?

The political differences of U.S. fandom aren't really relevant to us in the U.K., and it would be grossly discourteous (not to say pointless) to make any comment on matters that have nothing to do with us. Both conventions' committees went out of their way to avoid letting the political squabbles which led to the splitting of one West Coast anime con into two inconvenience or annoy their guests and attendees, but the Internet boards were buzzing with contention and opinion within hours of the ANIME AMERICA closing ceremony, and doubtless the political debate will go on for a long time to come. However, I must say that, while the differences in philosophy which led to the formation of two separate con committees may be very significant, they had no effect on my enjoyment of the two cons. I honestly couldn't say which was "better". Both had good features, both had a few problems, and of course as a longtime conrunner myself, there were a few things I would have done differently - not necessarily better, just differently. They were both enjoyable, both exciting and both worth attending.

Both con committees have announced plans for next year, but it seems unlikely that it will be so easy for British and European fans to take in both conventions. It's likely that they'll be further apart and have more than a week between them. Neither sites nor dates have been fixed yet, but ANIME EXPO is negotiating for a Disneyland location up in Anaheim, while ANIME AMERICA is considering a return to the popular Red Lion Hotel in San Jose. ANIME AMERICA has already confirmed Nagai Go as a guest of Honour.

Whatever the logistics, if you can go to the USA next year I'd recommend planning your trip around one or (if possible) both conventions. You'll meet a lot of nice people and have a good time. In the end, the politics were less important than the anime, which is just as it should be.

DETAILS

ANIME AMERICA had around 1200 attendees, ANIME EXPO around 2,200. Neither con felt crowded as the sites were enormous. Both offered multiple programming, an art show and masquerade plus various silly games, and a big dealers room - though not all the booths in the AX dealers room were taken. Both cons had presentations from US anime companies and from KITTY FILM. Both had some premieres - notably PORCO ROSSO at ANIME AMERICA, GIANT ROBO 3 and ZIERAM at ANIME EXPO.

GUESTS

Guests of Honour at ANIME AMERICA were Sonoda Ken-Ichi, Takachiho Haruka, Hayashibara Megumi and Monkey Punch. Manabe Johji was unable to attend.

At ANIME EXPO the GoH roll-call was Amemiya Keita, Scott Frazier, Imagawa Yasuhiro, Kobayashi Makoto, Tahara Masatoshi and Takayuki Takeya. Kitazume Hiroyuki, Mikimoto Haruhiko, Kikuchi Michitaka and Nirasawa Yasushi were all unable to attend.

Both conventions had a number of other guests from Japan, the USA and even the UK (i.e. me, Steve Kyte and AUK publisher Peter Goll).

PANELS

Large cons tend to run a substantial programme of panels. It stops the bar getting too crowded and gives the guests something to do, It also adds even more to the problem of how to be in four places at one time, and so we missed a lot of interesting discussions. ANIME EXPO offered panels on such diverse subjects as Cel Production and Care, Computer Animation, the Gundam universe, Magical Girls, and Live Action.