Otakon '99 was held this past Independance day weekend, and here's a capsalized version of everything we could find out!
The convention was described by many as huge, with over 4500 people in attendance, a main auditorium that never achieved full capacity and a dealer room as big as the entire rest of the convention.
As always, some things go wrong. This year, according to FansView.com, fire alarms went off in the convention center four or five times during the convention (once interrupting Mari Ijima's concert), the artists complained that they weren't allowed to sell their goods and were forced to leave their tables early on Sunday, a cash box from a big company was stolen from the Dealer's Room, and other dealers complained that they were being charged for electricity and phone use. As always, room parties were broken up by hotel officials. Poor planning by convention officials, according to AnimeOnDVD.com, also resulted in some confusion from those running the s, sometimes not even knowing what they were supposed to talk about!
Beloved composer Maurice Ravel), told her about the ins and outs of her job. For composition, she uses only a piano (no synthesizers), and is sometimes left with only two weeks to score an anime that has already been made. (Then again, she finished the Macross Plus soundtrack two years before the movie was released...) "I compose music in my head and I write down the music score," said Kanno.
Anime creators Shinichirō Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop director) were also in attendance and ed in at a on the creation of anime. Kitakubo, who earlier announced his plans for world domination, said that he targets his creations toward himself. "I try to think that everyone in the world thinks the way I think. If I enjoy it, everyone in the world enjoys it." Watanabe likened anime to a gourmet meal, with the creators being the chef.Commercial company news
AnimeVillage's Monkey Magic, either!). They won't say which titles just yet, but they hint that it may be bilingual (only a few dubs are being produced right now), they cannot be something that there is no DVD release of in Japan (this excludes Gundam and Escaflowne), and one source at AnimeVillage tells ANN that computer animation fans will be quite pleased. Another is said to still be "up in the air" with an announcement possible at AnimeExpo late this month.
Bubblegum Crisis 2040, due out in October or November.
ADV commented that the The Slayers and Crystania DVD's were nearly complete but had minor picture problems that took weeks to correct, which forced them to delay the discs and angering vendors. Also, subtitles (which WILL be yellow with black borders) will no longer be based on the English screenplay, and this only happened with Tekken by accident.
At the Industry , Rayearth is also a given, but won't happen until the VHS boxed set (priced at $99.95) is released, and may itself be a box.
The Pioneer.
Parasyte have been purchased. (Levy couldn't comment on who bought them.)
Pioneer, Central Park Media's kept getting delayed.
