AWA 14 2008
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Anime…hmm… what can be said about anime, that I have not said before. Well, I will say this… Anime/Manga are like the Punk Rock of the animation/comic book world. Respectively. Just like Punk, they are definitely youth driven cultural phenomenon. I mean I’m the equivalent of a first wave punk rocker in contrast. But the “rockers” now are on something new. The intervention of the internet has resculpted the entire scene. It’s collective of culture and its consumption and distribution.
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| AWA 14 (Anime Weekend Atlanta), re-introdued me to a part of me (as both an animator and an animation lover) that I had been neglecting for quite some time. I saw cosplay of characters I didn’t know or just barely knew but wanted to know more about. All because the rate of demand and consumption is accelerated to the point that if you stop for even a month you’re playing catch up for the rest of the year. And so, I kept feeling like I was out of the loop. But I’m not…really. I just don’t have the same amount of time as say, I did when I was in junior high or high school. Plus the loop has drastically widened.
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My friend
| LD helped me put it into perspective. See, those kids who were like 8 & 10 back when shows like Pokemon and Digimon hit our shores, are in their late teens and early twenties now. They’ve been ingesting the Anime/Manga culture for so long it’s a major part of them. And because of that I’m not going to knock them for being as into it as they are. It was force fed into their wee sockets as kids and honestly (let’s be honest here) some of that stuff was really brilliant.
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I can’t blame them for being into the culture. I mean if we American animators want them to sit up and pay attention to our animation the same way, we have to give them a reason to do so. (I’m repeating myself) Honestly, think about it. Compared to anime we’re only putting out kids stuff. And these kids don’t want spit takes and acme brand bombs. They want action, drama, intrigue. Hell that’s what I wanted… dammit that’s still what I want. And I want it from America too.
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I love the classics, but I’ll take a story about paranormal detectives in a steam punk 1954, chasing vampires and werewolves, with supernatural magical powers over a rabbit in a dress, getting chased by a hunter with a speech impediment any day. Seriously what sounds cooler to you watching some fairytale princess get all girly and singsongy with her prince charming and some dancing animals, or something like
| SOUL EATER. Hmm. I’ve made my choice.
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I’m sorry, ENOUGH with the gags and slapstick. It’s old hat leave it on the hall-tree. I don’t mind some of the shows doing this, but we need to progress as a medium. I want to bring that sensibility to American animation. Really. It’s the life injection that the industry badly needs. It’s weird. Like other than a few random gems exclusive to online, there is nothing, I repeat NOTHING new and interesting happening in American animation. We get what, a few animated features a year? (most of which if not all are CG) Well,we have the
| Venture Bros. , but they just ended there 3rd amazing season like a few weeks ago. And Avatar, which has been mostly excepted by the anime community ( take a hint industry ) has run its course and ended its last season with a grand finally.
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Japan just cranks out tons of series. Series that appeal to all types of viewers. If you dig around enough you get some really good ones. There’s something for everyone. I know, you’re thinking “when does he get to the part about the convention?” That is the part about the convention. All this came from me attending one day of a three day event. Absorbing animation culture moving at an accelerated rate. The convention was as any are, people buying selling having a blast. Lots of energy, flowing about the rooms and halls. Lots of people enjoying themselves as they connect with thousands of other like minded people. I enjoyed it and I plan on going back next year. Maybe then I‘ll spend a little money on myself, you know, as a graduation gift to me.
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Here are some links to some of the phenomenal artist who gave there time at those tables, and a few more of some links to some pretty good anime. The pics in this blog show the magnitude of this cultural event. Some of them feature people I know from school, so thanks you guys for posing one and all.
Enjoy.
ARTISTS
ANIME
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