Well, maybe not, but I do got some big news this week: FUNimation has
joined the Gen Con team as the Anime Avenue Sponsor for Indy 07. What does that
mean? Is it all going to be a corporate take-over now? Nope, no more than Gen
Con as a whole is just because Wizards of the Coast or Upper Deck are sponsors.
We'll have all the stuff we had in years past, we're just adding more stuff.
Exactly what kind of stuff, you ask? FUNimation will be helping to bring out
cast & crew from both the newly-released ROBOTECH: THE SHADOW CHRONICLES
and Shin-chan,
the hit raunchy comedy that was on Adult Swim a while back. They'll be on hand
to host special screenings of new material, give a look behind-the-scenes and
answer all your questions with answers. How many of you Gen Con anime fans didn't
grow up on Rick Hunter and his adventures? I'm pretty excited about Shin-chan,
myself, but I've got a soft spot for totally politically incorrect comedies,
especially when they star kids and look like they were drawn with crayons.
Either way, this is a dramatic increase from the number of anime guests we had
last year and is a clear sign of how we're growing and developing the program.
2007 will also see the return of the incredibly popular Anime Dubbing
Contest - and don't worry, all the kinks will be worked out well in advance
this time. All the rules and information will be full explained in the program
guide and the web site to avoid the confusion and problems we encountered
during the show last year. If you have any comments, questions or concerns
about it, drop
me a note.
Overall, the current plan for anime & film (subject to change, not
final, just first-pass, totally don't make your plans around this, blah blah
blah, etc.) is similar to last year: we're going to take over the first floor
of the Westin. The line between rooms will be more fluid this time, however, to
more easily accommodate really large film events (like the big Dead Gentlemen
screenings we had last year) and we should be adding an another small room to
hold most of the panels/seminars that don't need the bigger rooms - leaving
them open for even more anime.
I guess that's about it for this week. As always, if you got any questions,
just let
me know and I'll help you as best I can.
