Linus Lam's Coverage of Anime Expo 2001

Panels! Panels! Panels! More panels than you can shake a stick at and then some! AX2001 offered a huge four-day weekend variety of panels galore featuring many esteemed Guests of Honor, noted fans, and industry representatives from as far as Japan all heading healthy discussions on various exciting anime and manga-related topics ranging from new shows, fan activities, industry follow-ups, historical perspectives, and other forms of fan entertainment lasting well into the night. Packed full of attendees, every single panel, workshop, or activity offered something to learn from, whether you were into the discussion subject or not, as shown below with a brief description of each session.

Anime Expo 2001
Panels and Workshops 10


Fan Art / Doujinshi: Michi Nagasuga and a huge load of successful fan artists hosted an inspiring panel for a packed audience of aspiring and experienced artists. Using experience gained from drawing and selling various forms of fan art and doujinshi mangas, panelists discussed copyright and trademark issues with original art, various forms of copy / pasting and plagiarism techniques that are looked down upon by the artist community, selling art in the convention artist alley, publishing on websites, concerns about stolen art republished with someone else's name attached, and sharing contact information and joining an online art critique group at www.artcorner.org.

Newtype Magazine: Hosted by luminaries such as Newtype's Editor in Chief and Kunihiko Ikuhara (Utena director), highlights of the future growth for Newtype magazine were given to the awe and amazement from an audience so used to the regular paper magazine. The online English-version Newtype magazine has proven to be highly successful from all the great feedback and will pretty much stick to original magazine layout for design consistency. U.S. manga publications are still in the works and some irrelevant content will be removed like Japanese television programming schedules. Copyright issues with Kadokawa vs. U.S. rights still remain on the horizon, but with more U.S./Japan fan interaction, those issues may be resolved by mixing certain publishing elements to make Newtype more international.
	Additional panels held throughout the weekend included: Right Stuf International, Pioneer Entertainment, Anime Villains, Maison Ikkoku on DVD, AD Vision, Urban Vision, Viz Communications, Manga Entertainment, Making of Anime Music Videos, Variety is the Spice of Cosplay Closet, Japanese Fandom, 10 Years of Anime and Manga in America, Music Video Creators, How many Cosplayers Does it take to change a Lightbulb?, History of Anime Conventions, AnimEigo, Central Park / USMC, Studio Ironcat, Media Blasters, Gonzo Film Production Demonstration, Studio Pierrot with Yu Watase, Spin Cycle, Artist's Unite, Serial Experiments Lain, Fan Fiction Workshop, SPJA Board Meeting, and Journalism in Anime Guest of Honor Focus Panels held throughout the weekend included: Haruhiko Mikimoto, Kikuko Inoue, Toshihiro Kawamoto, Kia Asamiya, Yu Watase, Noboru Ishiguro, Hidenori Matsubara, Tsukasa Kotobuki, Yoshiko Iwasaki, Makoto Uno, Hisashi Abe, Masayuki Kojima, Morio Asaka, and Scott Frazier. Special Guest of Honor Focus Panels on Sunday included: Directors panel with Morio Asaka, Noboru Ishiguro, Yoshiaki Iwasaki, and Masayuki Kojima, Character Designers panel with Hisashi Abe, Toshihiro Kawamoto, Hidenori Matsubara, and Makoto Uno, and Manga Artists panel with Kia Asamiya, Scott Frazier, Tsukasa Kotobuki, and Haruhiko Mikimoto
Mechanized Propulsion Systems: Acting on inspiration may sometimes come at a high price. It's not an easy task to build your own mobile suit as shown in the MPS presentation given by Earle Bishop, Otto Cargill, and a number of mobile research developers and engineers working on a project that is steadily taking shape beyond the blueprints. Audience members got a chance to see blueprint displays and discuss about the test models featuring mechanical drive systems for limbs and torso movements, electrical systems for basic infrastructure, highly-customizable pilot cockpit controls and navigation display systems, power supply concerns, and a number of other components MPS developers are assigned to work on.