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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 |
Shitajiki
Boards: What are shitajiki boards? They are basically plastic
laminated graphic boards used for writing on top of rough surfaces as
host Abel Solis describes, but like many limited edition collectibles
like pencil boxes, card sets, tape covers, and so forth, shitajiki
boards have gained space with cel collections as one of the top most
wanted anime items. Delving into the universe of the popular
shitajikis, collectors must know the details of the graphics that
promote current or upcoming anime shows, special codes and marks that
make a board so rare, schedules of limited edition releases,
differentiating fakes and authentic boards, taking care of the boards,
and having the patience to shop around and search through many boxes to
find that special trophy to add to ones shitajiki collection.
Costume
Construction with Japanese Cosplayers: Celebrity members of the
famous Japanese cosplayer group URAN hosted this fascinating and
delightful panel on how to properly and efficiently build your own
great costumes using common materials and good money skills. For
many Japanese cosplayers, rules must be followed for events like Comic
Market, where certain costumes are banned as unsafe, too big, or showing
too much flesh, which is why coming to America, they can show off some
of their best costumes for everyone to see without very conservative
restrictions. Of course, for American cosplayers, there are still
many cultural challenges yet to be learned and overcome. For
cosplayer Nomi, the first thought that came to mind when coming to AX
was that all the Karate uniforms were done wrong, and she demonstrated
for the audience with amazing speed on how to properly put on a uniform
like you were going to fight in a real Karate tournament. She also
demonstrated proper techniques on how to fit together a traditional
kimono. Kimonos are always a bit longer than the person's height
and must be put on in very traditional means. Additional
highlights of the panel included a huge giveaway of door prizes for many
audience members.
