Linus Lam's Coverage of AnimeCentral99 Events

Anime Central 99 ramped up its main events space by having a new larger venue in which to hold large audience panels, shows, and guest interviews. The large capacity events were held in Main Programming while smaller ones such as the Dance were held in an adjacent programming hall.

AnimeCentral99
Events


Under a wealth of spotlights and bringing in a packed crowd, Opening Ceremonies began with the usual introductions by the Chairs and Guests.	Guests of Honor were introduced by Carl Horn: Yuji Moriyama, Kenichi Sonoda, Tsukasa Kotobuki, Hirotaka Okuma, Daiken Yokoo, Scott Frazier, Robert DeJesus, Lorraine Reyes, Amanda Winn Lee, Jason Lee, Doug Smith, Rachael Lillis, Crispin Freeman, Leah Applebaum, Lisa Ortiz, Toshi Yoshida, and Shawn the Touched. Details on each Guest can be read in the Guests section.

Shown here is the first round of Game Show hosted by Ryan Gavigan where participating contestants go through a process of elimination involving various anime and manga trivia.	Shown here is the anime karaoke held late into the night. Scores of activity-hungry individuals along with their fan club buddies would fill the hall with sometimes good and sometimes bad karaoke vocals to their favorite anime or j-pop music. Karaoke ringmaster Richard "Pocky" Kim livened up the crowd this year with his rousing party-hardy attitude sure to start a stage train or YMCA dance.

Shown here is the second round of the Game Show, hosted by Ryan Gavigan. The final round of contestants selected this year were able to compete against last year's contestants, all of who happen to be friends on the Internet. The guy with the mask and shades is none other than our own Sekrit Agent Lotis Root who unfortunately took third place in the Final Round but will have his revenge next year.


Guest signings usually took place in the Main Programming hall and as shown here, attendees eagerly await to start forming lines to get an autograph or sketch from their favorite anime artists.	For those who fancy the calmer artistic pleasures of the convention, art pieces for bid or sale from Anime Central's Art Show could be seen and bidded on at the Art Auction Event. With a mix of fan and Guest art pieces, many congoers were happy to spend their wallets as far as possible to get those special pieces only a convention could provide the services for.

Shown above and below, the Anime Central 99 Dance was held in an adjacent programming hall. Packed with party people, strobe lights, pumping dance rave and house music, projection monitors, and a swinging DJ behind a purple haze of blacklights and turntables, the Dance was a sure crowd-pleaser coming right after the Anime Central Masquerade.