AnimeCon '91
| Convention | |
|---|---|
| Name: | AnimeCon '91 |
| Dates: | August 30 – September 2, 1991 |
| Frequency: | |
| Location: | Red Lion Hotel, San Jose, California |
| Type: | |
| Focus: | Anime and manga |
| Organization: | |
| Founder: | |
| Founding Date: | 1991 |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
AnimeCon, held in San Jose, California in 1991, was the fourth anime convention created in the United States, the first convention to have major backing from the anime industry, the first anime-specific convention within the state of California (which spawned many similar conventions thereafter), and the first anime-specific convention in the US to break 1,000 attendees.[1]
It also formed the genesis of Anime Expo[2] (currently the largest anime-specific convention in North America).
Guests
Guests included Jerry Beck, Colleen Doran, Geoff Everets, Carl Macek, Ken Macklin, Johji Manabe, Leiji Matsumoto, Luke Menichelli, Haruhiko Mikimoto, Robert Napton, John O'Donnell, Toshio Okada, Katsuhiro Otomo, David Riddick, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Toren Smith, Kenichi Sonoda, Rick Sternbach, Jeff Thompson, Adam Warren, Robert Woodhead, Trish Ledoux and Toshifumi Yoshida.[1]
According to a report printed in the Boston Japanimation Society's newsletter, the con program came with an animation guide with a cover by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Neil Nadelman's con report in Japanese Animation News & Review stated that Katsuhiro Otomo, Leiji Matsumoto, and Toshio Okada all had to cancel at the last minute.
Attendance
Attendance was officially estimated at 2,000.[3]
Sponsors
The convention was co-sponsored by Gainax, Cal-Animage, the founders of BayCon, BAAS, and Studio Proteus.[4]
Reports
...Leiji Matsumoto had to cancel at the last minute and would not be attending. Everyone was very disappointed, but with Johji Manabe, Haruhiko Mikimoto, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Kenichi Sonada there was still more than enough people of note for the convention to be a success.[...]
The Dealer's room is awesome. ...There are over twenty-five dealers and between them they have everything I could have wanted. There are animated cells from Nadia, Bubblegum Crisis, Kiki's Delivery Service, Gall Force and a thousand other Anime films. There are models of every mech and character imaginable. Manga and magazines, compact discs and laser discs, towels, t-shirt, music boxes, posters, giant stuffed Totoros and lots of videos(no bootlegs of course).
[...]
The head of Gainax, who served as the [Making Manga panel] moderator... portrayed American comics as middle-aged men in primary color costumes. Of course the audience was quick to point out that if you were to classify manga as broadly, it could be called adolescent girl with guns. The subject of the discussion soon turned towards current american movies. The head of Gainax did not like The Rocketeer, he was uncomfortable with the prominent theme of patriotism. On the other hand, all of the guests enjoyed Terminator 2.... Kenichi Sonada offered, some what tongue in cheek, that if he made the movie, the t-1000 would have the form of a cute girl.Report from Final Stop Andromeda Issue 44 (Sep/Oct 1991)
AnimeCon '91, recently held in San Jose, was a first convention. And being such, it had it's share of problems and headaches: guests cancelling at the last minute, facilities not quite being ready for them, last-minute scurrying to get ready to run the whole affair. And yet, despite these little organizational glitches, it came together in the end. It worked, and that's what's important.[...] As time dragged on, the representatives from Gainax arrived. For those who dont know this, Gainax was sponsoring the convention, and they sent over a sizable brigade of representatives. We stood by as their bus pulled in (that caused some confusion; ConCom hadn't ordered any bus to pick them up. It turned out that they ordered it themselves and hadn't bothered to inform the American staff. Communication problems like this were apparently rampant during the event's planning stages).
[...] The room where several people were destined to spend ghastly sums of money on totally arcane merchandise was just starting up, and I was impressed by the variety of merchandise available. Stuffed Totoro dolls from one dealer, laser disks from Laser Perceptions and others, garage kits from Newtype Toy and Hobby -the big names were all there. And, coming up on my left ... why, it's Carl Macek, winner of the "Most Notorious" award in the world of U.S. anime fandom. Talking with him confirmed the impressions I'd had of him from interviews I'd read: he's been given a horribly bad rap over the past few years. I found him quite approachable, and possessing a very good humor; I suppose you'd have to possess a good humor to withstand all the flack he's gotten over the years. Some people are still complaining about Robotech ...
The most interesting part of the whole convention was the Staff/Guest party. I managed to get in and mingle with some of the guests. Rob Woodhead (with Mike House, the translating boywonder of AnimEigo) was showing episodes of Nadia, which he had subtitled himself. I turned around, and there was the STAFF of Nadia (Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Hideaki Anno, and some other guy I couldn't recognize) downing Heinekins and watching the episodes as well. It was great. Also on hand, Rick Sternbach from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and many others. It was here that I finally got to talk with Woodhead and House about what AnimEigo was up to...
The con had a lot of problems. First of all three guests (Katsuhiro Otomo, Leiji Matsumoto, and Toshio Okada) had to cancel at the last minute. Also, the hospitality suite was only open from 2 pm to 2 am, and the parties were few and far between. But, you could probably blame that on the hotel and overly strict rules. The video schedule was varied, but quite a few might be put off by the absence of anything more than 10 years old from the program. And the video schedule that was broadcast was ... mercurial, to say the least. But, somehow, the staff put it together and it was fun. The fact that I was too busy to see all the events is proof of that. I honestly enjoyed myself. There were actually interesting people there ... And they didn't just want to talk about the blasted cartoons day and night! There was room for improvement, to be sure. But it was a success!
[...] Remember I mentioned Fox coming to do a story on AnimeCon? Well, they were there to investigate the LA Times' claims about Japanese animation being nothing but soft-core pornography. The coverage was ... typical. They found the members who were total fanatics about it and interviewed them. Then they found some normal, mundane, normal looking people on the street and asked them what they thought of the so-called "dirty cartoons the Japanese are bringing over here." Typical, because this always seems to happen when the media looks in on any sort of convention activity.Neil Nadelman for Japanese Animation News & Review Issue 5, July 1991
History
During its inaugural year, AnimeCon went deeply into debt due to severe budget overruns. Soon after, a management dispute erupted which imperiled the chance of a follow-on. Many of the staff went on to form Anime Expo, while others went on to form a rival convention, Anime America (which was canceled in 1997 and went defunct shortly thereafter). The period between late 1992 and early 1997 is sometimes referred to as the "Con Wars" by attendees and staffers of both conventions. It was typified by a number of personal attacks and allegations of sabotage on and off the Internet (and in particular on rec.arts.anime).
Although Anime Expo is, for all practical purposes, considered separate from AnimeCon, the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (AX's parent organization) took control of AnimeCorp in 1992 and assumed many of its legal and financial obligations (including all debts incurred), the rights to the AnimeCon name, and existing stocks of unsold merchandise (including large numbers of the aforementioned T-shirts). Pre-registrations for the planned AnimeCon '92 were converted into Anime Expo '92 pre-registrations.[5] Sometime after which, AnimeCon Corporation was formally dissolved.[6]
Today, AnimeCon merchandise is considered a collectible item by some. Program booklets and T-shirts can still be found. AnimeCon T-shirts were sold on behalf of the SPJA during the subsequent years of AX.
External links
- AnimeCon '91 AMV Opening & Video Schedule on Youtube channel OldSchoolOtakuDotCom
- Sub vs Dub panel part 1, part 2 on Youtube channel sevds
References
- ^ a b "AnimeCon 1991 Information". AnimeCons. Archived from the original on 2021-05-08. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
- ^ Lopes, Paul (2009-04-07). Demanding Respect: The Evolution of the American Comic Book. Temple University Press. ISBN 9781592134441.
- ^ Tatsugawa, Mike M. (1992-04-20). "Anime Expo '92 April Update". alt.fandom.cons. Retrieved 2018-12-15.
- ^ Tatsugawa, Mike M. (1997-04-20). "The Anime Timeline". Shogun. Archived from the original on 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2018-12-15.
- ^ Tatsugawa, Mike M. (1992-04-20). "AnimeCon '92". alt.manga. Retrieved 2018-12-15.
- ^ "ANIMECON CORPORATION (#C1679437)". California Secretary of State (California Business Portal). Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2007-02-07.
This page uses content originally from Wikipedia's AnimeCon page; Wikipedia content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0. (view page authors).
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