Tag: Anime Expo

For a novice, an event like the Anime Expo — which was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center over the weekend — can be overwhelming. First, the range of anime TV programs and movies is incredibly diverse — there are kids with high school problems, groups of people who change into animals of the zodiac and beings with the power to destroy the world. And then there are all these people wandering around dressed as their favorite characters from said alternate realities. Cosplay — short for “costume play” — is a universal experience at fan conventions, whether it’s at a broader-ranging event like the expo and Comic-Con or those geared to more specific fan bases such as Morphicon (focusing on “Power Rangers” lore) and Botcon (“Transformers”).  Even if you aren’t otaku, seeing people who’ve spent hours/days/weeks/months working on a ...

It’s strangely fitting that the biggest guest at the 20th annual Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center this weekend won’t physically be present. Japan’s virtual pop star Hatsune Miku — the petite “android diva” created by Crypton Future Media in 2007 through a combination of holography, computer animation and computer-generated vocals — will appear in concert at the Nokia Theatre on Saturday in her first “live” performance in the U.S. Real musicians, including J-pop band Nirgilis, trio Kalafina and actor-singer Vic Mignogna, are also slated to perform as part of the Anime Expo festivities, which run Friday through Monday. But Miku, with her turquoise, ankle-length ponytails, impossibly slim figure and large eyes, perfectly embodies the fantastic creations the convention celebrates: beloved characters who exist only as images on film, computer data or drawings on a printed page. Functioning ...

REVIEW In Japanese, otaku simply means “you,” but in America, it’s used to describe a fan of Japanese pop culture: anime, manga, video games, J-pop and/or cosplay. American otaku range from casual enthusiasts to hard-core fanatics; the latter are the subject of the eight-part reality series/documentary “America’s Greatest Otaku,” which premiered on Hulu on Feb. 24. Stu Levy, the founder of TokyoPop, a major publisher of manga in the U.S., serves as host, assisted by six college students who are self-proclaimed otaku. Over eight weeks, they visit 20 U.S. cities, observing various aspects of Japanese fandom and interviewing candidates for the title of America’s Greatest Otaku. It’s an uneven series, veering from interesting to just plain silly and superficial. In one of the better sequences, the apprentice reporters visit the Texas headquarters of Funimation, the largest U.S. distributor of anime. After ...