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Anime North - Overview

By Chris Beveridge June 16, 2000

By Jay Locke

Being Toronto’s fan-run convention, I wasn’t expecting any great sources
for anime DVD news, and I wasn’t disappointed. In a nutshell, there was
nothing revealed in the world of anime DVD. However, I wasn’t there simply
just for that : )

During a discussion I had with Anime North con chairman, Joel Blass,
while I was checking in Thursday afternoon, he mentioned that there were
some representatives from Manga Video and Sony Pictures attending. Joel said
that Anime North, being only four years old, has yet to establish a track
record that would attract the attention of any industry heavyweights. The
only major operator to show their face, Manga Video, had a small booth set
up in the main hall. But, in my opinion, their presence was nil. There were
pamphlets and posters on the tables, but I never once saw anyone manning the
display. At least I got a chuckle out of the way they were advertising ‘X:
The Movie’.

The Anime On DVD con-bash was certainly an exercise in improvisation.
With so much going on, it was always a matter of being in the hotel room at
the right time to catch people as they showed up. Friday night proved to be
interesting, as the room became the event area for the 5th floor. The
air-conditioning worked sporadically, so the door stayed open most of the
time; the sounds of J-Pop and Japanese dialogue resounding though the
hallways attracting the night owl otaku. People were randomly wandering in
to watch any anime we were showing. Saturday night was another reason to
celebrate - Ken Chen’s birthday. Happy 23rd! At least I managed to see every AoDVDer there, except for Tas. (Did the con staffers chain you to the video
projector?)

Now, I can only wait for Ken Chen to post those incriminating photos o_O;

Now for the real news!!

Cardcaptors

===========

Saturday night, there was an impromptu showing of Cardcaptors, episode 1. In
the presence of so many Card Captor Sakura fanboys and fangirls, it was easy
to assess how well it was executed....

Many groans of pain filled the room and the smacking of foreheads could be
heard out in the halls.

“SAKOOOORA!” (d’oh!! <slap>)

-Production I.G panel.

=====================

What was supposed to be just a showing of the ‘Cyberteam in Akihabara’ movie
turned into one of those moments at a con that could be called ‘a diamond in
the rough’.

Before and after the movie, Maki Terashima (manager of Production I.G.,
USA and international representative for Production I.G. and ING group, in
charge of distribution and promotion of I.G. and ING group properties)
introduced Tsukasa Kotobuki (character designer for Cyberteam, SMJ) and his
assistant Chihiro Hattori and she gave us a view into the present and future
projects of Production I.G.

-Blood: The last vampire

This is the latest full length feature by Production I.G. and it’s their
first all digital movie. After seeing the trailer for it, the animation
quality tops ANYTHING I presently know of. If you want to get a look at this
absolutely amazing example of anime, it’ll be premiering at the 2000
Fant-asia film festival in Montreal. (guess where I’m going!!)

-Jin-Roh (Kerberos Panzer Cops)

An extended 3 minute trailer (with subtitles!) was shown and it was
excellent. I’ve been waiting a long time to see this latest movie directed
by Mamoru Oshii and it appears that I’ll have to be very patient. Maki
Terashima mentioned that she’s had very little success marketing it over
here because of its extreme violent content. However, there have been no
such problems selling it in France. She also said this will be the last full
length Production I.G. movie to be completely hand made (I assumed that
meant hand drawn, hand painted, photographed cels). From this statement, it
would appear that Production I.G. is fully committed to doing digital
animation.

-Digitals

This 3D CG series is produced under the supervision of Mamoru Oshii with a
team of Production I.G. animators. Each episode is presented as separate,
short stories with no dialogue, each 5 minutes long. The content ranges from
humorous to thought provoking, and from cute to disturbing. The CG style is
reminiscent of the first digital animation demo clips being produced in the
mid to late ‘80s with all the characters and environments as basic geometric
shapes, yet with much smoother rendering and texturing. So far, only 4
episodes of these digital shorts have been completed and it’s being marketed
for distribution. I definitely want to see more of Digitals.

-Just Kidding Mr. Vampirion (again, subtitled!)

I don’t know what to say about this anime because my brain was paralyzed in
fits of full body laughter though most of the episode. Impressions? Well…
Tim Burton-esque anime with over the top slapstick and gross humor (i.e. a
bicycle pump and a warning of ‘Do not try this. You will die!’….I can’t
describe it….) You can see tas’s and Randalt’s reports on that series, as
well. I can only hope it sees a release over here at least on VHS and DVD.
PleasePleasePleasePlease! <making big puppy dog eyes at North American
distributors> Plllllleeeeease!

Furi Kuri (FLCL),

This 6 part OVA is the first all digital anime by Production I.G and Gianax.
It’s being marketed to North American distributors and Maki Terashima
herself is personally in charge of the marketing project. Episode 1 DVD has
already been released (seen it and it gets two thumbs up), Episode 2 is
ready to hit the shelves and episode 3 has just been completed. (‘in the
can’ or ‘on the drive’, to use film industry-speak)

If I missed anything, I’ll blame it on lack of sleep and the hard
partying.