Fanime 2007 Day 1
First day of the convention.
Inui-sensei’s schedule was pretty light because the event is only half-day.
We had breakfast with director Yamaga-san & Fanime staffer Kentaro, when Bandai Visual VP Maeda-san joined us.
Afterwards we headed over to the green room to go over the schedule for the day.
Even though we didn’t have much planned for the day until the later half of the day, we didn’t have enough time to go sightseeing. Like going to the Winchester mansion. Hee.
We thought it would be a good idea to check out all the event rooms, so Inui-sensei can visualize what he would be doing in this foreign land. Apparently, he went to an event in Taiwan, and they pretty much pushed him onto the stage before any prep time. And that’s a real torture for a species like manga artists, who have times where they don’t meet anyone for several days… let alone stand in front of a stage of 500 people.
So we did a tour of the event facilities, like the main events room & panel rooms.
And we had extra time, so we forced our way into the artist’s alley (while they were setting up. We were probably just in the way). Since Inui-sensei does doujin work, he was interested in seeing how fan artists in the US were like. He was surprised with the size of the room. And liked how artists were setting up hand-made merchandise like bookmarks & straps. One of the artists was a fan of Comic Party & so they took a picture together.
Then we went next door to the dealer’s room, where they were also setting up. Boy, we get into everyone’s way. Heheh.
Inui-sensei liked the parody t-shirt of a NHK BS2 character that will remain nameless due to copyright issues, so Image Anime was kind enough to give him one. Thank you Image Anime. They’re a great anime store, that Image Anime. They have a store in NY city too, them Image Anime. (Good enough plug for you, Benny? Hee)
After a brief break, Inui-sensei had an interview w/ Manga Cast.
Inui-san talked about how he started his career, what inspires him to draw manga, behind-the-scenes stories, and his new project in Shounen Ace.
I messed up on the last bit of translating, so hopefully Manga Caster Ed can edit a smooth transition. I don’t want to hear any blooper reels, man.
Check out Manga Cast’s Sekihiko Inui interview when it comes out.
I’ll post a link when it’s available.
After the interview, we went to the opening ceremony prep.
Inui-sensei was slowly getting nervous getting up on stage (remember, this is torture for manga artists!), but director Yamaga-san was totally reassuring. We were very happy that fans hooted for Murder Princess (it was a bit louder than Comic Party & that was very nice).
After opening ceremonies, we had a meet the guest reception part 1. Which was open to the Fanime staff. We chatted w/ the staff for as long as we could, until it got too cold to bear.
Tomorrow, there’s an autograph session, a panel, press interview & meet the guest reception part 2. It’s a busy busy day!
PS. Dejiko voice actor Asami Sanada arrived in Fanime tonight. I’ll be translating her panel tomorrow too.
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