Description
It's not all girls with big eyes, space beasts and guys with unfeasibly huge weapons. Thousands turn up for the largest gathering of anime fans in Northern California, celebrating the complex and ahead of our time animation coming out of Japan. Despite the wonders made at Pixar, there hasn't yet been a cartoon as textually interesting as something like Paprika or Fullmetal Alchemist made in the USA. The convention includes a "Clockwork Alchemy" gathering of steampunk fanciers, as well as a swap meet, a black and white ball, costume play, karaoke and gaming. Headliners roster: artist Kia Asamiya (who did the manga adaptation of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace). Shigeto Koyama is a key animator on the Rebuild of Evangelion series. On hand is Igaguri Chiba of the band Sendai Kamotsu; Ric Meyers, the prodigiously bearded novelist and redoubtable kung-fu movie expert, anime archivist Gilles Poitras, the singer Mai Aizawa (who will be performing) and voice actor David Vincent. - Richard von Busack sanjose.com