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Alongside Watanabe the main events for anime fans at the Comic Con were probably the Manga Podcast/industry panel and the Eurocosplay Qualifiers and Cosplay Masquerade. The Industry panel is traditionally a chance for the reps from the main UK anime distributors to get together, reveal new licenses and discuss audience questions, this time it was rolled into two podcast recording sessions, one of the Saturday and one on the Sunday. While the podcasts were good splitting them over two days was a mistake as a good portion of the second one was spent recapping the licenses revealed in the first. However, there were |
some good licence announcements. Manga revealed their acquisition of the epic fantasy series Attack on Titan, the fantasy action film Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works and the big budget live-action anime adaptation Space Battleship Yamato. Anime Ltd somehow managed to snatch Tiger & Bunny: The Beginning, the feature length spin off from the sci-fi action series Tiger & Bunny, despite the series being released by Kazé through Manga Entertainment. MVM rounded off with a small flurry of new announcements by revealing they had re-licensed the fanservice-heavy sci fi series Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, alongside former ADV Films titles Pumpkin Scissors and Red Garden and three new series - C-Control, Shangri La and Heaven's Memo Pad. Splitting the podcast over two dates was a bit of an error, especially as the Anime Ltd rep Andrew Partridge wasn't there for the second half and a lot of time was wasted recapping what had already been said. It was better in October when the podcast and Industry Panel were separate, there was a lot more discussion and not a feeling that things had been cut off early. Hopefully this is something they'll return to for future events, but nonetheless the licence announcements made were pretty impressive - we're especially looking forward to seeing Attack on Titan!
The MCM London Comic Con is quite a diverse media event, but
strangely film and TV has yet to really take hold like it has at San
Diego. Instead gaming and anime are really the core of the event,
there are a some good cult TV guests - generally for second tier US TV
shows rather than major hits - and the occasional film promotion such as
the appearance of Edgar Wright, but really it's the game developers that
are using the event as a launch pad. The game zone stage was
frequently packed as staffers from America and Europe presented their
latest games and answered questions about them, in fact the stage is too
small at present to really accommodate the crowds, especially when hotly
anticipated games like The Last of Us are being discussed.
Some of the gaming panels could do with being moved to one of the main
stage areas, especially if the event has hit a point where it can get
game designers like Hideo Baba to come halfway round the world to
attend. The profile of gaming at the MCM London Comic Con
has grown over the last few years, with more companies attending and far
more space dedicated to game pods on which to play the latest titles.
However, the organisers just seem reluctant to put games on the same
standing as the TV shows whose panels typically make up the bulk of the
stage programme. The same seems true with anime, with the industry
panel shunted around the schedule with each event and even dropped
altogether in some years. The combination of Manga's
podcast and the industry panel this time - and splitting the resulting
panel over two short slots on the Saturday and Sunday - seemed like a
bit of a snub considering the sheer number of anime fans and cosplayers
at the event. The retailers at the event predominantly sell anime
and manga merchandise (a portion of it pirated admittedly), and the
EuroCosplay Championship - the MCM London Comic Con's
showpiece competition - sprang from anime fandom. We were glad to
see that Shinichiro Watanabe was given the main stage slot he deserved,
and we really hope that more guests come in future and are afforded the
same respect. |
To be fair, and despite the new name, not a huge amount has changed with the MCM London Comic Con. Most of the stuff there was the same as October, there was just more of it, some bigger stages and more space. In fact the main differences are around the focus. The May event lacks a focal point, the October event has the finals of the EuroCosplay Championship, drawing in the best cosplayers from across Europe and international judges, whilst the May event simply hosts a qualifying competition to select one of the UK's two entrants. In fact the May event's strongest hand is probably the Fringe, which is usually bigger and better structured than the event in October. The generally better weather and increased hours of daylight generates more enthusiasm for outdoor events, and there seems to be more people outside and more activities going on than there are in October. The indoor events don't vary too much, it generally depends on what games are coming out and what guests the event has managed to get as to what's on the main stage and what signings there are, but there's always |
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