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New Yorkers took a trip to Japan without even boarding a plane as over 15,000 anime fans hit the Marriott Marquis and Virgin Megastore in Times Square for the 2003 Big Apple Anime Festival.
From Friday, August 29 to Sunday, August 31, New York, the crossroads of the world, played host to a weekend long celebration of anime and manga culture. Screenings, dealer rooms, costumed characters, contests, workshops, industry guests and world premieres were just part of the cultural invasion that left New Yorkers with a bigger understanding of their neighbors across the seas.
"We are extremely excited about our 2003 festival,” said Ryoko Maebayashi, liaison manager for the Big Apple Anime Festival (BAAF) before the show. “With BAAF in its third successful year, we’re expecting increased industry participation, massive promotion and advertising and even more attendees. There is no question that BAAF 2003 will be the international anime event of the year.”
This year’s event didn’t disappoint, bringing together some of the top names in anime to entertain the fans and leave them wanting more. Guests of Honor included Yasuhiro Irie, director of Escaflowne, Alien Nine, RahXephon and Gun Parade March; Satoshi Kon, the director of Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress, who was on hand to debut his latest work Tokyo Godfathers; Tsukasa Hojo, creator of the City Hunter manga serialized in Raijin Comics and Marc Diraison, the voice of Guts in the hit anime Berserk, among other guests from anime and manga fame.
TOKYOPOP kept fans happy with the premiere of Initial D: The Movie, part of its hot new anime import that rode the popularity of The Fast and the Furious and never looked back. “TOKYOPOP was very pleased with the BAAF premiere of Initial D,” said John Powers, the company’s VP in marketing. “Not only did the film open to a packed theater, standing room only, but producer/director Ren Usami was happy and we’ve received a lot of good feedback from the fans.”
Japan was not the only country represented as the BAAF debuted the award-winning Korean animated film Doggy Poo, from director Oh-Sug Kwon and executive producer Hong-Gee Kim, based on the best selling children’s book by Jung-Saeng Kwon. After Central Park Media (CPM) saw the tale of the seemingly worthless piece of dog excrement discover itself by sacrificing himself to help a flower bloom, the company immediately acquired the domestic distribution rights for the film.
"BAAF, which is the world’s largest anime film festival, proved to be the perfect place to introduce the Korean animated film Doggy Poo to an American audience,” said Sam Napolitano, director of sales at CPM. “We are very pleased to have been able to acquire this heartwarming tale, which was so well received at the BAAF. We believe this story will appeal to audiences of all ages and are committed to making Doggy Poo a must-have DVD.”