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.”
The Big Apple Anime Festival was the must-see event of the year. With people of all walks of life coming together out of a common interest; enjoying themselves, discovering new shows and characters, showing off a distinct flair for the medium they love and looking forward to doing so for many more years to come.
"I'm loving it here,” said Matt K, who has attended the BAAF since it all began three years ago. “There are a lot more people here than last year, but it is still a lot more intimate than the Otakon. I’m just looking forward to enjoying the rest of the week and I will definitely be back for year four.”
On the other side of the hotel, Kira was enjoying her first year at the BAAF, coming in costume to show off her love of anime. “This is cool,” she said. “I like anime a lot. I watch it every single day and I just wanted to get dressed up. My aunt helped make my costume and I like it. I also like looking at the rest of the costumes that people are wearing.”
The art known as cosplay gives fans a reason to dress up as their favorite characters from the world of anime, manga or even video games. It doesn’t hurt to meet other people like them, who wowed many guests and had their pictures taken by countless fans that enjoyed seeing their characters come to life. “I really enjoy cosplay,” said Ender, who dressed up as Link from The Legend of Zelda. Ender showed up with her friend, Dante, who dressed as a ninja character from the game. “It really does bring people together who have the same interests. We met each other about a year and a half ago while doing cosplay. You can make some great friends here and this is a great event to enjoy together.”
So, what did I think? I know you were dying to know. My only complaints are that with so many people expected, the BAAF should have made more room or obtained a bigger space to accommodate the expected guests so I didn’t have to wait for close to 30 minutes on a line to the dealer room. Speaking of the dealer room, I must stress that the word deal is part of dealer room. Media Blasters and CPM were the only tables offering true deals and if I can go online or to a store and pay the same price for a product, than what is the point of going to the dealer room?
Other than that, I had a lot of fun, enjoyed the shows, the company and the atmosphere. The BAAF was indeed all it was cracked up to be. I made some great deals at the CPM table and saw Scorpion’s Revenge on sale complete with a quote from this site on the back of the box. My partner and I saw two great premieres, like Initial D and Tokyo Godfathers, two movies whose reviews can be found at the end of the article. We met some wonderful, interesting, if not unique, people and were certainly left looking forward to enjoying it all over again next year. Why pay money for a round trip ticket to the Orient, when the Orient comes right to you.
Send comments and questions about this article to JMinners@ybfree.com.