AGP#012 – NYCC09 Blogger Roundtable

Hosts: Evan “Vampt Vo” Minto, Brigid Alverson,
Alain a.k.a. “Hisui,” Kate a.k.a. “Narutaki,” Scott VonSchilling,
Greg
Topics: New York Comic Con 2009


Recorded on the last day of the New York Comic Con, this episode
has four other bloggers and Evan talking about our experience at
the con, our favorite announcements and events, and our opinions
on the state of the anime and manga industries. This was
literally a blogger roundtable, as we were bloggers
sitting around a round table in the press room. The
guests include the folks from Anime Almanac, MangaBlog, and
Reverse Thieves.


You might notice that Evan forgets to introduce himself at the
beginning. For those who are new to the podcast and can’t figure
it out on their own, he’s the EIC of the blog and the host of the
podcast.


Show notes and links can be found after the break.


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(Runtime: 45 minutes, 38 seconds)

[0:00:00] Intro: Todd Howard, Executive Producer for
Fallout 3[0:00:05] Opening Song: “R.O.D Theme” by
Taku Iwasaki (R.O.D. OVA opener)

[0:00:21] Getting right into the action, we are recording a
live show at the New York Comic Con! Introductions ensue:
Scott, Alain, and Kate and special non-credentialed guest Greg.


[0:01:24] “What are your opinions on the con?” It was packed,
particularly on Sunday due to Joss Whedon’s presence. Alain
talks about people cutting their fingers off in order to see
Whedon. This did not actually occur, though it certainly would
have been entertaining if it had.


[0:02:07] Brigid Alverson (from MangaBlog.net) joins in on the
fun, bringing her ungodly amount of manga expertise to the
podcast.


[0:06:41] We were going to talk about everyone’s favorite
announcement, but Scott is intent on industry discussion, so we
get into that. He talks about the ICv2 Conference, which I
unfortunately didn’t attend. Brigid brings up the awesome new
licenses for the Viz Signature and VizKids lines. Yen Press’s
Yostuba&! license comes next, and we all fall
head over heels in love with Yen. (Hey Scott, if you love them
so much, why don’t you MARRY THEM?) Brigid loves CMX too. Also,
Viz just licensed Rumiko Takahashi’s new manga, so we talk
about that, and Alain predicts the plot synopsis.


[0:18:20] Scott moves us along to anime with a discussion of
Bandai Entertainment’s new YouTube-based online distribution
system. I bring up the quote, “single-volume DVD releases have
gone the way of the dodo,” and we talk about the anime
distribution model. (Read more here)


[0:21:01] We get to a little bit of general comics discussion
as we consider the possibilities of comics being published
first as webcomics and later as trade paperbacks. According to
Art Spiegelman, people will never give up that experience of
reading a comic on the printed page.


[0:28:20] I ask everybody about the non-industry events that
they went to. Scott and Alain comment on the
Yatterman premiere, and how nobody was there to
see Takashi Miike since the room was filled with squeeing Sho
Sakurai fangirls. (Read the complete and terrifying story from
Dave on Colony Drop)


[0:32:33] Brigid gets to talk about her panel, “NewsFlash! Teen
Girls Read Manga.” Evan brings up the really interesting idea
of flipping manga aimed at mainstream readers. There will be an
article about this on Ani-Gamers in the future. Soon we get to
talking about literature being adapted into manga. Then we
complain about Del Rey’s new OEL manga featuring (as Kate
called him) “Bishie Wolverine.” Evan makes Kate angry by
mentioning a potential Twilight manga.


[0:44:43] “Final thoughts?” It’s awesome. Crazy and hectic, but
so worth it. That’s a wrap!


[0:44:58] Ending Song: “WORLD END” by FLOW (Code Geass R2
second opener)


[0:45:17] Outro: Brigid’s in the Twilight Zone!


Links:
Anime Almanac
MangaBlog
Reverse Thieves
Dave’s Yatterman story (Colony Drop)