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Interview: AX PR Head - Chase Wang


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Vekou



Joined: 07 Jul 2003
Posts: 329
PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:22 pm Reply with quote
Excellent interview.
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fxg97873



Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 211
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 12:37 am Reply with quote
Chase Wang wrote:
If you see Man-Faye...I encourage him to attend in 2006, but please follow our guidelines. They are there for a reason.


So is this a formal invitation from AX for Man-Faye to attend?
I was under the impression from the Man-Faye interview that he had been permanently banned.

mk2000
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 12:47 am Reply with quote
Quote:
People may have complained that anime cons are moving towards Japanese pop culture, but there are also people who enjoy the fact that anime cons have diversified its programming. So I honestly believe that there is something for everyone.


I don't mind a little diversity, but when the music guests take away from the budget which would've been used for anime producers and writers, then I'd like the priorities to be weighed in favor of the anime industry, since anime is the reason the majority of attendees go to AX. It's becoming a joke when I can see premieres of exclusive anime films months before I go to any con. (For example, the staff working at AX a couple years ago was surprised I saw the Animatrix at The Cinemateque before it screened there.) Anyway, if I wanted to go to a j-rock concert, I'd rather travel somewhere closer(and less disorganized) than Anaheim or Long Beach.
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alangaruku



Joined: 15 Sep 2005
Posts: 35
PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:17 am Reply with quote
Why do people complain about the music guests?
The music guests were always anime related.
I love all the awesome quests.
My problem is not with the quests,
but with the lame dance in that small room,
(and it has as bad sound), the long lines,
same rude/unhappy stuff, and
moving the " Meet the guest reception" (in '04)
being on a beautiful top of the hotel, to a small noisy room,
and having two main events at the same time.


Last edited by alangaruku on Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:31 am; edited 3 times in total
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Haru to Ashura



Joined: 13 Jan 2005
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:18 am Reply with quote
I disagree. Musical guests do take a bit of money away much budget from directiors, producers, etc., but the thing is...concerts are fun and enjoyable, and are much more interactive than watching a director talk at a panel or seeing him/her for all of two seconds at a meet-and-greet. At as anime has become more popular, special screenings are what not are...really, not as special anymore. They're starting to happen across the country, sometimes even in actual theaters. Musical acts are rarer and provide more incentive for J-everything fans to actually go to con. I'm not paying travel+food+room+badge to see a few new movies that will be out on dvd a month later anyway. However, paying travel+food+room+badge to have The Flare rock my face off at a one-time event is something entirely more worthwhile. Anime alone doesn't sell anymore because it's widely available. :) That said, it's about time AX started inviting manga-ka to their cons again!

What, in my opinion, really uselessly drains con budgets are VAs. No offense, but not only are VA's generally uninteresting, but half of the anime con attenders are sub-elitists and don't give a damn about American VAs.

Though I will say that AX's handling of past concerts has been rather shabby.
Cough, hack - The Saturday encore Duel Jewel concert in 2003; the make-shift security staff was not only rude, pushy, and had a negative attitude towards the band even being there, but security even being there was entirely unessessary and sort of ruined the show. At many points, Ax volunteers even had the gall to stop the band members approaching the ends of the stage of their own free will. Cough.
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alangaruku



Joined: 15 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:28 am Reply with quote
Haru to Ashura wrote:

What, in my opinion, really uselessly drains con budgets are VAs. No offense, but not only are VA's generally uninteresting, but half of the anime con attenders are sub-elitists and don't give a damn about American VAs.

The American voice actors are uninteresting.
Same of American vocie actors were even rude.
I like the Japanese guests better.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 2:27 am Reply with quote
alan:
Quote:

Why do people complain about the music guests?
The music guests were always anime related.


Because few of them actually watch the shows which use their music.

Quote:
My problem is not with the quests,
but with the lame dance in that small room,
(and it has as bad sound), the long lines,
same rude/unhappy stuff,


I can agree with you there.

Haru:
Quote:
Musical guests do take a bit of money away much budget from directiors, producers, etc., but the thing is...concerts are fun and enjoyable, and are much more interactive than watching a director talk at a panel or seeing him/her for all of two seconds at a meet-and-greet.


If I want a concert, I'll go to a concert. But I pay money for a con. And if you get a crappy seat at a concert, then you can't see or interact with anything anyway. And you have to be a VIP to be able to meet a singer in person. At least at a panel, you have as much of a chance of being addressed and getting an autograph as the next person.

Quote:
At as anime has become more popular, special screenings are what not are...really, not as special anymore. They're starting to happen across the country, sometimes even in actual theaters.


Then book stuff which hasn't been licensed here yet.

Quote:
Musical acts are rarer and provide more incentive for J-everything fans to actually go to con. I'm not paying travel+food+room+badge to see a few new movies that will be out on dvd a month later anyway.


The concerts are hitting dvd, too. But even when they aren't, the acts will eventually be on tour at places which don't require hotel fees.

Quote:
Anime alone doesn't sell anymore because it's widely available. :)


Actually, it sells better now than when it was a niche phenomenon. If you mean it doesn't sell to hardcore fans who hate it being popular, then you're probably right. I have not heard of a significant increase in pass sales attributed to j-rock events. In fact, Otakon had to turn away guests, because of how overcrowded it was this year. So I don't get why would you want to promote a genre which just loses money, because it alienates the regular customers? It's like having a Robotech or Gundam panel at a Trekkie con. And to top it off, the bands don't even make the money it costs to pay for their stay and their concert hall. (Well except for Puffy Ami Yumi, but they've had previous tv exposure, while Nami has to depend on WOM to help her U.S. career. And we've seen what happened to Hikky when they went for that angle.)

If people who run the cons are tired of anime, fine. Then get new jobs as record producers and promoters and stop forcing the rest of us to adapt to your new hobbies. I don't watch anime for music tacked on after the actual production. That's not to say I don't enjoy the music, but it's not a factor in whether I decide to purchase a title. Therefore, it's not a factor
in whether I decide to go to a con, which is why I have not attended any this year.

Quote:
That said, it's about time AX started inviting manga-ka to their cons again!


They did a few years ago with Yuu Watase and Koshi Rikdo.

Quote:
What, in my opinion, really uselessly drains con budgets are VAs. No offense, but not only are VA's generally uninteresting, but half of the anime con attenders are sub-elitists and don't give a damn about American VAs.


I'm not a fan of most VAs myself, but I think they have significantly more fans than singers who are only familiar to music importers. Plus without them, the dubbies wouldn't watch the anime in question, so I do recognize their importance to the industry.
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Romuska
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Joined: 02 Mar 2004
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 3:52 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Quote:
People may have complained that anime cons are moving towards Japanese pop culture, but there are also people who enjoy the fact that anime cons have diversified its programming. So I honestly believe that there is something for everyone.


I don't mind a little diversity, but when the music guests take away from the budget which would've been used for anime producers and writers, then I'd like the priorities to be weighed in favor of the anime industry, since anime is the reason the majority of attendees go to AX. It's becoming a joke when I can see premieres of exclusive anime films months before I go to any con. (For example, the staff working at AX a couple years ago was surprised I saw the Animatrix at The Cinemateque before it screened there.) Anyway, if I wanted to go to a j-rock concert, I'd rather travel somewhere closer(and less disorganized) than Anaheim or Long Beach.


I personally don't mind the musical guests at all. I loved the Yuji Kajura concert from 2003, and the Maaya Sakamoto concert was something I've always wanted to see.

But anyway, I'm surprised he didn't bring up the issue of the weapons policy. I was pissed off when they announced that you weren't allowed to carry steel weapons even if they were peace bonded.
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Abarenbo Shogun



Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 1573
PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:13 am Reply with quote
Romuska wrote:

But anyway, I'm surprised he didn't bring up the issue of the weapons policy. I was pissed off when they announced that you weren't allowed to carry steel weapons even if they were peace bonded.


Cosplay.com has several threads in their forums littered thru 4 of the sections.
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DragonsRevenge



Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 1150
PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 6:49 am Reply with quote
Chase Wang sounds like the name of a porn star.
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:08 am Reply with quote
DragonsRevenge wrote:
Chase Wang sounds like the name of a porn star.


;p And so does my name. Let's not have any of this name-bashing here, for the sake of all us poor Asian-Americans around the world.


Last edited by ANN_Bamboo on Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:09 am; edited 1 time in total
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HeeroTX



Joined: 15 Jul 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:04 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
alan:
Quote:

Why do people complain about the music guests?
The music guests were always anime related.


Because few of them actually watch the shows which use their music.

I'm less interested in them because as an anime fan, they can contribute NOTHING to my fandom of anime, which is why I go to an anime convention. I agree that if I want a concert, I'll go to a concert. That said, I respect Yoko Ishida and how she did a sort of "impromptu" concert at the AX Dance one year. That sort of thing is entertaining. But I'm sick of reading VK fans clamoring for VK artists who have NOTHING to do with anime. Or at BEST have maybe 1 or 2 anime theme songs to their "credit" which those fans are only using as an "excuse" for why they should be there.
Quote:

Musical acts are rarer and provide more incentive for J-everything fans to actually go to con. I'm not paying travel+food+room+badge to see a few new movies that will be out on dvd a month later anyway.

(emphasis mine) Anime cons are ANIME cons for a reason. "Eyeshield 21" is an entertaining football anime/manga. Should Expo bring out Joe Montana or some other football star in an effort to get more football fans to come to the con? There's a football game, there's a football anime/manga, the crossover appeal would no doubt be GREAT. I think you'd more likely say, no the football fans (most of them) aren't going to be interested in anime/manga and would instead just be annoying to the real anime/manga fans. Some anime/manga fans feel that way about JMusic fans (and yes, I know many JMusic fans who will flat out state that altho they MAY watch some anime (some don't even do that) they're not really "fans" of it, but they really love the music) If JMusic is SUCH an easy sell, PMX should be MUCH bigger. (that's not intended as a slam on PMX, I think the JMusic fandom is overstated)
Quote:

If people who run the cons are tired of anime, fine. Then get new jobs as record producers and promoters and stop forcing the rest of us to adapt to your new hobbies. I don't watch anime for music tacked on after the actual production. That's not to say I don't enjoy the music, but it's not a factor in whether I decide to purchase a title. Therefore, it's not a factor
in whether I decide to go to a con

Agreed. I drove cross country (24 hrs+, one way) to go to a con that addressed my anime interests, musical guests won't fit that bill for me. I know there ARE some music fans that have that kind of dedication, but more often I see "X con had X singer, my local con should get them too"
Quote:

Quote:
What, in my opinion, really uselessly drains con budgets are VAs. No offense, but not only are VA's generally uninteresting, but half of the anime con attenders are sub-elitists and don't give a damn about American VAs.


I'm not a fan of most VAs myself, but I think they have significantly more fans than singers who are only familiar to music importers. Plus without them, the dubbies wouldn't watch the anime in question, so I do recognize their importance to the industry.

It's only recently that Expo has even brought in American VAs tho, isn't it? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan either (not a fan of US or Japanese voices, I'd rather meet the creator than a voice)but I think it's only recently that they've even brought in US voices. For the record tho, except in VERY rare cases, US VAs are "relatively" cheap to have at a con vs. any Japanese guest who doesn't essentially come on their own or get fully sponsored by a company. That's why most every small con across the US has X English dub VA but no Japanese guest(s). ^_- Comparatively speaking, you're most likely NOT losing other Japanese guests (musical or otherwise) because of US guests. OTOH, the time, resources and money committed to a given Japanese guest means it's POSSIBLE you're losing other Japanese guests because you have that one.
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ANN_Bamboo
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:14 am Reply with quote
I have no problem with musical guests. The fact of the matter is, many Japanese artists don't tour in the US. Sure, some of them do, but say I wanted to see T.M. Revolution in concert. I can't just go to Ticketmaster and book a ticket for the next show in my area.

But, when a convention provides a way to see these fan-favorites, I think it's a great thing. While there may be people who don't care about musical guests, there are a lot who *do*. I desperately wanted to see TM Revolution in concert ever since I first heard of him back in my junior high days, and I finally got the chance.

You can see American VAs at 30+ cons a year. You could probably only catch one of your favorite artists (without going to Japan) a few rare times in your life. I think it's great that they have musical guests.
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jgreen



Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 12:25 pm Reply with quote
I'm with Bamboo on this one. I think it depends on more on who the artist is, however. For example, Kunicon in St. Louis had some godawful band named 10Sheen that was advertised as "anime-inspired" that were a bunch of Americans that had nothing to do with anime whatsoever. ACen, on the other hand, had the Pillows, who, in addition to being one of the greatest bands walking the freakin' planet, are well known for their soundtrack work for FLCL. If the musical artist is actually anime related, I'm all for it.
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HeeroTX



Joined: 15 Jul 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:10 pm Reply with quote
SakechanBD wrote:
I have no problem with musical guests. The fact of the matter is, many Japanese artists don't tour in the US. Sure, some of them do, but say I wanted to see T.M. Revolution in concert. I can't just go to Ticketmaster and book a ticket for the next show in my area.

Here is what musical guests are to anime fans who aren't fans of JMusic (per se). Suppose someone started a "Japanese Music festival" and at that festival after a few years of good shows, they did a year of say 3 "ok" Japanese groups (not great bands you REALLY want to see, but not so awful you hate them, just "eh, I'll listen") and 2 European techno bands. Maybe you like techno, maybe you don't. But if you're a big time JMusic fan, wouldn't you wonder why the "Japanese Music Festival" was putting resources towards some "unrelated" acts when they could have maybe gotten one more JMusic act that you would have REALLY wanted to see?

And if you're NOT into EuroTechno, would you care that "well, maybe some of these EuroTechno fans will get 'into' JMusic"?
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