Forum - View topicNEWS: Anime Expo Announces First Guest of Honor
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Omega13
 Posts: 78 |
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I'm not going to toss around insults or anything else, but I too am underwhelmed by this announcement. Very simply put, I'm not interested in the American guests who worked on the local adaptation of various anime. I watch subs only (and have no problem with people watching dubs, to cut that line of debate off at the pass; dubs just aren't to my personal taste), and as such, the majority of American guests that would be invited (primarily directors and voice actors) have no bearing on my anime experience. As such, why would I be interested in seeing them? The Guest of Honor list is one of the primary reasons I would want to go to a convention, and AX has, in the past, been one of the best conventions about getting big name Japanese guests to attend. I'm sure they will, in time, announce a number of Japanese guests, but for my purposes, the announcement of the first Guest of Honor was a bit of a letdown.
Again, nothing against Ms. McGlynn, and I'm glad for the people who will be attending AX that do want to meet her, but I'll save my enthusiasm for the Japanese guests, thanks. |
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euri-jjin
Posts: 3 Location: Gyeonggi do Korea and Bristol UK |
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I wish i could come T T
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Rukusho
Posts: 16 Location: Wouldn't you like to know? |
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Also don't forget she did the English voice training for Blood the Last Vampire (for those of you who haven't seen it, most of the movie is originally in English spoken by Japanese VA's) |
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xstylus
 Posts: 263 |
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You're right. Why would you? So don't. There will be Japanese guests for you to see, but don't rain on the parade of the other fans. AX is for you, but not for you alone. There seems little point to your comment other than to condemn AX's decision to invite a US professional as a GOH. To say that this announcement is disappointing is a slap to those fans and to Ms. McGlynn, despite your intentions otherwise. At times I think some people have overlooked just how significant it is that US professionals are being invited as GOHs at AX. Despite being the largest anime convention out there, AX can only invite so many people. It used to be that they generally invited only Japanese guests because it was more of a rarity--and thus a treat--to bring over a Japanese guest. It speaks enormously well for the US professionals in the industry that their popularity has become so great that it outweighs that rarity. Indeed, this is no small honor. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Oh c'mon, Anime Expo's change in policy has little to do with the "prestige" of US anime voice actors and more to do with a combination of "expense" and "attendee demographics". For whatever reason, lots of attendees ask for/say they want to see American VAs, so Expo is responding to that. Also, it is incontravertible that US guests are cheaper to bring out (unless a company brings out the Japanese guest, in which case they're free to the con either way). I'm not saying Expo doesn't use SOME selectiveness when choosing their guests, but it's not all that "exclusive. Previous choices: Laura Bailey, Crispin Freeman, Vic Mignogna (2006) Hunter Mackenzie Austin, Greg Ayres, JB Blanc, Johnny Yong Bosch, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Siobhan Flynn, Crispin Freeman, Rachel Hirschfeld, Sara Lahti, Wendee Lee, Liam O'Brien, Carrie Savage, J.D. Stone, Helena Taylor, Wendee Tomson (2005) Kate Davis, Wendee Lee, Michael Lindsay, Cindy Robinson, Michelle Ruff, Carrie Savage (2004) Rebecca Forstadt, Crispin Freeman, Taliesin Jaffe, Liam O'Brien (2003) I see Crispin Freeman has been there almost every year for the last 4 (and I expect him to be there this year), I guess that just makes HIM the greatest US voice actor alive, eh? If Ms. McGlynn had NEVER been to a US anime convention, I would be impressed for Expo from that angle, but she's been to at least 3 other conventions that I know of. I think part of the problem is that people are taking comments as slights against Ms. McGlynn (and granted, phobia's post wasn't the most diplomatic in that regard) whereas the criticism is more directed towards Expo. Whether it's deserved or not, when you are the biggest and generally considered "the" event to look towards for the con year, announcing _1_ American voice actor as your first big guest announcement 90 days before the con is somewhat "disappointing". To put it another way, if this had been done late December or maybe even early January, I doubt anyone would say anything bad at all. But since it is now the end of March, they get a response of "that's it?" Just look at the thread that was requesting to hear about J guests for ACen. Some of us still wanna see that special guest that only one or two events can bring out (rather than the ones who do "the circuit"), but I realize that demographics are shifting. I also know that negotiations can be tricky and there may be lots in the works that they just can't ANNOUNCE yet. Heck, I'd even go so far as to say they probably have SEVERAL guests lined up that they just aren't ready to SAY are going. But Expo has set a high standard for themselves, and with the prestige and respect that brings, come expectations. And as skilled & talented as Ms. McGlynn is, it's like hearing a week before an all star game that ... say, Yao Ming is on the all star team. Nothing to take away from Yao, but the general response would be "yeah, and..?" rather than "Yao is awesome!" |
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