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ANN 1999 Predictions
(part 3)

ANN 1999 Predictions (part 2)


1. Pocket Monsters subbed. (I can dream).
2. A Rocket Gang OVA (I REALLY can dream).
3. Magic Knights Rayearth will not be butchered.
4. Kodansha will revoke Mixx's priviledges to translate
its manga. Mixx will go bankrupt.
5. A mysterious new anime/manga shop will open in the King
of Prussia Mall.
6. The author and her otaku friends will watch Mononoke
Hime fifteen times (even with the $7 movie rates..heh).
7. The author will finish off her Japanese BSSM manga
collection and start on Ranma 1/2.
8. The author WILL capture Mewtwo.
9. Pocket Monsters Yellow will be released in the US.
10. The author WILL watch Evangelion.
11. The author WILL stop drooling over a certain anime guy
and a certain manga guy...

Z-chan
Philly, PA USA - Thursday, January 21, 1999 at 15:23:15 (MST)
In an extrodinary experiment, Japanese scientists
collectively raise the IQ of individuals world wide. Peace
is obtained, joy is celebrated, and web boards become
substanative and interesting!

Honky Tonk Manga Man <eatme (at otaku.com)>
Spanky, IL USA - Tuesday, January 19, 1999 at 23:05:46 (MST)
1.) Masses of people will come to the same realization that
the Y2K event will cause the Magi system to shut down,
forcing them to watch OTHER anime.

2.)Delia's will cancel their running of teen pop culture
Eva shirts and replace them with hardcore Doomed Megaloplis
gear.

3.)The Folks from outer space will decide that earth has too
many fags and will not breed with us.

4.)Director Anno will add 45 seconds to the end of END OF
EVANGELION ver. 1.2, where Auska pulls down her pants and
takes a shit on Singhi's face. Proving her word that she
really is sick.

5.)The total henti watching population will lose 30% of its
viewer when recent scienfic studies show that tenticals
carry a fatal strand of yeast infection.

6.)Princess Mononuke will be cancled from American
Thearters; instead they will show the MD Geist Directors
cut. You will be able to buy the soundtrack featuring
N'SYCH and Jewel.

7.)Pen-Pen will be found in the Pacfic Islands making sweet
love to many Gaint Turtles, in return contracting the HIV
virus. :(

8.)Your Mom will be reborn.

Evan Stewart <ers888 (at mc.net)>
Crystal Lake, IL USA - Tuesday, January 19, 1999 at 16:42:09 (MST)
1. I will fix my E-Mail address

2. Tokyo will be destroyed by...
a)a large meteor
b)a demon of some sort
c)a high explosive device i.e. nuclear, reactive, etc.
d)psychic energy
e)aliens
f)mechs
g)aliens with mechs
h)all of the above

3.Dub lovers and sub lovers will get along.

4.Toonami will air Gundam or Battleship Yamoto aka
Starblazers (anything better then Sailor Moon).

5.Final Fantasy fans laugh at the ironic fact that the Final
Fantasy movie will be in the US first.

6.People who feel good about life will go see X the Movie,
after seeing it they will say "jeez Evangelion had such an
optmistic ending"

Eric Knudsen <eva_of_lilum (at ameritech.net)>
USA - Tuesday, January 19, 1999 at 16:04:55 (MST)
1) There will be an increased demand for "Japanese" DVD's
that are encoded for use in both region 1 and region 2,
*or* are set for a regional coding of 0 for world wide play.

2) There will be an increased demand for DVD-rom drives
where the regional encoding of 1 is *not* embedded into the
drives firmware.

3) There will be an increased demand for "set-top" DVD
players that will play region 2 discs "out-of-the-box"
instead of needing warranty-blowing mod-chips.

Bill nessanbaum <billnes (at pb.net)>
Plainview, NY USA - Tuesday, January 19, 1999 at 13:56:48 (MST)
I predict that all Dub haters will get their little asses
kicked! i know that for a fact.
Joke:
What's transparent, and lies on the side of the road?
"A dub hater w/ the shit beaten out of them!!!"

Justin Weiss
USA - Monday, January 18, 1999 at 15:30:05 (MST)
I predict that all the Neon Genisis Evange-holics will get
over their disorders and realize that Eva isn't life! I
also think that The Slayers is gunna take America by storm,
along with Bubble Gum Crisis: 2040! The remake of Vampire
Hunter D will be hailed as one of the greatest anime's of
all time, as it reminds people of how great the flic is!

Jeff Rosenbaugh <Lds_boy (at yahoo.com)>
Crystal Lake, IL USA - Monday, January 18, 1999 at 15:26:55 (MST)
1. Right-wing Religious groups and parents groups will
band together and call Mononoke Hime "the work of the
devil". They will try and block the release of anime
movies and fail. Of course, even with the release of anime
movies in theaters, the American public will still think
anime is a bunch of cartoons with sex and violence.

2. The Tenchi Muyo series will end in 1999 with the
release of Tenchi Muyo in Love 2. (I know that for a fact)

3. It will be against the law to create awful anime dubs.
Those companies that edit and chop anime for the sake of
dubbing will be send to jail.

4. DiC will get smart and sell the rights of Sailor Moon
to a company that is more responsible in dubbing.

Future of anime:

Scenario 1:

The Japanese economy will worsen and Japanese animation
companies will be forced to work with a smaller budget.
The animation companies will send their work to low-paying
Korean animation factories. Soon the quality of anime will
be the same as American cartoons. (Hopefully, I am really
wrong about this!)

Scenario 2:

The Japanese government will become smart and will pull the
Japanese economy out of the recession. Then the Japanese
animation factories will have a larger budget to work with
and they will produce high-quality anime titles. These
high-quality anime titles will arrive on American shores
and will shame the American cartoons to death. After that,
anime will become popular.


C. Bakaton <bakaton27 (at hotmail.com)>
Boston, WA USA - Sunday, January 17, 1999 at 11:55:15 (MST)
An anime will be released that depicts Oda Nobanaga in a
good light, and not as some evil fellow cavorting with the
forces of darkness.

Darren A. Bills <crantz (at uwyo.edu)>
Laramie, WY USA - Saturday, January 16, 1999 at 22:21:25 (MST)
1. Theatrical releases... like X and Perfect Blue... with a
nationwide distro

3. The end of Mixx in it's current incarnation

7. More licensed merchandise available domestically

15. The next gen of console video game systems... for even
better dating sims!

31. DVD flood

63. Septerra Core

127. Something to be the successor of Evangelion as the pop
anime

255. More digital animation, thus fewer cels

511. Chibi-Pop will continue to provide original manga

1023. Japanese will still be difficult to master

2047. More mediocre dubs will be watched by the masses

4095. Otaku will continue to mature and be more discriminate

^_^

Derelict <derelict (at iname.com)>
TN USA - Saturday, January 16, 1999 at 22:16:12 (MST)
My List of the 20 Things That Will Happen in Anime in 1999.

1. Sailor Moon S will begin dubbing.
2. I will grow to like animes even more than last year!
3. I will watch twice as many animes this year than last!
4. Pioneer will put the Tenchi Muyo! TV Series on DVD.
5. I will buy even more Sailor Moon stuff.
6. My cat's superiority complex will grow extremely larger
than last year.
7. I will eat less fat.
8. More Pokemon Bean Bags will be released.
9. I will find someone who can order the Sailor Moon SNES
RPG from Japan for me.
10. I will beat Final Fantasy III. [Doubtful, though. I've
had it for three years, and I still haven't gotten near the
end! That's why I love RPGs so much! =D)
11. Ranma 1/2 will be released on DVD!
12. I'll learn how to speak and write Japanese.(Dreaming's
good, isn't it?)
13. Chroma Cels from Tenchi Muyo! will be released.
14. I'll learn to stop making so many predictions.
(Doubtful, too. :))
15. Gunsmith Cats will be put on DVD, and the people in
Japan will make more GSC episodes to put on DVD!
16. Slayers Next! will be dubbed, and put on DVD with the
first season of Slayers.
17. Gourry will say, "Oh, I wish I had a brain. By the
way, Lina, what is a brain?"
18. Lina will NOT say, "No thanks. I'm not hungry."
19. I'll find Tales of Phantasia for the SNES. (It had
vocalized music that you could understand! It wasn't
garbled, or muffled, or anything! It was in Japanese,
though. But, if I knew Japanese, I could've understood it!)
20. And last, but not least, I'll collect all 151 Pokemon!

Ben Smith <Admrlsolo2 (at aol.com)>
Mobile, Al USA - Saturday, January 16, 1999 at 21:23:38 (MST)
1. My friends will see mononoke hime at the theaters and
slap me upside my head for not telling them that anime is
cool.(even tho i have...er..)
2. My obsession of Hotohori will get bigger ^^;;
3. Someone will finally realease rurouni kenshin(manga and
anime) but something will happen to the name and be re-
named Samurai-X (ugh...)
4. My friends will see X the movie at the theaters and
slap me upside my head for not telling them that anime can
be violent and have lots of blood.(even tho i have...er..)
5. That lady Yukie Nasie(sp??) will make more Here is
Greenwood.(prolly not but i love that series ^^;;)
6. hide's U.S. cd Zilch will come out(er...it is on
backorder...do you know how mad i got???)
7. There will be a new tenchi ova series(gah!!! the horror
of tenchi muyo tv series 2!!!)
8. More pokemon will invade the U.S.! haahaa!!!!
(erm...pikachu yay yay!!!)
9. Anime will suddenly become really really popular but
when the Y2k bug comes then we will have to start all over
again(er...in-joke)
10. Someone will start a business and have a way cool manga
phonebook magazine thingy with 300 pages.(yeah...prolly
wont happen but it would be cool eh?)
11. erm...that group barenaked ladies will make another
song with some anime in it.
12. Sephiroth will run for President(it could happen!!!)

Erica Evans <makoto18 (at hotmail.com)>
erie, CO USA - Saturday, January 16, 1999 at 15:29:02 (MST)
1. A massive infusion of anime titles on DVD, initially led
by Pioneer, but by the end of the year by AnimeVillage.com.

2. We'll see lots of anime that is finally worth watching:
Nadeshiko, Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Cowboy BeBop, etc. I
expect Cowboy BeBop to be a particularly hot seller since
it has been praised heavily on both sides of the Pacific.

3. Mononoke Hime will be a surprise hit of the summer
despite its very likely MPAA "R" rating for its violence.
It will probably make about $130-$140 million if done in
summer wide release (most likely a few weeks after STAR
WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE is out). To the surprise of some,
Miramax will release theatrically a subtitled version,
particularly in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.

4. The Japanese anime companies will begin to take serious
interest in importing anime in the US themselves. On the
lead of companies like Bandai and Pioneer, we might see
King Records (a MAJOR financier of anime in Japan) and Toei
Animation Company, Ltd. start their own US import
operations, selling titles primarily on VHS and DVD.

5. The big surprise of the year will be the announcement by
(possibly) a consortium of Japanese anime companies to set
up one or more 24-hour anime TV channels on DirecTV,
Primestar and/or Dish Network. They will be based on the
successful channels running on DBS systems for Japan.

Raymond Chuang <raychuang00 (at excite.com)>
Mountain View, CA USA - Friday, January 15, 1999 at 20:35:07 (MST)
There will be more 100% digital produced anime, and they
will become a major success, hand-drawn-cel-animation will
exceed. Jinroh, Steam Boy Detectives and Vampire Hunter D 2
will be the biggest success in Japan this year. Bringing a
whole new limit to animation. Gainax will go bancrupt
because everyone will see that His/Her Circumstances is
only hot air and they failed to manage to put Blue Uru in
place. The new BGC-TV-Series will be rated as the worst
successor ever produced. Japanese Animation industries will
be more focused on Export, because Japan Economy will go
down again. Clamp's new Manga will be a great success and
will be focused to be animated into a TV-Series at the end
of this year. Cowboy BeBop will be THE NEXT BIG THING TO
HIT USA. Interest in SailorMoon will finally become less.

Chojin <chojin (at d-lusion.com)>
Stuttgart, BW Germany - Friday, January 15, 1999 at 13:12:29 (MST)
My crystal ball shows me the great Anime future for 1999:

1) Monoke Hime will suprise everyone as it becomes the
highest grossing film ever, while the film everyone thought
would be the highest grossing film of the summer, Star Wars:
Phantom Menace, will come in a close second.
2) The new Vampire Hunter D film will be extremely popular,
attracting not only Otakus, but also fans of the original
film. When it's released on video, it's quickly tops the
charts.
3) Perfect Blue and X will both do suprisingly well in
theatres.
4) Monoke Hime will win the Acadamy Awards for "Best Film",
"Best Director" and at least one of the actors will recieve
an award.
5) Cartoon Network will buy more episodes of Dragon Ball Z
from Funimation, and the Freeza Saga will finally be
completed.
6) ADV Films will release Battle Angel on DVD.
7) Anime Village will release the Gundam Movies on DVD late
in the year.
8) Mixxine will have a hard year, losing most of their
subsribers and their advertisers.
9) More PBS stations will start showing Anime (I'm planning
on contacting somone at the PBS station in my area about it,
and I'm a good salesman...)
10) My website will be updated, becoming a useful resource
for Anime fans and newbies...

Witchaven <seankemp (at mail.tss.net)>
Lacey, WA USA - Friday, January 15, 1999 at 01:34:59 (MST)
1. _Revolutionary Girl Utena_, the shojo answer to _Neon
Genesis Evangelion_, will be released in its entirety,
proving as big a hit for Software Sculptors as NGE was for
ADV.
Perhaps then they will be able to afford voice talent on
ADV's level. :)

2. Mixx will spin off the _Magic Knights Rayearth_ manga
from _Mixxzine_ to its own comic, in all likelihood folding
_Mixxzine_ itself soon afterwards for want of public support
(unless Mixx bankrupts itself with frivolous libel lawsuits
first...:) )

3. Wide availabilty of fansubs will cause Viz's release of
the _Video Girl Ai_ OAVs and AnimeWorks' release of the MKR
anime to be commercial failures; in the case of VGAi, Viz
will not bother to release a subtitled version at all (as
none ever was of _Please Save My Earth_).

4. AnimeWorks or Software Scupltors will release the
_Vampire Princess Miyu_ TV series in lieu of AnimEigo, who
relased the OAVs several years ago. The release, owing to
the series' lack of general availability in fansubbed form,
will be a modest hit.

5. AnimEigo _still_ won't get around to the release of
_Urusei Yatsura_ volume 20 which was promised but not
shipped this New Year's Day, much to the irritation of this
writer. >( AnimEigo will license no new anime titles this
year.

6. The video release of _Castle in the Sky_ will be a modest
success on the scale of _Kiki_, while the theatrical release
of _Mononoke Hime_ will be a success on the scale of _Ghost
in the Shell_, and both will be well received by US critics.
however, this limited success will not spur Disney to
release any other Miyazaki films in North America in 1999 or
even in 2000.

7. ADV will begin its release of the new version of _Nadia:
The Secret of Blue Water_ and of _Martian Successor
Nadesico_ before Christmas 1999. However, neither will have
anywhere near the success of _Evangelion_ or even the _Dirty
Pair Flash_ OVAs. In general, ADV's overextension by
purchasing so many titles at once will take its toll on the
firm, which will find itself unable to release a large
number of its acquisitions. Among the reasons for this:

8. The long-sickly Japanese economy will finally experience
a meltdown this year on the scale of the collapses in South
Korea and Indonesia. As entertainment is a luxury good, the
animation industry will be particularly hard hit, suffering
even further injury in the form of even lower budgets and
even more corner-cutting in future industry output. Such
annoying cost-cutting techniques as (e.g.) the recycling of
the "Staircase to the Arena" scene in _every_ _blessed_
episode of _Utena_ may, alas, be the wave of the future.
8.a. Another less obvious cost-cutting technique, though not
as irritating to some, will be even further reliance on
computer graphic animation even for purposes best acheived
with cel animation, as studios switch to less
labor-intensive animation methods as cutbacks make layoffs
necessary in the industry.
8.b. While a meltdown may make licenses even cheaper for
English-language distributors of anime in the very short run
(leading perhaps to a further flurry of purchases by the
likes of ADV), the economies of the English-speaking nations
(including but not limited to the USA, Canada, the UK,
Australia and New Zealand), currently the healthiest in the
world as a general rule, will start to slow down this year,
possibly going into recession in 2000. Due to the
inevitable slump in consumption, paticularly of luxuries
like entertainment and particularly fringe varieties thereof
like anime, demand for anime in these nations will at least
peak this year. If there is a "bubble" of overconfidence in
the market (as some evidence suggests), it will burst this
year, with potentially disastrous results for overextended
firms like ADV "left holding a bag" of worthless licenses.
Even if current expansion is justified by demand, such
expansion will certainly slow or become a contraction by the
end of the year.
This will be the industry's biggest test yet. Was
otakudom a passing fad, or is it here to stay? We may see in
1999.

Paul Corrigan <corrig11 (at pilot.msu.edu)>
East Lansing, MI USA - Thursday, January 14, 1999 at 15:11:00 (MST)
1) one (or more) of the MIxx titles will disappear due to
lack of sales

2) ADV will anounce another bucket of aquisitions and only
about 30% of their current back catalogue will make it out
and neither Nadia or City Hunter will be among them but
Dirty Pair OAVs will be (following up on the Dirty Pair
Flash releases)

3) A Japanese manga artist will appear at an Australian SF
con (this is fact actually)

4) as a result of the feedback from showing Evangelion SBS
(Special Broadcasting Service, an Australian public TV
station) will pick up another series for 2000, possibly Key

5) the Bay area PBS will continue to show anime and other
PBS stations, seeing the support will start to join in,
starting a mini rennaisance of anime on US TV

6)AnimEigo will start another petition preorder (possibly
making this their standard aquisition model) although the
numbers won't be enough to release anything this year

7) Gainax will go back into hibernation but core members of
the creative team will show up elsewhere

8) in a 1990's version of the KOR fansub story: Kenshin
will be passed over for commercial release due to the
extent of fansub distribution of the title

9)Perfect Blue will be released to critical acclaim and
public nd mainstream media apathy, Monnoke Hime will be
released sensibly between major releases to critical
acclaim and moderate success, in the main due to a moderate
publicity campaign and X the movie will end up direct to
videoo and very limited cinema release.

10) The Evangelion movies will remain unreleased in the US

11) Companies in threat: Mixx, Manga (uncertain ownership)
and Anime Village (99 will be make or break for them)and
Chibi Pop Manga

12) Manga Max will overtake Animerica as the magazine of
choice

13)Next big thing in the US fandom: Blue Submarine and
Perfect Blue

14) We will all continue to spend far too much on our
favourite hobby and not care a whit

Thomas Edge <jafwasw (at mns.net.au)>
Manjimup, WA Australia - Thursday, January 14, 1999 at 09:03:25 (MST)
I forgot some:

-Mononoke Hime will be sucessful because of a new interest
in animation
-it will sell well on video
-more anime on DVD

JG <jg_mars (at ameritech.net)>
Cleveland Hts., OH USA - Thursday, January 14, 1999 at 08:45:52 (MST)
-more anime on main-stream TV
-Mixx will faulter
-anime will become less "trendy" and more "accepted"
-Vampire Hunter D will be succesful in theaters
-more "magical girl" series

JG <jg_mars (at ameritech.net)>
Cleveland Hts., OH USA - Thursday, January 14, 1999 at 08:34:17 (MST)
1) Anime will (for a while) be a more acceptable art form.

You can wear your Slayers T-shirt around town, and SOMEONE will think to themselves "hey! that's Slayers! Cool!" and perhaps even talk to you...

2) Mononoke will NOT set any new records for box office sales (although I HOPE I'm wrong on this prediction)

This will actually be the start of a GLORIOUS era for anime. Mononoke and New Vampire Hunter D usher in an era where EVERYONE can appreciate anime.
3) Slayers Again (the 4th season of Slayers) FINALLY shows up on Japanese TV, so the LDs will be released sometime this year... hopefully. x_x

4) DirectTV picks up some Japanese channels and allows some unsubbed anime on them... (I can always dream, can't I?)

5) I WILL attend Otakon 99. Really! ^_^

6) Knighties. ^_^ heh. Yeah - Moonies will become MKR fans and rename themselves Knighties. *laugh*

7) I WILL turn 18! ^_^ Yay!

George "Cookie" Phillips <cookie (at lazerlink.com)>
State College, PA USA - Thursday, January 14, 1999 at 05:50:03 (MST)
Jinroh will be the movie event of the world. It's
premiering at the Pusan Film festival I hear.

Terry Horikiri <midori_washio (at hotmail.com)>
Los Angeles, CA USA - Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 22:34:44 (MST)
1. (Laputa) Castle in the Sky will be released on tape with
so little advertisement (much like Kiki) that I would have
to personally buy 2000 copies to make it number one at
BlockBuster Video Top 10 Chart.

2. I would also have to buy 2000 copies of Laputa (subtitled
version) so that Disney continues to make subs available.

3. Much like releasing Kiki's Delivery Service on the same
day as Titanic's release in 1998, Mononoke Hime will be
released on purpose on the same day as Star Wars: Phantom
Menace May 21st, as to piss-off millions of Miyazaki fans
and not recieve the recognition it deserves.

4. Perfect Blue will be attacked by the Christian Coalition
and the Concerned Women Of America for being realistically
animated, too smart, full of intersting plot, and
philosophically provoking. They will demand that these
mediums that provoke the mind must be stopped. While
attacking this film, United States will continue to be the
leading producer of Pornography. By the way, they'll
criticize this film without even knowing what it is or what
it's about and without having seen a minute of the film,
like with the criticism of that devilish title called Kiki's
Delivery Service.

5. You're Under Arrest TV series will be subtitled...please!

6. Plane tickets to Japan will be less than $50 round trip
for anyone who can prove to the airline that he/she is a
true Otaku by answering the question: How many times does
Basara Nikkei flys out and sing in the Macross 7 TV series?

7. All the Commericial Anime Companies will join together to
form an anime cable channel. It will be part of the basic
channels so that it spreads anime even more.

8. Star Wars: Phantom Menace break Titanic's record in all
categories. Mononke Hime will come in second. Perfect Blue
third. X: The movie will be fourth. Austin Powers 2,
fifth.

9. Sony Entertainment Robot will be the ultimate pet of the
century.

TT <TTJones (at juno.com)>
Los Angeles, CA USA - Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 21:45:22 (MST)
1. (Laputa) Castle in the Sky will be released on tape with
so little advertisement (much like Kiki) that I would have
to personally buy 2000 copies to make it number one at
BlockBuster Video Top 10 Chart.

2. I would also have to buy 2000 copies of Laputa (subtitled
version) so that Disney continues to make subs available.

3. Much like releasing Kiki's Delivery Service on the same
day as Titanic's release in 1998, Mononoke Hime will be
released on purpose on the same day as Star Wars: Phantom
Menace May 21st, as to piss-off millions of Miyazaki fans
and not recieve the recognition it deserves.

4. Perfect Blue will be attacked by the Christian Coalition
and the Concerned Women Of America for being realistically
animated, too smart, full of intersting plot, and
philosophically provoking. They will demand that these
mediums that provoke the mind must be stopped. While
attacking this film, United States will continue to be the
leading producer of Pornography. By the way, they'll
criticize this film without even knowing what it is or what
it's about and without having seen a minute of the film,
like with the criticism of that devilish title called Kiki's
Delivery Service.

5. You're Under Arrest TV series will be subtitled...please!

6. Plane tickets to Japan will be less than $50 round trip
for anyone who can prove to the airline that he/she is a
true Otaku by answering the question: How many times does
Basara Nikkei flys out and sing in the Macross 7 TV series?

7. All the Commericial Anime Companies will join together to
form an anime cable channel. It will be part of the basic
channels so that it spreads anime even more.

8. Star Wars: Phantom Menace break Titanic's record in all
categories. Mononke Hime will come in second. Perfect Blue
third. X: The movie will be fourth. Austin Powers 2,
fifth.

9. Sony Entertainment Robot will be the ultimate pet of the
century.

TT <TTJones (at juno.com)>
Los Angeles, CA USA - Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 21:45:13 (MST)
_Princess Mononoke_ is released into theaters with little
fanfare and becomes an instant hit among critics.
Unfortunately, everyone else is watching Anakin Skywalker
instead of Ashitaka and San.

_Magic Knight Rayearth_ becomes the next American anime
hit, overpowering Sailor Moon as the shoujo show of choice.
Newbies flock to MKR and the fandom will coin a new term to
describe them: Knighties.

Disney announces another Miyazaki release set for 2000.
After the Right and other groups' reactions to _Princess
Mononoke_, however, Disney decides to go direct-to-video
again.

The rising yen discourages many people from importing stuff
from Japan and pirated goods become profitable again.

Sailor Pluto comes down from her Time Gate and smacks
everyone at Dic upside the head with her BAK.

Andrew Chen <deltastorm (at home.com)>
Fremont, CA USA - Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 19:20:13 (MST)
Mononoke Hime will be released the same day as Star Wars
prequel. Despite promise by ANN editor that he will see it
15 times, Claire Danes' awkwardly dubbed voice will make
repeat viewings painful.

Sailor Moon gets old and Pokemon takes its place as the
next most popular butchered anime series.

Evagelion continues being hyped and continues to disappoint.

Fans will finally see how Kenshin got his 'X'...animated.

Which reminds me, Rurouni Kenshin will never be
commercialized in the US.

Ghost in the Shell move over, enter Perfect Blue.

Nadesico finally gets the attention it deserves.

Someone will start campaigning for an Anime Cable Channel.

ANN continues to thrive ^_^!

Aripa
LA, CA USA - Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 17:24:58 (MST)
Carl Macek and Stu Levy are brought to trial for senseless
butchery of anime in front of a jury of hardcore otaku.
Their sentence is death by beheading. Disney goes out of
business. The FCC is abolished due to violation of first
amendment rights. Dubbed anime is more accepted among
otaku. ADV and the other major anime companies form a new
company in order to combine resources to bring even more
anime to the states. The latest anime feature movies such
as Princess Mononoke, X and Vampire Hunter D become the top
movies of 1999. Anime is no longer bastardized by stupid
fashion companies in order to make a quick buck off of teen
fashion. Sony creates a special VHS/DVD player that copies
VHS tapes on to blank DVDs. A new company is founded and is
solely dedicated to translating japanese video games to
english (now WE get to play all the cool games the japanese
play!). Angry paranoid parents and senators who blame anime
and video games for the fall of society learn to shut the
hell up and leave it alone. If they refuse to do so, they
will be shot on sight. Censorship of any kind is absolutely
illegal. Finally another 26 episodes of Neon Genesis
Evangelion are made. This time though, the ending is a
happy one that makes sense.

Binh Tran <Kain453902 (at aol.com)>
San Jose, Ca USA - Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 15:55:00 (MST)
Oh! I forgot! The wrecked spaceship that will become the
Macross is supposed to crash this year! After hearing of a
mysteroius asteroid crashing on a small island in the south
seas, thousands, if not millions of otaku will flock there
from both Japan and America. First, a war will break out
with two camps, the first being the Japanese and Hardcore
American otaku, and second being the Robotech fans, with
Macek leading the 'Tech fans. It will be a standard issue
bloodletting, with none of the 'Tech fans standing at it's
end, and Macek will be crucified upside down. Then,
however, the remaining otaku will begin to fight amongst
themselves over who gets to be which character. After the
battles have ended, those in command while notice a
definite lack of females, who were clearly shown to be on
the Macross. Raiding parties will be formed to kidnap and
brainwash women from neigboring islands, based only on the
resemblance they bear to specific Macross characters.
Having complete the cast, the otaku, now lead by the bridge
crew of the Macross, will look towards what will be their
ship, only to notice that it isn't there. It really was a
meteor. By this time, however, a year will have passed so
the Second Impact will occur, and the rising sea waters
will flood the island, killing everyone. During this time,
I'll be learning my Japanese and German, trying to get
accepted into college in Japan. I called dibs on being Kaji!

--Dag Wa-- <Otaking (at mindless.com)>
West Palm Beach, FL USA - Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 14:35:05 (MST)
1. X will beat all other movies next year, becoming the
first animated movie from outside the United States to win
the Academy Award for Best Picture (it could happen)

2. Anime will gain even more popularity in America as
another hot Anime series from Japan will be picked up by DIC
entertainment who hack dubs it up into bits but sells it
well to Independant Stations. The show will stay until it
is repeated 3 or 4 times, when it will be cancelled and
another web campaign will appear to save it.

3. Disney shocks the anime world by actually paying the
amount Gainax demands for the End of Evangelion and then
releasing the video WITHOUT EDITING IT FOR CONTENT (shock!).

4. Anime Village will go down in history as "that company
that tried to sell anime online but failed to sell well
online and off".

5. Some company in Japan will get the idea to make an anime
about 4 foul mouthed boys in some Japanese mountain town.

6. Fans gather en masse at Anime Expo '99 because of the
rumor that Megumi Hayashibara may actually make an
appearance. The rumor will turn out to be false and people
will egg Akira Kamiya, a 3rd time guest at the expo (then
again, maybe this is being too harsh).

7. Fans will rejoyce as Justin Sevakis, new CEO of
Mixxzine, not only puts Sailor Moon back into Mixxzine and
kills the ads, but also burns every remaining copy of
"Spring of Chaos" as well.

8. An anime better than Evangelion gets created in Japan
but fails when too many parents file complaints to the TV
station that they don't want to see another controversial
show like that again.

9. Somewhere, someplace deep out in space, one of the
satellites from our early deep space exploration programs
will discover a dimensional portal that leads to the world
where anime characters really exist, only to have Ryoko come
through the portal, blow up the satellite, then go back in.

10. I will finally update my web page (yeah right!)


J Nishi <jnishi (at aol.com)>
Los Angeles, CA USA - Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 11:37:57 (MST)
1. ADV will release at least 3 volumes of Those Who Hunt
Elves, In their typical 2-episodes-for-30-dollars format.
Though the show will become a moderate success, ADV will
not break even on the series and will be forced to render
some of it's hasily acquired titles ( Such as Mobile
Battleship Nadesico ) back to Japan.

2. People will stop seeing Anime Expo as the be-all-end-all
of anime fandom, as this year's Expo will be even more
dissapointing than last year's. ( Dreaming, I know, but who
came up with this concept anyway? )

3. Viz's release of Ranma 1/2 will slow to a Urusei
Yatsura-esque crawl, as the series sees a phenominal drop
in popularity due the fans of the show moving on to the
proverbial greener pastures.

4. Disney/Manga entertainment will pull a massive flub by
releasing thier respective anime theatrical titles in the
summer, forcing the geek audience to choose between anime
and Star Wars: Episode One. The choice will be obvious, and
so will the outcome.

5. Fushigi Yuugi fans will grow in number and become
increasingly grating and annoying. Cons will be overrun
with FY otaku in poorly designed and executed costumes. The
show will go on the 'hated by experienced otaku' list,
along with Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon.

6. Mixx publications will either be bought and turned into
a distribution house for Viz/Ironcat/Dark Horse or go out
of business completely.

7. Anime fandom will continue unabaited, and 1999 will be
suspiciously similar to 1998. May we all rejoice.

Morrigan Aensland <tservo (at azstarnet.com)>
Tucson, AZ USA - Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 08:41:40 (MST)
1) under the wight of at least two lausits Mixx will fial
chapter 11 bankrpusty procteion, Koshia will brake there
realinship with them and take Sailor Moon some ware else,
most likely Viz but there will be a fight with Studio
Ironcat to get it. Stu Leevy will go down in history right
next to Caral Maysic as one of the most despised people in
american Otaku history

2) Despite the best trys of Otaku, Mononoko-hime, Perfect
Bule and X will all fail at the box office however they
will brake a profit when made as Videotapes

3) the current moment of Anime Fandom will be crushed and
perhaps even pushed back severa years from the SM/DBZers
who thinck that that is all there is

4) Anime on TV, spificaly DBZ becomes a major focus of anti-
Violance on TV parents, possibaly the subject of
congrisinal hearings

5) because of #3 and #4 the true Otaku will be come even
more closed in and more outcasts as Anime's bad name of the
late 80's/early 90's returns (all Vioance and TRM's)

5) At least two of the major Anime Cons announce they are
merjing togather for a much larger convention in a full
convention center (most likely Anime Expo and another one)

6) I still wont have a Girlfirend ^_-

Arashi Kishu <[email protected] (arashi at okashii.nu)>
Lynchburg, Va USA - Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 00:08:45 (MST)
Ok, I'll turn on my SUPER PREDICION MACHINE(Magic 8-ball
glued to a Ouji Board ^_^) Let me do the dialing chant...

Oh Prediction Machine which I built for a buck, tell me what
in 1999 won't suck... It's coming...

1. Pioneer executatives get the "brilliant" Brainstorm that
since evryone loved the original Tenchi Muyo OVA, then maybe
they should finally CONTINUE the damn thing, but alas they
will do yet another TV series and add yet another Tenchi
Girl...

2. Anime's popularity will grow, but it will not become a
"Teen icon/wannabe/fad" that will not horribly bloat and die
once people realize that there is more to anime than Akira,
Sailor moon/voltron/robotech/speed racer/DBZ...Ok, so this
is a personal fantasy of an Otaku who would like to be able
to converse with someone in this godforsaken area that
doesn't immediately blurt our the before mentioned stuff
when I say "anime"...Gomen Nasai, I promise not to rant
anymore...

3. Anime music will become much more simple to order through
a normal record store and not a specialty dealer...

4. The Sci-fi Channel decides to run a block of Anime TV
series on primetime saturday for say...about three hours,
and it will be stuff they haven't shown before, and when
they finish airing one thing, they won't repeat it ad
nauseum...personal pics for the first trial: 1. Tenchi Muyo!
2. Blueseed 3. Kodomo no Omocha(ok, I;m dreaming, but...) 4.
El Hazard: wanderers 5. Slayers 6. Ranma 1/2(Due to nudity
it would have to be last and at about 11:30 PM, heaven
forbid that the little ones see a pair of nipples ^_^)

5. Aliens land and they do look like Ryoko; Bonus: they say
"take us to your Otaku"

6. Barney will be hung and then drawn and quartered, whipped
and boiled, then quartered again, then shot, stabbed,
poisoned, and quartered again(or is that 16th?), etc, etc,
(if you're wondering what this has to do with anime,
well..nothing, but I can't control what the damn machine
tells me...)

Oh, the visions are getting foggy, I...must...rest
now...*thud*


BoneparteOzaki <makoto_chan13 (at hotmail.com)>
Cultural Wasteland, PA USA - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 22:31:28 (MST)
1) Monica Lewinsky will reveal to the world that she is a
male.
2) DVD's will be OUTLAWED(hey, I can dream, right?)
3) Stu Levy will retire after an assassination attempt.
Mixx will hire ME as their CEO or what ever Stu was and I
will make Mixxzine a manga mag with ONLY MANGA AND NO ADS!!!
4) If the above dosen't happen, I get a job at Animerica.
^_^
5) Yoshiyuki Sadamoto will announce that Evangelion: Death
and Rebirth was NOT the end of Evangelion and that are 19
more anime episodes! Yeah!
6) Naoko Takeuchi will write more Sailor Moon.
7) My webpage will be overwhelmed with visitors. ^_^ Yeah,
right.
8) I shall beat Xenogears.
9) Fei and Elly and Emeralda will announce they are my long
lost cousins and Bart and Margie will move in next door.
10) Kenshin will fall madly, deeply in love with me and I
will be his willing slave. ^_~ Heh, heh...
11) Anime shall remain non-mainstream but it will be
accepted that people like those "Japanese girly cartoons".
12) No one will find out that I was the one who attempted
to assassinate Stu. ^_~
Oh, yeah, and peace will come to the universe, bladdy
bladdy blah...

Meg-chan <magicitehunter (at hotmail.com)>
Cloverdale, CA USA - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 18:07:09 (MST)
1) I'm going to move east.

2) The highligh of A-Kon will be Bruce Campbell coaxed
into being one of the celebrities on the panel for Anime
Match Game!

3) The lowlight of A-Kon will be when Bruce Campbell,
coaxed into being one of the celebrities on the panel
for Anime Match Game, storms from the stage in fury when he
fails to match for the eighth consecutive contestant!

4) The Utena dub will *still* suck.

Greg Wicker <cable14 (at vei.net)>
Dallas, TX USA - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 17:48:39 (MST)
A giant alien battlefortress will warp out above the
earth, causing the enormous destruction and loss of life as
it slowly descends. It will eventually settle on a small
island somewhere in the Pacific.

Erik Schultz <erik (at pond.com)>
Bridgeport, PA USA - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 11:27:57 (MST)
Otaku Land will begin to be built :) (ok... it's supposed to
be Bandai Land but Otaku land is more funny)

vaz <vaz (at videotron.ca)>
Quebec, qu Canada - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 11:15:23 (MST)
This year will be the year that japanese animation becames a
socially exceptable art form following the theartical
releases of Mononoke Hime, Perfect Blue, X, and Vampire
Hunter D; however, the belief that all anime contains
graphic violence and nudity will continue.

DVD will become the favored hi-quality format and replace LD
anime releases for all companies in the United States (ala
Pioneer)

Mixx will go down in flames, and I'll be laughing the whole
time.

Keegan Newsom <sca_tch (at hotmail.com)>
McKinney, TX USA - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 09:48:22 (MST)
The first Fansub DVD, or DVD-Video player readable discs
will be out, causeing a large uproar from the retail
companies.

Patrick Bohnet <bohnet (at randomc.com)>
Kennesaw, GA USA - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 08:37:36 (MST)
In terms of increasing probability, the first being the
least likely:
1) Lots and lots and LOTS of DVD releases from
AnimeVillage and ADV. (Man, am I dreaming or *what*!! ^_^)
2) A dramatic increase in profitability for the
psychiatric industry as unwary "Perfect Blue" audiences end
up seeking treatment.
3) A UFO will land in Nevada and demand to speak to
Captain Tyler. A lounge lizard from Las Vegas will be
abducted by mistake.
4) Ikari Gendo becomes Prime Minister of Japan. He will
choose Tendo Nabiki as his Minister of Finance. She will
balance the government's books by privatizing the Japanese
Air Self Defence Force (hiring the Idol Defence Force
Hummingbird) and the police (hiring the Tokio Private
Police).
5) Crime rates and recidivism drop precipitously in both
Canada and the United States as all inmates are forced to
listen to Nahga's laugh all day long - at high volume.
(After a brief strike by prison guards, the guards are
issued earplugs.) For second-time offenders, it's the
March of the Nahga Clones - over and over again, at high
volume. Third-time offenders are automatically declared
legally insane - both of them.
6) The Katsuragi Misato Alcoholic Treatment Centre opens
in Toronto. It is immediately voted "most popular pub".

His Lordship Mayhem <lordshipmayhem (at hotmail.com)>
Toronto, ON Canada - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 08:26:02 (MST)
ADV will put all of Evangelion onto DVD.

I will buy all Anime DVDs in existance.

Jim Rix <rixj (at idt.net)>
Kalamazoo, MI USA - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 06:33:13 (MST)
I predict another year of re-heating old or not-so-old
series, more and more vile pornography, lower budgets, few
ideas and few new fans.
An art museum in Tokyo had an anime exhibition last yesr.
It was called "From Tezuka to Evangelion". That says it
all. It's over, folks! Find new hobbies, or pick up all the
old series you haven't seen yet.

Anders Moe <juryen2 (at hotmail.com)>
Norway - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 05:26:35 (MST)
Mononoke Hime will, ironically, make people realize how
pathetic most American animation is, and cause the mixed-up
zombie that is Disney Corp. to either reform or die out.

Sanagi <zenoki (at usa.net)>
fairbanks, ak USA - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 03:35:05 (MST)
Otaku no Video STILL will remain unavailable in a good
digital format! (CDV... Bah! Back in my day, CDV's were for
movies that were still in the theatres, and that was it!
And we were happy! Now, you get these punk Gainax kids,
thinking that CDV is a viable media for a legitate
release...)

"I hold no enmity against those coerced into dubbing.
But to those vile beings who Americanize for the ears and
minds of fans, We, since the time of Tezuka-O-Kami-Sama,
have been your destroyers. Now, the 13013th OtaKing
(in training), --Dag Wa--, is here! Tatakae!"

Rev. Doktor POEE Chaplin --Dag Wa--, P.M.P., OKiT, COtN <otaking (at mindless.com)>
West Palm Beach, FL USA - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 at 01:29:01 (MST)
ANN's editor will see Mononoke Hime in the theater at
least fifteen times...

Anime News Network <letters (at animenewsnetwork.com)>
Detroit, MI USA - Monday, January 11, 1999 at 21:48:09 (MST)

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