We are planning on hosting, some time in 2010. Our 1st annual International Congress, which will be discussing the idea of a new movement called the "post-anime subculture," a term coined by Austin Wright, of which he has brought up in literature and panel a few times, but never formally.
September 7th, 2010
Thank you Anime Vegas, for letting us host 5-hours of panels at your panel. It is always a treat to be able to attend a convention out-of-state and be received and accommodated so well. We will be there next year in 2011! We made lots of new friends, and met a few people who were followers of our magazine.
August 9th, 2010
We are pleased to welcome Anton Heinz as an official writer to our magazine. We will be attending Anime Vegas, PMX, Mikomikore, and ALA with us. His knowledge of the martial-arts and the music world will certainly deepen our magazine's articles. Come meet our newest member!
June 17th, 2010
"The editors of Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine have announced that Alive - Saishū Shinka teki Shōnen (Alive - The Final Evolution) manga writer Tadashi Kawashima passed away on Tuesday, June 15, due to liver cancer. He was 42.
The editors noted that Kawashima continued to work on the manga from his sickbed and managed to complete the manga this past February. Even after finishing Alive, he proceeded to work on a new series while he battled liver cancer. The editors offered their condolences on Kawashima's passing. "
April 27th, 2010
Animation Liberation Magazine is starting a boycott against onemanga.com. The site has suspended all of their mature titles. There are estimates that site site nets $200,000 a year in advertising. The choice to do so appears to have been in response to the UK banning their site for being "adult."
Mature titles should not be ignored and censored for the sake of profit. Please support other sites that do not censor: mangahut.com and mangatoshokan.com
April 25th, 2010
We will be presenting a panel at Bak-Anime (Sunday May 2nd, Doubletree Hotel Bakersfield, 10:30 AM).
“A History of Anime from WWI to WWII.”
Come join this educational open-discussion panel about the first Japanese animation ever created, as well as Japan’s competition with Chinese animators, and the conflict of animators and government during WWII. Hosted by Austin Wright from Animation Liberation Magazine.
Come join us for this Panel's debut presentation. Also, we will see you all at Fanime!
March 3th, 2010
From March 5th to April 6th, Austin Wright, will be traveling through China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and into Indonesia and back again. We will next be found at San Diego's Anime Conji and Fanime 2010. No emails will able to be answered at this time. Wish us luck! We will come back with lots of bootlegged anime toys!!!!
February 14th, 2010
A few weeks ago, we were are to attend (Las Cruces Anime Day 2010) and present a panel in Las Cruces, New Mexico on "Complex Issues in Naruto." This was our 10th state that we professionally spoke in.
Lots of plans are in the works. The next conventions we will be at are San Diego's CondorCon; then San Diego's Anime Conji; then San Jose's FanimeCon. See you all there!
January 16th, 2010
Austin Wright will be the Master of Ceremonies for the Dinner (Vegan options of Tofu and Eggplant dishes) and Meet and Greet book signing with Rosemary Gong (author of Good Luck Life)
Meet Rosemary Gong, author of "Good Luck Life: the essential guide to Chinese American celebrations and culture"
Thursday, February 18, starts 6 PM
Aztlan A & B, Oceanside Campus
1 Barnard Drive, Oceanside
Sponsored by the International Language Film Series and the Associated Student Government.
This is a bilingual event, Austin will be speaking in Chinese.
December 16th, 2009
Anime Los Angeles is just around the corner. We have a double room planned, just like last year. Come find us. We'll bring the party!
Also, we will be road-tripping out to New Mexico for the Las Cruces Anime Day, January 30th! http://www.elpasoanimecon.org/lcad/ as right night now: it will be Jo Celso, Stormy Hayes, Ian Hayes, and Austin Wright all attending that con. We will be presenting a panel there as well!
Animation Liberation Magazine visited China! (or, at least, the President of the magazine did, anyway). It was during this time that we, unfortunately, found out that our website was banned (possibly due to having the word "liberation" in the address?) and that our hosting server (Yahoo!) was banned as well. So, we were unable to have any contact with the site. However, while in China, we were able to create Issue Six, which will be released shortly. It talks about how Death Note doesn't allow women into the intellectual battlefield, and how Pacific Media Expo is the world's first "Post-Anime Convention" (a term coined by us).
We have two rooms set up for PMX, and lots of information and parties to share/throw. We will see you there!
July 25th, 2009
I just completed SLAM DUNK, by Takehiko Inoue. Granted, one of the most popular sports manga of all time. All in all, it was a very well done story, I found myself relating to Hanamichi, Rukawa, and even Mitsui. If anyone has some free time, I suggest diving into Inoue's work (REAL and VAGABOND are also available in the US).
At Anime Expo 2009, I was able to catch up with none other than manga historian Edgar Anzo. He and I had an interesting discussion about identity and loss found the manga series TOUCH (http://www.onemanga.com/Touch/)
Taken straight from the Wiki: "Touch (タッチ, Tacchi) is a Japanese high school baseball manga by Mitsuru Adachi. It was originally serialized in the weekly manga magazine Shōnen Sunday from 1981–1986. The manga was also adapted into a 101-episode TV anime series, which was one of the highest-rated television anime series ever, three theatrical anime movies which summarized the TV series, two TV anime specials which take place after the events in the TV series, a live-action tv drama special, and a live-action movie released in 2005. Touch was one of the winners of the 1983 Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen or shōjo manga, along with Adachi's Miyuki."
If you're familiar with TOUCH, please contact us. There is a lot we have to talk about. :)
Over Labor Day Weekend, we will be at Anime Vegas 2009. It will be out 5th year attending. Expect some awesome panels and and a fun time had by all! More info soon (http://www.animevegas.com/)
July 8th, 2009
We are back from Anime Expo! It was a hectic yet enjoyable time. We were able to interview Crunchyroll as well as a few others, we threw some parties in our hotel room and got charged with "Hotel Desturction" and got thrown a pretty hefty fine.
I would like to take this time to personally thank everyone who crashed in our room--destroyed the carpet--and left me alone to pick up the bill. In no particular order of responsibility: myself, Derek, Jo Celso, Katie Celso, William, Grace Jung Lee, Carol, Ian Hayes, Stormy Hayes, Lindsey Bollerud, Cris, Andy Kanru, Carol Ina Barrel, Brett, and Neesha.
Without the 15 of us, crammed in one little room, being messy and destructive, we never would have been able to managed to zap my bank account down to -700 dollars so quickly. Thank you all very much, and we will see you at the next con, assuming I haven't hung myself in shame over accruing such a large debt.
Also, shout-out to Ian and Stormy, a young romantic couple who were very helpful and low-drama, I look forward to hanging out with them again at future conventions.
June 30th, 2009
In 12 hours, we will be heading up to Anime Expo (on Day zero)! We have a lot of surprises in store, as well as have some cool interviews lined up. You know where to find us.
Here is a clip of our homie getting interviewed by HenshinTV at last year's AX!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5lcf0nV8fE
May 31st, 2009
ANIME EXPO is just around the corner! Last year was a blast, and we will be there for Day zero as well. Find our hotel rooms and come hang out with us all. But, before Anime Expo starts...
We leave for a one week trip to New Orleans on the 3rd! While there, we will be presenting a panel at Anime Alabama, please come out and support us!
The future of anime and manga:
"An open discussion panel dealing with the impact of the internet culture's free translators/scanlators/hosters of anime and manga, how American book publishers are reacting, and what it means for the average anime fan. Hosted by Austin Wright, head writer of Animation Liberation Magazine."
May 26th, 2009
We are back from Fanime 2009, which was an amazing 5 day convention. Thanks to Milton Le for allowing us to attend, thanks to Jared G. for letting me jump on his panel, of which he did all the planning and writing. And thanks to Mathias and Mike Rodriguez of Blanklogo photography for driving us up to the convention!
Here are two clips of Jared G, Chris, and myself hosting the Horror/Thriller panel at Fanime 2009. Funny moments about black characters and Gilgamesh. Many thanks to Victoria for recording it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5R27WMfkGg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPBjbrHwbuY
May 19th, 2009
There is a chance that our magazine will be hanging out in New Orleans over the 1st week of June. While there, we will possibly visit Mobile, Alabama ("Who here seen the leprechaun say yeah!") for Anime Alabama June 5-7th. Robert Axelrod and Maja will be guests at the convention. Both of them are entertaining and enjoyable, be sure to check them out. ANIME ALABAMA!
SHOJO BEAT--which I felt was one of the most relevant anime magazines out in the market, is ending. Women are 50% of the population, and SHOJO BEAT was one of the only places that held a voice for them. Whether it was addressing broken families in Sand Chronicles, or showing how overshadowed female sports teams can get in Crimson Hero. I am very sorry to see the magazine go.
"The North American publisher Viz Media has released the following statement on its Shojo Beat manga magazine on Tuesday:
Yes, the final issue of Shojo Beat magazine will be the July 2009 issue which is on newsstands June 16th.
We are very proud of the past issues of Shojo Beat magazine and the efforts of the entire team. The magazine developed quite a fan base but unfortunately in today's difficult economic climate we felt the need to place our resources elsewhere at this time.
Of course all of our great shojo manga titles previously serialized in Shojo Beat magazine will still be published and available as graphic novels under the Shojo Beat imprint from Viz Media.
Each Shojo Beat Subscriber will be receiving a free copy of the August issue of Shonen Jump magazine with the pertinent information on what their subscription/refund options will be.
Subscribers and fans of shojo manga can get the latest information on all new Shojo Beat titles and news by visiting www.shojobeat.com.
Shojo Beat debuted on newsstands in June of 2005, after an "Issue 0" had shipped two months earlier. The magazine's initial manga lineup was Baby & Me, Crimson Hero, God Child, Kaze Hikaru, NANA, and Absolute Boyfriend. Viz Media soon expanded the Shojo Beat brand to graphic novels, text novels (Socrates in Love, Kamikaze Girls), and videos (Full Moon, Lovely Complex). The May 2009 issue featured Rasetsu, Honey Hunt, Crimson Hero, Vampire Knight, Sand Chronicles, Honey and Clover, and Haruka -Beyond the Stream of Time-. Other titles in the magazine included Backstage Prince, a Tail of the Moon preview, the Yume Kira Dream Shoppe short stories, and a special appearance of Osamu Tezuka's original Princess Knight manga (which was arguably the first shōjo manga in Japan). The July issue will be the magazine's 49th and final issue.
Yumi Hoashi served as Editor-in-Chief until she left Viz in 2006. Marc Weidenbaum became the second Editor-in-Chief, although he left Viz this past February."
May 15th, 2009
Fanime is coming up. Our room is in the "Fairmont Hotel San Jose" which is an official hotel. Track us down if you would like copies of our magazine, or would just like to hang out. Mike from "Blank Logo Photography" will be attending the convention as well--as we have said before, he is an amazing photographer, and we look forward to seeing what photography will come out from him during Fanime.
Awesome news from http://www.screendaily.com/5001066.article BUBBLEGUM CRISIS FILM IS IN THE MAKING! Anime's focus on Cyberpunk in the last 80's/early 90's is often overlooked, and this is a wonderful opportunity for the newer generations of anime fans to become familiar with cyberpunk.
"Australia's Arclight Films, Canada's Wizzfilms, the Infotainment China Media Company, and the United Kingdom's Latec International have agreed on Thursday to produce the proposed live-action film adaptation of the Bubblegum Crisis anime franchise. The defunct ARTMIC studio created the original 1987-1991 video anime series about four women who protect a cybernetic future Tokyo with powered armor. Japan's Anime International Company (AIC) had previously signed a basic agreement with Singapore's Cubix International PTE Ltd. (Zodiac: The Race Begins) for the adaptation on October 30. Benjamin Toh of Singapore's Axxis International is acting as executive producer.
The US$30-million project is planned for worldwide release by early 2012. The producers are negotiating for the director and cast, who will shoot the film in Australia. A spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter newspaper that the cast will "feature two male leads and a quartet of female action babes — two Caucasian and two Asian." Mokko Studio, a partner studio of Wizzfilms with Oscar-winning animation director Anthony LaMolinara (Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2), has agreed to do the post-production work in Canada. AIC and Cubix said in 2008 that they intend to consult with former ARTMIC staffers Shinji Aramaki (screenplay and mechanical design) and Kenichi Sonoda (character design) to maintain a connection with the world concepts of the original series.
Screendaily.com describes the project as "the first co-production between the six nations." By lining up partners from Australia, Canada, and China, the producers may be able to partly bankroll the film with funds from the respective governments and release the film in China. Axxis says that 70% of the project's funds have been committed.
The original anime sold over 600,000 copies on laserdisc and video tape. It already spawned the AD Police Files prequel video anime series and the Bubblegum Crash sequel video anime series. The Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 television anime series remade the original story in 1998 and spawned its own AD Police television series spinoff and the Parasite Dolls video series."
Until next time, we will see you all at Fanime and Anime Expo!!!
April 29th, 2009
We added four years of con-reports to the website: 18 different conventions. They can be found here: CON-REPORTS
This weekend we will speaking at the new Animeland Vegas, May 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
"I'm not sure if you've seen the chaos with our venue over the last few days, but I'd like to assure you that it has all been settled. Unfortunately, we've changed the location for Animeland to The Westin on Flamingo, which is about 1 mile from the Alexis.
We've heard a lot of different things from people who have reserved rooms with the Alexis Park Hotel, and a few have decided to stay there, as it's still very close, and to be honest, SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than the Westin's rates."
Austin Wright and Mathias Lewis will be presenting the "LEarn the Korean Alphabet" panel on frienday at 2PM. Felicia Goodwin will be hanging out with us taking photographs for STOP CULTURE MAGAZINE; and last but not least Manga Artist Yonoshi Guy Barnes will be hanging out with us. We have an amazing lineup. Track us down and say hello!
March 27th, 2009
Animation Liberation Magazine will be presenting a 1 hour panel at Anime Fannatiku
2009 in St. George Utah. It is this Saturday on April 28th, at 5PM. The panel will be "Favorites of horror manga." Wes Bartel (of team Banzai fame) will be co-hosting the panel. And we have about 150 dollars of free horror manga we will be giving away!
March 7th, 2009
It is not done or released yet.
We have had major setbacks...Mainly the computer we used for all the writing crashed and half our files are in limbo.
There is a second magazine I have called "Stop Culture Magazine" which is trying make it's debut before Fanime. That is mainly a brainchild between myself and Jo Celso. We will release then interview with Lisa Hannigan through that magazine!
Finally there is the chance that I will be going to either Japan or China in April or May. All these things have postponed the release of this issues. However them biggest loss has been the departure of Jacob Guevara--he was one of the reasons who the magazine was created, and it is a shame to see him disassociate himself from us. Even through the conflicts that he and I have, he knows me more than anyone else out there in the world does and he is my earliest of friends, because of that he and I will always fundamentally be friends. Even during intense turmoil such as what is happening right now.
See you all at fanime!!!!
--Austin Wright
February 10th, 2009
Sorry for the silence. We have been quite busy! Anime Los Angeles was quite enjoyable, as well was Arizona's Phoenix Comic Convention. Big thanks and shout-out goes to Mike from Blank Logo Photography for attending Phoenix with us. He is quite serious and professional, which is something to admire when it comes to modern-day photographers.
Our next panel will be a workshop on how to read and write the Korean alphabet. We will try to debut this at either Animeland Vegas or Fanime.
Austin Wright is writing his first book. It is a commentary on the 600 single-pronunciation Joyo Kanji. Expect the book to be released before Fanime (May, 2009).
Finally, there is a chance we will be in Tokyo/Yokohama JApan for two weeks beginning in April! This is big news, and more will be explained as the situation develops.
November 22nd, 2008
Anime Los Angeles looks like the next convention we will be attending. We intend to contribute to a panel there called "Japanese Horror" which will be hosted by our friend Jared.
James Patterson has a manhwa coming out? It looks like US imperialism has such an incredible scope now that Patterson/Yen Press can pollute the market with their x-men rip-offs? Screw that, Yen Press is nothing more than a puppet institution anyways, completely owned by Hachate publishers.
Add "Yen Press" and "James Patterson" to the boycott list! An essay on this will hopefully by published in Issue 5.
November 10th, 2008
We are back from PMX. We were about to host two personal parties in our room (room 3153 in the house!) as well as debut our "Crash course in Korea" panel. Powerpoint presentation of "A Crash course in Korea" Sadly, we had a personal emergency and had to bail back to San Diego before we could present our "Go Panel." we deeply apologize for bailing out so suddenly and our condolences out to those and their families who we have offended. On a lighter note, we were able to interview two executives from MBC about their K-drama boxed-sets, as well as sit in with the Suicide Ali press interview.
Look forward to those things in the next issue! Next stop, Anime LA!
October 1st , 2008
Issue Four is released! 79 Pages! Please enjoy!
Issue Four
August 4th, 2008
Ani-Jam was straightup amazing. We were able to sit down with Robert Axelrod and get a very good interview about his early years in avant-gard theatre and his musical endeavors. The interview will be released very soon.
For those of you in the Los Angeles area, Robert Axelrod will be making an appearance at the next Los Angeles Comic Book & Sci-Fi Convention: 8/17/08
SUNDAY, AUGUST 17th, 2008 @ SHRINE HALL (700 WEST 32ND ST. IN LOS ANGELES, CA 90007)
www.comicbookscifi.com
July 30th, 2008
Comic-con was fun. We will be hanging out at Fresno's Ani-Jam for both days. And then we will flying out to San Antonio's San-Japan. We will be presenting a panel on Anime Piracy on Friday (August 8th) 2:30 PM. If you can make it, please attend!
TEXAS HERE WE COME!
June 24th, 2008
Japanfiles.com just signed six hardcore bands! Hopefully this is a step in moving past the backwards J-rock/J-pop music that most people in America hear and assume is representative of Japan.
This Sunday at Otaku Omaha, Animation Liberation Magazine will be presenting a panel:
"The Anime Industry and Piracy - A panel on how the digital age of torrents, scanlations and ever present piracy affects the industry and may or may not have its place even among the fan community. This will be a moderated open discussion on this exact topic. Please bring your opinions and viewpoints, everyone is welcome to contribute."
May 21st, 2008
Issue #3 is released! Thank you all for your patience. Since our last issue we have spoken at two new states (Idaho and Washington), and this release is exactly two days before Fanime. There are still some rough patches in this issue due to us not having a formatter, but eventually we will find one!
Idaho was a blast! the panel went wonderfully, and we met lots of new friends. If all goes well we will be back for Boise's TomodachiFest in November. The next issue will have an Anime Oasis conreview, two interviews, and pictures of the friends we met along the way!
In the meantime, our next convnetion is nine days away in Washington state! Hello Sakuracon!
February 23rd, 2008
Issue Two is now available! Totaling 85 pages, and covering an array of subjects from Marxism, Ani-jam, One nights stands, and Princess Iron Fan. Please give the massive file a download and enjoy!
Animation Liberation will be at Anime Oasis for all four days (Boise, Idaho. March 13-16). We will be doing a panel on where or manga and anime will be free in the future.
Now our Winter 2007 issue is available. Feel free to download it in PDF or DOC format. As always, there is no charge and there are no advertisements. Here goes to a New Year! Thank you everybody!
December is going to be a month of preparation for us! Anime Los Angeles is January 4-6th and we will be releasing an issue of "Animation Liberation Magazine" there. We are very excited and hope to have everything as well and planned out as possible. More infor to come from that.
There are a lot of relevant 1st edition books that you can pick up at Barnes and Nobles and Borders it you are interested in collecting rare Manga. Anything you pick up by YEN PRESS and AURORA PUBLISHING right now are first editions (they're new comanies) along with some GO COMI! titles. All of ICEKUNION's titles never got past 1st printings and since they went under, their titles are collector's items now. I suggest you all go and check out what rarities you can find at your local bookstores.
November 7th, 2007
PMX Bound � Mathias Lewis, Nov 7th 2007
November 9th brings the 4th annual Pacific Media Expo, or PMX as it�s more commonly called, to sunny Los Angeles, California. Running from this Friday through Sunday, the 11th of November, this will be PMX�s second year in the luxurious LAX Hilton. The convention, run by the Pacific Media Association, is most well known for its collection of J-pop/J-rock bands. However, this is not all the con has to offer, expanding this year for a full 2 and a half day schedule of amazing programming. This year expect to hear about the convention�s many panels and workshops, from intimate knowledge shared by voice actor Spike Spencer, to Aimee Major Steinberger's new project. Not only that but Animation Liberation will share with you all the amazing information we gather on the new Korean Dramas spotlighted at PMX in a way that only we can!
Guests of the convention include James Kyson Lee (Heroes), Hiroyuki Tanaka (Claymore, Chobits, Ninja Scroll), Takahiro Umehara (Tenjo Tenge, Claymore), Spike Spencer (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Excel Saga), and Aimee Major Seinberger (Futurama, Japan Ai). PMX also has an impressive list of musical guests; providing live shows for low ticket costs will be Head Phones President, The Candy Spooky Theater, The Slants, LiN CLOVER, and Thee Out Mods. Combine all this with some contests involving CASH PRIZES, PMX will make a rather full weekend for any attendee.
Next week on this very page will be detailed reports on the many events of the convention as well as choice interviews with staff and guests. Animation Liberation will be there all 3 days to gather you information on everything from the cosplayers and dealers to the celebrities and activities, helping you make the decision: Is PMX worth my time and money?
PMX is just around the corner! We will be there with our good friends, looking forward to the Korean Drama movies! Last month, six Naruto books were released: volumes 19, 20, 21, Ani-manga, Novelization of the Waterfall arc, and an Anime Guide volume 2. This Christmas will, no doubt, be about Naruto merchandise.
October 28th, 2007
Personal news: our groups were not able to make it up to report on Yaoicon partially due to the San Diego fires, but more so because Yaoicon practically killed the ability for small press to attend (eight press passes for major industry, and two press passes available from smaller press) standard entrance fees would have been sixty dollars to attend a convention of 1,000 people. Fuck that. There are better conventions we can attend than one as rigid as Yaoicon.
Also our plans to visit Oklahoma's Izumicon have fallen through as well. After four separate attempts to contact them by email and no respose, we figured they were too busy to really handle out of state press. Best of luck go to their con, regardless.
Because of the quiet moments now, 2008 may start off with a band for us! We are planning out Sakuracon more and more, and there are talks of roadtripping it up to Idaho for a 4-day small convention called "Anime Oasis!" These are planned in March.
Patience until then. Also we have a livejournal community. Please feel free to join it: http://community.livejournal.com/animation_lib/profile
September 24th, 2007
Sad news. ICEkunion, one of the greatest publishers out there, has been absorbed by YEN PRESS. ICEkunion's series such as "Bring it on", "Cynical Orange" and "Chocolat" reveal a lot about Korean culture and the youthful drama found in that country. It is a shame that a publisher with such promise could not withstand.
BROCOLLI BOOKS has met ANIMATION LIBERATION's seal of approval. They're a small dedicated staff, and their trade and business tactics seem fair.
YEN PRESS, is owned by "Hachette Book Group" the largest publishing company in France. I am unfamiliar with their business, whether or not they are an umbrella corporation, or whether of not their business tactics are fair. Until more information is unearthed, I will withhold a descision on whether or not to boycott this publisher. Note:They have the rights for Svetlana Chmakova's Nightschool, so that is awesome.
SEE YOU ALL AT ANI-MAGIC!!!!!
September 4th, 2007
We are back from Anime Vegas. We presented a one hour panel, donated twenty dollars to the Charity auction, and gave away three hundred dollars of books to the atendees. We met lots of cool professionals (Breehn Burns of "Beyond Grandpa", Crystal of the "Gamer Girls," and Katherine Keller of "Sequential Tart") and made lots of friends!
Special Shoutout to "Chibi Tokyo" for helping out with the hotel and interviews.
There are plans in the making to head up to Washington for Sakuracon 2008 (late March). Also a new panel is being created "Dead Publishers: those who didn't make it and what they have to offer." It would list and explain Raijin, Comics One, and Studio Ironcat [etc], and their importance the the MAnga culture before eventually failing in the market.
See you all at Mikomicon this weekend!
August 16th, 2007
It is convention season, children! Animation Liberation may make a sudden appearance at Fresno's Ani-Jam [August 18th and 19th, Fresno]simply for a convention review and interviews, no panels or free books.
We will be presenting a panel at Anime Vegas [September 1st-3rd, 2007. Las Vegas, Nevada] on OEL Manga and why it sucks (September 1st, 3 PM).
Then comes Mikomicon (Semtember 7th, 8th, 9th), Ani-magic (October 5th, 6th, 7th), and PMX (November 9th, 10th, 11th).
This will be Mikomicon's second year. We have a wonderful opportunity to volunteer and help keep this convention afloat and as fun as possible. I, personally, will be there volunteering for this convention. If you want to represent the Southern California scene, volunteering is not a bad way to go.
http://www.mikomicon.com/Volunteer.php
July 16th, 2007
I just got back from Sac-anime, and my mailbox received about six emails directly asking me if I was hurt/okay and for clarification on what happened.
My name is Austin Wright, I write for Animation Liberation Magazine, our speaker couldn't make it, so I did a quick panel at 3 PM on Sunday where I basically talked about Grassroot movements and their importance, then I handed out about 350 dollars of Manga and began to leave my panel.
About 35 of you were in the room when I made a dumb comment about how you can pretend to be like me and they'll let you in the con for free. A staff member came up and pulled off my badge and told me to get out of the convention. Aside from a little humiliation and a messed up ponytail, I was fine.
Eventually I got my badge back after an hour of dealing with the higher-ups and I was walking around outside, when the same staffer saw me and he grabbed a hold of me and my badge string and I was yelling that he was choking me and that he should let me go (two people emailed me asking about this--but there were like like five others around).
++++++
Believe it or not, it's all resolved. I'm clearly at fault for instigating the situation by saying what I said at the panel. The staffer did cross some boundaries by grabbing me and forcefully taking my badge. and finally there was a communication error with informing the staffer that the situation was resolved.
I enjoyed Sac-anime. I'm glad I was able to attend. I have no hard feelings, and I hope to do another panel at the next convention. The situation looked really bad, but in the context it wasn't that bad. I'm not banned from the con. and I'm not pressing charges or anything like that.
Final note: This is the only public statement our magazine is going to release about the issue. We don't want any drama any more than you do. smile.gif
-Austin
July 10th, 2007
Anime Expo sucked. There was a chibi-tokyo room (had like 15 people staying there) and there was an Animation Liberation room (had like 9 people staying there)--we were able to work together and we got two very good interviews: Rina from Senshicon and Nick from Mikomicon. Both of them will be transcribed soon and available here.
This weekend, Animation Liberation will be going up to Northern California (Sac-anime) in order to do a panel on the evils of OEL Manga and Demented Dragon. Writer Jacob Guevara will be our guest for that! Thank you all for your patience as we are getting off the ground.
June 27th, 2007
So much has happened! Fanime was a blast, we were interviewed by Chibi Tokyo Webcast and presented a fun panel and made lots of friends! For the month of July, we will be attending Anime Expo, Sac-anime, and Comic con. Though we will only be presenting a panel at Sac-anime.
We are proud to announce that Animation Liberation magazine is being written as we speak--it will have no advertisements, be completely copyleft material, AND 100% of the proceeds will go to a 3rd world relief organization.
The sac-anime panel will be especially special, and we will draw the line and declare war on a specific book publisher. The new website was created by Grace Balentine. Thank you very much. i hope you all are patient with us as we transition from website to magazine. Hopefully this is the starting point of something new for us all. Thank you very much for all your support.
May 1st, 2007:
"A manga release every other month�, that is pretty much the
standard for serialization. VIZ is the first to wander into the territory
of rapidly releasing Manga; they�re planning on releasing twelve
Naruto manga in a four month period. If this process goes over well,
we very well may see other companies trying this blitz approach with
newly released series and such.
Taken from narutofan.com:
"VIZ Media has announced the launch of Naruto Nation, a broad
campaign that will bring an unprecedented increase in the frequency
of publication of its wildly popular Naruto manga series. In order to
catch up to the present Japanese release schedule and to prepare
readers for upcoming notable changes in the main character and
story arc, VIZ Media will offer three new volumes of Naruto per-
month from September through December 2007, a first for any U.S.
manga publisher. The new publishing schedule will carry the series up
to Volume 27, after which there is a significant break in the story arc:
Two and a half years pass, and we find Naruto taller, older, and wiser.
To support Naruto Nation, VIZ Media's SHONEN JUMP magazine will
continue to serialize the Naruto series, will provide in-depth
background information for fans about the developments in the
accelerated manga, and will begin to feature the new adventures of
the older Naruto beginning in the January 2008 issue (estimated in
stores December 4, 2007). "We are excited to launch Naruto Nation
as a bold publishing campaign to give Naruto fans what they want -
more Naruto and a similar experience to Naruto readers in Japan!"
says Cammie Allen, Product Manager, Publishing, VIZ Media. "The
tremendous success of the Naruto brand now includes manga, DVDs,
novels and features in magazines like SHONEN JUMP."
April 24th, 2007:
ICEkunion, Netcomics, and Go!
Comi were added to the LINKS section.
ICEkunion and Netcomics were added to the PRO/CON
PUBLISHERS section, both publishers deserve financial
support.
ESSAYS section, though incomplete, was added: the rough
draft of Umbrella Corporations is up, soon to be followed by
Good when our money leaves US territory?
Finally, in the EVIDENCES section, there is an article from
Business Week explaining Manhwa from an financial
perspective.
April 18th, 2007:
Terms section is added;
definitions will be placed here that will further explain the
Essays section (which are coming soon enough). Talks were
done that made it official that we are going to get a hotel
room at Anime Expo (three months away) and Anime Los
Angeles (8 months away). Thank you for your patience as we
continue to build this site.
April 14th, 2007:
Three suggestions were added to
the Action section. A general cleanup of the website was
performed, too (no default photos). The links actually link to
the websites in the Link section. We officially have Business
cards!
April 13th, 2007:
TOKYOPOP and CMX are added to
the boycott list (found under Pro/Con Publishers). Evidence
and Links section are now up, yet both are incomplete. Time
magazine's twixter article and Marshall Brain's summation of
Moore's Law are quoted as evidence toward this inevitable
counterculture. Wikipedia's summation of the pro/copn of
Tokyopop have been stored on this site.
April 12th, 2007:
DEL REY is suggested to be
boycotted, read more in the new Pro/Con Publishers
section. Official Logo for Animation Liberation was created by
Grace (thank you very much). It looks like we will be having a
panel at Fanime 2007 at San Jose, California. Stay tuned for
more information.
