Just found this fun little video from Aniwave '08. Those crazy kids, what will they do next? Well, I'm just happy that people enjoyed it. For anyone else who didn't get to see the outcome of last year's Aniwave festival, just go to the Aniwave website for photos and press.

I must admit that overall, 2008 was a good year for me. Art-wise, it also brought several anime culture related art exhibitions which are worth mentioning. Most notably of all these was the Takashi Murakami retrospective which opened earlier in the year at MoCA in Los Angeles, then traveled to the Brooklyn Museum for the summer.

My hope was to see this exhibition in person during our trip to New York, but by the time I got there it had already left. Alas, I will have to look for another opportunity to see Murakami's work in person. Until then, I will have to content myself with my humble collection of the Superflat Museum figurines.



Incidentally, those have been on display at the Cameron Art Museum here in Wilmington since the fall, in the Toy Crazy exhibition. While it may not be exactly all art vinyl, which is what interests me more, Toy Crazy does have variety going for it. The majority of the toys on display are vintage, with a small part comprising more contemporary fare.

Another big exhibition took place in Vancouver, under the name Krazy! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art. I managed to pick up the accompanying book at the Whitney, which allowed me to get a better sense of the art included. The scope of the exhibition was truly great, encompassing various comics, animation, video games, and so on from all over the world. This was not simply a Japan-centric show, as one might expect, but included contributions from multiple countries.



What was perhaps a bit of a surprise to me was the inclusion of highly commercial projects in the "Computer and Video Games" section, such as Super Mario World, Zelda, GTA, The Sims, and Quake to name a few. No one can deny the iconic nature of the jolly plumber or the little boy in his green hat and tunic, but I'm not sure about its place in this exhibition in light of the thousands of other possible choices. Perhaps I'm too much of a stickler about the indie scene, but still. It makes me think of an analogous attendance of an art-film festival and being shown Harry Potter.

The good news is that there is plenty of work in Krazy! to redeem its commercial tangent in electronic gaming, such as the fantastic Satoshi Kon film Paprika. That film does embody the indie spirit as far as I'm concerned. Other notable artists included were Makoto Shinkai, Junko Mizuno, Art Spiegelman, Roy Lichtenstein, and KaiKai Kiki artists Chiho Aoshima and Mr.



Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, at the Deutsches Filmmuseum, 2008 saw another exhibition focusing exclusively on anime. Anime! High Art - Pop Culture showcased some of the most important Japanese animation to ever be created. Separated into genres of Kodomo, Shojo, Ecchi, and Shonen to name a few, the exhibition showcased numerous important titles. Akira, Mononoke Hime, and other works by Hayao Miyazaki, Osamu Tezuka, and Yoshitaka Amano get my vote. While it's apparently necessary to have exclamation marks in the titles of anime related exhibitions, I'm still unclear on whether the museum was showing the actual films or single cells from the films in question (based on this collection of photos).



Lastly, the folks at MCAD kicked off another SGMS, or Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits: Culture and Creation in Manga and Anime. This sounds like a fascinating event to attend, with the major guest speaker in 2008 being Yoshitoshi Abe. It's hard for me not to be envious of hearing him speak, as he has served as such a major inspiration to me. Yet that is one more opportunity I have missed and will have to look for again.

The three day event bears some resemblance to a con, yet with the focus shifting more towards an intelligent look at otaku culture in the West it reaches a maturity that cons probably never will. Among the scheduled programs at SGMS are fashion shows, lectures, academic paper presentations, and your more traditional segments like screenings and panels.

The success of SGMS has also given rise to the publication with a similar focus. Mechademia is an annual journal of writings on this very subject which I'm going to have to try and get my hands on. Maybe it's time to put my degrees and experience to some better use and get on board with them.

So there you have it. Three major otaku culture exhibitions around the world, though there's probably more that I didn't come across. Add to that the SGMS event, and my fledgling Aniwave, and I think this anime thing is going up to another level in the cultural strata. A pretty good year for anime culture, even if the anime industry wasn't doing so hot.

I would like to thank everyone for helping make this year's Aniwave a big success! With the added press we received from Encore, WWAY News Channel 3, as well as WHQR 91.3fm and StarNews, attendance was up significantly from last year. While securing financial support was a challenge this year, several sponsors came forth to make Aniwave a reality.

The festival would not have been possible without the support of Michael L. Glancy, AnimEigo, Sawgrass Gifts, the Cameron Art Museum, and Level 5 at City Stage. We are grateful for all of their assistance. I would also like to thank Tokyo Deli for donating some food items, as well as all of our attendees who contributed with additional donations.

A lot of people helped to promote Aniwave or lend their assistance in various capacities, and I would also like to acknowledge them here. A big thank you to Branson Moore and Aaron Cavazos at AnimEigo, Daphne Holmes at the Cameron Art Museum, the Independent Art Company staff, Ian Moseley at Level 5, Christina Dore and Shea Carver at Encore, Andy Scherr and Joe Mauceri at WWAY, Jemila Ericson at WHQR, John Staton at StarNews, Sarah Scott at New Hanover High School, Analie Foland, Pippin Calame, Caroline Culbert and the Schoonover family.

For those who joined us, you have probably been waiting for the photos from the event; while those who were not able to come may be curious how it all went. So without further ado, you can find photos from Aniwave '08 at the following address...

Thank you all again. I couldn't have done it without your strong support, and Aniwave would be nothing without all of you!

We managed to get some pretty good press this year. Thanks to Christina Dore, who wrote the article on Aniwave for Encore (left). She did an excellent job, and managed to get a lot of information into the article on what Aniwave is all about, and why my motivation for doing it is. Also, the photograph was provided by Analie Foland, so a big thanks to you as well!

On Tuesday, October 28, Wilmington's WWAY Channel 3 reported on Aniwave during the five o'clock news. A synopsys of that report can be read on their website here. I should have the video of this to upload in the near future.

In addition, I'd like to thank Jemila Ericson of WHQR, who got our announcement on air. And last but not least, thanks to John Staton at the StarNews for putting an anouncment obout Aniwave in the paper as well.

In my relatively brief residence in Wilmington I have noticed that there was not a lot going on in terms of anime related activities. This is why I took it upon myself to put on some events for all the anime fans around here. We have quite a lot of people who enjoy anime, given how many schools we have here. Not to mention that there is a strong film industry in our area to help that along.

To my knowledge, Aniwave has been the first event series of its kind in Wilmington. However, I would like to note that this year has also seen the first Coastal Cosplay Picnic take place this August. The lack of such events is somewhat surprising given the aforementioned sizable fan-base for anime. I hope to try and do this again next year, with every intention of making it even better.


Anime Screening at Jengo's Playhouse


Our first event was the screening at Jengo's Playhouse, home to the annual Cucalorus Film Festival, on September 22. We provided Japanese drinks and snacks purchased at Tokyo Deli. Fanboy Comics gave away free manga, and had a prize drawing for a $50 gift certificate. Additional free items came from the good folks at AnimEigo, such as posters and promo DVDs of their newly licensed series Yawara!

Our program started off with a showing of two shorts: Fata Morgana, by local film-maker Saben Kane, and Makoto Shinkai's She And Her Cat. Our features for this event were Voices of a Distant Star, followed by Cat Soup. All of these films were chosen for their high level of quality and mature artistic approach. I was glad to hear that those who came also appreciated the difference in our selection of anime. Having viewed these, local writer Joel Finsel felt that his understanding of anime "has grown from a misunderstood medium in [his] mind to a more legitimate form of expression that [he thinks] has a great deal of appeal to people of our generation."

After the anime screening, we had another prize drawing for complete anime box sets generously provided by AnimEigo. The remastered Bubblegum Crisis box set went to Doug Sincox, while the Urusei Yatsura OVA collection went to Japanese exchange student Mayu Kazumatsu. The largest of the three, the complete series of You're Under Arrest totaling four separate box sets, was won by Sean Crowder.

Overall attendence for this first event was admittedly lower than I had hoped, but we still had a great time. And since the number of attendees was smaller, there were enough t-shirts for everyone. Not to mention plenty of Pocky! So, big thanks go out to everyone who came to Jengo's in support of our first screening.


Cosplay Tour at the Cameron Art Museum


On October 5 I held a tour at the Cameron Art Museum of the William Ivey Long costume exhibtion. The tour was intended for anime fans, and specifically for cosplay enthusiasts, and tour goers were encouraged to come in costume. Senior member of the UNCW anime club Wesley Steffen, is shown above in his Ouran Host Club costume.

The goal of doing this tour, besides simply getting to see some spectacular costumes by the premier Broadway costume designer today, was to demonstrate to cosplay fans the possibility of taking such an interest to the higher level of a career. Many cosplayers are probably not aware of such a career path being available to them. I had hoped to show that if costumes are something that someone is passionate enough about, they could pursue that further than the occasional anime convention.

Again, turnout for this event wasn't high, yet this allowed for an intimate and informal group that was not without its merits. In part I think the price of admission for the tour was a factor. We all know that funds are limited when you are a student, which is something I will have to consider more seriously next time around.

Ultimately, the tour was still quite enjoyable for me, and I think also for those who came for it. Besides, any chance to spread the word about anime and its related elements such as cosplay is a welcome opportunity.


Anime Screening at the Cameron Art Museum


On November 2, we held our third and final event in the Aniwave series. It was another anime screening, which took place at the Cameron Art Museum. We gave out additional posters, Yawara! DVDs, and had a drawing for more t-shirts.

I wasn't sure what kind of turnout to expect given the previous two events, but I was pleasantly surprised. It appeared that we had at least double the attendees of our first screening. Interestingly enough, that night's attendees comprised a wide range of ages. This just goes to show you that anyone can enjoy good anime, no matter their age.

Our first feature was Spring and Chaos, by Shoji Kawamori. It is based on the life of Kenji Miyazawa, a celebrated Japanese poet. Everyone seems to have enjoyed this film greatly, and some offered such thoughts to me after the showing. Anya Hill, president of the UNCW Anime Club, noted that Spring and Chaos contained a great number of cultural and historical references. This is surely a big part of the film's appeal.

The second feature we screened was Blame! Based on the ten volume manga series by the same name, it is a darker collection of six short vignettes that are less accessible than most anime. Blame! has a definite independent art film flare, and probably left most of the audience scratching their heads. Its hard-edged science fiction feel offers more riddles and clues than clear plot structure, and should perhaps be experienced more as an aesthetic work.

A big thank you goes out to Daphne Holmes, curator of public programs at the Cameron Art Museum, who played no small role in getting this part of Aniwave off the ground (pictured above). Overall, this was the most successful of our three events, with the best attendance.


Acknowledgements

I must be honest in saying that I was hoping for a little more when our first two events came and went in terms of community support. But after our last event I do feel much better about having made Aniwave a reality in Wilmington. Though I curated it by myself, Aniwave would not have come together were it not for a number of very significant supporters in our community.

I would like to extend a great thank you to our two sponsors. AnimEigo, a local anime production company, was incredibly generous in their donations for our events. Fanboy Comics, a local comic book store, was also a great supporter of these efforts. Without both of their donations, Aniwave would not have been possible.

In addition, I want to thank Dan Brawley at the Independent Art Company for providing us with a venue for our first screening. As mentioned before, big thanks go to Daphne Holmes of the Cameron Art Museum for making our second screening possible in their space.

Also, let us not forget those who made it possible for us to show the various anime in our lineup. Thanks go to Saben Kate for Fata Morgana, ADV Films for Voices of a Distant Star, Central Park Media for Cat Soup, Tokyopop for Spring and Chaos, and Media Blasters for Blame! And of course, all the creators of these anime, for their artistic vision and willingness to share it with the world!

Last but not least, I would like to thank the UNCW Anime club for their patience and support. President Anya Hill, senior member Wesley Steffen, and member Lachelle Gatson donated their time distributing promotional material, and have come out to these events. Your support means a great deal to us!

I have finished designing the Aniwave poster finally, and got it to the printers. Unfortunately, due to some technical issues at the print shop they won't be ready until early next week. So we'll have to wait with the distribution until then.

I think it turned out pretty well, and I enjoyed creating this according to my vision. Now I just hope that the initial quantity will be sufficient.

This morning I was able to publish the brand new Aniwave website, official home to the new series of anime events coming to Wilmington this fall. Just to update those who are unfamiliar with this project, Aniwave is currently comprised of two anime screenings and one tour of a large costume exhibition for cosplay enthusiasts. A few things have changed since my last post on this.

The first screening will take place at Jengo's Playhouse (part of the Independent Art Company) on September 22, and the second screening is going to be held at the Cameron Art Museum on November 2. The costume exhibit tour will also be at the Cameron Art Museum, but I have yet to finalize the date for that. An additional segment may be added to these events in the near future if I can make it happen.

Sponsorship is being graciously provided by Fanboy Comics and AnimEigo. Both are local businesses and have been enthusiastic in their support for these events. For further details on this, please visit the official website noted above. New information will be posted as it becomes available, and you also have the option of subscribing to the site's feed and be notified of updates.