Anime Japan Animation Shines in New York

Friday October 26 5:12 PM ET

Japan Animation Shines in New York
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The inaugural ``Big Apple Anime Fest'' opened on
Friday in New York, a three-day event featuring Japanese animated movies
and TV shows.


``Many people already know what Japanese animation is, so we would like
them to enjoy our event and give new people a broad look at what is
happening in the industry,'' said festival liaison manager Ryoko Maebashi.

Japanese animation, called ``anime'' in a corruption of the English word,
has been a part of U.S. pop culture since the early 1960s when Japanese
master animator Osamu Tezuka's ''Astroboy'' hit American TV.

Now Japanese anime, including ``Pokemon,'' ``Sailor Moon'' and
''Digimon,'' is a staple of Saturday morning TV fare for children. A slew
of licensed goods has helped make it a global entertainment industry.

The festival opened with the first U.S. screening of the sci-fi fantasy
``Metropolis,'' which is based on a comic book. The movie was directed by
Rintaro, who uses only one name. He began his career working with Tezuka
on the ``Astroboy'' TV series.

``Japanese animation is going out in so many different forms in the world
now. It seems like everyone has seen some variation of it at least once,''
Rintaro said.

Among the other films that will be screened at the festival are ``X: The
Movie'' also from Rintaro, a sci-fi comedy from Katsuhiro Otomo called
``Roujin Z'' and the action adventure movie ``Spriggan.''

Retrospectives of big name animators such as Rintaro, Otomo, Toshio Maeda
and Koichi Ohata will also be shown. Video screenings will be held almost
around the clock over the three days. -- http://www.iol.ie

 

Thanks Cloud, its good to see what they are doing in New York. I hope it really helps bring more people in to appreciate what these wonderful artists have been doing.