Part of my daily routine at home is looking, savoring and caressing my anime collection. Kinda weird but I never seem to get tired of looking at them. This is what you call avarice (BAD!). Anyway, this morning I was looking at a manga called Imadoki (vol. 3) by Watase Yuu and I noticed something that caught my attention and memories.
This is a Watase-sensei’s free talk. Free talk is a column in tankoubons where authors talk about random stuff, usually embedded in between chapters. I find it surprising that I get to notice something important just now when I bought this manga 6 years ago. If you know how to read katakana and hiragana and look closely at the image, you’d know that the mangaka is actually talking about her experience with the Filipino fans at the Anime Explosion 2000. Yes! The Very first anime convention held in the country. And there it goes, nostalgia filled the air.
I can’t read kanji and I know very little of Nihongo so I don’t really understand the whole free talk. But the thing is, the first Philippine Anime Convention made its way on the manga pages is really amazing (at least for a simpleton like me). I even downloaded the manga scanlations, unfortunately this page was not translated…
Anime Explosion 2000 was held November 3-5, 2000, the height of Fusigi Yuugu and Ruroken popularity. I wonder why Watase-sensei said in the free talk it’s 11/4-6/2000, I’m pretty sure Japan is just an hour ahead our time. But I knew all about the event beforehand because my cousin, Van, was actually working with ACPI at that time. I remember how excited I was every time I’d get updates from him. The sad thing is, I never made it to the meet and greet (with the mangaka and anime directors) part of the convention because I had class. I was able to attend at the last day and missed the cosplay and panel forums. The good thing about it was I went thru without paying for the entrance fee and was able to get enough freebies because of my cousin. Too bad I haven’t had a camera at that time. It was also the age of Nokia 3210, what can you expect? I don’t have any friends with me that time too, but for some reason, the event felt more lively than the ones I’ve attended the recent years and months… being a newbie is really something and besides, we’re talking about the FIRST ANICON here.
Anime Explosion 2000 was held November 3-5, 2000, the height of Fusigi Yuugu and Ruroken popularity. I wonder why Watase-sensei said in the free talk it’s 11/4-6/2000, I’m pretty sure Japan is just an hour ahead our time. But I knew all about the event beforehand because my cousin, Van, was actually working with ACPI at that time. I remember how excited I was every time I’d get updates from him. The sad thing is, I never made it to the meet and greet (with the mangaka and anime directors) part of the convention because I had class. I was able to attend at the last day and missed the cosplay and panel forums. The good thing about it was I went thru without paying for the entrance fee and was able to get enough freebies because of my cousin. Too bad I haven’t had a camera at that time. It was also the age of Nokia 3210, what can you expect? I don’t have any friends with me that time too, but for some reason, the event felt more lively than the ones I’ve attended the recent years and months… being a newbie is really something and besides, we’re talking about the FIRST ANICON here.
Have a sweet Friday the 13th everyone (“,x)
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