This coming yeart at I-CON, anime track will be swinging with all sorts of new goodies! Come check it out: Anime Programming will be running in multiple rooms over the weekend from 10am to 2am. Also, we have two new competitions: Fanart and Anime Music Video's. Online submission allowed. Of course, we're having our Cosplay competition again. As far as Panels go, we have Anime 101: about anime, it's history, and it's future. We also have voice actor guests that come in(TBA). Voice Acting Dubbing Workshops, Cel Painting workshops, how to draw in both anime and manga style and how to work your own animation. Come on down to I-CON's anime track, you'll have a blast.

Guests:

DJ Maniac

OTAKU DUET

D7 Studios - Animation studio

Confirmed Voice Actors

Wayne Grayson - Yu Gi Oh(Joey)

Bill Rogers - Boogiepop Phantom, His and Her Circumstances, Legend of Lemnear

Daniel Kevin Harrison - Hiro in Gravitation

He has done work for ABC Family, MTV and for the animated adventures of the European music group, Bro'sis. Wayne is a native New Yorker who has spent over 12 years in the metropolitan area working on several animated series, commercials, independent films and theatrical productions of varying degrees of quality and clarity. For two consecutive summers he appeared in critically-acclaimed original plays at the New York International Fringe Festival.

Wayne is a self-professed pop-culture junkie with a life-long addiction to comic books, movies, science fiction and animation. He won't be hard to talk to.

Bill Rogers - Bill Rogers

For many years, Bill has loved both acting and anime. But in 1999, Bill had the opportunity to join those “two great tastes that taste great together”. An invitation by a close friend to watch the recording of “Irresponsible Captain Tylor” gave Bill his first opportunity to give it a whirl. And with the recording of just one line, he was instantly hooked.

In the five years since then, Bill has been heard in such roles as Prime Minister in “Assemble Insert”, Officer Yamamoto in “Boogiepop Phantom”, Arima’s father in “His and Her Circumstances”, and Shaba in “KO Beast”. He has also provided voices to dozens of other characters in those shows (favorites include Kendo coach and Pero Pero in “His and Her Circumstances”, and the voice of the eyecatch in “Boogiepop Phantom”). In addition, Bill has worked on “Comic Party”, “Madara” and “Gokudo” amongst others. But the real gem of Bill’s career came last year when he was cast in the role of Tohma in the upcoming “Gravitation”.

When he’s not recording anime, Bill has spent a good amount of time on the stage, in front of the camera, or recording other non-anime projects such as a children’s CD and a New Jersey Highway Safety film. Finally, with the little remaining time he has after that, Bill likes to hang out with other fans and chat. Thankfully, the I-Con people have given him that opportunity.

DJ Maniac

Have your favorite music played! DJ Maniac will be including a special block devoted to fan requests (maniacaldj@hotmail.com), but the window for applications is closing fast*, so hurry and request your favorite anime/J-Music/DDR songs while you have time! The limit will be 1-2 requests per e-mail, and DJ Maniac will be taking no more than a cumulative 20 requests (or more if a good deal of requests are Dance Dance Revolution songs). And who knows- if you're lucky, he might already have one of your favorites on the list! (^_^x) Thanks a bunch, and see you at I-Con 23!

*Deadline for submissions: 11:30 pm EST on Thursday, March 25.

~New Rlease Screeners~
Arcadia of My Youth
Renowned Manga author Matsumoto Leiji's greatest creation, Captain Harlock, comes to the big screen in this magnificent film. Set against the conquest of Earth by the alien Illumidus empire, Captain Harlock, together with those who will become his lifelong friends, battle against tyranny no matter what the cost. As they fight the evil Illumidians, the message of the film shines through: that one must stand up for one's beliefs, even when everyone else believes that slavery and suffering are preferable to the sharper pains endured by those who fight for freedom.

"Only You" Urusei Yatsura
It isn’t easy being a guy-especially if you’re Ataru Moroboshi, the luckless lecher loved by Lum, the aviating Alien Princess with a very short temper.
Lum doesn’t need much assistance going ballistic when everyone in Tomobiki gets an invitation to Ataru’s wedding-and she’s not listed as the bride! Seems some 11 years ago, Ataru played “Shadow Tag” with a young girls named Elle and won. Unfortunately, Elle was another Alien Princess, and on her planet, if a boy steps on a girl’s shadow, they have to be married! When Elle’s emissary comes to make arrangements and Lum redefines the term “the atmosphere was electric!” Lum’s friend Benten suggests a pre-emptive wedding, and with Lum’s parents help, they manage to abduct Ataru.Things are looking up for Lum...but things never go that easy! Watch out for that attack fleet!!!

~Panels~
Anime 101
Anime Music Video Competition - Rules
Anime vs Manga Style
Cel Painting
Cosplay Competition - Rules
Costume Dance/DJ Party
Dubbing Workshop
Fanart Competition - Rules

~HOW TO:~
CG Art Using Photoshop
Drawing Anime 1
Drawing Anime 2
Animation and Motion
Make Your own Costume
Name that Tune with Otaku Duet
Signings!

Panel Summary

Anime 101 - A hit every year, especially with Parents. Started by both myself and my best friend, it's a panel to inform people about the basics of Anime. What is it? Where does it come from? Why the craze for it? What kind of ratings does it involve? Ok for your child to watch? How to find just what you are looking for, and the differences between 'cartoons' and 'animation'.

Cel Painting - Color in the cels. Be just like the industry people.

Cosplay Competition - Dress up as your favorite character and show it off. Who's the best?

Costume Dance/DJ Party - Fun night time party and dance! Come in costume, or without. Music will be anime orientated, and not necessarily in english either!

Name that Tune! - With Otaku Duet's performance will be a skit they have planned and will work with the Cosplayers who attend.

Dubbing Workshop - Be the voice behind the chara!

Fanart Competition - Submit your fanart, stay the weekend, winner gets something spiffy!

Anime Music Video Competition - Submit your AMV, stay the weekend, and the winner (again) gets something spiffy!

Manga Style vs Anime Style - Just what the hell is the difference?

The HOW TO Series/Panels continues:
CG'ing your fanart/pictures using Photoshop - Confused about layers? Getting that shading just right? Just what the heck is the 'Texture' command?

Drawing Anime Style 1 - Basics on how to get started drawing your own anime characters. Mostly focuses on proportions and how a body flows.

Drawing Anime Style 2 - Focuses more on accents on clothing, hair, shading. Gives characters depths and a starting point for those beginners.

Animation and Motion - Want to give flow, movement, poses to your pictures, then sit in on here!

Make your Own Costume - The desire of all, running around as your favorite character, but you dont' even know where to start looking! This panel will help ya there.

Cosplay Rules

1. No acrobatics, jumping around, fancy matrix bullet tricks, etc. You must have at least one foot on the floor at all times. The stage show isn't designed to host Jackie Chan's Comedy Hour. ^^; If you use martial arts, please keep them slow and PRACTICE them before you go on stage. If your sparing buddy doesn't remember where your toy sword goes on the 15th strike, odds are it'll end up in a bad place.

2. No flash powder, flames, chemicals, smoke, confetti, or anything of this dangerous nature.

3. Don't show up naked, or nearly naked.. we won't let you on the stage, and most likely not even at the convention. If you want to be on stage during cosplay.. a costume is required. ^^;
Preferably one that wouldn't make moms and dads everywhere have a heart attack.

4. All things you take on the stage with you need to go off with you. If you make a mess, you clean it up. Just like at home.

5. No real weapons of any kind are allowed, period. There will be no peace binding either. If your character needs a weapon, we suggest a toy one or make a prop weapon. And if it's firearm, please be SURE that it has the government safety orange on it somewhere, don't paint over it. You don't want any new holes in your body, and we don't want that either.

6. You must stay on the stage at all times during your skit. Any exiting/re-entering your skit requires must have that person do so safely. Once they are off, they need to remain back stage and can not go through the audience, or anywhere else, at any time. If your skit requires running, please make it a quick walk, and if they're needed to 'run' off stage, the person must stop and walk down the stairs.

7. All costumes must in some way be from Japanese culture. Whether that be anime, manga, JPop, movies, or whatever. Things that do not apply are American comics redone in the Japanese art style or anything obviously American. So no Captain America, X-Men, Spider-man, Power Puff, Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo type people. No furries either, unless it's a furry from anime. For example Kero-chan
from Card Captor Sakura.

8. Time limits for skits will be 3 minutes, for walk-ons it will be 1 minute. If you are new to cosplay a skit is a little play and a walk-on is simply just walking on stage to show off your costume. In a walk-on you can also say a quick something and exit. These are maximum times, you don't have to use it all to participate.

9. The maximum people on the stage will be handled on a case by case basis at the convention. If you have questions or concerns about this, feel free to email me and I can give you a guess as to whether or not your group will be over the limit. But, all final decisions will be made at the convention.

10. People will not be allowed to participate in more than one skit. We want as many people as possible to enjoy themselves and to get on stage if they wish.

11. No profanity of any kind (or any language) will be tolerated. We are a convention for everyone, and that includes little kids so keep it clean. You don't need to curse to be funny. This also means rude gestures and anything else visually and aurally offensive. (AKA Don't go up there and act like Tom Green from MTV).

12. Please, no singing at all. Karaoke and cosplay are two different things completely.

If we think you're endangering yourself or others in any way, we reserve the right to pull the plug on you and/or your skit. If you are unsure about something or have a question pertaining to cosplay, please email Jason Balduf (aka Merle-kun).

Audio/Music For Your Skit

If you're using an CD or cassette, please put a note on it some way saying what track you want played. Also place your skit name, and number on them. For tapes please have the music cued up so all the audio person needs to do is press play. Once we start the music it won't stop, so please place any pauses during the recording. There also may not be enough mics to go around especially for larger skits, so if you want to play it safe also put any announcing or voices on the audio CD/tape.

CDs and tapes will be taken during the convention at the cosplay sign up desk. At this time you will be given a skit number, be sure to write it on your CD/tape in some way. Tapes and CDs can be picked up after the cosplay, details on where will be available at the convention. If for some reason you do not pick up your CD or tape, I'll try to hang on to it for later pick up.

Helpful Suggestions

Please make sure you've had enough water to drink and enough food to eat. We don't want you starved or passing out on us. If you're low on money visit our Con Suite. Just be courteous to others lacking funds who are also in need of food and drink. Water is free if you carry your own container, fill it from your room, the bathroom, a drinking fountain. Don't forget ice is free in hotels too.

Make sure you can walk well in your costume, because you at least have to get around. Not to mention the other walking, stairs, and waiting in line.

Give anything you don't want to carry on stage with you to a friend, or leave it in your room before you go to line up for cosplay.

Take a repair kit, I've found these immensely helpful. As the saying goes, whatever can go wrong, can and will go wrong. So be prepared. Pack each kind of thread used in your costume.. a needle or two, stickpins, scissors, etc. Any hot glue guns or other repair devices would be a good idea as well as replacement parts. If you have beads you may lose a few, or if something is fragile, you might break it. I stick mine in a little Sailor Moon tin box I received as a present, you could put yours in something similar, something more elaborate like a tool/tackle box/kaboodle, or just a plain grocery sack. But make sure all the sharp objects are secured.

Be careful of how and what you eat while in costume. Don't go out for spare ribs or something sloppy. Keep it simple but also be sure to eat enough. This can also apply to where you go in costume.. if you're walking around outside, sitting on the ground is a bad idea. Anything you brush up against can be dirty.

Anime Music Video Competition + Fanart
1. All Fanart and AMV submissions MUST have your Name, Age, series the art/video clips are from, and PLEASE include your Address/Phone Number information if you will NOT be at convention when the winners are announced.

2. Accepted Files are the following only: GIF,JPG,JPEG - Fanart AVI, MPG, MOV(quicktime), WMV - AMV's

3. Ratings/Content - Nothing nude/too violent! This goes for both AMV and Fanart.

4. Fanart and AMV MUST be submitted to me at Con on a CD.
-IF you don't have access to a scanner the Hard copy for fanart may be submitted, and if it is, it will be returned at the end of the competition.

5. Winners will be chosen on Sunday of the Convention. Submissions will Stop being taken AFTER Sunday the 28th at 12 noon. Nothing later than that will be accepted. Room of where the CD is to be dropped off, is undecided at this time. It will be posted in the program book, the mini-program book for Anime track, and the website.

6. Though we appreciate all congoers to stay all three days...if this is not possible then submitters do NOT have to be present at the deciding of who wins what, but PLEASE make sure that you include address/phone number information for me to act accordingly.

Email is: ghousteangel@lycos.com for Further Questions.