Friday at Sakura-Con: Today's Manga Highlights

This weekend, manga, anime and gaming fans will converge on the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in downtown Seattle for the 11th annual Sakura-Con. I'll be prowling around the convention center this weekend, taking in the panels, the anime showings and the scene. Look for photos and updates to be posted soon!

In the meantime, here's a manga-centric guide to some of today's events:

• U.S. Premiere of the Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time anime, 2:00 - 4:00 pm in room 611 - 614. Director Aki Tsunaki is the Sakura-Con guest of honor, so there'll be lots of Haruka-happenings this weekend.
• Undertown Q&A - 1:00 - 2:00, room 606 - Meet Jake Myler and Jim Pascoe, the creators of Undertown, a OEL manga series from (TokyoPop)
• TokyoPop Industry Panel - 2:00 - 3:00, room 606. Look forward to news of coming attractions from the editors at TokyoPop!
• Broccoli Industry Panel - 4:00 - 5:00, room 607 - Hopefully new updates on coming attractions from Broccoli and their yaoi manga imprint, Boysenberry Books.
• TokyoPop Creators Spotlight - 4:00 - 5:00 pm, room 611 - 614 - A mega gathering of the TokyoPop manga talent on hand this weekend, including M. Alice LeGrow (Bizenghast), Brandon Graham (King City), Joshua Ortega (writer, Star Trek manga), Jake Myler (Undertown). On top of that, the TokyoPop crew is promising prizes for attendees too.
• VIZ Media Industry Panel - 5:00 - 6:00 pm, room 606 - We'll likely hear more about VIZ's new and upcoming manga and anime releases and maybe news about the new Bleach movie that will in theaters this summer.
• Battle Vixens (Ikki Tousen) Panel - 9:00 - 10:00 pm, room 611-614 - Japanese manga-ka Yuji Shiozaki will be on hand to showcase his manga creation, now published in English by TokyoPop.

Stay tuned, I'll be posting updates all weekend long.

Image credit: ANCEA / Sakura-Con