Anime Expo '08: This Weekend's Manga Highlights

The Los Angeles Convention Center in Southern California will be the place to be this Fourth of July weekend when Anime Expo 2008 comes to town from Thursday, July 3 through Sunday, July 6. I'll be there snapping shots, covering panels and maybe catching a movie or two, but just to whet your appetite, here's my manga-centric guide to what's worth checking out this weekend:

THURSDAY, JULY 3

• 12:00 – 1:00 pm: deviantART's How to Be a Successful Online Artist, Room 502 With so many publishers looking for new manga talent and finding them on deviantART.com, this sounds like an interesting panel for any aspiring manga-ka.
• 1:00 – 2:00 pm: TOKYOPOP Online Entertainment Review, Room 502
  My guess is this will be TokyoPop showing off what they're focusing on in their new TokyoPop Media division, including cell phone, animated and live action movies and online manga projects. Veee shall see.
• 3:00 – 5:00 pm, KERA Magazine / Maruione.jp Street Snaps Session at the Maruione Booth
  Attention fashionistas: Get your pic shot for a chance to be seen and admired in Japan's KERA magazine. Dress to impress at the Maruione.jp booth today, or Friday, from 2:00 – 3:00 pm and 4:00 – 5:00 pm, and Saturday from 2:00 – 3:00 pm and 4:00 – 5:00 pm and smile (or scowl) for the camera, baby!
• 4:00 – 5:00 pm: Manga: Ultimate Publisher Showdown 2008, Room 411
  This event is only open to attending professionals and press, but if it's like last year's session, it'll be a no-holds-barred discussion where representatives from leading American publishers talk about what's going on in the manga biz . Given the rumors, the reorganizations and various shakeups going on in the industry, this year's session should be pretty lively.
• 6:00 – 7:30 pm: Manga and Anime in Academia, Room 515A
  With the worldwide popularity of manga and anime, there's sure to be a lot to dissect in the halls of academia. Not sure what they'll be discussing here, but if you've ever wanted to write your term paper about manga, this might be a good place to get inspiration.
• 7:30 – 8:30 pm: Feel The Passion of Luv Luv, Room 515A
  See what's coming next from the Aurora's sexy josei manga imprint Luv Luv. This one's just for attendees 18 and over, so yes, it *is* just that sexy.
• 7:30 – 9:30 pm: Movie - L: Change the World, Room 403
  The third movie in the Death Note series focuses on L and is a side-story not included in the original manga series. This movie was released in Japan earlier this year and recently made its debut at the New York Asian Film Festival. If you miss it tonight, you can also see it on Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 1 pm.

FRIDAY, JULY 4

• 11:00 am – 12:00 pm: Aurora Publishing 1st Birthday Party, Room 515A
  They made their debut at AX '07, now the Aurora crew is back and ready to celebrate their first year of bringing shojo, yaoi and josei manga to America.
• 12:00 – 1: 00 pm: VIZ Media Anime and Manga Panel, Room 502
  Look for the folks at VIZ to show off their new and upcoming releases for the rest of 2008 and maybe if we're lucky they'll reveal some new 2009 titles too.
• 1:00 – 2:15 pm: Dark Horse 20th Anniversary Panel, Room 502
  From Godzilla to Gantz, Dark Horse has been publishing top-notch manga from Japan and manhwa from Korea since 1988. See what's next on the horizon, with DH Manga editor Carl Horn.
• 2:00 – 5:00 pm: Meet Yaoi Manga Creators le Peruggine, Yaoi Press booth
  Meet the Italian global manga creators behind Cain and Winter Demon, and get your books signed. If you miss them today, you can catch them from 2:00 – 5:00 pm on Saturday.
• 4:00 – 5:00 pm: ADV Industry Panel, Room 502
  Ah, ADV. Given all the chatter about their manga operations being on hold, I'm thinkin' the Q&A might be interesting at this one.
• 4:00 – 5:00 pm: Aimee Major Steinberger's Japan Ai, Room 515A
  Check out animator, cosplayer and doll collector extraordinaire Steinberger talk about her adventures in the land of the rising yen, and her incredibly fun travel diary, Japan Ai from Go! Comi.
• 6:30 – 7:30 pm: Wendy Pini's Masque of the Red Death, Room 502
  She unveiled this project at last year's Anime Expo, and now Wendy Pini is back to share the latest about her sexy multimedia adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death, and it's upcoming print edition debut set for October 2008 from Go! Comi.
• 8:30 – 9:30 pm: June Manga and 801 Media Inc Industry Panel, Room 515A
  After dark, it's time for the grown-ups to come out and play. At this adults-only panel, June Manga and 801 Media will be revealing their upcoming boys love / yaoi manga releases for the rest of the year and beyond.

SATURDAY, JULY 5

• 10:00 – 11:00 am: TOKYOPOP Industry Panel, Room 502
  After their recent reorganization, it should be interesting to see how TokyoPop's publishing schedule has changed and what they have on their roster for the rest of 2008 and 2009.
• 1:00 – 2:00 pm: Vampire Hunter D signing at DMP Booth 510
  Meet Vampire Hunter D manga creators Hideyuki Kikuchi and Saiko Takaki in person and get your books signed. If you miss it today, they'll also be on hand from 1:00 – 2:00 pm on Sunday.
• 2:00 – 3:00 pm: DMP Presents Hideyuki Kikuchi and Saiko Takaki, Room 304
  Meet the creators of DMP's edition of the Vampire Hunter D manga and ask them your burning questions about this hit anime, manga and light novel series.
• 3:30 – 4:30 pm: Broccoli International Panel, Room 515A
  After several cons where they mentioned that they wouldn't have anything new to announce until Anime Expo. Well, AX is now, and the Broccoli Books folks should have some news to share about more coming attractions for the rest of 2008 and maybe even 2009.
• 5:30 – 6:30 pm: CMX: Manga for the Masses, Room 502
  Hopefully, we'll get some new manga announcements from the folks who brought us Emma and Crayon Shin-Chan at this panel.
• 8:00 – Midnight: Anime Expo Masquerade, Nokia Theater
  One of the most popular events of AX, the masquerade promises some eye-popping cosplayers and some entertaining skits to boot.
• 9:00 – 10:00 pm: Winter Demon Artists le Peruggine, Room 515A
  Yaoi Press artists le Peruggine have come aaalll the way from Italy to meet and answer questions from fans, so if you're 18 and over, come out and give them a big Anime Expo welcome they'll never forget.

SUNDAY, JULY 6

• 11:00 am – 12:00 pm COSMODE, Room 515A
  Check out the deluxe U.S. print edition of Japan's ultimate cosplay magazine, Cosmode. Word is that Broccoli Books is getting a special air shipment of this first issue just for AX '08, so it's your chance to get your hands on it before the bookstore-buying crowd.
• 12:30 – 1:30 pm: Introduction to Romance Manga, Room 411
  Fall in love with romantic manga with this introduction to shojo stories straight from the heart.
• 1:30 – 2:30 pm: Otaku USA Magazine Panel, Room 411
  Meet the Otaku USA crew, including Editor in Chief Patrick Macias, Manga Editor Jason Thompson and contributing writers Darius Washington and Ed Chavez.

Stay tuned for more news from Anime Expo, starting from Thursday, July 3!