Well, we’re done with another Anime Expo, and this one was loads of fun as usual. We greeted many fans who stopped by our booth to say hello, sold a ton of our English-translated eroge and visual novels, moved more than a few pairs of shimapan striped panties (“for cosplay or other uses”), and sold a bunch of our popular anime grab bags. Our customers were happy to receive our trademark J-List pocket tissues, as well as the new J-List anime glasses, which you can also get when you make an online order shipped from our Japan or San Diego offices. Thanks to everyone who came by!At the show, we had an official panel where we introduced our wonky little company to fans and also made some announcements of visual novels we’ll be releasing in English. These included the future release of the Steins;Gate PC edition; the upcoming third volume in the Lightning Warrior Raidy yuri dungeon crawling series; Shiny Days, the gorgeous sequel (prequel actually) to the smash hit game School Days; the fandisc for My Girlfriend is the President; two very ecchi new games by Code Pink; and a gorgeous witch training game Little Witch Romanesque. The panel was a big success, except for a snafu with the convention staff that caused us to be given a much smaller room than in previous years (sorry again to the fans who were not able to get into the room). You can read the complete list of newly licensed visual novels on the JAST USA development blog, and if you want to get your hands on our newest game catalog, which features one of three new posters on the back, just make an order from our Japan or San Diego offices and we’ll send you one with your order. Anime Expo is my favorite fan event for various reasons. First, everyone is in the room is the same “tribe,” largely on the same wavelength about anime and Japan despite the fact that some may be passionate about Touhou while others are off in an entirely different genre, cosplaying Attack on Titan. (Some of them might just be a little punch-drunk.) While I also love more general shows like the San Diego Comic-Con, the reality is that only a small subset of the attendees there are focused on Japan and its various forms of popular culture, and as a result many of the people who stop by our booth there have no idea what that “fat gray kitty” is (his name is Totoro, he’s not a kitty). During the show I had some deep discussions with friends and fans who tagged along after our panel on the most existential of questions, how to properly pronounce names like Evangelion and Madoka Magica. In Japanese, both names contain a hard ‘g’ sound, Evan[geh]lion Madoka Ma[gi]ka, despite the tendency for the human brain to apply the rules of English spelling and soften the ‘g’ sound. This one reason it’s a good idea to make sure you learn the hiragana and katakana writing systems, even if that’s all the Japanese language you ever study: it will help you read and pronounce the Japanese you see more accurately, and it’s also kind of cool to learn to read a writing system other than the English alphabet. We have great Japanese study tools like the Moekana and White Rabbit flashcard sets in stock if you want to browse them.
Anime Expo was a blast, with lots of cool fans; fans were happy to see Steins;Gate is coming.
