"But as for its Japanese format, it will continue running monthly in Magazine Z in Japan for 10 more months, 14 parts in all. It will clock out at around 400 pages total," he said. "It is scheduled to be collected into two 200-page editions in Japan as well. It is taking place in Gotham now but his investigation into the drug takes Batman to Japan halfway through the story in Part 8.

AKEMI TAKADA - We are very proud to announce our Special Guest this year will be Akemi Takada. Ms. Takada is the character designer/illustrator for Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, Urusei Yatsura, Creamy Mami, Fancy Lala, and Mobile Police Patlabor, among others. MUCH thanks to Digital Manga for sponsoring her visit to A-Kon! We must show her how great the fans at A-Kon are and make sure she feels welcome! Her official homepage is http://www.pierrot.co.jp/artists/takada/

SHAWN THE TOUCHED - White Radish returns with new animation that will premier at A-Kon 2000!

KUGAYAMA RIKAKO - A very well-known artist in the dojinshi world, she draws bishojo artwork and has published many pieces commercially. She's also a character designer and is current designing characters for an anime to be broadcast next year.

The World Premiere of Peter Chung's Alexander the Great shares the festival spotlight with Miyazaki's classic The Castle of Cagliostro and the powerful Grave of the Fireflies

Japanese Animation gets big screen treatment on Friday and Saturday, April 21-22, when the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center hosts its first annual Japanese Animation Festival. The festival schedule runs through a wide variety of anime styles, creators and content, offering something for every anime lover.
Festival artistic director Carl Macek (of Streamline Pictures) has put together a kind of primer package complete with harder core features and a world premiere on Friday night, and a Saturday lineup which begins the some of anime's original "kiddie fare" and finishes with the one-two punch of the thought-provoking and visceral Grave of the Fireflies followed by the midnight magic of Petshop of Horrors. In between the main screenings in the Carpenter Center's 1000+ hall, video monitors in the lobby will screen various anime series. There will also be several vendors selling anime-related merchandise, along with plenty of free catalogues and special door prizes.
One of the highlights of the festival is sure to be the world premiere of Alexander the Great from animator Peter Chung. Chung is well-known for his work in American commercials, as a director for Rugrats and other top-rated animated series, and as the creator of MTV's Aeon Flux. His Alexander effectively combines elements of the past, present and future, creating an imaginative vision of history that melds into myth. It's a blending of historical fantasy, sword and sorcery, and science fiction. This screening is a bit of a cliff-hanger, and is sure to leave the viewers anxious to see more of this brand new series. Scheduled to screen with Alexander are Wicked City, a classic anime horror film, and Roujin Z, a social satire complete with nubile nurse, an animatronic bed gone berserk and a senior citizen as the stories main character.
Saturday's schedule begins with a focus on the kinder, gentler anime from the 1960s.
- more - Page 2 - 2 - 2 Japanese Animation Festival Carpenter Center April 21-22

The original pilot episodes Astro Boy, Gigantor and Kimba the White Lion will be shown on the Carpenter Center's big screen beginning at noon that day. Fred Ladd, the gentleman who helped engineer anime's entry into the United States, will be on hand to introduce each pilot. These screenings will be proceeded by a special screening of perennial child favorite, Catnapped! At 2pm, the festival will screen a sampler of titles from Bandai, including Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing and Escaflowne. At 4pm, Miyazaki's classic The Castle of Cagliostro screens, followed by Armitage III: Poly-Matrix, with dubbed voices by Kiefer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkley.
Grave of the Fireflies, a powerful and touching film of survival and pride set in the latter part of World War II, will be shown at 10pm. Though not by Miyazaki, the movie is a product of his Studio Ghibli, and certainly shows his influence. To complete the festival, the recently-released Pet Shop of Horrors, screens at midnight on April 22. A variety of Anime-related vendors, screening areas and activities will be available both Friday and Saturday surrounding the screenings. Tickets to individual festival screenings are $7 for the general public; $5 for students, children, seniors, those with CSULB ID and members of the Carpenter Center Cinema Society. One and two-day passes are available and range in price from $10-$30.
Home of the WideScreen Film Festival, the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center is located at 6200 Atherton Street, on the northeast corner of California State University, Long Beach. For tickets and information call (562) 985-7000. # # # # #

Complete Festival schedule attached

The Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center 1st Annual Japanese Animation Festival April 21-22, 2000

Two Days of Anime seen on the big screen

Tickets for each screening are $7; $5 for students, seniors, CSULB & ASIFA Members.
Friday only fest passes are $15: $10 for students, seniors, CSULB & ASIFA Members.
Saturday child (12 and under) fest pass (Not valid for films screened after 8pm) are $10 Saturday only fest passes are $25: $20 for students, seniors, CSULB & ASIFA Members.
Full fest passes are $30; $25 for students, seniors, CSULB & ASIFA Members.

Friday, April 21, 2000
4-7pm Free video screenings in the lobby Pioneer Video Titles including: El Hazard Vol. 1; Fushigi Yugi Vol.1; Serial Experiments Lain Vol.1; Tenchi Muyo Collection Vols. 1-4

7pm Roujin Z - from the creator of Akira
Rated: PG-13 for language and sexual content A wonderfully vicious satire of society's treatment of the aged disguised as action/comedy. An old man, cared for by an experimental, completely roboticized bed, needs the help of a young student nurse when the bed goes berzerk, taking on the characteristics of the old man's dead wife. To top it off, the bed has secret military capabilities, and the action starts flying fast and furious.

9pm Alexander the Great - new series from Peter Chung, creator of MTV's Aeon Flux
World Premiere screening
Warning! Graphic violence and nudity
Descendant of Achilles, student of Aristotle, a genius of military strategy, and city builder without peer, Alexander was a soldier and scholar of insatiable ambition. Take a sneak peak at this new animated series that tells the story of the youngest man in history to conquer the known world. Alexander effectively blends fantasy, sword & sorcery and science fiction, merging history into mythology.

11pm Wicked City
Warning! Contains Extreme nudity, violence and sexual situations A nasty bit of thriller with some very inventive bug-eyed monsters, strapping young men, impossibly lovely women and an ultrasecret organization willing to kill to maintain order. Horror meets hard-boiled action! Taki, a James Bond-type secret agent, must guard a modern wizard whom demonic terrorists from "the Black World" want to kill.

Saturday, April 22, 2000 10am Catnapped!
Take a couple of Japanese children, mix in a lot of cats and YELLOW SUBMARINE-influenced art, wrap it together with a race against the clock, and enjoy a truly original and fun-filled animated adventure. A great film for children!

Noon The Beginning of Anime: 3 Pilots That Flew From Japan - hosted by Fred Ladd The original series pilots from the first three Japanese Animation series to cross over to America: Astro Boy, Gigantor and Kimba, the White Lion. Fred Ladd, writer, producer and director of the English language versions, hosts the screening of the three series which introduced Anime to America.
Saturday, April 22, 2000 (continued)

2pm A Bandai Sampler
A selection of Bandai series titles, including: Gundam Wing; Blue Submarine (futuristic adventure set in a submerged world); Cowboy Bebop (action/comedy about a hipster bounty hunter set, of course, in the future)

4pm The Castle of Cagliostro
by Hayao Miyazaki Appropriate for children; mild violence "A hilarious mix of Hitchcock and the Marx Brothers," said the Hollywood Reporter of this comedy-thriller. In this animated feature based on the extremely popular Lupin III animated TV series and manga (adult comic book), international thief Lupin must rescue a lovely young princess from her sinister guardian in an ancient castle filled with death traps.

6pm Spriggan
Appropriate for older children; mild violence The discovery of an ancient artifact, Noah's Ark, prompts a race for a devastating technology left behind by an ancient civilization. However, the guardians of this technology, a special elite force called the Spriggan, are sworn to protect these artifacts and prevent them from falling into man's hands. But, of course, mankind isn't going to let such power go without a fight.

8pm Armitage III: Poly-Matrix
Appropriate for older children; mild violence This full-feature version of the popular animated series is voiced in English by Elizabeth Berkley and Kiefer Sutherland. When humanoid robots living undetected in a Mars colony are targeted for extinction by wild-eyed human vigilantes, bad-ass robotic girl cop Naomi Armitage leads the robots' fight for survival, with help from her human partner.

10pm Grave of the Fireflies
Warning! violence; traumatic events Why do fireflies die so young?" Orphaned and homeless, two Japanese children set out to survive on their own during the last days of World War II. But in the face of a society that is no longer able to help them, they begin to realize that they can never escape the hardships of war, or even find enough to eat.... Awarded First Prize in the "Best Animated Feature" and "Rights of the Child" categories at the 1994 Chicago International Children's Film Festival!

12midnight Petshop of Horrors
- Newly released in America Warning! Extreme violence, nudity and sexual situations Make sure you follow your pet care instructions carefully. Any slight deviation results in murder and mayhem. With a tongue-in-cheek approach, Petshop of Horrors delivers real frights, outstanding animation and more than a few marauding bunny rabbits.

The Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center is located at 6200 Atherton Street, on the Northeast corner of the California State University, Long Beach campus. It is a state-of-the-art performance hall and screening facility with more than 1,000 plush seats, dolby digital sound, video and film projection capabilities, a 21'x50' movie screen, and easy access off the 405 freeway. (In Long Beach, take the Palo Verde exit, travel South on Palo Verde. Turn right on Atherton Street and we're the big performing arts center on your left.)