| T H E Y E A R T H A T
W A S
2003 really was a banner year for the UK Anime scene, with companies,
conventions and even TV all seeming to explode! We had big name players
making their first tentative steps into the market, cinema releases
and exposure on major TV programs such as Film 2003.
C O M P A N Y C O M E B A C K S
One of the major accomplishments of 2003 was the re-organisation of
some of the major anime labels. ADV began to make its
presence felt with major new titles (Boogiepop Phantom
and Noir spring to mind) and a far more informative
and more organised web presence, which is very welcome indeed. The company
seems to be forging ahead into 2004 with gusto, announcing the Nadesico
movie and Azumanga Daioh amongst others as prepped
for release in the new year.
MVM managed to move away from releasing titles we'd
already seen (Oh! My Goddess, BubbleGum Crisis)
and into new and more exciting big name series like Vampire
Princess Miyu TV, the Oh! My Goddess movie
and just in time to be included here, Serial Experiments Lain.
They also managed to get the UK Anime Club enhanced
with a new token collection scheme and free DVD's as major new enticements
to go with the existing quarterly magazine and newsletter. There's much
more to come too, although problems with their website has scuppered
the comeback slightly, they're pretty much sorted now and ready to impress
in the new year.
Manga Video only had one release for us this year of
any real note (although Kai Doh Maru and Virus
have their fans), but it was the blinding Read or Die
that made everyone sit up and take notice. It was (until recently) the
most expensive OAV ever made, and Manga did a great job of releasing
it here - excellent presentation and a bargain price made it a must
have - hopefully 2004 will find them releasing titles of similar quality
onto the market.
   
N E W P L A Y E R S
3 big new names made it into the UK distributors list this year:
Warner Brothers began by releasing the Dragonball
Z movies, which was bound to please fans who found it on Cartoon
Network, whilst Sony released the phenomenal Cowboy
Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door in cinemas, which was a very
welcome surprise indeed.
However, the real big hitter was Buena Vista, who announced
the release of the Studio Ghibli collection to delighted
anime fans up and down the country. Beginning with Castle in
the Sky and Kiki's Delivery service, the series
was launched in Soho's Yo! Sushi with a speech to assembled guests (including
myself and Kev) by Helen McCarthy, author of the Hayao
Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation guide. The titles found
their way onto Film 2003 amongst others, and was greeted with great
warmth by Jonathan Ross, a well known anime fan himself.
C O N V E N T I O N S
It wasn't just the distributors showing their strengths either - this
year anime fandom made its presence felt with 2 incredibly successful
conventions, Minami in Southampton and Aya
Again in Northampton. With the latter drawing a crowd of over
600 eager attendees, it shows the active anime community is thriving,
largely thanks to the marketing of UK companies and more anime on TV,
such as Yu Gi Oh! and Beyblade.
A W A R D S
2003 also saw a landmark for anime across the globe, as the 75th Acadamy
Awards honoured Miyazaki's Spirited Away with the award
for Best Animated Feature, throwing the limelight on
our favourite genre, even if Miyazaki himself was subdued at the news,
caliming to be more concerned with the war in Iraq.
2 0 0 4 ?
So 2003 is over, and we look to 2004 to bring in even more good news.
We have some great anime to look forward to, including Porco Rosso and
Spirited Away on DVD, rumours of a Tenchi revival and even more conventions,
fan events and, of course, more from us too. Everyone at UKA wishes
you well in 2004, and I hope we can all look back at the year ahead
with equal fondness in 12 months time ^_^
- Ross Liversidge, Ed
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