AX2000 - Introduction...

—by Kenneth Lee, Edward Kwon, Charles McCarter, and the EX Staff

ANAHEIM, CA - For its ninth year in a row, Anime Expo started off the new millennium with a bang, bringing out more Guests of Honor, gaining more attendees, and spanning four hotel buildings, Anime Expo has become the premiere anime convention in the US.
Anime Expo 2000 took place in a new venue this time—the Disneyland Hotel and Convention Center, and the combining of Japanese anime with Disney proved interesting to say the least. As a welcome trend, Anime Expo continued to shatter records, bringing 17 Guests of Honor to this year's convention.

Kazuki Akane	(Director, THE VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE, ESCAFLOWNE: A GIRL IN GAIA)
Fukami Rica	(Voice actress, Sailor Venus in SAILOR MOON, Myung in MACROSS PLUS)
Gotoh Keiji	(character designer, NADESICO, GATE KEEPERS)
Hayama Junichi	(character designer, JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE, FIST OF THE NORTH STAR)
Ikuhara Kunihiko	(director, REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA, SAILOR MOON)
Kawasaki Hirotsugu	(director, SPRIGGAN)
Kusanagi Takuhito	(character designer, BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6, GRANDIA)
Maeda Mahiro	(director, mechanical designer, illustrator, BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6, GIANT ROBO)
Matsui Aya	(screenwriter, MARMALADE BOY, DRAGON BALL Z)
Minowa Yutaka	(illustrator, character designer, OUTLAW STAR, new VAMPIRE HUNTER D)
Mitsui Hideki	(screenwriter, SOL BIANCA: THE LEGACY, AKAZUKIN CHACHA)
Murata Range	(illustrator, character designer, BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6, WACHENRODER)
Nakazawa Kazuto	(character designer, EL HAZARD, BLACK HEAVEN (KACHO OHJI))
Naitow Yasuhiro	(manga artist, creator of TRIGUN, TRIGUN MAXIMUM)
Saito Chiho	(character designer and manga artist, REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA)
Takada Akemi	(character designer and illustrator, KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD, PATLABOR)
Watase Yu	(manga artist and creator, FUSHIGI YUGI, AYASHI NO CERES)

In addition to shattering records for the number of Guests of Honor attending a single convention, Anime Expo was also home to many new debuts and exclusive screenings: REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA: ADOLESCENCE APOCALYPSE movie, AYASHI NO CERES TV #1-2, VANDREAD, BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6 Sony PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast footage, and the new JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE OVA #1.
The highlight of these premieres was obvious—the North American debut of the brand-new ESCAFLOWNE movie, ESCAFLOWNE: A GIRL IN GAIA, which was just completed a mere three weeks before the convention! The print was subtitled, and it was shown ten times to accommodate as many of the Anime Expo attendees as possible.
Perhaps the most immediate improvement for this year came from Thursday night and Friday, in the form of ultra-fast processing for pre-registration and on-site registration. While Registration has been one of the main problems with Expos past, this year, on Thursday night, the line was dispatched quickly and with great efficiency. Both pre-registered attendees and at-convention registrations were handled with amazing speed.