Anime Expo 2001 started off with news of a second Anime Expo location on the east coast. AXNY will be held in Times Square, New York, over Labor Day weekend in the year 2002.

For many of this year's Guests of Honor, this was their first time to the U.S. or their first appearance at a U.S. anime convention. Inoue Kikuko, one of the many first-timers, even brought her child daughter along for the convention.

Ishiguro Noboru wasn't able to make it on time for the opening ceremonies, and sent a video tape promising to be at AX later that day. Every few sentences, Ishiguro would hold up a sheet of paper saying "translate" and pause, waiting for the interpreter (here at the convention) to translate what he said into English.

John Taylor, chairman for the City of Hope, asked for a moment of silence for Aaron McPeak, a former AX vidtech staffer who passed away from Hodgkin's Disease earlier this year. All proceeds from the SPJA charity auction last year and this year will be dedicated to the memory of Aaron.

Last but not least, Kamiya Akira and several other professional voice actors (including the voice of Isamu Dyson (MACROSS PLUS) and Utena) gave a live voice-dubbing performance on stage.

Kikuko Inoue, talented voice actress perhaps best known for as the voice of Belldandy, wowed her fans with live performances of various songs. She started off with an impromptu live acapella version of the A!MG opening, sending the audience into a frenzied excitement level that would carry on throughout her panel. She continued to sing a number songs acapella due to popular request, including the popular SAILOR MOON opening theme, effectively turning the panel into a mini concert.

Most of the questions asked by her fans were of the funny and silly sort, such as "Are you married?" The talented voice actress' popularity was reflected in the sheer amount of praise lavished on her by her fans.

After the frenzy of the Kikuko Inoue panel, the artist responsible for bringing Belldandy to life in the OVAs and on the big screen, Matsubara Hidenori, rolled in to bring another highlight and first for Anime Expo. Besides a detailed talk about the animation process in Japan, Matsubara did a live illustration of Belldandy and showed the audience his drawing technique in real-time.

While Matsubara expressed slight disappointment at his own drawing, the audience felt that the "rough drawing" was a complete masterpiece. At the urging of the audience, Matsubara decided to give away the drawing in a massive paper-scissors-rock tournament.

Since Mikimoto Haruhiko's fame began with MACROSS, it was natural that the first question at the panel covered his involvement there—or lack thereof. He explained that he had to choose to work on MACROSS 7 over MACROSS PLUS since he couldn't work on both simultaneously in 1994. He also explained the genesis of MACROSS 7 TRASH, noting that it was originally going to be a straight adaptation of the parent MACROSS 7 TV series, until the publisher Kadokawa insisted that an action side story starring a young male will appeal to its new shonen magazine's core audience.

He then hinted broadly about a new project in development—his first all computer graphics animation work. Unlike many other CG works which he mildly criticized for having "puppet-like" characters, his experimental (non-MACROSS) short will imitate soft hand-painted watercolor sketches for a natural look. He did compliment some recent hybrid cel/CG works such as the SAKURA WARS video game opening though, and postulated that future animated shows will follow this trend.

He also repeated his wish to work on more love comedy works such as MARIONETTE GENERATION over science-fiction works like MACROSS, since his own manga tastes have leaned that way since he was young. Nevertheless, he left tantalizing hints of future MACROSS projects, mentioning the ongoing informal talks to commemorate the 20th Anniversary next year...

His final remarks came when an audience member pointedly asked how he maintains a romantic life if he's so busy. He remarked wryly, "I don't think I'm that busy... well, since I work at home, and my wife is at home all day long..."

For those of us who remember the affable Guest of Honor, Scott Frazier, we were certainly in for a shock to see the heretofore casually dressed and demeanored man has now grown out his hair like a woman, colored it "copper" [in his words] and has started dressing in bright pink! His comfortable disheveled persona, however, remains as a link to his former self assuring us that he is still the same on the inside. Asked why the drastic change, his reply: "You can't get away with this kind of stuff in Japan."

Mr. Frazier has since moved from Japan back to the U.S. and is residing in Maryland now where he "lives in a house with a yard so big, we have cats, dogs, horses, chickens and deer."

Between his normal job of directing various music videos, developing pilots for television and "a few car commercials", Mr. Frazier is further exploring his feminine side by once "putting on a dress and walking through the moonlit woods behind the house at night.

"There's just no one for miles and miles! I haven't heard a car alarm in over three months! It's so quiet and peaceful that I can actually focus on my creativity to release the artist inside. If I ever felt the artistic need to run naked through the woods, I could do that."

Yes, it seems that not since Henry David Thoreau settled into his blissful solitude, Scott Frazier has found his "Walden Pond" and has been so blessed with peace and tranquility.

"It's hot in here!" was one of Kia Asamiya's first comments at his panel. Perhaps to conserve energy or perhaps due to gremlins, the A/C was not working and it was a hot and sweaty panel for 90 minutes.

Mr. Asamiya is currently working on CORRECTOR YUI, illustrating covers for the comic Titans, wants to do covers for BATMAN and wants to dress up as Batman for Halloween this year. In addition, Mr. Asamiya has revealed that starting next year, he will move to the U.S., mostly probably New York, where the weather is inclement enough to "keep me inside so I'll do nothing but draw my manga."

Other projects that Mr. Asamiya is working on include: Negotiating the rights to bring CORRECTOR YUI to the U.S.. Kicking off a SILENT MÖBIUS revival manga. Continuing his DARK ANGEL manga despite chronic delays and schmoozing the executives at Marvel to get them to let him do the covers for all of their comic books.

When asked point-blank if he and Kikuchi are the one-in-the-same, Mr. Asamiya answered clearly that, yes, Kikuchi and him are the same person. The apparent reason for the dueling personas, as he explained, was that "Asamiya" was reserved for the "manga artist" in him, while the "Kikuchi" was reserved for the "animator" in him. When asked why Kikuchi has dropped from recent sight, Asamiya offered this simple explanation: "Kikuchi isn't working much anymore!"