"AH! MEGAMI-SAMA was the first anime I had ever seen and I was so captured by it that I've been into anime ever since. I came to Ms. Inoue's panel because I was so impressed with her acting on AH! MEGAMI-SAMA. She has such incredible range with her voice. She can play easy-going characters like Belldandy all the way to evil one's like Panther from SABER MARIONETTE J."

—Katherine, from Madison, WI

Watase Yu's panel proved to be immensely popular, starting a full 30 minutes behind schedule due to the long line of fans waiting for her panel. Even as the panel started, there were still a good number of fans entering the room. Before the panel began in earnest, Ms. Watase received a gift from a fan, and allowed a few pictures of herself to be taken.

Throughout the panel, Ms. Watase proved to be sweet, funny, and kind. She enjoyed seeing so many fans dressed up in FUSHIGI YUUGI costumes, and took pictures of the cosplayers as they lined up to ask her questions. Her most important advice for aspiring manga artists: keep drawing and never give up.

One of the best aspects of Anime Expo, and AX2001 specifically, is the wide range of guests from a variety of fields, ranging from anime illustrations and voice acting, to work on video games, manga, and doujinshi. Kotobuki Tsukasa has worked in a number of these fields. Known as the original character designer of SABER MARIONETTE J as well as CYBER TEAM IN AKIHABARA, Kotobuki Tsukasa provided a refreshing perspective on the world of anime and manga.

While Kotobuki fielded questions ranging from the TOSHINDEN video games to the doujinshi market and his work in that field, the highlight of the panel proved to be Kotobuki's complete devotion and love for all things GUNDAM. Kotobuki confessed that GUNDAM was his life, and if given the opportunity would drop everything to work on GUNDAM.

Last but not least, Kotobuki also expressed his love of cosplay, stating that when he designs new characters, one of the key factors is to make them recognizable when cosplayed in real life.

The Kawamoto panel started off with an amazing preview of the COWBOY BEBOP movie: KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR, featuring stunning imagery and clips from the upcoming, highly anticipated movie.

The riveting trailer set the tone, with BEBOP questions dominating the panel. Questions ranged from which BEBOP character Kawamoto liked the most, to whether the characters died in the end of the episode "Toys in the Attic". To the last question, Kawamoto opined that "since the episode ended with 'The End', the characters must have all died, and the ones that appear in future episodes were either clones or fakes. (laughs)"

The panel furthered U.S. fans' appreciation for BEBOP, and their anticipation of the upcoming theatrical feature.

Ishiguro started his panel with an explanation for his delayed arrival at Anime Expo. The Artland office burned down earlier this year, resulting in a lot of damage both to the office equipment as well as the treasured personal belongings of many of the staff. Ishiguro was taking a nap on the 3rd floor at the time, and had to be rescued by a fireman.

Fortunately, Artland was able to rent office space, and other animation studios graciously lent desks for inbetweening work, enabling Artland to resume work the very next day. Which was a good thing, since Artland was working on a TV show that was due on the airwaves in 10 days! That said, Ishiguro joked that there were some work in progress that should have burned in the fire, but didn't (laughs). Coincidentally, the fire happened on the day of Tezuka Osamu's death, February 9th, and Ishiguro suggested that the fire was Artland's "offering" to the great animator.

When the interpreter forgot to translate a question, the audience gave Ishiguro a "translate" sign, continuing the joke that started with Ishiguro's video tape. The questions asked ranged from work on current projects to Ishiguro's opinion on the use of computers for production work. Ishiguro prefers the traditional method since it is something "tangible" he can feel in his hand, but the industry is rapidly shifting to computer production and it's becoming difficult to secure "traditional" animation supplies.

Ishiguro also opened the Artland logo for redesign, and promised a big present for the person with the winning submission. Although it is empty at the moment, you can submit your logo proposals later on at http://www.artland.co.jp.

Studio head and producer Mr. Murahama returns to AX for his second year in a row to update us on Gonzo's full plate of new shows. Heading the list are GATE KEEPERS 21, FULL METAL PANIC, REAL BOUT HIGH SCHOOL, and VANDREAD SECOND STAGE. The fuzzier titles to be announced later this year are A VAMPIRE SHOW and A FIGHTER PLANE SHOW. All the new shows, whether sequels or entirely original, all feature Gonzo's trademark focus on "vehicles, weapons, robots and cute girls." Indeed, Mr. Murahama clearly shows that he knows his target audience very well. Fear not for Gonzo is very busy and burried under their work. There will be many exciting shows forthcoming.

The Meet the Guests reception is one of the recurring highlights of AX: a chance to sit down and chat with the Guests of Honor in an informal "round table" discussion setting. This year, the reception was held in an outside pavillion against a beautiful sunset and with a gentle breeze.

The Guests of Honor seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves. The questions were kept mostly informal; fans asked the GoHs what their impressions were of L.A. so far, or what their favorite DVDs were. The guests were surrounded by appreciative fans, with Kikuko Inoue and Watase Yu being the most popular.

After the meet the Guests Reception, the fans flocked out onto the lawn for the Anime Expo tenth anniversary celebration. Six large vaguely Borg-like cakes represented the six components of Anime Expo: the fans, the staff, the industry, the dealers, the Guests of Honor, and the SPJA. Each cake was ceremoniously cut by selected members of each group of individuals, including those staffers with the dubious distinction of having served AX for ten years.

After the ceremonial cutting, fans, industry, and Guests mingled on the lawn as the cake was handed out. And out. And out. There was more than enough cake to go around. In fact, if you drive by the Long Beach Convention Center next week, some of it may still be there.

And like these cakes that are representative of Expo, Expo will endure... Though hopefully not with white frosting.