Last weekend saw the 17th London MCM Expo, with a record turn out of over 41,000 attendees as cosplayers, comic enthusiasts, videogamers, scifi fans and free huggers descended on the Excel Conference centre in London’s docklands.

For anime and manga fans the show is more like a giant dealer’s room than a full blown con, with only one anime themed panel over the two days, hosted by the UK’s three main distributors where they announced their upcoming releases for the year. You can check out the full details of their licenses elsewhere, but highlights included Beez Entertainment bagging fan hit Durarara!! and Manga UK’s announcement of Eden of the East.

As always, some of the best information comes to light with off the record chats with industry staff, including discussions I had with people about the recent news that US giant Funimation could well be sold off by it’s parent company Navarre. Specualtion was that a possible buyer could by a Japanese company, with Bandai, Aniplex or even manga publisher Kodansha being mentioned. Either way the vibe was that it was a positive step, rather than something that western anime fans should be panicking about.

Even more interesting – to me at least – was the result of my badgering people about the possibility of my current obsession Redline getting a US and UK release sooner rather than later. Now I’m sworn to secrecy over details, but I can tell you this: the film WILL be getting a western release, it could be this year, and some big players could be involved. I also found out that director Takeshi Koike and producer Katsuhito Ishii had checked out my review over at Anime News Network, and had liked what they had read – which is hardly surprising after I’d gushed all over the movie. But trust me, they deserve the praise.

So all in, London Expo is good day out. I got to meet up with some people I only usually chat to online, and grabbed a few bargains and new releases in the process. It might not be the in depth, anime orientated con that US fans get to visit on a regular basis, but I can heartily recommend UK fans drop by and check it out when they can, if only to get bundled about with the crowds and made to wonder whether the popularity of cosplaying as Yoko from Gurren Lagann is going to result in a spike in teenage pregnancies.

Photos supplied by Andrew Proom – check out his full set here.

I was stupid lucky enough this Friday to make the 400+ mile round journey up north to the Leeds International Film Festival for the day. Given the length of the journey and the insane price of train tickets here in the UK that might seem a bit excessive to catch a couple of movies, but the festival’s anime weekend was being kicked off by an unmissable double bill. First off was Mamoru Oshii’s lost, experimental classic Angel’s Egg (more on that to follow), being shown in the UK for the first time in over 20 years, but the real incentive for me was to see the UK premiere of Momoru Hosoda’s latest blockbuster Summer Wars.

Hosada has already made big waves with his 2006 hit The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – the charming sci-fi comedy-drama that touched the hearts and imaginations of both critics and audiences and earned a place in my list of 10 anime films to see before you die – and as ever following up such a renowned piece of work is a tough challenge. Set in an alternate 2010, the film centers around 17 year old otaku Kenji Kosio, a socially inept maths genius, who spends most of his waking hours immersed in the virtual reality world Oz, the ultimate convergence of communication technologies that has fused social networks, online games, telephone systems and just about every other form of internet related activity into a single, all encompassing interface. Shocked one day to be invited by his unrequited crush Natsuki Shinohara to go and stay with her and her family in Nagano over the summer, Kenji nervously agrees, believing he is going to lend a helping hand with the grand celebrations for Natsuki’s grandmother’s 90th birthday. Which is why he is even more shocked when he is introduced on arrival as Natsuki’s fiancee, the girl wanting to assure her aging grandmother that she is happy. While watching him clumsily take on the part we are also introduced to Natsuki’s huge extended family in another fantastic display of Hosoda’s ability to portray realistic, everyday characters with humanity and humour. It was the hallmark of TGWLTT, and here Hosoda does it again with apparent ease and flourish, especially considering the scale of the cast he has chosen – I can’t remember another anime film that effortlessly portrays so many fleshed out, convincing characters without once resorting to easy stereotypes. While certain archetypes have obviously been chosen – the insolent, black-sheep-of-the-family-uncle, the prissy aunt and the moody, reclusive video gaming teenager are all here – not once throughout the course of the story does Hosada leave you in any doubt that this are real people, with emotions and depth beyond their initial two-dimensional appearances.

Also as with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, just when Hosoda has lulled you into believing it may be just another, all be it exquisitely crafted, romance tinged family comedy, he reminds you of Summer Wars‘ science fiction roots. On the first night at Natsuki’s family home, as the embarrassed Kenji is trying to catch some sleep, he receives an anonymous text message inviting to him to solve a complex maths code. Unable to resist the challenge he stays up till dawn trying to solve the puzzle, only to wake for breakfast – in one of the films most amusing sequences – and find himself the main story on the TV news. It turns out that he has not only inadvertently helped someone hack Oz’ highest level security systems, but also allowed them to frame him for it. Suddenly Kenji has to not only convince Natsuki’s family that he’s not a cyber-terrorist, but also try to enlist their help in stopping the mysterious hacker before the damage to Oz has devastating consequences for the real world.

Summer Wars isn’t a film heavy on subtext or philosophy, with its perhaps most obvious theme being modern society’s over-reliance on technology, but elsewhere Hosoda seems to have something to say about the nature of families and relationships in the internet age. To say it is about virtual communities versus real families would be an over simplification, and certainly he doesn’t want to take sides – even while Kenji is envious of Natsuki’s close knit clan, we are subtly reminded that family life is never perfect, and how non-biological bonds can often be the strongest. It is tempting to see this as a response to Miyazaki’s outspoken comments on the detrimental effects of the virtual world, especially in light of Hosada’s short-lived career at Ghibli, but in reality the director is refusing to preach at all, the main message here being that strength and happiness lies in the bonds between individuals, and the nature of the connection – digital or analogue, blood or friendship – is ultimately immaterial.

Visually the film is as stunning as could have been hoped for after the subtle splendor of TGWLTT. The character design is immaculate throughout, with Yoshiyuki Sadamoto again not resorting to generic or stereotyped work despite the unusually huge cast. Similarly the background work is exquisite, and instantly reminiscent of the best of Makoto Shinkai’s productions, and elsewhere TGWLTT’s eye for subtle slapstick makes a welcome, occasional return. However where the film really grabs the attention is in the depiction of the virtual world Oz. Those that remember the brief, stylish CGI time leap sequences from Hosoda’s last film will recognize the basic aesthetic feel, but here influences from video games, anime, consumer GUI and Japanese mascot design are drawn together to make a frenetic, futuristic but utterly believable environment populated by avatars that somehow look both cutting-edge and all-too familiar.

Perhaps the film’s only weakness is its only briefly explored back story as to the identity of the mystery hacker. I won’t reveal the answer here, but it’s a cyberpunk standard familiar from everything from Neuromancer through Ghost in the Shell to Denno Coil – the later, incidentally being a work that Summer Wars seems to give a noticeable nod of acknowledgment to. Both Madhouse productions seem to want to achieve the unlikely pairing of VR techno-thriller and Ghibli-esque family adventure, and while both succeed, there’s no denying Summer Wars does it in a more big-budget blockbuster style. And I mean that as a compliment; while it may be louder and more colorful than the The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, at its heart still lies a similarly subtle, intelligent and touching film. As such Summer Wars is a rare treat, and one you should enjoy as soon as you can.

I guess it must be pretty obvious by now that I’m not exactly what you’d call – if such a thing even exists – a ‘typical’ anime fan. I don’t refer to myself as an otaku. I hate J-Pop. Mainly due to being a 35 year-old heterosexual man, both Yaoi and Shojo anime holds no more interest for me than an episode of Ugly Betty or Gossip Girl. I don’t collect figures of little girls with their pantsu showing – although I do have a few Gundams, Labors and Totoros lying around the house. Fanservice at the very least bores me, and at worst makes me uncomfortable. I despise, rather than lust after, Asuka from Evangelion. And perhaps most shockingly, until this last weekend, I’d never been to an anime con before.

Not that I’m totally new to the con experience. Many, many years ago I used to go to comic and roleplaying shows, and the last time I was at Excel – the venue for London Expo – I was actually working on a stall running demos as part of my past career as a video games producer. But this was still the first anime-fan orientated event I’d been too, and it was hard to deny the feelings of being an outsider. A friend of mine had forewarned me that it felt a little like gatecrashing your little brother’s party, and despite not having any younger siblings within a few minutes of being there I understood exactly what he meant.

London Expo isn’t purely an anime and manga based event – it also covers ‘genre TV’, comics and video games, but it was clear from just glancing at the hour long queues outside that London’s teenage otaku massive was out in force. Adorned in Naruto headbands and Haruhi wigs, and fueled by Pocky and anxious hormones, they had made their way to Docklands – London’s already decaying shrine to 1980′s capitalism, served by the world’s most rickety futuristic train system – searching for a side order of social acceptance along with their discounted manga. And before they even entered it was clear they were going to find it; there was already a buzz in the air, teenage-geek awkwardness giving way to unbridled enthusiasm as they nervously grasped their ‘free hugs’ signs and shouted out character names to make it clear that they recognised each others cosplay outfits.

As I stood outside the entrance, watching the milling crowds and smoking one last cigarette before I entered, my friend’s comments became even clearer in my mind, and I understood fully what he was getting at. I am old. Many of the kids here had been probably been coming to Docklands for years, and the already dated looking monuments to a now forgotten economic-futurism that towered around us must seem like ancient structures to them. I, on the other hand, can actually remember when all of this was fields. Well, patches of green and some pretty run down looking docks at least. But despite the gulf between my age and that of the majority of the attendees, I still didn’t feel completely alienated. Even though our tastes in anime may very well be out of sync, there was no denying I could feel a certain bond with them – at the very least, I could recognise my own past teen awkwardness, and feel slightly more then a little envy for their innocent enthusiasm.

Skipping the sweaty queues courtesy of a press pass, the main hall was slightly smaller than I’d expected, and suitably crowded. Fighting against the masses to get around didn’t take the edge off the enjoyment – it might not be Akihabara, but it’s hard for any anime fan to not enjoying nosing around stalls full of manga, DVDs, toys, phone pendants, Ghibli plushies and Gundam kits. Despite this I nearly came away empty handed, until I stumbled across the Ilex stall and not just Helen McCarthy’s new book The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga but also the author herself. Helen is one of the few writers on anime to deserve the title of ‘legend’, having written some of the most exhaustive reference books on the subject, and it was great to be able to spend some time chatting to her in person after previously only via the ‘net. She’s not just knowledgeable but charming with it, and made me determined to finally make it to some of upcoming her screenings at the Barbican – details of which she let slip to me, but for now I am sworn to secrecy.

Reading reports of US anime cons always leaves me envious of one thing above all – discussion panels. The idea of being able to interact with other anime bloggers and even to see and hear Japanese creators talking about their work is extremely exciting to me, but sadly was one area where London Expo was lacking. Despite the apparent interests of the majority of the crowd, there was only one anime related panel on the day I attended – an appearance from Masahiko Minami and Masahiro Andō of Studio Bones.

On paper seeing these two speak was an exciting prospect, and my main motivation for getting to Expo, but the reality was slightly disappointing. Marred by sound problems and running behind schedule the panel lasted just 20 minutes, and was focused entirely on promoting the extremely delayed UK release of Ando’s movie Sword of the Stranger – despite promises that there would be footage from their work on the upcoming Halo Legends project. In fact, the highlight of the panel for me was when a member of the audience asked a question about the as yet unreleased in the UK Eureka 7 movie, only for Minami-san to respond with “Have you seen it yet?” The questioner’s response of “no comment” met with much laughter from the Japanese guests as well as the floor, thankfully. At least they recognise the situation UK anime fans are in, and have got a sense of humour about it.

With the panel finished, that was nothing more to do than to have one last wander round, grab some noodles and then head back into town to start the long trip home. Despite my early reservations I had a good time, and more importantly perhaps was able to see others having an even better one. At some point I was going to call this post ‘Fear and Loathing in Docklands’, but that’s not only too much of a cliche these days, it’s also not fair. ‘Fear and Respect’ might have been more apt. I might be too old and miserable to be in their gang, but the UK anime teenage massive has my support. They should enjoy it while they can, and more power to them. Now where did I put my hair-gel and that Naruto headband?