I would like to bring back the Required Reading panel. For those of you who don't know, it's a panel where we highlight 30 or so anime that you are expected to have seen as a fan. Not necessarily the 30 best anime, not the 30 most important anime, but the 30 anime that EVERYONE has seen (new and old), and that in normal conversation should be able to be brought up without footnotes.

Aside from bringing this back, at ACen I was inspired by several conversations (most of which revolved around "What's good right now?") to create a panel that looks at the releases that have come out in the past year. Basically it would be a recurring panel talking about what all has been made (or licensed) since the last AP, and what of it is worth getting into.

What do you think?

I really like the idea for the second one, and would be one I'd would _really_ like to go to.

Not so much the first, but if it worked last year, then go with it.

I'm down. Hell I could probably host it.

It might be worth considering to have one longer panel encompassing both topics, too.

Well, it might be better to keep them seperate, as they are useful to two different audiences of people. People who have been around a while have seen most of the classics, but sometimes slack on the new stuff, and people who get into it through downloads have little access to the classics.

Heidi of the Alps, I think we can all agree everyone here has seen this amazingly epic show right?

Bouncing goats ARE pretty important, yeah.

How do the required reading ones get picked? and is it just gunna be like "oh yeah, i remember when [insert classic geek moment here] happened. That was awesome/sucked" ? cuz that doesn't sound overly interesting. :domo:

I missed it last year, so i'm certainly hoping Required Reading will be back. The second idea sounds good, too. I hate when I see a wonderful cosplay and don't know who they're from, looking forward to some knowledge power :domo:

The staff have some pretty serious debates over what shows should be in our "30 required titles". We also distinguish that we are not trying to make a list of the "30 best titles" or the "30 titles that are best defined as art" or "my 30 favorites shows" or the "30 most enjoyable shows".

We look at things in the perspective of American fanculture, so mainly, the 30 shows that everyone has seen, and thinks you have seen too. This includes things that are a little older and beginning to get over looked (like Fushigi Yuugi and Nadesico", stuff that was a massive gateway for fans that defined a fandom for a while (like Robotech/Macross, DBZ, Sailor Moon), Shows that have hit hyper popularity now (like FMA, we would add Naruto, Bleach, and One Peice, but they are so overwhelmingly present right now that we figured we wouldn't waste your time with them). There are also the titles that everyone just seems to have seen (like Eva, Lain, Ranma 1/2, Mobile Suit Gundam, etc), and stuff that is so heavily referanced by other anime, and has had such an impact that they can't be ignored (specfically Starblazers/Yamato).

To come up with this years list we actually spent about a week coming up with titles to make sure we didn't really overlook anything, then at a staff meeting threw them all on a chalk board and publically debated them down to the 30 we had. The whole process took the better part of an evening, but I think this is a rather important panel, and I am going to dedicate some more time to it next year. Right now the huge number of younger fans who got into fandom around the time of Naruto are starting to get past their pop-trend phase (a process probably guided partially by a naturally attrition of pop-fans over time, as well as a general maturing, both in tastes and in maturity), and I've been very impressed with the desire of a lot of the younger fans to expand their anime horizons and not just watch funny or enjoyable pop-anime, but also to search for the art, the classics, the serious works, and even the obscure. With such an awesome crowd of fans eager to get into both more and more anime, and into deeper fandom, I think it's important to give them a good headstart towards being able to seemlessly interact with the people who have been into anime for 10 or 20 years now.


Having said that, perhaps an "Otaku roots" panel might be in order too. I've had a "history of fandom" panel in the past that has never gone over well, but perhaps if we approach the subject from the perspective of "Otaku boot camp and history" rather than a chronological look at fandoms evolution over time it might be better attended/enjoyed.


I'll dig that list up and post it here, and add the list to the panel description on the website next spring when we revise it for this year

If it was decided that required reading was to be brought back or cerated or w/e then it might be cool if the list was released to th pre-registers or something as an added bonus, or if that was one of the first pannels so then tose interested could go nab it from where ever.

Almost all of our panels have extra info available online before the con. This could be something as simple as a study guide, or as complex as full text articles and papers on the subject. We have even posted songs and video clips for certain panels and events.

The finalized list for this panel will be made available online at some point before the con.

kick ass, cause i might or might not be interested in nabing a copy, ;p