Fun and Games

If you don't know Yoko Ishida from Yoko Ono, you probably won't bother with the fourth AnimeVegas convention this weekend. And you probably won't be missed.

Founder Richard Stott has enough to keep up with. The three-day festival anticipates more than 3,000 people, more than triple the turnout for the first event in 2004.

"I'm surprised it took off so well. We're not the fastest-growing anime event in the country, but we're slowly gaining ground," Stott says of the convention celebrating Japanese animation and fantasy Saturday through Monday at Cashman Center.

"I do think we're a lot more personable because we're not so big," he adds. "People get to actually meet the guests and take pictures and get signatures."

Approximately 30 dealers will be represented on the trade floor and 16 professional and amateur artists will show their works. The event now attracts representatives from major producers and distributors such as Funimation and Media Blasters, who don't always attend events with fewer than 5,000 people.

Anime and related comics, manga, have gone from an underground network to mainstream entertainment, asserting their popularity everywhere from local comics shops to public libraries. Even red, white and blue superheroes such as Batman have felt the pressure of anime's growing presence on cable TV; "The Batman" cartoon series gave him an anime-flavored makeover.

AnimeVegas is locals-dominated, since California fans have larger conventions to serve them. Local youths "don't really have a lot to do here. This is a town for (age) 21 and up," Stott notes.

"Cashman Center has been a really good venue for us," he adds. "For us to go into a hotel, there are a lot of limitations, such as not allowing costumes." Cashman also offers not just an exhibit hall but an adjacent theater, affording proper staging for Ishida and guest rock bands.

So who is Yoko Ishida? She's the "JPop" singer who has voiced theme songs for anime favorites including "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon R," "Ah! My Goddess" and "This Ugly Yet Beautiful World."

The live music roster also includes Los Angeles-based Japanese rockers Metal Physix, Tokyo Smog, Thee Out Mods and Eyeshine, whose lead singer is Johnny Y. Bosch, a voice actor whose big break was playing the Black Power Ranger in "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers."

The convention schedule includes sneak preview screenings of upcoming anime shows and features. But Stott says the real fun of the convention is pulling the voice actor guests into more of an interactive situation.

"This year, our theme is 'Fun and Games.' We're actually going to cast some of the guests to be game show hosts and the audience will get to participate with the guests."