April 2003 - eigoMANGA, a comic book publishing company in San Francisco, CA, is producing a live anime concert (first-time production of its kind in the United States) and convention on the campus of San Francisco State University on Friday, April 18, 2003. The concert starts at 12:00pm. The concert is called eigoMANGA CAMPUS INVASION, which is used to spread the awareness of anime and manga to a larger community outside of typical comic book/anime demographics.
"Comics and anime have an unjust stigma of being for 'geeks' and 'nerds' but that's not clearly the case," claims eigoMANGA CEO Austin Osueke. "Comics and anime can appeal to all people; it just has to be shoved in their faces, in a good way of course. Most college audiences listen to rock and pop music so that's going to be the perfect bridge because anime uses the same music."
Japanese animation has always been connected with pop music, which they call either J-rock or J-pop. There's even J-hip/hop. Many Japanese bands and record companies have been formed simply because of the saturated demands of the anime industry. J-rock or J-pop is often used to help convey or amplify storyline. Japanese anime fans have spent billions of yen on anime soundtracks alone. eigoMANGA CAMPUS INVASION has invited various anime theme artists and rock bands like Oval to perform at the event. Rising pop star Natalise will headline the concert. She will be performing her hit single 'Wonderful' at the event. "Natalise has a large Asian-American audience in California and her music which is a mix of dance and pop is very appealing to the anime audience as well." Austin explains.
eigoMANGA CAMPUS INVASION is a free outdoor concert event but it will still have the anime/comic book convention feel because there will be retail dealers, anime screenings, free giveaways, anime/comic fans, custom dress up and cos-play contests(the winner will appear in future eigoMANGA comics).
eigoMANGA CAMPUS INVASION is also featuring an anime fashion show (also an innovative production of its kind in the United States). The fashion designs are from Kayo Street Anime Gear and the designs are directly inspired from anime clothing. "Anime is huge now, and everybody knows how large Cos-play is (dressing up as anime characters). I strongly feel that a fashion line of anime-inspired clothing will be very successful when the awareness is out." Austin explains.
eigoMANGA CAMPUS INVASION is also a forum for eigoMANGA fans and new artists hopefuls alike to meet with the executives and creators of eigoMANGA. "Our core fans are very important to us. CAMPUS INVASION is like an open-house event where, anyone and everyone can come meet with us about anything," asserts Osueke. "It's always great to meet with fans in person; seeing the pure enthusiasm about eigoMANGA is a feeling that's indescribable. And sometimes they know more about the comics than I do."
Whether the students at San Francisco State University are anime fans or not, the simple exposure to the best that the anime and manga industry can offer will be a real eye-opener for them and make them think twice of it being 'geeky'.
Visit www.eigoMANGA.com for more information.
