Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Anime Expo 2025: Some More Before You Go

Here's possibly our last big update on AX before it starts this Thursday, July 3rd. Be sure to check AX social media for the latest up-to-date info on everything going. Thursday is sold out and Friday, Saturday are almost gone too as of writing this.
 
 
 
  
"There's a site where u can view #ax2025 catalogues and stamp rallies, and browse by fandom or merch type... AND it works on mobile. data entry is done manually by a team of volunteers "

check it out: https://artistalley.pages.dev
 
via @faiell
 
It is incredibly useful for anyone looking for something specific in Artist Alley.
 
A very nice spreadsheet on all
 
Here's a nice guide on what to do at Anime Expo if you haven't gone before.
 
 
Check out Hulu's booth for this year
 
A sneak preview of the music video will be presented at Anime Expo® 2025, where Hamu Cotton will also be performing live on the IDOL SUMMER ESCAPE stage at 7:00 PM on July 4.
 
From Press release: 
Shinko Music Entertainment (Japan) and Little Akihabara (Los Angeles) proudly announce the launch of AKIBA MUSIC, a new music label spotlighting Japanese pop culture talent from North America. The label’s debut release, “Hamu Energy ☆”, is set to launch globally on July 3, 2025, across all major streaming platforms. At the forefront of this transpacific project is Hamu Cotton, a homegrown cosplay idol and YouTuber based in Southern California, with over 500,000 social followers worldwide.
 
Dead Moon Circus: Anime Afterparty
Thursday, July 03
9PM - 2AM
Don Quixote
2811 East Olympic Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90023
18+
 
Join us for a night of spectacular revelry under the big top of the legendary Don Quixote while the Dead Moon Circus comes to town – for one night only!

This year for our annual summer bash, we have a jam-packed 2 hour show with dance, acrobat, aerial, idol, drag, and a special cyber jazz set for an otherworldly extravaganza.

The Dead Moon Circus will begin after Day 1 of Anime Expo!
 

The Corps returns to @animeexpo with a Special Ops Squad to give a SNEAK PEEK of “Domain Expansion: Cursed Stage”, a new live performance that pays homage to Jujutsu Kaisen! Get a glimpse of Itadori and a few of the characters as they tear up the stage, giving you just a taste of what we have in store with our full roster.

SATURDAY JULY 5th at 1:30pm at the AX Crossing Stage!!!
 

Studio TRIGGER’s new anime series, New PANTY & STOCKING with GARTERBELT, will be available for streaming worldwide on Prime Video starting Thursday, July 10th, so if you miss the two showings you just gotta wait a week and get Prime.
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Palm Springs International ShortFest 2025: Late Night

 Jonathan Bilski

Not really that late, we're talking 8pm on a Saturday. But, smartly shown after dark, Late Night had that type of weird energy that needed to banished to a later point. Why? Maybe, so many of the older patrons would be in bed. And, the kids could show some messed-up crazy nonsense. ...At least those who went to bed won't have some pretty weird nightmares. 
 
Where to start? The uncomfortable puppet or the utterly baffling life size doll of a dad? Why not neither? 
 
One of my favs, REPLAY from Phil Mazo, is not your standard documentary, though it looks perfectly like one. What starts off as a story of redemption of one man's blip on TV as a child talking about chess, becomes a truly amazing comedic short. Without spoiling anything; as I hope one day it appears on YouTube or online. You utterly connect, laugh and are in awe of a sad moment in Phil's life when he's asked, has chess helped him with getting girls. This all happens in just a few minutes ta boot.
 
What's even more funny is finding out that Phil has now befriended the host/man who called him out on his love of chess as a child. 
 
Another fav of the night was Channelvue, which was supposed to be a fairly cheap endeavor to create, but got more costly with all the content added in the end. The creators "went a little crazy" making it, as they put it themselves. Fun to learn, the creators literally found the software for the scrolling TV Guide channel of yesteryear from Internet Archive. Which scrolls through multiple times as you watch things go from weird to worse. What seemingly is a normal day on a Christian cable company, spirals out of control when hackers take over the channel guide and then the channel itself. Then, it gets even weirder as the channels seems to be going to Hell or some other nightmare. A burger commercial should not have a soul in it begging for help. Oh, got weird it just the right way.
 
It goes by fast, but there's a real scrolling of made-up TV shows and movies that makes you want to re-watch it to see what you missed. 
 
 
 
A few others that would definitely catch your eye were: Dad Doll, a creepy Tim & Eric like sketch about having a life-sized father doll in your life. Strangely enough, everything that made up the "Dad Doll" was bought and returned on Amazon to keep costs down, so there's no doll to take to screenings. (I did not include a picture as it should surprise you if you ever see it) Didn't expect to learn you can get 60 fake eyeballs from Amazon in one go. ¡Beso De Lengua! which has love and bloody shock value, got the audience audibly disgusted and nervously laughing. And, Playing 
G-d, an amazing stop-motion masterpiece, left the crowd in awe. Scary and creepy, a figure creates a man out of clay that looks like himself, but it looks like he's made others and they don't look so good.
 
Rounding it out and getting some great laughs were: Your Own Flavor; maybe that puppet isn't your friend if he wants your phone number. It doesn't matter you sang a song together. BDay Private Dick was all about singing as comedian Nick Thune sings us a tale about his hate of his birthday and how he hired a detective to go after him to change it up. Was surprised to see John C. Reily show up in it. And, finally The Traveler and the Troll was like an adult episode of The Muppets. When a troll (a very Muppet-looking puppet) can't remember it's third riddle, the fairy-tale changes to be a bit off.
 
Good thing it was late, like ending at 9:30pm! So no rotten kids could see them. But the audience, which packed the place seemed to enjoy.
 
Here's the winners from the Fest
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Monday, June 30, 2025

Palm Springs International ShortFest 2025: High Anxiety

 By Jonathan Bilski


Q&A after the screening
High Anxiety, you win! Couldn't help, but sing the line from the Mel Brook's classic homage to Alfred
Hitchcock. And, the audience did win, with some tension-laden and blood pressure raising shorts from the High Anxiety program. 

Now all of these films had to overcome some sort of problem; there was a great Q&A with many of the directors and producers when just such a question of problems for filming was asked. That and how much each cost to be produced. Not gonna go over their prices, but good lucking finding a home that cheap here. 

So, why not start with Overcomer, which had to overcome the main actress being let go three days before shooting and a location change. Actress, Tinovimbanashe Sibanda, the replacement and only a theater actor, pulled it off, showing the unease of a job interview, an annoying Mom and having her wig rip just before said interview.

Goodbye Sun, sadly didn't have anyone in attendance for the Q&A, but was a simple horrifying sci-fi premise of a solar eclipse not ending on a French beach. Love is in the air, also possibly the end of mankind. Great little family moments of dealing with a possible eternal eclipse and a missing daughter/little sister.

guests in lobby
Staying with French speaking films, Mean Ends has to deal with the "disposing of a dead body" and not getting caught. Now, this maybe should have been in the Chills & Thrills section 'cept for the tension of a family wanting revenge and having the possible killer over to make sure he's the killer. While, his place is searched. This movie came about funny enough when the team behind it couldn't film another movie due to cold weather, but was left with a fake dead body and had no storage for it. So, while leaving it around the house they were inspired to make this film. So another film had to fail for this one to be made. Though, the did say they got to finish that film too with another "corpse." 


Cattywampus
Cattywampus, was my favorite film of the night. Getting both Hamish Linklater and John Carroll Lynch made it stood out, that and the great comedy beats. The director revealed they got them at SAG minimum, not a lot of money, because of the actor's strike and them being bored and having nothing to do.

The two actors are a couple of thieves pulling off a heist when Hamish Linklater sort of has a breakdown and realizes he really might be robbing himself of an emotional breakthrough. I don't want to give too much away, but for this almost 20-minute short I was hooked how this crime and emotional catharsis would go down. The two actors and possibly more play well-off each other. I'm fine with the director, Jono Chanin, becoming a sitcom writer.

I'll end with Premiere, which had its North American Premiere, awwwww, nudge. And, oh looky here a BFI winner (you gotta win a national lottery for funding), Channel 4 film, from England, the very saddening Homework. Homework easily captures how s/bad it might be having to scrape by stealing food to live through the eyes of a middle school daughter with a single Mom and a kid sister. Thanks England, you depression factory. Premiere give us the high tension of having your film premiere at...wait, a film festival. Yeah, it got kind of meta. Especially when the director got into how he based it on his own dealing and stress within the film industry. The film centers on a director whose nervous how his film will do and is angry that a former friend is doing better than him in the same line of work. Oh, and he's acting like a real jerk to his girlfriend about it.

Each of the films above had me nervous as to what would happen next and that's totally the vibe of the program, so good job, ShortFest.

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Friday, June 27, 2025

Love and Deepspace @Anime Expo 2025

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Anime Expo 2025: Thursday Sold Out, Kodansha @ Anime Expo, One Piece Night July 3rd & Dodger Stadium x hololive Night July 5th

We've a got a lot to cover for the Otaku in you as you enjoy another LA weekend. Anime Expo is starting to sell out, so grab a pass before your day is gone. 

Kodansha @ Anime Expo 2025! Panels, Anime Premieres, Creator Appearances, & MORE!

It looks like someone who doesn't speak Engrish is in charge this year, as their Anime Expo page isn't awkwardly listing a bag. See last year on ANN.

ONE PIECE Night @ Dodger Stadium is Thursday, July 3rd,. Just like having to choose over a child to save from a burning building, you must choose to go to Anime Expo's Opening Day or get your butt to Dodger Stadium. It is a night game, so you could do both. Go to Dodgers.com for tickets.

Here's the best parts from the press release:

The Los Angeles Dodgers and legendary anime studio Toei Animation have announced an official partnership agreement that establishes a one-day stadium promotion for the global hit series ONE PIECE. The planned ONE PIECE Night will take place on Thursday, July 3 for the Dodgers’ 7:10 p.m. game against the Chicago White Sox.

“We’re thrilled to partner with the Los Angeles Dodgers to bring the global hit series ONE PIECE to Dodger Stadium on July 3 for a very special one-day promotion,” said Lisa Yamatoya, Senior Director, Head of Marketing at Toei Animation Inc. “We invite fans to join us for ONE PIECE Night, which will offer a truly memorable, one-of-a-kind entertainment experience, complete with a not-to-be-missed ONE PIECE drone show after the game!”

During ONE PIECE Night at Dodger Stadium, which will include a variety of ONE PIECE (experiences) in and around the stadium, the Dodgers will give away ONE PIECE co-branded straw hats to the first 40,000 ticketed fans in attendance, while supplies last, at the guest’s point of entry.  Following the game, ONE PIECE Night will conclude with a special drone show featuring fan-favorite characters from the series.

Don't forget you can still grab tickets to the Dodger Stadium x hololive Night, Saturday July 5th. And, no, you're suppose to lowercase the h on hololive, so I didn't get it wrong. If it's anything like last year, prepare to just be in that merch line if you want any goods featuring hololive vtubers. There seems to be multiple places to buy stuff this time, so there hopefully won't be just one long line.

And, yes, it's taking place during AX, but it just makes it a more anime drenched weekend. Plan accordingly, you can probably Uber over to Dodger Stadium, but give yourself enough time. 

 Date: July 5th, 2025, 4:15 PM (PDT)
Venue: Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, CA)
Ticket Purchase URL: https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/tickets/specials/hololive
*Enter code “HOLO”
Sales Period: From June 8th, 9:00 PM (PDT)
*While supplies last
hololive night Ticket Purchase Bonus: Special Trading Cards (pack of three)

From press release: 

Fans can expect exclusive in-stadium appearances from three hololive English talents, Ninomae Ina'nis, IRyS, and Koseki Bijou, in real time. The hololive talents will not only cheer for the Dodgers but also provide their sing-along version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch of the baseball game. At the end of the game, fans will be invited to join the talents on the field, where they will host special programming such as interactive activities and a new "WHO'S got the MOVES?!?!" segment where fans can dance and jam together to popular hololive tunes. 

In addition, this special event will be broadcast live to hololive English’s official YouTube channel,marking the first time in history for a VTuber company to stream both to and from Dodger Stadium. Fans can also enjoy a vast series of onsite hololive-themed activities, such as taking pictures with the featured talents’ cutouts, helping themselves to delicious stadium food and drinks with event-only hololive themed packaging, and more to be announced via hololive English’s official social media channels.


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Thursday, June 26, 2025

Anime Expo 2025: Artist Alley Picks

 Here's some of the stand-outs for Artist Alley at AX this year on social media.

Liking this one for the highway/freeway signs.

Oh, and here's a bunch or very nice Stamp rallies, well, I mean Balatro and Severance are some odd outliers. 

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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Concerts A Coming

 

July Fourth Fireworks Spectacular with Earth, Wind & Fire
Hollywood Bowl
Wednesday, July 2 at 7:30PM
Thursday, July 3 at 7:30PM
Friday, July 4 at 7:30PM 
 
Nine-time Grammy Award-winning icons and one of the best-selling artists of all time Earth, Wind & Fire brings their iconic and timeless catalog of music with hits like “September” and “Shining Star” for three thrilling nights of songs, fireworks and fun. Like the elements in their name, Earth, Wind & Fire’s music has withstood ever-changing trends in the world and shows no sign of vanishing as they continue to create joy and uplifting tunes that will forever reach a sacred universal atmosphere. Together with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conductor Thomas Wilkins, and a sky full of fireworks, the party-starting Rock & Roll Hall of Famers make it a huge July Fourth at the Bowl. 
 

Jaws in Concert with the LA Phil
Hollywood Bowl
Saturday, July 5 at 7:30PM
 
Now for the first time, audiences will have the chance to experience the power of a live symphony orchestra performing the entire score in sync with one of the greatest motion pictures of all time. In the words of Chief Brody, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat!” 
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