Internationally, Hayao Miyazaki has to be the most beloved animator, cartoonist and manga-ka who has ever emerged from Japan. Here in the United States of America, this is very clearly the case. Miyazaki has retired, but his influence is all over the place. When you look at the works of 22 young American artists, most of who are Asian-American, you can see that Miyazaki will be influential for decades to come.
CatConLA: The Sequel!
CatConLA is a yearly event that was inspired by the rise of a global Internet cat culture. This year, CatConLA took up twice the space in the huge building, occupying not one but two floors. Attendance was up — 15,000 unique visitors, as opposed to 13,000 last year. There was a lot of overlap between the primary audience of the event — cat lovers — and other things our audience enjoys like visual storytelling, Asian art and pop culture, and cosplay.
