For Project: A-Kon 18, in 2007, publius organized, on a trial basis, an event in which he used his anime LDs to provide video programming. At conventions, naturally, there is a strong emphasis on new releases, and today's anime fandom as a whole is concentrated on the newest thing, having little contact with the world before 2000. A LaserDisc collection, on the other hand, lives mostly in that world.
Accordingly, the opportunity arises to show material which will be new to the audience, ranging from acknowledged classics to odd bits which sank as rapidly as they surfaced. Gratifyingly, the response to that first attempt was positive enough to warrant making it an annual event at A-Kon, and the concept has begun to spread to other cons.
The 25th A-Kon celebrates the anniversary itself. Therefore, the Classic Anime Festival incorporates a special presentation of one of the leading releases of 1990.
The theme for A-Kon 24 is "Gateway to New Beginnings", celebrating the move to a new venue, so the Classic Anime Festival is made up mostly of first episodes.
The theme for A-Kon 23 is "Youkai Hunters", which certainly does
not lack for material.
Selections include :
The theme for A-Kon 22 is "Classic Space Opera", which provides a very satisfactory theme for a Classic Anime Festival.
As available materials and technical capabilities continue to expand, the event continues to be well-supported.
For A-Kon 20, the Classic Anime Festival was expanded to an eight-hour overnight block, 10 PM Friday to 6 AM Saturday.
publius was absent from A-Kon 19, attending the International Space Development Conference (held in Washington that year), but the previous year's Festival had made enough of an impression that Alec Orrock came all the way from California with discs from his library to keep it running. His schedule was as follows :
The Classic Anime Festival at A-Kon 18 ran from 2 AM to 6 AM in the wee small hours of the first night of the convention (in other words, the morning of Friday 1 June), but nevertheless garnered a positive response.