WHEN Beth Hunter of Avoca Beach Picture Theatre held the animated film festival Reel Anime 2010 last September she had no idea just how popular it would be. “We were so excited by the response,” Mrs Hunter said. “People just kept asking for more and so we decided to run Amazing Anime every month.
“We give the audience forms to fill out detailing what films they would like to see next, and then we get them.”So what kind of person likes anime? “Well the typical fan is likely to be a young male of university age, but there is a big group of 40+ Dr Who fans on the coast who also like anime, and of course parents like to bring their children to see high quality animation,” Mrs Hunter said.
This month’s Amazing Anime is Spirited Away, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2001. Director Hayao Miyazaki is the master of Japanese anime and Spirited Away is one of his best. It is also the highest grossing film in Japanese history even topping box office sales for Titanic.
Two fans who will be at the screening on Sunday at 8.15pm are Peter and Chris Collins accompanied by a group of fellow devotees dressed up like their favourite anime character. They are members of the Pop Culture Club which meets in the cafe of Borders in Tuggerah on the first Thursday of the month at 5pm.
“Everyone has their own character they like to follow so they dress up as them,” Peter Collins said. “Chris is a Doctor Who fanatic - but he also likes Star Trek. But which Dr Who do people prefer - there have been so many.
“David Tennant is definitely the favourite. The jury is still out on Matt Smith. Give him another season and he will mature,” Mr Collins said. The brothers, Peter is a professional DJ and Chris works in publishing, are getting ready for the opening of their latest enterprise - Dark Dimensions - a pop culture shop which is opening shortly in Wells Street, East Gosford (directly behind the chemist shop). It will sell anime, futurama and transformer toys, comics, posters and clothing.
“We have been geeks all our lives,” Collins said. “We went to see the pop culture expo Supernova and were inspired to set up our own business. We had a stall at Morisset markets and now we are opening our own shop.”