The Omaha Anime Festival

Do you want to spend the day watching movies? Animated movies? Animated movies with fantastical themes? From Japan? Well on December 13th the people that brought you Otaku Omaha are bringing the Omaha Anime Festival to the MidAmerica Center. It’s been a long time since I could spend the whole day watching movies and not worrying about the outside world.
As with any festival there has to be some classics and something you have never seen. While the organizers still do not have the entire list of movies they will be showing nailed down. Justin has assured me that the classic SPIRITED AWAY and the recently released THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME will be a part of that lineup.

SPIRITED AWAY won the 2003 Oscar for the Best Animated Feature Film. It was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who also gave us PRINCESS MONONOKE, MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, and most recently HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE. It has a running time of 125 minutes and well worth the viewing.

THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (時をかける少女, Toki o Kakeru Shōjo) is a 2006 release of a Japanese animated film from the novel by Japanese SF writer Yasutaka Tsutsui. It follows the adventures of 17-year-old Makoto Konno who gains the ability to “leap” backwards through time. She first uses these powers to improve her grades and avoid social mishaps but soon learns that changing the past is easy and must rely on her powers to shape her and her friends future. I am looking forward to watching this 98 minute movie.

In addition to films there will be a Cosplay Contest. Since this is primarily a film festival, I am interested to see how they work this into the days activities. Advance tickets are $12 (plus tax) which saves you $5 over the at the door price of $17 (plus tax). They are available online at: http://www.otakuomaha.com/oaf/tickets.html. So forget about holiday shopping for 8 hours and come watch some memorable anime. I know I will be.