CONventional Sunday (Otakon 2022 in review)

Hey, long time no talk, It’s Jecka with our adventures in Otakon 2022! A bit out of order since this actually happened a week before CRX, but better late than never! Now won’t you join me, as I take you through that fabulous three day July weekend?

This was my second Otakon; my first being in 2018, and there was a huge uptick in attendance this year! According to Otakon, there was over a 50% increase from 2021 and a 40% from 2019 which was pre-pandemic. 2022 beat out the previous record from 2013 which had over 34,000 attendees. It felt like a lot, but honestly? We didn’t have any problems. Everyone was required to be masked and have proof of vaccination or negative test in order to get a wristband to get in.

Thursday night we collected our badges and wristbands. I acted as sole representative of this fabulous blog, but the process of getting my press badge was easy.

Huge thank you to Otakon for allowing us to take part at this con!

Fast-forward to Friday morning, we got there just in time to bear witness to an amazing seiyuu duo: Toshio Furukawa and his lovely wife Shino Kakinuma. Furukawa is mainly known for his portrayal of Piccolo in Dragon Ball and Ace in One Piece, but he’s been in many other roles from well known Shogakukan Animanga: Ataru in Urusei Yatsura, Inspector Yamamura in Detective Conan/Case Closed, Sakamoto in Maison Ikkoku, Bai Jin in Karakuri Circus, and Munin in The Law of Ueki.

Kakinuma’s credits list isn't nearly as long, but she’s acted with Furukawa in a several anime like Sailor Moon, One Piece, and Dragon Ball Z. She is also a teacher at their co-run voice acting school in Japan, so she's just as talented as he is! The panel consisted of the couple talking about their experiences of their career and how Covid changed the recording process. Afterwards, the floor was opened for Q&A. I wanted to ask something, but did not get the opportunity to do so. Something that happened later made up for it.

The two were going to have an autograph session, so I made a beeline to it as having something signed by the duo was a big priority of mine. So after getting some lunch, I went with my handy dandy volume of Detective Conan (gotta rep our blog!) and headed over. The line opened up at 1 PM and the signing started at 2. Around 1:30 I thought it’d probably be best to get over there asap and that was a good call. I wasn’t last, but the line was already long, and I was in the overflow lane. It was supposed to end at 3 PM. At that point I was FINALLY in the main lane and missing the panel with special guest Mariya Ise. The signing was thankfully extended and by 4 pm I finally had gotten my volume of Case Closed, Volume 27 signed. It was even personalized!

 

Jecka's Perseverance Pays Off

I got to try a little bit of my bad Japanese skills and I think I did okay. I tried saying “Both are okay” hoping to convey that I still wanted both since Kakinuma hasn’t been in Conan….yet, and since I’m really shy and thought the easier, the better, haha. Furukawa seemed a little tired, and I don’t blame him, but they were both so sweet it melted my heart.  

 

We ended the night with a look into Hayao Miyazaki’s career as an animator. It was really great to see where Miyazaki began considering what most people know about him from the Ghibli films. I’ve seen much of Miyazaki and Isao Takahata’s works but the panel proved very informative. The host even provided titles of the books he used as research and I definitely want to check them out some time!  

 

Books about Miyazaki

 

Saturday morning Sakaki and I started off by checking out the library. There was a decent collection. Most of the titles were popular but there were a couple niche ones like Absolute Boyfriend and Ueki. I read about half the first volume of Boys Over Flowers until we had to go to our first panel of the day: Denpa. The panel consisted of updates on previously announced titles along with a few new ones. The biggest, bestest, most Shougakukan related one being Short Game by Mitsuru Adachi!! This collection contains the one shot Asaoka Koukou Yakyuubu Nisshi: Over Fence which ran in Weekly Shounen Sunday back in 2011. I couldn’t contain my excitement. Finally, more Adachi has been licensed in the US! We’ve had Cross Game which you can still purchase from Viz, and the now out of print Short Program. I can only hope this leads to more Adachi series getting licensed because there are so many good ones out there. 

 

Denpa winning with Adachi.

 

We headed to the dealers room, I didn't have anything in particular in mind to buy and would have left with a full wallet, that is until I passed by an area selling hundreds of manga. I noticed there were titles that I hadn’t ever heard of, so I started skimming. I walked away with FOURTEEN volumes and less money. I don’t regret it, though. All are out of print, and Miracle Girls by Nami Akimoto is one of my favorite shoujo series. Forbidden Dance by Hinako Ashihara ran in Bessatsu Shoujo Comic and so far it’s an interesting read. I also got One Pound Gospel by Rumiko Takahashi, volumes 3 and 4. I already own the first volume, so all I'm missing is volume 2. There was also an incident where people were loitering around the autograph area and the staff wasn’t having it. Needless to say, Sakaki and I didn’t even attempt to line up for Mariya Ise’s autograph session just from the size of the crowd.

The manga haul, including the aforementioned Conan volume.

The rest of Saturday was very Discotek-centric. We watched Project Ako 2, the dub premiere of Gunbuster, and to top off the night, the famous Discotek Day Industry Panel. The crowds in all three had amazing energy, but the last panel is what’s going to stay with me. There was a part where we were shown a trailer for a Kaiju film, and it had a sort of country Japanese folk song. The room started clapping along, much to the amusement of the hosts. The panel went past the time it was supposed to end, but it wouldn’t be a Discotek panel without “One more thing.” After years of releasing the Urusei Yatsura films it felt like hope for a physical release of the TV anime was all, but lost. However, we needn't wait much longer because....

Discotek’s final announcement sure had a lot of people hyped, myself included, but not as much as a very excited fan yelling loud enough for Takahashi to hear in Japan. Urusei Yatsura has been something I wanted to watch for years, and now I can just get the home release! That’s another series off my wishlist. Now I just need any and all Adachi series, something and anything from the World Masterpiece Theater, and Maison Ikkoku. 

Urusei Yatsura announcement slide via Discotek.

At last, we made it to Sunday, the final day of the con. Sundays tend to be lax and this was no different. Furukawa and Kakinuma are back, but this time with a sample of what a class at their agency is like. We learned different types of laughter and for what context each would be used. It was fun to experience a small part of what rookie voice actors would learn in Japan.

 

Afterwards, there weren’t any panels we were really interested in so we took another stroll around Artist Alley and the Dealers room. Sakaki and I headed over to the AMV Contests Non-finalists, which I might have been in if I had actually finished the AMV I said I was going to make. Alas, we didn’t stay long for that either. We did, however, see someone cosplaying as Gudetama in the lobby and it was absolutely amazing! 

 

Gudetama being as dramatic as ever.

My second Otakon was probably more hectic than my first, but I feel that’s somewhat expected. The pandemic really stirred a lot of people to want to experience something fun with a crowd, so I’m not really surprised about that. I will say I think the staff handled the crowds really well, but my least favorite part might have been the lines. Lines are to be expected in cons, however I do wish there was a sort of system with the autographs. Maybe something similar to other cons like Anime NYC and Crunchyroll Expo where a lotto system for bigger names in the industry is in place for people to enter and win the chance for an autograph. Now I realize this is random, but the reality of the matter is not everyone who wants an autograph is going to get one anyway, and a lotto system (or even just a sign up for an autograph) would ensure that the line is proceeds smoothly, efficiently and most importantly: is safe for everyone.

Would I go again? Most likely! Doubly so if Discotek keeps coming back. I do have to travel quite a ways to get down there, but it’s worth it for the energy alone. This was a really fun experience. With the wealth of guests and so many things to do, I believe otakon is well worth a trip for the con veterans and newbies alike. In lieu of a Shonen Sunday convention which is totally going to happen some day, I hope to see you at an Otakon someday in the future, fellow Sunday fans!