 |
| Otakon 2024's 30th anniversary Banner |
30 years hath Jecka.... No wait, we're not talking about me, this is about Otakon. Besides our ages (sorta), Otakon and I have another thing in common: We're both from Pennsylvania. Yes, despite being hosted in Maryland for the past 28 years, the first two years were in State College, PA home of the famous Penn State. Only 350 people attended, which isn't bad for a first con but it's only 1% of the total who appeared this year (a record-breaking 46,000).
I promise I'm not going to go into the history of Otakon, I'm still a fledgling when it comes to conventions compared to my friends. It's been around for three decades and I only just found out about it in 2011 and I was a child compared to what I've become. ...Where was I? Oh, right I'm supposed to talk about my experience. Let's get started.
Friday was fairly laid back. We got to the convention center early. We had picked up our badges Thursday night so we just had to walk in. Most of the morning was spent in the Press lounge and I got to sit in for the interview with the anime producer, character Designer, Yomi Hirasaka (author), and editor behind A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics. Not sure when that interview will be up, but we'll link it once it's available. afterward, we waited until 11am for a tour of the dealers' room, a whole hour before it opened to the rest of the con.
 |
| The calm before the storm. |
The tour was short, but we did get to look around as the vendors set up shop. Not to mention, we got to see the hoards of cosplayers cascade into the hall. Sakaki and I walked around a little before getting food. We ate quickly and headed back to the press room because I had an interview! It was an interview with J. Michael Tatum that you can read here.
The interview felt more like a conversation and it went smoothly. He had a lot to say, and I would have loved to just listen to all the stories he had, but our time was limited. We thanked him and sat in the Press Room for a bit.
 |
| Jecka, Tatum, and Sakaki post interview |
The rest of Friday was mundane and quiet. We sat in our friend Vlord's interview (for moral support) and then headed to the dealer's room to wander for a while.
We went out for a bite that night and headed home.
Saturday we got up bright and early and headed to LumRanmaYasha's Shounen Jump panel. From there Sakaki and I headed to the Dealers' hall again, even wandering into artist alley. One of our interviews got cancelled, but even before that, Sakaki lined up to get Hiroshi's Nagahama's autograph. It was taking much longer than anticipated. Story has it that he did full pictures for everyone who waited which is simultaneously amazing and worrying.
 |
| Kaitou Kid fanart by Mecha Art Productions |
We did another favor, this time for Lum, and conducted an interview with Park Seulki Rhea. We learned about her series, started by her father. The character Dokkotak is a national icon in South Korea . She also teaches English and Korean at Colombia University in NYC and had a few panels at Otakon teaching a bit of Korean and Korean culture. I'm sorry to say our schedules didn't allow us to go to the panels, but her insight into Korean teaching materials was interesting, especially since we hadn't planned on talking to her. Check out Manga Mavericks for the whole interview once it goes up.
Sakaki and I decided to wait in the press room for our final interview. We interviewed the crew behind Ao no Miburo or The Blue Wolves of Mibu. The anime airs this October on CrunchyRoll. The manga (written by Tsuyoshi Yasuda, known for Over Drive and Days) is published by Kodansha, but it's being produced by YTV (the TV Studio behind Detective Conan (and its spinoffs), InuYasha, My Hero Academia) and animated by Maho Film. The interview went well and of course, when that gets published, we'll link it here!
 |
L to R: Nozomi Shimakura (associate producer of Maho Film), Sakaki, Jecka, |
Afterwards, I dragged Sakaki to the rebirth of AnimEigo. Simply put, AnimEigo is one of the first anime publishers in North America. Earlier this year, Media OCD acquired the video distribution for AnimEigo. Justin Sevakis took us through future ideas of the series and upcoming releases including Full Moon.
Directly following this panel was the anticipated Discotek Day! Because the panel was only 60 minutes long, they had to cut 11 announcements from the live panel, but they simultaneously had a prerecorded stream on Twitch that lasted about twice as long. The highlights for me were GTO, Professor Layton & the Eternal Diva (first time on bluray!), and Ouran High School Host Club: The Movie (this is the live action movie, although I wish they got the series as well….). Still no Conan physical releases, but I hope that changes sooner rather than later.
 |
| The Discotek Trio, Mike, Brady and Justin, setting up for the panel |
With that, our Saturday ends and we go out for another late dinner.
Dawn of the final day. Sakaki and I decided we were going to hang out in the AA/Dealers' to see if there were any last minute buys we wanted. However, we decided to get inline for an autograph from the very people we interviewed the day before, now joined with Yuki Hayashi who composed the music for Ao no Miburo.
It was great to see them again and the energy of the group was palpable. Sakaki and I made sure Nakata knew how much we enjoyed The Culprit is Hanzawa-san, which he produced. Hayashi was upbeat and even shook my hand, much to my surprise and joy. Following this, Sakaki stuck around for another autograph, and I went to a panel that featured Hayashi and YTV producer Nakata and the OST heard in anime. We were shown a clip of Ao no Miburo and it got me interested in the series. After there was a Q&A. Most of the questions were directed at Hayashi but Nakata got a few thrown his way as well. As of writing that interview is being approved, but we hope to have it up soon!
 |
| My final panel ft Hayashi and Nakata |
I was joined by Vlord and we made our way to Starbucks to get our afternoon pick-me-up. Eventually we met up with Lum and Sakaki and went home. Another successful Otakon in the books.
Like last year, the record of attendees was broken, but it didn't feel like it was any bigger than previous years. I don't know how they keep pulling this off, but I'm proud of the crew behind Otakon. Looking forward to next year. Thank you, Otakon for having us!!
Comments
Post a Comment