At this point, Otakon is an obvious thing in my life. I have enough faith in the people who run anime conventions every summer that they create a rewarding experience. But lacking anything Genshiken-related, Otakon 2023 ended with a guest announcement that was off the otaku’s wish list: Iwao Junko, who voices Daidouji Tomoyo in Cardcaptor Sakura.
However, somehow, Iwao was just the tip of the iceberg. Between Asamiya Kia (Silent Mobius manga artist, Nadesico), Aramaki Shinji (Bubblegum Crisis mecha designer, Magazine 23), Terada Takanobu (Super Robot Wars producer), and even the sleeping character Ikezawa Haruna (sci-fi writer and voice of Yoshino in Maria Watch Over Us), I feel like I’ve had three worthwhile experiences in three conventions.
Line Con No More
Otakon 2023 takes place again from July 28 to July 30, once again at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. It took place last year with record attendance and the two big questions are whether 2022 will be a stroke of luck in part due to the US reopening after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. , and how will Otakon handle the flow? pedestrian traffic otherwise. Bottom line: Otakon has indeed surpassed its record this year, and the dialogue is noticeably better. While there are still some hiccups here and there (like me having to wait too long to get my panelist badge due to a change in how they handle the process), it’s no coincidence where many in the post-debate feedback session commended employees for fixing most bottlenecks in just one year.
Line repairs were even more important due to the weather that weekend. DC is terribly hot; including humidity, at times the temperature was reported as 112 degrees. Otakon needed to make sure people could get into that convention center quickly and easily, and they succeeded.
Lack of cover-up policy
I know it’s incredibly difficult to put the genie back in the bottle, especially since “officially” COVID-19 is no longer a national emergency, but I really wish Otakon would do it again. mandatory mask wearing policy. While I did not get sick at this conference, I have certainly been in areas where the virus is present and that will only allow more people to attend the conference.
Industry
This year’s guest list is so dense that I have to make some serious decisions about what to spend my time pursuing. Shoji Kawamori (the creator of Macross) would have been at the top of the list any other year, but the fact that I had the opportunity to interview him in 2018 meant that I had to make a sacrifice. There are also plenty of manhwa artists at Otakon 2023, and as a general comic lover but little familiar with Korean comics, this could be a great opportunity to learn more. Alas, time is really limited.
As a result, most of my time this year has been spent getting autographs as a lot of the guests are industry veterans and some are older. It sounds a bit morbid, but I worry that we’re going to lose more and more great characters in anime and manga, and I wanted a chance to meet them and thank them before it’s too late. At the same time, I worry that too many of my Otakon experiences end in signature lines, and every year is a little rough because for every great thing you do, you know you’re going to miss out on at least two things. other. equally wonderful experiences.
Iwao Junko
One of the highlights of the guest panel for me was that of Iwao Junko, where she recounted how she got into voice acting, her early days in the industry, and how she ended up working full-time. how work. I have a detailed summary of the workshop in the form of a separate post, and I also interviewed Iwao along with her frequent musical collaboration partner, Kawamura Ryu.
Mecha Guest
Another workshop where I look forward to showcasing more mecha-related creators, including all of the things mentioned in the introduction. Just hearing them joke back and forth is fun and you can tell that they’ll all be happy to talk to you if given the chance. The funny part of all this was the fact that Kawamori was apparently but somewhat surreptitiously drawing on his tablet in the middle of answering questions—a fact that one panelist humorously called out to him. he’s out (turns out he’s working on a project).
I had to sit down with two guests and talk more deeply: mechanical designer Aramaki Shinji and Super Robot Wars producer Terada Takanobu.
Ikezawa Haruna
But there’s one guest who could be the one to sleep the blows of the entire scammer: Ikezawa Haruna. While Ikezawa does the necessary part of the seminar on what it’s like to be a voice actress, she also does something extremely rare for Japanese guests: run a seminar section entirely about one of her own personal favorites.
In this case, it was a workshop on Japanese SF versus Western SF. Not long after she started, it became clear that her knowledge was encyclopedic and her passion for the subject was immense. She probably knew more about the science fiction in that room than the entire audience combined, and she made some interesting points about the nature of science fiction in the area. For example, in the context of Japanese Social Sciences, she mentioned how xenophobia has become such a big topic because it is now a major topic in Japanese society.
Ikezawa talks about how she actually prefers the term to “sci-fi” SF because she thinks SF Japan is so much more—an acronym that could stand for sukoshi fushigi (“a bit of a mystery”). hidden”), speculative fiction, hyper-fantasy, etc. She also gives a lot of advice, including stories she writes herself. These are Nova 2023 (an all-women anthology), SF 2084 (anthology themed around stories that take place in 2084), Ogawa Satoshi’s Naoki Prize-winning Map and Fist, Law-Abiding Monsters the method of Harukure Kouichi and First, Let the cow be Isukari Yuba’s ball. Unfortunately, they are all in Japanese, but another Isukari story, Yokohama Station SF is available in English.
Anime Screening
Although I was unable to attend this year’s Discotek conference, I think it is worth mentioning that they have licensed all Digimon Adventure Movies, including the original Japanese version as well as the compilation film to be shown at various locations. theaters in America. Not only are they all available in English for the first time, but Discotek also made a special screening of them at Otakon. Sadly, I was unable to attend that screening as well as the screening of Macross Frontier: The False Songstress. That’s because I chose to watch the US premiere of The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes, which I reviewed here.
VTuber Presence
Although there are cosplayers and artists representing VTuber, there isn’t much of an official presence (in contrast to Anime Expo, where it is a major force). That said, the Phase Connect team had a booth. I visited and bought an acrylic stand by Dizzy Dokuro.
Panels
Given the way things are going, it’s a shame I didn’t attend many fan meetings this year even though it’s one of Otakon’s best features. And as for the ones I did, I could only see them partially.
I really want to thank Anime in the Philippines, as it definitely taught me something new, while also opening the door into a culture and fanbase that I was barely familiar with. belong. For example, now I know that Mechander Robo aired there and I already know about this:
[nội dung được nhúng]
However, this year I presented myself on two workshops: “Anime Giant Ship Robots and More” and “Densha Otoko: Train Man, Modern Legends, Internet Legends.” The theme of Otakon 2023 is trains so I decided to follow suit.
The Giant Ship Robot is a collaborative project between me and Patz from The Cockpit. We both love machines and I also relied on his more extensive knowledge of the tokusatsu aspect to put this together and I think the result was a fun and vibrant workshop. whose goal is to entertain, inform, and make the audience appreciate the trains that turn into robots. We had a good amount of attendance despite it being at 10:30 a.m. Friday and I hope everyone enjoys it.
The Densha Otoko workshop is all mine and I’ve actually started thinking about doing it since the end of Otakon 2022 when they announced the train motif for next year. Densha Otoko was such a phenomenon in the mid-2000s, and I’m curious to look back at that period and see what its legacy is today. I seem to appeal to most of the people who have seen it or know about it, but that’s fine with me.
I think the Giant Ship Robot actually has more attendees than Densha Otoko and I find that interesting because of it In the past, the evening panels had better attendance than the morning panels and the Mechanical controls aren’t so common, at least in Baltimore. And this makes us really at the same time as another giant robot console! I wonder if there’s a generational change or something that could explain this.
Food
After many years, the convention center canteen has finally opened, offering another option for those who want something to eat but don’t want to eat and want to travel too far. I dropped in there once and found there were three options: Japanese, pizza and hot dogs/sausages. I chose the last option (quite similar to what is offered at Ben’s Chili Bowl) mainly because it has the shortest variety and is pretty decent. Japanese food, of course, has the longest line at an anime bar, although I still remember the Otakon staff saying a long time ago that the sushi was actually pretty good.
But the best food at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center is still the Caribbean food stall, located at the end of the Gallery. While all scam food is definitely overpriced, this place always feels like the best priced place and the meals feel balanced in terms of taste and nutrition. I get something from them pretty much every year and they never let me down.
Cosplay
End of thinking
2023 is definitely a strong Otakon despite adverse issues like weather. Most importantly, I got to meet Tomoyo.
What is amazing is that next year promises to be even bigger and stronger as it will be Otakon’s 30th anniversary. I’ve come up with ideas for the panels and am speculating on potential guests. I feel like this would be the perfect time to bring back the celebrities back in 1994, and I trust the team that run the show to bring in some big guns.