As habit now, we do all our traveling early on Thursday, letting us avoid having to rush down and dealing with any potential travel issues. While I certainly don't have the longest ride, it's still about eight hours and lots of highway to cover. In addition, the big thing we do as a site is to have our gathering on the night before the convention, letting everyone just hang out together and have a good time. This year was no different in that regard. It also went off extremely well, thanks to the able hand and planning of our social coordinator, Rebecca. It was probably the best large scale gathering we've had yet.
Planning many months in advance, we set up reservations with Shogun, a rather good restaurant/sushi bar just a few blocks up from the convention center. We had the entire lower level for the nearly fifty people who showed up as well as a good assortment of food and drinks. The event lasted several hours and I think everyone had a good time. I even once again partook of sushi in the only way to truly consume it. There was also a surprise moment where we had a birthday cake for Tiffani, whose birthday was the following Monday. Suffice to say, she was in complete surprise over it happening there. Overall, I think everyone had fun and people got to meet a lot of friends they'd only talked to online previously. I could have used some more yakatori however.
Friday however proved to be more of a challenge. Being completely oblivious, I left the Hyatt around 8:30 with the intent of picking up the press badges for everyone since we had gotten special instructions on where to get them. Of course, Friday morning is when the ocean decided that it didn't like being where it was and wanted to instead fall from the sky. Lots of people were out early, and a number getting soaked, but they moved people inside fairly early and quickly to avoid any problems. I ended up on the small center street since I needed the left building, but still soaked. I felt like I was going to cough up a lung the following morning when I woke up. But once that was all settled, things moved forward well. We were a bit delayed for badges, but it gave us a chance to all call in and figure out where we were meeting.
Friday was very light for panels and for things I was interested in for the most part. The AnimEigo panel at 4 PM was essentially it, which was decent. They of course had nothing new to announce and went through the basic production list that's been available on their site. Scott Carlson and one of his minions ran things here, talking about some of the problems they've encountered in production as well as timeframes for releasing the fixed Orange Road box sets (tentatively the end of August) and how well the Macross mini-boxes are selling. It almost seems like they may bypass doing singles for Macross and let it ride with the mini-boxes. What ended up being discussed the most was the You're Under Arret project, with its four mini-boxes and disc of extras in the first three sets. We got to check out the menus from the third volume which look really nice. The Q&A session of the panel lasted for about the first half of the panel, at which time they moved over to just showing an episode of the series (episode 9 no less), so not wanting to spoil it, I took off at that point.
Dinner and drinks later, a small group of us headed back to my room for a special event. I had managed to acquire a checkdisc of F3 from SoftCel Pictures and we were going to use that as well as Virgin Night for a "Very Special Presentation" of hentai, where it was being introduced to someone for the first time. Virgin Night definitely qualifies as the Wings of Honneamise of hentai, with it being 25 minutes of exposition and setup followed by 5 minutes of well animated action and then ends. F3 on the other hand... oh my. There were segments so funny that some of us practically fell off the bed. This disc is on a fast-track to be in our Recommends section for hentai. The presentation itself looked great, soft subtitles all around and no edits whatsoever. The first episode has the dub listed as an extra, and it's just as damn amusing but for different reasons. I don't think anyone in that room will ever hear the word jackhammer and think of it the same way.
After feeling like death chilled over from walking around so long with a wet shirt yesterday, I eventually made it back to the convention center. There was actually little to do in the morning, which is good considering the time we broke up the night before. The dealers room this year was nice and spacious, giving plenty of walking space between booths without feeling like you were cramped. Of course, getting close to the tables themselves is always difficult, but that's part of the fun. I managed to sneak in some face time with some of the reps and retailer folks I know, but otherwise the morning was spent just wandering around since everyone seemed to still be asleep.
Panel time started around 1 pm, and I opted to check out the Parents Guide to Anime. This was a decent panel, though from the title I was expecting more of a recommendations of what's good for what age groups rather than an introduction to anime. Ghibli titles of course made the most mentions (though some kept saying to parents to get the bootlegs) and there was some discourse on what age level Oh! My Goddess is for (I recommended they check out Mini-Goddesses instead for the ages in question as well as waiting for Disney to produce the Ghibli DVDs). All in all, it seems like Amethyst has seen more things than most kids ten years older than her. I have to wonder what she thought of Burn Up Excess' excessive jiggle... Of course, this could explain why she's already told me she's in love with a boy and she's still only 2 1/2.
The Central Park Media panel kicked off next (after an amusing outburst from an audience member that I laughed at). John O'Donnell and Justin Sevakis ran things through here with an amusing banter and wit between both of them about their titles. John apologized again for the Slayers box set (the audio issues, not for the existence of Slayers to my chagrin) but the bulk of it was going through their release list through November and talking about things they've done, such as the restoration process on Project A-Ko, the commentary on Harmagedon and the inclusion of a Roger Ebert piece on the Grave of the Fireflies disc that he did (with the insistence of not being paid for it no less, since Ebert continues to push GotF as one of the best things ever). There was also the shocking revelation that the final two episodes of Night Shift Nurses will be put out uncut after checking various legal things and simply saying to hell with it. This was shocking not only to the crowd but to Justin, who must now deal with scat. I'd offer sympathies, but I'm too busy cackling.
Bandai took over next, kicking the CPM folks out, with Jerry Chu heading things up. Things went bad for Jerry right from the start when two strange people from the audience in orange Excel Saga shirts leaped up chanting his name and surrounded him on stage. Added to the shirt was an iron on that said "Jerry Chu is My Bitch". It's stuff like this that reinforces my enjoyment of the industry, knowing that a good number of the folks from the different companies all get along and have fun with each other. Whether Jerry gets back at them or lives in fear... only the next convention will tell.
Bandai's presentation was pretty straightforward, talking a lot about Arjuna and its upcoming release, going over the .hack information and that the show is considered open-ended in Japan, so there's no set number of episodes yet. Plans are in the works to try and get the show on TV as well. When the question about getting the rest of Love Hina came up, Jerry directed people to a woman in the back, who was from Production I.G. and responsible for said dealings. It's pretty likely, considering the final episode and the special are being done up for a November release. Ghost in the Shell's TV series also finds itself in the .hack camp in that there's no set episode count, but since the announcement is also so recent, there's little to really say on the project yet. There was plenty of talk about G-Gundam and another confirmation of accurate subtitles though the dub will be the toned down one for the names. And while the eternal question of Zeta came up again, he hinted at something in the works for next year that will make a lot of people happy.
When it comes to boxes, people were pleased to hear that both Gundam Wing and Outlaw Star will have their boxes sold separately via Right Stuf. It's worth noting that these are not hard carton cases like the Bebop box though, but more like the Evangelion ones, so they'll be sent out flat and need to be "assembled" for use. Boxes continue to be big, and Jerry went on to mention the additional 2000 or so boxes of the Escaflowne TV series that they were shipping to Right Stuf.
TOKYOPOP's panel could be well summed up with Initial D and more Initial D. Brand Manager Joel Baral discussed the decision and the reasoning behind it (though it was questioned rather toughly at the manga roundtable the next day, by Viz no less, essentially saying that if you want to market a show at eight year olds, license a show aimed at eight year olds). There was little really new to the discussion, and fans being fans, are much quieter in person than they are online, so the outrage that you find on forums and newsgroups is almost non-existent in here. A number of trailers were shown, including one for an apparently new license, Shaolin Sisters, which is the follow-up to the Juline manga. We also learned that Vampire Princess Miyu TV will receive a boxset release as well as an empty box for fans who've been faithfully picking up each volume. Manga discussions followed, but I'll leave that to our more manga oriented folks to cover.
Unlike last year, ADV managed to get a room large enough this year for everyone. Last years was just packed solid, but this year there was plenty of space for everyone. David Williams and Matt Greenfield started things off with some trailers and showing off the Excel Saga Vol. #2 disc, which has some neat bits to it, such as a lot of easter eggs and random menu transitions. In regards to the voice actress change, their intent is to not discuss who the new one is until that volume gets closer to release, so as to not take away from the work Jessica Calvello has already done. They also rattled off their new acquisitions, such as subtitled Sailor Moon (meaning I have to watch it again!), Voices of a Distant Star (a bit unsure of what versions exactly, but believing they have most everything), the Orphen: Revenge TV series and all of Saint Seiya. Saint Seiya came as the biggest surprise, especially considering its length, but it was the Sailor Moon announcement that got the most excitement from fans who've been waiting years and years for this to happen. There was also the announcement and presentation of the Paul Champagne Gasaraki box, which will be available directly from ADV as opposed to their previous deal with Right Stuf for the Evangelion box. This box uses the colors on it that Eva started but takes it up even better. This box just looks fantastic and had many people drooling in anticipation.
Discussions ranged from the increasing number of dubbing studios so they can put out a lot more per month to the name change of Paradise Raiders back to Sayuki. There were a lot of new CD announcements, minimal discussion on their entry into the manga market and some minor bits about the spinning off of SoftCel Pictures to its own company.
Media Blasters was up next, but the requirement of food at that point was overwhelming, since I still need to get ready for the site panel at 10. A large group of us, nearly twenty, tried to get a couple of tables at the Capitol City across from the Hyatt, but our seating request got seriously messed up as they checked us off as being seated without actually doing so, then telling us it'd take another 40 minutes. Bah. So we all broke into smaller groups and got food. To prepare myself for the panel, I did the only thing I could and took in probably six glasses of pepsi to get the energy going after an already long day. Meeting up with Sean and having Jeff along, we all grab the large number of boxes I had filled with stuff to give away and made the trek to the complete opposite end of the convention center.
The BCC needs trams.
Outside the panel room at 9 PM, an hour before ours was to start, two lines had formed. One for the site panel, the other for the midnight Megatokyo panel. And of course there were many comments said by people in the MT line wondering why there even was an AOD panel. Honest folks, it wasn't my planning. When we requested the room, we requested an open-ended session with nobody following us so we could hang out as long as we wanted. It wasn't until Thursday that I learned the MT panel had been scheduled behind us. This simply was not what I planned or wanted. Would you want hundreds of angry MT fans waiting for you to finish so they can get to their stuff? Nuh uh. This is pretty much the only thing that really bothered me about Otakon since we had been pretty explicit in what we wanted to do.
The site panel however went very well. On the stage we had myself, Rebecca, Mariela, Sean and Riki. Tiffani and forum moderator Konoha (aka Madeline) helped out as runners once we got into things by handing out both the activity books that Rebecca made as well as some trailer CD's I had from last years Otakon. We started off with the basic introductions, talked briefly about the announcement I was able to make about our getting a new server for the site and then brought all of the Divi-Chan cosplayers up. This part went quite well with the lovely women that participated by dressing up as Divi-Chan and all of them looked great. Lily however stole the show and is probably the only two year old with her own DVD Player and Escaflowne statue now! Pixymia and Keys looked great and sexy in Divi outfits. Once we finished that, we moved on to the larger game for the evening... Stump Chris.
Now, to understand, it's not the most appropriately named contest. Yes, the goal is to stump me with a question I cannot answer and thereby win a prize. The problem is that I had so much stuff to get rid of, if I answered everything I'd have to not only haul it back to my room, but back home again too. So we started taking various stumpers and award prizes, from full series on DVD to things like Pokemon VHS tapes. But also some good ones such as the entire Nadia series on tape or the original Escaflowne VHS run (which was awarded to a very attractive young woman I've since learned has a boyfriend. curses!). We also gave away some Armitage III: Dual Matrix t-shirts, some specially made chocolates by long time IRC'er Ruby and finally yet another DVD player. The session was partly a comedy routine, with both questions and answers generating laughs.
Particularly amusing was the question that asked if I knew what ADV stands for. Having heard earlier in the day that you'd have to be there for 90 days and sign a non-disclosure agreement prior to finding out, I was able to dodge the question by saying it would reveal whether I had signed an NDA with ADV. David Williams of ADV used this opportunity to prove they own my ass by coming up and presenting me with a very special gift. A lovely framed image of King, complete with nads blowing in the wind. It looks like someone reads my reviews...
We wrapped things up with a brief Q&A session since we didn't want the MT fans to get antsy, and grabbed our stuff and headed out. This was probably the largest gathering of AOD readers in some time, so lots of people talking and meeting and generally having a good time. A small group of us eventually broke off though and headed back to my hotel room, since earlier in the day I had bartered a bottle of Bookers with the ADV folks for the checkdisc to Princess Nine Vol. #6. So with a group of about ten people, we started a late night showing at 12:30 am of the final five episodes of the series, which went over very well.
Oh, Fifi gets all the women pregnant. It was great.
Sunday morning resulted in a bleary eyed worldview, some simple packing compared to what I had to do to get here, and loading up of the car. There's still panels to attend though, so it was back to the BCC at 11 for the Viz panel. Led by Carl Horn, they went through a number of trailers for things such as Trouble Chocolate, Ranma, Project Arms and Inu-Yasha as well as Hamtaro. Naturally Inu-Yasha went over well, and was the subject of a number of basic questions such as release schedule (looks bimonthly), episodes per disc (3 per for now, but at reduced price of 24.95) and whether they have the movie (no real comment). The inevitable Maison Ikkoku question came up and once again showed that all thought is based on VHS numbers of a series that was so poorly marketed and sold to its fans that they didn't buy. The end result is that MI simply will not happen.
I'd suggest wrapping money around bricks and throwing it at their bean counters. Obviously just throwing money isn't working.
Pioneer followed Viz, with Chad and Noboru handling things. They spent the first half or so showing off trailers for upcoming shows (some from checkdiscs and tapes) with some rough timelines. Vandread Second Stage was shown, and another confirmation that the box with #1 will hold all eight discs from both series, the 39 episode Master Keaton series is set for Q1 next year on eight discs, so a good 5 episode count for each volume until the end. Mahoromatic's trailer showed both sides to the series, with the dark serious bit first followed by the comedic side (January release), Ai Yori Aoshi is set for a February release while Chobits got the most applause I think, set for a March release. For a lot of people, the Sugar trailer was the first time to see this show and it got a lot of converts. It's unfortunately one of the ones without a timeline other than 2003, which is what I believe the Patlabor WXIII movie is also set as. What surprised me was that Gatekeepers 21 will be released on just two discs, three episodes each, for a brand new and extremely shiny looking OVA series. The original Tenchi Muyo OVA's will also get released across four discs next year, letting those who want to sample first or buy in smaller increments check it out without having to get the older box set.
With an eight hour drive still ahead of me, I opted to skip the remaining panels and headed back home. With that kind of drive, there's plenty of time to think and reflect, something which is always good to do after taking in so much in such a short span of time. Other than the scheduling issue on Saturday, I think everyone who went to Otakon last year and this year had a much better time this year, at least among the group of people from the site who talked about the problems they had last year. The sheer amount of space, while both an advantage and disadvantage, helped immensely in making things feel much roomier and easier to handle. Instead of being packed tightly in the hallways, you had plenty of space. The registration line seemed to move pretty well for both sides, there were hardly any real lines for the dealers room and that room itself had a ton of space.
I had a great time meeting more new people from the site as well as seeing friends from previous years. If there's one thing I'm really pleased about with the site, it's how many people have come together and get along so well and have such a great time together. I love the fact that such a thing has happened and that I've made so many great friends over the past couple of years from it. Between the Thursday gathering, impromptu get togethers in the hallway and the big panel at the end, never mind the nightly anime showings in the hotel room, these are the moments that make Otakon what it is for me.
After watching the trailers from the Pioneer panel, and taking in everything else from the other panels, it's abundantly clear that we're now in the golden age of anime here in the states. The range of shows acquired this year is widely diverse, the size of the projects are growing, the ancillary products are flowing much easier now and the majority of the people behind all of this continue to be both strong fans and supporters of the medium. There's so many exciting shows I can't wait to get my hands on, it's almost boggling. I'm glad that there are conventions like Otakon where we can all get together and share in this enthusiasm, and let the positive side of fandom really shine through.
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