(note: No Type-Moon Weekly News Round Up or All Points Bulletin this week)

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This is the year Otakon says goodbye to Baltimore.

One of this year’s most exciting guest is probably Kazuki Akane. Directing The Vision of Escaflowne alone probably enough to make him a tent-pole guest but his work on Heat Guy J, Noein, Birdy the Mighty Decode and Code Geass: Akito the Exiled add some variety.

On top of that are some senior staff members from P.A. Works in attendance along with an exhibit. Nobuhiro Kikuchi, Kazuki Higashiji, and Kenji Horikawa will surely have a lot of insight into the studio behind Canaan, The Eccentric Family, and Shirobako.

The main players behind Under the Dog Jiro Ishii, Koji Morimoto, and Muneki Ogasawara should have a lot to say now that they have released their Kickstarted project. And speaking of Kickstarter, LeSean Thomas will also be a guest fresh off of the co-pro debut of the pilot for Cannon Busters. His experience in the western and eastern animation industry gives him a unique insight into animation production.

Kasumi Fukagawa’s work on mobile games should give her an extra dimension on top of her being a character designer. Shiro Dogu and Shunsuke Wada are an unknown quantity but they might have some enlightening information as employees of TakaOtacraft.

If you’re coming to Otakon this year, remember to party extra hard so we can properly send off the city that has welcomed the con for so many years, and say hello to the nation’s capital. Remember it is your last chance to eat some crab, make The Wire jokes, or get a bottle of ice cold water for a dollar when your at Otakon so make it count!

Be sure to attend Kate’s Panel!

Such Dog. Much Anime. Wow.
Saturday, 8:15PM, Panel 5

Our tentative schedule for the convention:

Friday
09:00AM Girl Power: Feminism and the Magical Girl Genre
10:15AM P.A.Works Autograph Session
12:00PM Jojo’s Posing School
02:00PM When Gundam Goes Bad
03:15PM Brave Series
04:30PM PA Works
05:45PM Jiro Ishii Q&A
07:00PM Haiku and Beyond
08:15PM Women in Anime
10:45PM History of Detective Conan

Saturday
09:00AM 1999: Otaku Time Machine
10:15AM Sports Anime History
10:15AM A Wizard Did It! The Mechanics of Fantasy in Anime and Literature
11:30AM Cannon Busters Exclusive Screening w/ LeSean Thomas
12:45PM MAPPA w/ Maruyama
02:00PM Awesome Women Making Anime
02:00PM Anime and Dice: Turning Cosplay into Roleplay
03:00PM Koji Morimoto Q&A
04:30PM TakaOtacraft: Otaku Craftsmen
05:45PM P.A.WORKS Anime Live Drawing: feat. Kazuki Higashiji
07:00PM Gattai! Giant Robots of 198X
08:15PM Such Dog. Much Anime. Wow.
08:15PM CLAMP Multiverse
09:30PM Victorian Japan
10:45PM Anime’s Appearances in Non-Anime
11:45PM Greater Uglier Manga

Sunday
09:00AM The Visual Novel: History of the Unrecognized Narrative Art
10:15AM 37 Years of Gundam Anime
12:00PM Gundam Thunderbolt w/ Q&A 
12:45PM Otakon: The Road to DC Panel
02:00PM Aniplex Gameshow Hosted by Team AoA
03:00PM Con Feedback Session