There is officially too much great stuff to see in Otakon’s Artist Alley. Even I, an experienced (!) con reporter, was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of works and wares vying for my attention. I ended up having to make sweeps of the alley looking for only this or only that in order to focus.
I encountered a good mix of artists I’ve come to recognize and buy from nearly every time I see them with plenty of new talent or those I haven’t yet become acquainted with.
GARO is a very popular live-action tokusatsu franchise which has now branched out into other media. Studio MAPPA paired director Yuichiro Hayashi and producer and monster designer Toru Kubo to bring this new story by Yasuko Kobayashi to life as an anime. GARO the Animation was so popular that another anime series is starting in fall and the first series is getting a complication movie.
Mr. Hayashi is just ramping up as a director, but he is already an accomplished key animator. His understanding as an animator allowed him to create some very memorable sequences throughout GARO and easily transition the live-action series into animation.
Mr. Kubo was involved with the live-action GARO franchise bringing all of that knowledge to the table. While he spent most of his time as producer on the animated series, he also contributed many monster designs to it as well.
They spoke with us about adapting a live-action series and the Horror designs. And they also gave us a tidbit about the upcoming movie.
We have always gotten some interviews at Otakon. We have not always gotten every interview we have asked for but we have gotten people like Gen Urobuchi so I have never really complained. This year on the other hand it seemed like Otakon really loved us because they gave us almost any interview we asked for. Kate hardly went to any fan panels because of it. But we got some great insights into the people we interviewed so it was all worth it.
I just a few quick notes before I get into the meat of the post. First of all Romi Park is a character. Most of the time voice actors and actresses are very charismatic but generally give the most generic and PR controlled answers you could ever receive. There are some notable exceptions, like Yuji Mitsuya ,who are old enough that they can say what they but otherwise you will just get very friendly but empty answer. The only guests who give answers with less substance are probably band members. Romi Park was slinging nothing but meaty answers plus she was just a constant ball of energy. You can’t expect every seiyu to be that open but you should appreciate when they are.
I really feel the guests this year shined brightly so lets see what they had to say.
Otakon’s 2015 Japanese guest list featured an amazing amount of directors with voice actors, producers, and other staff upping the talent factor of the con. So many shows and styles were represented. Having GARO take center stage at the convention was a much appreciated surprise and just in time as the second season will be hitting the airwaves this fall.
To make things as memorable as possible, it seemed like every guest was as open, friendly, and engaged with the fans as I have ever seen them.
Reverse Thieves 