(note: No Ongoing Investigations or All Points Bulletin this week.)

Our second post all the way back in 2007 was about our trip to Otakon. Five years later, we are on the road again. Everything has changed since then: us, the blog, our goals, the fandom, the industry, our friends, and even the con itself. But Otakon is still the #1 anime destination for us every year; it is loads of amazing. And this year looks to be no different.

Gen Urobuchi seems to be the big Japanese creator draw with Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Fate/Zero being shows that are in the forefront of the minds of fandom, crowds are assured. But Masao Maruyama is no slouch on his own representing Studio MAPPA more than Madhouse this year. With Kids on the Slope ending recently, he will surely have much to say about that and hopefully on some upcoming projects, too.

Shin Sasaki and Hidetaka Tenjin should also be fun industry guests although they will probably not get anywhere near the number of people as the others.

Aya Hirano on the other hand will probably be interesting just for how crazy the legends around her are. There is plenty of other voice talent to go around with Gurren Lagaan’s Simon actor Tetsuya Kakihara and Yuuka Nanri as Ristuko from the previously mentioned Kids on the Slope.

But as always if you see us come and say hello. We always like talking to new people. We are usually busy running here or there but such is any convention. We are both doing the New Anime For Older Fans panel on Friday. If you are looking for shiny new shows with an older appeal Panel 1 will be a fun place to be at 5:30. Hisui is also running the Type-Moon panel on Saturday at 1 in the morning in Panel 2. He promises it is not just an hour lecture on the iterations of the Saber pantheon.

If all of this and our schedule below is not enough for you, we recorded a quick podcast, too! Hope to see everyone at Otakon!

Pre-Otakon podcast

Our tentative panel schedule:

Friday:

10:00: The Aging Otaku – Anime Fandom and Getting Older
10:00: Riichi – Japanese Mahjong, Anime, and You
11:15: Hidetaka Tenjin Q&A
12:30: Gen Urobuchi Q&A
01:45: Opening Ceremonies
03:00: Tetsuya Kakihara Q&A
03:30: Gen Urobuchi Signing
05:30: New Anime For Older Fans [this is our panel!]
06:45: Macross Origins
08:00: Doki-Doki – A Look Into Asian Romantic Dramas
08:30: Sports Manga – Olympics Edition
10:00: Genshiken – The Next Generation
11:45: Mythbusters – Anime Edition Season 2
01:00: MangaGamer – The Now and Future of Visual Novels

Saturday:

09:00: Jojo’s Posing School
10:30: Satelight – An Introduction
11:30: Yuuka Nanri Q&A
12:00: The Weirdest Games You’ve Never Played 2
01:30: Japanese PVC Figures and Collecting
01:45: Sexism in Anime and Fandom
03:15: Maruyama and MAPPA Q&A
04:30: The Worst Anime of All Time
05:30: Anime Archive Project – Preserving The Good and Bad of U.S. Anime Fandom
06:45: Way More Than Meets the Eye . . . Transformers – The Panel
07:30: Japanese Folklore – Kitsune and Oni and Yurei, Oh My!
11:30: Lupin the Third – 40+ Years of Heists and Hijinks
11:30: The “Art” of Fanservice
01:00: Type-Moon – Unlimited Panel Works [this is Hisui’s panel!]

Sunday:

10:30: Light Novels in Translation
10:45: Sentai Filmworks Industry Panel
11:45: Kodansha Comics
12:00: Legal Fansubbing on Viki
01:00: Vertical 2012