(Photo courtesy of Revons under Creative Commons license)
I did not attend Otakon 2007 because I don’t have the money to fly over to Baltimore, get a hotel room and then likely purchase stuff at the convention itself. I think of Otakon akin to Anime Expo as each being the big summer convention for their respective coastlines. I WOULD like to attend it one of these years to get a feel for how differently it is run from Fanime and AX and the general atmosphere. Thanks to the Internet, I can at least get panel reports from ANN and extract interesting things from them.
One of the biggest licensing announcements from a fan’s perspective is that of Ouran High School Host Club by Funimation, although what was interesting about it was that the full deal was signed two days before the convention meaning that. So let the casting debate and worries begin… Another concerns I have beside the dub casting is what title will it be marketed under: the short-but-sweet Ouran, the succinct Ouran Host Club, or the full titled Ouran High School Host Club? I’m also wondering about the packaging and what they will design as an English logo for the box art.
On to Bandai, who finally confirmed the long suspicion that they would license Code Geass. Apparently, it will air on a national TV network sometime in mid-2008. Also: Wendee Lee, the dub actress for Haruhi, WILL sing the two songs in the concert episode, which I would assume is on volume 3 given the 4-4-4 release order so far but it seems to be on the fourth DVD for some reason. Finally, Bandai will be releasing what I think is the cheapest priced OVA I’ve seen sold in America, a 30-minute Yukikaze spinoff called Mave-chan retailing for $9.99 October 2nd.
Media Blasters said one reason they acquired the Kujibiki Unbalance TV series and the accompanying Genshiken OVAs is to have a better chance of snagging the upcoming second season of Genshiken. They are looking into “burn on demand” distribution starting with Twelve Kingdoms (saw a bunch of episodes a couple back and thought it was interesting) and they’re doing more video game work, translating the Discipline hentai game as well as Samurai Deeper Kyo for the GBA, along with planning to localize an online trading card game called Alteil. Their sole acquisition announcement was a manga title called Mousou Shoujo Otaku Kei, which is about an average high school boy who falls in love with a yaoi fangirl (pictured above) and the girl gets nervous around him. I read a translation of the first chapter and I thought it was pretty funny so I’ll try to check out it when it hit the shelves as Fujoshi Rumi.
ADV announced three titles – Moonlight Mile, Venus Versus Virus, and the three-episode Bandit Jing in Seventh Heaven OVA series – but nothing much besides that. Let’s see, Geneon has put its Geneon Spot service on hiatus and planning to relaunch it at the end of ‘07 or early ‘08. They also are trying to get Lupin episodes on Xbox Live Marketplace as well as Akimbo and Vuze. Okay then, time to wrap this up.
One thing that I remembered reading about last year was cosplayers being heckled by Orioles UPDATE: “numerous baseball” fans (thanks, Nneka!) as Camden Yards is across the street from the Baltimore Convention Center. Luckily this year the O’s were playing in Oakland over the weekend. Next year, I plan to attend Anime Expo which will take place at the LA Convention Center, former home of E3. Going to a Dodgers game while I’m down there is a thought if they’re at home but then again, it’s about 3.6 miles away AND across I-110! Seeing a WNBA game could work though because the LACC is near the Staples Center.
Finally, it seems kind of strange to me as a West Coast guy that the dates for Otakon change so much from year to year. This year’s con happened during the third weekend in July, the first weekend in August for 2006, the third weekend in August for 2005, and the last 2004. I know this “roving date” phenomenon likely is due to when the organizers are able to get reserve the BCC but the fact Fanime and AX take place during the same respective weekends (Memorial Day and July 4th) each year makes easier to remember when it is.
P.S. ANN’s Artist’s Alley video OWNS their dealers’ hall video! It makes me regret not hanging out in the alley at Fanime more and picking up a couple more fan made items while asking the artists questions.
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thats what sucks about otakon, they’re always hassled by baseball mongers even though im a baseball monger myself
It was not Orioles fans who did the majority of the heckling last year, it was drunken Yankees fans that were in town for the Orioles vs. Yankees meetup :/ They were complete dicks.
Hey, Nneka, thanks for pointing that out! I looked back at the article and saw it only mentioned “numerous baseball fans” so I just updated the post. I shouldn’t have made the jump of assuming it was only Orioles fans.
Having attended 3 Otakons, I’d definitely trade moving the dates around so that they can continue to use the same venue. Moving to Long Beach this year is a big reason why this year’s AX had so many problems. Otakon has been at BCC for a long time, and so they know the place inside out.
I remember the baseball hecklers while I was waiting for my badge the day before the con. Stupid jocks.