Con Report: Zenkaikon 2012
Or How I Learned to Forsake My Watch and Love the Con
05.22.12
Snapshot: Dramatis Personae
05.21.12
Impressions: Mysterious Girlfriend X Episodes 2-5
05.16.12
Review: Domu – A Child's Dream
Otomo's Psychic Showdown
05.14.12
Drunken Otaku: Great Drinker – Conker the Squirrel
05.10.12
Folks who listened to our last podcast episode will know that Ani-Gamers was unfortunately not approved for any interviews at Otakon 2009. So, to make up for this situation, Evan attended a group press conference held by Otakon Press Ops, with guests Noboru Ishiguro, Masao Maruyama, Yukio Kikukawa, and Hidenori Matsubara. The "press conference" part means that, unlike an interview, this meeting entailed a variety of news outlets taking turns asking questions of the guests. Keep an ear out for Evan at the press conference, and enjoy the show!
Show notes (including summaries of each guest's body of work) and links can be found after the break.
(Runtime: 1 hour, 3 minutes)
[0:00:00] Intro: Voice actor Kyle Hebert (recorded at AnimeNEXT 2009)
[0:00:08] Opening Song: "R.O.D Theme" by Taku Iwasaki (R.O.D. OVA opener)
[0:00:21] Evan provides some background info about the recording for listeners, including brief descriptions of the careers of each guest at the press conference, who are Noboru Ishiguro (director: Space Battleship Yamato, Macross, Legend of the Galactic Heroes), Masao Maruyama (founder/producer at Madhouse), Yukio Kikukawa (producer: Legend of the Galactic Heroes), Hidenori Matsubara (character designer: Ah! My Goddess, Gankustuou; animation director: Rebuild of Evangelion).
[0:03:45] The press conference proper gets started with a question from Anime World Order's Gerald, and the rest of the folks in the audience quickly launch into questions of their own. The conference topics range from very specific (Ishiguro's reasons for naming a city in Orguss "Atlanta") to very general (the difficulties in creating an anime studio). Other than the previously-mentioned AWO, the outlets present at the press conference included the Advanced Media Network, Ogiue Maniax, and the Reverse Thieves.
[1:00:36] Ending Song: "WORLD END Instrumental" by FLOW (Code Geass R2 second opener)
[1:01:15] Outro: This was the funny stuff that happened directly before we started the press conference, when we actually asked questions of the translator. Highlight: Carl (Ogiue Maniax) asks about "translation influences."
One thing that immediately struck me when I was scheduling interviews for Otakon 2009 was the sheer number of high-profile creators who were invited as guests. Despite the J-rockers and voice actors, there were a surprising number of Japanese guests whose work behind-the-scenes has been incredibly significant to the history of the anime medium.
Perhaps the three most notable of these people were director Noboru Ishiguro (Space Battleship Yamato, Macross, Megazone 23) and producers Masao Maruyama (founder of studio Madhouse) and Yukio Kikukawa (Legend of the Galactic Heroes). What is unfathomable is that, despite these guests being phenomenally important people in anime fandom, they were simply not recognized for their achievements by the typically young, typically uninformed masses present at Otakon.
On Friday, I walked into the autograph room for Masao Maruyama, which should have been filled or at least halfway filled in the last fifteen minutes before the end of the signing session for the prolific producer and planner of such shows as Death Note, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Perfect Blue, Trigun, and much, much more. But in addition to Maruyama, Noboru Ishiguro AND Yukio Kikukawa were also in the room. The director of Macross was there! A huge line wound out into the hallway for Kanon Wakeshima (a musician who performed ONE anime theme), but do you want to guess how many people were in the room for autographs from the three creators when I walked in? Zero. Nobody. No line, no people, nothing.
But maybe that was a problem of announcements, right? Maybe the kids just didn't know that Ishiguro would be there. Well, at the opening ceremonies, the convention showed off its new opening animation, created by studio Madhouse. Near the end, it showed a string of sci-fi references, starting with Gundam, and ending with the Starship Enterprise. Cheers all around for every robot and spaceship that showed up. But the moment that the final ship appeared, the clapping instantly stopped. Wanna take a guess which ship it was?
Bingo. It was Space Battleship Yamato, the iconic refurbished WWII battleship used in the famous, fandom-shifting 1979 TV anime of the same name. And surprise surprise, it was directed by none other than Noboru Ishiguro.
But let's not get too pessimistic here. I did have one positive experience with the "new fandom" reaction to some of the old guests, in the form of a teenager who had seen "Noboru Ishiguro" on his schedule somewhere. He came up to me and asked, to my surprise, "Who's 'Noburo Ishigura?'" Incorrect pronunciation aside, I was more than happy to briefly explain Ishiguro's prolific career to him.
Yes, the kid didn't know who Ishiguro was, but that's not the crime being committed by most convention-goers. The real problem is that nobody is doing what that kid was doing: Nobody is ASKING who Noboru Ishiguro is! If all of these young convention-goers simply looked at their Pocket Guide or asked a con staffer or panel attendee who the obscure guests were, they would find that there are very interesting people at conventions who get next to no attention from fans.
If you're a new fan looking to head out to one of your first conventions, remember that it's perfectly understandable to not know who a guest is, but not asking about them is absolutely inexcusable.
So the title of "largest anime convention on the East Coast" wasn't enough to convince you to attend Otakon? Its reputation as the premier fan-run con just didn't sway you? Well, the Baltimore convention, to be held on the weekend of July 17-19, just might change your mind with a triple-whammy of guests, all announced this evening.
First up is Mr. Noboru Ishiguro, the celebrated anime director whose sparkling resume includes such science fiction classics as Space Battleship Yamato (season one), Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, the 1980's Astro Boy remake, Megazone 23 Part I, and much much more.
On a related note, anime producer Yukio Kikukawa will also be at the convention. While his list of titles is far more humble (only three according to the Anime News Network), he holds the special distinction of having been producer of 1980's science fiction epic Legend of the Galactic Heroes during its 110-episode run.
The third and final guest announcement to come out of Otakon today is that of Hidenori Matsubara, a character designer and animator who worked on character design in Oh My Goddess. In fact, I am particularly interested not just in Matsubara's character design credits (which also include Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo), but also in his work as animation director on none other than Rebuild of Evangelion, Gainax's most recent reboot of the Eva franchise.
Three guest announcements on one day, and one of them is an absolute megaton! To be honest, I'm getting more and more excited about Otakon every day. Ink, Uncle Yo, and I will all be at the show, so we will definitely have some interviews with some folks from the fantastic guest list. If you have any suggestions for who we should speak to, drop us a comment here in this thread or send us an email at evanm [at] anigamers [dot] com.
And if you've decided at the last minute that you want to attend Otakon, you still have a few days left to pre-register!
