Otakon 2011 - Concert and Panel Impressions

Every year, Otakon brings some of Japan's most popular musical acts to the United States to perform live. This year, their two main acts were the two-man team Chemistry, and the Japanese-American teen singer Kylee. Both performed in a large hall below the convention center; with Chemistry's concert held on Friday night and Kylee's on Sunday morning. Both gave strong performances and garnered enthusiastic responses from the audience. Both guests brought a distinct flair and utilized the venue’s lighting and large projection screens. Chemistry also brought a team of backup dancers and put on an impressive hour-long combination of favorite songs and fast-paced dance routines, while Kylee’s act included a full band and was a more traditional but no less energetic show.

Otakon instituted several new policies regarding their concerts to help alleviate crowding and make the experience smoother and more enjoyable. The first was the introduction of ac"seating period" noted on the official schedule. This offered a reliable view of when to show up, and helped to eliminate the long lines and wasted hours that plagued previous events. The artists' merchandise tables were open during the seating period and the concert itself, right inside the hall so items could be purchased conveniently without leaving the room. Both artists held autograph sessions after the concert, but Chemistry’s was moved to an autograph room so the hall could be prepared for the Otakon Dance.

The third concert I attended was a rare example of one put on by an American industry partner: Bandai Entertainment's K-On! Invades Otakon Concert. It was held in a large panel room rather than the larger hall reserved for main events, and featured voice actresses from the English dub cast singing Japanese songs from the series. The event was very well-attended (a long line was in place 45 minutes before the scheduled start time) and offered an unusual but exciting experience. While it felt more like a fan production and was not quite as professional or enthralling an event as the major concerts, the singers’ enthusiasm for the material was evident and the performance ended up being an exciting experience.

Beyond its large concerts, Otakon also offers a number of panels and workshops. I attended three panels this year, two industry and one fan-run. All three offfered wildly different experiences that demonstrate how the synergy between industry and community makes Otakon an amazing event to visit. I would have liked to attend more, but there is simply so much to do every year that sacrifices must be made.

After spending a large portion of my day in the dealer's room and going to the Chemistry concert, I ended the night with the late-night "Let's Play Eroge" panel. Because it was an 18+ panel, I won't go into specifics of what went on, but instead generally explain what made it fun, Some of the content was of a nature that some people would find objectionable, and in fact there were people leaving the panel throughout. After running through a brief introduction to what "eroge" (the adult subset of a video game genre called visual novels) were, the three energetic girls hosting the panel launched into demonstrating some of their favorite titles-- starting with an uncomfortable title put forth by some audience members. The panelists then explained how to get visual novels, and demonstrated the process of applying an unofficial patch to translate a Japanese-only title into English. The other main event of the panel was a contest in which four attendees narrated and voice acted a sequence from an adult VN. This was very humorous, especially.given the performance by one enthusiastic male cosplayer with an impressive array of voices. Overall, it was a great opportunity to spend time with other fans and an excellent first panel from the presenters. I hope that it will grow and return next year.

My second panel of the weekend was the "Bandai Entertainment After Dark" industry panel, which occurs every year and is one of the highlights of the Otakon experience for me. These events combine some of the humor usually found In community-run events with information about new releases and title acquisitions. Bandai also usually brings along a guest or two as well as their staff members. This year, the K-On band (including Otakon guests Stephanie Sheh and Cristina Vee) was in attendance to sing and discuss roles they have played In Bandai titles. and both voice actor Johnny Yong Bosch and composer/violinist Hiro Yura joined the Bandai staff to discuss their work as well. These two guests provided some of the panel's high points, with Johnny humorously singing a tune while playing the ukulele (which he had never used before) and Yura-san giving a stellar performance of a piece from The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. Bandai showed clips from a number of upcoming titles including Mobile Suit Gundam, Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer, Star Driverand Tekken: Blood Vengeance. They also announced two new anime titles, Nichijou and Gosick and confirmed their licenses of the Nichijou and Code Geass Renya manga series. The panel was a lot of fun and informational, and I hope Bandai continues to hold these unique Otakon events.

The last panel I attended was MangaGamer's industry presentation, which was a relaxed but traditional panel experience. MangaGamer had its lead editor Koryou and some of the beta testers I'n attendance, and showed video clips and screenshots from several recently released and upcoming titles. Special attention was paid to Kara no Shoujo, a murder mystery released In May, a band-centered game called DearDrops that is slated for release early next year, and a significant amount if hype was put forth for Overdrive's upcoming Dengeki Stryker, an extremely ambitious all-ages superhero title featuring music by JAM Project's Masaki Endoh and animated sequences directed by the legendary Nabeshin .They also announced licenses for an an additional two adult titles, Harem Party and Conquering the Queen, details of the upcoming video and comic sections, and the impending release of We Love Master on the following day. The panel closed, after it's scheduled ending time, with a Q&A session and trivia contest. The panel was not very well attended, possibly due to a last-minute schedule change that confused potential attendees for two panels, which was sad because the content was good and the panelists were knowledgable and passionate. The change in attendance was also strange considering that the subject-related "Let's Play Eroge" panel had filled the same room the day before. Nonetheless, getting a glimpse into some of the workings behind a small, distributed company like Mangagamer is a unique experience I was happy to have, and their products and news were interesting enough to be worth attending. The only thing that I would consider might have been missing would be some more demonstration of the games themselves, even just a couple minutes worth, instead of just opening videos and screenshots.

My experiences represent only a fraction of what was available at Otakon this year, but I was very happy with the panels and concerts I chose to visit. I hope that the industry, guests, and fans will prepare similar offerings next year.