Is Otakon a con you oughta go to? We once again attended Otakon with our good friends from Weekly Shogakukan Edition, Sakaki and Jecka, and we’ve got a lOTA KONversation on this year’s event, because boy was this Otakon eventful! This was THE most attended Otakon ever, and there was good reason for this to be such a big Otakon, because there were some big guests and features at the con this year! With guests including famous voice actors like Toshio Furukawa and Shino Kakinuma, production staff like the Studio Trigger team and Studio Orange’s Yoshihiro Watanabe, great fan-run panels from our MangaTwitter peers, big industry panels from companies like Denpa and Discotek, and premiere showings of the dubs of Cyberpunk Edgerunner, Kaiji, and Gunbuster!

In addition to attending panels and hanging around the con, we also conducted interviews with Mariya Ise, Furkuawa & Kakinuma, Yoshihiro Watanabe, and Studio Trigger! I’m including the audio of my interview with Mariya Ise before the main discussion of this podcast, and the interview with Furkawa and Kakinuma with an upcoming Lum Squad podcast episode! You can read the transcripts of all our interviews on our website MangaMavericks.com as we continue to publish them!
With so much to do at Otakon, there was so much for us to talk about, and a lot of discussion for you to listen to! So much so that we can’t possible cover all the highlights in the conversation, so check out our Twitter threads livetweeting most of the events we attended in the timestamps for even more details! So listen to our chat on all the panels, screenings, guests, interviews, signings, food, purchases, moments, and the LINES that make Otakon 2022 one of the most memorable and most attended Otakons in history!

Con you believe it? Well, you Ota!

For a complete list of links and Community Shout-Outs mentioned in this episode, visit this podcast's webpage at: http://all-comic.com/2022/manga-mavericks-ep-212-otakon-2022/

PODCAST BREAKDOWN:

00:21 - Intro & Overview

02:41 - Community Shout-Outs

04:40 - Mariya Ise Interview!

22:40 - Otakon 2022 Report!

23:52 - The LINES
25:31 - The Autograph Lines, Especially
31:13 - Jecka getting a Detective Conan volume signed by Toshio Furukawa & Shino Kakinuma!
34:00 - Staff & Management
35:52 - Health Mandates
37:37 - Line Management, Security Checks, & Covid Wristbands
41:18 - Communication with Attendees, Guests, and Press
42:50 - Toshio Furukawa & Shino Kakinuma Q&A, Panel, & Interview
50:50 - Convention Layout
53:45 - Studio Trigger Cyberpunk Edgerunner Screening, Live-Drawing Panel, & Interview
1:11:13 - Mariya Ise Interview in the Marriott Hotel
1:13:43 - Dealer’s Room Thoughts & Purchases
1:26:13 - Food & Water Offerings at Otakon
1:33:20 - Mariya Ise Q&A Panel
1:35:10 - Studio Orange Panel & Yoshihiro Watanabe Interview
1:38:05 - Kaiji Dub Premiere
1:48:34 - Miyazaki Before Ghibli Panel
1:49:06 - Artist Alley
1:57:00 - Sports Anime You Don’t Know & Japan’s Vanishing Landmarks
1:57:28 - Denpa Panel
1:57:58 - Project A-Ko 2 Remaster Screening
1:58:09 - A Century of Japanese Stop-Motion: Rudolph to Rilakuma
2:00:04 - Azuki Panel
2:01:12 - Phone Power Scare During Furukawa & Kakinuma Interview
2:01:47 - Gunbuster Dub Premiere
2:04:45 - Discotek Panel
2:09:10 - For Boys By Girls: The Women Who Make Shonen Manga Panel
2:10:05 - VLord building Sakaki a PC over the Weekend
2:13:30 - Sakaki & Jecka’s Sunday Dealer’s Room Experience
2:15:30 - AMV Contest
2:19:13 - Gudetama & Genki Dama
2:21:03 - The Enthusiasm of the Discotek Panel Crowd
2:24:51 - Motonobu Hori Q&A Panel
2:29:11 - Harumi Fujita & Takahiro Izutani Panel
2:30:17 - My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Panel
2:32:12 - Internet Connection in the Convention Center
2:32:55 - Panel Room Sizes
2:34:06 - Folks we met at Otakon
2:38:28 - Press Operations
2:42:00 - Final Thoughts

2:50:25 - Wrap-Up

Enjoy the show, and follow us on twitter at @manga_mavericks, on tumblr at mangamavericks.tumblr.com, and on Youtube! You can fo