The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society Miscellanea and Ephemeron

Otakon returned to the Baltimore Convention Center and the Hilton for it’s 17th year. From July 29 to 31 (in the midst of the impressive heatwave,) cosplayers, attendees of all ages took over the inner harbor for the biggest convention on the East coast. Second biggest in the US. Japanese movie premieres took place throughout the weekend which brought a guest list that encompassed directors, producers and seiyuus. Director Shinkai Makoto-san of Voices of Distant Star came to introduce his new movie, Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below. Director Bob Shirohata-san and Sasanuma Akira (Austria,) promoted the movie Hetalia: Paint It White. Director Murata Kazuya-san was present to show the fans the latest addition to one of the most popular series of the decade, Fullmetal Alchemist: Sacred Star of Milos. Director Ozaki Masayuki for Tiger and Bunny, Director Ishiguro Noboru’s latest project Angel Scandys…the list was extensive. Our own talents of the US were present as well. Voice actors Johnny Yong Bosch, Scott Freeman, Tom Wayland, Cassandra Lee and more were in attendance and had packed rooms and screaming fans. Peter S. Beagle made his third appearance at Otakon sharing his wisdom, his thoughts for the future generation.

Fashion designers and ambassadors, introducing and discussing the latest of the chic of culture and fashion in Japan, Sixh, Takamasa Sakurai and the Baby the Stars Shine Bright tookover the runways. The musical guests included Chemistry, Kylee, Eyeshine and the genius and legend, Uematsu Nobuo. His presence and words surprised us all.

The convening of fans who share a love of anime, manga, games, fashion and music. Truly, one convention center (and an arena) is not big enough to whole them all.

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Yoshida Toshifumi assisted with the interpretertation for Ishiguro Noboru-san and Murata Kazuya-san while another staff interptered for Shinkai Makoto-san. Yoshida began by introducing the panel itself, with the comment that “But none of the producers actually want to come up so it’ll be a directors panel.” One of the staff noted that since Yoshida himself was a producer for both US and Japanese, he should be a panelist to which Yoshida replied, “No, I’m not a panelist. I don’t work for the company that I work for.”

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The press conference for Shinkai Makoto-san was held in the Sheraton on the 2nd floor. Many people were in attendance and below is the verbatim transcription of the interview.
Shinkai Makoto-san gave his introduction that has become very familiar in a comforting way.

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Aniplex never cease to surprise me. They have always utilized the current media trends to get attention, to advertise. They know the net is a cheap way to get the fans to get the word out. At NYAF 2010, they incorporated texting into their Drrr!!! scavenger hunt. At the Otakon movie preimere, Funimation plugged their twitter hashtag of #FMAMilos and their Facebook page. Of course, following that, they asked everyone to put all electronics away.

Funimation and Aniplex staff introduced the film along with director of the movie, Murata Kazuya. They noted the effort and dedication of the staff on both sides of the globe in order to make it for the US premiere. It truly is an amazing feat: the movie opened in Japan on July 2nd and already, the evening of July 30, the movie could be shown in the US. It was no small estimate to say the excitement and anticipation of the crowd was at a fevered pitch. Yet, we were also excited to hear Murata-san’s words to the fans.

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Shinkai Makoto is a native of the Nagano prefecture in Japan. While in middle school, exposure to manga, anime, and novels birthed his desire for creation. One of these anime was Castle in the Sky by Hayao Miyazaki which he describes as his favorite. This desire led to his studies in Japanese literature at university.

His works include the award winning She and Her Cat, Voices of a Distant Star which was written, directed, and produced entirely by himself and in which he voiced in the original, the critically acclaimed The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and the multiple award winning series of short stories in the film 5 Centimeters Per Second. ~Otakon guest info

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Ishiguro Noboru is best known as a director, with some of his notable titles including Space Battleship Yamato, Macross, Megazone 23, Astro Boy (1980), Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Tytania. Ishiguro drafted the story for Megazone 23 based on his personal views of government, having seen his own mislead with lies and obfuscation to lead the people to war. Ishiguro also founded his own studio, Artland, in 1978. He currently remains a part of the studio as Chairman, while also pursuing his love of directing. Fans meeting Ishiguro at Otakon will also have the chance to his new directorial project: Angel ScandyS! ~Otakon guest info

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Nobuo Uematsu is one of the most celebrated composers in the video game field. He has achieved global recognition for his work on the FINAL FANTASY series that has been performed by world-class orchestras around the world. Nobuo Uematsu has been recognized as a major contributor in the increasing appreciation and awareness of video game music. A prime example is the FINAL FANTASY VIII theme song, “Eyes on Me, composed and produced by him. His song featured Hong Kong pop star Faye Wong and sold a record 400,000 copies. It also won “Song of the Year (Western Music)” at the 14th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1999, which was the first time in history that music from a video game had attained this illustrious honor. The music from the game series has grown to such notoriety, Nobuo Uematsu was named as one of the “Innovators” in Time Magazine’s Time 100: the Next Wave Music feature.

Mr Uematsu appears by special arrangement with Distant Worlds and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.~Otakon guest info

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Shirohata Bob has directed various well loved series such as Gravitation, Diamond Daydreams, Let’s Dance With Papa and the smash hit series, Hetalia Axis Powers, Hetalia World Series and Hetalia the Movie, Paint it, White!.

Sasanuma Akira has lent his voice to many wonderful anime and game titles over the years, Some of his most well known roles include Link from the Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess and Super Smash Bros., Dearka Elsman in the Mobile Suit Gundam SeeD Series, and as Austria in the internationally beloved Hetalia Axis Powers, Hetalia World Series and Hetalia the Movie, Paint it, White! ~Otakon guest info

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