Ishikawa Hideo is a veteran voice actor who has been in anime since the early 1990s.His famous roles include Ryouma in the Getter Robo franchiseand Uchiha Itachi in Naruto.
I know you best for the role of Ryouma in Getter Robo, and you’re only one of two Japanese actors to play the character of Ryouma in the Getter Robo series. What was it like auditioning for the role, and did you look to the performance of Kamiya Akira for reference or inspiration?
Initially, I took this audition for the role of Hayato. I didn’t get Hayato, but I was asked if I’d be interested in Ryouma, and I accepted it.
In that very first anime I was in, Change! Shin Getter Robo, Kamiya-san was involved as a narrator. We already knew each other previously, but when I got the role and I met him again, Kamiya-san said, “You’re playing Ryouma? Good luck! I’m entrusting it to you!” so I was very nervous, having had that initial conversation with him.
I knew Kamiya Akira-san’s Ryouma well, of course. His yells when launching special attacks left a lasting mark on my childhood. Naturally, I was conscious of Kamiya-san’s version in mind when playing Ryouma, but one of the staff told me to forget about Kamiya-san’s. Still, there’s no way I could forget his Ryouma, so I still had it in mind when I was performing.
Do you have any advice for voice actors that have to scream a lot, given that the role of Ryouma requires a lot of yelling?
I can only say, “Take care of your voice and throat.” Lately, I’ve been seeing an increase in anime that require more screaming; looking at that, I get a little worried. “Are they taking care of their throat and voice?”
You’ve played many different Ryoumas as a result of your involvement with Getter Robo. Is there a version of Ryouma who’s your favorite?
I was a part of Shin Getter Robo, Shin vs Neo, New Getter Robo, and Getter Robo Arc—four works in total. Of them, my favorite is New Getter Robo.
Did you ever get to meet Nagai Go? If so, what was it like getting to know him?
I met him on a job unrelated to Getter Robo, which was Re: Cutie Honey. At that time, I told him that I had played Ryouma previously. It was a real honor. I told him that I’ve been a fan of his since I was little.
Did you also get to Ishikawa Ken as well?
Yes, Ishikawa-sensei came to the recording.
I’m going to pivot a bit, since you’re here for Final Fantasy. You’ve played different roles throughout the series: How does it feel to be associated with so many different characters in Final Fantasy?
For me, I think it’s a positive thing. It’s great that I can represent so many roles and the lives of so many different characters. That has been the biggest joy and also a challenge, and a lot of thought goes into it.
I want to go back to the topic of Ryouma again. You said the New Getter Robo version is your favorite. Why is that?
To be honest, it’s because Ryouma is the main character in New Getter Robo. In the previous works, he wasn’t. Because Ryouma was the lead, I had a very different approach to the work, and really enjoyed the fact that the story proceeded with Ryouma as the core.
I want to ask you about another character of yours: Itachi in Naruto. He’s one of the most popular characters I’ve ever seen in anime—you can see it among the cosplayers. I even told an Itachi fan yesterday that you’re here, and he was so surprised.
When did you learn the truth about Itachi’s character, and how did it inform your performance as a result?
Actually, I wasn’t told anything about Itachi’s past and how he cares for his brother—I was just asked to play this scary villain. Then, during Naruto’s run, the chapter that revealed the truth was released, and I was shocked just like others when I read it. “Whoa! Itachi was a good guy all along?!” From there, what I had in mind when playing the character of course had to change. Even so, all the way through, I still went with Itachi as performing the part of the villain because of how that fuels his little brother Sasuke’s hatred for him and desire to live on.
Is there any role of yours that you’re proud of that’s lesser known that you want fans to know about?
That’s a tough question! I don’t know if this is considered “lesser known,” but I saw an Otakon staff member who’s wearing a shirt from Senki Zesshou Symphogear, and I was wondering if it’s been streamed more and is more popular in America.
I know the fanbase isn’t large, but it’s very loyal. On social media, I see people who say that it’s their favorite show ever—that it’s their favorite anime, period.
Kakazu Yumi is a voice actor arguably best known for her role as Yuffie Kisaragi in the Final Fantasy franchise. I had the opportunity to interview her at Otakon 2024, where my questions focused primarily on her work in mecha anime.
One actor you seem to work with pretty often is Hiyama Nobuyuki, such as in Gaogaigar, Godannar, and even Initial D. Do you have any fun memories of performing alongside him?
Thank you for coming to this interview. I’ve been a fan for many years, and I want to start off by asking about one role I know you for that others might not think about: Shizuru in Godannar. Do you recall what it was like working on that series, and how you approached the character?
Kakazu: Shizuru is a very grounded, very mature character, and she was also a commanding officer. It is a characteristic that’s unlike me, so I tried to perform that part when I was voice acting.
Another staff member who was on Godannar was Kimura Takahiro, who recently passed away. He also worked on another series that you were involved with: Gaogaigar FINAL. Did you ever get to know him, and do you have any memorable stories about him?
Kakazu: Actually, Kimura-san came to visit the studio when we were recording, and we also spoke together on stage. At the event, he tried to apply his own makeup, but he had never done it before, so he asked, “Kakazu-san, can you help me with this?” So behind the stage, I was doing it for him.
I never knew that he cosplayed! Do you remember who he cosplayed as?
Kakazu: I think he had a white wing…? Or maybe it was Shishioh Guy. I forget.
On the topic of Gaogaigar, you returned to the role of Renais a few years ago in Super Robot Wars 30. What was it like playing Renais back when you first worked on FINAL, and did anything change for you playing the role over the years in SRW?
Kakazu: Not a lot changed.
Related to that, I was actually at the Final Fantasy panel earlier, and you mentioned playing Yuffie since Ehrgeiz. So, similar question: Do you think your performance has changed, or has it been pretty solid throughout?
Kakazu: I said this on stage, but when I first started voicing Yuffie, she was one character in a fighting game. The only sounds she had were “Hahh! Hahh!” type noises.. But over time she’s gotten more chances to speak and more lines, and now she stands alongside the other characters, showing how mainstream she’s become. I’m grateful that I was able to meet Yuffie all the way back in the beginning, and also even more grateful to the people who have supported her up until now.
Another anime you worked on is a series called RahXephon, and your character, Hiroko, has a very powerful and tragic death. And do you have any advice for voice actors on how to approach such a challenging scene?
Kakazu: So I remember getting the script when I was recording, and I remember being very focused on reading and trying to understand it. Also, I remember the pain I felt when I was recording. When I’m acting out these tragic scenes, I try to recall my personal experience, and also use my imagination to expand the performance. So maybe this isn’t advice, but I realize that everything I’ve experienced in my life has become a resource that fuels my acting and performance. So maybe the advice I would give another voice actor is to find meaning in everyday life.
You seem to act alongside the actor Hiyama Nobuyuki pretty often. Do you have any fun memories of performing alongside him in any of the shows you worked on together?
Kakazu: I actually have a lot of fun memories with him. When Hiyama would say the line, “GAO! GAI! GAAAAR!,” he would shout the line in a great big voice, and it would reverberate through his entire body. I remember the first day of this recording, he did the line, and the mic actually broke!
Oh, I found the cosplay that Kimura-sensei did. [Shows a picture of Guy from Gaogaigar.]
Ah!
I interviewed the director of Gundam X, Takamatsu Shinji, at Otakon nine years ago. Do you remember what it was like working on that series and playing the character of Sala?
Kakazu: Sala was actually my debut role as a voice actor. She’s actually second-in-command and has an important role, but she’s only 17 years old. So there’s a difference between how she has to behave as second-in-command versus how old she actually is. So it was really difficult to figure out the balance between her age and her having this mature, heavy responsibility as second-in-command. I remember working very hard figuring that out, and this contributed to learning more about voice acting.
This interview was conducted at Otakon 2024. Uchida Aya is a Japanese voice actor, famous for playing the character Minami Kotori in Love Live! School Idol Project.
Many of my questions will be Love Live!–related because I’m a fan, but coincidentally, I was in Tokyo last December, and I visited the Love Live! cafe.
Uchida: Ahhh!
I just happened to sit at a table you autographed.
Uchida: In Akihabara!
I was wondering, for my own curiosity, do you remember when you visited to sign the table?
Uchida: I think it was December!
Love Live! Is now a worldwide phenomenon; people know it everywhere. But I know it was much less popular at first. How did you get started in Love Live!?
Before I was on Love Live!, I got my first regular role on an anime project, and the music director told me that his next project was something called Love Live! That’s how I got into it.
What was it like when you first started, and at what point did you realize it was starting to get huge?
Uchida: Love Live! was a very new creation, so there was a lot of motivation across the time. And personally, I love anime and also idols, and the fact that both those things are core to this project made me very excited. This made me want to really want to take the lead and bring it to the next level, and make this work even more fun. As it gained more popularity among fans, and as I realized more and more people were listening to the songs, it made me feel very, very happy. But because it started very small, I feel like I grew with this project, and that makes it more special.
Speaking of growth, that’s something I also noticed. I first became a fan of Love Live! through the anime, and when I looked at the prior material—all the song performances and recordings and such—I noticed that you and the other members of μ’s had grown a lot as performers. In what ways do you think your performance as Kotori, in acting but also singing and dancing, had evolved over time?
Uchida: I’m not so sure about my skills improving…I was always aiming to become a voice actor and didn’t necessarily want to be an idol, standing in front of a crowd smiling and dancing. I didn’t have any intention of doing it professionally, and it was something I had to get used to and was hesitant about in the very beginning.
At some point in the middle, we started doing more live performances, and it was a challenge. But because the other members were there and we were a team, we taught each other things—dancing, practicing, etc.,—and gradually, we acquired those skills and got better. I’m glad I had friends in the same boat with me who I could strive with and improve with together.
So you’ve performed many songs with the others, including with Hanayo’s voice, Kubo Yurika. One of your songs, “Suki desu ga, Suki desu ka?” Did the ’70s feel of the song change how you two approached it?
Uchida: It’s been quite a while, so give me a moment! So it’s a song featuring our characters, Koizumi Hanayo and Minami Kotori, and it was a duet of a kind we had never done before, so it was very fun. Hanayo-chan’s voice has a very “howaaah” fluffy and cute feel, and Kotori is a very cute character herself. So I was confident it would be a cute song.
Thank you for this interview!
Postscript
Two days after I interviewed Uchida, I managed to get an autograph from her. As she signed my copy of Love Live! The School Idol Movie, she actually recognized me from the interview. I point this out because I’ve had cases where the guests do not recognize me despite having spoken to them, and it made me realize that Uchida is indeed a pro at this, be it through her experience as Kotori or in her voice acting career. I left with an even more positive impression of her.
Otakon celebrated its 30th anniversary this year in Washington DC from August 2 through 4. Somehow, despite growing from a humble event to one over 70 times bigger, Otakon still manages to keep a lot of its inner fandom heart intact.
Otakon Matsuri
2024 saw the return of the Otakon Matsuri, a free outdoor event the Thursday before the convention proper. The last time it was held, Otakon was still in Baltimore in 2016.
The small venue (right across the street from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center) had a stage that featured performances like a sumo demonstration and wotagei dance/call lessons, as well as food samples and food trucks for anyone curious and hungry. The food served wasn’t necessarily Japanese or even Asian-themed, but the variety was welcome. I did not stand in line to get some Fogo de Chao (Brazilian) but I did eat some hearty Indonesian food from the Saté food truck.
The Otakon Matsuri being an outdoor event meant it had to deal with the weekend being especially hot and humid even by already sweltering DC standards. Just standing could be an unpleasant experience, but thankfully, by the time the event started winding down to its main event—the Korean YouTube anime singer aLF—the temperature had become a bit more bearable.
I had been passingly familiar with aLF, but it was a treat to hear her sing live, the only hiccup being some issues with the speakers. Her setlist included songs like “Brave Heart” from Digimon Adventure, “Chala Head Chala” from Dragon Ball Z, and “Men of Destiny” from Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. aLF’s solid, yet ever-so-slightly raspy vocals worked especially well with “Men of Destiny” (even if it’s very different from the original singer). She also sang an original number in Korean: the opening for the Korean dub of a Kindaichi Case Files anime (aka Kim Jeon-il). While I generally prefer the original Japanese openings to shows, I like hearing localized intros if they’ve had a lot of care put into them.
General Health
The sky-high temperatures were an issue across the weekend, though I understand that it was well outside of Otakon’s control. But one thing I do want to bring up that they can address is the lack of a real masking policy. The convention encourages masks and respirators as a way to mitigate the spread of disease, but there has not been a mandate in place for a few years now. It’s easy to forget that COVID-19 still exists (and continuously mutates), that long COVID is still an ongoing issue, and there are both new and old forms of con crud hitting attendees. I know the US has pretty much abandoned any attempt to mitigate contagions through masks at this point, but I think high-density events like Otakon would benefit immensely from this. So once again, I’m hammering the point.
The (Former) Bottleneck
If there was one noticeable issue with Otakon in 2023, it was the hall leading to the Artist Alley and Dealer’s Room. The way the con is set up, the lowest floor space is dedicated to these two spaces, and they see a lot of traffic. Last year, Otakon had a point where attendees were supposed to start walking by staying to the right and then switch to staying to the left. If this sounds confusing, that’s because it is. Having to criss-cross with people walking in the opposite direction led to inevitable problems, and it made that corridor more of a chore.
This year, one big change appeared to have solved this issue. Before, the Dealer’s Room and Artist Alley were blocked off from each other, but now the space between them was opened up. The result is that, rather than making attendees go up an escalator and back through the hall to go down a different escalator, it was as simple as walking from one to the other. The result was a near-total lack of bottlenecks, and the complete elimination of the criss-cross.
Another side effect of this was that it made getting to the Autographs area easier. That section is right between the Dealer’s Room and Artist Alley, and this setup allowed those who were looking to get stuff signed to take the Artist Alley escalator instead of being forced to use the Dealer’s Room’s entrance. It was actually an unintentional bonus—Otakon staff mentioned that they did not have that in mind. Because I was looking to get some autographs myself, this was a major boon for me. As for the Autograph Area itself, well, things were more complicated.
Autographs
I know some folks who dedicate the majority of their time to autographs at conventions. My approach varies tremendously depending on the guest list, but this year there were a few guests I was hoping to see. The problem with any signings at a convention, though, is that there’s no perfect system to deal with the fact that you’ll sometimes have many more people vying for those autographs than there is available time.
For the domestic guests, they’re usually around for long periods, and people generally have to pay for autographs. The foreign (i.e. Japan and Korea–based) guests typically operate by different rules: They’re present for one or two one-hour sessions across the weekend, but charge nothing. As I focus more on the latter type of guest, I got to experience Otakon’s approach quite a bit.
This is not my first Otakon by any means, and this spot by the Dealer’s Room has been the Autograph Area for many years now while always running into similar issues about how to manage the space. This year, the rule was that attendees were only allowed to line up 30 minutes before the start of a signing, but they were also not allowed to loiter in the area until then, lest they incur the very vocal wrath of the staff in charge. It’s an understandable policy meant to prevent fire hazards resulting from huge amounts of people stuffed into that area, but the result is this bizarre meta where the hopeful have to test the limits of what is okay, see how well they can judge the rush that occurs right as the minute hits, and also accept random luck.
For example, I initially failed to get an autograph for Uchida Aya (Kotori from Love Live!) because I got blocked out by a closely packed group of cosplayers. The second time, I managed to get through because I ended up very close, but also because a person a little in front of me had a panic attack from getting tightly packed in between a bunch of bodies—and it would have been worse because I could feel the crowd behind me pushing up against me. I can’t help but feel that the Autograph Area in Baltimore (away from the Dealer’s Room) was a better space, though the Japanese signings were split up from the domestic signings back then.
I also encountered the scourge of signings in modern times: the Funkopops. From what I understand, people looking to sell famous autographs and make a profit often use Funkopops as their item of choice due to their relatively low cost and popularity. The problem is that these profit-focused outsiders can end up crowding out actual fans, so Otakon (and other cons) implement varying degrees of anti-Funkopop policies, with some coming from the guests’ teams themselves. In the case of one guest, it was announced at the last second that they would not sign any figures (not just Funkopops). I couldn’t help but feel sorry for those who meant well and brought their favorite figure merch, not realizing that others had ruined it for them.
Ultimately, I ended up with autographs from Uchida Aya and Kakazu Yumi (Renais from Gaogaigar FINAL and Shizuru from Godannar), plus Japan-based American talent Diana Garnet and manga artist Aiba Kyoko. I think I made out pretty okay.
Fan Panels
I’m a bit ashamed to say that I didn’t attend very many fan panels this year, so I didn’t really get the chance to see anyone with whom I was unfamiliar. Here are a couple of highlights, though.
Ani-Merry Christmas
I’ve attended a number of Viga’s panels over the years, and this one was all about Christmas in anime. It was a fun journey through its portrayal in the media of a that treats it less like a time for family and/or religious reflection and more like a “third Valentine’s Day,” as Viga put it. There were some titles I recognized and expected, but also a couple that I’d never heard of. It was one of the first panels Friday morning, and a nice way to kick off the con officially.
Anime in Non-Anime
Gerald from Anime World Order ran this panel, and this was a new version of one I’d seen before a number of Otakons ago: Anime in Non-Anime. However, the central thrust of the presentation differed significantly, and that’s because anime has reached actual mainstream recognition in recent years. Thus, talking about all the ways anime pops up in funny ways on the news and such doesn’t quite have the same meaning. Instead, the panel was all about going back to the times when anime was niche and liking it might get you proverbially (or literally) shoved into a locker, and the joy one felt when any show had even the slightest nod to anime.
Fitness in Anime is WHACK and Here’s Why…
I’m not a very physically active person, but I was curious what this was about. The person running the panel mentioned being a track athlete in the past, and called a lot of things cringe. The general takeaways were that anime bodies aren’t realistic because training for different goals will produce different bodies, and the cut and chiseled figures you see are often a result of aesthetic bodybuilding. Also, the exercises that make you want to exercise more are better than great ones that you’ll never want to do. Incidentally, it was one of two “fitness in anime” panels this weekend, and each was run by a different person. Quite the coincidence.
I feel I need to put a reminder on myself to make the effort to look at fan panels and not just get enticed away by the glamor of the industry stuff. With that said…
Industry
Final Fantasy
The biggest industry guests this year were probably the Final Fantasy VII Remake crew. Not only is VII just a major part of video game history, but the guests included Japanese and English voice actors, as well as staff that had worked on Final Fantasy games for decades. The producer of VII Remake, Kitase Yoshinori, was also the director on Chrono Trigger in the 1990s.
I have never truly played Final Fantasy VII in any form, and so my interest was limited, but I still went to their biggest panel just to see what might come up. Outside of a couple surprise video-only appearances (including Vincent dub actor and Critical Role DM Matt Mercer), it was mostly an audience Q&A. One thing that was interesting was the format they used to take questions: attendees could submit questions online, which would then be filtered by the Square-Enix staff. It was a decent middle ground between totally curated questions and an entirely open mic, allowing for some degree of spontaneity. There wasn’t a whole lot of interesting info, but I did learn that Cait Sith has a Kansai accent in Japanese, and that Kakazu Yumi has been voicing Yuffie all the way since the 1998 fighting game Ergheiz.
Aiba Kyoko
Manga artists are notoriously busy, so it was a pleasant surprise to see not just one, but two at Otakon. Neither are massive names in the business, but getting to hear any artists talk about their work and processes is valuable.
Aiba Kyoko is mostly known for her BL work, and she ran a panel Friday morning focused on tips to help artists draw in a more “manga”-esque style compared to more typical American comics. She prefaced it by saying that neither approach is worse than the other, but for artists who are always wondering why their art might seem “off,” it might have to do with the stuff one absorbs by growing up in and being surrounded by a particular culture (or lack thereof). For example, the barrel-chested, inverted-triangle superhero anatomy often signals power in American comics. In Japanese media, popular strong characters are often not only thinner but also have a casual nonchalance to their posture that demonstrates a cool confidence. Aiba went with extreme examples to make a point, but I think it was illustrated well.
She took drawing requests from the audience, and we ended up with Michael Keaton Batman and Mordecai from Regular Show. She specifically mentioned how she still has some trouble drawing in that American style, and that she had to widen her Batman drawing to make it look right.
One of the coolest things Aiba showed was actually how she uses kinesio tape (or perhaps some offbrand equivalent?) on her hand. I’ve never used it so I may have this wrong, but I believe she said that the tape actually has to be wrapped in a way that it pulls in the opposite direction of the muscle to stabilize it.
Kino Hinoki
The other artist was Kino Hinoki, whose works include the manga adaptation of NO.6 and a series called Setsuna Graffiti, bout a fireworks maker. Her panel was on Sunday. Funnily enough, Aiba was also there helping the interpreter with obscure manga-specific terms and literally running around with the mic for Q&A.
Kino was very forthcoming with information and tips. Comparing her work on NO.6 to other manga, she mentioned needing to do a lot more plotting in advance (it being an adaptation and all). She gave a tip on using screentone on faces, which is to only use it on closeups. She also cautioned artists to be careful of making what people in the industry derogatorily refer to as “face manga,” i.e. are just close-up headshots with little variety. And when asked about her biggest inspirations, Kino answered 1) Arakawa Hiromu (Fullmetal Alchemist) for the way she constructs and composes her stories, and 2) Tanemura Arina (Full Moon o Sagashite) for her illustrations.
I asked her if she had her own editor or if she worked with the ones at different publishers, and she said the latter (which is more common). Other fun trivia included the fact that she pole dances as a hobby, she’s left-handed (and thus has to deal with the fact that most devices for digital artists tend to favor righties), and her favorite FMA character is Edward (she likes good-looking short characters).
Animeigo + Discotek
Animeigo has been bringing anime to home video for English-speaking fans since the 1980s, and they’re still alive and kicking. But recently, there was a big change as the original president, Robert Woodhead, sold the company to MediaOCD’s Justin Sevakis, himself an industry veteran. At Otakon, the new Animeigo announced their plans to bring back their known titles in improved editions, such as Megazone 23 and Bubblegum Crash—but also to license rescue works from outside their catalog, like Full Moon o Sagashite. This will be the first time that Full Moon is fully available legally in the US, as the previous release many years ago stalled. This series was an internet darling in the 2000s, and I expect a lot of fans from that era to rise back up for it.
The basic takeaway was that Animeigo and Sevakis came across as very dedicated to media preservation and giving it their all to make releases worth owning. It’s similar in a lot of ways to Discotek, the other current publisher really dedicated to retro anime—a company to which Sevakis also lends his and MediaOCD’s video restoration and authoring skills on a regular basis.
The Animeigo panel was followed by the Discotek panel in the same room. Like every year, it was chock full of announcements, so many that they couldn’t even fit them all in, showing them through an extra stream after the panel had ended. My personal highlights were a trio of mecha works: Space Musketeer Bismark (the original Japanese version of Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs), the HD blu-ray version of Giant Gorg, and the utterly unexpected Groizer X.
I attended the Friday concert by FLOW, a band I’m quite familiar with—I even got their autograph many years ago at another convention.
The group was here as part of a world tour that is specifically focused on their anime music. Before the concert began, voices from the titles they worked on gave words of encouragement: Team 7 from Naruto, Lelouch from Code Geass, and Eureka and Renton from Eureka Seven, among others.
Their set list was as follows.
01 BURN
02 KAZE NO UTA
03 LOVE AND JUSTICE
04 Steppin’ out (Intro, Long version)
05 CHA-LA-HEAD-CHA-LA
06 HERO~Kibou no Uta~
07 DAYS
08 Brave Blue
09 COLORS
10 WORLD END
11 United Sparrows
12 Re:member
13 Member Introduction: Tick Tack
14 Sign ~ Intro Long Version
15 GO !!!
16 GOLD
One could tell how popular a particular show/song was based on the rumbling along the floor. A very new song like their Kinnikuman opening got some cheers. “DAYS” from Eureka Seven definitely caught people’s attention (It’s my favorite song of theirs). “COLORS” reflected that Code Geass was indeed a defining anime for a great many. But when “GO!!!” from Naruto hit, the floor literally felt like it was undulating from the stomps and excitement. I think it really says how essential and fundamental Naruto was to the fandom, and how much that fifth opening helped put FLOW on the map. It’s literally one of two openings people will generally point to as the series intro (the other being “Haruka Kanata”). Overall, it was an excellent time.
Retro AMVs
Otakon this year brought back old school Anime Music Videos, this time from its 1996 Otakon AMV contest. I’ve never been that big on AMVs in general, but there’s just something fun about it as a time capsule. As expected, the anime involved were the fan darlings of the era: Bubblegum Crisis, Armitage III, so much Tenchi Muyo!, and so on. I highly recommend checking this out at least once, not least of which is because of the level of technology the AMV makers had to work with at the time. I do wonder how attendees who weren’t around for this era of anime feel when watching these.
Miscellaneous
Skipped the Korean Content
I keep not attending the Korean stuff despite having every intention to check out at least a little. Maybe next time!
30th Anniversary Exhibit
Near the front entrance was a special area showcasing memorabilia from every Otakon since the very beginning, including things like Otakon Vegas and 2020’s Otakon Online. It was fun reminiscing on all the past Otakons I had attended, and to see what came before I ever started going.
The most astounding thing is realizing just how much it’s grown: 1994 had only 350 attendees, and now it’s over 50,000! At the Closing Ceremony, the staff revealed that the entirety of the first Otakon would have fit into the relatively modest 30th anniversary exhibition area.
Otakon 2025 Hotel Reservation Fiasco
Although this has nothing to do with Otakon 2024, I do need to point out the numerous problems that occurred with reserving hotels for 2024. Otakon announced that the hotel blocks would open at 12PM EST on August 13. Many other conventions have similar queuing systems for everything from autographs to concerts, and usually the point of the queue is that the order is randomized to be more fair to people who couldn’t get there right on the dot.
However, this was not the case for Otakon, which ended up being a first come, first served system. That in itself was potentially not an issue, but Otakon did not communicate clearly that it was non-random, and the social media didn’t announce that they were actually starting at 11AM until the day before. On top of all that, they had apparently tried to test the system at around 1030AM, which opened the queue and allowed people who were waiting to get in before even the earlier start time.
I hope Otakon can fix this problem for next year, as it is one of their biggest missteps in years.
Food
In addition to the above-mentioned Saté food truck at the Matsuri, I ate at a number of spots over the weekend. As always, the Caribbean food in the convention center is probably the best deal and consistently delicious (though be warned that it’s still convention prices). SUNdeVICH is another mainstay of the Otakon trip, and this year I got their bulgogi-based Seoul sandwich. The kimchi and slaw make it really work. Dolcezza’s gelato is as good as ever.
I also visited a small German restaurant called Prost DC, and got the sauerbraten (see above). It was surprisingly pleasant, and made me reevaluate my previously very neutral opinion on this national dish of Germany.
Cosplay
Closing Thoughts
At the Q&A session on the final day, there were a few people who expressed that they wished it felt more like a 30th anniversary celebration, but I think it feels very Otakon to just do a solid job of putting on a convention. Just about everything I enjoy about Otakon is still there, and I have faith that the hiccups and issues that are there will be at least partly improved by the next go around.
I want to end with a little story: At the Matsuri, I was sitting with some friends, one of whom was chatting with someone else sharing the table. This young individual was attending Otakon for the first time, and they had come to this event cosplaying as Inuyasha. I was a little surprised because the heyday of Inuyasha (and its ubiquitous cosplay at cons) had long passed, but I found out that Inuyasha was this person’s first anime ever. It really felt like time is on some mysterious cycle; perhaps all too appropriate for a 30th anniversary.
OGIUE MANIAX 