Here is a quick look at the times of major industry panels.  Unfortunately, if AX was sparse, Otakon is a desert.  However, we’ve already had action with Bandai and there are indications that there is more to come, and Funimation has pretty much said that they’ll have something to say, so it might not be completely worthless:

Friday, July 17
12:30 PM: Madhouse
2:00 PM: Aniplex TBA
3:00 PM: Aniplex
9:00 PM: Bandai Entertainment

Saturday, July 18
10:00 AM: Funimation

Sunday, July 19
10:00 AM: Funimation TBD

And that’s it as far as I can see.  TokyoPop, ADV/Sentai, and Media Blasters seem to be major companies skipping the cons altogether this year, while smaller companies like Kadokawa, Seven Seas, and Go! Comi have been no where to be found either.  CMX, Right Stuf, Viz, and Yen Press were at least at AX, but aren’t at Otakon as far as I can see.  Just look at it this way: the Japanese production companies appear to just as well represented as the US licensing and production companies.

Also, who schedules their industry panel at 9PM? (OK, maybe Bandai didn’t have a choice in the matter, but, unless there is a reason for doing so, that seems sort of like a screw up).

In any case, as usual I’ll try to follow the action in Baltimore the best I can from my home base here.

Sorry for not writing in so long.  Apparently I did something to my foot Friday evening, because it started aching Saturday morning and just got worse though the day before I had to throw in the towel after the Kadokawa panel and leave.  I hoped that it would get better overnight, but alas, it still hurts like a bitch, so I don’t know whether I’ll even be able to head over to the BCC at all today, which is a shame.

If you didn’t hear elsewhere, Bandai announced the .hack//G.U. trilogy at their Bandai Surprise panel last night which I had been planning on attending.

In theory there should be a lot of stuff goingon at the ADV panel and I really want to go see it. *curses at foot*

Holy cow that Pregreg line was long.  When I got there, the line was out the door, wrapped all the way down the side of the convention center down Howard Street, wrapped behind the back to Sharp Street (the road that runs under the 3rd and 4th floor of the BCC), and maybe a quarter down that road.

However, it looks like I got there at the right time, though, because about a half hour later (after I had already gotten in the BCC) it decided to rain like heck…and the line was still wrapped all the way down the Howard Street side of the BCC.

Like I said on twitter, I saw a Lucky Star badge and a Code Geass badge, along with the Fullmetal Alchemist badge that I got.  I’m not even sure what the rest were.  Last year they had a thing with all the badges on it up halfway through the line, so you could look at them before you get to the booth, but they didn’t when I went through, so I didn’t get a good chance to see all of the badges.

As for the schedule, it still looks the same as it was online.  There is still a big ol’ TBA in the HD hall between 8:30 PM and 10:30 PM as well as Panel 1 between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM, both on Monday.  I have to think that they are either really big shows to not even tell us what they are the day before, or they really have no clue what they’re going to show there (and really, I’m sure they could come up with something).

Now, here is my as definite-as-it-gets schedule over the next 3 days.  As always, there may be changes that throw a wrench into all of this:

Friday

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM: El Hazard 1-4 (Video 3)
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Chiko, The Phantom Chief (aka The Daughter of Twenty Faces) 1-2 (Hall D)
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM: Tsubasa Season 2 1-4 (Hall D)
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Funimation Q&A (Panel 2)
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Media Blasters Q&A (Panel 2)
4:00 PM – 10:30 PM: ????

OK, yes, I know, having a huge question mark after 4 is kind of problematic.  Here is the issue.

4-5PM doesn’t have much that sounds interesting other than maybe the Kappei Yamaguchi panel.  I may use this to either get early dinner or go to the dealers room.

Then we run into an area where there are several things I want to watch, but other TBAs which I don’t want to just write off.  From 5-7PM, there is The Place Promised in Our Early Days, from 6-8:30PM there is the Death Note live action movie, from 6-7PM there is a TBD panel, there is the JAM Project concert from 7:30-10:30 PM, and there is the TBA HD movie from 8:30-10:30PM.

I’m guessing that the TBD panel probably won’t be something huge enough for me to want to go to, but who knows.  The movie, however, is something else.  If it’s, say, Evangelion 1.0, then I definitely want to go see it.  The problem is that, if I decide to go to Death Note instead of JAM Project, and the TBA ends up sucking, there is pretty much nothing else to do.  So, if the TBA sucks, I’ll probably go to the JAM Project concert, and if it rocks, I’ll probably go to Death Note and see whatever the TBA movie is.

If I go see Death Note, I can’t watch Place Promised, so I’ll probably take that hour either eating or wandering the dealers room.

whew.  On to…

Saturday

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM: ???
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Bang Zoom Q&A (Panel 2)
11:00AM – 12:00 PM: Bandai (Panel 2)
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Kadokawa USA (Panel 2)
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM: The Girl Who Leapt Thorugh Time (HD)
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM: Fansubber and Industry Discussion (Panel 4)
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM: ???
9:00 PM – 10:30 PM: Bandai Surprise (Panel 2)

OK, the first question mark I may just skip and come in at 10 AM, especially if I’m wiped after the first day.  The gap between 12PM and 2PM is food and dealers room.  It’s not missing because I don’t know what to do, it’s missing just cause I’m doing other stuff.

The final question – 7PM to 9PM – it looks like I can either spend it doing dinner, or going and seeing Lucky Star 5-8 and The Third 1-4.  Already seen both, but they might be cool to hit again.

Sunday

9:00 AM – 10:45 AM: Maetal Legend (Video 2)
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: State of the Industry (Panel 4)
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: ???
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: ADV (Panel 2)
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Closing Ceremonies (Panel 4)
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Con Feedback (Panel 4)

The 12-1PM question looks like an obvious food break to me, but there are a couple of things I may try to hit.

Last year’s schedule ended up mutating quite a bit, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this years did too some.