No, the schedule isn’t out for the 2007 convention, but I was looking at the 2006 schedule (pdf) just to get a feel for what the schedule of the convention was like.

I knew that there would be a lot of stuff going at once, but I didn’t realize that 15 to 20 things were going on at once from 9am to past Midnight.  I was thinking about maybe taking the train from Aberdeen (where my hotel is) to Penn Station in Baltimore then taking the lite rail from there to the convention center.  It would probably cost about the same as gas for driving and parking would be.

However, while the trains start early enough to get in on time, the last train for Aberdeen typically leaves Penn Station around 9:15pm, so I’d probably want to hop on the lite rail somewhere around 8:30, depending on how the schedule works out.  That means I’d basically have to skip the last 4+ hours of stuff on Friday and Saturday.

Also, I kind of had to laugh or whatever at the fact that, at least last year, they showed the first 5 episodes of DNA²  on Friday afternoon (11:30 – 2:00).  Given the fact that I run about the only “active” DNA² fan site (though I neglect it more than I should, not that there is exactly a lot of new stuff to put on it), I would have pumped that up for all it was worth if I had known about it.  It’s probably too much to ask for it to be shown two years in a row, though.

I also kind of have to laugh that they showed Kashimashi.  How exactly? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t licensed yet, so did the Japanese company that produced it show it, or do they actually show fansubs at Otakon?

Luckily, the convention looks like it ends early on Sunday (3:00 pm last year), which will work well because that’s around when a web conference I’m going to will start right next door in the Sheraton for work that same day.

Now that we’re just one month from Otakon, the announcements of guests and other things are picking up. A few more guest announcements came in this week:

• Kenji Kodama – Director of Cased Closed (aka Detective Conan), co-director of City Hunter, and key animator for Great Teacher Onizuka.
• Michihiko Suwa – Producer for YTV. He has produced such series as CityHunter, Black Jack, and Magic Knight Rayearth and has overseen the production of Case Closed and Inu Yasha.
• Aaron Dismuke – Most famous for doing the voice work of Alphonse Elric in Funimation’s release of Fullmetal Alchemist (to go along with Vic Mignogna who was announced as a guest a while ago, who did the voice of Edward Elric). He also does the voice of Ion Fortuna in Trinity Blood.

Otakon has also added a list of industry panels, including:

• ADV Films
• Bandai Entertainment
• Bandai Visual USA
• Funimation
• Gaia Online
• Geneon
• Gonzo
• Harmony Gold
• Media Blasters, and
• Tokyopop

Otakon has announced their list of fan panels here (scroll down the page to find them).

I have to say, there isn’t a lot there which strikes me as overly exciting on first glance. There are really only two that I would label as ” do not miss” for myself personally: “Into the Sky: The Society, Technology, and World of Last Exile” and “Podcaster’s Roundtable.”

Maybe I’ll hit up “Anime 101″ to see if I can learn anything from it, given that I wouldn’t have been watching anime for quite 2 years by that point. I may swing by “10 Games You Should Have Played” to see if they go over any games for the PC or Wii, since that’s what I own that can play games, and “Animation: How It Works” may be an interesting watch if they know what they’re talking about. Maybe I’ll also swing by “State of Otakudom” just to see what they think the state of it is. Of course, knowing my luck, all of these will be scheduled at the same time, or at the same time as the big industry panels.

No panel specifically on blogging, which I’m disappointed about. Maybe if I run into other bloggers there this time, maybe we can organize some sort of panel for 2008.

Meanwhile, there are no fewer than 4 panels on AMVs, 2 panels on cosplaying, panels on Dragonball-Z, Inu Yasha, and Naruto (though I guess I shouldn’t be talking since I want to go to one dealing specifically with Last Exile), and at least 2 panels that appear to deal with the loli phenomena.

Then there are some panels that don’t seem to have anything to do with anything. I mean, “Introduction to Basic Embroidery and Beading”? Ok, I can get the samurai panel or the ninja panel, and maybe even the kendo panel, but embroidery and beading?

They also have 8 18+ panels, a few of which I’m not sure why they’re labeled 18+, but OK.

I won’t know what I’ll be able to go to and blog until the actual schedule comes out, and I figure that I’ll go to panels if I have nothing else better to do, but I was kind of hoping for a more impressive list of panels, at least for me personally. If I can I’ll probably attend as many as I can, just so I can write about them, though the industry panels will take precedence. While it is a pleasure trip for me, I still want to blog as much of it as I can

Otakon has announced that director Morio Asaka will be attending Otakon as a guest of honor.  He has directed series such as Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, Gunslinger Girls (if you look at my anime ratings, the lowest of those got a score of 87.5%), and NANA.

I hope I have time to go see him since his list of directorial credits is obviously pretty impressive to me.

I normally wouldn’t make a blog post about a convention announcing guests, but since I’m actually going to Otakon 2007, I’m paying a little more attention to it.

In any case, Otakon has announced two Japanese Seiyuu as guests for their convention.

The first is Mamiko Noto (能登麻美子).  Mamiko has been cast in a large number of anime series.  Some of her notable roles are as follows:

• Sayoko Mishima – Ah! My Goddess (TV)
• Yuka – Elfen Lied
• Yukinari Sasaki – Girls Bravo
• Aya Toujou – Ichigo 100%
• Rin – Inu Yasha
• Yukino Kikugawa – My-Hime
• Tsukiko Sagi – Paranoia Agent
• Narue Nanase – The World of Narue [ok, I just threw it in cause I like it]
• Esther Blanchett – Trinity Blood
• Masane Amaha – Witchblade

Anime News Network Page

The other Seiyuu is Tomokazu Seki (関智一).  He has also has numerous anime roles, some of the more notable ones are below:

• Masaharu Ogata – Angelic Layer [ok, I just threw that one in there too]
• Toya Kinomoto – Cardcaptor Sakura
• Hiromu Shinbo – Chobits
• Kyo Soma – Fruits Basket
• Sousuke Sagara – Full Metal Panic
• Chichiri – Fushigi Yugi
• Yzak Joule – Mobile Suit Gundum Seed
• Touji Suzuhara – Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Van Fanel -Vision of Escaflowne
• Kamui Shirou – X (movie)
  

Anime News Network Page

Otakon Seiyuu Page