Have fun, laugh, and maybe even learn on vacation!

If you’re like me, then you know that panels are one of the best parts about conventions, and Otakon is no different. There is always a wide variety of programming on the panels track going on day in and day out, and there is always something for everyone. Rather they’re industry panels where you learn about all the new and upcoming relases from the companies that make up the anime industry, or a beginners introduction into how to play the Pokemon Trading Card Game, you’ll always find something to do. I went to a number of panels have pulled a few highlights to talk about that really stood out at and made my Otakon 2013 convention experience.

Anime Industry: The Before Times

With this being Otakon’s 20^th year, there were a number of industry personnel in attendance both new and old. This panel was made up of some of the people who got the anime industry rolling in America in many ways, or who have worked in the industry for so long they can provide a unique perspective on how things have changed over the years. Panelists included David Williams, who was one of the founders of ADV and currently works for Sentai Filmworks, and Trish Ledoux, who started AniMag out of Berkley University and eventually would go on to become the editor of Animerica, published by Viz some years later. Other notable names included Robert Napton, formally of Bandai, Kevin McKeever of Harmony Gold, and Ken Iyadomi, one of the founders of Bandai Entertainment. This panel was an abridged journey through each of their introductions into fandom as well as some highlights and funny stories about kickstarting the Anime industry in America. What was probably the most enjoyable part of this whole panel was many of the panelists owned up to the fact that they had very little clue what they were doing when most of them started, and that many mistakes were made. It’s rare that people in the industry are so willing and ready to own up to errors or mistakes they made these days – as most if not all of that is handled through a PR rep at this point – but many of them talked about the errors and lessons they learned in their early days, some of them very humorous and some not as much. It was a great look into the industry’s early years in the States and a very candid conversation with the fans who attended.

Anime’s Craziest Deaths

This has become one of the staple panels that is presented every year at Otakon and the line to get in starts forming hours before and it can get pretty rough at times to try and make it into the panel – they always put it in one of the biggest rooms available and it always fills to maximum capacity. Hosted by Daryl Surat, of Anime World Order podcast and contributing writer for Otaku USA magazine, the panel showcases some of the most gruesome, bizarre, and hilarious death scenes that have appeared in anime over the years. Daryl himself is a very funny panelist that always brings new material every year and keeps the crowd on their toes with insane amounts of gore, one liners, and screams. A highlight panel of the show and one that you should definitely see if you can (though it is in the late hours of the show, as it is an 18+ panel – remember your wristbands!)

Panel to the West

Anime draws from a wide variety of sources both inside of Japan and out for its stories, but one of the most commonly used stories is that of the Monkey King, most commonly referred to as “Journey to the West”. It has been represented in anime in many different forms over the years including Saiyuki, several tropes are used in Dragon Ball, and it has been adopted into several live action and animation shows across the world – there was even a short clip produced by the guys who do all the animation for the Gorillaz who did a piece depicting this story for the Olympics when they were held in China. It was fascinating the amount of different takes there have been on this story, and presenter Michael Toole, who is one of the best and most engaging presenters I have ever seen, did a great job of being both informative and keeping the audience engaged at the same time. He also does another panel quite often called Dubs That Time Forgot where digs up obscure, old, hilarious dubs from around the world, and shares them with the audience. Mike has been a presenter at the show for many years now, and is entertaining whenever you can hear him speak, no matter the subject or topic.

Along with these were many other great panels – a few of which I’ll outline below. There’s always so much to see and do that there is never enough time in the days to do it! But hopefully, at your next show, if you’ve never gone to many panels, you’ll take a few minutes to stop and read the schedule, and look for something that you’d be interested in – it’s almost a guarantee that there will be.

Highlight Panels:

45 Years of Shonen Jump

50 Years of Anime: Openings

Anime’s Online Expansion

Beautiful Backgrounds

Fifty Years of Tomino

Intro to K-Pop! Repackaged

Let’s Talk Swords: Props/Armor

Macross/Robotech: Mythology

Science in Anime

Toonami: A Look Back

Voice Actors After Dark