Hey everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted recently. Besides last weekend being the dates for the local area’s only anime and manga convention, I dislocated my shoulder and have had my arm in a sling until yesterday! However, I’m fine now, and the doctor said I can resume light tasks with my arm again. Never underestimate LARP (Live Action ROle Play) events at these conventions!
Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the convention. Despite the mishap, I got to do everything I wanted to do in my previous post. The How to Draw with Voice Actors panel was incredibly entertaining. The panel featured the talent of English voice actors Christine Cabanos (Silica from Sword Art Online), Carrie Keranen (Satsuki Kiryuin from Kill la Kill), Brittney Karbowski (Black Star from Soul Eater), and local-born actor Micah Solusod (Soul from Soul Eater).
The idea was for one voice actor to draw one of their characters, using a reference, with their drawing projected live to the audience, but not to the other panelists. At the same time, the featured actor described the character to the other panelists, who had to draw what they thought the character looked like. The results were both incredibly creative, and insanely hilarious.
You can see most of the panel right here in this video posted by YouTube user Pipperry Took.
And here are the last few minutes.
I also got to participate in the Cardboard Megabrawl. My friends made some ridiculous looking armor for me in our 1-hour time limit. However, that was short lived as this was the event where I dislocated my shoulder. Haha, it was fun while it lasted, but I’ll have to rethink my strategy for next time if I don’t want to risk popping the same shoulder out again.
Despite the mishap, I continued to attend the convention after the docs at the hospital treated me. I was in a sling for the rest of the weekend, so I couldn’t really take any pictures. I did manage to catch Cristina Vee’s 2nd autograph session. I missed the first one because of the shoulder the previous day. It was so exciting to meet one of the voice actresses whose work I’ve been following for years!
Events like Kawaii Kon are few and far between here in Hawaii, but that makes these types of conventions all the more worth it to attend. I am always amazed at how quickly the convention center is transformed from an empty building into three floors of otaku-dom.
These conventions are such a huge contribution to the community. They create a safe space, in a sense, for people to freely express themselves. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you’re from; your religion, sexuality, etc. Everyone is there to do one thing, and that is to celebrate and enjoy our love for anime, manga, video games, comics, cosplay, and all other facets of the otaku and nerdist kingdoms. If only the world could reflect that sort of unity.
Anyways, that’s it for my post-convention report. It’s not much because of the injury, but I’ll try to make up for it with other interesting articles, like my next one! My next Anime is Culture post will be addressing the topics of hikikomori and the pressures of Japanese society portrayed in anime/manga. This might hit some people a little close to home, but please look forward to it!
Otaku Ohana 
Looks like heaps of fun! In New Zealand we only have one con which is in may