Category: manga

Ota-cool incoming: Sale-abrate good times, come on!

If someone were to write a book about local otaku culture — don’t look at me; I’ve already written my one book of a lifetime, and I doubt I’ll ever have enough free time to properly update that one, never mind writing another one — one of the chapters would have to be about how we manage to accumulate so much stuff. Plushies, figures, statues, toys, video games, assorted show merchandise, books, CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays — you name it, we all have some sort of stash stored somewhere. Some of you may be sighing over how you have waaaaaaay too much; others may be lamenting about how you don’t have enough. For those of you in the never-ending pursuit of managing and accumulating more stuff, these next two weekends — along with the ongoing 20%-off sale at Book Off Ala Moana that I talked about in my last post — offer several chances to score some sweet bargains.

One sale is part of the 26th Annual Hawaii Collectors Expo, happening Friday through Sunday at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. Saturday (from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sunday (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) are what matter for our discussion, as that will be when a bunch of people like tag-team partner in fandom Wilma J. and I will be selling off surplus parts of their collections at … well, depending on where you go, it’s either the Anime Swap Meet or the All-Genre Swap Meet, presented by Kawaii Kon and Comic-Con Honolulu, respectively. And when I say “a bunch of people like us,” I really do mean to say that in the interest of full journalistic disclosure, Wilma and I have purchased a space where we will be selling things. Here is a preview of my stuff.

Jason's ASM things

And here is Wilma’s.

Wilma's ASM things

… she always was more organized than me. (You can probably expect many more DVDs and even a few Blu-rays from me, for starters.)

Want to join us in selling? As far as I know, there are a few spaces remaining. One 5-square-foot space costs $25, with a maximum of two spaces shared by two people; the cost remains the same regardless of whether you apply to sell for one or both days, so if you can spare an entire weekend, by all means do so. Deadline for applying is midnight Thursday, check out the rules and apply at kawaiikon.com/anime-swap-meet/ or comicconhonolulu.com/all-genre-swap-meet-feb-20-21-2016.

If you’re in the market for buying, we love you! Please buy our stuff. (And everybody else’s, too, of course.) Kawaii Kon representatives will be on hand to sell three-day general-admission passes to this year’s show for $50 — $5 off the current online price! Keep in mind that admission to the Collectors Expo is $5, but if you present your badge from last year’s Kawaii Kon or Comic Con Honolulu at the box office, the cost drops to nothing.

The other sale worth noting here is the Nerds’ Garage Sale, which has proven to be the hottest ticket in town for sellers in recent weeks. (For the record, there is no more space for sellers, so stop asking on the Facebook page already.) Organized by cosplayer extraordinare Leah Rose, the sale will feature about a dozen self-described “cosplay nerds” selling off their extra supplies, costumes and other things. You can also check out Other Realms’ sizable collection of comics, games and other happy nerdy collectibles for sale as well. That’s happening from 3 to 7 p.m. Feb. 27 at the store, which is at 1130 N. Nimitz Highway, suite C-140. (It’s actually not visible from the highway; you have to go behind the buildings with New Eagle Cafe on one end and AAA Hawaii on the other end to find it.)

Elsewhere around town

Aiea Library Polar Bear Cafe & Friends Anime Club: Every month, I joke with young adult librarian Diane Masaki that she ought to change the name of the Anime Club to the Polar Bear Cafe & Friends Club, seeing as how the screening schedule for the past few months has consistently been two episodes of the 2012-2013 anime followed by two more episodes of something else. (This month’s “friends” are the ship-gals of KanColle.) This month didn’t garner much of a reaction, probably because Diane, the Face of Hawaii Ingress (tm) that she is, is really really close to becoming a max-Level 16 agent. The friendly neighborhood anime/manga/cartooning blogger in me is cheering her on, while the Enlightened side of me wants to put AXA Shields on every portal in Pearl City and Aiea. But I digress. At the library, 99-374 Pohai Place, where, yes, there’s still plenty of parking. For more information or to RSVP, call 483-7333 or email aiealibraryanimeclub@yahoo.com. 3 p.m. Saturday.

Mori & Steam

Mori & Steam: Steampunk Family Sunday: If you haven’t had a chance to check out the “Harajuku: Japanese Street Fashion” exhibit at the Honolulu Museum of Art yet, by all means try to stop by before it closes April 3; it’s a fascinating snapshot of contemporary Japanese fashion trends. And with the museum’s Family Sunday coming up, you can swing by to see it absolutely free, and enjoy some activities and entertainment, to boot. Kids can make a set of steampunk goggles at one station, at another, visitors can make their own Harajuku- or steampunk-inspired pins. Roy Chang, MidWeek cartoonist, Cacy & Kiara author and Pepe the Chihuahua’s kalbi feeder, will be doing live sketches of Harajuku fashion models from noon to 3 p.m., and featured bands include Hook + Line and Gypsy 808. There also will be a complimentary shuttle running between the museum and Spalding House, so you can check out the exhibits at both locations. Oh hey, and before or after you go, perhaps you might like to visit a certain Collectors Expo with an Anime/All-Genre Swap Meet going on down the street? *hint hint* *wink nudge* The museum’s at 900 S. Beretania St. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Kawaii Kon Karaoke Competition preliminary round #2: So you think you can sing, and you’re planning to go to Kawaii Kon this year? Give the annual Karaoke Competition a try. This year, the preliminary rounds will be held at Nocturna Lounge, the video game/karaoke bar just downstairs from our editorial/advertising offices here at Waterfront Plaza/Restaurant Row. Top three singers from each preliminary round move on to the semifinals at the convention itself. The fun starts at 3 p.m. Sunday; full details on what you need to do to prepare are available at kawaiikon.com/events/karaoke-kompetition/

Comic Jam Hawaii: This group of collaborative cartoon artists meets every first and third Sunday of the month at Pearlridge Center; locations within the mall may vary. Visit www.facebook.com/groups/ComicJamHawaii (Facebook login required). Next meeting: 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Book Off moving out of Ala Moana

This year has already proven to be one of upheaval in the local used-book/movie/music market. It was just about a month ago that I was talking about Jelly’s Aiea closing; turns out that when the Aiea store closed, the Kakaako Jelly’s immediately renamed itself Idea’s Music and Books, relegating the “Jelly’s” name to the bargain bins of history.

And now, our attention must turn to Book Off, tucked away in the back corner of the first level of Shirokiya at Ala Moana. Back when Shirokiya announced last year that it was going to be moving into a new $35 million Japan Village Walk in the shopping center’s Ewa wing, two thoughts came to mind:

>> “Yay! There’s going to be more room for all those cramped food stalls to breathe! And more space to sit (in theory, although it’ll probably always be full, *sob*)!”

>> “…wait, but what’s going to happen to Book Off? Is the Pearlridge one going to be all that’s left? What about all those lovely import Japanese manga, DVDs and games? OH NOOOOOO”

We’re coming up on the targeted June 1 opening date for the Japan Village Walk. And thanks to a tip Saturday afternoon from Facebook friend Kele Miranda, I now know what’s happening to Book Off Ala Moana.

bookoff

They’re leaving Ala Moana.

But before you go into mourning and/or load up everything you can carry to sell it back to them before they stop accepting items, you should know the bright side to this story: They’re not disappearing from the local scene completely. They’re just moving a few blocks up to the Don Quijote on Kaheka Street. Opening day is April 1 (no fooling!).

So consider Book Off’s final sale at its old location more of a “see you later” statement than “goodbye forever.” It’s still pretty good, though: 20 percent off almost anything in their section. Brand-new electronics and iPads are excluded from the sale, but pretty much everything else is fair game. Heck, I picked up an Xbox One — the spiffy 1 TB Elite edition, no less! — for under $290 after discounts immediately after I heard about the sale.

Indeed, there are bargains to be had. There will be a better selection the earlier you go, of course. Just keep in mind the various closing dates: The book section closes March 10 (which will be your last chance to sell anything back at that location), while the media section (with music, movies and games) shuts down on March 25. Get your used anime, manga and other goodies at cheaper prices while you can.

Book Off’s hours are 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday; call 952-9115.

Ota-cool Incoming: La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, Halloween party

Those of you who are J-pop fans probably mourned a little bit when local FM radio content went from 24/7 to a few hours every week on the K-pop station with DJ Chikapin’s “J-Morning Saturday” (woo-hoo!). I was sad, but I eventually adjusted; K-pop does have its fair share of catchy tunes, after all (and equally weird music videos, too; hello, Orange Caramel). It’s only when I was writing this Halloween edition of the Ota-Cool Incoming calendar that I realized the biggest void KORL 97.1’s conversion from J-pop to hip-hop left on the local radio landscape.

Namely, we aren’t getting Halloween Junky Orchestra’s “Halloween Party” played several times a day, every day, during this month anymore.

But we will soldier on, dear readers. Mostly because in the Year of All the Things, there’s not much time to sit around and mourn — there’s just too much to do. This particular round starts with what I like to call National Cosplay Recognition Day on Saturday, and Halloween Comicfest. Think of it as being exactly like Free Comic Book Day, except with more orange and spooooooky motifs in the promotional logos.

comicfest

There’s quite a bit of anime/manga-fan-friendly stuff being handed out this time around, including “Birth of Kitaro” from Drawn & Quarterly (hey, more translated GeGeGe no Kitaro is being released! Yay!), Junji Ito’s “Fragments of Horror” from Viz,  and a mini Yo-kai Watch comic, also from Viz. Fans of more traditional comics have Archie, Harley Quinn, Doctor Strange, Batman, Spider-man and Avengers stories to look forward to, among others.

Participating stores around the state include:

  • Other Realms (The Nimitz Center, 1130 N. Nimitz Highway, suite C-140, Iwilei)
  • Gecko Books & Comics (1151 12th Ave., Kaimuki)
  • Dragon’s Lair (95-1840 Meheula Parkway, space E-10, Mililani)
  • Westside Comics and Games (590 Farrington Highway, #538, Kapolei)
  • Maui Comics and Collectibles (333 Dairy Road, #102, Kahului)

Selection will vary depending on what each individual retailer orders, so don’t get too upset if what you’re looking for isn’t available. Make sure to buy something else from the store, too; they may be free to you, but they certainly aren’t free for the people providing them.

In the afternoon, there’s the AMHI Halloween Walk. Anime Matsuri Hawaii and KZOO Radio are co-hosting this stroll through Ala Moana Center. Dress to impress in your finest cosplay or J-fashion coordinates, and you could win an upgrade to a Superpass — the convention’s VIP pass — or a free autograph session with a guest who’d normally have a paid session. The fun starts in front of the KZOO studio in Shirokiya at 2 p.m. Saturday and runs through 4 p.m.

After the walk, you have several options: Stick around to hand out treats in front of the KZOO studio between 5 and 6 p.m. (download the security release form here); position yourself for nighttime Halloween hijinks in Waikiki; or head over to the Blaisdell Concert Hall for the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra’s live performance of the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Or if you prefer (or live closer toward west or central Oahu and don’t feel like driving aaaaaaaaall the way into town),  you could hop into your vehicle of choice and head on over to attend the Halloween Cosplay Runway at Pearlridge Center. Kawaii Kon and Comic Con Honolulu are hosting this kickoff to Pearlridge Center’s Trick-or-Treat Extravaganza. Talk about your costume, then just work it on stage, baby. That’s taking place at the Pearlridge Uptown Center Court from 5 to 6 p.m.

Have fun and stay safe out there, folks. And don’t eat too much candy. You’ll rot your teeth out.

Elsewhere around town

Anime Matsuri Hawaii: I’ll have a full update on all the upcoming cons in my next post, but for now I should mention that the deadline for online preregistration for AMHI is fast approaching; cutoff time is 11:59 p.m. local time Saturday. So if you’ve been on the fence about attending this convention on Thanksgiving weekend, now’s the time to decide if you’re going to pay $55 for a three-day pass for it (or $20 if there’s a child ages 6-12 involved, or $150 if you’d like to go the VIP Superpass route). Tickets for the Grand Tea Party at the Ala Moana Hotel ($35; Sunday, Nov. 29, noon-3 p.m.) are also running scarce. Guests include voice actors Maile Flanagan, Johnny Yong Bosch and Crispin Freeman; Justin Rojas from Funimation; Masahiko Otsuka, Studio Trigger president; professional cosplayers Vampy, Goldy, Yuegene Fay, Stella Chuu and Reiko; Yui Minakata, fashion model featured in KERA and the Gothic Lolita Bible; and fashion designers Shunsuke Hasegawa (Putumayo) and Chinatsu Taira (Metamorphose). Visit hawaii.animematsuri.com.

anthem

The Anthem of the Heart: From the makers of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day: The Movie: The One Based on the Anime Series: Which They Also Did comes another tale of emotionally scarred youths which, judging by the official synopsis, seems like it could be another tearjerker:

Jun is a girl whose words have been sealed away. She was once a happy girl, but because of a certain thing she said when she was very young, her family was torn apart. One day, the egg fairy appeared in front of her and sealed away her ability to talk in order to stop her from hurting anybody else. Since this traumatic experience, Jun lives in the shadows away from the limelight. But, one day she is nominated to become an executive member of the “community outreach council.” On top of that, Jun is also appointed to play the main lead in their musical…

Bring your tissues or handkerchiefs to the Consolidated Ward Stadium 16 theaters at 7 p.m. Monday and noon Nov. 7.  For more info on the movie, visit anthemoftheheart.com.

Revisiting the legacy of ‘Barefoot Gen’

Today in Otaku Ohana, your friendly neighborhood anime/manga blogger is going to do something he hasn’t done in a long time: actually write about manga. Gasp!

barefoot gen coverToday also marks 70 years since the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing tens of thousands of people. It’s a story that was told in Barefoot Gen, a manga by Keiji Nakazawa that relied on many of his personal experiences in telling the story of Gen Nakaoka, a boy who survived the blast.

I’ve talked about Barefoot Gen twice in my career on the otaku beat — once in February 2011, in an essay in an earlier version of this blog that was part of a larger Manga Movable Feast effort, the other as part of The Canon, a roundup of 50 essential manga series to read, in The Rough Guide to Manga (available at a library or secondhand bookstore/website near you). Since Last Gasp is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to put copies of Barefoot Gen in schools and libraries across the United States (19 percent funded as of this writing, come on, people, start giving more already), I thought it would be nice to resurrect what I wrote in the Rough Guide.

And by “resurrect,” I mean “reprint the entire section, right here, for free.”

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this in print before, but the full rights to the text of the manga guide legally reverted to me about three years ago, when Rough Guides shut down its reference guide division. I’d love to write more on this topic down the line — particularly given how Andrea Lipinski at the School Library Journal recently was kind enough to include it as one of her picks for essential reading in her “Manga 101” article — but the bottom line is that I now have an entire pile of text that I can distribute however I see fit. Seeing as how I’ll probably never have enough free time to properly update the whole thing in one go — as you’ve probably seen by my erratic update schedule here, I barely have enough time/energy to update this blog, never mind 265 pages or so of text — I felt the best way to use it would be to publish excerpts here, whenever relevant, every so often.

So let’s jump right in, shall we? Continue reading “Revisiting the legacy of ‘Barefoot Gen’”

[Kawaii Kon 2015] Dawn of a new con era

Day 0 program and badgeWell, folks, we made it to the fireworks factory. Again. We’re standing here on Kawaii Kon Day 0, preregistration and dealer/Artist Alley load-in night, ready for another three-day weekend packed full of cosplay, entertainment, special guests from the animation industry and music world, panels, games and pretty much what you’d imagine otaku heaven to be like without actually moving to Japan itself. And there’s your annual look at the convention guide and your friendly neighborhood anime/manga blogger’s press credentials at right.

There’s a bit of a different feel to this year, though … and not just because registration ops has moved to the ground floor, next to the hall with the dealers room and Artist Alley. It’s because this year, Kawaii Kon isn’t just the big event on the local otaku community calendar, but the first event in a string of big events. As I mentioned in my post introducing Anime Matsuri Hawaii, it’s a remarkable time to be a local fan of anime, manga, science fiction and/or comics, with Hoku Kon (July), Amazing Hawaii Comic-Con (September) and Anime Matsuri Hawaii (November) all on deck on Oahu, and HawaiiCon (September) on Hawaii island. I mean, heck, Amazing Hawaii Comic-Con unveiled its first four guests — living legend Stan Lee and artists George Perez, Mark Kubert and Adam Bagley — on Wednesday, and the shares pretty much lit up my Facebook feed all day.

But the people still show up at Kawaii Kon. Ohhhhhh, do they ever show up. Here’s the sea of otakuness that descended on the convention for preregistration tonight, as seen from the escalators leading to/from the second-floor parking garage.

Day 0 lines

A final number will probably come at closing ceremonies as it has in previous years. By my estimates, though, there are about a bazillion people attending this year. Some of whom are even carting around replica basketball backboards.

Some last-minute notes as we head into this year’s event:

  • The policy change that’s generated the most social media discussion: For the first time, convention center staff will be checking for con badges on the ground floor, near the escalators to the third floor. That effectively ends the practice of nonpaying attendees lounging around the public areas outside the panel rooms, soaking up the atmosphere and taking pictures of their favorite cosplayers. It also makes complete sense from a security standpoint; as much as we’d like to think that the convention environment is a bubble world that protects us from all the bad things that go on outside, there are trolls out there who just want to come in and disrupt things for their own amusement, Besides, if you really wanted to socialize with your non-con-going friends, there’s always Ala Moana Center down the street.
  • The Great Hawaiian Rubber Duckie Race, the annual fundraiser for United Cerebral Palsy of Hawaii that sends a swarm of yellow ducks down the Ala Wai Canal, is happening Saturday. (The ducks launch at 1:28 p.m. from the Kalakaua Avenue bridge, if any of you want to head down from the convention center and watch.) So is the Prince Kuhio Day Parade in Waikiki, traveling down Kalakaua Avenue between Saratoga Road and Kapiolani Park between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Expect heavy traffic congestion if you’re aren’t already at an area hotel and are going to be driving.
  • Kawaii Kon flyerI’m pleased to note that despite a vehicle plowing into the 7-Eleven at the corner of Atkinson Drive and Kapiolani Boulevard Wednesday evening, the store remains open (albeit a bit boarded up) and ready to sell completely out of all their bentos, nori rolls, musubis, hot dogs and whatever other prepared foods you can think of to hungry, budget-conscious con-goers on all three days. (If you go late, hope you like chewing on breath mints for your dinner!) As a bonus, if you have your badge, go to that store starting at 10 a.m. and are one of the first 200 people to do so on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, you’ll get a free limited-edition Kawaii Kon lanyard. Look for the flyer in-store that looks like the one at right — psst, look above the hot-foods warmer! — and scan the QR code for a chance to win a trip for two to Las Vegas. Winner will be announced at closing ceremonies on Sunday. (Bonus trivia note: The artwork for this flyer was drawn by none other than Jamie Lano. You might have heard of her.) There is also a large Naruto wallscroll hanging over the ice cream freezer, so you know they’re into the mood.
  • Buy all the things in Artist Alley. All. The. Things. To go through and list-link everything I’ve seen crossing my Facebook news feed over the past few days would probably last me well past midnight, and I’d kinda like to get some sleep before stopping in at Jamie’s drawing panel around 10 a.m.-ish Friday. Also of note: nemu*nemu artist Audra Furuichi’s limited-edition 10-card set, the “Modern Kitsuke” series (color drawings of girls in kimono) for $25, which 39 of you must go out and buy immediately. Maybe fewer of you, if some of you buy multiples. But the 40th set must be miiiiiiiine.

Time to rest up. See y’all tomorrow for Day 1. Feel free to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, too (both @jsyadao) for all my spur-of-the-moment updates over the weekend ahead. It’s gonna be crazy. But fun! But crazy.

The Jamie Lano File, part 4: Kawaii Kon ahoy!

Chibis drawn by Jamie LanoThis week, in the days leading up to Kawaii Kon Day 0, I’m publishing excerpts from my conversation with manga artist/blogger/Princess of Tennis author Jamie Lano, who moved to Oahu last year and will be hosting three panels at Kawaii Kon. In case you missed it — and maybe you did, you never know; I mean, I kinda missed promoting on social media the fact that Part 3 of this series went live yesterday, whoops — and subscribe to the Star-Advertiser, you can check out my profile of her that ran in Sunday’s paper. You can also check out the other parts of the series below:

Part 1 (Sunday): The great adventurer
Part 2 (Monday): Making a market
Part 3 (Tuesday): The Prince of Tennis legacy
Part 4 (Wednesday): Kawaii Kon ahoy!

In this installment: Kawaii Kon! It’s a thing! It starts in two days! And Jamie talks about what she’s going to talk about there. There are also a few more notes about her life in Japan and her manga philosophy, for those of you who can’t make it to con but still want to learn more about her.

Continue reading “The Jamie Lano File, part 4: Kawaii Kon ahoy!”

The Jamie Lano File, part 3: The “Prince of Tennis” legacy

Jamie working in Konomi studioThis week, in the days leading up to Kawaii Kon Day 0, I’m publishing excerpts from my conversation with manga artist/blogger/Princess of Tennis author Jamie Lano, who moved to Oahu last year and will be hosting three panels at Kawaii Kon. In case you missed it — and you’d better have been out claiming Ingress portals in the name of the Enlightened if you did — and subscribe to the Star-Advertiser, you can check out my profile of her that ran in Sunday’s paper. You can also check out the other parts of the series below:

Part 1 (Sunday): The great adventurer
Part 2 (Monday): Making a market
Part 3 (Tuesday): The Prince of Tennis legacy
Part 4 (Wednesday): Kawaii Kon ahoy!

In this installment, Jamie talks about her manga assistants, how she’ll treat them differently from how Prince of Tennis artist Takeshi Konomi treated her and his assistants, why The Princess of Tennis will never be printed in Japanese … and a certain Konomi character that bears a striking resemblance to her.

Continue reading “The Jamie Lano File, part 3: The “Prince of Tennis” legacy”

The Jamie Lano file, part 2: Making a market

This week, in the days leading up to Kawaii Kon Day 0, I’m publishing excerpts from my conversation with manga artist/blogger/Princess of Tennis author Jamie Lano, who moved to Oahu last year and will be hosting three panels at Kawaii Kon. In case you missed it — and where have you been? We missed you! — and subscribe to the Star-Advertiser, you can check out my profile of her that ran in Sunday’s paper. You can also check out the other parts of the series below:

Part 1 (Sunday): The great adventurer
Part 2 (Monday): Making a market
Part 3 (Tuesday): The Prince of Tennis legacy
Part 4 (Wednesday): Kawaii Kon ahoy!

In this installment, Jamie talks about her goals with her new manga studio, Jamieism Pro … and how the Prince of Tennis live-action musicals helped make her a small pile of cash on the side in Japan. Continue reading “The Jamie Lano file, part 2: Making a market”

The Jamie Lano file, part 1: The great adventurer

Jamie in KamakuraA few weeks ago, when I was pondering what to write about for my 11th Annual Kawaii Kon preview article — a preview that over the years has seen me talking to people like the MangaBento gang, nemu*nemu artist Audra Furuichi both in and out of her Riza Hawkeye wig, Stan Sakai and Mari Iijima, among many others — the profile subject came to me more quickly than usual: It had to be Jamie Lano, the cheerfully chipper manga artist/blogger/Princess of Tennis author who moved to Oahu last year and will be hosting three panels at Kawaii Kon.

My interview with Jamie ended up being one of the best interviews I’ve ever done. You can see the first fruits of that interview in today’s paper (Star-Advertiser subscription required to read that link; c’mon, spring for it, it’s cheap!). But it’s also a very teeny tiny cross-section of our conversation, one that (a) lasted more than 90 minutes and (b) has a transcript that spans 24 pages of largely single-spaced 9-point type.

So let’s face it: One story in the paper isn’t nearly enough to share the Jamie Lano story. A four-part series this week leading up to Kawaii Kon Day 0? We can do that here in Otaku Ohana, where one of the only limits on what we publish is the time and energy your friendly neighborhood anime/manga blogger has available to write and edit content. I’ve broken up the best interview portions as follows:

Part 1 (Sunday): The great adventurer
Part 2 (Monday): Making a market
Part 3 (Tuesday): The Prince of Tennis legacy
Part 4 (Wednesday): Kawaii Kon ahoy!

Part 1, looking at Jamie’s travels over the years and just why she’s so willing to travel begins after the break.

Continue reading “The Jamie Lano file, part 1: The great adventurer”

Anime Matsuri Hawaii schedules post-Thanksgiving treat

Anime Matsuri logoIt looks like 2015 will be the year you snarf down your turkey, brave the sea of humanity descending on various retail establishments for the sake of cheap TVs and bath towels … and then turn around and attend an anime convention.

Anime Matsuri Hawaii — they of the website countdown — took a bit of time after that countdown expired to do some internal housekeeping, but they finally launched their website, hawaii.animematsuri.com, this afternoon. With that launch, we now know that the newest player in the local pop-culture convention scene will be operating out of the Hawai’i Convention Center during the first few days of the Christmas shopping season — Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 27-29.

Some of the other highlights:

  • Heidi Shimada, who’s been part of Yu x Me Maid Cafe & Host Club locally, is listed as Anime Matsuri Hawaii liaison. She’s also been serving as Anime Matsuri’s guest relations director.
  • Look for the standard anime con accouterments, including a Japanese fashion show, a tea party, a concert, a cosplay contest and a maid cafe. There’s also going to be a car show; “AM Idol,” a talent showcase equivalent to Kawaii Kon’s Karaoke Competition; and “Club AM,” a nightly rave running from midnight to 3 a.m. I just hope the car show’s in a separate area from the convention proper, because the last time there was a convention/car show hybrid, it didn’t really mesh well.
  • The first two guests listed on the website are cosplayers Stella Chuu and Reika.

Pre-registration prices for three-day passes have also been released; the sooner you get your passes, the better, of course. That page I linked to in the last sentence shows a table of increasing rates as the con nears, but here’s what you need to know for now: Through April 15, adult passes will cost $40; the rate for groups of 10 or more people start at $35 per person; and the VIP-level Superpass, limited to 150 attendees, is $110. Passes for children ages 6-12 will be $20 through Oct. 15. Would-be vendors and Artist Alley sellers, we’re still waiting for registration information for you.

Obviously, there’s much more content to dig through, but I have a Kawaii Kon preview article that I need to write. Busy busy busy! A full press release is below. (3/20 note: Press release has been revised to the latest info.)

Houston, TX, March 20, 2015 – Anime Matsuri, the ninth largest anime convention in North America, is proud to announce the debut of its second convention. Anime Matsuri Hawaii (AMHI) will take place on November 27-29, 2015, at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Pre-registration will open with the launch of the new convention’s website for individuals interested in purchasing their passes in advance.

Anime Matsuri is excited to bring the production value it offers to attendees of its Houston convention, out to Hawaii. AMHI main events will include a Japanese fashion show, tea party, car show, concert, cosplay contest, and Club AM. Also featured will be a maid cafe, various panels and workshops, vendors, industry guests, voice actors, and cosplay guests from all over the world. With this expansion comes many opportunities to provide unique experiences to individuals who are unfamiliar with the company, as well as the most dedicated fans. Anime Matsuri is fortunate enough to enjoy a fantastic community of attendees that it hopes to extend to AMHI.

“My husband, John Leigh, and I founded Anime Matsuri almost a decade ago. We have been privileged to be among the pioneers promoting anime and Japanese culture over the years, connecting people and companies in the East to the West. During a work trip to Hawaii a few years ago, we were astounded by the hospitality and general care that we received from complete strangers. Our growing friendship with the local communities in Hawaii have helped connect us to networks that have allowed us to expand our event. Thank you for this opportunity to further strengthen anime and Japanese culture in Hawaii. We look forward to working with existing organizations, cultural events, charities, local businesses, and fans to bring a new and unique experience to Hawaii,” said Deneice Leigh, founder and chairman of Anime Matsuri.

Anime Matsuri is an annual anime, Japanese culture and related arts convention based in Houston, Texas. We strive to bring the latest and greatest from Japan’s catwalks, anime studios, and concert stages to our own backyard here in the United States. Anime Matsuri’s inaugural event began in 2007. Since then, the convention has grown to over 19,000 unique attendees. With so many in attendance, we have recently made the George R. Brown Convention Center our permanent home. Here we will host our three-day festival on April 3-5th, 2015.