Tag: andy lee

1 day, Sunday, Otaku Fest fun day

OSF-2015 flyerWe’ve reached that part of the otaku calendar where we won’t be able to go more than three weeks without a major event popping up. Starting with the Otaku Summer Festival on Sunday, we have HawaiiCon (kicking off in three weeks), Amazing Hawaii Comic Con (the week after HawaiiCon), McCully-Moiliili Public Library’s annual Mini Con (the week after AHCC) and Anime Ohana (two weeks after Mini Con).  Whew! I really hope I don’t get sick again during that stretch; because that … would not be good. It seems like I’ve had colds during the most inopportune times this year.

But I digress; there’s an Otaku Summer Festival being hosted by Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu (1239 Olomea St.; it’s that shrine you see off the freeway approaching the Vineyard Boulevard exit going eastbound) that needs to be discussed. It’s seven hours on Sunday crammed with stuff fans like to see. Let’s run down the lineup:

Special guests: Headlining the event is Kyle Hebert, the actor best known as the voice of Kiba in Naruto, Kamina in Gurren Lagann, the older version of Gohan and the narrator in Dragon Ball Z and Ryu in the newer Street Fighter games. He’ll host an hourlong panel starting at 10:30 a.m. and be available for autographs and photos throughout the day at the Hawaii Video Gaming League table. Also scheduled to appear is author Ryter Rong, who will be talking about her new book, Ireland Calls My Name, from noon to 12:30 p.m.

A number of performers will be on hand throughout the day as well; Ryusei Taiko will help kick off the festivities, and the Hanayagi Dance Academy comes in to perform around 10 a.m. Closing out the festival will be Crimson Apple, the local band with a debut album Kickstarter, which is less than $2,000 away from their goal with six days left (come on, people, let’s make this happen).

OSF-animaid cafe logoFood: The festival marks the formal return of The AniMaid Cafe, where servers dressed as maids and butlers serve patrons snacks and drinks and even play tabletop games for a small fee. (They’ll also do a dance routine around 11:30 a.m.) If that’s not your thing, Simply Ono will have a truck parked outside serving up ramen burgers, shoyu pork, kalua pig, poke bowls and more, and a second truck will have yakitori and takoyaki available.

Tons o’ merch: Charisma Industries, Sewing Dragon (hand-sewn plushies) and Shironekoya (kimono and collectible miniature dolls) will be selling their wares, and artists Jon J. Murakami, Devin Oishi, Dennis Imoto and Andy Lee will have tables as well. There also will be a “swap meet” table, so surely there’s something you’ll want to buy, yes?

Competitive opportunities: Cosplayers will want to get in on the cosplay contest at 1 p.m. — register with the AniMaid Cafe by noon! — with prizes in categories including Best Craftsmanship and Best in Character. The grand prize winner will get a photoshoot with Canaan Kutzen of Adept Productions at the Byodo-In Temple at Valley of the Temples Memorial Park in Kaneohe.

Not into cosplay? There will be other festival games to play (including goldfish scooping!), with a good reason to play all of them: the official Otaku Summer Festival Stamp Card Rally.

OSF-2015 stamp card

Fill out a card and turn it in, and you could be eligible for fabulous prizes, including the official banner hanging outside the shrine right now signed by all the guests and invitations to the staff-only after-party.

The Otaku Summer Festival runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday; parking will be available both near the shrine and at Damien Memorial High School. We’ll see if The Cold That Refuses to Die (one week and counting, *sigh*) allows me to attend; right now I’d say the chances are looking pretty remote, but then again I did say in this space that I wouldn’t be at Comic Con Honolulu and I ended up showing up there anyway, so we shall see, I guess. For the most up-to-date information, visit fb.com/otakusummerfestival.

The Cel Shaded Report, 8/2: HEXXP opens “Frontier” for new guest

hexxp-logoIt’s been quite the busy offseason for the Hawaii Entertainment Expo, also known as HEXXP. Since the last edition of the pop culture convention went off last October, there’s been a change of venue (this year’s show will be at the Aloha Tower Marketplace), an expansion to three days rather than two, signings of several guests to tickle the fancies of local anime/video game fans (Nobuo Uematsu and the Earthbound Papas! DJ Livetune, mixer of Hatsune Miku tunes!) and the announcement of a few big special events (a World Cosplay Summit regional qualifying round and a Macross 30th anniversary exhibit).

We’re a little over two months out before the big event, and the announcements just keep on coming. The biggest one in recent days has been the addition of Japanese voice actress Megumi Nakajima as a guest. Nakajima’s most notable role was as Ranka Lee in Macross Frontier; other major roles include Chiho and Chise Mihara in Kobato, Kaede Sakura in Kampfer and Gurania in Lagrange – The Flower of Rinne. (Macross Frontier hasn’t been released in the U.S., but Kobato and Kampfer are available through Sentai Filmworks, and Viz has Lagrange available for streaming via Hulu.) She also performed theme songs for all four of those shows. Nakajima last appeared at an American convention at Anime Expo in 2010.

A few other guests that I haven’t covered in this space — some of whom have links to Japanese pop culture — include:

  • Akiakane, noted Nico Nico Douga/YouTube utaite. Never heard of utaite? Well, that makes two of us. A quick web search — and the subsequent discovery of an Utaite Wiki — subsequently taught me that utaite are basically cover artists who perform Vocaloid songs and other anime/video game / J-Pop pieces.  Akiakane’s claim to fame: “her rough tone and love to scream in songs.” No, really, that’s what her Utaite Wiki profile page says. Here’s a video of what that same page says is her most popular song, “Rolling Girl.”
  • Joji Yoshida, an actor who played Chief Engineer Hiroki in Battleship and has had roles in a number of other Hawaii-filmed projects including the revived Hawaii Five-0, Blue Crush, One West Waikiki and Fantasy Island.
  • Andy Lee, modern zen painter and illustrator who’s done work for DC and Marvel Comics. If this is the same Andy Lee whose name pops up in my web searches, he’s a frequent collaborator with David Mack on his Kabuki series.
  • Royalvana, online purveyors of Japanese GAL fashion, with brands including GALSTAR, EGOIST and LagunaMoon. The retailer will be holding a fashion show and is looking for models; if you’re a size 4 or smaller, email hexxp@azamipro.com with a photo, measurements and shoe size.

I’m hearing there are even more guest announcements — probably around two or three — coming soon, so stay tuned.

For those of you interested in the World Cosplay Summit, a special note: U.S. organizer Laura Butler, fresh off a trip to the WCS finals in Nagoya this week, will be in town next week and will be hosting an informal Q&A session at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Kissaten Cafe, 88 Piikoi St. Potential contestants also should note that the window for submitting applications and resumes is now open, through Sept. 5; refresh yourself with the rules and links by looking at the second half of the April 6 Cel Shaded Report.

HEXXP is taking place Oct. 19-21 at Aloha Tower Marketplace; for more information or to preregister, visit www.hexxp.com. (It’s been redesigned with a fresher look. Also, credit card payments are now accepted for registrations,  for those of you who were skittish about using PayPal.)

Anime and art around town

Honolulu Museum of Art: Two-pack of events to report on for this weekend. From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at the museum itself at 900 S. Beretania St., there’s “August Moon,” “a wine and food benefit for arts education.” Jon J. Murakami, “Gordon Rider” and Star-Advertiser “Calabash” cartoonist, and Pen & Ink Works leader Brady Evans will be among the artists drawing live and selling pieces for $25 each. Tickets are $85 in advance, $95 at the door; buy your tickets and get more information at honolulumuseum.org/11652-august_moon_benefit_arts_education

On Saturday, members of the anime/manga-inspired art collective MangaBento will be participating in “PrintBig: From the Ground Up,” an event where teams made giant woodcuts that will be inked and steamrollered to produce prints. The artists will arrive at 8 a.m. to set up, with actual printing from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. All of this will be taking place at the museum’s Art School, just around the corner from the museum at 1111 Victoria St. Visit honolulumuseum.org/events/12971-printbig_ground

Open Cosplay Shoot: 1 to 6 p.m. Aug. 11 at Sand Island State Park. RSVP as a cosplayer or photographer on Facebook at www.facebook.com/events/268034626639168/