diane masaki – Otaku Ohana

Ota-cool Incoming: Cons, cons everywhere, and nary a time to breathe

It’s been a wild past few weeks here at Otaku Ohana Central, a time that’s included voice actors conducting panels after a lovely morning swim off Hawaii island, some friendly neighborhood anime/manga/cartooning blogger dork talking for a good 40 minutes or so at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, a governor and a congressman offering proclamations and plaudits for comics legend Stan Lee, and lots and lots and lots of waiting in lines.

Also, this happened.

Hello, Kikaida star Ban Daisuke. Nice to finally get to meet you. Although it was a bit awkward when the person we thought was going to take our picture wandered off to go take pictures of the other costumed characters at Kikaida Day. But I digress.

I’ll have some thoughts on my recent 11-day span of otaku craziness in my next post (which I will try to post really, really soon even if it kills me in the process), but I reeeeeeaaaaaallly need to take a look at what’s coming up over the next few weekends first. We’re coming up on the third of five straight weekends of otaku-related activities, and keeping everything straight (and perhaps pushing you, dear reader, to attend an event or two in the process!) is what I do best. Or at least try to do best, anyway, whenever I have the time/energy to do so.

Our tour of events starts with Saturday and Mini Con at McCully-Moiliili Library. Branch manager Hillary Chang has been putting on this free little slice of comic-con culture for six years now — holy cats, I feel old just typing that — and this year’s installment is, pardon the cliche, bigger and better than ever before.

Longtime exhibitors Jon Murakami (Gordon Rider, Ararangers, the Star-Advertiser’s “Calabash” strip), Audra Furuichi (nemu*nemu, the Star-Advertiser’s “nemu*nemu: Blue Hawaii” strip) and Kevin Sano (Crazy Shirts artist and painter of many Kikaida-themed Minion toys) will be joined this year by Christopher Caravalho, Aumakua: Guardians of Hawaii artist. Brady Evans from the Honolulu Museum of Art will host a digital painting demo at 11 a.m., where you can learn how he creates pretty prettiness like “Wisteria” here. Young adult author David Estes will give a talk at 11:45 a.m., “From Accountant to Author: Getting Started as a Writer.” Collect a stamp from everyone and receive a free comic! Here’s what the stamp card looks like.

Of particular note is that this will be the last time you’ll be able to pick up some of that sweet nemu*nemu merchandise in person this year; Audra’s said she’s going to be skipping her traditional holiday craft fair circuit in favor of travel, so stock up on those gifts now! (Or you could just go online and order anytime, but hey, I’m old-school. Personal interaction’s always nice.) Cosplay, of course, is also welcomed; heck, here’s Hillary cosplaying with coworker Wendy Araki at last year’s event.

Mini Con runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at McCully-Moiliili Library (2211 S. King St.); as I recommend every year, you’ll want to come early for the best parking opportunities. There’s a new, welcomed twist this time around, though: Overflow parking will be available in the Ross Dress for Less lot across the street. Yay! Call 973-1099 for more information or if you need to make special arrangements.

A week later, Kawaii Kon will be hosting its fourth annual Anime Day at Windward Mall. Everything you loved about past Anime Days will be back for another round, including the Cosplay Runway, games, art activities, discounted three-day passes for Kawaii Kon 2016, a selection of Artist Alley vendors (including the Star-Advertiser’s own Erika Engle and her handcrafted jewelry!) and a mall-wide stamp rally for the chance to win a fabulous prize. All of this happens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the mall, 46-056 Kamehameha Highway. And, of course, admission is free! Visit facebook.com/events/899357246825955/ for the latest details.

And then about a week after that, on Oct. 9-11? It’s time for Anime Ohana, the fifth of our state’s six-convention windfall this year. As I noted earlier this year, this convention, started by Kawaii Kon founder Stan Dahlin and Sentai Filmworks producer David Williams, will feature voice actors Jessica Calvello (Hange Zoe, Attack on Titan; Yuri, Dirty Pair), Monica Rial (Kaede Kayano, Assassination Classroom) and David Matranga (the title role in Orphen) and all the usual accouterments we’ve come to know and love from the other four conventions this year. (Seriously, if you have to ask what kinds of activities will be available, you really haven’t been paying much attention to the con scene this year.)

All this is going down at the Pagoda Hotel at 1525 Rycroft St., just a short walk away from YogurStory, Walmart, Walgreens, Don Quijote, Like Like Drive Inn, Hokkaido Ramen Santouka … umm, can you tell some of the places I’ll be stopping by during con down time? For the latest news, visit the event page at facebook.com/events/742706302513876/; for passes (available in 1-3 day varieties for both children and adults), visit animeohana.com.

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, the “friends” part will likely be Squid Girl.) Every month, she gives me the same response: “Pfffffffft.” I’ll keep trying, folks. At the library, 99-374 Pohai Place, where even now, more than a year after opening, there’s still plenty of parking. For more information or to RSVP, call 483-7333 or email aiealibraryanimeclub@yahoo.com. 3 p.m. Saturday.

Anime Matsuri Hawaii LUV Day: “LUV” is short for “Let Us Volunteer,”and at this event, you’ll get to meet con directors John and Deneice Leigh and learn everything about volunteer opportunities at the last convention of the year, being held over Black Friday weekend (Nov. 27-29). Bonus: There will be games! And prizes! Lili’u Theater, Hawai’i Convention Center (room 310, in the corner closest to Kalakaua Avenue and the Ala Wai Canal), 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Ingress First Saturday: Ever wanted to learn how to play Niantic Labs’ massively multiplayer augmented reality smartphone game? Feel like honing your skills and learning playing tips from high-level agents? Want to meet The Face of Hawaii Ingress ™ in person? Care to see what Niantic is capable of producing before their new likely-to-be-a-megahit collaboration with Nintendo, Pokemon Go, goes live and turns what we’ve known for several years as the Hawaiian Netmender Fountain portal into Jigglypuff? Come to Kapiolani Park for a day of cross-factional rivalry, fellowship, and … triangles! Lots! And lots! Of TRIANGLES~!

Meet at the Diamond Head Landmark portal (www.ingress.com/intel?ll=21.265395,-157.82058&z=17&pll=21.265395,-157.82058 for those of you with scanners; about halfway between the Waikiki Aquarium and the Natatorium on the park side of Kalakaua Avenue for those who don’t). To the Enlightened, may the odds be forever in your favor. To the Resistance, umm … enjoy the cross-factional potluck afterward? Yeah. That’s it. Starts at 9 a.m. Oct. 3.

Random Ingress Portal of the Post:

Meet Drainage Marker! It’s … a drainage marker! On the corner of South King Street and Ward Avenue!

(Yeah, Niantic’s portal approval team was probably half-asleep when they approved this one.)

Gamer Expo 2015: The second annual edition of what’s been called the state’s largest video game event will feature tournaments for pretty much all the hot games out there (Super Smash Bros.! Hearthstone! Halo! Street Fighter! League of Legends! More!), a retro gaming section, and pretty much all the pew-pew-hack-slash-kick-punch-it’s-all-in-the-mind action you could possibly want. Special guests include Super Smash Bros. pro players Corey “False” Shin, Larry “Larry Lurr” Holland, William “Dkwill” Walsh, Max “Max Ketchum” Krchmar and Michael “MikeKirby” Alvare, and noted Hearthstone streamer Hafu. Presented by eSports HI; $25 general admission, $43 VIP pass. The Modern Honolulu (1775 Ala Moana Blvd.); 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Oct. 3.

The big convention roundup

Yes, four out of six shows for this year are done, and it’s already time to start thinking about next year. Con dates are already scheduled out through next September, in fact! Here’s everything I know so far. Unless otherwise noted, con venue is the Hawai’i Convention Center:

Anime Matsuri Hawaii: Featuring guests — deep breath in, Jason — voice actors Johnny Yong Bosch, Crispin Freeman and Maile Flanagan; Justin Rojas, representing Funimation; Masahiko Otsuka, president of Studio Trigger (the studio behind recent hits Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia); musical guest DaizyStripper; professional cosplayers Goldy, Yuegene Fay, Stella Chuu, Reika and Vampy Bit Me; fashion designers Shunsuke Hasegawa (Putumayo designer) and Chinatsu Taira (Metamorphose chief designer); and KERA/Gothic Lolita Bible model Yui Minakata. And exhale. Nov. 27-29.

Kawaii Kon: The 12th annual edition of Hawaii’s first anime convention will feature a return visit by voice actor Johnny Yong Bosch and his band, Eyeshine, as well as the first visit by Japanese rock band Loverin Tamburin. April 8-10.

Amazing Hawaii Comic Con: Save the date! The follow-up to what may well be the biggest pop-culture convention in Hawaii now (pending the formal release of attendance numbers and what I’ve heard about really crowded conditions Friday and Saturday) will be May 20-22.

Comic Con Honolulu: Kawaii Kon’s pop-culture con spinoff hopes to build on its strong debut with guests Erin Gray (Col. Deering, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), Colin Ferguson (Federal Marshal Jack Carter, Eureka), Summer Glau (River Tam, Firefly/Serenity) and Kristin Bauer (Maleficent, Once Upon A Time). July 29-31.

HawaiiCon: Guests announced so far include Simpsons/Futurama artist Bill Morrison, actress Nichelle Nichols (Uhuru in the original Star Trek) and science fiction author John Scalzi. Sept. 15-18, Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel (Hawaii island).

Festival follow-up: Something blue, something new

I’ve written quite a bit in this space recently about the flood of major conventions coming our way this year — Comic Con Honolulu, HawaiiCon, Amazing Hawaii Comic Con, Anime Ohana and Anime Matsuri Hawaii are all on deck — but the market for smaller otaku-targeted events lasting a day or shorter is developing quite nicely as well. In the past few days, two news tidbits about smaller events crossed the desk of the New and Improved Otaku Ohana Home Office — I’ll have a few pictures of that soon; getting moved in and setting that up has been the primary reason why I’ve been so silent lately this time — one with bad news, one with good.

The bad news is that the third annual Taku Taku Matsuri, which was set to take place Oct. 3 and feature voice actor Richard Epcar and his wife, voice actor/director Ellyn Stern, has been postponed indefinitely due to founder/organizer Yuka Nagaoka’s continued health issues. Here’s a formal statement posted to the Taku Taku Matsuri Facebook page on Saturday:

First of all, thank you to all that have supported us and myself so far with taku taku Matsuri.
With how we had to postpone last year because of hurricanes, postponing the event once again was a decisions I did not want to make. My directors and staff have been working very hard on getting ready in my absence. That is why, originally, I was planning to have the event happen, even with me not physically in Hawaii. However, it has become more and more unknown when I will be able to return.

Let me explain what is going on.
I have a congenital brain disease that was detected two months ago. Because of the danger of the disease, I was told that it is best to have it treated ASAP, so I have returned to Japan for treatment. Unfortunately, things are not going as smoothly as I want them to.
I have gone through all sorts of MRIs and CAT scans, but the doctors are still unable to make a decision on treatment.
Just my luck, other health issues are making the last examination they need to make a decision, high risk. That is why right now I am going through treatment for my other health issues. Once that treatment works, I will finally be able to receive the needed examination. Of course after all of that, there is still the actual treatment for the brain disease. As far as the doctors are telling me, either radiation therapy or surgery.

Being in complete medical limbo, I have made the choice to postpone the 3rd annual taku taku Matsuri. Honestly, I feel very frustrated and defeated, having to make this choice. However, I was reminded about what “taku taku Matsuri” is. As corny as it may sound, it really is an event for all Otakus, bunbun-ers, to enjoy! And with taku taku Matsuri unable to deliver 100%, we won’t be able to satisfy all our bunbun-ers!!!

All of this may take more than a few months to be taken care of. I apologize for the wait. However, I will be back, healthier and with a fixed brain, to give you all the best taku taku Matsuri!!

Here’s hoping and praying that Yuka will be able to get her health issues resolved fully sometime down the line.

While we may have lost one event off the calendar (for now), another one has popped up to take its place. The inaugural Aiea Library Mini Comic Con, taking place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 6, will offer, in the words of young adult librarian Diane Masaki’s handy-dandy flier, “a glimpse of what a convention is like, with informative panels, vendors and activities.”

Featured guests and vendors include:

Roy Chang, MidWeek cartoonist, Aiea Intermediate art teacher and Cacy and Kiara and the Curse of the Kii author. Roy will be selling prints all day and host a panel on creating stories with manga-style art and comic pages from 1 to 2 p.m.
Dasha and Dallas Cosplay — the duo of Daria Roud and Dallas Nagata White — will share their experiences and offer tips on getting into cosplaying from 2 to 3 p.m. Daria will also help kids make their own superhero mask or princess crown from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Artists Jon J. Murakami and Devin Oishi will be selling prints and other merchandise. Jon, of course, is the cartoonist best know for Gordon Rider, Edamame Ninjas, The Ara-Rangers and this here paper’s “Calabash” comic strip; Devin, a longtime MangaBento adviser, has two children’s books under his belt, Pualani and the 3 Mano and Da Blalas.

Cosplayers of all ages are encouraged to attend as well; Comic Jam Hawaii artists will be on hand to sketch cosplayers, and children in the sixth grade and younger are encouraged to enter a cosplay contest from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Aiea Library is located at 99-374 Pohai Place, where, nearly a year after opening, there remains plenty of parking (and two Ingress portals to make green, whoop whoop). Call 483-7333.

The week in panels and portals

Good news, everyone: The “Made in Japan, Loved in Hawaii” panel, which I talked about in my last post, went off without a hitch. Roy Bann, Brady Evans, Audra Furuichi, Jon Murakami and I talked about anime and tokusatsu series for a little over two hours, more people were sitting in the audience than were on the panel, and I didn’t die of embarrassment afterward. Victories all around! Thank you to all of you who came to visit, even if you stayed for just a little while.

Since I was sitting on the panel and couldn’t exactly take pictures of myself, I’ve been relying on what panel attendees have posted and shared with me to see what we looked like up there. Friend/coworker/Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker reviewer Christina Chun sent along a few pictures; here are me and Audra …

… Jon and Brady …

… and Roy, who served as panel moderator.

Here’s a full shot of the panel table taken by cartoonist Roy Chang.

And here’s a shot of all five of us after the panel, taken using the official Otaku Ohana Camera of Record by McCully/Moiliili Library branch manager Hillary Chang.

In case you missed it or weren’t able to stay for the whole thing, not to worry: I recorded the whole thing, and the slides we used — created through Prezi, an online app — are publicly available for viewing. You can download the audio file (a 121 MB download via Google Drive) at http://ow.ly/uwyBr, while the slides are available at http://ow.ly/uwyTQ. Find a comfortable seat, follow along and enjoy; I hope the audio’s okay throughout. (I haven’t had a chance to listen through the whole thing yet, although the portions I’ve heard sound pretty good.)

This week — Thursday at 6:30 p.m., to be exact — I’ll be out at Aiea Library to help ~~my Enlightened teammates take over the library portal yet again~~ chime in where needed with a presentation on Ingress, the massively multiplayer augmented reality mobile online game profiled in our paper (subscription required to view) a few weeks ago. (As our writer, Steven Mark, put it, it’s like “‘Capture the Flag’ for tech geeks,” using area landmarks as capture points, or “portals.”) Heck, the person who set up this panel in the first place, Aiea Library young adult librarian Diane Masaki, was front and center and pretty much became The Face of Hawaii Ingress ™ in the picture on the Today section cover:

That’s her in the black shirt in the front row.

Here’s the official panel description:

The world around you is not what it seems. It’s happening all around you. They aren’t coming. They’re already here.

Our future is at stake. And you must choose a side. A mysterious energy has been unearthed by a team of scientists in Europe. The origin and purpose of this force is unknown, but some researchers believe it is influencing the way we think. We must control it or it will control us.

“The Enlightened” seek to embrace the power that this energy may bestow upon us. “The Resistance” struggle to defend, and protect what’s left of our humanity.

Find out what it’s all about during Teen Tech Week!

Also significant: It’s the last public program at the current library location (99-143 Moanalua Road) before they pull up stakes and head to their new building on the site of the former Aiea Sugar Mill. So if you’ve ever been curious about the game or some of those Ingress-related jokes that I’ve increasingly been including in this blog, come on out. We’d love to see you.

The Cel Shaded Report, 5/2: Comics comics comics COMICS!

Iron Man 3 opens on Friday.

Star Wars Day — “May the Fourth be with you,” get it? — is on Saturday.

And comic book geekery, let’s face it, can just be downright fun.

So it is that we’ve come to the annual celebration of comics, downright fun and WOO HOO FREE STUFF known as Free Comic Book Day, happening on Saturday. It’s one of those days when even comic creators can be fans. Why, here’s team nemu*nemu, Audra Furuichi and Scott Yoshinaga, with McCully-Moiliili librarian Linnel Yamashita from FCBD 2012.

Of course there will be regular comics — you can scan the full list of possible giveaways (keeping in mind that not everywhere will have the full range of comics) here. Here’s a picture that Aiea Library young adult librarian Diane Masaki sent along of some of the comics that she received to distribute to the various libraries (more on that in a bit).

But as the anime/manga blog of record in the Star-Advertiser blogosphere, I’d be remiss if I didn’t show you Viz’s manga contribution to the comic party: samplers from Dragon Ball (that’s the original series, showing Goku as a young boy) and Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration (Nobuhiro Watsuki’s remixed take on his samurai series, currently being serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump USA).

So where can you go to get your comics? Several comic book stores are participating:

Collector Maniacs, 3571 Waialae Ave., ste. 102A (Kaimuki)
Gecko Books, 1151 12th Ave. (Kaimuki)
Other Realms, Ward Warehouse, 1050 Ala Moana Blvd.
Jelly’s, 98-023 Hekaha St. (Aiea) and 670 Auahi St. (Kakaako)

If you visit any of these stores, don’t forget to throw some money at them and buy something in appreciation, too — supporting local small businesses is always a good thing.

Also participating will be 16 libraries, spread out across four islands — 10 on Oahu, three on Maui, two on Hawaii island, and one on Kauai. Not only will there be free comics available, there also will be various cosplayers from the Pacific Outpost of the 501st Legion, Rebel Legion of Hawaii and the Costumers Guild of Hawaii at some branches. You can expect anyone from Stormtroopers to Homestuck characters to superheroes to Resident Evil STARS Rebecca Chambers and Jill Valentine to show up. The appearances were coordinated by Diane, who also said, and I quote, “Don’t forget to bring your camera!” (Yes, that quote was in a press release I was handed. Yes, I actually asked her to repeat that line for me, verbatim, so I could include it in here. I’m just all about journalistic integrity like that.)

I’ve learned some rudimentary HTML coding and cobbled together a handy table with the participating libraries, addresses and phone numbers, and whether they’ll have special cosplayer appearances. (Times are subject to change.)

	Address	Phone number	Cosplayers?
Aiea	99-143 Moanalua Road	483-7333	Yes (10 a.m. and mid-afternoon)
Aina Haina	5246 Kalanianaole Highway	377-2456	Yes (2 p.m.)
Hawaii Kai	249 Lunalilo Home Road	397-5833	—
Kailua	239 Kuulei Road	266-9911	Yes (noon)
Kalihi-Palama	1325 Kalihi St.	832-3466	—
Kapolei	1020 Manawai St.	693-7050	Yes (10 a.m.)
Liliha	1515 Liliha St.	587-7577	Yes (10 a.m.)
McCully-Moiliili	2211 S. King St.	973-1099	***
Mililani	95-450 Makaimoimo St.	627-7470	Yes (2 p.m.)
Waimanalo	41-1320 Kalanianaole Highway	259-2610	Yes (10 a.m.)

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Hilo (Hawaii)	300 Waianuenue Ave.	933-8888	—
Kihei (Maui)	35 Waimahaihai St.	875-6833	—
Lahaina (Maui)	680 Wharf St.	662-3950	Yes (11 a.m.)
Makawao (Maui)	1159 Makawao Ave.	573-8785	Yes (11 a.m.)
Princeville (Kauai)	4343 Emmalani Dr.	826-4310	—
Thelma Parker (Waimea, Hawaii)	67-1209 Mamalahoa Highway	887-6067	—

And then there’s McCully-Moiliili, where there’s a series of three asterisks instead of a regular dash in its row because branch manager Hillary Chang has a whole program planned to go along with the free swagfest. At 10:30 a.m., cartoonist Ray Friesen will talk about Pirate Penguin vs. Ninja Chicken, an all-ages graphic novel series that’s actually one of the series featured in Top Shelf Comix’s Top Shelf Kids Club anthology being given out during FCBD 2013.

Between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., local anime/manga-inspired art group Pen & Ink Works will be hosting a sketch meet, demonstrations and games. Drawing supplies will be provided; just bring enthusiasm and a creative spirit. And since members Brady Evans, Tara Tamayori and Rose Dela Cruz also happen to be three-quarters of the creative team behind local manga anthology Hachi Maru Hachi, they’ll be joining writer Jordan Takemoto and talking about the process of putting the latest issue together.

Show them a manga page you’ve drawn — whether at the sketch meet or elsewhere — and you can get a postcard with some official Hachi Maru Hachi art, too. Here’s an idea of what they look like.

I’ll update this post if there’s any more news of FCBD events or online giveaways, but for more on the day itself, visit www.freecomicbookday.com. And don’t forget: Be polite and stay within whatever limits each venue sets for the number of comics you can snag for free. No one likes a greedy person getting in the way.

Update 5/3, 2:40 p.m.: Freebie added to the Aiea Library festivities: Trading card packs, featuring art by some of the Comic Jam Hawaii artists.

Update 5/3, 6:30 p.m.: Lime Media Hawaii is offering free digital copies of Hawaii Star Manga Project issue #5. Visit www.limemediahawaii.com. Also, don’t forget to bring your library card if you’re visiting the libraries for your free comics.

Update 5/4, 7:15 a.m.: Over at The Beat, Heidi MacDonald has previews and recommendations for every single FCBD book available today. It’s a great guide to take on the go if you have the technological means to do so! Part 1 covers Gold sponsor books, while part 2 and part 3 cover Silver sponsors.

Also through May 5, Nao Yazawa — the manga artist whose series include Wedding Peach and Moon & Blood — is offering her 77-page autobiographical manga, Go Go Nao-P!, for free on Kindle devices. (After that, it’ll cost $2.99.) According to Anime News Network, Yazawa has said the English version seems to be working only on Fire and Paperwhite models at the moment; I’ve tested it through the Kindle app on my iPad, and it works fine. It’s a collection of 4-koma manga that she first published on her blog starting in 2010. She even translated it to English herself, so while the sentences are a bit stilted, it’s still an impressive feat.

The last days of Poppy Hill (no, really this time)

I’d have to imagine that with the English dubbed version of Studio Ghibli’s From Up on Poppy Hill entering its fifth week at the Kahala 8 theaters, these are the final days for this film’s run in Hawaii. Then again, I said that in last week’s Cel Shaded Report, and we all know how that prediction fared. It’s a bit more cut-and-dry for the Japanese audio/English subtitled version that quietly landed at the Pearlridge West 16 theaters, though. You have six more chances to see it — three today, three more over the weekend — because that version is being nudged out after Sunday. (Looking at the schedule, I think it’s to free up an auditorium for another set of Iron Man 3 screenings on weekdays.) (Update 5/3, 2:40 p.m.: It’s already gone in favor of more Iron Man 3 screenings. Sadness.) Such is life, though, and I certainly applaud Consolidated for bringing in the subbed reel in the first place.

Here are your showtimes, via Fandango. Tickets can be purchased in advance here.

Kahala
Friday and Saturday: Noon and 2:10 p.m.
Sunday: 2:10 p.m.
Monday through Thursday: Noon and 2:10 p.m.

Pearlridge
Friday through Sunday: 10:30 a.m.

Ota-cool incoming!

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.

Anime Manga Society at UH-Manoa: Meets every Thursday and Friday in Kuykendall Hall, room 305. Catch Cyborg 009, Kuroko no Basket and Hanasaku Iroha on Thursdays, or Magi, Psycho Pass and Toriko on Fridays. Social time/announcements 4:30 p.m.: screenings 5 to 7 p.m.

MangaBento: This group of anime- and manga-inspired artists usually meets every second and fourth Sunday of the month at the Honolulu Museum of Art School (1111 Victoria St., room 200). Visit www.manga-bento.com. Next meeting: 1 to 4 p.m. May 12.

Future attractions

Maui Matsuri: Annual Japanese festival held on the University of Hawaii-Maui College campus. May 11.

Tomo-E-Ame: Friends-Drawings-Candy: MangaBento’s 2013 exhibit at the Honolulu Museum of Art School, June 16-July 14.

Taku Taku Matsuri: A summer festival with an anime/manga slant at Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu. Aug. 25.

Oni-Con Hawaii: With guest Yuko Ashizawa, a fashion designer with Atelier Pierrot. Also featuring the Cosplay Chess Brigade and Yu x Me Maid Cafe & Host Club. Preregistration open now; $35 for a three-day pass. Artist Alley applications also being accepted (it’s $110 per table, which includes two three-day passes). Hawai’i Convention Center, Nov. 1-3.

Kawaii Kon 2014: Guests include voice actors Michael Sinterniklaas and Stephanie Sheh. Preregistration open now; $37 for a three-day pass for children ages 5-12, $42 general admission. Hawai’i Convention Center, April 4-6, 2014.

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