These are truly … interesting times here at Otaku Ohana Central. If you’ve been following along on my social media feeds as of late, you know that I recently spent close to a week in the hospital being treated for complications related to pneumonia. This, of course, juuuuuuust as Only Yesterday was on the cusp of opening at the Kahala 8 theaters, the Honolulu Festival was ready to present its annual weekend craft fair/parade/fireworks combination, and Kawaii Kon was maneuvering and getting its final ducks in a row before kicking off Con-athon 2016 next month.
Well. It’s a good thing that I’m feeling back to some semblance of normal, because HOLY CATS ALL THE THINGS ARE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. Consider what we’ve seen in the span of just the past 48 hours:
>> Comic-Con Honolulu announced its latest guest for its show in late July, and he’s a doozy: George Takei, the man who arguably owns the Internet (or at least the corner of it that generates those popular “ohhhhhhh myyyyyy” memes). Of course, he’s also known for being Sulu on the original Star Trek, an outspoken advocate for equal marriage rights and the man behind Allegiance, a musical that recounts the experiences of Japanese Americans interned at camps during World War II.
>> Anime Ohana is coming back. Nov. 4-6, to be exact, once again at the Pagoda Hotel. That much we’ve known for the past few weeks. What we didn’t know was who would be showing up, but as of Saturday, we now have our first official guest trio: Akame ga Kill dub actors Christina Marie Kelly, Molly Searcy and David Wald.
>> With less than three weeks remaining until Kawaii Kon opens and the full schedule already posted, you’d think convention staff would be more than happy to rest on their laurels and just get ready to let whatever happens happen. Nope! Sorry. There are still announcements to be made and final arrangements to tie up, and they’re going to be making them. Do you like Good Smile Company, makers of all those cute Nendoroids and Figma figures? Representatives from that company will be hosting a collecting panel on Sunday from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. April 10. (Psst …
GSC’s also going to be hosting athere’s also going to be an unofficial “Naughty Figures” panel for those of you 18 and older from 10 to 11 p.m. April 9.) Those of you who are interested in taking part in the Karaoke Kompetition will want to know that the final set of preliminaries will be held at Nocturna Lounge — just downstairs from the Star-Advertiser editorial offices at Restaurant Row! — starting at 3 p.m. Sunday. And of course, for those of you who really want to procrastinate and wait until the very last second to get your three-day passes online, you have until March 26 to do that at www.showclix.com/event/KawaiiKon2016.
Suffice it to say that this is only the beginning, and that I have a lot of news to catch up with. Your friendly neighborhood anime/manga/cartooning/conventioning blogger is just warming up, so if you haven’t seen anything about your convention of choice, don’t worry … I’ll be getting around to it soon! Just fasten your seat belt and get ready to enjoy the ride … I’ll try to guide you as best I can through it.
Otaku Ohana 