WRITTEN BY: ERIN
Otakon, one of the biggest anime conventions on the Northeast Coast, has come back for its sixteenth year and it celebrates its enormous success with some of the industry's most well known and talented stopping by for Q&A's, autograph signings and more.
This year, one of Otakon's biggest hypes is the famous J-Rock band, VAMPS, starring Hyde(L'Arc~en~Ciel) and K.A.Z.(Oblivion Dust) changing plans in their US tour route to meet Otakon fans in person so they can sign autographs and answer questions before jump-starting Otakon with their concert. Several voice actors will be joining the crowd, including Crispin Freeman, a legend in his own right. Crispin has dubbed such famous characters as, Itachi(Naruto), Rude(Final Fantasy: Advent Children), Alucard(Hellsing), Zelgadis(Slayers), and Tsume(Wolf's Rain.) Voice actress, hailing from Japan, is Kikuko Inoue, famous for her role as Belldandy in Ah! My Goddess. Kikuko's fan base in Japan is quite large and she has brought her talent to such shows as Ranma 1/2, Full Metal Alchemist, El-Hazard, and video game, Metal Gear Solid.
Producer, Masao Maruyama will be at the event. He founded Madhouse Studios and brought us works like, Vampire Hunter D, Death Note, Monster, Trigun, Card Captor Sakura, and Ninja Scroll. Such talent as Satoshi Kon has worked and grown under Masao Maruyama's influence. Also coming all the way from Japan for Otakon is, Yukata Yamamoto, the director and writer of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Otakon is approaching full speed, taking over Baltimore Convention Center from July 17th - 19th. If you're in the area and haven't bought your tickets yet, what's keeping you!? The guests are just a bite-size portion of what Otakon is bringing to the table this year.
