Anime World Order Show # 201 – Otakon 2021 Report with Evan Minto

We are joined by Evan Minto of the newly launched digital manga service Azuki as well as the Ani-Gamers podcast to recap Otakon 2021, which we all attended. How are anime conventions faring in what was supposed to be the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Normally we’d have like, show notes where we detail the segments and offer some timestamps, but this whole episode is about the anime convention as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic, what prompted conventions to reopen, what safety measures were and were not followed by whom, etc. We can try and break it down, I guess:

0:00 – 31:00: Catching up with Evan, giving background information on COVID-19, conventions shutting down, Otakon proceeding in 2021, what prompted our decision to attend instead of cancel, etc.

This “Welcome Back” was all over the place in the con.
Panel room for "Openings to Show you (Probably) Didn't See"
At least the people in our panels were fully masked.
A celebrity was in the dealer’s room

31:00 – 1:23:37: Panels and live events which we attended, WOOO LEDICOMI YEAHHHHH BABY

Promo: Right Stuf Anime (1:23:37 – 1:25:52)
Interested in a reprint of Aria: The Masterpiece by Akari Mizunashi? Right Stuf is taking a survey to gauge potential interest in a reprint of select volumes or potentially the entire series, so head on over there and fill it out if you are interested. You can also preorder new releases for 25% off, such as Lupin the Third: Part V, which instead of being released in two parts as originally planned is now going to be one complete set. There are also weekly sales; as of this writing, Viz titles are on sale so if you were wanting to pick up those Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure limited editions now is your chance.

1:25:52 – Dealer’s Room, Artist Alley, closing thoughts

This was Artist Alley as it was sort of winding down on Saturday night. Still pretty crowded…

7 Replies to “Anime World Order Show # 201 – Otakon 2021 Report with Evan Minto”

  1. I went to that Shinzo Abe panel! (although I missed the first 10 minutes). It was a pretty good overview of Abe’s plans and initiatives (the remilitarization thing, ‘Abenomics’, his early Covid response, etc).

    I saw the description of that so-called “censorship” panel and was deeply suspicious of it. I’m glad to learn that my suspicions were correct. Otherwise, you covered most of my personal highlights: the Japonisme panel, George’s failed anime company panel, the Miura panel, etc. I had roommates who went to the Sword Lesbians and the Non-Traditional Idol panels who said they were good.

    I’m glad y’all enjoyed the Yas panel! That was the first time I put that one on, and despite a little technical hiccup early on and the fact I had to rush the end a bit, I think it went well. I thought I made a decent effort at getting around the name recognition issue (I did note it was about the works of Yoshikazu “Yas” Yasuhiko in the description), but there’s not much I can do about getting scheduled against a more generalized Gundam panel. I did appreciate that everyone who showed up was really into it, and am proud that thanks to me more people than ever know that Yas made a BL OVA once and it was awesome.

  2. I own the Criterion Godzilla Showa Collection and it is excellent. It has decent special features and ALL the movies( with the exception of King Kong vs Godzilla) are the original versions, in Japanese without any American edits, inserts, dubbing, etc. So what is Toho supposed to have done?

    [We were informed that Toho did not let Criterion include about half of the existing dubs, nor did they provide Criterion with the new 4K transfers for either Godzilla or King Kong vs Godzilla. Criterion was also not permitted to remove the splice marks from the film prints. –Daryl]

  3. I’ve definitely enjoyed some of the Discord gatherings I’ve participated in associated with some of the servers I’m a part of; it could be a good fit if you think it would be worth the investment of time and $.

  4. Discord could work well. Paul Chapman’s GME discord has movie nights periodically and it seems to work quite well. So if he could do it and things work well I’m sure you guys could and put some interesting content there.

  5. On the requirements for judges in Japan:
    “In order to become a judge, public prosecutor, or practising attorney, one must usually pass the bar examination, and after completing the training at the Legal Training and Research Institute, it is necessary to pass final qualifying examination (the so-called second examination).”
    http://japan.kantei.go.jp/judiciary/0620system.html

  6. You guys did not mention the Discotek panel and also I would be down for paying to watch your panels on Discord. [We figured there was no need since they posted every slide of the presentation online the moment they showed them to the room. –Daryl]

  7. YES! I love how you went on a short tangent regarding corporations getting bigger and bigger and owning more and more content. Ze Gubmint is supposed to break trusts and monopolies, yet that has not happened in decades. Pretty much no one talks about this, instead spending time complaining about pretty much anything else BUT this.

    And about your reasons for attending the con during the coof: you wasted your time. The people who would REALLY have a problem with you going? They won’t forgive you anyway.

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