Anime World Order’s Otakon 2012 Panel Schedule

Now that the Otakon 2012 events schedule is live, here’s the listings of what panels we are doing at the convention for those of you planning to attend. Our comments in bold. The likelihood of us recording these panels or resharing them online is slim to none:

Anime’s Craziest Deaths [18+] – Friday, July 27, 2012, 12:30 AM – 2:00 AM, Panel 3 (BCC Ballroom I-II)

Yes, everybody dies. However, not everybody dies because Mad Bull overturned their tank thus causing their rocket launcher to misfire, and this is a joyous and uplifting truth of the world that we SHOULD dwell upon! So it is that Otaku USA Magazine’s Daryl Surat (Twitter: @DarylSurat) returns with another installment of some of the most outlandish, excessive, and positively unconventional kills in anime history! [With 30 minute buffer windows between panels, expect pre-show roll when possible. Post-show, not so much; other people gotta use those rooms!]

Fandom & Criticism: The Art of Active Viewing – Saturday, July 28, 2012, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM, Panel 5 (Hilton Key Ballroom 8, 11, 12)

As anime and manga fans, how does our fandom affect our ability to judge and reason about our favorite (and least favorite) series? Can we—and should we—think critically about all of the media we consume? Join Evan Minto and Ink from AniGamers.com and Clarissa from the Anime World Order podcast (animeworldorder.com) for an open dialogue about all these questions and many more.

Great Anime Openings – Saturday, July 28, 2012 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Panel 6 (Hilton Key Ballroom 1-6)

The opening animation is often times where animation and music show of [sic] their best. Come and watch some new and classic openings and discover some new shows you may not have heard of before! Let the Anime World Order Podcast show you the best that anime has to show, and introduce you to the concept of “Conservation of Cool.” Presented by Anime World Order & Daryl Surat. [It’s credited that way due to the registration system and…actually, you’re about to see why!]

The “Art” of Fanservice [18+] – Saturday, July 28, 2012, 11:30 PM – 12:30 AM, Panel 6 (Hilton Key Ballroom 1-6)

Let us take you through the history of fanservice in anime from its very mild beginnings in the 70s to the to the [sic] first fanservice for girls in the 80s, the crappy harem shows of the 90s and beyond, and the endless pandering of fanservice today. Presented by Anime World Order.

Lupin the Third: 40+ Years of Heists and Hijinks [18+] – Saturday, July 28, 2012, 11:30 PM – 12:30 AM, Panel 5 (Hilton Key Ballroom 8, 11, 12)

Lupin the Third is the world’s greatest thief and one of anime’s most iconic characters. Since the early 1970s, his animated escapades have helped broaden Japanese animation as a storytelling medium using a vast spectrum of visual styles, genre tones, and levels of family appropriateness / political correctness. Presented by Anime World Order, Otaku USA Magazine, & Daryl Surat. [Yep! It’s AWO Hollywood–that’s Gerald–vs AWO Black and White–Daryl is Stevie Ray–since Gerald has the Fanservice panel and Daryl has the Lupin one. Note: both of these run opposite Mike Toole’s Dubs That Time Forgot. That makes him the Wolfpac we turned our back on, so we might end up in bodybags.]

A list of other panels you’re LIKELY (not guaranteed) to see one of us at unless we’re asleep, doing press stuff, or eating follows:

Friday
The Aging Otaku: Anime Fandom and Getting Older (the ANN panel fills up fast)
Asian Cinema Crash Course (overlaps with the next one, so someone keep a list of what they show for us!)
Video Games as Literature: Towards a New Criticism (Fast Karate’s panel)
When You Wish Upon a Tezuka (if the last two are full)
Giant Robots A-Go-Go (can’t look away)
Senshicon: The Complete Sailor Moon
Blood and Honor: Story of the Samurai in Japanese Cinema
New Anime For Older Fans (Reverse Thieves/Speakeasy’s panel)
Macross Origins
Genshiken: The Next Generation (probably Ogiue Maniax’s panel?)

Saturday
Anime and Manga Studies: Three Decades In
Sexism in Anime and Fandom (runs partially opposite our Great Openings panel)
Maruyama & MAPPA Q&A
The Worst Anime of All Time (Mike Toole’s panel)
Unusual Manga Genres (Ninja Consultant’s panel)
Anime Archive Project – Preserving The Good and Bad of US Anime Fandom (runs opposite Unusual Manga)
Way More Than Meets the Eye… Transformers: The Panel
Beyond Castles, Forests and Bath Houses: Politics and Philosophy in the Films of Studio Ghibli (Hypothesis: Charles Dunbar invented the Anime Boston-esque “thesis statement often with colon” panel naming tradition, which everyone copied and then took to Otakon)
The Changing Faces of Anime (Ani-Gamers’ panel)
Dead Like Us: Death Lore and Japanese Media (this happens every year and every year we can’t get in; this is true for all Charles Dunbar panels)
Hetalia History (Walter Amos’ panel, opposite Dead Like Us)
Navigating LGBT/Queer Identities and Issues within Japanese Media and Cultural Appreciation (this is an Anime Boston-esque panel name)
Josei, Shojo for Adults
Boku no Pornorama

Sunday
Metal Gear: 25 Years of Glory
From Anime to Live Action or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the G-Savior (also an Anime Boston-esque panel name)
The Gundam Experience 2012 (it’s not a title card that says “not available in the US”?!)
Culinary Manga (Ninja Consultant’s panel?)
Vertical 2012

That about covers it. Otakon’s a really big convention with not just lots of stuff to do, but lots of stuff FOR US to do. That’s just panels. It doesn’t count dealer’s room, Artist’s Alley, video room premieres, concerts, the game room, being stuck in a super congested skywalk as the terrible people shout MARCO POLO, and so on. We’ll all be posting from our Twitter accounts on site if you want to keep tabs on us.