Thursday - Day 0
- Picked up my lanyard at the registration line, which was designed to look like an airport (called IsekAir), luggage, conveyer belt and everything. Very cute.
- 8PM - Premiere party, concert with a dj. Didn't stay long but it was fun.
- Greeted by the "Mayor of New Crunchy City" character on the way out, who stayed in-character the entire time. There were other costumed "characters" like him, who I didn't get to meet but assumed acted the same; it was another very cute touch to the con.
Friday - Day 1
- Could have woken up early to get tickets for Junji Ito autograph signing but decided I wanted to use at least one day to sleep in instead.
- 12PM - Went to Kira Buckland's panel, where she took questions afterward.
- This included a request to do her dream role, Jolyne Kujo, which was awesome (she did "ORAORAORA! Stone Free!")
- My biggest takeaway, however, was her response to overcoming inner doubts when pursuing a passion--she shared the general lows she'd been through, ones that were very much in line with my own (constantly comparing your accomplishments to others, the "this person's so much more accomplished than I am and also they're younger"), and knowing she's been through those lows, may still be going through them, and has a successful career that took 7-8 years for her to get to was inspiring and comforting for me to hear.
- Debated between going to the Junji Ito panel or watching the JoJo Rohan OVA overseas premiere, opted for the latter since Junji Ito was going to have more panels.
- Went to the premiere of the movie BLACKFOX, about a ninja girl and her robot pets on a revenge quest. Watched about 30 minutes of it before I decided I just wasn't interested and went to get dinner.
Saturday - Day 2
- 5AM - Woke up to line up and get tickets for the Mob Psycho guests. It was a four and a half-hour wait, but it was worth it because I got them!
- 8AM - Went back to the hotel and geared up to cosplay Mob.
Huge thanks to my friends for helping me with the wig and b.olognian on Instagram for painting the puppy on the hood!
- 12PM - Went to Setsuo Ito (voice of Mob)'s panel. Received an MP100 II poster at the door. I haven't seen coverage of this yet, but here's a few highlights:
- He did a live performance of Mob’s encounter with Serizawa...amazing!
- Addressed each Reigen cosplayer who asked a question with “shishou”
- Was asked to do a Reigen impression and did...he did one of his signature moves and I unfortunately can't remember it at the moment. He did do a "salt splash!" impression earlier though, haha.
- Hardest scene for him to perform was at the beginning of s2 ep13 with Mob mad-laughing while fighting Touichiro.
- He loves Kotori from Love Live a lot.
- When asked which character in MP100 he'd like to voice besides his own and Reigen, he answered Musashi. He added he was interested in voicing girl characters too, and he'd like to voice Tome.
- I asked him which scene made him the most emotional: he said the first that came to mind was Mob’s heart-to-heart with Touichiro at the end of s2, but his favorite is the ending scene of s2 ep7 with Mob and Reigen.
- 2:15~3:15PM - Got my poster signed by the Mob Psycho guests! Tachikawa was impressed by my hood and asked how I made it, I told him of the aforementioned friend who painted it for me. Forgot to add said friend was also a big Mob Psycho fan, I was so nervous and excited there I didn't really say anything apart from thank yous until I was asked, haha.
- 4PM - 5PM - Mob Psycho II OVA premiere with the guests!! Here is a tweet thread covering the panel, no spoilers. As for the OVA...? You'll have to wait until September 25th to watch it on Crunchryoll. I'm very excited to watch repeatedly though my heart already sinks at the thought of not watching it with amidst a crowd of passionate (but politely quiet!) fans.
- 6PM - 7PM - Mob Psycho cosplay gathering, with special visits from the guests! We signed thank you cards that we gave to them and had an amazing turnout.
Photo+panoramic by cgielenphotography on Instagram.
Sunday - Day 3
- 5AM - Woke up to get tickets for Junji Ito...sold out just before I could get to them. I wasn't too bummed because I was here for Mob Psycho first and foremost but I'd love to have something signed by him one day. Went back to the hotel and slept.
- 10:30 AM - Yuzuru Tachikawa (Mob Psycho director)'s panel. Received a card of Reigen drunkenly celebrating his birthday at the door. Showed clip of his upcoming series, Deca-Dance. At the end he took questions, and I unfortunately didn't take any notes (other than that season 3 of Mob Psycho has not been greenlit, but he would very much be interested returning to direct it)--splitting this up to be less bulky to read.
- I debated asking about asking whether his kids had seen his work or about the similar themes regarding humanity of Death Parade (another show he directed) and Mob Psycho and whether they were something that appealed to him that we could look forward to seeing more of in his future work, but decided to do a different question that I think invited for more thought.
- When I was up, he complimented the Reigen Salt Splash! hologram shirt I was wearing, which made me happy.
- I asked what scene from the MP100 manga made him fall in love with it/inspired him to animate it-he said he read it over a few times, had difficulty imagining animating it, until he got to the scene where Emi’s novel is torn up. (It’s no wonder it makes an appearance as early as season one’s opening...!)
- 12PM - Yoshimichi Kameda (Mob Psycho's character designer and one of the key animators)'s panel. Received a card of...canon ageswap AU!
- He did a live drawing of Mob, Reigen and Dimple while Tachikawa and Ito were interviewed. I ended up taking quite a few notes. My thread is a bit of a mess and I have additions to make, so here's the highlights:
- For the action sequences in season one of One Punch Man, Kameda drew inspiration from one of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure games.
- Tachikawa and Ito also like to draw.
- Tachikawa likes listening to the sound of bonfires by the river (he likes camping), rain (sharpens his senses), and munching on ume when drawing.
- What draws Tachikawa to Kameda's art is the way he conveys power.
- Before getting into the anime industry, Ito was studying animals.
- Tachikawa says Ito’s personality is dog-like, Ito feels like he’s more of a mouse. Ito is very fond of mice--he used to collect stuffed mice as a kid (including Mickey Mouse), and had a beloved one named Chu-chan.
- A level of cuteness was taken into account when casting Mob’s voice. ("He is cute," Tachikawa said in English, motioning towards Ito, then when this subject arrived he nodded towards Ito and said, again in English, "Hm. Cute.")
- They went over budget with s2 ep 5 and got yelled at for it, but went with the same budget again for the Shimazaki fight anyway, lol.
- Ito on Mob growing up to be like ONE (as he mentioned in the OVA panel): very approachable and friendly despite appearance, an aura of cuteness.
- On ghost encounters: Tachikawa did a test of courage where he was surprised by a sound, Ito lost a pet as a child that he felt he could still feel the presence of a week later, another spookier one involved hearing his mother’s voice when she wasn’t there I think?
- Ito described ONE’s style as square while Kameda’s is circular.
- Kameda didn’t have much to say because he was concentrating on drawing and wasn’t used to crowds but he thought he the end result turned out well (he’s right!)
Also, Kameda does indeed
start with the butt when drawing Reigen...and
even confirmed it himself.
- Went to the Mob Psycho 100: Psychic Battle booth and played a demo of the game. It has a dog! A dog you can pet! A dog you can brush!!! A dog you can buy toys for!!! A dog you can pick clothes for it to wear!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and the game looks fun too.
- 3:30PM - Junji Ito "Find Your Phobia" panel, covered a range of phobias and ran them by him. I can't remember very many details, but I imagine there must be coverage on this panel somewhere. This was the only time I got to see Junji Ito in the flesh, and that was pretty delightful.
Loot:
- Star Mob and Reigen plushes from Kelly Onelani's booth.
- Kaiji stickers and vol. 5 of Inside Mari from Denpa's booth.
- Junji Ito print and Mob Psycho 100 II genga artbook from Crunchryoll's store.
- Penguin Highway enamel pins from Eleven Arts's booth.
- Free Dimple magnet from the Mob Psycho Psychic Battle booth.
Overall I had an amazing time to the point I actually felt a great sense of heartbreak and loss for days later after it was over. There's always a bit of sadness when conventions are over, but this was the only case I can think of where I really, really longed to return. Very much a case of "don't be sad that it's over, be happy that it happened." I can't imagine another con topping this one, but I'm very open to the possibility of that or at least meeting its equal. I still miss the Mob Psycho guests and fans and wish I could have connected more, but I'm glad I made an effort at all. I feel truly blessed to have been part of it!