On May 26th 2015, Otakon, a Baltimore, Maryland anime convention announced that Hiroyuki Takei will be a guest at this year’s convention on July 24th-26th. He was announced with Yuichiro Hayashi who was the director for the latest Garo anime series in which Takei was also a character designer. Hiroyuki Takei previously was a guest at San Diego Comic Con in 2010 and prior to that at New York Comic Con in 2008.
The biggest difference between those first 2 visits and this third is who he is coming with. Previously both trips were sponsored by Viz Media as promotion with Stan Lee for the Ultimo manga. This time, his name is attached with Otakon and Viz Media has not made any announcements related to this yet.
I’ll be there to cover any news there is related to the event so look forward to that! But here’s my thoughts on what will probably happen:
- At least 1 panel with Hiroyuki Takei will be focused on the Garo anime, and most questions will be focused in that direction.
- There will be at least 1 or 2 signing events. There may be an additional signing event at Viz Media’s Dealer’s Room booth (if there is one).
- He will probably make a short walk-on appearance at the Viz Media panel (if there is one).
- There should be a Hiroyuki Takei-only panel, to focus on Shaman King and Ultimo.
- He won’t talk in detail about series and chapters that haven’t been released officially in the USA (he didn’t when he was in France, and there was questions about the ending).
- He may drop some type of hints about new manga he is working on (such as a Flowers sequel).
- He won’t talk about any contract-related issues (such as him possibly moving away from Shueisha, .etc).
- He’ll probably wear a hat.
