Anime Weekend Atlanta 2013 - Summary

Well, I'm back from AWA 2013, and I had a blast. Really, this was a really good con this time around... far and away removed from the days when the only thing to do was to hang around the video game rooms and play DDR.

Lately, the con has been picking up Japanese guests in a trend that I'd like to see continue... and this year, they really took the cake. Mitsuo Iwata, who voiced Kaneda in Akira and Itsuki in Initial D, appeared here along with Yuu Asakawa, who voiced Sakaki-san in Azumanga Daioh and Luka Megurine from the Vocaloid series. A third Japanese guest in the form of Toshio Furukawa was there as well, though admittedly I am unfamiliar with most of his roles.

... So, now that I've mentioned those three, the big surprise guest of this year was ZUN, the creator of the Touhou series. I don't know who here reads my blog without knowing who he is, but just in case, I'll give the explanation I typically give about him. ZUN is a one-man show who makes shoot-em-up video games... and working by himself, has single-handedly filled at least half of Akihabara with either his stuff, or stuff derived off his stuff.

Yeah. That's an accomplishment. NicoNico Douga even has an entire category that's just exclusive for Touhou-related videos. Once ZUN was announced as a guest for Anime Weekend Atlanta, I knew I was going.

I suppose it's best to break up this post into several posts, and I already know the longest is going to be ZUN's Friday panel. But as far as what I did at the con...

Friday: Registration, Iwata and Asakawa panel, ZUN panel
Saturday: Iwata and Asakawa autographing, Idolm@ster panel, Iwata and Asakawa concert, ZUN autographing, bless4 concert
Sunday: Sayonara Anime Weekend Atlanta