OtakonNews

Registration is now open for Otakon 2024! Register online today to secure your spot. Badge Mailing is included with all orders made before 11:00 PM EDT on May 22nd, 2024!! All badges can be mailed, yes for $0! Of course if you really want, you can still opt-out and pick up your badges at-the-door. Full details and the access to the registration portal Click Here

Join Just B for a VIP event experience! This includes: An interactive dance workshop on Friday (6:00PM - 7:30PM) taught by Just B themselves! A meet and greet experience on Saturday (3:30PM-5:00PM). All experience holders will be able to meet JUST B in an intimate environment as well as the possibility of having one item signed. Selfie-style photos will be allowed. VIP Seating for the Sunday Concert featuring Just B. VIP Passholders will be seated first for the concert. For more details Click here!

Registration is now open for Otakon 2023! Register online today to secure your spot. New for this year - Badge Mailing is included with all orders made before 11:00 PM EDT on May 15th, 2023. All badge types can be mailed (yes for $0!), or if you really want you can opt out and pick up your badges at-the-door. Extra Special Holiday Rush - At the opening of online registration, 1,000 Full Weekend Adult Badges will be available for $70/ea. First come, first served. Full details and the access to the registration portal Click Here

Otakon 2022 is now in the rear-view so it's time for our annual membership survey -- let us know how we did! While we're amazed by the growth in attendance this year, we also know that it presented some new challenges and longer lines. Our feedback survey is the best way you can let us know how we did. So even if you were not able to attend, your feedback helps us plan for next year. Take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9ZH2NKB

It’s already time to start planning for your #Otakon2023! The official Otakon 2023 hotel block opens at NOON TODAY! More Information is available on our Hotels page

In the second year back since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the attendance for Otakon 2022 reached a record-breaking number of more than 40,000 memberships. This year's total is roughly a 57% increase over 2021. Previously, the highest year for Otakon attendance was in 2013, when the convention reached 34,211 memberships. Otakon 2023 will be held from July 28 to 30 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C.

We are extremely excited to welcome Junhong Kim, Jenny Zha, and Angelina Foss of ZanyBros to #Otakon2022! This team of brilliant creatives lead the largest music video production company in Korea, and they're bringing their knowledge and wisdom to Otakon. Don't miss them! View all the guests we have announced so far on our website at: https://www.otakon.com/guests/

Otakon is excited to announce Celeina Ann will arrive at #Otakon2022 after her timeskip from 2020! (Come of you might recall that she gave us and amazing live performance from Japan during Otakon Online 2020.) Celeina Ann is an American-Japanese singer songwriter, known for her appearance as the singer voice for Tuesday on the Netflix anime Carole & Tuesday. Celeina Ann has collaborated with brands such as BenDavis, CLINIQUE, FIAT, CASIO and more. Her long-awaited 2nd album is now in production. Join us in welcoming Celeina Ann to her very first live OTAKON appearance! View all the g

Yoshihiro “Nabe” Watanabe is a producer at Orange, and currently working on TRIGUN STAMPEDE as its business producer. Nabe grew up in Los Angeles and after graduating from college, he joined the US branch of the animation studio Madhouse. In his early career under legend Masao Maruyama’s mentorship, Nabe gained unique international production experience ranging from live-action to international collaboration projects, Nabe’s career involves range of shows and rolls including BEASTARS, GodzillaS.P, League of Legend: New Journey Short , and Eccentric Family 2. Nabe is currently with Orange and

Mariya Ise is a voice actor from Kanagawa prefecture of Japan. Her main roles include Foo Fighers from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Hwan Paorin/Dragon Kid from TIGER & BUNNY, Yoshino Somei from Spriggan, Ray from The Promised Neverland, Killua Zoldyck from HUNTER x HUNTER, Reg from Made in Abyss, Bonnie from Pokémon The Series: XY, and Wendy Hertz from Mobile Suit Gundam AGE. She is also scheduled to play Azami Kurotani in an upcoming series Uzukami, directed by former Otakon guest Hiroshi Nagahama. View all the guests we have announced so far on our website at: https://

Please help Otakon welcome Kaoru Wada and Yuki Hayashi. View all the guests we have announced so far on our website at: https://www.otakon.com/guests/

Otakon is proud to present our Friday concert for this year: Friday Night K-Pop w/AleXa, PIXY, and Rolling Quartz As always, concerts are included with your Otakon Membership at no extra charge, however seating is first come, first served and not guaranteed. We are offering a limited number of VIP and Reserved Seating Passes. Concert passes will go on sale starting on Friday June 10th. Please see our website for all the details! https://www.otakon.com/activities/concert/

They’re not just beautiful flowers…they are blazing flames! Rolling Quartz shook up the Internet world of K-pop fans in 2020 by bringing exciting videos with fiery covers of rock artists from around the world. With fans and supporters from dozens of different countries, Rolling Quartz wants to show that rock music will never die. They will perform their first international show at Otakon 2022, bringing original songs fresh from their first mini-album which was released in February, as well as some fan-favorite covers. You do not want to miss this!

Zeno Robinson is an actor residing in Los Angeles, California. Zeno began his acting journey in middle school, and after taking a program called “All About Kids”, signed with CESD Talent. He would gain his professional voiceover start soon after as “Alan Albright” in Ben 10 Alien Force at 14 years old, and has since studied under industry pioneers such as Charlie Adler, Tony Gonzales, Kris Zimmerman, Phil Lamarr, Ginny McSwain, and Tony Oliver. Zeno can now be heard as “Hunter” in The Owl House, “Remy” in Big City Greens, “Hawks” in My Hero Academia, “Cyborg” in Young Justice, and “The Green P

Takahiro Izutani is a video game composer and guitarist. He composed for games like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Bayonetta. Izutani has also collaborated with other artists, including Ayumi Hamasaki. A member of Brave Wave Productions, he released his first solo album, Lingua Franca, under artist name Dugo in 2017. View all the guests we have announced so far on our website at: https://www.otakon.com/guests/

Otakon2022 is excited to debut Kpop group PIXY 픽시 for the Friday Night Kpop Concert! PIXY made their debut in February of 2021 with their digital hit single "Wings." Depicting the journey of six wingless fairies, PIXY takes strong inspiration from hip hop & EDM and combines them with breathtaking choreography and imagery as they invite us along in the search for their wings. PIXY makes their North American debut at Otakon 2022 after breaking Top 50 in the Gaon Music Chart and returning from celebrating Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival in India

Please help Otakon welcome Ricco Fajardo, Tiana Camacho, and Steve Blum. View all the guests we have announced so far on our website at: https://www.otakon.com/guests/

Today is the final day lock in your membership at the Early Bird rate! The Pre-Registration rate increases to $85 starting tomorrow. Register online today! https://www.otakon.com/register/

It's a beautiful day in DC for the National Cherry Blossom Festival! Stop by the Otakon or @japanembdc booths for a special limited-edition 60tha nniversary Cherry Blossom Fest sticker!

Less than two weeks left to lock in your membership at the Early Bird rate! Register online today! https://www.otakon.com/register/

You asked and we listened, we are happy to announce that K-pop is here at Otakon. You just saw AleXa perform during the American Song Contest now come see her in person at Otakon 2022. AleXa (알렉사) is an award-winning K-pop singer-songwriter and dancer whose rise to fame began with an online talent competition, Rising Legends, where she received more than 1 million votes. After signing with Korean artist agency ZB Label, AleXA went on to feature in “PRODUCE 48”, the most competitive audition show in Korea. View all the guests we have announced so far on our website at: https://www.otakon.c

Programming applications for #Otakon2022 are now OPEN! Have you ever wanted to be a part of Otakon’s incredible fan-run programming schedule? Here’s your chance! Don’t wait, because these forms won’t be open forever. ANIBeat Idol Stage Panels Workshops We can’t wait to see you in July.

Lai Frances is a multimedia journalist and producer that focuses on music, pop culture and entertainment. She is currently a Social Media Producer at CNET by day and a Contributing Writer/Host by night talking about music and K-pop. You can find some of her bylines on MTV News, Teen Vogue, PopCrush, tmrw, and Glamour while being a host for KCON and NME. She was first exposed to K-pop in the early 2000s and didn't really dive deep into the culture until the later half of the '00s where she started off blogging about it which eventually led to where she is now. To date, Lai has written special f

We've very excited to be able to announce the opening of registration for Otakon 2022 and even more excited to announce a new discount level to our early-bird pre-registration rate!

Hotel Block Opens Monday! We said big news was coming! This is the first announcement we've got ready for you, but there's more on the way... The Official Otakon Room Block is opening Monday November 29th at Noon!