Nan Desu Kan 2016 - Day 3

Together, we have all made it to the final day of Nan Desu Kan 20. Sunday is usually the most interesting day of the convention, largely due to the lack of sleep that everyone, attendees, staff, and guests alike are dealing with. But, it is also the last opportunity to make connections, talk with other fans, and buy that cool merchandise and art.

I started off my day with a roundtable interview with Dr. Alisa Freedman of University of Oregon. I have had the opportunity to talk with Freedman in the past, and it is always a pleasure to discuss the exchange of culture between Japan and the United States.  Audio for the panel should be posted early next week.

Next, I attended a panel with Patrick Seitz and Clarine Harp discussing anime localization and production. Both Seitz and Harp have been working in anime localization since the early 2000’s. To start the panel off, Harp noted that Funimation and Sentai Filmworks are the only companies do complete in house localization of Japanese media. The other companies that do localization contract out portions of their workload. She noted that having the complete production in house can be helpful to meet very tight deadlines and adapt when there are difficulties. The explained the general process of adaptation and then opened the floor to questions. Discussion from the audience questions included more detail about the process, what sort of crises have arisen, recent changes related to streaming services and broadcast dubs,  selection of special features, art properties and packaging, and revisiting properties that have been previously localized by other groups. According to Harp, sometimes Funimation’s Texas studios get invaded by scorpions. As she is telling this story, Seitz is cringing, and states that he will never visit in summer again.

After the panel, I had an opportunity to interview Brian Epcar, voice of Batou (Ghost in the Shell), Raiden (Mortal Kombat), and Jigen (Lupin III).  We talked about revisiting old older properties after a long hiatus, what (if any) prep that he does for a new role, and what his thoughts are on performing characters with longer histories.

Finally, I attended Roland Kelts “Japanamerica” panel. Much of this panel was repeated from his earlier panel, but there was some additional insight into a few of the points the he made and some additional content.

That’s it. I’m heading home now. Thank you NDK for another great convention this year! And thank you so much to the Directors for organizing and the staff for impletmenting such a great convention experience. I’m so excited to be back again soon. Game on!