Post-Otakon Update: 45 Years of Shonen Jump Line-Up!

Excuse the wait I've taken, because I was getting ready for Otakon 20 this year, and I have come back home just yesterday. Normally, I don't talk about a con visit after the fact, but I wanted to get a couple of things out of the way.

First, a big "Thank You" to Otakon for letting me be a part of the 20th Anniversary of the second-biggest anime convention in North America. For a first-time panelist at the con, I feel honored to have helped celebrate such a joyous occasion for Otakorp. In terms of the con itself, it was easily the best Otakon I have ever been at. The panels I went to were all excellent, & the panelists prepared & bringing their A-Game (except for one, but nothing's perfect), the guest roster was definitely top-notch, and though the Baltimore Convention Center is becoming too small for the con, I have to agree with Zac Bertschy & Justin Sevakis during the live (& unfortunately un-captured) ANNCast when they agreed that Otakon in general has a strong, welcoming, & celebratory feeling to it. I got to meet a lot of great people, including the likes of Anime World Order's Daryl Surat (a reader of this blog, no less!) & ANN's Justin Sevakis (the man who inspired me to start writing about obscure anime), & I have Otakon 20 to thank for this.

Second, I had an absolute blast doing the one panel I was approved to do: 45 Years of Shonen Jump: A Visual History. Going off of the Jump panels I did at Anime Boston & AnimeNEXT this year, this Otakon version was meant to be the ultimate overview to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine; what better place to celebrate one anniversary than at another, right? Very quickly, the room filled up & I'm sure I had a nigh-packed house, and the roar I heard from simply mentioning Jump's Anniversary told me that this was going to be special. What resulted was a crowd ready for a celebration filled with tons of cheering & some strong singing along. When the crowd collectively screamed "You wa Shock!" alongside "Ai wo Torimodose", sang "Saint Seiya!" during "Pegasus Fantasy", & even indulged me by spelling out "B-A-K-A-S-U-R-V-I-V-O-R" during Bobobo's "Baka Survivor", I felt something that I never felt before: I truly felt like I was a panelist that was bringing something anime fans loved & wanted to see.

So a great big "THANK YOU!!!" to everyone who came to the panel & had a great time. Admittedly, I over-estimated what I had time for, but even with me having to cut out three entries (& one from the pre-show), we still got through 38 titles that ran in the pages of Jump & we covered from 1968-2004... I think we did a damn good job, guys. The fact that even a member of the panels staff told me that I have to be given more time for the "next time" I do this is really encouraging. Trust me, even with this variation done & my con season being finished for the year I can always come back to this panel idea. Many shows have multiple openings, & I can always mix up the focus of the panel, from decade-focused (like 70s-80s or 90s-00s) to "repeat offenders" (mangaka who have had multiple hit titles in Jump) to history-focused specifics (don't you want a comprehensive look at what Jump's "Golden Age" was?).

One thing I got after the panel, though, was that some people didn't quite know what titles I talked about during the panel. Fair enough, so here's the final line-up that I ran at Otakon & which openings I played (ones with the loudest cheering and/or singing are bolded):

Pre-Show (The Oddest of the Odd):
1981 - Stop!! Hibari-kun! ["Stop! Hibari-kun!!"]
1985 - Tsuide no Tonchinkan ["Gomen ne Cowboy"]
1987 - Moeru! Onii-san ["Dosha Ori no Generation"] (OVA OP)
1993 - Tottemo! Luckyman ["Luckyman no Uta"]
1997 - Hanasaku Tenshi Tenten-kun ["Kurasu de Ichiban Sugoi Yatsu"]

45 Years of Shonen Jump:
1968 - Harenchi Gakuen ["Harenchi Gakuen Song"] (70s Live-Action's Animated OP)
1968 - Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho ["Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho"]
1970 - Dokonjou Gaeru ["Dokonjou Gaeru"]
1971 - Koya no Shonen Isamu ["Koya no Shonen Isamu"]
1976 - Kochikame ["Katsushika Rhapsody"] (OP3)
1977 - Ring ni Kakero ["Asu he no Toushi"] (Season 3 Ver.)
1978 - Cobra ["Cobra the Space Pirate"] (Cobra the Animation OP)
1979 - Kinnikuman ["Honou no Kinnikuman"] (OP2)

1980 - Dr. Slump ["Kao Dekaai"] (1997-1997 Reboot OP1)
1981 - Captain Tsubasa ["Dragon Screamer"] (Road to 2002 OP1)
1983 - Fist of the North Star ["Ai wo Torimodose"] (OP1)
1984 - Kimagure Orange Road ["Night of Summer Side"] (OP1)
1984 - Dragon Ball ["We Gotta Power"] (DBZ OP2)
1985 - City Hunter ["Go Go Heaven"] (CH1 OP2)
1986 - Saint Seiya ["Pegasus Fantasy"] (OP1)
1987 - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure ["Sono Chi no Sadame"] (OP1)
1988 - Rokudenashi BLUES ["Wild Side of R&R"] (1993 Movie OP)
1989 - Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken ["Yuusha yo, Isoge!!"]

1990 - Slam Dunk ["Kimi ga Sukidatou Sakebitai"] (OP1)
1990 - Yu Yu Hakusho ["Hohoemi no Bakudan"]
1992 - Hareluya II BØY ["Tight-Break"]
1994 - Rurouni Kenshin ["1/2"] (OP2)
1995 - Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoiyo!! Masaru-san ["Romance"]
[NOTE: Pretty much everything from this point on was cheered like no tomorrow]
1996 - Yu-Gi-Oh! ["Overlap"] (Duel Monsters OP6)
1997 - One Piece ["We Are!"] (OP1)
1998 - Hunter X Hunter ["Taiyou wa Yoru mo Kagayaku"] (1999 Original OP2)
1998 - Shaman King ["Over Soul"] (OP1)
1999 - Hikaru no Go ["Get Over"] (OP1)
1999 - Naruto ["Rocks"] (OP1) (Really, everyone loves this song?!)

2001 - Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo [Baka Survivor] (OP2)
2001 - Bleach [*~Asterisk] (OP1) (I accidentally skipped about half of it due to time running out)
2002 - Eyeshield 21 [Breakthrough] (OP1) (Mostly skipped over due to time)
2004 - Death Note [What's Up, People?] (OP2)
2004 - Gintama [Kaze no Gotoku] (Yorinuki Gintama-san OP2)

Once again, thank you Otakon & everyone who came to my panel: You all helped make this panel one of my absolute happiest con moments ever! Expect the next review soon!