Special Guests

MESSAGE FROM CONSUL GENERAL OF JAPAN AT MONTREAL

OTAKUTHON is where all aspects of Japanese pop culture converge in Montreal. Now in its 7th iteration, this festival reuniting manga, video games, anime, cosplay and karaoke promises to deliver!

Quebec has been a friend of anime for over three decades, through both its Francophone and Anglophone audiences. Sprouting from humble beginnings, Japanese pop culture has blossomed into mainstream media, thanks in great part to fans of all ages' involvement in the cultural scene and devoted sharing of their interests and knowledge through social media. Who here has never heard of Naruto, Bleach or Death Note?

I wish to congratulate the OTAKUTHON team, who works tirelessly to coordinate this large-scale event every year, as well as all participants, exhibitors, cosplayers and visitors, for opening a gateway between Akihabara and Montreal so that the latter may, perhaps one day, become the Japanese-Canadian reference in youth culture!

Tatsuo ARAI
Consul General of Japan at Montreal

A  native of Rimouski, Mel Gosselin is first and foremost a fan of mangas and video games. Author of the novel "Cétacia", which won the Desjardins Arts and Culture Award in 2012, Mel Gosselin does not hide the fact that she heavily immersed herself in the dynamism and pacing found in Japanese animation series to create her story, particularly those of Osamu Dezaki (Remi the Homeless boy [Ie Naki Ko], Lady Oscar [Versailles no Bara] ...).

So far, Cétacia was very well received by the press and critics, both for its originality and well-crafted plot. "Le Journal de Montreal" has, among others, described it as "really puzzling, striking and unnerving but also very dark and sometimes shocking" while producer Rock Demers said it was "an ambitious story, well-built and keeps many surprises in store for us." Cétacia will soon be followed by a second volume which the author promises will be more mature, more shocking and should delight fans of yaoi.

Mel Gosselin's interview on TVA: http://youtu.be/nmY8BeW-bbQ

Eric Allard is an accomplished illustrator who has worked in the comic and video game mediums. He is currently working as an artistic director for Frima Studio in Quebec where he has worked on properties such as Galaxseed, Transformers, Spider-Riders, Neo-shifters, Avatar the Last Airbender and more since 2006. He has worked on his web comic "Herobot" since 2007 and his last published work was for "Atomic Robo" in 2010.

Synopsis of the series:

L'Académie des chasseurs de primes... there isn't a better school throughout the entire galaxy and for apprentice hunters Gaël, Cacendre and Jahmal, it's the beginning of a great adventure.  However, a mysterious organization has staged the fall of the Academy.  This humourous science-fiction adventure series has seen its second volume see the day in 2010.  A third opus is in the works.

About the authors:

Benoit Godbout - artist / author

Born in Montreal in 1977, Benoit graduated from the school of design at UQAM.  In 2004, he received the Emerging Talent Award from the Alliance for Children and Television.  He is the creator of the cartoon "Blaise le blasé" which in 2008 earned him a Gémeaux for Best Animated Series.

Michel Lacombe - story writer

Michel Lacombe was born in 1973 in Montreal where he lives with most number of cats possible.  He has written or drawn for Marvel, Dark Horse, DC and Quebec Science.

Kyowa is a publisher which allows the publishing of manga drawn for and by Quebecers. The many artists on board stand out by their entirely original comic book projects which have been offered for nearly 3 years. The first publication was completed for Otakuthon in 2009, and we're back again this year with the sequel!

MUSEbasement is a comics/manga/doujinshi circle founded in 2005 by Simon Gannon and A.E. Prevost, who have been making comics together since 2001. The Montreal-based studio is nearly a dozen artists in number and whose collective influences and interests span Eastern and Western styles.  The team works on multiple projects, both original and fan-based.

Site: www.musebasement.com

In the past decade, cosplay has exploded in popularity here in the United States. Walk into any anime convention in America and you'll see fans dressing as their favorite characters from anime, manga, or video games. In 2009, photographer Ejen Chuang travelled to six anime conventions across America to capture this phenomenon. Five months were spent photographing 1,651 cosplayers from coast to coast followed by another six months of editing. The result is a hard bound coffee table book of cosplayers captured at the conventions. Through these pages one can see the many faces of Americans - of different race, background, and age all united under the love of fandom.

"Cosplay in America is a gorgeous tribute to the people who attend anime conventions ...The layout is slick and the photos are lovely. Chuang did what I hope more people will do in the future, portrayed cosplay as art." - BoingBoing.net

Daniel Proulx was born in Montreal and spent a considerable time traveling the world before returning to his artistic roots, becoming an independent artist in 2008. He has found great inspiration in the steam era and now makes Steampunk jewelry with metal wire, gemstones, vintage clock parts and other unusual components. He loves creating organic shapes from wire and developing intricate designs with a mechanical/industrial feel. When Daniel was little he used to daydream about fantastic imaginary worlds. He would draw monsters, invent stories about magical items, or role-play with friends. Now he brings his art to life with stories from a distant parallel Steampunk universe. He uses his creations to share his passion for the world of Steampunk with the rest of us. 

Matthew Myers is a music composer, singer and producer working primarily in the video game industry. He is the lead singer of otaku band LeetStreet Boys and has appeared as a performer at anime conventions across North America. Matt has composed theme songs for numerous anime-inspired video games including RPGs and visual novels. He also engineered and mixed the winning performance in a Square-Enix sponsored karaoke demo competition.

Matt is excited to return as a judge for Otakuthon Idol this year. He produced an original song with last year's "Idol" Zuki Nyu! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo1obn8bC60