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Otakon |
| Koge-Donbo
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| 2004 |
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 The
creator of the Di Gi Charat mascots for the Gamers line of Japanese
stores has been a quiet, camera-shy, unobtrusive presence at U.S. anime
conventions - until Otakon in 2004. Koge-Donbo had appeared at a Gamers
function at Anime Expo a couple of years ago, but it wasn't until the
Baltimore convention that she was a guest of honor. Koge-Donbo all but
skittered across the stage when she was introduced at the opening
ceremonies, and her panel discussion was held in a room that was so
dark that it was hard to see the artist. But in that hall were many
people in Di Gi Charat costumes, something that she was glad to see
(and something used as an illustration for this story). "To think that
Di Gi Charat would be so popular in the USA is an honor and pleasure,"
she said. "I'll keep trying to come up with products and illustrations
- please continue to support me."
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 It
was at Otakon a few years earlier that the U.S. division of Gamers
showed off what were then the new Koge-Donbo designs for the Panyo
Panyo Di Gi Charat series. Koge-Donbo said that "People might not know
this, but the Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat was made for a USA market in
mind. They made it to eventually release it in the USA (and it has been
released by ADV Films, with fellow Otakon guest of honor Luci Christian
- pictured in this panel - as the voice of Dejiko). Koge-Donbo said
it'll be up to American fans to decide if the Di Gi Charat anime will
be successful, and added that "As a creator, when I'm in the
planning stages, it's important to have the whole overseas aspect in
mind, especially the USA - it's a very big and important market to us.
Japan is suffering from having less children, so we have to think about
the market outside of Japan. The number of U.S. fans is increasing, and
we have to keep that in mind."
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