Monkey Magic: Journey to the West & Japanese Pop Culture (Anime Los Angeles 2025) Panel Slides1/14/2025  The Monkey Magic panel finally gets a full 90 minutes! I mentioned before that I felt the versions done at Sin City Anime and San Diego Anime Con were the best that could be done in the current format, but I had lots of ideas on how to expand to a full time slot. This actually mostly meant letting some sections breathe a bit more, but also gave me the opportunity to bring the focus back around to the "Monkey" & "Monkey Magic" focus that I feel was lost in rewrites. Also, Thomas decided to join in on this panel when I told him that his ALA badge was attached to it. Typically he just helps in technical ways, like setting up cameras to record, or to act as a runner if we need staff help, but he had seen the panel several times before. Even though he wasn't totally perfect as far as topic knowledge goes, he honestly did a great job for his first panel. I've had some co-panelists literally say nothing during an entire panel, even when I throw topics their way. It was also refreshing to have a co-host who just took initiative by reading off slides I actually intended to read myself. With all that said, I think it's high time to sunset this version of the panel. This version of the panel has hit the level where I feel I can't really host it again unless I just re-read the same slides. Even though that doesn't sound like a weird thing to do, it's something I personally try to hold off on if I can. I do plan to do a (mostly?) complete rewrite of it soon, but I'll probably refrain from hosting it until 2026. Then again, I do love Journey to the West... so who knows. Anyhow, be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page!  The idea of doing an all-female Japanese metal panel has been floating around for several years. Warren and I discussed doing one just on '80s metal bands at one point, and I'd talked to Rose (who has also co-hosted the '80s Japanese metal panel in the past) about it too. I guess the idea to do it really kicked off last year when I was thinking of new music panels to do. I knew I wanted to do the '60s/'70s J-Pop one, and I knew I wanted to do one on Johnny's idols, but wanted to work on more. I believe we submitted the Girl Metal one to either ax chibi or Comic Con LA first, but we'd always hoped to debut it at ALA. We thankfully got that wish this year, and I think the panel was one of the best "first versions" we've ever done. I've stated several times before that I consider the first time we do a panel as a sort of "beta", or even an "alpha", version, but this one felt like we did a decent job right out the gate. The funny thing was that it originally was supposed to be a 90-minute panel, and by the end of our writing I really wished I'd made a bigger fuss to have kept that time slot. I guess that at least means there's plenty of room for growth! Here's hoping that FanimeCon and AX take it too, because this one was a lot of fun! Anyhow, be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page! Oh, this is the ALDIOUS interview we mentioned in the panel as being a very good read for those looking for more background on the topic. Also, this is probably the only panel we've ever done that had several extra notes on the slides that only we could see. I chose to not include those here for practical reasons, but if anyone would like to see them just drop us an e-mail and I'll send them over in some fashion. J-Pop Idols of The 1980s: The Golden Age of Showa Era Pop (San Diego Anime Con 2024) Panel Slides11/18/2024  For a lot of reasons, namely because the "Attack of The Killer Tomatoes" panel forced me to start late, the version of the panel I brought to San Diego Anime Con was basically an updated version of the one from LA Comic Con. I have some ideas for a big rewrite for a (mostly) new 90 minute version, but I didn't want to use those ideas quite yet. Also, I feel I haven't explored this particular rewrite as much as I would've liked since some cons I assumed would definitely take it (Looking at you YumeCon and Sin City Anime!) didn't. That said, this was a fun one, and it was a packed room at SDAC. I was especially surprised by that last point as this was the absolute last panel of the con, and I've had mixed results when that turns out to be the case. I'm not sure where I'll be doing this one next, but I can't wait to bring it back. Maybe Anime Expo will take it again? I guess we'll have to wait and see... Anyhow, be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page! Lastly, the songs from the opening montage can be found below:
 Working on a brand new panel, especially one that requires a lot of research, is hard. Trying to do that in the few off days between real life and a non-ending string of anime conventions, well, that's near impossible. The fact that I was able to finish this panel at all is amazing, especially when you consider that I had far less knowledge of these songs and artists when compared to the other decades. That said, I got some feedback from friends that the title might promise something that I didn't completely deliver on, so I might change that in the future. It really is "The First Years of The Oricon", but that title sounds so boring. I have several months to think about this though, as the next con I can realistically do this panel at would be LVL Up Expo and FanimeCon, both well into next year. I'm really glad San Diego Anime Con took it, as this is the kind of panel that needs a smaller con to workshop it a bit. Anyway, this one was a lot of fun to write, a lot of fun to host, and I can't wait to bring it to more cons next year! I'm glad a lot of people turned out for this one on an early Saturday morning, and I hope that trend continues! Be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page! Lastly, the songs from the opening montage can be found below:
 The J-Metal panel is back! It's been almost two years since we've done this panel, and the main reason for that is because Warren's schedule didn't really allow for cons until recently. It's kind of strange how things in the A-to-J music panel world have gone full circle, as talk of doing this panel again began while we were brainstorming new panels, like the all-girl metal one that we'll be debuting at ALA in January. We were actually hoping that LA Comic Con would take the panel first, but anime expo chibi got that honor in the end. This panel is something of an updated version of the one we did at ALA 2022, though there are plenty of small differences due to Warren working off of an even older version. That being said, all credit should go to Warren, since he did the lion's share of the writing this time around. It's all good though, as we got all our usual banter in. We've also discussed some future additions, one of which will definitely be an attract video. Speaking of attracting an audience, we were a little worried that no one would come to this particular panel on account of it being the literal last one of the con. Despite the slightly wonky scheduling, there was a great turnout, and we were able to finish the panel within the time limit. (That's a first I think!) Here's hoping we get to do this one again soon! Anyhow, be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page! Monkey Magic: Journey to the West & Japanese Pop Culture (Sin City Anime 2024) Panel Slides11/4/2024  When I started work on this panel, I assumed that it would be done at just about every panel I went to this year. It has such an open-ended theme, and it actually covers anime, something I've been told would get panels accepted more at some of the more selective cons. Weirdly enough, Sin City Anime was the only con after Fanime to take it. Actually, that's not really the case, as San Diego Anime took it first, and Sin City only offered me the spot at the last minute. I originally was going to do the exact same panel for both cons since they were only two weeks apart, but events would change that a bit. I was actually only given half the time to do it at Sin City Anime, and I also thought up several small changes that I'd implement after the con was over. In short, this panel is an updated version of the one from Sin City Anime, but also the only way to see it full since I was forced to move really fast at the con. Either way, this will be the version I take to San Diego Anime Con too, so don't expect another set of slides for that one. All that aside, since this is the first full hour version since LVL Up Expo, I like to think that this is the first "real" version of the panel. Here's hoping I get to do more with it at Anime Los Angeles... Anyhow, be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page! Chicks Dig Giant Robots: An Examination of Women In Mecha Anime (YumeConUSA 2024) Panel Slides10/29/2024  I like to say that the second version of a panel is the first "real" one, and that goes double for this panel. The version from YumeConUSA is actually the full version of what we wanted to do at Fanime. The notes had all these slides in them (though some were left unfinished once we realized we'd planned too much), and we didn't have that 45 minute time restriction. More time meant more girls, and that also meant more shows and topics. Unfortunately for me (Manuel), I was not as ready for this one as I was for the panel at Fanime. That's no one's fault but my own, but I still think the panel went off without a hitch. I'm not sure when we'll be doing it next, but it'll have a heavy rewrite whenever we do. Not because we didn't like what we've shown, but because we never do the same panel twice! Anyway, be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page!  After the slightly shaky ending of the 2000s panel at Anime Expo I thought about making all 60 minute versions a lot shorter even if I had a full hour. I took a panel of similar length to LA Comic Con in 2023 (Where the panel debuted.), and I was somehow able to get through everything perfectly. Anyway, I went the other route and just didn't add too much to this version. I mentioned this during the panel, but not only did I do a big rewrite hoping to not cover too much of what I did at Fanime, but I also think this is the final version of the panel I'll do for a long while. Even though I still think there are some songs in the configuration that I'd want to cover, and a few other arrangements of the extra content I think would be neat, I've done this one the most over the past year. I really hoped to do the 80s one as often as this one, and I'm surprised this one proved to be so popular. I guess I can come back with a "greatest hits" version one day, but we shall see. On a different note, I'll definitely look into adding YumeConUSA into my regular con rotation. It was a lot of fun. Anyway, be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page! Lastly, the songs from the opening montage can be found below:
J-Pop Idols of The 1980s: The Golden Age of Showa Era Pop (LA Comic Con 2024) Panel Slides10/7/2024  I used to be a huge fan of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, and then their panel ran almost right to the start time of this one. I already had a lot of questions regarding time, and these solo panels are always really hard to time. I cut out a lot of things from the AX panel, and streamlined a bunch of sections that I felt were a bit too bloated anyway. I was originally going to cut the "Four Heavenly Idols" section to just two slides, and I totally wish I'd done that. I had to skip most of the attract video, and a handful of slides at the end. The guy who came up to talk to me afterwards and said something like "You weren't kidding about moving fast!" made me feel like I should've cut out lots more. Either way, this was still a fun panel, and it helped me realize what could be trimmed if I ever needed to do it at this length again. Rather than revert back to the AX version, I think I'll just build onto this one if another 90 minute slot pops up in the future. Hopefully I get another shot to do it at ALA.... Anyway, I really do hope that I'm able to keep doing these panels at events like LA Comic Con, even though I'm totally not a fan of them closing the door during the panels. If there isn't going to be clearing of the room, why bother with stuff like that? Anyway, be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page! Lastly, the songs from the opening montage can be found below:
 I like to think that the 80s idol panel has a lot of variants in it, and it still has at least one more iteration before it hits its "definitive" version. Never let it be said that I don't take feedback though, as this version of the panel was re-written to take into account extensive feedback Callie gave on the version at FanimeCon. Her idea was that it should be more topical, with the idols taking a bit of a backseat as "examples" of the discussion. Admittedly that sort of goes against the title of the panel, but it also did make room for a few more to be mentioned in passing. There still needs to be some work to get the flow down right, especially in the first half, but it's getting there. I do think it was a bit unfortunate that AX gave the panel such a late slot, and that it was immediately after a very similar panel, but that's just the way things go. Hopefully ALA will take it again next year, and by then it'll reach its "final" version. Be sure to come to a panel near you, and thank you to everyone who has either attended one or somehow made it to this page! Lastly, the songs from the opening montage can be found below:
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