We announced OTAQUEST CONNECT, our debut online streaming convention event, a few weeks ago to be held this summer. Yesterday we finally revealed some more details regarding the event on its dedicated website, giving more exposition about what our plans are going to be in August when the event rolls around.
Scheduled to occur on August 15th & 16th and held via twitch & discord, we’re going to be providing a wide range of content covering different facets of the Japanese pop-culture landscape. Kicking things off we’re pleased to announce a trio of creators who have all worked on very highly regarded projects over the course of their career.
Toshihiro Nagoshi
Toshihiro Nagoshi was born on June 17th, 1965. After graduating from Tokyo Zokei University as a film major, he joined SEGA in 1980. The first game he oversaw as a producer, Daytona USA (1994), was a worldwide hit.
He’s also been the creator behind such popular games as the Yakuza series, Super Monkey Ball series, Binary Domain, and Judgment.
He was appointed representative director of Amusement Vision Co., Ltd. when the main SEGA development team was split up in the year 2000. He is currently working at SEGA as the CCO (Chief Creative Officer).
Shingo Natsume
Born in 1980, Shingo Natsume is an animator, producer, and director.
After working for a game company, he started working with the animation production studio, J.C. STAFF. He is now working as a freelancer after working for Shin-Ei Animation.
He’s created a strong name for himself as an animation director with “Welcome to N.H.K.!”(2006) and “Bokura No” (2007). In 2012, he made his directorial debut with the OVA “Hori-san and Miyamura-kun”.
He also directed Space☆Dandy (2014) and “One Punch Man” (2015) where the passionate illustrations and unexpected direction in action scenes extremely enhance the production’s reputation.
He is making strides as an up-and-coming young director with ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. in 2017 and Boogiepop at Dawn in 2019.
Dai Sato
Dai Sato was born in 1969. He is a screenwriter, musician, and president of Story Riders, a scenario writer’s office.
He began his career as a broadcaster, lyricist and music writer at the age of 19, and made his animation scriptwriting debut in 1997 with the anime “Eternal Family”. He also wrote the screenplays for “Cowboy Bebop” and “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex”, and in 2005 he worked on the series composition of “Eureka Seven”.
His knowledge of music led him to establish an indie label called “FROGMAN RECORDS” in the 1990s, which pioneered techno music in Japan. At the same time, he established a style of interpreting musical elements into anime stories. This is evident in his latest release, LISTENERS (2020).
Each of them will be participating in interview/talk sessions to discuss a variety of topics related to their creative process and get some insight on their latest projects.
In addition to the above-mentioned guests, we’re excited to announce that we’re partnering up with Tokyo Otaku Mode to curate a special select shop which will be carrying a variety of items from exclusive goods to collectibles from the franchises our guests are connected to. We’ll have more details on this shop in the coming weeks so keep an eye out.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in regards to what we have planned for the event. We’ll be announcing plenty more in the near future, to keep a leg up on new information be sure to sign up for our mailing list, follow our social media, or keep an eye on the OTAQUEST CONNECT official site!