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Otakon 2023 Hosts Voice Actress/Author Haruna Ikezawa
posted on by Alex Mateo
Ikezawa was born in Athens, Greece as the daughter of Akutagawa Prize-winning author Natsuki Ikezawa and the granddaughter of novelist Takehiko Fukunaga. As an author, she has won the "Best Japanese Short Story" award at the 52nd Seiun Awards in 2021 for "Orbital Christmas" (based on the story by anime scriptwriter/science-fiction consultant Mitsuyasu Sakai).
Ikezawa's anime and video game voice roles include Momoka Nishizawa in Sgt. Frog, Yoshino Shimazu in Maria Watches Over Us, Hiroko Haruna in Hamtaro, Caimie in One Piece, Go Seiba in Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go!!, and Athena Asamiya in The King of Fighters.
Otakon 2023 is scheduled for July 28-30 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. This year's event will also host manga artist Kyōko Aiba and Macross artist Hidetaka Tenjin and Macross anime director and mechanical designer Shōji Kawamori. It will also host composer Ryū Kawamura. Other guests include voice actress Junko Iwao, mechanical designer and director Shinji Aramaki, composer Yasuharu Takanashi, composer Shota Nakama, and rock ensemble -yaiba-, who will perform. The event announced its COVID-19 policy for this year's event on March 3. The policy says that masks and proof of vaccination are no longer mandatory for attendees of the event in alignment with "local and federal guidance."
Source: Press release
