Rica Matsumoto attended the Otakuthon this past weekend on both Saturday and Sunday. Otakuthon is a yearly anime convention held in Montreal, Canada. Pictures from this event have been added to an Imageboard thread.

Saturday	Sunday
PANEL: Rica Matsumoto Q&A (Room 511C) 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM Autographs: Rica Matsumoto (Room 517B) 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM	30 minute Rica Matsumoto Panel + Seating for the Concert (Room 517A) 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM Concert Pokémon Showcase / Concert - Rica Matsumoto (Room 517A) 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM Autographs: Rica Matsumoto (Room 517B) 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

Summary of Events

Saturday Panel:
Rica did about a 58 minute panel where there was a few preselected questions asked by the moderator and then a few minutes where questions from the audience could be asked. This was her first visit to Canada and when she was a kid she took skiing lessons and got level 2, level 1 is for instructors. Canada has always been famous but it is not snowing in August in Canada for her to ski but if it was, she would have liked to have gone to a ski resort.


She was then asked about how she became a voice actor. Her father was the head of a traditional acting troupe and since she was a young kid, she was always going to theater shows and plays while watching her father touch the hearts of people he didn't even know. Watching that, she knew she wanted to do that also. She then started to learn the piano, the shamisen and acting. She always wanted to star on the same stage as her father and be in the group, however, her brother passed away when she was young from an illness and she ended up getting sick as well from the shock of his death. Rica was hospitalized and the doctor told her she shouldn't be acting on stage but a lot of her close friends and family told her that acting wasn't just on stage and that there are other ways to act. She started to go to auditions and Osomatsu-kun was the roll she got in 1988. It's been around 30 years now that she's been doing voice acting.

Her role as the voice of Satoshi has been going for over 20 years, she thinks about being in front of kids when doing the voice acting. However, when she was a kid, Rica though she was very brash, but when she thinks about playing Satoshi, she thinks about the times that she was very righteous, straightforward and looking forward to the future. The role comes very natural to her.

Rica was asked what her favorite episode was and she said it was Bye Bye Butterfree. She watched the episode with her mom and when they said "Bye" to Butterfree, her mom was crying more than she was. Rica told her mom she was crying too much but through the tears she said to me: "You really acted Satoshi out really well." and she agreed.

An audience member asked her what her favorite Pokémon was and she explained that everyone thought that it would obviously be Pikachu but it is fact Marowak (Garagara). Her mother cried a lot and she got a bit of a scar from it under her eye, similar to the look of Marowak. She loves Pikachu, but she considers Pikachu family and that's why it's not her favorite.

Another audience member asked if she thought Satoshi could finally win his first Pokémon Leauge. To which Rica exclaimed in English: "I don't know!" to a room full of laughter. Rica followed up by saying to become a Pokémon Master takes your entire life even though 22 years have gone passed and achieving something that great in life is a message to everyone that you have to work at it. Satoshi is an eternal 10 year old boy and even watching it as an adult, you return back to looking at your younger self, so she doesn't see her voicing an old Satoshi.

Rica Matsumoto was asked if she knew what the plans are for the 25th anniversary of the series and she laughed and was said she did not know.

At the end of the panel, merchandise was being sold by J-rock North Promotions Inc. Items available for sale were two Rica Matsumoto Postcards, a pre-signed paper fan ($5 CAD), a CD (顔晴れワッショイ!) ($20 CAD), and two designs Jolly Dog towels for ($30 CAD each). The CDs got sold out during this time.

Saturday Autographs:
Rica Matsumoto’s autograph lines were very long and many fans wanted to see her. Priority was given to those who purchased merchandise from Rica Matsumoto’s panel for autographs during the Saturday panel. There were two queues for the autographs, those who purchased merchandise during the panel, and those who are in a standby queue. 25 people won a raffle to join the priority line with a shikishi board for Rica Matsumoto to sign. Rica Matsumoto only managed to get through those who were in the priority line.


The amount of people in the line waiting for an opportunity for an autograph. Almost everyone here did not manage to get an autograph as this was captured right near when the Saturday autograph session ended, and the line wrapped around at the back of this photo, and on the left side again.

Sunday Panel: Cancelled.

Sunday Concert:

Rica Matsumoto performed three songs during the concert:

• Alive A Life
• Ikite Koso
• Mezase Pokemon Master 20th

Although it says 2:30 PM local time, the session began after 4:11 PM.

Sunday Autographs:
Autographs started shortly after the concert. This line began during the wait for the concert – many people skipped the concert for an opportunity to be near the front of the line for the autographs. We estimate Rica Matsumoto only managed to get through maybe 20% of this line as that was the length of was approximately how many autographs she managed to get through on Saturday.

Editorial Note:

A member of the staff attended the convention and documented the events. There seemed to be a lack of planning between the parties involved (Otakuthon, J-rock North Promotions and Zepp live Inc). Attention to detail, organizing and coordination could use some improvement.

• Disorganization for those lining up in autograph queues, and during the merchandise sales
• Merchandise sales although it appeared to be first come, first serve, this was poorly executed as patrons were budding to purchase items
• There was not enough merchandise available to purchase for patrons
• The largest criticism of the event is the fact that those who were in line waiting for the concert were told that there was not enough space for everyone, and those at the end of the line were discouraged from to continue waiting, when in fact the concert hall was only a third full and could have accommodated everyone
• Concert started more than 90 minutes late, thus cancelling the Sunday Panel and any other songs she may have planned to perform, which also shortened Sunday’s autograph duration