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Otakorp, the parent company of Otakon, has sent out a newsletter which conveys rather dire circumstances for the future of the convention. In it, Otakorp President Brooke Zerrlaut states that they will need to "make a decision to continue planning for Otakon 2021, or potentially close our doors forever." The convention is seeking donations to help strengthen its finances.

The full text of the message is as follows. (Emphasis is theirs.)

A Message from the President As much as we hope you love coming to Otakon, we love making it happen even more. We were devastated to have to cancel Otakon 2020. In a year where so much was going wrong, we held onto every chance to do something positive, but were ultimately unable to do so due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we turn the page on 2020, we're hopeful and looking forward to a better 2021.

Now, more than ever, Otakorp needs your help.

As you may be aware, Otakon is the annual convention of Otakorp, Inc. Otakorp is an all-volunteer run, nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational organization, whose mission is to promote the appreciation of Asian culture and its fandom, primarily through its media (anime, manga, music, movies, video games, etc.). As a volunteer organization, every dollar that we make from our memberships goes towards realizing that mission to promote and celebrate Asian culture, and our largest event is our annual meeting - Otakon. We use the proceeds from each year to plan the next Otakon and make sure we survive until then. So without the income from Otakon 2020, and the early pre-registrations we would normally see at this time of year, we are in a very precarious position. Put simply, in the next few months we will have to make a decision to continue planning for Otakon 2021, or potentially close our doors forever.

We are hopeful. Our decision will come at a pivotal time during the rollout of the vaccine. We continue to work with our partners in DC to explore options to safely gather later this year. In the meantime, family, friendship, and community are more important than ever to stay connected. Because of this, it is even more crucial that we do not fail in our mission.

That is why we are reaching out for the first time ever, and asking you to help us continue our work together. Otakon and Otakorp have always existed because of you, the community that has funded, advocated, volunteered, and celebrated with us since the beginning. We recognize that this comes at a time when we all continue to face great challenges. Your generosity will enable us to survive to continue planning for our next events, just as soon as it is safe to do so.

Making a 100% tax-deductible donation, large or small, is the safest, simplest, and most effective way to support our organization and Otakon as we adapt to ever-changing circumstances due to COVID-19.

We have shared so many experiences over the years and we hope to be able to share many more. It is because of you that we continue to strive to live up to our motto - By fans, for fans.

Thank You!!

Brooke Zerrlaut President, Otakorp, Inc.

Most conventions have cancelled in the last year with many of them needing to wait for the government to prohibit conventions from taking place in order for the convention to take advantage of a "force majeure" clause in contracts. This clause allows the convention to be cancelled without cancellation fees or penalties. In the event the government hasn't prohibited conventions from taking place during the pandemic, this would force a convention to either cancel (paying large cancellation fees) or take place (potentially putting people at risk and having reduced attendance). It's a difficult position that may affect more conventions going forward.

Last May, our AnimeCons TV podcast interviewed the Otakon 2020 Convention Chair and the 2020 Otakorp President. The episode may be watched on the animecons.tv site or on YouTube.

On April 9th, we announced that April 2020 was the first conventionless month in over 40 years as the final convention scheduled for that month was cancelled. After some research, we found there hadn't been another calendar month without any sort of fan convention since at least January 1974.

Most May 2020 conventions had already been cancelled or postponed by the start of the month, but the second half of the month still had some conventions that were holding out and had not announced cancellations. The final convention on the calendar was a comic convention in Miami, Florida that was still scheduled for May 30th. Yesterday, on the 26th day of May (or what feels like the 87th day of March), they updated their web site and social media with their new date for the increasingly popular weekend of October 10th while never actually mentioning the old date was cancelled.

Although our database of old conventions is incomplete, the last time we have a record of there being two consecutive calendar months without any conventions was back in December 1973 and January 1974. If you know of any conventions held in those months (or any we're missing in our database from any year), please let us know!

This weekend will be the 11th consecutive weekend without any conventions taking place anywhere on the planet. As of publication time, the next scheduled convention is North Texas RPG Con, a gaming convention being held June 4-7 in Irving, Texas. According to their Facebook group, they still plan to move forward with the event, but have moved most games online and estimate that in-person attendance will be under 100 people with games limited to no more than 6 people per table.

The following weekend in June also only has a single convention. Currently, there are only 16 conventions left on the calendar for all of June 2020. Keep checking our convention listing on FanCons.com for the latest updates on cancellations, postponements, and new dates.

The Coronavirus pandemic first started affecting conventions scheduled for the weekend of March 7th and 8th when San Jose Super Toy & Comic Book Show and Paris Manga & Sci-Fi Show were cancelled. By the following weekend, a majority of the conventions had cancelled or postponed and 13 remained. Between the time the last convention ended on the evening of March 15, 2020 and the publication of this article, no other fan convention has taken place anywhere in the world...and none are still scheduled for weeks.

Conventions have continued to announce cancellations or postponements as the weeks have continued while the world sits at home in various states of quarantine. Some conventions announced plans to hold an "online convention" while most have shut down and started making plans for their next event later in the year or next year. Many cancelled conventions have also published lists of artists and vendors that would have been at the convention as a way to encourage online sales and support those small businesses.

As the weeks of social distancing, sheltering-in-place, and quarantine have continued, concerned attendees have ranged from understanding to outrage in reaction to announcements from their favorite conventions. Many conventions have had to wait for the government to force their venue to close in order to trigger the force majeure (or "act of God") clause in their contracts. This clause releases conventions from penalties that they may have to pay to the venue if they had cancelled the convention on their own. Some attendees, especially in the early weeks of the pandemic, were quite impatient that conventions weren't publicly cancelling their events. Breaking the contract to cancel the convention would, in many cases, bankrupt the convention and cause it to never return.

We're now coming up upon the fourth straight weekend without a single fan convention being held anywhere on the planet. The number of conventions in April dropped off quite quickly and we received confirmation today from the final two events that they have been cancelled. April 2020 is now a conventionless month. Although our convention database is incomplete, especially in regard to convention data in the 20th century, this is the first calendar month without any convention since at least October 1979. (If you know of any conventions held in October 1979 (or any we're missing in our database from any year), please let us know!)

Currently, there are still three conventions scheduled for the first weekend in May, but we wouldn't be surprised to see them cancel or postpone. Keep checking our convention listing on FanCons.com for the latest updates on cancellations, postponements, and new dates.

UPDATE: A previous version of this article cited December 1988 as the last time there was a month without a convention. We have since filled in some blanks and gone as far back as October 1979.

The Coronavirus pandemic first started affecting conventions scheduled for the weekend of March 7th and 8th when San Jose Super Toy & Comic Book Show and Paris Manga & Sci-Fi Show were cancelled. By the following weekend, a majority of the conventions had cancelled or postponed and 13 remained. By the time the last convention ended on the evening of March 15, 2020, no other fan convention has taken place anywhere in the world.

Conventions have continued to announce cancellations or postponements as the weeks have continued while the world sits at home in various states of quarantine. Some conventions announced plans to hold an "online convention" while most shut down and start making plans for their next event later in the year or next year. Many cancelled conventions have also published lists of artists and vendors that would have been at the convention as a way to encourage online sales and support those small businesses.

As the weeks of social distancing, sheltering-in-place, and quarantine have continued, concerned attendees have ranged from understanding to outrage in reaction to announcements from their favorite conventions. Many conventions have had to wait for the government to force their venue to close in order to trigger the force majeure (or "act of God") clause in their contracts. This clause releases conventions from penalties that they may have to pay to the venue if they had cancelled the convention on their own. Some attendees, especially in the early weeks of the pandemic, were quite impatient that conventions weren't publicly cancelling their events. Breaking the contract to cancel the convention would, in many cases, bankrupt the convention and cause it to never return.

We're now coming up upon the fourth straight weekend without a single fan convention being held anywhere on the planet. The number of conventions in April dropped off quite quickly and we received confirmation today from the final two events that they have been cancelled. April 2020 is now a conventionless month. Although our convention database is incomplete, especially in regard to convention data in the 20th century, this is the first calendar month without any convention since at least December 1988. (If you know of any conventions held in December 1988, please let us know!)

Currently, there are still three conventions scheduled for the first weekend in May, but we wouldn't be surprised to see them cancel or postpone. Keep checking our convention listing on FanCons.com for the latest updates on cancellations, postponements, and new dates.

Back in July, we ran some queries against our guest database to put together a list of the guests who had made the most guest appearances at anime conventions each year from 2014 through 2018. We also published a list for the first half of 2019. With 2019 behind us, we can now publish a complete list of the 25 guests who made the most anime convention guest appearances in 2019.

The list is as follows:

Morgan Berry (20 guest appearances)

J. Michael Tatum (20)

Greg Ayres (18)

Justin Briner (18)

Samurai Dan Coglan (16)

Steve Blum (15)

Luci Christian (15)

Josh Grelle (15)

Derek Stephen Prince (15)

Ray Chase (14)

Robbie Daymond (14)

Kohei Hattori (14)

Brittney Karbowski (14)

The Manly Battleships (14)

Max Mittelman (14)

Phil Mizuno (14)

Paul St. Peter (14)

Todd Haberkorn (13)

Lauren Landa (13)

Chris Sabat (13)

Christopher Wehkamp (13)

Charles Dunbar (12)

Caitlin Glass (12)

Kazha (12)

Monica Rial (12)

Out of fairness, we've excluded cosplay groups such as the 501st Legion, Rebel Legion, and Mandalorian Mercs which contain many members around the world and are able to attend multiple events in the same weekend on a regular basis.

The above list only takes anime conventions into consideration and does not count guests or guest appearances at other conventions such as comic, horror, or science fiction conventions because, at this time, our guest data on these conventions is not complete enough to form such an analysis on guests of non-anime conventions. Cancelled appearances, cancelled conventions, and video-only guest appearances do not count towards the total.

As always, our list of the all-time record holders can be found on our main Guests page. For more information on any of these guests and what conventions they might have coming up next, visit AnimeCons.com.

We've done some searching in our guest database to put together a list of the guests who have made the most appearances at anime conventions for the last few years.

2014:

Chuck Huber (26)

Vic Mignogna (26)

Kyle Hebert (24)

Samurai Dan Coglan (23)

Todd Haberkorn (22)

J. Michael Tatum (21)

Jillian Coglan* (19)

Greg Ayres (17)

Martin Billany (17)

Greg Wicker (17)

Chris Cason (16)

Caitlin Glass (16)

2015:

Todd Haberkorn (24)

Chuck Huber (23)

Kyle Hebert (22)

Vic Mignogna (22)

Greg Wicker (22)

Greg Ayres (21)

Samurai Dan Coglan (20)

Jillian Coglan* (17)

Charles Dunbar (17)

Josh Grelle (17)

Cristina Vee (16)

David Vincent (16)

2016:

Vic Mignogna (25)

Charles Dunbar (23)

Todd Haberkorn (23)

Greg Wicker (23)

Greg Ayres (22)

Samurai Dan Coglan (20)

Kyle Hebert (20)

Chuck Huber (17)

Lauren Landa (17)

Erica Mendez (17)

Eric Stuart (17)

2017:

Samurai Dan Coglan (25)

Vic Mignogna (23)

Greg Ayres (20)

Greg Wicker (19)

Jillian Coglan* (18)

Kyle Hebert (18)

Charles Dunbar (17)

Johnny Yong Bosch (15)

Josh Grelle (15)

Todd Haberkorn (15)

2018:

Vic Mignogna (26)

Samurai Dan Coglan (20)

Greg Ayres (19)

J. Michael Tatum (19)

Josh Grelle (18)

Todd Haberkorn (18)

Charles Dunbar (17)

Cherami Leigh (16)

Monica Rial (16)

Vitamin H Productions (16)

Ray Chase (15)

Brice Papenbrook (15)

2019 (through July 11, 2019):

Josh Grelle (12)

J. Michael Tatum (11)

Todd Haberkorn (10)

Samurai Dan Coglan (9)

Charles Dunbar (9)

The Manly Battleships (9)

Greg Ayres (8)

Steve Blum (8)

Brittney Karbowski (8)

Phil Mizuno (8)

Derek Stephen Prince (8)

Alexis Tipton (8)

Christopher Wehkamp (8)

* Some conventions list "Samurai Dan and Jillian" as guests and others only list "Samurai Dan". Jillian's count comes from only those conventions that include her in guest listings. ** We've excluded cosplay groups such as the 501st Legion, Rebel Legion, and Mandalorian Mercs which are able to attend multiple events in the same weekend on a regular basis.

As always, our list of the all-time record holders can be found on our main Guests page. For more information on any of these guests and what conventions they might have coming up next, visit AnimeCons.com.

Anime Milwaukee issued a statement yesterday informing attendees that Ryan Kopf, CEO of AnimeCon.org, has been banned from their convention after an alleged incident of sexual assault at their 2018 convention which ended up involving the Milwaukee Police Department. A police report was filed. When Anime News Network attempted to obtain a copy of the report, it was denied in order to protect "the right of privacy of the victim or victim's family members".

An article published today on Anime News Network details this incident as well as a police report alleging he committed forcible rape in 2013 at his Anime-zing convention. The article mentions other allegations of sexual misconduct have been posted on social media. When contacted by Anime News Network, Mr. Kopf denied the allegations saying, "I fully intend to pursue holding accountable those who have continued to repeat defamatory statements about me."

Ryan Kopf has also been suing Trae Dorn, Pher Sturz, and Nerd & Tie for defamation since 2015.

Following the most recent sexual assault allegations, The Pillowcases have stated on Twitter that they will no longer perform at Kopf's conventions until he is removed from staff. Lewis Lovhaug has stated on his site that although he is unable to drop out of this year's Anime Midwest convention due to contractual obligations, he will not attend any future convention chaired by Ryan Kopf.

We would like to emphasize that AnimeCons.com is in no way and has never been associated with Ryan Kopf, AnimeCon.org, or any of its staff or employees. AnimeCons.com launched in 2003 and obtained the AnimeCons.org domain in 2006 and has redirected that domain to AnimeCons.com since then. AnimeCon.org was first registered in 2010 and is an organization run by Ryan Kopf which organizes conventions including Anime-Zap, Kanpai!Con, AniMinneapolis, Anime Midwest, Anime-zing, MetaCon, and Con+Alt+Delete. Mr. Kopf is also involved in some form or another with other conventions such as Liberty City Anime Con, AniMore, and Star City Anime. He also runs the web sites UpcomingCons.com and MaiOtaku.

In light of multiple recent allegations of "unwanted physical advances", "rude behavior", and "unsolicited physical affection", almost all convention appearances for Vic Mignogna were cancelled.

Mignogna, best known as the voice of Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, has made more convention guest appearances than anyone else currently in the FanCons.com guest database. In 2018, he was a guest at 34 conventions. He had made two guest appearances in 2019 before the allegations were brought into the spotlight by an article on Anime News Network.

Days after his appearance at a number of future conventions had been cancelled, Mignogna made an appearance at Bak-Anime where he offered an apology in a panel which was recorded by fans. Following that convention appearance, several additional allegations came forward. It was announced by both Rooster Teeth and Funimation that Mignogna would not be cast in any future roles. His number of guest cancellations currently totals thirteen conventions. Only four conventions still have Mignogna on their guest list.

Tupelo Con, one of the remaining four, has stated, "We are currently reviewing the allegations and talking to fans through our page so that we can make the best decision for our fans and event. We will be making a final decision soon based on the information we have seen so far, and the fan base. We should have an announcement within the next couple of days regarding our findings and decision."

Anime Matsuri is the only remaining anime convention to list Vic Mignogna as a guest. The convention has been the subject of sexual harassment allegations itself (for which the convention organizer, John Leigh, has apologized). On Twitter, the convention posted several odd replies that imply they have no plans to cancel Mignogna's appearance.

The other two remaining conventions on Mignogna's schedule, Central PA Comic Con and Savannah Mega Comic Con, did not reply to our inquiries. Both conventions also appear to be deleting all inquiries related to Vic Mignogna which have been posted on their Facebook pages.