So... a thing happened
A little over month ago, on a whim, I put in for the LA Kodansha House meet & greet + signing with Shirahama-sensei. I thought nothing of it, I never win these kind of things (and I definitely wasn't going to AX -- too many people!!), and so I promptly forgot about it.
Thing is... I won! I was one of 60 people who got to attend the event, and omg it was so cool. Dana Terrace, creator of Owl House, was also present asking questions about the series and Shirahama-sensei's creative process. The English VAs for Coco and Qifrey were also in the audience! Felt like I was getting a true LA Experience™️
Photos and recordings were very strictly prohibited, but I did get to pick a character to request that she sketch, and as you can see, I chose Beldaruit. While she was sketching, I had an opportunity to chat with her (through a translator) for about a minute.
She asked me if I'd seen the s2 trailer, and when I said, "Yes!" and told her how excited I was, she said "I discovered he was going to be in s2 from that trailer, too" 🤣
I also got really real with her for a minute (may have gotten misty eyed) and told her how much I love that she has so many disabled characters in her story and what that meant to me personally, and she got serious and said (paraphrasing), "Thank you for that. People tell me similar things a lot, and I really hope for the day when this isn't so rare in storytelling that it means to much to so many people."
Makes me love this series all the more 💖
Bonus: New art from the event!