Update on the Mignogna story: This summer is going to be explosive...

There's a cover-up going on here, and I think it about to split the convention scene asunder.

Monica Rial's charges are quite severe (forced kissing, at least one incident where Mignogna is alleged to have pulled Rial by the hair and forced-kissed her every time they met for a significant period of time).

Again, and I'm not saying this vs. Rial:  WHY HAVE NO CRIMINAL CHARGES (or even complaints) BEEN FILED HERE?

I have an answer to that question, and it's not a pleasant one.  It also comes from a period of attending anime conventions on a large scale for about six or eight years surrounding the American DVD Boom Era of anime -- and, on a smaller scale, since to about three years ago.

The answer is two-fold:  The number of people who would want to see Mignogna is so large that booking him (or not doing so) may be a tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars (in revenue to the city) decision by a convention.

(A second answer may come from the Texas (the home of most of Funimation) statutes.  The crime Rial may be charging is a low-level misdemeanor assault (though many states do view sexual assault as encompassing hugging and similar non-consensual acts, all sexual assault laws in Texas require action with the sexual organs or anus), meaning the statute of limitations is only two years.)

Second?  The "no rules" culture.  That the #1 anime voice-actor guest (and by a LARGE LARGE margin) is accused (within and outside the industry) of sexual assault and harassment really comes across as little surprise to anyone who's been to more than one or two conventions, or even who's been to just one huge one.

Following backward on Anime News Network:

• Kamehacon, a Dragon Ball universe event held last weekend, lost FIVE of it's guests (including Rial) within two days of the convention welcoming Mignogna back as a guest.
• On February 18th, Samantha Inoue-Harte's rental home was damaged after she was reportedly told she would be SWATted.  Word is, Inoue-Harte charges that, in fact, the perpetrators were fans of Mignogna.
• An incident from 2014's New York Comic-Con had one female attendee report that she had her picture taken with Mignogna with at least one of his hands inside her jacket.  (The picture, with the face of the victim blurred out, is here.  It's below the first anecdote, and relates to it.)  Mignogna requested a second picture, at which he kissed her non-consensually.  That could be ruled Forcible Touching under the New York Statutes, a one-year-in-jail Class A misdemeanor -- but the statute of limitations for that crime is only 12 months.
• Another incident in the same article comes from 2013's ColossalCon in Ohio.  An 18 year-old lesbian fan was actually repulsed when Mignogna hugged and kissed her at the event.  Another state which would probably rule that simple assault, and the statue of limitations has, again, expired.
• But a far more disturbing story -- even outside the concept of statute of limitation -- comes from an event I attended and a Mignogna autograph line I was actually almost-certainly in!  2006 Anime Expo -- the last Anaheim year.  The girl was 15, and Vic gave him her cellphone number after a second private meeting.  A number of phone calls followed.  Since Mignogna made a sexual reference to the girl's cosplay at AX 2006, it could well be interpreted as a misdemeanor violation of California Statute 288.4, if it could be proven that an eventual sexual meeting with Mignogna could be inferred.  Almost certainly, again, outside of statute of limitations, but...
• At the height of the DVD Anime Boom (2006), Vic's fan club, the Risembool Rangers, was over 40% underage, according to an ANN investigation for that late-January article.  A survey of fan photos of that time relates a very high number of potential further victims.
• A 16 year-old 2008 Animazement volunteer also relates being suggestively kissed by Mignogna after working for his CD table at the event.
• Jessie Pridemore, a prominent cosplayer, also charges Mignogna attacked her at Anime Next 2011.  The charges appear to mirror Rial's.

Oh boy. And I haven't even gotten back to more articles from about that late January time period ...

Someone probably just asked the Million-Dollar Question in one of the forum threads:  "Where were you when the Anime Voice Actor War started?"

We are about to hit the main summer swath of conventions.  The largest Midwest con, A-Cen, is one month from now.

A quick cursory look at a screen-cap of Vic's bookings page on AnimeCons.TV, a website which keeps up with that kind of thing, showed sixteen scheduled appearances for Mignogna from late February to early November of this year.

As of that screen cap, only five still exist -- KamehaCon was a sixth, and previously one of eleven cancelled appearances, ten by the conventions themselves.

It's on, people.  The day the convention scene (anime, sci-fi, video games, etc.) is going to be able to avoid the sexual harassment question on female attendees is DONE.

At BEST, you probably now have a schism between those voice talents and fans who support Mignogna and those who do not.

At WORST, something's going down and damn soon.  Two major incidents against female voice talents who have already spoken out against Mignogna have been detailed already.  More are almost-certainly coming.

Stay tuned, people.