[Honey’s Anime Interview] Mari Ito, Event Producer for Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour

8:00 AM February 18, 2022

Anime Convention / Anime Expo [Article Category]
Dragon BallDragon Ball [Anime Title]

Honeys-Anime-Interview-Mari_Ito_Profile-700x394 [Honey’s Anime Interview] Mari Ito, Event Producer for Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour

Welcome to another interview here at Honey’s Anime! This time, we had the pleasure of interviewing Mari Ito, event producer for Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour! This will be the second year for this event and the reception from last year's event was spectacular from what we hear on the internet. There is a YouTube video on their channel that highlights last year's event as well as having some full events available on the channel as well! If you want to check them out, make sure to visit by clicking, here: https://dbgbh.bn-ent.net/en/!

With further ado, let’s get right into this interview and be more enlightened about the event! Enjoy!

Mari Ito

Honey-Chan

Interview with Mari Ito

Since this is the second year you held the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour, what was something you did last year that you learned to do better this year? This is basically due to each company having to adapt to their own situations regarding the pandemic, and how you yourself adapted to it?

We had so many people watch and join the event last year.

This year we’ve broadened the number of titles so Dragon Ball fans who play games from a variety of genres can enjoy themselves. We’ve also tried to create content that players can directly participate in to make Battle Hour more of an “experience.”

Moreover, based on our experience from last year, we really learned the value of communication.

There are many types of communication, but they all come down to having a “someone” to communicate with. A "someone" to send messages to, to share your feelings with, and even share yourself. Communicating with someone also increases the value you yourself can get out of an experience. So, to answer the question of “what we learned to do better,” it all came down to making communication and that “someone” our team’s primary focus in all aspects of the event. The pandemic has made expanding communication so important, which is why we’ve made the online lobby more immersive and prepared content that you can participate in together with other fans.

I think the pandemic gave us the opportunity to really reflect on the importance of these values.

Was the reception from fans what you were hoping for during last year’s event?

It exceeded our expectations.

We got a lot of positive feedback thanking us for holding the event and seeing how all the fans communicated and enjoyed everything together made us really happy.

Considering there was a wide recession of positivity towards the FGC side of the event, would you consider having or holding an event that is competitively equivalent to EVO and the likes?

One of the main focuses of the event is “battle”, but that’s not our sole objective so we aren’t fixated on competitive content.

Aside from having the developers and creators of the series attend the event, are there others who you would hope to bring to the event? This is specifically for the hype of the event and any information to give to the public would only benefit the event entirely!

We’re so grateful to all the guests who will be making appearances this year.
It’s more than just games; we have a balloon artist, a renowned chef, and even musical artists who will be putting on a live show. It’s thanks to all these guests that we have such an amazing event in store. I hope everyone is excited for all of the different content! Battle Hour is for Dragon Ball fans around the world, so I hope we get fans from all over the globe to join us.

Are there other [Dragon Ball] competitive games that you would be interested in including in this event?

We have a bunch of Dragon Ball titles this year, including a segment for the upcoming DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS that I hope everyone will enjoy!
I hope we can feature even more products and titles as we move forward.

When the world does indeed go back to normal, would you consider continuing these events online for free in the future?

When we decided to hold this event, we really believed in the potential of making it a “worldwide event.” Although Battle Hour is still mainly an event for spectators, I feel that this kind of event will continue to evolve. With that in mind, we’ll be looking to continue Battle Hour in one form or another.

Is there an announcement that you can say here via Honey's Anime? We would love to promote Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour to our viewers further.

In this two-day event, we’ve prepared all sorts of incredible experiences. We’ll also have more new information as we get closer. DRAGON BALL Games Battle Hour 2022 will transcend limits, and we hope you all will "transcend” your screens to join us!
We’ll be waiting for you!

Final Thoughts

And that is it for this wonderful interview! We like hearing that events like this one, can become something special for those who are a part of the fandom, and of course, those who grew up with the Dragon Ball franchise. The kicks off this weekend on Friday, Feb 18, 2022, @ 4 PM PST and continues well into Sunday, Feb 20, 2022! So make sure to visit the website by clicking the link in the intro of this interview or by clicking the link, here: https://dbgbh.bn-ent.net/en/.

We want to thank Mari Ito for taking the time to answer our questions and we wish her and everyone at the event a great time/show! Make sure to keep visiting Honey’s Anime for more great content and follow us on our social media account by clicking the icons at the top right of the website!

Editor in Chief

Author: Alfonso "Fonzy" Ortiz

I'm a Geek, Nerd, Writer, and lover of all video games, anime, science, technology and the internet. I previously worked for STFUandPlay.com, a contributing writer as the Japanese Corespondent at TheKoalition.com and founded a website called Transcend-Gaming.com! I currently live in Japan as Editor in Chief of Honey's Anime and its very talented writers! I'm down for anything! What do you want to do?