Quick Otakon ‘07 recap

Now that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is out of the way. I am to relive the experience called Otakon ‘07.

Here is a quick recap on events during the Otakon weekend.

The Panels:

Mamiko Noto: I went to her Friday Q&A session. She was lovely and gracious guest. She indulged her fans by acting out lines from previous works. She was quite candid in her some of her responses too.

Tomokazu Seki: I HEART SEKI. I saw him right after the Noto panel. And the dude is an awesome panelist. Very entertaining and engaging. I was surprised at the minimal embarrassing and cringe-worthy fangirling in the panel, though.

ANN: I have this weird fascination with Answerman. His opinions usually incites the wrath around the fandom. So I had to hear his responses this year, once again. Unfortunately, he failed me. He actually seemed nice. XD

Bandai Entertainment: Erm, Code Geass. Another Gundam. ’nuff said.

Morio Asaka: He had a poorly attended Saturday panel. Only two dozen bodies showed up in the room. Although I was bored out of my mind, I really, really felt bad to leave the room. I just couldn’t.

Geneon: Saiunkoku Monogatari artbox = AWESOME. I MUST ACQUIRE IT.

Your favorite anime sucks: We joined the room towards the last ten minutes of the panel. It was full of crude and idiotic jokes. It was funny the first time but after a while, you kinda know what the jokes are.

Ryuhei Kitamura: Thank god, I caught this panel. The extremely personable and articulate director had to leave early but he left audiences a short film to watch, The Messenger. I SO want to watch an entire feature lenght based on this short.

FMA dub actors: I would never thought I’d say this but… This was the most enjoyable panel I attended in the con. Vic Mignogna, Aaron Dismuke, and Caitlin Glass were entertaining. Vic held the court together. Aaron and Caitlin took turns churning out quips. Steve Blum even dropped by to say hello. The bad part: When they started mentioning their Christian background, etc. No, thankyou.

The Dealer’s Room:

Loot for the con: art books and manga. (Pictures to come.)

It wasn’t much. But it was enough to make me sweat carrying them back to the hotel. Art books are frakkin’ heavy.

Artists’ Alley:

So many pretties. Too little time. Not to mention money. I was able to acquire a couple of prints from two very talented artists, though. (Pictures to come.) I intend to commission a bigger-sized artwork from one of them that I can display and frame in my room. It was a work that was anime-ish without being blatantly anime.

Otacafe:

I love to karaoke as much as any person. But I’d rather do it in the company of my own home, preferably slightly intoxicated. So needless to say, I did not muster up courage to sing anime tunes in front of disinterested people. But I listened.

The sound system sucks. The performers were a mixed bag. Some were good. A lot were off-key. But ultimately, everyone was enjoying their performances. And oddly enough, I enjoyed listening to them too.

The Cosplay:

I am not big on taking pictures on cosplayers. But I found myself amused and pleased with the cosplayers this year. I saw a bunch of Bleach and Naruto characters. A few One Piece. A lone Yakitate. Someone from Gurren Lagann. A handful of Princess Tutu (I am surprised). Several Tsubasa Chronicles. A lot of Final Fantasy. And a whole array of costumes. But my favorite for this year was a couple of big mascot type. A very effeminate Chopper was too cute and adorable and someone dressing up as a Pocky. I thought they were hilarious.

The meet-up:

Forum buddies: Hi to Paul and Kyla! I know them from a Whedon forum and they graciously met with me.

YSP readers: Hello to Trish, Evan, and Sarah. Gasp! Real live readers. I am surprised. Let’s hang out longer next time, okay?

Os: We kept missing each other on Friday. Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to chat with you. I was quite engrossed with the panel.

wildarmsheero: We said introductions very quickly just before the Geneon panel.

Moy: Am I now an official member of the Church of Moyism? I kinda hunted him down. I was determined to get a free shirt.

Reika: I had a great time on Saturday night! I was surprised at the lack of awkwardness when we met. We were chatting like we’ve known each other for years. I had fun.

The meet-up finally proved to me that anime bloggers are NOT robots.

The Verdict:

I had no great expectations but surprise, surprise. Despite the misses in Otakon ‘07 (the ever-changing schedule, a handful of a-hole staffers, the ticketing/lining woes), I thought it was a pretty fun year.

Will I be attending next year? Possibly, but I am eyeing AX and SDCC too. Anything is possible in twelve months.

I know, I’ve been mentioning Otakon for weeks now. And no, this does not end here. Another recap will take place in another form. Guess which will be the topic for the next podcast?