Otakon 2009 Wrap
This is mostly a personal post about how the con it was for me. But if you’re reading this you probably don’t really mind, right?
In a word, Otakon 2009 was a blast. Or is that two words, whatever.
There were a few things put together that made it so. One, it’s that I managed to meet just about everyone that I wanted to see at Otakon, and some more. It’s probably the first time ever I used twitter to some degree of effectiveness at a con for this purpose, but having so many people to see also exposed just how short Otakon is, given its variety of draws and programming. And by people here I mean not just guests and the like, but also old and new friends alike.
It’s also the first year I went as press. I try to take the “job” seriously but at some point I realized unless you’re hankering for guest interviews, it’s kind of just an overrated privilege. As a professional, though, I was also evaluating how I would do Otakon if it wasn’t something I would be all excited and gung-ho about. The end result was that it didn’t quite get the job done either way, although it was to be expected. Definitely bypassing big lines is a major boon, but I don’t care about lining up for things as long as I can get to do whatever that it is in a timely manner. I lined up for autographs and one concert as if I wasn’t press, because one doesn’t give a damn about press privs and the other doesn’t give you the best seats in the house. I mean, it’s super lame if you pretended to take pictures but were really sitting next to the stage looking at MELL’s upskirt, you know what I’m saying? In other words, besides the ability to take pictures when others can’t and get interviews, I’m not sure being press is all that cracked up to be for a large number of fan-press-types.
At any rate, I really wanted to get a Yamakan interview but that didn’t work out. Probably because Japanator is not Anime News Network. I think ANN is an adequate proxy for American anime press though, so all is well. I’ll take the fact that I was probably within 50 meters of him for about a 4-hour stretch as consolation.
The second thing was that I got hooked up with Matsubara’s autograph and sketch thanks to lolololol some guy who I texted because he was late for something he probably didn’t know he was suppose to show up for, and his friends. That made my Saturday, some really big thank-yous there.
Had a lot of street vendor food. It was not good, but it was edible and pretty much something my Midtown-lunching digestive track was primed to consume so I had no problems. YMMV. They were out of half-smokes on Friday night though. Next year!
Sang 2 songs for karaoke, so that meets a minimum quota of some sort.
This year was probably my lowest-spending in terms of the things I bought in the dealer’s room. I picked up Kannagi volume 1 (and signed, of course) along with the Otakon 2009 tee (I guess I am collecting them). They were selling older shirts too…like the p. neat 2006 t-shirt.
However I spent way, way, way too much on concert goods. Scratch that, just I’ve goods. I blame this on having had I’ve-branded merchandise ever since I picked up Disintegration years ago. Somehow it came with this money clip, and I thought it was pretty cool. I’m not a money clip guy but a lot of I’ve’s stuff have that kind of appeal, and somehow I like it when it’s nicely designed. Like that 512mb USB stick/wrist band. More on that when I write up for MELL…
Saw Reni at last. I’m scared and impressed and yet unimpressed all at the same time. I applaud her for her chutzpah and may her improve her acts more in the future. OTOH, Geist was pretty bad…yet pretty good for that kind of stuff. It’s a weird middle-ground for someone like me to evaluate that kind of an act. At any rate it was way too loud for 11pm on an Otakon Saturday at the Otacafe.
As you may know guests are a big reason why I go to cons. Just a quick run-down:
- I didn’t stalk Kikuko Inoue (henceforth Onee-chan) because, well, I just didn’t have time. Nor did she; Onee-chan left the con by Saturday wee in the morning. Poor girl. I did go to her second panel and that’s the fun one to be at. I think I might have snuck in a photo or a video or both by ignorance. Not that it matters, the result is likely to be crap due to the nature of cell phone photography in the US and it’s unlikely I’ll put any of them online. I think the entire Onee-chan brigade failed when we didn’t request her to do the *kira* after she sang Seikan Hikou. Autograph get++ is a win though!
- Yamakan, oh Yamakan, let me count the ways…well, he’s quite the personality. I can see both the good and bad ways you can react to a person like that, but on a fundamental level I agree with his breed of criticism, his academic upbringing and philosophical approach to the anime industry and arts. If I understand them. It was a great experience to see him talk shop with the fans at the panels. This is all besides the funny stuff on the internet that were from the panels!
- Ishiguro is old. I mean, I got nothing on the man besides that he is one of the many reasons how and why anime fandom/industry/etc. is the way it is today. But besides the honor of meeting him, there is little I can do to engage him when I was propped up by caffeine all weekend long. Maybe if I actually watched all of LoGH…
- I didn’t even get a glimpse of Maruyama this con! I guess that’s one “miss” for me.
- I missed all of Matsubara’s programming but I did get to see him one last time, so it was not a total loss.
- A lot of MELL. Probably more than necessary. Still good times though.
- Others: I saw Sheehan but not Rojas. I should’ve tried to find him and … ask about clams or something. Anyways who cares about that. Alex (D) saw Williams with his family at the Hilton, lol, if that adds to the number of funny encounters. Anyone saw Sirabella? I think I saw Tony Oliver just briefly.
Parties. There need be more of them, but the new bar we found this year wasn’t too shabby. Fried pickles are great. That also applies to the Potbelly to the west of the convention center area. Thanks to the Hilton (and Alex D) this makes the first time I have explore the west side of the con center. It’s not crowded and it’s a pretty good deal in terms of walking distance and prices. I didn’t think I set foot east of Charles street this year, or on the Charles street skywalk, during the con. A shame, really, because that’s where all the cosplay tend to aggregate and I missed out on a lot of that this year. On the other hand, I had to pace through the video room portions of the con much less, so I probably walked less at this con than any previous Otakon, despite the Hilton being so freaking huge.
Actually, when it’s all said and done, I didn’t see any huge lines besides the usual four: pre-reg Thursday, at-con reg and pre-reg on Friday, and Friday’s dealer’s room lines. Even Wakashima’s concert line was not huge by those standards (her show was packed). I’m not sure how the lines were for the Masquerade at the First Mariner or the Eva 1.0 movie, but they can’t be that bad.
I guess I missed the Eva 1.0 screening. It was probably for the best because I was tired all weekend, and a slow film like that might be adverse to my free time and sanity, although having seen 2.0 it would be good to revisit 1.0 again.
I don’t know why this Otakon was so exhausting, but it was probably because of a late Friday party plus back-to-back nonsense on Saturday between interviews and panels and autograph lines. Sigh. Other downers at this con included a pretty crappy trip down to Baltimore, forgetting to bring like, 5 things that were useful, and the ever-persistent traffic on the way home.
Capless rollcall in no order (5+ Alexes ZOMG): alexd, alexl, moy, kransom, astrange, waffo+fox, shin, gev, loae666, pixiebell+hubby, magusman, dreamshade, jedinight, shounen jidai, thebign, w-general, starcreator, paranda, animemiz, jabel, lisa, prajeune, helen, mandy, zekmyr, pluto, vlsmooth, animal, digitalboy, beefy, sappho+hubby, arcu, arcubro, thestupidone, link, hisui, narutaki, hfp, sds, brad+jtor crew, gia, magsaysay+so(sorry forgot your name D:), super rats, shizuka, moritheil, os, alyce, sam and the press guys, and I know I am leaving somebody out and don’t know who (sorry)!
I hope you all had a good time like I did.
Photos? No photos. Honest. I took like 5 cosplay pics all weekend. But I’ll try for something soon once I’m done sifting it from everyone. Have some loot instead (what’s left out of that is a MELL shirt).
>>west of Charles street this year
I think you mean east? And I saw the Williams clan in the elevator, not the Greenfields.
Otakon was defintely good times. Let’s do it again next year. I will try to find more Alexes for you to meet. :)
Yeah, pardon teh memory fail.
oh, also. orz.
http://www.nagisamafanclub.com/anime/movie/lo_confint.html