Otakon 2009

I'm going with my RPG/Anime Club, who else?

I'm an ACEN person.

Ska wrote:I'm an ACEN person.

I hear there's a cream for that.

Well, went to Otakon Saturday. Man, was that place packed. Huge, too! My only previous con experience has been for comics so for me the only real area is the seller's floor which is where I spent most of my time. My first go around I was looking for DVDs and the second for weapons. Unfortunately, prices weren't exactly thrilling. Apparently, anime conventions aren't really set up for selling like comic cons where you get bargains out the yin yang. I looked for DVDs and the prices pretty much mirrored on-line prices or higher. I mean, $5 for a single DVD isn't too bad if you're use to Suncoast or Target, but when you're use to on-line retailers moving them for $1 to $3 a piece, $5 kind of feels expensive. My only purchase in this area was an out-of-print collection of the Big O for $35 which was its retail price (hate paying retail, but since going out of print I've see it for $60+). As for weapons, there was a lot more variety than a comic con. I managed to talk down a pair of Katars (Bundi/Punch Daggers) from $30 to $20. Picked up a Zabuza sword (Naruto) for $55: on-line its $30, but it'd be about $55 with shipping. Slapped myself when I found someone selling it for $30 later. That same person had Buster Swords (Final Fantasy VII), I picked up the medium sized one for $50 (about the going rate on-line, as well). This one guy was selling tonfa for $14 a piece and when I asked how much if I buy two, he simply said two times the price on the sticker. Ha. Ha. Mr. Sarcasm didn't get a sale. Double ha ha to you, amigo. The only real deals to be had were in toys/models (which I'm not interested it) and manga. I bought 4 manga for $30 after talking the guy down from $40 that retails for $60 but are out of print and go on-line for $80, so I was pretty proud of myself. I also picked up this wolf ornament Cloud sports on his jacket from FF VII: Advent Children for $40; pretty steep, but it was really detailed and the guy told me it was hand-made.

Otakon, more than absolutely anything else, is a social event. The overwhelming majority of the space was for people to just hang out, many roped areas just for people to sit on the ground. At least half of everyone in attendance were cosplaying and people would get stopped repeatedly for pictures and often times people that share a theme (Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, etc) would group together for photos. My one friend called out a character's name someone was dressed as and without flinching, the girl dropped her stuff, turned, and struck a pose to be photographed. I had to explain to her my friend was just shouting out names of characters she recognized. People would just do reenactments of scenes from games and anime, strike poses like those they dressed as; it was a bit like a prom but with acting instead of dancing.

The other big draw was panels. My friend tried to get into several and there was just no space (one for Frederik Schodt whose work Dreamland Japan was one of my main sources for my essay A Case for Comics). I ended up getting into only three with him, two of which were packed to bursting (and made for geeks by geeks) and one that was sadly bare (Noboru Ishiguro, director for Gatchaman, Yamato, and Macross, promoting his new project Tytania; I felt so bad he came all the way from Japan and didn't have an audience). I attended an interesting history of shonen as it evolved in Japan from the works of Go Nagai and Fist of the Northstar to today with Death Note, Bleach, Naruto, and Full Metal Alchemist. After lunch, I attended the aforementioned Tytania panel and ended the day with a discussion of role-playing games outside D&D and BESM. Though they were pretty nice, I would have preferred something more like an advanced screening of the Fall line-up in Japan or something that mirrored comic conventions where you get breaking news and exclusives.

Overall, I'd say the con isn't really meant for people like me. I came to buy stuff and meet celebrities, but as I said the dealers area didn't offer much in bargains and most celebrities I didn't recognize the names of. I recognized Omar Dogan at the UDON booth, but he didn't seem to have much of a line. I know quite a few anime cons have Power Ranger panels, but sadly I don't believe any were at this event. I like to get free swag at cons, but I think UDON and FUNimation were the only companies present and all they had were a few posters. This one girl gave out moe games, as well. A lot of space was used to screen new anime, but with an internet connection I've seen about ¾ of everything a year ago that was being presented there for the first time. I heard there was a gaming area, which is great I guess if you're into gaming. My main gripe was their eating area was 1/3 the size they had at Wizard World in years past for an event four times Wizard World's size. Overall, I thought the convention was alright; the only parts I truly enjoyed were hanging out with my friends and seeing how much they enjoyed being in that environment. We had way too much fun on the van rides up and down. Otherwise, I thought it was kind of boring. I prefer comic book conventions to a very large degree.