This was my first time going to the largest anime convention on the East Coast and let me tell you, it was an amazing adventure. This year there was over 31,000 people in attendance to this spectacular event. For a convention of this size, they had a good combination of Japanese guests, voice actors, musical guests, movie premieres, fan panels, and much more.
Since I was going to the convention by myself, I wasn’t too familiar with the best or cheapest ways to get to the convention. Now after going through it and spoken to others about what they did, I see what I can differently the next time I go. When I got to Baltimore Friday morning, I went to the hotel to check in and walked over to the Baltimore Convention Center. I decided to cosplay as Hijikata Toshizo from Hakouki.
I planned on going to a few panels earlier in the day but didn’t make it to them since I didn’t get to Baltimore in time and with checking into the hotel and then getting my badge, I missed 2 that I wanted to go to. Ah well. Instead, I decided to walk around the convention center to figure out the layout, then decided to check out the Artist Alley and Dealer’s Room. In the Artist Alley the had an Art Show section where artists submit their work and attendees can bid on the artwork. They also had an exhibit dedicated to Akira that displayed art of different types. The Dealer’s Room was huge and I almost forgot which isles I walked down and which I didn’t yet.
I went to get some food and while I was outside I hear some guy on a megaphone saying/chanting “I got that ice cold water, and it’s only one dollar”. It became the meme of Otakon 2011.
It got so popular that people made remixes with the song. (This one is my favorite)
The first panel I ended going to was “Japan’s Apocalyptic Imagination in Anime, Manga, and Art” by Roland Kelts. He first discussed Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa‘ and how Hokusai was able to display Mt. Fuji, which was tiny and almost unnoticeable, compared to a tsunami that was reaching out like “claws” and towering over everything. The same type of imagery could be seen in recent time with Hayao Miyazaki’s movie, Ponyo, where the large waves had eyes and were travelling to crash on land. Roland covered many classics, such as Akira, Totoro, and Grave of the Fireflies and explained how they show the artist’s idea of an apocalyptic world.
The second and last panel I went to on Friday was “Anime Amazons” The presenter talked about how many anime shows usually would portray women in a helpless/weak role. They always needed “saving” by someone. We then went through anime that has given us female leads who are “warriors” in that they can take care of themselves and is not a damsel in distress. This was an interesting panel for me since I always like to watch anime with strong female leads. I thought the presenter did well with discussing and explaining the characters and shows.
After the last panel, I went on over to the dance and boy, was there a lot of people. The space for the dance was huge yet most of the room was full of people except for the very back where people were sitting and taking a break. It was very hot in the room so I only stayed for about 1 1/2 hours. They had some good DJs and the lighting show was awesome. We weren’t allowed to make circles because the staff members said there wasn’t enough room. Either way, people still tried to make mini-circles and did some popping/locking, shuffling, and glowsticking. I was a bit nervous to go into a circle so I took a little bit of video then went to s less crowded area to dance and glowstick.
On Saturday, I cosplayed as Faith from Mirror’s Edge and walked on over to the convention. I decided to go to Uncle Yo’s Survival to Anime Conventions to start my day on a high note but also to see what the majority of people do to get to a convention, what they usually pack, etc. Most of it was common sense, but I did get a few tips on what to do that will be easier/cheaper/better.
Next, I went to the Durarara!! Panel with voice actors Johnny Yong Bosch and Patrick Seitz, as well as two people from Aniplex America. The room was full of people and there were definitely some hardcore fans in the audience. First Aniplex showed the Top 5 Most Popular Scenes and some bloopers that are also on the DVD. Then they had a Q &A session and topped it off with Johnny and Patrick saying some lines from the show.
I didn’t get a chance to check out Tekken: Blood Vengeance in theaters but when I heard that Tekken was the surprise premiere, I had to go see it. Now this was not in 3D unfortunately, however it was still was in HD on a huge projector screen. I thought it was an awesome movie with amazing fight scenes. If you are a fan of the game, you should definitely go see this movie.
After that, I went to the “Investigating Detective Anime” panel by the Reverse Thieves. They covered the different kinds of detective anime out there, some of them being very popular while some were not as well-known. It gave me some insight as to some detective shows I probably would not have thought to watch until they discussed them. I thought they did a great job discussing the shows and throwing in clips of each show definitely helped in displaying the true potential of those shows.
Finally took a Linner (Lunch/Dinner) break around 4:30pm and then took a small nap before the next few panels and the dance. After my nap, I headed on over to the “Gundam: What Makes It Great” panel. The guy presenting the panel was a little out of it (he said he didn’t get a lot of sleep) though still gave a good look at all of the Gundam series.
The last panel I went to was ”Cyborgs, Cybernetics, and Metal Men”. The panel was off to a rough start since her computer was not working with the projector but she still made it quite interesting. She talked about popular series such as Ghost in the Shell and did a little trivia on what was truth/myth about some of the technology used in the different series.
The dance on Saturday was more crowded than Friday. The DJs were also good on Saturday and played some awesome mixes. I was a little bit braver on Saturday and tried to join a few circles to glowstick, but they were quickly closed. I stayed for about 3 hours, then decided to get some food before I went back to the hotel room. It was about 2:00am so most things were closed, thank goodness at least for a 7-11, I bought a slice of pizza and a Slurpee (something I haven’t had in a very long time), ate, then went to bed.
On Sunday I decided to wear my regular clothes and packed my stuff up to check out. I then headed on over to walk around the artist alley and dealer’s room. I bought 5 pieces of art and 2 Tachikoma figures from Ghost in the Shell. I also decided to get different mugs for my family since I wanted to get them something that was somewhat asian but yet they could still appreciate.
Once I was done, I went to go see the premiere of Trigun: Badlands Rumble. I unfortunately did not watch the series beforehand, however I was able to follow the storyline. I thought the movie was quite interesting and had a good amount of action as well as comedy. After seeing the movie, I want to watch the whole series now. Also, hearing Johnny Yong Bosch as Izaya in Durarara and then hearing him as Vash, I was shocked since they didn’t sound like they would be the same voice actor. Johnny has some amazing talent. After the movie was over, I finally had to say goodbye to the convention and head home.
In conclusion, I recommend this convention to anyone who loves to be surrounded by thousands of fans who are interested in Japanese culture. If you live on the East Coast (or even if you don’t), you definitely need to check this convention out at least once in your lifetime. I’m not sure when I will be able to go to Otakon again, but when I do, I will be doing some things the same, some things differently, but all things to make the experience awesome!
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