From uunet!in1.uu.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newshub.northeast.verio.net!nntp.upenn.edu!blue.seas.upenn.edu!schimmel Mon Aug 10 04:03:57 1998 Path: uunet!in1.uu.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newshub.northeast.verio.net!nntp.upenn.edu!blue.seas.upenn.edu!schimmel From: schimmel@blue.seas.upenn.edu (Scott Schimmel) Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime.misc Subject: [Otakon] My brief report Date: 10 Aug 1998 07:21:09 GMT Organization: University of Pennsylvania Lines: 91 Message-ID: <6qm715$rj2$1@netnews.upenn.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: blue.seas.upenn.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2-upenn1.3] Xref: uunet rec.arts.anime.misc:172775 Just got back from Otakon, and I'm planning to sleep for at least 12 hours. I thought I'd post this first, though. ^_^ Last year's Otakon was my first, and also the first sizable anime convention I attended. It impressed me. This year's was a bit further south, and much larger, yet it ran, as far as I could tell, more smoothly. I'm still impressed. ^_^ The staff did a terrific job. Looking forward to next year. This year was also the first time I volunteered at a con. That was a rather different experience, but lots of fun at times. Got to meet quite a few interesting people, even though the blocks of time I worked mainly consisted of 2-4 hours in a video room pressing "play" and "stop" and watching equipment. As a result, I watched much more anime than usual, but most of it I hadn't seen before, so that worked out pretty well. I do wish I could have attended more panels, but I'm satisfied. Friday was my least hectic day, though I did work at the baggage check shortly after the dealer's room opened. Large crowd, but at least it wasn't boring. I also helped set up for the autograph session, which led to the highlight of the day -- meeting Futaba-kun Change mangaka Hiroshi Aro. I got to speak to him briefly before the session began. He seemed pretty enthused about the whole thing (not to mention remarkably tolerant of my Japanese). I only wish I hadn't forgotten my tankouban -- would've been nice to get an autograph, especially since the kana I use for my name happen to coincide with the family name of the protagonist in the manga. Ah, well. Also got to see the MST of Battle Arena Toshinden, which was hilarious, and the music video competition. Almost all of the videos were good this year, and a few were truly outstanding. The winner for dramatic video, an Eva montage set to REM's "Losing My Religion," is possibly the best-edited video I've ever seen, up there with "Shiny Happy People." A "Live and Let Die" video won the Action/Scary category, and another Eva collage (with terrific lip-synching on the choruses) to Depeche Mode's "Master and Servant" won the comedic category. There were 5 or 6 honorable mentions, and another 10 or 15 videos that were really enjoyable. Saturday was a busy day for me; most of my time was spent in one video room or another, with periodic visits to the con suite. On one of these visits, I managed to meet a large contingent from the FFML -- Sean Gaffney, Lara Bartram, Zen, Gary Kleppe, and a few others (sorry; I'm terrible with names). This was an unexpected surprise, but fortunate, since I'd missed the fanfic panel the day before. High point of the day. Also briefly met a number of the guests, including Lisa Ortiz and Scott Houle. Missed Neil Nadelman, though. It also had a low point: The premiere of a Right Stuf hentai video, which I was schedules to work. "Cool Devices," IIRC. It was the sort of appallingly bad hentai that makes for a terrific MSTing, if one interrupted by occasional moments of sickened silence. Would have left the room within 5 minutes, if I hadn't been obligated to stay. -_-; (On a tangential note, I found that I still look much younger than my real age when I was asked by a staffer before this screening, "Are you 17 yet?" Oh well.) Sunday brought a bit more work, but I finally got around to checking out the art show (some amazing pieces, as usual) and the dealer's room, which I'd previously only casually browsed through. The dealer's room was a mixed bag: On one hand, it was much larger than the previous year's, so there was less crowding. There was also a good selection of toys, wall scrolls, and knicknacks. (I picked up a Rayearth Hikaru figure at one of the tables.) But there was one glaring omission: Import manga. There were a few tankouban of Sailormoon and Ranma up for sale, but none of the more obscure series I'd come to look for. ;_; At Katsucon, I ended up carrying away a large bag of manga; at Otakon, I bought very little. (Just the figure and three CDs.) On the plus side, it did cut down on my expenses significantly. Wish I'd been able to find those Hana Yori Dango and Mintna Bokura tankouban, though. I must mention the baggage check system here. It was the best I'd ever seen at a con. Shelves and tokens are a large step up from last year's pile on the floor and halves of playing cards. I don't believe a single bag was misplaced. Many thanks to whoever came up with the improved system. Toward the end of the con, a kitchen fire caused a hotel evacuation. As one member said, "Otakon went out with a bang." Despite the minor inconveniences, I was able to get back on the road before 5. All in all, a very fun convention, and an improvement over last year's. Thanks to the staff for planning to make it so. ^_^ -- Scott Schimmel http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~schimmel/ Ex ignorantia ad sapientium; "You really aren't normal, are you?" ex luce ad tenebras. -- Miki Koishikawa