Day Two
Being that Saturday is always the biggest day at Otakon, we wanted to get there early to ensure good parking spots and to not feel like anything was missed. Fortunately, we got off on the right foot as the commute from the hotel to the BCC was nowhere near as congested as the day before. After performing the same illegal driving maneuvers that seem like a prerequisite to navigating around Baltimore, we dismounted our steeds and joined the festivities inside.

Upon procuring the nectar of the gods (a.k.a. coffee), we proceeded upstairs to a video room playing the first three episodes of Rumiko Takahashi Anthology. As a longtime fan of her anime such as Ranma ½, Maison Ikkoku and Urusei Yatsura, I thoroughly enjoyed these short, unrelated snippets of animation based on Takahashi's manga... though parkas and thermal underwear should've been included with the price of admission. Are Otakon staffers intentionally trying to make its patrons sick by contrasting the 100°F Baltimore heat wave by setting the air conditioning to Absolute Zero?

With the conclusion of the anime coming mercifully before hypothermia set in, Alex and I trudged downstairs to the Alley, formerly known as the Artists Alley, around 10:30 am. The section marked off for pieces on the auction block wasn't due to open until noon, but an Otakon staffer obviously enchanted by the warm glow of my press pass ushered us in and offered an ink drawing exhibited at Otakon 2001 as thanks for gracing the Alley with my presence. I accepted the gift, though the two shirtless male subjects on it drew equal parts dismay (from me) and amusement (from Alex). Perhaps it will join the ranks of the infamous annual fruit cake, a gift pawned off from sender to receiver and back again.

As always, I'm amazed at the level of skill and dedication the artists put into their works on display at Otakon. I find it heartening to know that anime as an artistic medium can influence a new generation of fans into making the most of their talents. I can see how several of the pieces were definitely worth their initial bidding price of several hundreds of dollars... though I'd much rather hang in my home a traditional landscape oil painting than a half-naked Edward from Fullmetal Alchemist, but that's just me.

After our host so graciously walked us around the grounds, Alex and I perused the other half of the Alley dedicated to vendors peddling homemade wares: from ceramic figurines to macramé costumes. What separates the dealers room from this section of the Alley is while the former sells manufactured, retail goods, the latter is typically comprised of small operations with one-off items produced by hand. It's fun to see what your Average Joe or Jane-san can do with just a sewing needle or soldering iron.

12:30 pm saw Mugs, Eek, Alex and I seated upfront in the enormous video room for the Saturday showing of the AMV contest. As per tradition, the finalists are grouped by category, with the least popular (Romantic and Dramatic) shown first and the fan-favorites (Action, Upbeat and Humorous) saved for the end. Through experience and the growing popularity of anime, the videos tend to get better with each passing year, culminating in two uproariously funny submissions: "Peter Cabbit," featuring various anime characters singing Book Report from the "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" musical, and "Anime: Lifestyles of the Animated and Fabulous" with Piccolo from Dragonball Z lamenting on how It's Not Easy Being Green and Alex Louis Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist crooning to Shania Twain's Man! I Feel Like A Woman!. Comedy gold here, people. Comedy gold.

As the curtains closed and the crowd congregated in the lobby where Alex deposited our ballots, we caught up to Mana and Roark and happened to spot Garrett, a close friend of Gatts. Apparently, our absentee Professor was afflicted with a malady known as World of Warcraft (it's true, I looked it up on WedMD). With that mystery solved, our group met up outside of Tir Na Nog Bar & Grill at the Inner Harbor for lunch. Mira, LadySage, Le Bread, Niner and Tyrdium joined us soon after, swelling our party large enough that we ran across problems finding a restaurant that would seat us. Unbeknownst to us beforehand, the New York Yankees were in town to play the Baltimore Orioles, further complicating the ability to find a vacancy at area dining establishments. At last, we settled on a tapas bar by bum-rushing the unprepared wait staff with our horde of 11 hungry marauders.

With our appetites satisfied, several of us returned to the BCC and again perused the wares in the dealers room for hidden treasures. As 7:00 pm approached, Mugs, Eek, Mana, Roark, Niner, Alex and I proceeded to the fourth floor for the Geneon panel. Never in my five years of attending Otakon had I witnessed such a poorly organized industry panel, and I made my displeasure known throughout. The three marketing employees on-stage appeared disheveled and discombobulated as if they just came from a keg party at a local frat house. After many ums and likes and desperate looks at each other to kill time, the Three Stooges resorted to having the audience attempt at recognizing Geneon-licensed anime from grainy, low-quality images on the projector screen. Seriously, these people are Geneon's marketing staff? I wouldn't hire them to sell water in a desert. As large and established as Geneon is, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and write this panel off as an aberration.

Wanting to get the bad taste out of my mouth, I decided to wash it down with a panel titled "Old School Anime." After Mugs and Eek headed to the Saturday Night Fan Parodies, Alex and I came across Tyrdium at the head of the line as the Transformers panel ran over by several minutes. I grabbed him by the arm, told the Otakon bouncer stationed at the door that he was with me and proceeded to the front of the room. Roark, Mana and Niner joined us a few minutes later. My expectations for this panel were high, as I had envisioned it being helmed by some grizzled, silver-haired veteran donning a Captain Harlock eye patch. Alas, 'twas not meant to be, as instead we were graced by a young kid with but just a few years of anime experience under his belt. Compounding this was his inability to control the room when he ran across problems with the video he had prepared. The discussion went off on numerous tangents, and one member of the audience engaged in verbal sparing with the moderator that added nothing constructive to the panel. I stayed for about five minutes and walked out. Hey, I even gave the Geneon crew a full hour of my attention.

Having had enough of Niner bouncing and carrying on like a little boy on a sugar high in anticipation of the 4Chan panel at 11:30 pm, we decided to give it a try. Now, most of you have heard about 4Chan, but the rest of us that had no clue should at least give their website a gander. The panel was interesting, to say the least; perhaps as a man rapidly approaching 30 and having left many of my youthful indiscretions in the past, I may not have been 4Chan's intended demographic... but it sure has its rabid followers nevertheless. The room was filled with energetic "followers of the faith," and no sooner than a minute into the panel did I realize how true that phrase would be. After a brief sermon not unlike those of a religious revival and an introduction to Raptor Jesus (yes, exactly as the name implies), Alex and I had seen enough and quickly made our way to the exit.

In the hallway we ran into Mira, Roark and Mana. Mira had just emerged from the "Do It Yourself Bukkake" panel (don't ask), and after our good-byes, Alex and I joined the rest of our group at the Saturday Night Fan Parodies. We arrived just in time to catch perennial favorite Nescaflowné, a parody I've seen several times at previous Otakons but one of which I never get tired. With it being well past midnight, Mugs, Alex and I returned to the hotel and immediately dozed off to sleep.

Day Three
The final day of Otakon is always the one that seems the hardest to get up for as fatigue has at that point finally overcome adrenaline. Case in point: Eek, Roark and Mana slipped into our crowded hotel rooms in the middle of the night and neither Mugs, Alex nor I woke up from the commotion. So yes, we were tired.

This being the last day (except for Roark and Mana, who elected to stay an extra night to get some rest for the long drive back to Chicago), we checked out of the hotel room and arrived at the BCC a little after 9:00 am. As expected, the crowds had thinned out considerably as most people elect to skip Sunday since it ends in the early afternoon and most of the big events occurred during Friday and Saturday. Alex, Mugs and I took advantage of the much-appreciated elbow room by making a final stop at the dealers room.

Alex was on a mission to find an empty box for the complete Samurai Champloo boxset, while I scoured the bargain bins for clearance sales. The enormous $10 DVD rack in one vendor's arsenal contained quite a few diamonds among quite a lot of coal. From that selection, I purchased Junkers Come Here, a movie I had been meaning to watch for a while. Aside from that single item, we came away empty-handed despite the slashed prices.

Noon was just around the corner, and Mugs' train was scheduled to depart in an hour. We trekked upstairs from the depths of the dealers room, retrieved his luggage from my car and hailed a taxi. Niner met up with us to see Mugs off and to say he too was on his way home. Our good-byes were short and sweet. The rest of us grabbed lunch, and then Alex and I departed for the closing ceremonies at 1:00 pm.

Closing ceremonies typically have but two things going for it: fresh-off-the-presses nostalgia and the announcement of next year's convention dates. Aside from that, this event is typical of many that occur during your average, fan-run convention: plenty of technical difficulties and presenters with unpolished public speaking skills. While the two Otakon lackeys on-stage pulled out their best stall tactics (which failed, but hey, "A" for effort), including a two-man rendition of the Three Stooges, the audio/video crew were hard at work putting out figurative fires. Soon enough, a video montage of Otakon 2006 set to Van Halen's Right Now was shown on the projector. It was really well done considering that, well, the convention wasn't even over yet. Most of the video was of some of the best cosplay and the thousands of poor souls waiting in various lines, though snippets of the awesome MUCC concert were relived for my viewing pleasure. Masquerade winners in all of the categories were announced, followed by those in the AMV contest. Con Chair Jim Vowles capped off the convention with the dates for Otakon 2007: July 20th-22nd in the Baltimore Convention Center.

We met up for the last time with Roark, Mana and Eek in the lobby shortly after two. Many pleasantries were exchanged, palms were pressed and then Alex and I made the short trip back home to the District of Columbia.

I wouldn't say that Otakon 2006 stood out from the other years in which we attended, but there's something to be said for the comfort of the predictable. For as long as we've been going, neither the venue, hotel nor days of the week has changed, so we pretty much have our routine down pat. Only how well the concert has turned out, especially considering it was in a bar, took me by surprise this year.

Nevertheless, at least for me, Otakon is really less about the events of the convention and more about being the annual reunion for Anime Academy Staff and students. It's less about the experience and more about sharing the experience with others. Indeed, some of my favorite moments were when we simply sat down together over a meal, sharing stories and marveling over the similarities and differences each of our real-life personas have with their online counterparts, especially those, like Roark, Mana, Niner, Tyrdium, LadySage, Le Bread and Dirty Harry, whom I have met in person for the first time. So if you're thinking about attending next year, please do so... and bring a friend with you.

Return to Otakon 2006: Part I...