Day Two
I woke up at around 6 AM on our hotel room floor -- it was me, Fred, Chad, Joey, Spencer, Jasmine, Ray, and Maria -- which is normally very comfortable (the Renaissance uses wonderful linoleum) but Fred's snoring was powerful enough to make me forget about Kain's snores from yesteryear. After we were all roused and (most of us) had made our way to the showers, Fred, Joey, Spencer and myself ran out for a quick breakfast at McDonalds -- Maria was up all night finishing her Phoenix Wright costume, and the others were still in bed. A word to the wise, the food courts around the Renaissance can get a bit obnoxious with their prices; but right around the corner (barely a block away) you'll find some places that are a bit more wallet-friendly.

Breakfast was around 7, so we made it to the convention center at around 8 AM. Thanks to the powers of the press, I was able to get in through a closed door by flashing my handy press pass. Whereas my good buddies had to walk all the way around. It was sort of karma though as I somehow sliced my finger against a stair railing. That's what I get for gloating. We made our way up to the information booth to drop off our ballots from last night's AMV competition. After that, we wandered around for a bit trying to decide which panel we should go to. During this time, we managed to run into Roark and Mana for a few minutes. Mana was cosplaying as Franziska von Karma from Phoenix Wright; and she did a fine job at it too, I might add.

9 AM we sat in on the Media Blasters' panel (which was not printed in the schedule, we found out about it at the info desk), hosted by John Sirabella -- the company's CEO and all-around cool guy. I've seen him in previous cons handling the company's panel as well as running their booth in the dealer's room, so he's always active with his company which is a good thing. The four of us came in right when Sirabella was talking about a new anime production; which, of course, I am referring to the sequel to Kite. For those not in the know, the new anime is titled Kite: Liberator, and it is a joint-production between Media Blasters and ARMS, it takes place many years after the first OVA, and it's also going to have a brief running-time (45 minutes). After Sirabella did some preliminary introductions, he went ahead and showed us a teaser-trailer for the project: this was the first time actual footage was to be shown to the public. I have to admit, I was a tad bit surprised by the spaceship. Last time I remember, the original Kite did not have giant spaceships in it. From what was told about the plot, it takes place years after the original and features a different girl as the main character. At the time of the trailer, the anime was still in post-production but everything is on track for a late 2007 release.

Someone asked about news on the live-action Kite film. Sirabella did not have any knowledge of the current phase of production. He did reveal though that Media Blasters did help set up relations between the American and Japanese studios. Outside of that, they are not involved. After that, Sirabella confirmed the anime releases for his company in the next few months. Namely, the re-releases of Goldenboy and Angel Sanctuary, the new Ikkitousen series, some yaoi titles, an actual solicitation for Tezuka Osamu's Phoenix -- I remember that the license for this show was originally announced in 2005 --, as well as clarifying the acquiring of Kujibiki Unbalance. Apparently, there is going to be a second season of Genshiken, so by licensing Kujibiki Unbalance they're assuring a license of Genshiken's second season. Sirabella did point out though that anime licensing is a very tricky thing (what with Japanese studios now wanting to distribute by themselves) and that these things can change on a whim. He talked further about the studios other labels: Tokyo Shock, Kitty Media, etc. The studio is trying to get their hands further into actual feature-film production; they showed a clip of the upcoming live-action title, Machine Girl. From what I could gather, the film was a grindhouse tribute that featured a school girl with a gatling-gun for an arm, laying waste to Power Ranger rejects…good, clean family fun. Sirabella said that there is a losing interest in j-horror (in Japan) nowadays, but that his company is still going to try to work in the production end of films and anime more, given the current state of anime licensing.

He also told the audience that the company had purchased the rights to about ten Shaw Brothers films (Flag of Iron, Deadly Duo, etc.). Then he mentioned the upcoming live-action Devilman DVD, and Takashi Miike's Zebraman and Crows ZERO coming out sometime soon. Crows ZERO was not yet released in Japan (at the time of the panel), so a release date was not discussed. Moving onto questions and answers, someone asked what were Media Blasters best-sellers. Sirabella wasted no time in his answers: Voltron has done remarkably well for the company. Bouncing off of that, sadly GaoGaiGar has not been doing as well, which was strange, as Sirabella noted, because the company was promoting GaoGaiGar heavily through Voltron; basically stating "if you like Show A, then you will love Show B!". He mentioned a lot of their collections doing well, such as the re-issued box set of Giant Robo and the Tekkaman Blade sets, and on the live-action front, the re-releases of Versus and Ichi the Killer still continue to sell. Sirabella went on to state that once Media Blasters gets around to producing Golion and Dairugger DVDs, they will most probably be presented in the same manner as Tekkaman Blade; 13 episode DVD sets.

Around this time, I got to ask a question pertaining to the Zatoichi TV series; namely, how well was the series doing and if there were any plans on bringing more samurai/chanbara movies and shows to the states. Sirabella told me that Zatoichi has been doing well, they're just trying to figure out how to market it while keeping it fresh; it's a long show and they want to sustain interest. For the second part, Sirabella actually dropped a pretty interesting news tidbit that I'm surprised has not been discussed: the company has the license to release the Lone Wolf and Cub TV series here in America, they're just trying to figure out how to present it (again, long show). But you heard it here first. The panel ended around 10 AM, which was good for us, because Maria and Ray had to get together for a Phoenix Wright cosplay picture by the fountain at around that time. We got there ahead of Maria and Ray so we hung around with our Nintendo DS'. After a few minutes, Maria and Ray came in as Phoenix and Edgeworth, respectively. After a few camera shots, we all decided to go our separate ways.

We got back to the convention center at around 1-1:30 PM, which was perfect because the One Piece panel would be starting up soon. So, the two of us headed to the top floor panel rooms. This was where we linked up with none other than Le Bread. As Fred and Bread got to know each other, we got a call from another AA familiar; Dirty Harry. He was in front of us on line, so I walked over and greeted him and his very cool mom (this was my first time meeting DH). The previous panel was still going, so I ran ahead and went on in just to see who was saying what. Certainly enough, Steven Blum and Vic Mignogna were wrapping up their panel. Kain and Alex were in the audience so I went and sat by them. Now, I saw Vic and Steven at Anime Boston last year, and they are two very charming/funny guys, so I was glad to hear them speak. Of course, since this was the tail-end of the panel, the Q&A was already underway. My favorite question asked by a fan: who do you think is more angst-filled? Vincent Valentine or Ed Elric? After a moment's deliberation Steve picked up the mic, and in his Vincent voice said, "Ed…because he's so damn short." After the panel ended, I stuck around to grab some seats for the One Piece panel and premiere. About 2:09 PM, Fred, Le Bread, Dirty Harry, and Dirty Harry's mom came in. It was here that Dirty Harry informed us that the premiere part had been cancelled, but the panel would still go on. Apparently, this was a popular trend during the con; the cancellation of certain announcements. I was disappointed (I actually wanted to hear the new dub) but it was a small price to pay.

About 2:15, the panelists took the stage: Lance Heiskell, FUNimation's marketing director, Chris Bevins, the ADR director, Brina Palencia, the voice of Tony Tony Chopper, and Colleen Clinkenbeard, the voice of Monkey D. Luffy. First, they apologized for the premiere being cancelled, but they more than made up for it by answering fans' questions as best as they could. At this point, FUNimation's production was still relatively early (they weren't at liberty to reveal any other cast members' names outside of the Straw Hat crew) so answers were very limited. Heiskell did reveal that he was a huge One Piece fan and had been trying to help FUNimation procure the rights for years. A lot of fans who asked questions began with accolades; thanking FUNimation from saving the series from the abysmal 4Kids dub. At one point, Brina and Colleen were both asked to provide a sample of what their characters would sound like. Now, as someone who has been watching One Piece since he was in high school, I can say that I was not disappointed. Some fans asked repetitive questions regarding issues that FUNimation had no control over: namely the video games, the opening/ending songs, and television content. It was interesting to note that a lot of the changes requested for the show came down from Toei Douga themselves, and the voice actors had to be approved by Toei. Lance also revealed that manga-ka, Oda Eiichiro, was also very active and participated in the English voice-actor process. One of my favorite questions asked by a fan was "are there any big surprises we can expect from the upcoming season?" To which Brina replied, "a damn fine dub!" This got a lot of cheers.

The panel ended early at 3:30. To fill up the time, the first episode of Jigoku Shoujo was aired. During this time, Fred, Le Bread, and Dirty Harry stepped outside. As we hung around, Fred managed to pull aisde Chris Bevins and Lance Heiskell. We all sort of gathered around and listened to what the two had to say about One Piece and the whole dubbing/licensing thing in general. It's really cool to know just how down-to-earth these people are. After this, we walked around until 3:45, which is when we came across some of the best entertainment all day: Kamen Rider V-3. I'm not sure how to describe what we saw on-screen, but I will dare any fan to watch a cadre of poorly-outfitted supervillains introduce themselves with the names Climbing Shark, Glasses Ant, Bomber Palace, and (my favorite) Frog Oven and not find themselves laughing until their insides kill. Once this was over, an episode of Kamen Rider Black came on -- the episode was titled "Freak Museum in the Demon Corn!" which was a big rip-off considering that there wasn't any demon corn to speak of. Around this time, we were joined by Tyrdium, Erigion, Niner, Sohryu, and Lady Sage (who was sporting a pretty cool cosplay of Melfina from Outlaw Star)..

Once the episode ended and we had dried our tears, we left the video room and figured out on what to do next. After a few minutes deliberation, Le Bread and I journeyed to the Dealer's Room to help Fred obtain some manga volumes of One Piece -- after all these years of me trying to get him into the series, all it took was a well-timed Otakon panel and Le Bread's swanky power of persuasion. While we were there, Le Bread ended up finding a rather strange book; Japan Inc. by Ishinomori Shotaro (ironically, the creator of Kamen Rider). Apparently, this was publishing in America sometime in the late 80's, and it showed. Well, not one to let a rare find slip through, I bought the book. The seller didn't know how much to charge me (no price tag) so he let me have it for eight bucks. Now, every year I go to a big convention, there is at least one special, rare treasure just waiting to be discovered in the dealer’s room; at Otakon 2007, this was it.

After the dealer's room, Le Bread bid us a fond farewell as he went off to save the world from Darkseid’s Hunger Dogs (that’s what he told me anyway), so Fred and I headed to the video game room. This was my first time going to an Otakon game room, and it was huge. A lot of people gathered around plasma TVs to get tournaments of Smash Bros., Gears of War, and Guitar Hero going (I think there was an actual Guitar Hero tournament, Fred signed up for it I think). There were also smaller, older, import games as well, spanning everything from PS2 down to Sega Saturn: Guardian Heroes, Ikaruga, Puzzle Fighter, etc. Strangely, Mountain Dew and Microsoft had a huge booth where they were showing some gameplay footage of Halo 3, and giving out cans of a new soda christened "Game Fuel." Now, I'm not a fan of Mountain Dew, and I'm certainly no fan of Halo, so I was a bit skeptical about trying a black can of soda with Master Chief emblazoned on it. But it was free, and given my open-minded (read: naive) nature, I gave it a try. I liked it. I don't think I will be purchasing cases of it, but it was good for what it was. Kind of tasted like a blueberry slushie.

After Fred tried his hand at Puzzle Fighter for a bit, we decided to go gather for the masquerade. Now, the masquerade was at 7:00, but seating was already underway (it was 6 PM). So, I flashed my pass and Fred and I went in to reserve some seats for our friends. It took some time for everyone to gather (the line stretched outside and around the convention center), so in the mean time the organizers showed the first episodes of Devil May Cry and Venus Versus Virus; both shows were recent acquisitions for ADV Films. Neither of the shows really caught me, but seeing as how the episodes were played on huge screens and that the sound system was amped up to eardrum-rupturing levels, I couldn't help but notice. At around 6:30, Chad, Ray, Maria, Jasmine, Joey, and Spencer joined us. Since there was still no sign of the masquerade starting any time soon, we whipped out Mario Kart. The festivities did not begin until a little bit after 7 PM, when the host, Jonathan Hawk, took the stage and greeted the crowd. He brought on the final Harry Potter book as well, stating “I’m glad you all came, even though some of you are probably spending it with this guy here.” The crowd roared at that one. Then he went on ahead to spoil the ending of the book…or at least he joked about it. Never before have I seen so many people scream and cover their ears; I shouldn’t criticize, I was one of them. After the judges were introduced -- all of whom were wearing masks of King Leonidas from 300, a sort of recurring joke -- the first act was brought on; a Phoenix Wright cosplayer doing the Napoleon Dynamite dance. This was probably (and sadly) the best one until Entry 6 (the stuff in-between involved everything from One Piece to Saiyuki, and a whole lot of yaoi jokes), which was a girl playing the Fruits Basket opening with her clarinet. Entry 8 was pretty slick too, a guy with Chobit ears did a break dance to a techno-remix of Transformers.

Entry 15 got possibly the biggest applause of the night; she was a Link cosplayer who performed a fast and flawless Ocarina of Time theme entirely on a flute. And to think, all my life I made fun of the band kids. Entry 18 was a funny sketch involving Luigi getting a “say no to drugs” speech…from Darkwing Duck. Entry 21 featured the crew of Phoenix Wright (notice a pattern?) putting Light from Death Note on trial. After that, the best entry of the night came on at number 36. Titled “The Ultimate Cosplay Skit,” three cosplayers took the stage and gave a step-by-step tutorial/parody on how to make a good cosplay. Ironically, most of the materials covered seemed to shoot down all of the preceding skits; such as, “step 3: if all else fails, end with a pointless dance routine!” or “never underestimate a completely unnecessary yaoi moment!”. The audience was in hysterics. Strangely enough, after the 39th entry (an all-too unfunny One Piece skit) it ended. I looked at my watch and it said 8:45 PM. I could have sworn that past masquerades went on for longer. Either way, our group retreated just in time to avoid the stampede. After that, we went over to Uno’s -- trying to find a table for 10 people at 9 PM on a Saturday is quite the adventure.We were in there longer than expected. By the time we got out, the fan parodies were already underway, but we were all way too tired. So we all retired to our hotel room for another night of slumber. And by “slumber” I mean “seeing who can rest the longest before they finally get fed up with Fred’s snoring and kick him out of the room.”

Day Three
A convention's final day always hits a bit sublime. You know there's fun and excitement to be had, but the lack of sleep, caffeine overdoses, and veritable emotional rollercoaster all start to show in the form of dragged feet, lethargy, semi-apathy, and the bittersweet knowledge that you'll be going home.

We managed to drag ourselves out of bed a bit later than customary. I think everyone except Mana is getting less young. Mana and I head out in search of breakfast, grabbing a quick bite at Mickey D's and some snacks from the gas station. Kain and Alex say they'll eat later, they want to relax a bit! We ate, came back, and checked out, making sure to complain loudly at our lack of smoke detector and the lack of housekeeping. We will not be using the BWI Motel 6 again. Yes, at long last, the secret AA staffer motel comes out. It is not recommended.

The car ride in is a bit subdued, since no one is really quite sure what we want to do. One short car trip later, we're back in the BCC and staring at programming schedules. Alex wants to beat Kain at Wii Bowling a few more times, so they make their way towards the gaming room. We make plans to meet up for the Sunday afternoon concert. Mana and I quickly meet up with our crew of forum goers and decide to see if there's any early Sunday sales in the Dealer's room.

We wander around for a bit, looking at the now familiar merchandise on display, some of which is slightly discounted. Mana wants to pick up an "iObject" shirt from vendors selling parodies of anime/game characters in mock iPod adverts. Securing this object, Mana and I headed back to check out one final panel: Bad Anime, Bad!

We walk into an overflowing room. I must admit that I've never seen panels fill up as quickly as this year's Otakon. With so many people all trying to find something to do at once, I'm guessing that there's been a lot of overflow from various events pushed into panels that look even mildly interesting. An old-school otaku looking man goes to the front of the room and immediately refuses any sort of microphone, having learned the secret lost art of voice projection. He proceeds to explain that he doesn't make fun of bad anime just because they're bad. He only picks on things that are egregious in their terribleness, things that even the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 guys would just shake their head at. This is how I learned about Magnos.

I'll spare you too many details and just give the basic premise: Giant robots, each represent a magnetic "pole" that combine together to fight evil aliens. Standard 80s dreck, right? Well, it is, until you factor in the write-by-committee approach of copying every cool, unique idea in the last 10 years and trying to make them seem original. Bad transformation sequences, terrible voice acting, and a villain inexplicably named Xerxes Tire-iron Dada combine to make this one anime I don't feel bad for never watching. The barely veiled sexual innuendo isn't funny, and blatantly ripping off your competitors just screams me too. I'd rather watch Tekken than more of this.

Partway through the half hour panel, we received a call that seating for the concert was filling fast, and that we better get here soon to retain our godlike front and center position. Mana and I practically ran as fast as our abused feet could carry us and found Kain and Alex saving spots just for us.

Precisely at 12:02, Eminence took the stage. For those like me who are unfamiliar with the concept, Eminence is a group of classical musicians who focus on anime and video game music. Since many Otakon attendees also have at least passing band geek affiliations, this is a match made in heaven. I'll admit that I had my doubts walking into the concert hall, since I wasn't quite sure what to expect from an "anime cover band." Would I be setting myself up for a level of otaku-dom unmatched on this planet, or some actual decent music?

The group that attended Otakon consisted of four string players and a pianist. With no introduction after the warm up, they launched straight into the music. Thunderous applaus followed, since the main event hall was almost completely filled. The group's manager came out, explained a bit about the concept and the history, and talked a bit about the pieces we would hear. The full orchestra couldn't attend, since that would be prohibitively expensive. However, they had all performed in Japan, and they were the feature musicians for the new Romeo x Juliet series currently airing.

Another set followed, a mixture of pieces performed by the group and covers of anime and video game songs. Another break introduced us to a personal friend of the band, Awful Link of the Day winner Michael "Piano Squall" Gluck. He seized the microphone to start droning about the uniqueness of this event, how groundbreaking it was, and how lucky we were to witness this. Several minutes later, we finally got back to the music he lauded at length.

This would be a recurring theme throughout the concert. The band performed admirably. I haven't played an instrument in seven years, but I still know my way through a measure. Every note came through nice and clear, the tuning was dead on, and the performers didn't miss a beat, even as their sheet music blew away in the gale-force winds of the main even hall. While some of the performance pieces seemed a bit unenthusiastic, the band truly came to life when they performed songs that they chose and loved, such as Cruel Angel's Thesis. Between sets, however, Piano Squall would seize the opportunity to attach himself to the quintet in any way possible. It got so bad that the concertmaster started vying for the role of M.C., just to keep the music going and shut Piano Squall up. This was the same person who managed to keep playing while looking over his shoulder and down to read sheet music on the floor behind him. He was that good.

The finale was what can only be termed a Mario Medley. It encompassed songs from all the major Mario games and wove them into a fairly rousing and beautiful piece. Nerdy as that may sound, using Super Mario Bros. as the closing piece makes sense. It appealed to more than just hardcore video game players or anime fans and reached out to the level of pop culture music. It was a piece that could find itself at home at a symphonic "pops" night alongside John Williams scores.

The concert ended with a final word from the band's manager and Piano Squall. We made a quick exit to and made our way to the registration entrance to bid farewell to Ender. The first parting of Otakon 2007 occurred with bits of tears all around. We watched him fade into the distance, Kain and Alex left after a bit to get some lunch and we retreated to the Dealer's Room for one final look around. Eventually, we met up with our forum goers and new friends for final good byes and see you next years. We called Kain and Alex to let them know we were on the way to meet them and head out to the airport, as Kain was worn down and wanted to get a good start. The last we saw of the AA crew was forumite Niner trying to quickly trade Pokemon with Mana as the wireless connection got thinner and thinner.

Coming full circle, we met Kain and Alex at the food court where we ate lunch back on Thursday. It seemed an aeon since then; conventions have this way of warping time to make everything longer and shorter. Kain's sane and sensible driving got us to the airport, where we said one last tearful goodbye.

What followed was largely boredom that need not be imparted to you, gentle readers. Suffice to say, we had a generous amount of time before we could check our baggage, and even more time to get supper and wait for our flight. Mana quickly devoured the final Harry Potter book, and I made my way through my bit of classic sci-fi. (Those looking for a good read, check out The Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester. You won't be disappointed.) As the plane sped us back to Chicago, Mana dozed off, and I reflected back on the event.

Final Thoughts
I definitely had to say that this year’s Otakon was a mixed bag. Most of the panels/viewings I went to were either not listed in the main schedule (Media Blasters), or they had some kind of unexpected problem that hindered it (One Piece Premiere). The masquerade did seem a bit on the short side as well, which was odd given how long some of the sketches seemed to drag. Granted, the last masquerade I went to was two years ago, but I remember that one being a lot longer than this one. All in all, the con seemed rather…nice. As opposed to the raucous (yet charming) Otakons of yesteryear. Regardless, I will remember this con as the one where I finally got to meet up with some of the best anime fans Anime Academy has to offer, and hang out with my MAC buddies at the same time. As cheesy as it sounds, it was a good year for friends, old and new. In the end, that is what a good convention is; good times with great people, all sharing the banner that is anime.

I must say that I enjoyed this Otakon more than last year's. While I had the new and shiny aspect going for me in 2006, this year felt like things were finally starting to come together as far as scheduling went. This is huge step forward for anime conventions, especially comparing it to other conventions I've attended. I'm still getting used to the "it starts when it starts" mentality, and I'm glad to see strict enforcement of timetables coming to the top. My biggest complaint this year was the Friday night concert. The music style just didn't fit the general crowd, and holding it in the main event hall limited the even unnecessarily. Bring back the rock and the club venue. It worked really well in 2006, and I'd love to see Otakon rent a real venue again in the future.

As always, the people made the convention. Instead of meeting people for the first time, I was able to talk to them more and just hang out, instead of worrying about remembering names and faces and trying to get everything straight. Even though I complained, I did love the three hour Hard Rock Café dinner, and look forward to seeing next year's "Bready Special." I just wish that some more staff could make it again, since they've either been consumed by World of Warcraft or just gotten too busy. Or decided to finish their masters degrees. Please, Mugs. Get your priorities in life straight.

Being at a huge (and awesome) convention like Otakon is both eye-opening and humbling, in a sense. One of my most favourite things about conventions as of late is witnessing how much the anime subculture has grown and changed throughout the years. Seeing such a large number of anime fans all together is still somewhat of a mind-blowing experience for me. Even so, the subculture has gone through so many shifts and changes that I find myself lost and a bit overwhelmed at times. I will, and probably will always, attest that hanging out with the good people of AA is the best part of Otakon, but I admit that attending as press and reporting adds another layer onto the mix of joys. I'm already anticipating next year.

Return to Otakon 2007: Part I...