Otakon 2007 - Roark Mana and Ender

• Part I: Between the morning commuters, long baggage lines, and the security shake down, we found ourselves running down moving walkways to catch our flight. Thankfully, we made it, and soon found ourselves fast asleep on a non-stop flight to Baltimore for the happiest days in anime fandom. Yes, Otakon 2007 was approaching at several hundred miles per hour.
• Part II: 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.

Otakon 2006 - Kain

• Part I: Once a year, tens of thousands of ravenous anime fans flock to Baltimore, Maryland, to attend the largest fan-run anime convention in North America: Otakon. Every year always seems to top the last in terms of sheer magnitude...
• Part II: 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.

Anime Boston 2006 - Ender

• Part I: The inevitable dilemma with any anime convention is deciding whether to go or not. I missed out on Anime Boston 2005 due to obligations and regretted it. Now, a year and some change later, I decided to venture up to Boston once more...
• Part II: Day Two
  Hime and I got to a late start on Saturday. Again, we had to take the train from Islington to Backbay and then cut through Copley Plaza. The first thing that needed to be done was to locate a proper version of Saturday's schedule...

Hanami 2006 - Taleweaver

• Part I: Advertised with the subtitle slgoan of "Con Meets Festival," Hanami 2006 in Ludwigshafen was scheduled as mixture of traditional Japanese cherry blossom and anime/manga/J-culture festivals...
• Part II: After Ashura's enjoyable show, I had a few more words with Shinji Schneider, an anime/manga standup comedian who had appeared as the opening act of the show group...

Otakon 2005 - Ender & Gatts
Day Zero
Our story begins like any other convention story: a bunch of otaku trying to turn off the alarm. Starting in White Plains, Alscadal and Reiken allowed my girlfriend Hime and I stay at their apartment so we would be able to catch a bus from New York...

Anime Expo 2005 - Liegenschonheit

• Part I: This year's Anime Expo was held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California and spilled over into the Hilton and Marriot hotels, which were all located a mere two blocks from the Disneyland Resort...
• Part II: I awoke late on Sunday morning because the alarm failed to go off at the appointed time. Or that is to say, it did go off but was so quiet that I failed to hear it...

Otakon 2004 - Eek & Ender

• Part I: For otaku who have attended it, the mere mention of "Otakon" brings up cherished memories and even a nostalgic tear or two. Despite a concern here and there that this convention's 11th year might prove to be too large for the Baltimore Convention Center, the show went on!
• Part II: I swear, our hotel room had the weirdest alarm clock I've ever heard; it was just plain annoying when it went off at 7:00 am, but I guess it fulfilled its task because it woke me up.

Anime Expo 2004 - Eek

• Part I: After reading all about Mike Tatsugawa's comments regarding Anime Expo and the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation in April of 2003, I became curious and eventually compelled to see the convention for myself...
• Part II: July 4th Sunday didn't begin with any fireworks, just at 7:53 am with a7m4 and Ben snoozing in the other bed...

Anime Boston 2004 - Ender
Held in the exquisite Boston Park Plaza Hotels, Anime Boston marks the first time I've gone to a convention as something other than a volunteer. This time around I was going as a representative of not one, but two respectable anime organizations. First was, of course, the Anime Academy...

Otakon 2003 - Eek
2003 marked the 10th anniversary of Otakon, and this being my first convention, I was afraid that it would forever raise my expectations too high of conventions I will go to in the future. Indeed, the experience at Otakon would never let any other conventions compare themselves on the same level...

Otakon 2002 - Kain
Otakon has been, for the last 10 years, the largest anime convention in the United States this side of California. This year was to be no exception with an expected turnout of over 12,000 attendees (Otakon has had a meteoric increase in attendance every year, with the 2001 convention finally topping the 10,000 mark)...

Anime Expo 2002 - Keitaro
Day One
July 4th, 2002. 8:00 am. I woke up and prepared myself for four days at the largest anime convention in the United States: Anime Expo. After getting my camera ready for tons of picture taking and my wallet for tons of anime purchasing, I was on my way to the Long Beach Convention Center...