Day One - Baltimore Convention Center After taking care of the typical morning necessities, [Please remember kids, a clean otaku is a good otaku] my cohorts and I walk the short block and a half to the Baltimore Convention Center. In an interesting bit of architectural design, the BCC from the outside looks conspicuously like a set piece from Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. We decide to take a quick walk through the convention area to scope things out before hitting the breakfast buffet. (For future reference, I do not recommend the Sheraton breakfast buffet, a bit expensive and bland.) Otakon took up the eastern half of the Baltimore Convention Center, and as such offered previously unseen amounts of roaming area for an anime con. Around 9:15 or so the registration lines seemed absolutely massive. After our quick breakfast jaunt, we came back to the reg area about 45 minutes later to find the lines practically gone. Going through the reg process to get my badge, I figure out why the line moved so quickly. The badges are very nice looking, and having the attendee do most of the work with the badge kept things moving. This would be a good time to mention that Otakon 1999 is the first anime convention to be held entirely within the confines of a full fledged convention center without relying on a particular hotel's function space. It's a feat not even any west coast conventions can boast of. At that point, around 10:15 or so, my party and I went upstairs to check out the video theaters and programming rooms. Despite the cavernous surroundings and the more than ample video and video gaming rooms, the programming and workshop rooms were rather modest. One surprising plus was a large room dedicated solely to Karaoke and Dance, another side benefit of the spacious venue. Signage for all of the rooms was excellent, as each function room had large (~2 feet wide x ~8 feet tall) stand-up with the room function name, along with an easel with the room's schedule. Although it was only about 11:00, we noticed it was somewhat odd that the first video programming didn't start until noon (The six video rooms had staggered start times of 12, 12, 1, 2, 3, & 4, respectively), the dealer's room opened at 4, with Opening Ceremonies at 6, and live programming starting afterward at 7:30. It was explained later that the staggered video start times was built in to give the crews assembling the equipment in video rooms time to get all six, plus the gear in the video game room set up properly. Fair enough. Another conscious decision involved was having things start later to make sure everyone waiting in the registration line did not miss anything. This just had the unfortunate effect of a creating a lull in the Friday activities. Things began with an enormous line waiting for the opening of the dealer's room, a staple of every convention since time began. Once the doors opened, the line dissipated quickly as the cavernous confines of the room allowed for ample room. Did I say ample? I meant sardine-like, at least for the opening hour or so when even the 25,000 square feet strained with the otaku onslaught. The selection of dealers was a bit sparse, but with enough variety to satisfy the thousands. Less and less import LDs seem to populate exhibit halls these days, a sad but inevitable fact as DVDs continue to grow in popularity. Why was that Gundam movie box set staring at me all weekend? I haven't caved to its influence yet, but I won't be able to fight it forever. The intense crowd kept me from staying long, so I negotiated the traffic out of the room and headed to the opening ceremonies. Otakon is not a con big on ceremony. In 1995, the start of the convention was merely marked by the swinging open of the dealer's room doors. With the big name guests and the large expected crowd, Otakon had a little bit more of a standard ceremony. Once again the waiting line was amazingly long, although with a 2000-seat capacity main events room, there was no worry about anyone getting a decent seat. Like most ceremonies of this ilk, it started a few minutes early. The con chair introduced the Japanese guests of honor, interspersed with the playing of some promo videos of upcoming films such as Jinro and Blood. The sound level of the speaker system, however, was just a tad bit high, registering an estimated 120 decibels at times. One by one the guests walked on stage, gave a small amount of remarks, and moved to their seats. Watanabe Shinichirou, director of Cowboy Bebop, seemed happily unnerved as he mentioned that he had never been to this type of function even in Japan. Nakazawa Kazuto, character designer of El Hazard even mentioned that this trip included his first ever trip on a plane! The stage was set, literally and figuratively, for Ms. Kanno Yoko to complete the ceremonies with a short piano concerto. Ms. Kanno played four songs on stage: 1. Opening theme from Vision of Escaflowne 2. Voices from Macross Plus 3. Opening theme from Record of Lodoss War TV 4. An improvisational jazz piece (encore) Here's that @anime! Special we talked about! @anime! was able to record the concert using a portable DAT at 44.1KHz. They have been saved in MP3 format and are available for download on the Yoko Kanno Concert Notes page. Being able to talk with an animator or director or artist at a convention is a very cool thing, but being able to actually actively listen to someone of Kanno's talent perform is just awe inspiring. The Lodoss War opening held an even bigger surprise since it is played with both piano and clarinet. A very (and I repeat VERY) brave Otakon staffer valiantly played the clarinet part and did quite an admirable job. Overall Ms. Kanno received a total of four standing ovations. The main event for the evening in the large capacity room was the 3rd annual presentation of Mystery Anime Theater 3000, a very well produced stage and video presentation originally created by Jon Kilgannon. It is basically just about how it sounds, they recreate faux versions of all the MST3K tv characters, and proceed to do their shtick and rip apart truly horrid anime. This year's target was the truly deserved Lensman. Usually when people try to do this kind of thematic parody, it almost always falls flat, but the MAT3K guys have excellent writing, great costumes & props, and have the act down to near perfection. Plus, Anime's Frank is a hoot. In my opinion, MAT3K is practically worth Otakon's price of admission alone. (Be sure to check with @anime! in future issues for my Fan Community Profile interview with Jon Kilgannon of MAT3K) Among the most lively panel activities on Friday was the 'Truly Wretched Anime' panel, of which I was only able to catch the tail end. Robert Fenelon, David Merrill, Jeff Thompson and others both thrilled and sickened the audience with examples of some of the most truly spine tingling (in a bad bad way) examples of anime. I have now heard several times of the legendary Tsubaraya Productions half anime/half puppet movie that was partially shown at the panel. Maybe I'm not so sad I missed it all. "FIRE DRILL!, FIRE DRILL!, everybody wander outside." Hm, seems like the boys over at the dance got a little bit carried away with a smoke machine. Tsk Tsk. Well, it did serve well to mark the end of most of the organized activities of day one, with the exception of the ravers and gamers partying on.