Day Two - Costumes and Kanno and Alarms, Oh My!

Ahh, Saturday. The meat of the convention is here. Time for lots of running around finding things and missing others. Generally there is not much time where there is not something going on worth checking out. One of the first major items during the day was Kanno Yoko's guest panel, where we get to learn everything from that she only likes to work on one project a year, to finding out she loves belgian waffles at IHOP. It was extremely enlightening and does she ever play to the crowd well. She's talking with Kawamori Shouji about a new project (that's currently only on paper) she might be working on next. I found it interesting that she does pretty much all of the composing well before any animation is ever done. She discusses the feel of the show and of the characters with the director sometimes two years before a project is set to be completed.

Well, after the hour long or so discussion I decided to relax a bit and decided to head off site to grab some lunch across the street. When I returned, I found out what I had missed...

FIRE DRILL! FIRE DRILL!

This particular event caused a bit more havoc than the late night Friday occurrence. The fire alarm had been pulled in the other half of the convention center from the patron of another convention. It just happened however to coincide with the middle of the Iijima Mari concert and Kanno Yoko's autograph signing session. Only some quick thinking by former Otakon chair Dave Asher and a Sharpie marker saved all sense of order at the signing. Dave quickly wrote the number of the place people were in on their hands, enabling them to leave quickly and be assured of their place in line. Damn quick thinking and many people appreciated it.

The Otakon Game Show played Saturday afternoon to a packed house in a small room (note to Otakon organizers, give these guys a BIG room) and was a bona fide hit. Coordinator Christopher Ochs did a wonderful job putting together a nearly trouble free show with a whole lot of the spirit of the original anime game show, Anime Remote Control. Some of the categories included: The Newlydead Game, The Yen is Right, Pokemon Physics, and Anime's Frank Sez. Seeing Anime's Frank zooming about the room with his arms out in front of his head yelling 'Darling!' was just hilarious. The questions were for the most part pretty top notch. The ill fitting room did more harm to the show than just about anything. It was a good, fun event.

Prior to the big event of the evening, I decided to check out the video game room. Sheesh! A very large room filled with an amazing number of systems, including Dreamcasts and even a PC running a Neo Geo emulator. There was a near constant high level of activity in the room as tournaments seemed to be going on constantly. I did however, miss the charm of the 'everything down through the ages' concept Anime Weekend Atlanta likes to use. I like getting in a game of Pong in between bouts of Tekken 3 ya know :).

Cosplay, Masquerade, whatever you call it, anime cons seem to always have one on Saturday night. Cosplay is usually a mixed affair, with a number of well made costumes displayed with often not so well made stage presentations. Otakon's was about on par historically with previous efforts. There was a lot of entrants (61). I enjoyed for the most part that there were few excessively long or tired acts, though I rolled my eyes mightily at the token Ryouga getting lost joke, yawn. I've included here my top five cosplayers/acts of the show, for no other reason than to use the term 'fleshy butt cheek'.

Gavv's Top 5 at Otakon Cosplay
5. Announcer stalling tactics part 1&2
4. The Fall to Pieces Gundam
3. Nausicaa and Kiki (These youngsters were just too cute and the costumes were great)
2. (Totoro vs.) Pikachu Eats Tokyo (Best use of sumo technique without showing of fleshy butt cheek award winner.)
1. Anime Con Personality Death Match (I shall call him... Mini Steve!)

Saturday night, post cosplay and all, displayed one somewhat apparent downfall of the all convention center con, a lack of a good amount of room parties. A group of friends and I wandered around a bit to reputed locations (i.e. posted notes on the info boards saying PARTY!) of some and none really materialized. I suppose this bit of disassociation with the hotels is a small price to pay.