Geek Babble: Otakon 2018- Only Some Convention Panels for You

We have year two, round two of Otakon at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. Last year everything was brand new and unfamiliar. This year it was easier to get a sense of the convention and to navigate the entrances, bag check, and the floor space. One huge plus was finding a hotel closer to the convention itself; the one block walk was a massive improvement for travel times. I was grateful for the short walk because one big unknown for DC was Saturday and Sunday’s “Unite the Right” rally near the White House. It was a subject weighing heavily on the minds of some attendees. I figured Thursday and Friday would be the best times to enjoy Otakon without worry, if Saturday and Sunday would be a problem at all.

Thursday was a low-key evening spent settling in for the night after a three hour drive. Like last year, we opted for a parking garage located under a supermarket. While we were allowed to park the car for the weekend, the parking attendant notified us that the new policy was to have spaces reserved for events. Next year we would have to reserve a parking space or park under our hotel. The public parking cost $20 a night versus $35 per night at the hotel. Making a reservation for 2019 is a no-brainer. After checking in and picking up our con badges, we left the hotel to test out my new camera by taking night shots outside. Crossing the streets wasn’t always safe. Fun fact: We almost witnessed a car slam into a public transit bus.

 

Friday started out with a decision to attend the “20 Years of Anime News Network” panel. I was running a few minutes late because I had some trouble finding the panel room. When I arrived almost all the seats were taken. The panel itself was short and hosted by Zac Bertschy and Mike Toole. They spent some time talking about how the anime industry has changed in the last 20 years, how bigger media companies have bought out the distributors (ie, Sony buying FUNimation, and AT&T buying Crunchyroll). They also mentioned how streaming and the constant flood of anime series have changed the nature of consumption versus 20 years ago. Basically, the phenomenon of a show being hot for a season then fading quickly as fans quickly focus on the next popular show. This unlike the slower days of past decades where shows had more staying power because fans had to download a fansub, wait for its broadcast on TV, or buy DVDs containing only four to five episodes each.

Zac also noted that with anime being bigger than ever there are numerous opportunities to freelance at publications like Anime News Network, Kotaku, Vice, and The Verge. All you need is the ability to write, to have an interesting perspective, meet deadlines, and work easily with others to be seriously considered. He and Mike then talked about how popular shows did for them traffic-wise on the site, and how the Preview Guide morphed into Daily Streaming reviews. They closed out the panel with Q&A from the audience. I hung back for a few minutes to greet Zac and shake his hand.

 

After returning to my hotel room for breakfast and a nap, I went to attend the Aniplex of America panel. As I got ready to line up, Otakon staff told me the panel was full. Dumbfounded at not being able to get into an industry panel, I went to the gaming room. They had all of the latest games, including Dragon Ball FighterZ and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle on arcade machines. I don’t play fighting games seriously, so I passed on trying them out. I noted how empty the room was as I walked around. Friday is definitely the best day visit the gaming room at Otakon because the lines are relatively short, and there is plenty of space at the handheld charging stations and card gaming tables.

The next major stop was the Sunrise industry panel. Fearing getting locked out, I showed up a half hour early to lineup. The early arrival wasn’t needed because the previous Aniplex panel had cleared out and I was able to grab a decent seat. The Sunrise panel was quite enjoyable and featured Kanetake Ebikawa as a special guest. (He is a mechanical designer responsible for mech designs in newer Gundam series.) I’ll go over the details in a special write-up of that panel in an upcoming article. After the Sunrise panel, I called it a night.

 

The first panel of the day on Saturday was Aniplex’s “Persona 5 the Animation Steals Otakon!” However, getting to the panel room was a challenge because attendance was noticeably heavier. The line to get into the convention center wrapped around the building, but thankfully through bag-check was relatively quick. To avoid a repeat not being able to attend the panel, I arrived an hour early and got a good spot in line. The first half of the panel consisted of watching Persona 5 the Animation –The Day Breakers-. After the episode ended there were web poll results for the most popular scene from P5 the Animation, the favorite male characters, and the favorite female characters. The second half was trailers for Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight and Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight. The sound was low because the panelist was having trouble with the sound system. The panel ended with a raffle that gave away various prizes. As a surprise (even to the panelist herself), Max Mittelman the English voice actor of Ryuji, stopped by to help with the raffle.

Later I spent time in the Artist Alley and Dealer’s room. Even on a heavy attendance day there was plenty of room in both locations. The dealer’s room even had a large section dedicated to autographs, and another for food vendors and plenty of tables and chairs to rest. Later, I got in line early for the FUNimation panel, though doing so wasn’t needed because people were being let in early. I discuss the panel in detail in its own write-up.

 

After the FUNimation panel, I returned to the hotel room for dinner before heading out to the “Anime’s Craziest Deaths” panel. I arrived an hour early to line up, but the con staff notified me that the panel was already full. While getting ready to leave I noticed one of the Anime World Order hosts, Daryl Surat. I couldn’t get into the panel so I figured I could at least say “hello” before leaving. He was extremely friendly, but was also annoyed that fans couldn’t get into the panel because there wouldn’t be a room clear from the previous panel. He suggested coming to AWO’s “Outsourced: The Japanese Animation of ‘Western’ Cartoons” panel the following afternoon, and another panel his friend was hosting. Not quite ready to leave yet, I decided to return the gaming room. I didn’t play much, but this year Otakon had Super Table-Flip, it was a fun way to kill time before leaving the convention center.

Sundays are never much fun because much of the morning is spent hauling luggage to the car and checking out. This went double for us this year because of how far the public garage was from the hotel. It took two trips to get everything to the car. Even with the long trip we managed to beat the noon checkout line.

I made a snap decision to end Otakon by heeding Daryl’s recommendation and attending AWO’s “Outsourced” panel instead of going to the dealer’s room or photoshoots. The trade-off was fewer pictures overall of cosplayers, but getting to see more than just industry panels. AWO’s panel was excellent. Between the clips of old American cartoons that were actually animated by the Japanese and getting to see the hosts of one of my favorite podcasts live, it was a fun experience. I skipped the closing ceremonies in favor of hitting the road early.

 

Otakon’s overall attendance grew by about 5000 for 2018 putting total attendance at 29,293 people. (The total number of attendees for last year was 24,894.) 2018’s number slightly surpasses 2016’s 29,113, which was Otakon’s last year in Baltimore. I suspect the con will grow even larger next year. There is still plenty of room to grow and I’m looking forward to many more years in Washington D.C.

 

Pictures can be found on my Google Album.

 

Some final thoughts:

• As I said at the start of this article, my fears about the rally were overblown. Convention and city security were tight, and events from that venue never came close to the convention center.
• I’m slightly disappointed that I couldn’t get into two panels and the rest of the panels were a bit too early in the morning for me. That said, I finally got to meet/and or see some veterans in the anime news and podcast industry.
• I’m not completely happy with some of my pictures. I switched to a newer camera and brand (a Canon versus my old Kodak). I learned to use the camera as I took pictures at Otakon, figuring out everything on the fly. Hopefully next year will be an improvement.