Geek Babble– Otakon 2022, aka Otakon is BACK

It’s been a while since I’ve written about Otakon in any major way. This column is more journal than con report. Keep your eyes peeled for a detailed con report from Alex in the coming weeks or months. His reports tend to be way more formal.

All of my pictures of varying quality can be found in my photo gallery.

 

Thursday:

The drive into Washington, DC was somewhat fraught. Our GPS insisted that we take a detour through downtown Baltimore, MD instead of remaining on I-95. It was an interesting bit of nostalgia as we drove by the hotels we used to stay at for Otakon. After finally driving past the Baltimore Convention Center itself (nothing was happening for the weekend) we made it back to I-95. Ignoring alternative route suggestions helped shave off some of the time we lost on our detour.

When we finally arrived at our hotel we rested for a while and then prepared to eat at the Founding Farmers restaurant for dinner. This year my husband, Ty and I would be sharing the room with Steve, a friend who’s been joining us at Otakon since 2018 and Alex. As I mentioned in last week’s Quarantine Control, we also had two local friends joining us. They had their own hotel rooms, as six to a room is a bit much. After the trip to the Founding Farmers, it was time to pick up our badges for Otakon.

We made it back to the Walter E. Convention Center with a half-hour to spare before badge pickup closed. However, in our first warning of how busy Otakon would be for the weekend, we were turned away. A rush of people had come to pick up their badges and the staff didn’t want to process anyone else. All we could do was pick up our special wristband showing we had our COVID vaccinations or a negative PRC test. The wristbands themselves were made out a waxy paper fitting for a one day carnival rather than a three-day convention. Replacement bands were easy enough to get at the con during badge check, fortunately.

It wouldn’t be a convention in a big city if at least one local agitator didn’t show up. This particular man had a megaphone and argued with anyone who gave him the time of day. He would go on to show up in front of the convention center every day of Otakon at 5PM sharp.

 

Friday:

Thanks to the badge pickup fiasco, we had to get an early start in line. This was the first time I picked up a badge on a Friday at Otakon since 2006. Getting the badge took a half an hour, but thankfully the line moved quickly. It was also much shorter than the line to actually register on-site. The only panel that caught my interest for the day didn’t start until midnight. It seemed like a great time to find food and energy drinks to fight off the previous night’s lack of sleep.

Getting back into the convention center proved to be an entirely separate adventure compared to badge pickup. Various lines snaked around the building as people waited to get inside. Badge holders were funneled into a different entrance at the connecting hotel. It took roughly a half hour to move through this line, as Otakon and hotel staff only let handfuls of people through security. Once inside, Otakon was the busiest I had seen it since the convention left Baltimore. My time was split between fidgeting with my digital camera, trying to buy items that caught my eye, and taking pictures of interesting cosplayers.

Amazingly, there was another line to get into the artist alley. After a brief trip to the hotel room to nap, I returned to the convention center to check out a few photo shoots. In previous years I didn’t bother much with photo shoots, so I was surprised to find they were actually taking place in the convention center hotel. The location itself was perfect as the rooms were spacious enough to handle three different shoots at once without crowding being a problem. Despite Otakon experiencing an explosion in attendance, I’m thankful everything was well-laid out. I never had a problem once I got to where I wanted to go in terms of panels and photo shoots. Artist alley and the dealer’s room were different types of headaches, but that’s always been the case at larger conventions.

 

Once I was done with the photo shoots, it was time to think about dinner and the remainder of the night before my one panel. The night would actually include one additional trip to artist alley and playing video games back at our room. If you’re the type of person who likes to console game in your room at conventions, I’d suggest investing in a Gaems, or a similar style portable gaming monitor. You never know when a hotel will make it difficult to use their TV to game on, and lugging around an actual TV is a pain.

Midnight rolled around and it was time for my Shin Megami Tensei franchise fan panel. Alex actually had a different panel to attend at the same time, so he accompanied Ty and me to the panel area. The SMT fan panel was run by Silentsword, who was cosplaying as Dahn from Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon. The panel itself was both well-run and casual as the audience was allowed to comment and ask questions whenever they liked. Everyone was polite and respectful. Silentsword covered the majority of franchises from Persona to the more obscure series such as DemiKids. The overall theme of the presentation centered around how most players choose neutral alignments, why the freedom to choose is a core of the many games, and other JRPGs similar to the SMT franchise. The panel also included gameplay from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. Sadly, Catherine wasn’t mentioned at all, and someone else had to bring up Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. The panel was a lot of fun.

 

Saturday:

Since I had my con badge, there was no reason for me to wake up before 9 that morning. Steve and Alex left for the convention early. Ty and I met up with our other friends to discuss brunch before going to the convention center. As we made our plans Alex informed via text us of the very long wait times in line. Friday was bad, but Saturday was much worse. Alex and Steve ultimately stood in line for nearly 75 minutes. Realizing that I would not make my first fan panel of the day (a Cowboy Bebop discussion), we decided to take an extra long brunch. By the time we reached the convention center in the afternoon, the wait to get inside was a much more reasonable 10 to 20 minutes. I decided to skip the photo shoots and wandered the game room.

In past years the game room was huge, but much of the space was empty. This year, it had been filled out nicely, including a separate place for food in the back. The number of games available to play was incredible. Fighting games on consoles was the most common type of game, but board games and card games had an increased presence. There were plenty of tables filled with people playing Yugioh, Pokémon, and Magic the Gathering. On the arcade games side, I was pleased to see that Super Table-Flip had finally made it to Otakon. The novelty of the game wears off fast, but a single round is fun. I played a round of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax on arcade machine and was quickly reminded why I don’t play with arcade sticks, in addition to be severely out of practice with the game. One could spend their entire convention in the gaming room.

 

We eventually made it to the dealer’s room and the crowds were insanely large. I did find three of the only things I truly wanted at the convention. A copy of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orhapns on Blu-ray, a zipper pull for my backpack, and a refill of my Wild Bill’s metal mug. On a side note, if you pay $40 to $60 for a mug at convention, that should include free refills for the ENTIRE convention. I did get my free refill, but only because it was close to the dealer’s room closing for the day.

I managed to snap pictures here and there, but the crowds were so tiresome that I was relieved when we returned to our friends’ hotel room. We spent the majority of the night playing video games, watching TV, and playing Yugioh. It wasn’t much different from a weekend at home, but it was relaxing.

I eventually left to attend a Discotek industry panel. Fortunately, the huge Saturday crowds had dissipated after sunset. While waiting for the panel to start, I browsed Twitter and noticed one my online anime friends was in the same room. I knew the one and only David Majors was attending Otakon, but the convention was so crowded that I figured a meetup would be too difficult. Before the panel started, we managed to greet each other. It was definitely one of the highlights of my night.

 

Discotek panels are always high energy affairs and this one was no different. I recognized Justin Sevakis and Mike Toole from their work at Anime News Network among the panelists. That said, I don’t watch a ton of older anime, so I wasn’t sure how personally excited I would be about the announcements. Turns out there was plenty to like, especially as someone who still collects physical media.

I’m not going to list every release, as this isn’t a panel write up. Instead here’s what caught my eye and why:

To Be Hero and To Be Heroine— I watched the first few episodes of this show when it originally aired in 2016. While the premise of a guy getting super powers because he was the only person taking a dump on the toilet at one particular time was amusing, I wasn’t particularly invested in this show. As for the sequel, I didn’t even know a sequel had been made. I also can’t believe this one was popular enough to receive a Blu-ray release. I might take another look at the series via streaming.

Tales of Symphonia The Animation— I started Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube and found it to be fun. I may actually keep an eye for this release because the story did seem interesting enough to try out. It will depend on the price of the series.

Gunbuster— Looks like an old show I might enjoy. The audience reception and the trailer itself intrigued me. I also like how Discotek went out of their way with the dubbing studio, Sound Cadence to not only create a new dub, but also recreate the charm of some of the better dubs from the 90s. I may buy this one on blind faith or check out the series online before I make any commitments.

Project A-Ko— This is another series I’ve been meaning to try out. I might search for it online. I’m not sure I actually want to add it to my physical collection. Though if Discotek releases are anything to go by (their remaster of Wicked City was amazing), this will be one of the best looking versions of Project A-Ko.

Sherlock Hound– When this series showed up on Crunchyroll a few years back, I absolutely loved the character designs. The anime itself was kind of a bore, at least the first few episodes I watched. I do think the series might deserve a revisit from me, keeping in mind that Sherlock Holmes stories tend to be a slow burn. Watching Moriarty the Patriot might have rekindled by interest in Sherlock Hound. Though I’m still not sure if I’ll be picking this one up on Blu-ray.

The Princess and the Pilot— This is actually a license rescue and it caught my eye when it was finally released in North America in 2013, two years after the Japanese release. I actually wrote about this anime movie in a 2013 Treasure Hunter column. NIS America quietly got out of the North America anime localization and distribution game years ago. So it’s nice to see Discotek offering some of their titles. If anything, this movie is definitely on my buy list.

Symphogear XV— I’ve seen several offerings of Symphogear from Discotek. This is another anime I’ve heard about, but never watched. I don’t understand the appeal. But this show does have appeal, as the fifth season is about to be released on Blu-ray. Upon looking up a series synopsis, singing and fighting sure sounds like an interesting combination. Thus the title of the series, I guess?

Urusei Yatsura— This was definitely Discotek’s “One more thing” announcement. As a fan of Rumiko Takahashi’s works, I figured I needed to check out one of her earliest works some day. Especially after I finished Inuyasha and saw a good chunk of Rin-ne, but never finished Ranma 1/2. At 195 episodes, collecting this series will be quite the task. Fortunately, Blu-ray collecting is a lot easier than DVD or even VHS. Unfortunately, the dub and special music collections won’t be available in this release. Either way, I’m quite excited to grab this strange comedy for my personal collection.

The panel ended a few minutes over its allotted time. After returning to the hotel I chatted with an older man who had been attending Otakon for over 20 years. We remarked how crowded it was while we rode the elevator. An Otakon staffer overheard us and confirmed our suspicions with solid numbers. Over 31,000 had pre-registered for 2022. Over 40,000 people showed up for the convention. That was a massive jump over the 27,000 that Otakon saw last year. Otakon’s 34,000 attendee record from Baltimore had also been broken.

 

Sunday:

I assisted Steve and Alex (pictured respectively above) on a photo shoot since I had already packed my bags. They wanted me to take a few pictures of them in fursuit around the hotel and parts of DC. I left the creative poses up to them, as they were the ones suited up. I also found myself helping older people who wanted to take pictures with them. Other than trying to get pictures around the Chinatown gate in DC traffic, the experience was a lot of fun. More so than the actual photo shoots at Otakon, no doubt because I didn’t have to fight with others for a good spot to take pictures. The entire adventure lasted about an hour because Steve and Alex didn’t want to overheat in their suits.

That was the only activity I participated in for the day. I didn’t bother to go back to the convention center, as I had everything I wanted. With that, Otakon came to an end as we all headed home.

Given the large numbers of attendees this year, Otakon is definitely back in full-swing. I’m trusting that the convention staff will be better prepared for the larger crowds next year. Otakon 2023 will take place from July 28-30 and hotel registration has already opened. It will be interesting to see what pandemic protocols will be in place. Either way, I’m hoping to be better prepared for the bigger the crowds, which includes getting a badge mailed to me ahead of time.