I would like to start by saying thank you so much to the Otakon staff and volunteers who spent countless hours trying their best to ensure that the attendees and guests of the convention were able to have an amazing convention experience. Were things 100% perfect? No. But at a convention of this size (over 30,000 members), I’m surprised that this event went on as smoothly as it did. ONWARD!
I had the fantastic opportunity to once again attend Otakon as a member of the press. This East Coast anime convention entered its 21st year in bringing together thousands of people to celebrate Japanese culture, animation, music and art in Baltimore at the Baltimore Convention Center.
At Otakon, there are dozens of panels and workshops to choose from, a Maid Cafe, AMV (Anime Music Videos) and Cosplay contests, photo shoots for different fandoms, professional photographers, autograph and Q&A sessions with celebrities such as Dante Basco (Voice of Prince Zuko and General Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra) and Wendi Lee (Voice of Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop), as well as a gigantic Dealer’s Room, Artist’s Alley and Game Room.
The Dealer’s Room houses hundreds of booths with their shopkeepers ready and eager to please. Trust me, you want to be extremely careful in there or you’ll wind up broke on the first day clutching twenty plushies, a body pillow, 80 DVDs of Hentai and a real sword (totally joking about the Hentai part). But seriously, this place is heaven for collectors and stuffed animal enthusiasts, so if you’re not willing to part with a lot of cash, it’s best to avoid staying in there for too long. I was able to get some cool free stuff, so that’s a pretty good reason for visiting it. Plus, you can just window shop and check out some cool guests that set up shop there.
The Artist’s Alley is amazing with its cleverly named area that houses hundreds of artists with outstanding talent. The room has an auction as well as a man who impressively created a huge mural of this year’s Otakon theme (which was ‘Space’). The artists have tiny booths that have been decorated with various prints, posters, handmade plushies and jewelry, hand-knit mittens, key chains and so much more. A lot of the art depicts characters from hundreds of television shows, movies, anime and original characters. I bought some really awesome prints here, so remember that at any convention, the Artist’s Alley is a must. The Game room holds a ton of old arcade games as well as modern day playing platforms. You can also come here to play different card games. The panels I attended were all 18+ which meant they were either violent or sexual. I will leave it at that, and if you are at least 18 years old, go to the panels. Do it. They are hilarious.
I was able to interview some guests at this year’s Otakon, including members of USA Sumo, Dante Basco (screams internally) and LittleKuriboh, the creator of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged Series.
I talked to professional sumo wrestlers Yamamotoyama and Kelly Gneiting. I learned that KG was able to find himself a place in the world of sumo after his run in wrestling did not go exactly as he planned. Yamamotoyama, I learned, is the heaviest recorded Japanese man in the country’s history. He also is known for climbing through the ranks of sumo incredibly fast. USA Sumo has been in the game for over ten years and they have been a part of films such as Ocean’s Thirteen and Memoirs of a Geisha. I highly recommend checking out this awesome company!
And to satisfy the dreams of my childhood, I was able to interview Dante Basco, a.k.a. Rufio a.k.a. Prince Zuko a.k.a. Jake Long, in a group interview on Saturday. I was included briefly in his Vlog, so check that out!
I highly recommend checking out this video from Washington Mnemonic. My question and his answer start at 1:50.
Here’s a part of my interview with Dante Basco —
Me: As San Diego Comic-Con International, New York Comic Con, Otakon and other conventions are progressively getting larger and more popular, how do you think voice actors and actresses and the attendees themselves can raise awareness about the harassment that’s been occurring and what we can do to prevent it?
DB: Teaching each other…is going to really open the world to kind of more understanding and compassion amongst each other.
A friend of mine alerted me that LittleKuriboh had a booth in the Dealer’s Room, so my friend Riley and I were able to snag a quick interview with him (I asked him the same question I asked Dante Basco since this is an extremely important subject).
Me: As San Diego Comic-Con International, New York Comic Con, Otakon and other conventions are progressively getting larger and more popular, how do you think voice actors and actresses and the attendees themselves can do to raise awareness about the harassment that’s been occurring and what we can do to prevent it?
LittleKuriboh: I think people need to talk about. There is a certain pressure for some to “get over it,” but we need to take it seriously. We need to be aware of what is happening. I am a believer of “treat people how you want to be treated.”
Riley: How did you first get the idea for what you do?
LittleKuriboh: From a young age, I was into doing voices. Eccentric personalities, people get a kick out of it. At first, I thought of Yu-Gi-Oh! as a kind of great merchandising tool, but there is a great mystery to the series. I wanted to combine my own voices while making Yu-Gi-Oh! palatable.
Me: What was your favorite Cosplay here at Otakon?
LittleKuriboh:
*From LittleKuriboh’s Twitter
The convention center was huge and the people were loud, crazy and a lot of fun. Lines were long, but not unbearable (at least not to me). The cosplays were fantastic. Take a look at some of them below. The sheer amount of craftsmanship and creativity people put behind their cosplays is absolutely stunning.
I want to thank everyone involved with making Otakon a reality this year once again, as well as all the amazing people I got to interview and take pictures of! I’ll see you next year, Otakon!
*Photo credit to John Jiao Photography
*Photo credit to Keo Arts
*Photo credit to Pablo Redden-Gonzalez