 | "Otakon 2006 (for real this time)" by Konstantin
(2006-08-15) |
Now that the post-flood madness is more or less over at the office (you never gain a true appreciation for the extent of an organization's computing resources until you've had to personally haul them all four floors up), I can finally get back to my con report for Otakon 2006. Like I mentioned last week, the con was great. In nearly a decade of con going I've yet to see anything that matches the fun of Otakon, and this year's definitely did not disappoint.
Started out on Friday by doing a full sweep of the Dealers' Room, getting the loot on the left. I do all of my DVD buying online (it's hard to beat Rightstuf when they're having a sale), so I primarily focused on games and merchandise. No luck in tracking down any decent KOS-MOS or Rin figurines, but if AAA Anime Distribution's display cases are anything to go by, there are some very nice ones due to hit the US in the next few months. I did finally manage to get my hands on a copy of Phantasmagoria of Flower View, though, so that's at least one thing off my must buy list. Also stopped by Hirameki's booth and bought a copy of Ever 17. Heard a lot of good things about the game online, and was pleased to see that Hirameki has come to its senses and abandoned the DVD movie based game localization format, doing a proper PC port for this one. In fact they seemed pretty desperate to get rid of their old DVD stock, netting me free copies of Phantom of Inferno and Dragonia with my purchase. Not bad for just $35. Hopefully their latest batch sells well enough to keep them afloat (and hire a proofreader).
The AMV contest had a pretty good crop this year as well. Few groaners, no Linkin Park, someone even got a KOTOKO song in. My personal favorites were Shattered Dreams (that video was good enough to make me consider giving Bleach another try, which is saying something, and the song is still stuck in my head) and What Makes a Man (haven't laughed this hard since AMV Hell 3).
Saturday was mostly panels. Kawasumi Ayako's was neat both for the zOMG Saber! factor and for the first-hand information about the Japanese voice acting process. Hearing her yell a line as Lafiel was an extra treat. Too bad so many of the questions from the audience were a bit on the inane side and a lot of the people didn't seem to grasp the concept of basic etiquette, but that's the start of a completely separate rant. Yoshiki's panel was right after hers and in the same room, which was convenient enough. Seeing the man himself from just a few rows back was worth the price of admission and the 5-hour drive in and of itself. Too bad I realized only on the night before leaving for the con that I had loaned out my copy of Blue Blood and had nothing worth autographing, since the Dealers' Room was, predictably, swept clean of any X Japan merchandise by the time I arrived. Information-wise, it looks like the first Violet UK album is still due out Real Soon Now™ and there's a good chance that Yoshiki and Gackt may be teaming up on a future project (such an occurrence will almost certainly lead to cataclysmic consequences, with fangirls exploding around the world).
Also hit up the eroge and ren'ai gaming panels. It looks like the really big top-of-the-food-chain titles like Air and Fate/Stay Night are stuck in a catch-22 situation licensing-wise, since no one would license them because the US market is too small to make the licensing fees worth the investment, and the market won't grow until some A-grade titles get translated. It looks like the hope now lies with fan translators (and it does look like a number of the big projects are approaching completion), the occasional relatively low-hype gem such as Hirameki's Ever 17, and locally made titles. On that last front there is some good news, with the recent release of the free Blade Engine as well as the developments of the first professionally made American ren'ai game by Okashi Studios. Hopefully between all those something will spark a wider interest in the genre.
The crowning event for the day (and the whole con, really) for me, though, was the 4chan panel. It's amazing that some shared injokes and catchphrases, along with a general sense of gleeful obnoxiousness can create as strong a sense of camaraderie as 4chan does. Even waiting in line for the panel was fun, with people recreating /b/ though Pictochat on their DSes and passing along sheets and sheets worth of someone's rendition of Longcat. The panel itself was like a club meeting, a Party rally, and a religious revival (the latter effect aided by the appearance of Raptor Jesus and a someone in a reverend's costume preaching up a fire and brimstone sermon against furries) all rolled into one. There's something truly liberating about acting stupid in a large group of mostly smart people who are all in on the joke.
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