Harsh and Fearsome Battle At Otakon 2008
Otakon 2008 was the best Otakon ever and the worst Otakon ever. It was the best in that I finally managed to pull off the magical balancing act of hanging out with all of my friends from various different communities for equal amounts of time, and it was the worst in that the con programming was, in a word, terrible. But who cares about all that– JAM Project was there!
But, yes, aside from JAM Project, the con’s programming was some of the worst I’ve ever seen. Much like last year, they had stupid people on panel duty, so instead of getting cool and funny panels on Nico Nico Douga, we got “How To Wear 8-Inch Heels” or “Otaku Bellydancing 101.” It’s not like I’m one for panels anyway, but the lack of good panels cut down on the urge to walk into random panel rooms late at night, as I sometimes do. The guests weren’t anything to write home about either, with none of them being female seiyuu, and almost all of them being lame fangirl bait. Or some dumb no-name models.
JAM Project saved the day with the concert, though, and it was quite awesome. I wish they would have brought their instruments along, and I also wish that the person working the sound knew a thing about sound design, but whatever– IT WAS MOTHERFUCKING JAM PROJECT.
The rest of the con (read: The Dealers Room) was pretty good, with my buddies at Hen Da Ne being all too kind to me all of the time, and the rest of of the Otaku-friendly booths offering up some hot stuff (usually too hot for my budget, sadly.) I came out of there completely broke come Saturday.
Socially, I had a blast. Like I mentioned earlier, this was the first time that I really managed to hang out with just about everyone I knew for mostly equal amounts of time. I hung out with internet people slightly more than my IRL friends, but only because I see my IRL friends a lot and my internet friends… not a lot. And really, that’s what made the con great. I even got to meet Daryl Surat!
Loot
- Five Haruhi doujins
- Three Haruhi x Lucky Star crossover doujins (not porn)
- Two Cardcaptor Sakura doujins
- Two Futago-Hime doujins
- One Aoi Nishimata and Hiro Suzuhira doujin + clear file
- One Code Geass doujin
- One Genshiken doujin
- One Gurren Lagann doujin (by Koshi Rikudou)
- One Hayate no Gotoku doujin
- One Kamichu doujin
- One Lucky Star doujin (not porn)
- One Nadesico doujin
- One Tsumuyomi doujin (basically not porn)
- One Zero no Tsukaima doujin
- Shuffle DVD
- Shuffle bedsheet
- Choco Figure (see top image w)
Autographs
JAM Project signed pages of my sketchbook, and Masami Okui signed an old CD jacket of hers.
Pictures
Karaoke Videos
Podcasts
Comic
It’s always strange when someone who isn’t me uploads pictures of me to the internet.
It’s funny how ever picture of me always ends up terribly. Besides that, it was awesome meeting you and continue with the great comics.
Also, nice loot. :P
Can’t believe there’s a big breasted Ohno doujin among all that loot. And Omo singing is sublime.
LOL nice photos. Man, I really must have tunnel vision or something as I honestly didn’t notice 90% of the cosplayers you took photos of. And I totally forgot about the random photo you got of me during Saturday’s night otacafe.
Oh yea, thanks for posting the video of Omo’s singing of What ’bout My Star. It was as awesome as I imagined it XD
Nice haul. Overall I think it was a good con, if not for JAM Project alone. That seriously made the whole trip worth it. I wish I could have seen some of that karaoke on Sunday, but my group decided to head out early. Again, it was nice to meet you, keep it up.
OMG I think I died watching that video of myself.
Good thing you didn’t have the second part on video! LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Also props for the other Karaoke videos that I missed out while hawking the Bandai panel. I enjoyed those
T.T
I want those JAM Project signatures/autographs…
I should probably head to Otakon next year. Living in the Midwest is odd, since all the good cons spread either east or west, the only decent con being Anime Central in Chicago. Next year I hope to head to one of the bigger cons, like Anime Expo or Otakon.
“OMG I think I died watching that video of myself.”
omo was feeling it so hard there. Maybe I should have done that duet with him. :P