Otakon 2010 was my first convention ever. Thought it’s been a long time, I cant really
think of a negative thing about it. Cant
really say it set a high bar but it was a life changer. Now the setting of the bar, that came a year
later. Otakon 2011 still stands as my
favorite Otakon ever (nearly topped by 2013 and 2015 but we’ll get there). It felt like the culmination of so many
things: the friends, the guests, the events…so yeah choosing 5 favorite moments
is always going to be incredibly tough when it comes to this year. This was my Godfather Part II, my Empire
Strikes Back, my Dark Knight, a sequel that far surpassed the original
experience.
#5-KON/Eyeshine
Acoustic Concert
It was really hard to choose which one I liked more
between these two concerts. Sure K-ON
was more Jpop/JRock craziness and Eyeshine was more mellow and relaxed, but
both were just really damn good. The
K-ON concert found me hanging out with two girls who gave me the background
info on the series and also displayed awesome singing and voice acting talents
of their own. It may have only been for
a short time, but hanging out with those two was a highlight of the entire
weekend. As for Eyeshine, when you
promise JYB and his band that you will be there to see them play, you get your
ass in line ASAP. Their acoustic concert
was more meditative than their all out rock fest on Thursday. However, they still had plenty of energy to
spare as they jammed out their favorite tracks and even an unreleased one. Topping it all off was JYB and co.’s ability
to do improve music as Johnny churned out three on the spot tunes focusing on
his Power Ranger days, the origins of Ichigo Kurosaki and the Ballad of
Eyeshine, their origin story. A well put
together rock band and five very attractive women playing a rock band, tell me
if you can choose which one is superior to the other?
#4-Otakon 2011
Dance Off
It started small but grew larger and larger…TWICE. From out of nowhere, a small group of Otaku
started a dance off in the fountain area of the Convention Center (where all of
the group photos were taking place). As
the circle that was their arena grew larger, more and more people joined in to
show off their moves. From street smart
hipsters to cosplaying fanboys to total hotties, there were no exceptions to
entering the ring. It was a nice event
to see on Saturday and it was a perfect send off for the convention as a whole
on Sunday. “Here at Otakon the party
never stops,” the leader of the Dance Pack declared. No truer words have ever been spoken.
#3-KON Girls
K-ON was the big series du anee at Otakon 2011. To help promote it, the four main voice
actresses of the English Dub (Cristina Vee, Cassandra Lee, Stephanie Shae and
Shelby Lindley) participated in several autograph signings and mini concerts
such as the one described above. I had
the rare opportunity to see all four girls, but I got to have brief
conversations with Cristina, Stephanie and Cassandra. I had met Cristina at Otakon 2010 while she
was promoting Haruhi Suzumiya and was excited to see her again (still so very
nice and so very pretty). Cassandra was
my friends first voice actress encounter and she was awesome taking some time
to answer some of his questions about the voice acting field as well as share
some West Coast tales with us. Stephanie
was nice enough to sign a Gundam Unicorn poster for me as well as my DVD copy
of Bleach the Movie. Sadly, I didn’t get
to meet Shelby until the final day and I didn’t get to have a conversation with
her. What I did get on the final day of
the convention was a copy of K-ON Vol.1 signed by all four girls and a photo
with them. Those who say girls can’t
love Anime are pure idiots if they haven’t seen what these girls look like.
#2-Meeting
Eyeshine/Johnny Yong Bosch
The A lister of Voice Acting and former Power Ranger
Johnny Yong Bosch was the highlighted and most sought out star of the
convention this year. Johnny had also
brought his band, Eyeshine, along for the experience and what an experience it
was. My friend and I got to talk with
them in person for a few minutes while wandering the Dealer’s Room. We had met Johnny before hand, but because of
the length of his autograph line and the strictness of his signing session, we
could get much signed by him. But once
he came over to his band’s table shortly afterward, he was happy to sign
artwork for my friend and an album for myself.
I have never really met a lot of bands that have made it big. But I’m sure most of them are not as
welcoming or funny as this bunch: Johnny and Maurice with their hilarious
banter, Ji-Ho with his quiet Zen Master disposition, and Crystal, who may look
tough and serious on stage, but is one of the biggest sweethearts I have ever
met. My one hope is that they return to
Baltimore to play again one day. In
think the Indy Rock scene here would appreciate their sound, pleasantness and
general bad assery.
#1-Perfect Moment
There was a brief instance during the Eyeshine acoustic
concert where something very strange happened.
During their performance of their unreleased track “Satellite”, I
started to tear up, and not in the sad kind of way. For some reason, listening to that song and
thinking about all that had gone on during the last three days, culminated in
one instant. It was arguably the
happiest I had ever felt. Like work and
family issues or even the future didn’t matter.
I was exactly where I wanted to be and never wanted to leave: at an
Anime convention with a friend, surrounded by people whose love for the genre
was equal to, if not greater than, my own, and listening to a bonified great
band. It was a perfect moment and I
wanted to hold onto it as long as I possibly could. Only an Anime convention could bring such a
sob story out of me.
And that was 2011.
Would 2012 hold the same wonders?
The journey reaches it’s half way mark next week.
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