Wednesday, July 13, 2016

T5W#48-Top 5 Otakon 2011 Moments


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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