Otakon Day 01: Sign kudasai!

Preparing for Otakon was like going into a battlefield. A bottle of water, a 6 inch Subway sandwich, poker cards, a set of stationeries and more stuffed inside a backpack I carried around for hours on end. The number of comrades (or you can say, fellow like-minders) were already flocking around the vicinity of the halls. It was as though some big shot concert was taking place. I walked along the entrances (yes, there were at least five of them), and met up with Vickson. Together, we figured out way to the dealer’s room to buy exclusive Otakon posters.

Adachi-Kawakami autograph session

Those posters were of Otakon mascots cosplaying Sword Art Online characters, designed by Shingo Adachi. Today was meant to be a signature hunting day, and so we were bringing the posters to Adachi & Kawakami (SAO character designers) to get them signed (duh). Anyhow, the line wasn’t as bad as the one for Fushimi and Kanbe (OreImo’s author and director) later in the evening.  DanK was off to the world premiere of OreImo’s final episodes. We, on the other hand, headed back to the dealer’s room for more shopping.

SAO Nerve Gear @ Aniplex booth

I didn’t buy anything initially, but rather just walking around for some freebies. Crunchyroll gave me a Tshirt, lanyard, wristband, and a Persona 4 file (raffle prize). I won another shirt and sticker from Daisuki.net. Funimation gave out a lot of free posters and Aniplex did free postcards. By the time I realized it, my bag was about to explode from the sheer quantity of those merchandise. 

Sugar Bunny Shop mitsuketa!

I realized that at Otakon, you spend more time lining up. Probably explains why their event schedule stretched past midnight with the exception of Sunday. Events in Msia ends right around 6 to 7 pm at the most. Besides, we don’t that this huge a crowd. Speaking about the crowd, the age range her is much broader. There were certainly more adult cosplayers, you know the much older ones. A couple told me that they were married for thirty five years now. So you can pretty much imagine how old they are.

Omochi and DanK (aka Hentai Gentleman)

As the hunger pang kicked in, we went over to Noodles and Company for dinner. I was introduced to AnQi whom I nicknamed Omochi (cos I couldn’t hear her name properly at first), and she was a first time cosplayer. She did a good job with her costume and props I must say, and I still couldn’t believe that she’s a Psychology major. Anyway, us four ended up exploring the Video Game section. Much like a mix arcade, you get a section of DDR, Taiko drums, Play Station, and card games too. We went home after that, all drenched in sweat and happiness.

Yeah...
Vonnie S.