Final day of Otakon 2009 was all about the concerts, plain and simple.

Let me say up front I knew and still know jack about Becca and Naomi Tamura but they do put on one heck of a concert if anything else! Once again I started my day getting up with not enough sleep but trucked my tiring self to the two hour wait on Becca’s line for her concert, since right after would also be Naomi’s. Failed attempts at blogging, hearing the practice run by both artists, and trying to stay awake kept me going until they started to let people in around noon.

On Becca’s concert, overall I thought it was good. It was nice actually hearing songs that were completely in english and didn’t have my brain trying to translate with my crappy knowledge of Japanese. It did feel a bit weird not being motivated to cheer on the artist as the previous two concerts, we were all up and in arms doing the wotagei thing.

After Becca’s concert, I was a bit surprised how empty the hall became since it seems a good 1/3 of the audience was only there for her. I guess with the younger generation, it’s easier for them to like artists that actually speak english versus trying to understand the strange language that is moonspeak. Not that I complained since it helped me get better seating (I was already in the second row but got a better view of center stage) although I did feel bad Naomi Tamura wasn’t getting the crowd I thought she should have.

On Naomi’s concert, very good music and she had the audience as pumped as you could expect on a Sunday. Honestly the bigger surprise was seeing Nana Mizuki’s band Cherry Boy’s Kenny there playing guitar for Naomi! Jabel mentioned something to me prior but it didn’t click until I actually saw the man himself on stage. And whoa, seeing his skills live versus on Blu-ray or DVD sure is a world of difference and really helped make the concert 5x better than it already was. Also loved Naomi singing Jackson 5′s “I’ll Be There” (I think) in memory of the King of Pop, which was good once you get passed the englrish.

After her concert, I thought about going for the autographs but once again opted out (and once again was told I should have gone as both Becca and Naomi stayed to sign everyone’s stuff). Ended up meeting with Omo yet again to eat lunch with a few people at California Tortilla, which was alright. And before I forget, while we were waiting for people we saw two “epic-ish” events. One was my top post photo of the word “AWESOME” being taped(?) on the glass ceiling in the convention center with people stopping, pointing upwards to it and shouting “point” or “more” for like 10+ minutes straight. Second was a random group that was cheering and had a guy on bagpipes playing while leading the march; albeit he was good but it was just so totally random.

Convention weirdness leveled up aside, with concerts done and food eaten, it was finally time to say goodbye to all the cool and interesting folks I met at Otakon. Luckily it wasn’t a big fanfare although it’ll be cool to hang out with everyone again at next year’s Otakon (or this year’s NYAF for those in the area). Good times, good times.

Final remarks, thoughts, expenses, etc on my next post! I’m beat from pulling three (crappy) Otakon post in the span of three hours and need to pack for my trip to CT tomorrow as well as tidy up some random loose ends at home! Stayed tuned?

Surprisingly, got some good sleep for Day 2 of Otakon 2009 waking up at 9AM with little planned or to do… or at least so I thought. Thanks to my roommates and how the stars aligned, Day 2 became what I will be calling “Yamakan Stalking 101″ with Kanon Wakeshima and karaoking as side dishes ^^

So apparently Yamakan was having a special autograph session in the Dealers’ room between 12-1PM only for those that bought Kannagi volume 1 R1. Well, I bought it yesterday so with little else to do headed to the Dealers’ room to wait for the man himself for the 423th time that weekend. Luckily I became buddy buddy with the folks setting up the event as myself and the guys I was with were first in the line to get our gear signed. But prior to letting the DVD holders get in, apparently there were some cosplay photos taken with the professionals Aniplex/Bandai hired along with a random Zange that happen to be there (and was ironically the best Zange at the con). I only mention this since the cosplayer who was Tsugumi got Yamakan to sign her outfit which I thought was pretty hilarious at the time. On the mini-signing itself, it went pretty quick as I ended up going online three times; first time for Yamakan’s signature, second for Satoru Shimizu who was also there and I didn’t know was the producer until AFTER I got out of the line, and third to get a photo OP with the two of them ^^;; Crazy stuff and I hope I didn’t offend Satoru too much when I initially skipped him but they seem pretty cool about it so…

With Yamakan’s signature gotten on the Kannagi DVD, I headed to his actual autograph session that was a bit later after some quick eats at Saladworks. Chilled back with the usual folks I have been seeing on line like W-General while waiting for the session to start. Pretty little fanfare at the autograph session although Yamakan did start to hum/sing a bit of “Koi no Mikuru Densetsu” when he was signing Jabel’s Haruhi Vol 0 R2 disc and “God Knows” when signing my Haruhi Vol 6 R2, which I thought was cool.

My last signature for Otakon gotten, I ran to Kanon Wakeshima’s concert line which was packed with people! I believe her concert was the most packed out of the four as the main events hall where the concerts were held was literally full to the max! All I can say is thank god one of Jabel’s friend Lisa is totally into Kanon and camped out at her line for four hours to get us front row seats (second row right in front of the stage). Awesome work Lisa! Prior to Kanon starting, they had another group open up for her, a local band called Geist. They weren’t too bad although I initially got confused if the lead singer was a guy or girl (girl) due to her singing voice and looks. On Kanon’s actual concert, it was good although I was a bit surprised on her style of music since I was expecting something different based on what I heard before. I will admit her opening song and moves were good since the clock-like moments synced perfectly with the song’s beats.

After the concert, I know Jabel and Lisa went to the crazy line to get her autograph (a line, btw, that started even before she finished her last song!) but I didn’t want to try given how long it looked (later I was told I should have gone for it and that apparently, Kanon has porcelain skin). Instead I ran to stalk Yamakan more checking out his second Q&A session which ended up being better than his first due to stuff he said that should not be leaked on the internet ^^;;

Yamakan stalking finally completed, met up with what was becoming the usual con crew to get something to eat. Ended up going to Potbelly for some sandwiches, which totally rocked and will be going back to next year without a doubt! Stomachs full, we headed to Otacafe to chill and karaoke although the karaoke took awhile due to the usual lines and the two hour in-between session for “j rock groups” which consisted of Geist (the same one that opened for Kanon) and Reni. On the the crew I was hanging with’s karaoke abilities… well, the below two videos should say how EPIC it was:

Cool Joke’s “UNDO”

JAM Project’s “SKILL” (album version)

Minus karaoke epicness, there was also the usual meet-up of various anibloggers for the second time including folks like Os, super rats, Alex Leavitt, and Link to name a few. I want to say after the Otacafe, it was back to the bar again but I believe at this point we were all dead tired and headed back to our respective hotels to get ready for the last day of Otakon.

Overall, Day 2 was pretty relaxing with not too much going on and felt more or less just an opportunity to see and chill with folks I don’t normally see. Got Yamakan’s signature 2x, met more folks, saw Kanon Wakeshima live, and watched karaoke EPICNESS. Honestly, it was great way to spend the second day considering how beat I was from the previous day and really the only complaint I have was not trying for Kanon’s autograph so I could have saw the beauty up close!

I think when you get unfortunately woken up at 6AM after way too little sleep, you just know it’s going to be one of those days. If it was any other day, I probably would have just tried to crash and put off as much of whatever I have to do as I could, but this being Otakon meant the complete opposite. And it with the motivation to see a lot but have little will power to do so in the morning, I started off Day 1 of Otakon 2009 wishing I could sleep more. A LOT more.

Cursing the fates for this year’s Otakon crazy schedule I hauled my sleeping butt to the convention center around 9-10AM to attend Yutaka Yamamoto (aka Yamakan) first Q&A session at 11AM. This unfortunately meant missing Kikuko Inoue‘s first Q&A session since they were being held at the same time, but given the fact I wasn’t sure if I was going to make his other session tomorrow, choices were made. What was asked and answered I’ve completely forgotten by now but I can say it was definitely the right choice to go to his panel as Yamakan is pure class act, thoughtfully answering everyone’s questions without sweating one bit. Really just an awesome guy that doesn’t mind being truthful yet insightful at the same time.

After Yamakan’s totally kick arse panel which helped waken my sorry self, ran to Kikuko Inoue’s autograph session that was two hours away. Yes, two hours early. Pretty much my golden rule for cons when one must line up to attend X-panel especially if it is someone(s) famous; obviously Kikuko being no exception. Being one of the first 20 in line, it was a peaceful wait time as I chilled with other fans getting to know them a little and seeing what others would get signed. Things ranged from DVDs to LDs (yes I kid you not) to games to even photo albums of her (younger) self. On the actual signing itself, pretty straight forward although it was pretty cool they were allowing photos with Kikuko (even though it had to be in front of the table versus behind) if you wanted; my group being the “veterans” we are went for a group photo to save time and to allow other fans the same opportunity.

With Kikuko related goods signed, some of us split ways while Jabel, Omo, and myself headed to the dealers’ room to get Kannagi volume 1 that was recently released in only a few places. $37USD for half the season definitely was not a bad deal and not too much higher than MSRP price. A bit more lurking around the Dealers’ room, really didn’t find anything else I wanted so headed to the panel where Kikuko Inoue’s second and final Q&A session was going to be held. Sat in on the previous panel which was showing some “great” HK fighting scenes from different movies but nothing I really cared about. When the panel did finish, however, I hauled arse to front row seating so I can get the most for my money, scoring the middle of the front row.

The Q&A, I have to admit, was probably one of the best seiyuu related one I’ve seen so far since I have started to go to cons. I think a lot of it had to do with how relaxed the Q&A was but also how it ended up turning into a talk show of sorts mid-way through thanks to Kikuko pulling in Hidenori Matsubara to the front as he was attending the panel to (assumingly) kill time. There were a lot of highlights to the Q&A but I am sure they are either posted by now or will be shortly by others. I can say however, one of the easiest highlights that sticks out in my mind was when the audience got Kikuko Inoue to sing randomly for us; she belted out the AMG opening song (god don’t remember if its the OVA or TV one), Eva’s “Zankoku na Tenshi no Te-ze”, and the choir to Ranka Lee’s “Saikan Hikou” (no kira pose though). Also getting her to explain her Forever17 club was hilarious in its own right. I can easily say if I had to leave or the con had to suddenly cancel, I would have been satisfied at that point; that’s just how great the Q&A was!

But as with all great things, the second Q&A did eventually end. For some of the group I was with, it was a made dash to her second autograph session while the rest of us headed to line up for MELL’s concert at 7:30PM. Thankfully with a decent sized group, lining up for anything becomes a lot easier to handle since you have people to chill with and one can step out for a bit to do other things if needed. If I had to say there was any issue with lining up for MELL’s concert, it was simply us semi-listening to random folk (that I at least thought) was Otakon staff telling us about no bags and moving the line over a bit (we were in the beginning of the line, more or else). The bag thing was fine, not a big deal (at the end, the dude was someone also lining up as well. Probably some n00b who doesn’t do this much) but moving the line was a little annoying as we almost lost our spots. Thankfully, the other folks in line after us (who were told to move over as well) knew so there was no major issues but it was pretty stupid some random people try to act like they can do or ask what they want (or at least that we’re stupid enough to listen). I know now that unless it’s Otakon or the convention staff, I should really take whatever people say with a grain of salt. Heh.

Weird line issue aside, MELL’s concert was pretty epic. No where Jam Project EPIC but great nonetheless and probably the best concert out of the four over the weekend. Once again I don’t remember the set list but 3/4 of her songs were from popular anime like Rideback, Sky Witches, and Black Lagoon. What I do remember was the awesome wardrobe malfunction that resulted us in the front rows to see a bit of black if I am not mistaken. Funny thing before MELL went to fix the issue was I semi-thought it was part of her act; it was only when she was holding onto said piece of clothing that it became obvious that was not suppose to happen. Anyway good songs overall and Mell kept things going pumping up the crowd and like, making the concert a great way to end the con related events for the night…

… except it got even cooler while we waited for her autographs. The cool Mell related part was that the fact she actually stayed the whole time to sign everyone’s merchandise. We were towards the back of the line and she got to us around 11PM, a good hour or so after her concert ended so props to that as she must have been tired from flying in and preparing for everything. It did stink that they quickly ran out of her CDs completely (probably within 10 minutes) but still came away with a signed photo of the lady (plus a Tshirt and drawstring bag), which is currently framed and looking good. The other thing that made the night “cooler” or at least funnier was while we were waiting in line for Mell’s autograph/goods, her crew was taping the folks in line asking what they thought of the concert, etc etc. Fine and dandy but if they ever got to our group, we all wondered WTF they would have thought as we had one guy wearing a Jam Project tshirt, another with Nana Mizuki, one with MOSAIC.WAV, and one other with Puffy Amiyumi. Much to say they didn’t say anything to our faces when they did reach us although they probably got a kick out of that and Omo doing a bit extra for the camera ^^;;

There was another mini-meet with MT folks (or at least Omo’s friends) that I went to, once again at Pickles where I killed my lifespan again by eating fried foods to end the night. It was all worth it though as man, that bar’s french fries and fried pickles are insane! Loaded with fried goodness and tired way beyond belief, everyone parted ways and I headed back to the hotel to crash so I could be someone coherent for the next day’s events.

For the first day of Otakon, I think this must have been my busiest as I was all over the place getting on lines, attending panels, getting signatures, meeting folks, etc. I must admit 1/2 my con goings usually involve waiting on lines anyways, but you gotta do what you gotta do if you want the good seats and/or signatures! I do think, however, if I wasn’t with the people I was with, there just wouldn’t have been any way I could have done everyone solo so a big thanks to everyone I hung with on Day 1 for making the con 100x better than it would normally be. Also big thanks to Jabel for letting me use his con photos to help make this post prettier!

Day 0 of Otakon 2009 has come and gone. At the end of the day good times were had, badges were picked up, plans for the con were made, and money for Nana Mizuki was taken.

Yes, that’s correct. Money was made in the name of Nana Mizuki.

Before I get to how money was lost again due to the Nana Mizuki kingdom, let me step back a bit and highlight the random ongoings of Day 0 of Otakon 2009.

If one has been following my twitter most of this will be a recap, but there should be a few random tidbits I didn’t write about as well.

The drive itself wasn’t too bad although how I made it without going nuts on a straight 3.5 hour drive down is beyond me. All I can thank is Monster (the drink), my Zune, and the hot weather for somehow keeping me up during the drive ^^;;

After meeting up with some of my roommates at the Renaissance, we headed to Five Guys for some quick food that would keep us alive while waiting in the pre-registration lines. And boy, thank god we had something as the lines were longer than the previous two years! Maybe I got lucky the last two years but this year, we had to wait a good 1.5 hours to get our badges… which would have been fine except I was sweating like a madman the whole time. I wouldn’t be surprised if I sweated out the Five Guys I ate while in line!

Anyway, after getting our badges it was a quick return to our hotel room to relax a bit before meeting up with Omo and random members of the MegaTokyo forums. The dinner itself was fine, nothing too special at Tir Na Nog, an Irish Bar & Grill. And while I did not talk too much to the other folks there, it was great catching up with Omo and his mis-adventures in Japan from a few weeks ago. Plus it was nice just to chill back with like minded individuals as we discussed plans for Otakon and other conventions in the future.

Great discussions aside, after dinner we split up as most of the MT folks lined up to get their badges while the rest of us chilled in the Hilton lobby for a bit. More discussion of Otakon, conventions, future plans for trips to Japan, and other “otaku” stuff kept the time at the Hilton lite and laid back. I may talk more about what Omo, Jabel, and myself talked about down the line but we’ll see depending on how the stars align ^_~

Eventually the MT crew finished getting their badges and it off to some light drinking at one of the local bars, Pickles, to cap off the night. More the usual otaku and general BS abound but just like the rest of the night, it was a nice way just to relax and prepare for the onslaught of Otakon the following day.

Drinks had, stories told, and good time had by all we parted ways a bit after midnight to get ready for tomorrow’s festivities. Well, almost all of us as I had to discuss with Omo and Lal about some Nana Mizuki related goods Omo mentioned a few weeks back ^^;; I won’t go into their mis-adventures in Japan since I wasn’t there, but Omo being the good man he is, and with the help of Lal picked up some of Nana Mizuki’s Live Diamond goods for me and it was high-time I paid them for it. And while they could not get me everything, overall I was pretty impressed with like the 70% they did manage to buy.

With money, goods, and thanks exchanged we parted ways back to our respective hotels. Some a bit richer while others a bit poorer, but overall I believe an excellent night had by all. I would talk more about the Nana goods but I believe danie has that covered rather thoroughly ^^;;

But yes, Nana Mizuki merchandise = both happy and sad Moy.

…. and I apologize in advance for the free flowing post. It’s way too early for me on a Friday morning (7AM) when I am vacation to try to write an coherent post. Figured, however, at least a few folks wanted a “live” report of sorts from the horse’s mouth about Otakon and whatever ongoings while I still remember everything ^^;;

Expect more updates depending on time and internet access! Also for those at or are going to Otakon, a few of us are thinking (epic) karaoke at the con this Saturday night similar to last year’s? Anyone interested, let me know!

It’s that time of year again folks, Otakon is less than a week away! And once again, I’m being completely lazy about the whole affair ^^;;

The only things I have done right now are confirmed my days off from work, lodgings (thanks Jabel!), and a vague idea of what I want to do. If anything, I’ll probably do what I did last year and hang with Omo for the majority of it since he knows people and places to chill. I do have to find him no matter what though, since I apparently owe him a lot of money. Probably try to meet up with the usual anime blogggers like super rats, OS, theBigN, and animemiz as well as anyone else we’ll randomly bump into (Momotato?). Will it lead to another epic(?) impromptu anime blogger meetup/panel like last year? Who knows but it’ll good seeing some familiar faces if anything else ^^

Going through the schedule so far just now, I have quickly figured out what my game plan will most likely be. So for those interested, my schedule at Otakon is looking like this thus far:

Thursday:
- 03:00PM Be in Baltimore and meetup with roommates at hotel
- 04:00PM-??? Pre-register and find people!

Friday:
- 11:00AM-12:30PM Kikuko Inoue Q&A 1 (Panel 3)
- 11:00AM-12:00PM Yutaka Yamamoto Q&A (Panel 4)
- 01:30PM-02:30PM Kikuko Inoue Autograph (Autograph 1)
- 03:00PM-04:30PM Kikuko Inoue Q&A 2 (Panel 3)
- 04:30PM-05:30PM Kikuko Inoue Autograph (Autograph 2)
- 04:00PM-05:00PM Kanon Q&A (Panel 4)
- 07:30PM-10:30PM Mell Concert (Main Events)
- 10:00PM-11:00PM Special Musicial Guests Panel (Panel 6)

Saturday:
- 11:00AM-12:00PM Becca Q&A (Panel 6)
- 12:00PM-01:00PM Naomi Tamura Q&A (Panel 6)
- 01:00PM-02:30PM Mell Q&A (Panel 6)
- 01:30PM-02:30PM Naomi Tamura Autograph (Autograph 1)
- 02:30PM-04:00PM Mell Autograph (Autograph 4)
- 03:00PM-04:30PM Yutaka Yamamoto Autograph (Autograph 3)
- 03:30PM-06:00PM Kanon Concert (Main Events)
- 05:00PM-06:00PM Yutaka Yamamoto Q&A (Panel 4)

Sunday:
- 11:30AM-04:00PM Becca & Naomi Tamura Concerts (Main Events)

Obviously there are a few I can’t be at due to time conflicts but overall I want to hit all the major Japanese guests related events if possible. If I can dig out my cloning machine, I should be good though XD

Also just like last year, I am probably going to try to “live” blog but like the youngsters, use twitter instead. Plus I figured it was time for me to get used to the darn thing since I barely use twitter as is. If I was more organized, I would try to do something with like twitterfountain but yea, I’m no Danny Choo. Anyway, any major “OMG I need to write this” life alternating events I’ll probably twitter and depending on the day (and the hotel having free internet), will try to do a full writeup that evening on the blog. So for anyone interested, they can follow my lackluster-ing attempt at twittering @1moy.

I will probably write up one more Otakon related post before the actual con finalizing schedules and possible meetups, but for the most part just like any other convention, I’ll be winging my free time with whomever I’m with. Honestly I’m pretty excited and can’t wait for Otakon to come… especially since I need this mini-vacation or else my sanity will break…

… but for now, time to find what current CDs/DVDs/whatever I have that I can get the guests to sign!

Hopefully the last Otakon 2008 post I’ll be making as I’m sure everyone and their cats are sick of me talking about the con for so long. My thoughts on Sunday’s concerts, last minute shopping, and the many characters I met after the jump.

BTW, this turned out to be a long post… really about meeting various anibloggers so be prepared. Plus if I offended anyone mentioned, my bad!

Well, the Sunday concerts weren’t bad but since I didn’t really know any of the bands, I wasn’t expecting much. The DaizyStripper definitely has that whole visual kei thing going and man, got their fans and general audience hyped up as the opening act. I can’t comment too much on the songs given all of them sounded kind of similar to me but I will say they do rock hard without a doubt. Also should mention they were probably the band that “gave” the most as 3/4 of the members threw their jackets to the audience among water bottles and drum sticks… you don’t wanna know how insane THAT was to watch ^^;;

After DaizyStripper, MarBell were next and (un)fortunately were probably the “weakest” of the three groups, if anything based on the audience reactions. It may have had to do with the staff watching over the audience more thoroughly after the insane crowding that DaizyStripper created or the various audio problems that plagued the entire concert, but there wasn’t much love for this band. Their songs were alright but honestly DaizyStripper left more of an impression than MerBell. They, well really the lead vocalist, did however have more “rock” stuff to keep the audience interested like some yuri kissing and flashing us her ass/panties (twice). Overall kind of meh I guess.

Thankfully The Underneath brought the audience back alive, although staff did have to get everyone pumped up to get them to come out(?). I’m guessing The Underneath was most likely the main act given they played the most songs out of the three groups, some of which I kind of enjoyed but have forgotten about by now. I did like how the main vocalist/leader did have a decent amount of english practiced to actually interact with the audience versus just saying random english words anyone would know (sure it was still engrish but a helleva better than the other two bands). Think I may have enjoyed their music a little more if it wasn’t for the fact my legs were killing from almost standing two hours straight for all the bands; something this old body of mine just can’t hack anymore ^^;;

After the concert, with Otakon basically being over I made one last second stop at the Dealers’ Room where I was able to score three free posters (actual poster sized!) at Bandai’s booth of Scrapped Princess, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Gurren Lagann. Heading to HLJ’s booth to see what they had left (or even if they were still there) also scored me a Kemeko figure for 1/2 the price! I was real lucky too as I was semi-eyeing the figure when I visited their booth a few days ago. Thank god no one really knows of the series?

And with shopping finally completed, I finished my 2nd year of going to Otakon with a feeling of satisfaction. Different from the satisfaction I had last year, this year I was able to enjoy the con a lot more thanks to meeting and hanging out with a bunch of anime bloggers. Actually I’m surprised how many I was able to meet this year, which I think had a lot to do with hanging with Omo whom seems to know like everyone.

Starting with the man himself, Omo is like a veretan at cons. Spending a lot of my time with him and seeing him in action, I feel like I should start calling him sensei or something. Honestly it was thanks to him I got to meet a lot more bloggers than I thought I would compared to if I was just going alone. And man, his intel is crazy as I noted in a previous JAM Project post; knowing when to line up for the concert, finding out about misc panels, and JAM Project’s 2nd autograph session were just some of the amazing private info he knew. All I can say is I hope to be as experienced as him one day as the man definitely knows how to get the most out of a con!

I think meeting the one and only Momotato was one of the biggest highlights of the con. Probably 2nd or 3rd if I had to rank my experiences or whatnot. Very easy going guy, he was pretty cool to chill with. Plus we were line buddies for JAM Project’s autograph session so some type of aniblogging bonding had to happen right? Actually on that, I was happy for him that he was able to get all the JAM Project autographs he wanted since initially he may not have gotten any; won’t go into details since it’s not my say but nice to see another aniblogger get what they want.

Link was the next aniblogger I happen to meet, actually at the bar a bunch of us decided to go to after JAM Project’s concert on Friday night (as noted by super rats). I did LOL when we were all introducing ourselves that he was surprised that I was er… well me since everyone was chatting it up about the concert as if we all been friends for awhile. Definitely an interesting fellow to say the least, it was good to hear that his Touhou panel had a decent turn out; which probably would have been a few higher if it wasn’t right before JAM Project’s concert (which he did make as well). If I ever get into Touhou, I definitely know who I’ll talk to first

And speaking of the bar, it was also where I finally got to meet the other uber famous blogger super rats. Pretty cool he was able to drop by given how late it was, even though he was only able to hang out for a few it great finally meeting after my failed attempt last year. I had a good laugh when he was mentioning his blog to some non-anibloggers explaining how his domain namewas initially maybe going to be about beers and whatnot but due to him cutting down on drinking eventually turn into what we all know of it as of now. Now I’m not 100% positive he was serious or just making a joke, but I’m glad he decided to stick with figures as I’m sure is all his fans/readers. LOL also loved how when we asked him what figure(s) he may have bought at the dealers’ room already, he was like “hell no I don’t want to carry all that stuff back!”

The only blogger I was able to meet last year, Ten made a few quick appearances throughout the con to meet others. I know she was in and out pretty quick but it was cool that at least she (and Anna) dropped by to say hi to everyone. I’m guessing Ten and Anna may have hung out longer if it wasn’t just us guys… I guess this is to be expected considering how “crazy” us male anibloggers can get?!?

Meeting theBigN was a surprise as, and I’m being honest, I knew of him and his blog but haven’t checked it out much. Not to say his blog isn’t interesting or anything but being an “old timer” I’m pretty set in stone on which blogs I’ll check out daily so when “new” blogs come out I probably don’t know or look into them until someone else mentions them. Anyway theBigN is a very cool cat and I was glad I was able to meet the guy. We unfortunately didn’t get to talk much due to the time but I’ll definitely be on the lookout for his blog more often. I can say at the very least that personally I thought he was the best of the three (no offense Link or Omo) when the guys went to sing JAM Project’s SKILL at karaoke. Heck I give him props just for going up there with the other two to do the song!

Os, Os, Os. I think he’ll easily be the one blogger I met that left the biggest impression on me considering when Omo introduced me, Os actually got out of his seat, walked up to me, and wanted to shake hands like he was semi-awed I was er… me. Os definitely wasn’t the guy I thought him to be based on his blog and the comments he leaves on mine, but I mean that in a good way. A good guy that just enjoys kicking it back and having a good time, it was cool hanging out with him the bit we were all together. I think the kicker with him was when he wanted a photo of us bloggers (Omo, wildarmsheero, myself, and him), his camera decided to die right there and then. Also him missing meeting Ten, momotato(?), and super rats twice was hilarious if only cause I loved the reaction he had every time I told him as such LOL.

With Os, kinda met baka raptor as well but we didn’t really talk much so yea…

… and wildarmsheero as well, whom easily became the 2nd blogger to leave the most impression on me. I can’t help but grin as I try to find the right words to describe the man himself. I think the easiest way is to say he’s an entertaining character, if anything else. Also after meeting him, he completely matches the type of person he may have been based on his blog and webcomics. I honestly mean that in a good way but somehow that just sounds horrible ^^;; But really, he’s one heck of a guy to hang with; you’ll definitely not be bored if he’s around.

The only other female aniblogger I met, thanks to Ten, Anna seems pretty cool as well. Much like Ten, she couldn’t hang out too long but it was just nice meeting another follow aniblogger.

Last but not least, I semi-met SDS. When I mean semi-met, I mean we were all chilling together but we never really introduced our selves to each other kind of way?

So in total, met roughly 9-11 anibloggers. Not too bad considering I only met like 1 last year. Next year I’ll try for more as just as they say in Pokemon, you “gotta catch ‘em all!”

… and yes, that was pretty horrible. Please just forget what I wrote before and instead, you can go “OoOoOo” and “Aaaahhh” over a close up shot of all the goods I recently got. Surprisingly spent under $100USD in anime related merchandise, although food expenses were a different story all together ^^;;

hopefully the last line wait I’ll have to experience today.

not expecting much but always nice to end a con with some “free” music.

I just witnessed the second most epic thing at Otakon tonight…

… the great bloggers Omo, Link, and theBigN singing their unique rendition of JAM Project’s SKILL for us all. And all i wish was that i had my camera with me; that’s how EPIC it was.

…hmmm… anime blogger panel in the hallway to kill time?

Finally have a few minutes to relax back in the hotel and try to summarize my experiences at Otakon thus far.

I know Omo will have a great post on all the JAM Project related events sooner or later, but in the meantime I can say a few things as a teaser. First off I should say I’m not really a BIG JAM Project fan unlike JP but after attending their various Q&A sessions, autograph session, and being at their concert that will most likely change ^^;;

On the concert, I don’t think there are enough words to describe how truly EPIC AND PURE WIN it was. I’ll easily admit I’m not those types that gets all into the music and starts jumping up and down, pumping their fists with glow sticks at hand but even I was doing all that towards the end; that’s just how frickin’ awesome they were! It’s crazy how energetic they were more or less singing for two hours straight while giving the fans what they want… heck I think the only time they had a “break” was when each of them did a solo song (BTW live version of Masami Okui’s Rinbu Revolution was FTW) and before the encore songs. Honestly it truly was a great concert and now I can understand why their fans are so into it; it’s just a totally different experience live compared to just hearing them on media. Well, I should note it does help if you have front row seats thanks to someone’s intel that seems second to none

On the Q&A sessions, pretty straight forward stuff that others will no doubt have transcripts of. Really news wise, the two biggest announcements were probably JAM Project doing this and the OP/ED for the next Super Robot Wars game coming out in September.

Autograph session(s), well I talked about previously. Although I should note there was a 2nd “secret” autograph session right after the first at the Bandai booth that only folks who got tickets from Bandai earlier that day could attend. It seems like they were only getting JAM Project to sign a Scrapped Princess poster but depending on your luck/charm, could get them to sign one of their other related merchandises instead; Omo got 3 separate items while Momotato got 2 signed. Me, didn’t know about the Bandai session but no big lost since I really didn’t have anything “special” to sign. I count myself lucky as is for getting what I got beforehand ^^

Beside fanboying about JAM Project for the past 3 days, honestly haven’t checked out much else. The Metal Gear panel I attended on Friday morning was alright but nothing special. Missed both Bandai panels, although I did hear from Omo whom heard from others that at Bandai’s “Bandai Surprise” panel JAM Project came out wearing Lucky Star t-shirts, giving out free Bandai stuff, and doing a reverse Q&A (asking the audience questions instead). Checked out the Artists and Dealers’ rooms and while nothing really peaked my interest, plan to check them out again tomorrow before the Sunday concerts.

… and of course, I was at the karaoke cafe for a few hours due to Omo and his crew laughing it up at everyone’s various attempts at singing (clarify: that’s me laughing internally at everyone. I wouldn’t be alive if I did out loud). Also met a lot of anime bloggers there and at other places today as well, but I’ll have a separate post about them along with my closing thoughts on Otakon tomorrow. For now, enjoy the random crappy photo I took at JAM Project’s concert, which unfortunately the anibloggers couldn’t re-create at karaoke: