Thursday, August 14 2008

Otakon 2008

As mentioned on Tuesday I have survived Otakon 2008.  As I mentioned last year, Otakon is probably the East Coast's largest anime convention, held every summer in Baltimore, Maryland.

I have been trying to figure out how to upload my photos to Pikasa, without much success.  [Update: Success!  The photo album is here.]  I was again accompanied by a friend from college that is a better photographer, and his photo album is here.  As his taste in anime is different, his taste in photos is different.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which last year was still showing on Japanese TV, is now finished and being released in the US, so it's not surprising that there were more cosplayers from this series, and that more characters were represented. 
http://dorkside.mee.nu/otakon08/Otakon08B.JPG

http://dorkside.mee.nu/otakon08/Otakon08A.jpg

Of the other notable series, Ouran High School Host Club and the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya are still popular.  Fate/Stay Night, Hellsing, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Sailor Moon were somewhat less represented than last year.  More importantly, Bleach, Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist were all significantly less represented than last year.  No series or game was as heavily represented this year as these series had been in previous years.

Of the series that are still airing in Japan, Soul Eater had the largest following, which is a good sign for this enjoyable series.  http://dorkside.mee.nu/otakon08/Otakon08E.JPG

This year, I finally saw two Aria cosplayers, a good Minuzashi Akari and an excellent Akira Ferrari, who was not done justice by my horrible photography skills.
http://dorkside.mee.nu/otakon08/Otakon08D.JPG

The convention always has a sizable percentage of video game character cosplayers and cosplayers from American TV, movies, comics and other popular culture.

As can be expected, the Joker has unseated V as the reigning anarchist terrorist fan favorite.  The Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy fans were  significantly less present than in previous years.  Phoenix Wright, Metal Gear Solid, Mario Brothers and Zelda were about as big as last year.  The big winner in video games was Team Fortress 2.  For a game of cartoonish classes rather than characters, the game attracted a large stable of cosplayers.  Spies and scouts were the most popular, but I saw well executed members of every class.
http://dorkside.mee.nu/otakon08/Otakon08C.JPG

And a fun time was had by all.

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