Alter – Idolm@ster Part 2

Continuing from last year Alter released part 2 of the Idolm@ster series earlier this year. My poor self at the time couldn’t justify in pre-ordering until it was too late. The good thing is I totally got the series for $50 at the dealer’s room at Otakon (woo hoo for not paying shipping). As with the first series, there’s nothing new about it except for the series to finish off having all of the characters and it’s variants.

-Chihaya Kisaragi

Continue reading Alter – Idolm@ster Part 2…

Otakon 08 ~Summers solstice

It has always been a belief of mine that if you are new to anime conventions, Otakon is a “must attend at least once in your lifetime” convention. There’s always a little inner Otaku in everyone that just loves the prescence of thousands and thousands of other otakus. Simply put, this year’s Otakon was a huge success with a huge attendance like whuuuuuut. The dates were changed to August 8-10th this year, and with this change, Otakon was no longer nestled in between other big summer cons, allowing a huge attendance once again.

One of the best things that could have blessed every con attendee this year would be great weather. Baltimore did not dissapoint as we all got to enjoy a fairly nice summer. The days were warm but not blazing hot, and the evenings were just the perfect feel with that great cool breeze. Unfortunatly, a baseball game was also taking place. Otakon’s security did an excellent job this year keeping non-con attendees out. Major props and a well deserved clap for them. /clap /clap /clap

Every event, every hall, and every street was jam packed this year. As noted before, the dates were changed again for this year’s Otakon. Due to it’s timing last year, the huge convention center almost seemed bare at times. Totally different story this year and thanks to the giant crowds, the aura was live and kicking. Good luck waiting in line if you ever wanted Starbucks

One of the biggest events hosted this year was the JAM Project Concert. A simple summary of how it was to see and hear them live… epic win. JAM Project consists of Hironobu Kageyama, Masaki Endoh, Hiroshi Kitadani, Masami Okui, and Yoshiki Fukyama and they put up an amazing performance. Another big thing to note is that this took place in the 1st Mariner Arena (a small walk away from the convention center). The arena has tons of space, tons of seats, and the air conditioning works brilliantly. Thanks to this extension, there was no attendance cap and everyone was able to enjoy the concert in comfort.

Another big props goes to Otakon for hosting the masquerade in the 1st Mariner Arena as well. All the extra space in there and the giant screens makes it nice for everyone to see the event. From what I’ve been told, the masquerade started at 7pm and ended sometime around 11pm! Up till 9pm, I did sit and enjoy watching the skits but after skit 31, time was running short and other priorities came up. I would like to see more of a time limit and content limit to all acts. When each skit takes up over 2 minutes, it really makes the entire event feel like it’s dragging.

While I’m ranting, I would love to see a hygiene act put up but that’s asking for the impossible. This author started walking towards the rave Saturday night, only to turn right back around as the con funk filled the area (lol).

To sum it up, the lack of an attendance cap was brilliant, the main events were in the perfect locations, security was great, comfortable summer weather, and the never ending con funk that continues it’s trend. An excellent Otakon 2008!