As lines coiled around the Baltimore Convention Center, people were eager to grab this 2015 Otakon badge. The at the door price for 2015 was $100. However, if you registered early, you could get the three day badge for $85 plus $10 shipping to your door. Likewise, this is Otakon’s first time mailing badges. Unfortunately, there were registration issues on day zero. However, it didn’t stop people from having a great weekend. For Friday, the Scarlet Rhapsody crew went in Love Live and Pokemon cosplay. Our Guidebook “To Do” list was full of things to do through the weekend.
Cartoons in US and Japan by Jared
This panel went over the not always subtle changes that occur when bring American cartoons to Japan. Things like the X-Men (1992) opening being radically different, Japan getting Disk Wars Avengers instead of the Avengers Assemble cartoon, and the very energetic My Little Pony opening. It was a fun panel made up of different clips for comparison and funny commentary. There are plenty of panels about how the US changed Japanese material, but it was interesting to see things the other way around.
Japanese Tea by Eri Kagami
One of the first panels of the morning was an educational panel on Japanese tea hosted by Rob Perry. The audience was a mix of young and new attendees. The panelist opened up the presentation asking people how far do they go to shop for tea. Many of the people cited traveling as far as New York to get prime Japanese tea. Perry recommended going to Ippodo in New York to get the “bombest tea ever.” Perry also went over the various types of Japanese tea and the health benefits of each. While tea was not served at the panel, this was a very informative panel on what teas best match meals. I had no idea there were many types of green teas!
Love Live Cosplay Meet by Eri Kagami
Typically, the Love Live meet up happens twice during the early afternoon. The meet up took place up in the balcony level. I went as Nico in the full version of the school uniform in the Baltimore heat of summer. The meet up was fairly well attended. New York Nico ended up running the meet up efficiently. Since Love Live is best known for having multiple variations of the idol group, it was nice to see a variety of cosplay at the medium sized meet. We had a handful of school uniform cosplayers. However, we also saw swimsuit, Wonderful Rush, constellation, etc variations.
80s anime and pop culture by Jared
This panel took a look beyond just the anime and manga titles that came out in the 1980s, this panel explored the developing pop culture of Japan that led to the creation of many of the iconic titles that made anime gain it’s worldwide popularity. The growth of otaku culture via magazines, conventions, and merchandise led to the development of companies like Gainax and other companies experiementing with new genres. It was a very interesting panel and it was nice to learn something new while at a convention.
90s best anime year by year by Jared
This panel went through the 90s covering the best anime titles that came out each year. Occasionally referencing when the US got certain titles, the majority of the panel was about the best shows of the 90s, both the popular and the lesser known gems that need more love. To conclude the panel a Toonami commercial was played to many cheers. It was great to look back on key anime titles and if you are fast enough with a pen you could jot down some notes about classic shows you may have missed.
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