The last day of Otakon. The last day of Otakon in Baltimore. The heat advisory was in full effect. People were ready to check out and say farewell to Baltimore. Scarlet Rhapsody has been around for the days when Anime Expo took place in Anaheim for a handful of years. For many Otakon loyal attendees, this is home. For them, it was sad to see Otakon leave the Inner Harbor.

Haikyuu Photoshoot by Li Mei
The last thing I attended at Otakon 2016 was the Haikyuu!! photoshoot! It started at 1:30pm, and it was super crowded. There were so many Haikyuu!! cosplayers and plenty of fans taking photos! This photoshoot had a lot of dabbing and leggy poses and other meme-related shenanigans. It was also pretty well-organized, and the attendees were good about spreading the announcements to the whole group so people knew which characters were being called up. There were many of canon cosplayers as well as really cool alternate universe cosplays. It was a pleasure to see everyone's costumes! Everyone I met there was super friendly and fun, which made things even better. I noticed a lot of people were taking selfies in between photos, and there were even some selfie stick challenges: trying to fit as many people in a selfie as possible. I saw old friends at this photoshoot, and I also got the chance to meet some new people. It was a great way to end the con! After the shoot ended, I had to leave the con to go to my hotel, grab my luggage, and head to the airport.

Cosplay Rescue by Eri Kagami
For most of Otakon's existence, there was not a cosplay repair room. This brought in attendees to even dress up as a cosplay repair station arming themselves with thread and notion to fix last minute SNAFU's. This year, I knew of the cosplay rescue room. At least I knew where it was in case if something had happened. On Sunday, the tail of my Persian got loose and needed to be repinned on the gown. Cosplay rescue's staff was able to find the right pin to get the tail back on. They were very personal and very caring about fixing people's cosplays. They were even keeping track of the various repairs through the weekend. What I also liked about the cosplay rescue staff is when I ran into them in the Hilton, they even asked me how my tail was holding up. A very personal group and well worth keeping around.

Art Auction by Jared The Greek
When the art show closes the art auction begins.  All the pieces that either got too many bids or no bids at all are set up as the lots for the auction.  All the other pieces are sold at the price earned at their silent auction during the course of the con.  The art auction draws in many people, but prices can range from relatively inexpensive to over a hundred dollars.  It is an interesting watch and occasionally it is fun to bid, but some pieces can jump in price really fast.  However, if you are lucky enough you can get a really great piece of art for a fine price.

From Orientalist to Weaboo by Eri Kagami
This was one of the more brain-y panels at Otakon. While most of the fun panels tend to center around fandom and industry guests, this one took an academic perspective on eastern festishzation. The panelists opened up asking how they define "weaboo." Additionally, we went over the history of Orientalism - early fascination with eastern culture, specifically Japanese with British and European travellers and artists. She gave context to Monet's contreversial La Japonaise piece which depicts the artist's white wife donning a kimono. Monet would later regret painting this. She even talked about how travellers would write about Japanese women being dainty and comparable to wife material. What I liked about this presentation is that she parralled history with current weaboo-isms. For a Sunday morning panel, this kept me interested and engaged in the academic context of Japanese fetishization and how to spot it. The presenter approached it in a kind manner without sounding like a keyboard warrior.

PokePress Conference by Jared The Greek
This was a press only event were the four voice actor guests from Pokemon were seated at a table and took questions from the media audience.  Many of the questions were about the impact of the series on their lives, if they played Pokemon GO, and their favorite pokemon.  It was interesting to learn about how they all got along and that all of the actors have had some kind of impact on their lives from being in Pokemon. 

Closing Ceremonies by Eri Kagami
Closing ceremonies took place in the Hilton panel room 7. I was caught off guard because I'm so used to closing ceremonies taking place in the fourth level of the convention center. Given that panel 7 is one of the larger panel rooms and the convention center likes to shut down sooner than later. Closing ceremonies covered the anime music video winners. Highlights included Haikyuu set to a comedic volleyball routine, a montage of the Monogatari series, and the best of show whent to a comedy routine set to Oireimo. Otakon also talked briefly about the move to DC and revealed their first guest, Vic Mignogna. It was a very lackluster closing ceremonies, but the room was filled to capacity. People did not want the con to end and wanted to feel every moment of Baltimore one last time.

Con Gripe by Eri Kagami
Right after closing ceremonies, people started lining up for con gripe. A few issues like 18+ line being in an inconvenient location were brought up. Issues like accessibility and dropping the term "special needs" were addressed. Our own Jared the Greek mentioned that he wanted to help run any Lupin III events next year in celebration of the 60th anniversary. The feedback session was moderated by division heads of Otakon staff. They also addressed common concerns for the DC area including registration, badge distribution, and negotiating an agreeable term for cosplay weapons and props.

Otakon came to a close at 5PM. People were still in the Baltimore Convention Center slowly making their way out or just hanging out until security would kick them out. Traffic was already lined up on Pratt Street with vans taking anime wares from the dealers hall and artist alley home. Fans were also in traffic waving to cosplayers wishing they had a wonderful Otakon and a safe journey home. We ended up taking Lyft to BWI and pondered the rest of the 2016 convention season.

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