Nebulous Seattle is nebulous. Thankfully, it was not raining outside. Todd and Jared had to pick up their badges in the registration line. It took them about a good hour to get through the pre-reg line.

Luckily, I already had my press badge with me. It should be known that Sakura Con's press department is fueled by Decepticon technology and spearmints.

I went to the opening ceremonies as the con chair was announcing the guests of honor. Those who went to opening ceremonies got to get a brief Japanese lesson. Attendees learned how to say, “Welcome to Sakura Con” in Japanese. In addition, the Japanese rock groups, Girugamesh and Hangry & Angry appeared on stage and expressed how excited they were to be in Seattle.

I went to the Artist Alley and met up with Hector. He told me about Sakura Con’s history and the general Seattle otaku scene. It was nice to know about the monthly cosplay gatherings (aka Gasukan). I told him about how the Los Angeles gets a bad reputation about their cosplay gatherings because of typical Ramune Baby behavior.

For Catholics, it was Good Friday. How ironic that Hector and I shouted, “JESUS CHRIST!” when we found someone cosplaying as the Christian Messiah. I suddenly realized that I was cosplaying as a Catholic anime character, Karen Kasumi, so I had to get a photo opportunity with this superstar.

Sakura Con had a handful of cosplayers roaming around the halls. As Stan predicted, last year’s (Heath Ledger) Joker would be replaced by an abundance of Rorschach. He was right. I can count more Rorschachs than Naruto Uzumakis, Clouds, and Soras. I also found more Yomiko Readmans and Snow Whites running around. Sakura Con’s cosplay scene had a little bit of everything a few surprises.

I was amazed at the amount of old school anime cosplay. As Lily (Baby Neko Twins Cosplay) put it, everything that used to be popular in California never went out of style in Seattle. It was a breath of fresh air to see a Ranma ½ group. Of course, certain gatherings do not go according to plan. Sarah mentioned that there were only three people at the Neon Genesis Evangelion gathering.

The biggest surprise of them all was a full Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water group. Jean, Nadia, Grandis, Samson, Hanson and Captain Nemo were very much represented. This is just an example to show how varied cosplay choices are represented at Sakura Con. Good to know that people still remember the classics.

At 12PM, Sarah and I went to a voice actor's press conference featuring Aaron Dismuke, Todd Haberkorn, Wendy Powell, and Leah Clark. The voice actors talked about pre-production for Full Metal Alchemist season 2. Season 2 of the popular anime series would be released in the United States and Japan at the same time. In other words, when Japan premieres a new episode, the United States gets the same episode dubbed and broadcasted in Adult Swim. The voice artists talked about how the state of our current economy is affecting their jobs. Because of the hype behind Full Metal Alchemist season 2, most of the questions were directed at Aaron Dismuke whether or not he would reprise his role as Alphonse. "I may have to take estrogen pills," joked the 17-year-old voice actor.

The CLAMP gathering begun at 2PM on the 4th floor outside the main events hall. There were XXXholic, Card Captor Sakura, Tsubassa, and X/1999 cosplayers representing the works of CLAMP. Of course, Jared and I were the only ones representing X/1999 as Karen Kasumi and Seichirou Aoki.

Jared, Sarah, and I also discovered what makes Sakura Con a Sakura Con. There was an outdoor park outside the convention center that had a few cherry blossom trees. As Jason (i360) joked, "Sakura Con had sakura. It had a really meaningful name." For Los Angeles cosplayers at Sakura Con, we did not get much cherry blossoms in full boom this year. All the cherry blossoms decided to stay in Seattle.

Many cosplayers took individual photo shoots in this area. There were a few gatherings going on in the general park area, but the biggest draw was the unofficial "Circle of Glomps." It was a varient of spin the bottle, but with glomping. This game attracted the Ramune Baby generation. Warning: this video may make you go deaf.

Pictures are copyright by Scarlet Rhapsody (formerly Traveling Valentine). If I took your picture, feel free to use it on your site or cosplay gallery. While you're here, do sign the guestbook. This site was brought to you by the font Wicked Queen. Many thanks to Chaz Boston Baden for the image resizing and watermarking program.