Otaku, No Video

Otakon this year was pretty much like Otakon the past few years. Crowded, busy, with a very high energy level. It feels bigger than Anime Expo, though I know AX had a bigger crowd. This is certainly a social event; seemed like everyone was in a group.

Nick commented that the level of quality in Artist’s Alley has significantly increased in recent years, and he’s right. Used to be you’d only find one or two commercial-quality artists; now a large percentage are. There’s very little of the outright amateurish art that I saw a lot of even 5 years ago.

There was a lot of cosplay. American fandom has finally caught up to Japanese fandom in terms of numbers (though not quite in terms of quality; while we have a few fantastic cosplayers, they have way more).

I was at the (always awesome) Funimation panel for their announcement of Eden of the East, which warmed my heart. And I remain amazed that this show was licensed 3 months after it first aired. Great show, and good on Funimation for licensing it.

(Now if someone would just license Dennou Coil….)

There was an excellent panel on Old School Fandom, led by four guys who’ve been into anime for decades. I asked them about the biggest changes they’ve seen in anime fandom in their many years, and they unanimously pointed to much greater ease of access. You can now get this stuff, and you don’t need to know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy in Japan who can maybe trade you raw tapes.

Worth going to, as usual.