About three months before Otakon, I had heard there was going to be an anime con in Washington, DC, about five hours away from where I live in exciting, fascinating Northeastern Pennsylvania. I had never attended an anime convention, and rented maybe a tape or two every week or so, but I wasn't otaku. Nonetheless, my curiosity overcame me. After contacting a fellow fanfic writer who lives near me, we proceeded to head down after picking up another writer. This particular person and I shared the same hobby: DJing techno music. Otakon was to be my first major foray into the world of J-pop. We arrived Thursday night and were thankfully given hospitality by a few noble souls. We engaged in conversation, watching of anime (as if we weren't going to do that during the con), and Playstation dueling. My accomplishment of the night was pulling off a seven game winning streak on Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold with the almighty Dan Hibiki, much to the chagrin of everyone else. And with that glorious victory in memory, I went to sleep content..
Friday morning came. I awoke, thanks to a particularly petulant alarm clock, and got into the volunteer line with the person who had given me a ride down. We waited a mere 90 minutes in line before being taken to the conference room where we were briefed as to our duties, responsibilities, priviledges, and ideals in service to our fellow otaku. I left the meeting resolved and utterly eager to enjoy the convention. I took my first post at the second video room, and waited as convention goers waited eagerly at the door to get into Saint Tails. As the appointed starting time of noon passed, the audio technician guys had not come into the room yet. A few minutes passed. The technicians came in, fiddled with the mixer setup for a few, and were summoned into the larger Video Room One, as their system wasn't working either. At 12:30, I was sweating bullets. At 1:00, I was panicking and hoping the people at the door didn't happen to have torches or pitchforks. Soon enough, however, the audio techies came in and worked their magic. And Saint Tails and my Otakon experience was underway. Saint Tails was my first major immersion into serious shoujo material. The tales of the lovable cat burglar directed by a nun to do good (and the nun looks like she's no older than EIGHT?) made my head spin a bit, but they were extremely enjoyable, light hearted fun. After that, my day's progression took me into the ending of the first batch of You're Under Arrest. The Strikeman episode had me rolling in the isles (fortunately, not jarring the video projector), and probably gave birth to the concept of the fanfic that I'm working on right now. Following that was eps. 1-4 of Mako Tsukai Tai (I Want To Try Magic!). I found this series to be extremely enjoyable, with amazing comedy situations. I won't go on at great length about it, but it DOES have the noteworthy designation of being the series that contains the largest busted major character, without a doubt. (The shot where her bust comes out of a bus roor, then the rest of her, is particularly poignant.) The action components were handled well, with the elegant design of the alien Tsurigane being especially striking.
I entered the dealer's room in search of finding a vinyl copy of the GITS soundtrack for my DJ set. Lots of classic Detroit artists contributing tracks was its strong point, and I had heard the CD. Unfortunately, my search for vinyl was lost in the sea of laserdiscs. So I got a few pencil boards for Lisa Ortiz and the Eva dub seiyuu to sign. The music videos were quite enjoyable, though I only saw the serious ones. My standards of editing and cutting through clips, however, was rather disappointed. From watching carefully choreographed, beatmatched music videos such as Coldcut's "Timber" or Autechre's "Second Bad Vibel", I had presumed that the editing would be a lot tighter. But I had expected a different kind of standard. So though technically the videos were a bit disappointing, the songs and visuals did speak for themselves. The editing prowess that "Losing My Religion" displayed was pleasant, and I hope that future video makers pay attention to the lip syncing in that video. (Next year, next year, when I learn how to use this Hexstatic program, I shall win..)
Sadly, I left the music video room to preside over the Evangelion/Captain Tyler video. My shift ended an hour late, due to a lack of replacement, so I ended up running up to the door of the Mystery Anime Theatre 3000 room. Ahead of me I could see con goers being turned away at the door, as the seats were all filled. I begged and pleaded for my cause, as I had been kept late by my shift and would be happy to take standing room. The stern door person showed me mercy and let me partake in the viciously biting, sarcastic and hilarious mockery of "Battle Area Toshinden". My tear glands worked overtime as I was brought to my knees in laughter. On that high note, I surrendered to the sweet bliss of rest in the hotel room.
I awoke in the morning, TOO LATE! Augh! Missed the second showing of the music videos! Got up and did my shift as the Hot Swappable Gofer (try saying that five times fast), then took a spot in line for Death And Rebirth. I was able to stop a few hapless people from taking in video cameras innocuously too. They hadn't been made aware that if they found one, "bad things would happen". So that was alright. Saturday was a good time to go to the dealer's room as it was calmer than Friday afternoon. I discovered exactly why people were wondering who I was from Bust A Move when I played the game and saw the huge pants and raver clothing in it. That game was MURDER, since the beat isn't on the main part, but on the hi-hat! VERY irritating. But hey, it's a video game, should I be expecting realism? And I HAD to get the soundtrack just for the 2Bad track. Now only if I can score it on vinyl..
Saturday night, after Eva I worked one more shift, then proceeded to get ready for the all night rave, which wasn't too hard, since I was wearing my Kikwear 56" inch bottomed tri-color jeans specifically designed for blacklights and my Kappa shirt (all part of my fanfic costume, you see). I brought along the ghetto tech-house style mixtape I had made up Wednesday night, and BEGGED the DJs to play it. Finally at 3 o'clock in the morning, they acquiesced. This, aside from a selection from a happy hardcore mixed cd, was the only mixed music of the night that was beatmatched (for the techno impaired, that means that the songs went right into one another). And they loved it! They loved it! I LOVE hearing myself spin out, though I dread when I might make a mistake. However, aside from the exception of Trish Ledoux, who said I should have used more anime songs, everyone got into it. There were breakdancers breaking and fuku-clad grrls shaking. That was by far the high point of the con for me. At the same time, a massive muscular contraction occurred in my right leg, which seriously, SERIOUSLY hurt for the next three days. So dancing was rather detrimental to me..
Sunday morning, I caught End of Evangelion, made one last spree of toy-buying fury in the dealers' room, and rested while guarding our caravan's luggage. We headed out and proceeded to get lost YET again on our ways home. But looking back at it all, I realize that through the rush, the sweat, the caffeine-hazed mental fugues and mindless smirking, the few minor problems I ran into were far outweighed by the colossal level of fun. Being surrounded by my fellow fans, united in one purpose.. the total immersion just overwhelmed me. I can't say I'm seriously 'otaku' now, but for a few fleeting moments I knew how it felt, and why otaku are what they are. It's all for the joy of discovery and taking in foreign culture in the form of amazing stories and magnificent animation. And THAT is what Otakon is all about.
August 12, 1998
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