Convention Reviews: Otakon 2013

Part of the registration line that wrapped around the convention.

Otakon is a large scale convention located in Baltimore, MD at the Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district. It is one of the most well-known and longest running Anime Conventions coming in at this being the 20th anniversary.

The staff of this con was one of the main highlights, professional, friendly, knowledgeable, and easy to find. The information walkers had huge banners sticking up to make it easy to find them. The venue was very secure with security at each exit and a volunteer in front of the doors that was closed off to keep non-badge holders from getting in. Security themselves where very prompt and kind all throughout the weekend. Anytime I needed to know information on where something was I was greeted with a smile and pointed on the map where I needed to go.

 The convention started a ticket system for autograph lines that seemed to change with everyone. First went as a normal line and then the ticket system came into play handing people tickets with times telling them to come back then and they would get in. Problem with that system was they did not keep the flow of the line moving, some people talked to the guest longer than needed, and a good number of the people who would have gotten the autograph if a normal line was held did not and was told to bring your ticket back tomorrow and they "might" honor it. This was one of the main negative feedbacks given over the weekend.

Artist Alley & The Dealers Room.......Each was the size of a Sams Club and in no way lacking in organization or room.  The floor was labeled with street names to make it easier to tell people where you found stuff, If you where looking for it chances are you found it, unless it was Attack on Titian related on  Sunday. In each of these the pathways was large enough to allow a clear flow of traffic and even room for "Quick can I have a picture?". The only thing lacking was a food vendor carring all those Japanese snacks that you love, but can't find here in the USA without a convention.

Friday night we had the first line up of 18+ panels and the requirement for the infamous "wristband". The convention only had three of the registration booths open for the line, which quickly outgrew the area leading to people being told to come back in 30 minutes and it would be shorter, only to come back and the line be tripled in size beginning to snake down the whole area and in between another line.  This could have been avoided if even two more of the empty registration booths was used to speed things up.

  The Gaming room was the size of the dealers room with just about every system, or game you could think of or wanted to play! The tournaments where held all over through the day and covered what you would expect CoD, Halo, SSBB, Mortal Combat, Ect... . Plenty of room was given for TCG players and extra room given to the dancing games set up like DDR or Dance Central 2.

 With the unofficial number looking to be close to 40,000 attendees it was without any surprise to see such a diverse variety of cosplay from all over the USA and even some of the people I talked to came from out of country just for this convention. The quality of cosplay was medium to about as high as you can get. The photo shoots where using the basic locations being the 3rd floor terrace, indoor fountains, and the outdoor fountains by the harbor. (Which became a large bubble bath Friday night and Saturday morning) The photo shoots ran where organized and handled very fast using the 5 second system.

Hungry? The convention was nothing short on food or drinks that was for sure, but at a higher price than you are used to. I do not take this into account during the rating, cause the convention can not help what the center  prices stuff at, but I feel it is worth mentioning for those of you who plan to go next year to prepare for. Thankfully the area had tons of places to eat at a good price for what you got. I know the 24hr Subway had supplies coming all day long and the line stayed out the door. The most busy was the mall two blocks down where the food court had everything you could want.

The convention was able to keep a unmobbed flow of traffic all weekend by marking the flow with tape on the floor keeping things in a good flow. The con goers raved on this improvement from the year before where the bridge was a constant block of traffic.

I don't even know what happened here, but it looks fun!

At this point I have ran out of Pros/Cons, so it is time to determine if this convention is one worth traveling to. I have been to many conventions, but Otakon has been the largest I have attended yet. (Dragoncon is next) This year guest wise there was Shingo Adachi, Peter S. Beagle, Maile Flanagan, Crispin Freeman, Tsukasa Fushimi, Todd Haberkorn, Kyle Hebert, Home Made Kazoku, Chiaki Ishikawa, Hiroyuki Kanbe, Yoko Kanno, Tetsuya Kawakami, Roland Kelts, Kaoru Kurosaki, Masao Maruyama, Mike McFarland, Vic Mignogna, Kazuma Miki, Masayuki Ozaki, Takamasa Sakurai, Jad B. Saxton, Tomokazu Seki, Micah Solusod, Michihiko Suwa, T.M.Revolution, Yuzuru Tachikawa, Cristina Vee and, and Shinichiro Watanabe! Just the sheer amount of major names they brought in had brought to the convention had made it worth the trip of 12 hours to start. Being one of the oldest and most well-known Anime conventions in the USA, it has held up to its name and fame. Any serious convention goer must go to Otakon once in their life. It is worth the drive or flight if you are over 4 hours aways.  So lets get to the points!

Otakon 20 Convention Rating Breakdown:

Convention Staff and Security: 9/10

Cosplay Variety Range:  10/10

Convention Activity Level: 9/10

Convention Panels Level: 10/10

Registration Line: 8/10

Attendance Growth: 8/10

Convention Uniqueness: 8/10

Convention Layout: 8/10

Convention friendly level: 10/10

Convention Space Utilization: 9/10

Other Issues and problems worthy of point deduction:

Random Changing Line Ticket System -4

18+ Band Registration -5

Total=80

Overall Grade: B

Review compiled by Jacob Stone.