(This is a repost from my LiveJournal)
Brief recap time.
Friday:
Flight in not too bad, sitting at BWI playing FFXI while waiting for my friend Mike to call me to say he’s on the ground ends with a call about 10 minutes after his flight was supposed to land saying that he was still on the tarmac in JFK. I hibernate the laptop and take the light rail up to the con center to get my badge. Line is wrapped a quarter of the way around the building but only lasts about an hour to an hour and a half, not bad. I find a spot to sit and peruse the con propaganda, head over to the dealer’s room to survey, then sit down and get another call saying he’s on the ground and will be there in about 45-60min. I then find a better spot to sit and watch an entire group of Organization XIII cosplayers, representing all 13 members as well as some other KH2 cast members, get photographed. I debated standing up and taking pics, but decided against it.
After Mike arrives, we meander over to the hotel to get checked in with our host then head back to conspace to get his badge then head to the Touhou panel. Panel done, we rush like madmen to the arena to get good seats for the JAM Project concert. Good seats gotten, he gets a call from other friends of ours, Jeff and Josh who head over and grab the 2 seats next to us. Not too long later, the concert starts. The setlist was as follows:
1. ROCKS
2. CRUSH GEAR FIGHT
3. NO BORDER (English Ver.)
4. Meikyuu no PRISONER
5. GARO~SAVIOR IN THE DARK~
6. Kageyama solo – Cha-la Head-Cha-la
7. Endoh solo – Yuusha-Oh Tanjou!
8. Okui solo – Rinbu Revolution
9. Cry for the Earth (acoustic)
10. Little Wing (acoustic)
11. Fukuyama solo – Angel Voice (acoustic)
12. Kitadani solo – WE ARE!
13. Hagane no Messiah
14. Nageki no ROSARIO
15. BREAK OUT
16. VICTORY
17. GONG
Encore 1. SOUL TAKER
Encore 2. SKILL
Without a doubt, the concert was Friday (and the entire con?)’s highlight. While all the songs kicked ass, the best moments were probably the ENTIRE crowd screaming “GA GA GA GA GA GA GAO GAI GAA” along with Endoh, “GONGU NARASE!” in GONG, and of course the “MOTTO MOTTO” in SKILL. The temporary hearing loss was worth it.
Saturday:
After somehow sleeping after the awesomeness of the concert, Mike and I had to wake up early for his panel at 9 A.M. I know, 9 A.M. Saturday is a deathslot, but all in all, his panel went quite well. We stuck around for the sentai-related panels following his then grabbed lunch and caught the rest of the JAM Project Q&A session, in which they revealed they would be doing a future OP for Keroro Gunsou (Sgt. Frog). Once the session was over, we (among others) hauled freight over to where the JAM Project autograph session would be held. We made it in the line somehow and walked away with autographs.
While I’ve long held to the thought that if by some miracle I managed to scrape up enough coin to fly to Japan for a JAM Project concert, I would because it’s been a dream of mine to see them in concert ever since I got hooked on them a few years back. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought they would come to the US and I get a chance to meet them and get my SKILL single signed. Needless to say, after I shook Okui-san, Kageyama-san, Endoh-san, Fukuyama-san, and Kitadani-san’s hands and got all 5 signatures on the liner, I have no idea how I was still standing and composed. If the ringing in my ears after the concert the night before was the highlight of the con, getting to meet the band, shake hands, exchange bows and ありがとうs trumped it hugely. Even now as I listen to the CD I picked up at the concert (along with the T-shirt, of course), I remember meeting 5 great artists, all of whose music I like singularly as well, and a huge grin forms on my face.
After we recovered from fanboy “….. omfg omfg omfg omfg omfg,” Mike and I headed down to the dealers’ room to find stuff to buy. I almost bought the Shinguuji Sakura Pinky:st doll but decided against it as I didn’t want to risk crushing it in my luggage. If I find it at AWA however, I’ll pick it up. I did buy PatchCon: Defend the Library!, a Touhou-inspired RTS/tower defense game.
It’s worth noting that I had been carrying around my backpack, which as it sat with my laptop, DS, PSP, camera, multiple chargers, messenger bag (yes, inside the backpack), probably weighed in excess of 20lb since morning, and my shoulders had gotten quite sore from all the walking around we did, so after the dealers’ room, we headed back to the hotel room to rest up and coordinate dinner plans with Jeff and Josh. I took the opportunity to switch the DS and PSP to the messenger bag and shed about 15 pounds of bag weight.
Jeff got us a reservation at P.F. Chang’s at 8, so we headed back to conspace to meet up with them then head to dinner. I hadn’t eaten at Chang’s in years, but it was as good as I remembered. After dinner, we meandered back to conspace. Mike and I parted ways from the others and headed back to the room. After that, we decided to attend the guro panel for the hell of it. Strangely enough, it wasn’t nearly as disturbing as I expected: most things shown I had either already seen by way of /b/ (among other places) or were just… tame, comparatively speaking of course.
Saturday rounded out with us staying up to watch today’s episode of Code Geass R2 live via streaming Japanese TV.
Sunday:
Ah, Sunday at cons, usually the slowest day. We started out meeting up with our unnamed friend who works for an unnamed anime company for breakfast, after doing pre-packing. After breakfast, we headed back to the room to gather our things then head to the dealers’ room for one last looking around (and also to see if we could free said previous friend away for lunch). After we determined they were far too busy to allow it, we said our good-byes then headed to the rail station by the convention center for me to depart to the airport to head home.
Upon arriving at the airport, I pretty much went straight through security and was on my way to my gate with plenty of time to grab a bite to eat. I managed to get a nap in on the plane, so I should be good to go tomorrow for work. I made it home tonight around 8 P.M.
—
My first Otakon, and likely the best con I’ve ever attended, was a success to me. I accomplished the dream of seeing JAM Project live and got the double bonus of meeting the band and getting autographs. The only downside to it was that Matsumoto Rica and Mizuki Ichiro were unable to come. Maybe next time.
As I need to finish unpacking, I think I’ll end this entry here. This trip was worth it on so many levels. Now to see if AWA will stand up to this. If anything, the locality of it helps keep costs down.