Favorite Anime

Finished watching my first anime series (if you don't count watching episodes of Pokemon when I was a little kid). The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (season 1); it's totally 90's, but I liked the characters and the story was pretty good.

Glad you're enjoying it, bungo! My first exposure to Tylor was a fan parody at Otakon where they replaced all the dialogue with Star Trek references. The show itself gets pretty goofy but it can be fun.

Yeah I thought it was a lot of fun. Kind of reminded me of Star Trek/Firefly in some ways. I hope season two is just as good.

I actually didn't know it had a second season.  I hope you enjoy it, bungo.  Keep me posted!

Speaking of anime, I finally made my Otakon hotel reservations today.  I'd been putting it off for a variety of reasons, so almost all of the hotels that participate in the block rate had sold out those rooms.  The problem is that all the hotels jack their rates up for Otakon weekend because you've got 35,000 people pouring into downtown Baltimore so they know they can take advantage of people.  The Holiday Inn where I stayed the last two years goes up by about $130 a night just for that weekend.  You need a room for three nights in order to make it to all the early morning and late night events, but that was a bit much for me, even though I always ask for birthday money to offset the cost (the con and my birthday are always close).

It turns out the only hotel actually in Baltimore (as opposed to the airport 25 minutes away) that still had block rate rooms available was the Four Seasons.  Presumably their block rate was one of the highest since they're a luxury hotel, but it was actually cheaper than Holiday Inn's regular rate.  I can only imagine that Holiday Inn's discount rate was phenomenal, but it's too late for that.  The Four Seasons looks nice though; it's right on the water along the Harbor and it overlooks an outdoor concert pavilion as well.  This is probably the only time I'll be able to stay there for a long-ass time.  It's almost a shame I'll be spending all my waking hours at the convention center (a typical con day for me means getting there around 9-10 AM and leaving around 1-2 AM the next morning), but that's why I don't want to commute to and from home in the first place.

Otakon is always a highlight of my vacation calendar so I save up for it all year long.  It's an amazing experience though; totally worth it in my opinion.

What is an amime ?

Japanese animation.

Wait, is this coming out of the fjordlandia fund?

Kidding. Sounds fun, Eldo. Tough , as I've never been to one of these things, I feel I have to ask. What do you actually do for all those hours?

Eldorian wrote:Japanese animation.

I was trying to find a decent youtube example, but I think you are better qualified, Eldo.  The voice-overs on all survey clips were too cringe-worthy to abide.

Bluebottle wrote:Wait, is this coming out of the fjordlandia fund?

*tries to look innocent*

Kidding. Sounds fun, Eldo. Tough , as I've never been to one of these things, I feel I have to ask. What do you actually do for all those hours?

Well a lot of is standing in lines. Although I'll have less of that to do this year since they're mailing out the registration packets and badges ahead of time.  Walking around and taking pictures of cosplayers (and, if you're cosplaying yourself, having pictures taken of you) is common.  They have a million square foot dealer's room where you can buy all sorts of stuff as well as an artist's alley for fan artists and shopping there is always a highlight.  They have screenings of a lot of anime, some classic stuff but a lot of it newer, and occasionally you get premieres of English dubbed versions or you see a movie that's still on the festival circuit and hasn't been released on DVD in North America yet.  For someone who mostly watches anime on a computer, seeing a movie for the first time with 2000+ other people is a totally different experience.  There's also a ton of workshops and panel presentations by both industry people and other fans, which I focused on more last year than I had before and those are probably my favorite part.  They can vary in quality but the good ones can be really interesting.  The biggest appeal to me though is just being in a place where I can let all of my nerdiest interests be completely public and still fit in completely. Particularly since anime is often marginalized even by other nerdy types, although there are plenty of other interests represented at Otakon too.

halfwise wrote:I was trying to find a decent youtube example, but I think you are better qualified, Eldo.  The voice-overs on all survey clips were too cringe-worthy to abide.

English dubbing of anime has come a long way in the past 10-15 years but it's still somewhat controversial and not always that good.  There's a large spectrum of genres represented by the medium of anime though, so what I recommend to people who are interested in trying it out depends on the person and their interests.  The most high-profile anime in the west are mostly fantasy action-adventure shows aimed at kids and teens, but there's plenty of other stuff if you dig a little deeper.

The dubbing is an acceptable nuisance; what I was talking about was for example a compilation of clips from the 10 best anime series, totally ruined by sub standard running commentary.

Ah, I get what you mean. Yeah, YouTube commentators are tremendously hit and miss.

Eldorion wrote:Well a lot of is standing in lines. Although I'll have less of that to do this year since they're mailing out the registration packets and badges ahead of time.  Walking around and taking pictures of cosplayers (and, if you're cosplaying yourself, having pictures taken of you) is common.  They have a million square foot dealer's room where you can buy all sorts of stuff as well as an artist's alley for fan artists and shopping there is always a highlight.  They have screenings of a lot of anime, some classic stuff but a lot of it newer, and occasionally you get premieres of English dubbed versions or you see a movie that's still on the festival circuit and hasn't been released on DVD in North America yet.  For someone who mostly watches anime on a computer, seeing a movie for the first time with 2000+ other people is a totally different experience.  There's also a ton of workshops and panel presentations by both industry people and other fans, which I focused on more last year than I had before and those are probably my favorite part.  They can vary in quality but the good ones can be really interesting.  The biggest appeal to me though is just being in a place where I can let all of my nerdiest interests be completely public and still fit in completely. Particularly since anime is often marginalized even by other nerdy types, although there are plenty of other interests represented at Otakon too.

Yeah, i get that. It's basically spending a weekend on one of your interests. And at that an interest that people in your day to day life might not care all that much about. And you spend the weekend with a bunch of people who cares as much for it, if not more, as yourself.

I just find myself thinking if I was to spend 16+ hours in a convention center I'd just end up walkig in circles, never finding a good enough reason to stop anywhere. That might have more to do with me than anything else though.

Eldorion wrote:

Bluebottle wrote:Wait, is this coming out of the fjordlandia fund?

*tries to look innocent*

Well, as long as there's actually a fjordlandia fund I guess I shouldn't complain.

Actually it's in a good location, the Baltimore Inner Harbor. It has just enough to keep you entertained for bits and pieces of a weekend, but not enough to pull you completely away from a conference. A few Brewpubs, some shopping, a walk to Fort McHenry to stretch your legs if needed, nice scenery looking over the harbor.

New Orleans now, that's a tremendous place for a conference so long as nothing happens at night. I wouldn't spend a minute inside a conference hall once the sun goes down in New Orleans.

Bluebottle wrote:Yeah, i get that. It's basically spending a weekend on one of your interests. And at that an interest that people in your day to day life might not care all that much about. And you spend the weekend with a bunch of people who cares as much for it, if not more, as yourself.

I just find myself thinking if I was to spend 16+ hours in a convention center I'd just end up walkig in circles, never finding a good enough reason to stop anywhere. That might have more to do with me than anything else though.

I think most people here would enjoy fan conventions.  Not necessarily anime ones, but if you're posting on here, you're probably into the sort of nerdy stuff that thrives at cons. I was pretty nervous my first time at Otakon cause I'm usually not great with crowds and don't like being out for too long, but I was able to ease in pretty easily.  It helps to go with someone of course (my brother, in my case), though we often split up.  He tends to spend more time at the rave than I do, for instance.

They put out a detailed schedule in advance (though it sometimes changes with little notice), so it can be to be able to make it to everything you might want to do.  It's worth setting aside blocks of time to just wander the dealer's room though.  That's always a lot of fun.  Otherwise I just go a mix of stuff I recognize and things that might be an interesting introduction to something.  My favorite panel last year (and I went to a ton last year) was WWII in anime, by some guy wearing an admiral's uniform.  He'd started doing the panel after having spent years talking about military history to people at the con, and it was a blast.

halfwise wrote:Actually it's in a good location, the Baltimore Inner Harbor.  It has just enough to keep you entertained for bits and pieces of a weekend, but not enough to pull you completely away from a conference.  A few Brewpubs, some shopping, a walk to Fort McHenry to stretch your legs if needed, nice scenery looking over the harbor.

New Orleans now, that's a tremendous place for a conference so long as nothing happens at night.  I wouldn't spend a minute inside a conference hall once the sun goes down in New Orleans.

Yeah, it's a really nice set-up they've got.  The Inner Harbor gets taken over by cosplayers and other Otakon people for that weekend from people streaming in for the cheap food (which is nonetheless better than the convention's own food kiosks) and just hanging out by the water.  Once you walk past the aquarium or the new visitor center (depending on the direction you're going) the crowds very quickly become locals and the percentage of people in cosplay goes way down.  Conversely, the number of weird looks you get for wearing a colored wig or a cape or what-have-you go way up.  A couple years ago I walked over to Pier Six to listen to Peter Frampton from the adjoining pier while dressed like this (that's me on the far right) and I got so many glares from the middle aged dad crowd who were also there listening to Frampton.

Unfortunately, the Baltimore Convention Center is not really big enough for Otakon anymore, even though they use the entire thing and most of the attached Hilton (stretching over four city blocks) as well as the First Mariner Arena and parts of the Hyatt Regency closer to the Harbor.  They've had to institute an attendance cap of 35,000 people and are moving to Washington, DC where there's a newer and larger convention center once their current agreement with the BCC expires.  I'll really miss Otakon being a Baltimore thing (although it wasn't originally, it's been here for 15 years), but having more space will be a really good thing.  The crowds and lines have gotten insane.

I feel I'm starting to see why people go to conventions.

I feel I'm starting to see why people go to conventions.- Blue

Have you seen what the lady cosplayers wear at the conventions Eldo goes to?- cant think at all what a respectable young man can see there of such interest!

Errrrrr....

Believe it or not, the hot cosplayers are not why I go to Otakon, although it was funny seeing my mom's reaction the first year (when we didn't have a hotel) when she picked me up at 1:30 AM. Although to be fair, a lot of the people in skimpy outfits at that hour are only there for the rave, or had changed for it.

Oh, I was just being silly. Thanks for all the info. Sounds fun. You might have sold me on this convention thing. Who knows, if I wasn't on the other side of the world perhaps I might have joined you.

Well, that and the fact I'm not sure I've ever seen any anime..

It's all good man. You'd be surprised how many people go to Otakon for stuff other than anime. Never having seen ANY anime though? You should rectify that.

the hot cosplayers are not why I go to Otakon- Eldo

Of course not. {{{{ }}}}}

I don't know. I won't pretend looks plays a big part in the first impression anyone makes, but if I like someone it's usually for the person they are.