Otakon 2009
Jul. 27th, 2009 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kristenskAs always, I've waited until a week after the fact to jabber about Otakon, but oh well. It was another fun trip, as it always is. Mom went with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seekersks and I again, and, this time, we headed out on Wednesday so Mom and I would have all of Thursday to explore Baltimore some more. So, we got in some sightseeing, ate a lot of good food (Seek thinks we're crazy, but Mom and I think half the fun of vacationing is the food), attended a lot of voice actor question and answer sessions and watched a lot of anime.
The Sightseeing: So, bright and early (by my standards anyways) Thursday morning, Mom and I headed out for a walking tour around Inner Harbor and Little Italy. It was fun, if a little hot to be wandering around surrounded by concrete. After the tour, we finally made our way to the Lexington Market and tried one of Faidleys' crabcakes. The price was terrifying, but it was huge and I have to admit that it was one of the best crabcakes I've ever had. Then, on Friday, we made our way over to Little Italy to try out one of the restaurants there. The food was good, but we were a little disappointed that it wasn't... somehow better. (Truthfully, Mom and I agreed that we like the Olive Garden better... much later when we were far from the restaurant, of course.) We ended Saturday with an evening walk up to Federal Hill where we just hung out for a while and enjoyed the amazing view of the harbor.
The Panels: Sadly, I missed the Inuyasha panel this year as it was scheduled from 10:30 to 11:30pm, which is past the time the light rail runs. Ah well... I love the series, but, with it ended, I'm not sure what more the usual style of panel can bring to the table. That disappointment aside, Seeker and I spent most of the convention in the many voice actor question and answer sessions. This year, we saw Tony Oliver, Crispin Freeman, Kikuko Inoue and Mary E. McGlynn. We also checked out the hilarity that is the Overclocked Remix panel. As always, it was fun, and we heard some good music. Which reminds me that I still need to download that Final Fantasy IV collection they have out now. Since, unlike some people, I can't just use my cellphone to tell my computer at home to download things seconds after they're announced in the con panel. ::jealous::
The Anime: The only anime we actually watched at the convention was the movie Sword of the Stranger. I'd been wanting to see it since I saw a trailer last year, and it didn't disappoint. It wasn't amazing, but it was good, if rather more violent than most of the stuff I watch. The animation was great, and the story was a nice action-packed adventure with just enough time taken to let you get to know the two main characters. And, I'm going to have to re-watch it sometime because there was some sort of problem with the lights in the auditorium. They were on through half the movie, making most of the movie's many nighttime scenes hard to see. Not that I relish getting a clearer view of all that arterial bloodspray, but oh well. Back at the hotel, Seek and I watched Macross Frontier, Pumpkin Scissors (the title makes little sense, but the episodes I saw were good, honest!) and Mars Daybreak.
The Random Quotes:
"I want more secret messages from the chalk people." - Overheard
"Why won't any of these ninjas stay dead?!" - Overheard
The Stuff: Like last year, I really didn't see anything in the dealer's room that caught my eye. I wanted a Gurren-Lagann T-shirt. Unfortunately, the only thing I could find were shirts with the Gurren Brigade logo, and I really wanted one with an image of the cast... or at least Kamina ;) So, since I had no luck there, I did what I did last year and put my saved money to use on Amazon. Thanks to Otakon money and some nice half-price sales earlier in the year, I now have absolutely everything they've put out for Fullmetal Alchemist - both seasons, the movie and I pre-ordered the OAV collection - as well as the Vandread boxset. So, yay!
And, yes, I will stop now. Assuming anyone's still reading ;)
seekersks and I again, and, this time, we headed out on Wednesday so Mom and I would have all of Thursday to explore Baltimore some more. So, we got in some sightseeing, ate a lot of good food (Seek thinks we're crazy, but Mom and I think half the fun of vacationing is the food), attended a lot of voice actor question and answer sessions and watched a lot of anime. The Sightseeing: So, bright and early (by my standards anyways) Thursday morning, Mom and I headed out for a walking tour around Inner Harbor and Little Italy. It was fun, if a little hot to be wandering around surrounded by concrete. After the tour, we finally made our way to the Lexington Market and tried one of Faidleys' crabcakes. The price was terrifying, but it was huge and I have to admit that it was one of the best crabcakes I've ever had. Then, on Friday, we made our way over to Little Italy to try out one of the restaurants there. The food was good, but we were a little disappointed that it wasn't... somehow better. (Truthfully, Mom and I agreed that we like the Olive Garden better... much later when we were far from the restaurant, of course.) We ended Saturday with an evening walk up to Federal Hill where we just hung out for a while and enjoyed the amazing view of the harbor.
The Panels: Sadly, I missed the Inuyasha panel this year as it was scheduled from 10:30 to 11:30pm, which is past the time the light rail runs. Ah well... I love the series, but, with it ended, I'm not sure what more the usual style of panel can bring to the table. That disappointment aside, Seeker and I spent most of the convention in the many voice actor question and answer sessions. This year, we saw Tony Oliver, Crispin Freeman, Kikuko Inoue and Mary E. McGlynn. We also checked out the hilarity that is the Overclocked Remix panel. As always, it was fun, and we heard some good music. Which reminds me that I still need to download that Final Fantasy IV collection they have out now. Since, unlike some people, I can't just use my cellphone to tell my computer at home to download things seconds after they're announced in the con panel. ::jealous::
The Anime: The only anime we actually watched at the convention was the movie Sword of the Stranger. I'd been wanting to see it since I saw a trailer last year, and it didn't disappoint. It wasn't amazing, but it was good, if rather more violent than most of the stuff I watch. The animation was great, and the story was a nice action-packed adventure with just enough time taken to let you get to know the two main characters. And, I'm going to have to re-watch it sometime because there was some sort of problem with the lights in the auditorium. They were on through half the movie, making most of the movie's many nighttime scenes hard to see. Not that I relish getting a clearer view of all that arterial bloodspray, but oh well. Back at the hotel, Seek and I watched Macross Frontier, Pumpkin Scissors (the title makes little sense, but the episodes I saw were good, honest!) and Mars Daybreak.
The Random Quotes:
"I want more secret messages from the chalk people." - Overheard
"Why won't any of these ninjas stay dead?!" - Overheard
The Stuff: Like last year, I really didn't see anything in the dealer's room that caught my eye. I wanted a Gurren-Lagann T-shirt. Unfortunately, the only thing I could find were shirts with the Gurren Brigade logo, and I really wanted one with an image of the cast... or at least Kamina ;) So, since I had no luck there, I did what I did last year and put my saved money to use on Amazon. Thanks to Otakon money and some nice half-price sales earlier in the year, I now have absolutely everything they've put out for Fullmetal Alchemist - both seasons, the movie and I pre-ordered the OAV collection - as well as the Vandread boxset. So, yay!
And, yes, I will stop now. Assuming anyone's still reading ;)
