Otakon
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{{Infobox Anime_convention
|convention_name=Otakon |logo=O_2006_logo_sm.jpg |size= |caption=Otakon 2006 Logo. |location=Baltimore Convention Center
Baltimore, Maryland, USA |years=1994 to present |attendance=22,000 people as of Otakon 2005 (capped) |events=Video Rooms, Anime Music Video Contest, Masquerade, Rave/Dance, Dealer's Room, Panels, Workshops, Video Game Room, The Alley, Concert, Manga Room, and Karaoke. |website=http://www.otakon.com
}} Otakon is a fan convention focusing on the art of anime and manga, East Asian culture, and its fandom. The name is derived from the Japanese word otaku, which roughly means fanboy. Otakon is traditionally held some Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during the month of August at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district. Run by the Pennsylvania-based non-profit organization Otakorp, Inc., Otakon is one of the largest and longest-running Japanese animation conventions in the United States.
Otakon is run by Otakorp, Inc., an educational non-profit organization whose focus is on using popular culture as a gateway to increase understanding of Asian culture. (Technically, Otakon is the annual meeting of Otakorp, Inc.'s membership.) Otakorp, Inc. also runs anime showings as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC.
All staff are unpaid volunteers, although registration tasks are supplemented by temporary workers, and certain services are by contract. As of Otakon 2005, approximately 480 staff were listed on the roster.
Contents |
Programming
Typical Otakon programming includes:
- Several video rooms in which live action Japanese films and anime are shown in various rooms on big screens throughout the convention. Fan-produced anime music videos, in which anime film clips are set against the background of a particular song, are also shown.
- Panels and Workshops on subjects such as voice acting or how to draw manga. Expert guests discuss or show tricks of their trade and field questions from the audience.
- A Dealers' Room in which commercial vendors such as publishers and retailers set up booths and sell their merchandise.
- The Alley (formerlly the Artist's Alley and Art Show), in which amateur artists may sign up for a table and display, advertise, sell, and auction their artwork.
- A video game room in which attendees may play a variety of console, arcade, and computer games, and participate in tournaments.
- Musical guests and a dance.
- Cosplay and live-action role-playing. Many attendees spend most of the convention in costume as their favorite anime, manga, or video game character.
Thousands of people attend Otakon each year. Attendees arriving in the morning on Friday or Saturday should expect to wait hours in line to pick up their registration badges. Attendees can arrive on Thursday to pick up their registration badges so they can gain instant access to all the convention events on Friday.
Otakorp maintains relationships with many hotels in the Inner Harbor area, allowing attendees to reserve a certain number of rooms at a discounted rate. These specially reserved rooms are usually booked well in advance of the convention date.
History
Otakon 1994
Otakon started in 1994 at the Days Inn hotel in State College, Pennsylvania with 350 attendees, 4 dealers, 9 American guests, and 16 staff members.
Otakon 1995
For Otakon 1995, Otakon moved to the Scanticon hotel in State College, Pennsylvania and hosted 450 attendees (a 29% increase from 1994), 25 staff members, 15 dealers, 2 Japanese guests, and 14 American guests. It was Otakon's first and only four-day convention. This was the first year to have a live-action video track and the first year to feature live-action role-playing.
Otakon 1996
For Otakon 1996, Otakon moved to the Hunt Valley Marriott hotel in Hunt Valley, Maryland and hosted 1,000 attendees (a 122% increase from 1995), 35 staff members, 20 dealers, 1 Japanese guest, and 9 American guests. There was an impromptu rave at Otakon '96. One staffer developed and released a custom Doom level based on the layout of the hotel.
Otakon 1997
Image:Otakon1997logo.gif For Otakon 1997, Otakon remained in the Hunt Valley Marriott hotel in Hunt Valley, Maryland and hosted 1,750 attendees (a 75% increase from 1996), 45 staff members, 22 dealers, 3 Japanese guests, and 15 American guests. It was the first year for Otakon's popular event "Mystery Anime Theater 3000" (based on Mystery Science Theater 3000). The "www.otakon.com" domain was officially registered, and the impromptu rave of Otakon '96 became an official event.
Otakon 1998
Image:Otakon1998logo.gif For Otakon 1998, Otakon moved to the Hyatt Regency Crystal City hotel in Arlington, Virginia and hosted 2,500 attendees (a 43% increase from 1997), 60 staff members, 25 dealers, 2 Japanese guests, and 22 American guests. This was the 5th Otakon held. Otakon 1998 was the last Otakon convention to be held in a hotel and this Otakon had female characters on every membership badge given out to Otakon '98 attendees.
Otakon 1999
For Otakon 1999, Otakon changed venues, for the first time of its history, Otakon, due to its growth, moved from using hotels to using a large convention center. Otakon moved to the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland, which still remains as its official venue. Otakon '99 hosted 4,500 attendees (an 80% increase from 1998), 80 staff members, 30 dealers, 5 Japanese guests, and 22 American guests. Otakon's tradition of inviting musical guests began this year with composer Yoko Kanno.
Otakon 2000
For Otakon 2000, Otakon remained in the Baltimore Convention Center and hosted 7,500 attendees (a 67% increase from 1999), 114 staff members, 45 dealers, 6 Japanese guests, 20 American guests, 6 British guests, and 1 guest from Hong Kong. Otakon '00 was host to the British indie band Bôa.
Otakon 2001
Image:Otakon2001logo.gif For Otakon 2001, Otakon remained in the Baltimore Convention Center and hosted 10,275 attendees (a 37% increase from 2000), 180 staff members, 65 dealers, 4 Japanese guests, and 14 American guests. This was the first Otakon to have the "Otachan" event, a children's programming track. One memorable event of Otakon '01 was the late-night, early-morning "explosions" along Pratt Street due to the July train fire that occurred just weeks before Otakon '01. The BCC was evacuated, and all of the Otakon attendees poured out onto Pratt Street. Fire hydrants were opened, and Pratt Street and adjoining streets became like a river. Many of the evacuated attendees took a break from the convention to play in the gushing streams of water. It took many attendees several minutes to voluntarily leave due to the evacuation coinciding with the end of a screening of the popular underground film Battle Royale. Pictures of Pratt Street when it was flooded and attendees were playing in the water are available on the internet.
Otakon 2002
For Otakon 2002, Otakon remained in the Baltimore Convention Center and hosted 12,880 attendees (a 25% increase from 2001) and 6 Japanese guests, employed a staff of 285 (all volunteers), and attracted over 130 vendors from all over the world. This was the first year that Otakon occupied the entire Baltimore Convention Center, which is over one million square feet (93,000 m²) in size.
Otakon 2003 / Otakon X / Tenth Anniversary
Image:Otakon2003logo.jpg Image:TMR Concert Picture 4 4 36 PM.jpeg For its tenth convention in 2003 Otakon once again took over the entire Baltimore Convention Center. Major musical guests for 2003 were Kristine Sa and Takanori Nishikawa, also known as T.M. Revolution, a popular musical performer in the anime and J-Pop world.
2003 marked the last year of the popular fan event "Mystery Anime Theater 3000".
New at Otakon 2003 was Thursday Night Pre-Registration pickup, where the Convention Center was open the Thursday night before the convention so those who had pre-registered could pick up their badges in advance. An estimated 2,000+ did so.
In 2003, Otakon arguably became the largest anime convention in North America. Its official attendance count of 17,338 was 35% larger than that of 2002. The longtime holder of the crown, Anime Expo in southern California, had approximately 17,000 attendees in 2003 [1].
Otakon 2004
In 2004, Otakon remained in the Baltimore Convention Center, hosting 20,899 registered attendees (a 21% growth from 2003). Thursday Night Pre-registration pickup was again widely attended.
The Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association gave Otakon 2004 the status of a "citywide event".
New events at Otakon 2004 included a collectible card game tournament and a "manga library" in which attendees could read donated copies of various manga. A convention-produced manga magazine, Otazine, featuring original manga by U.S. artists, also made its first appearance this year.
2004 also marked the debut of the Otakon Post Office, a US Postal Service station with its own Otakon-themed commemorative postmark, only available from the USPS booth in the Dealer's Room during the weekend.
Japanese rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel made their first U.S. appearance as Otakon 2004's musical guest. Held in a separate venue, the nearby 1st Mariner Arena, the concert drew an estimated 12,000 -- some of whom were fans who flew in from Japan solely for the concert. Sony Music Japan, who had filmed the concert, released it on DVD in Japan for 4,515 yen (approximately US$40) on 8 December 2004. It was released in southeast Asia by Sony Music Asia on 18 January 2005. Tofu Records, Sony Music Japan's official American label, released the DVD on 31 May 2005, the price is $19.98.
In a March 16th, 2006 post to the Otakon BBS at 1:16 AM EST, Otakon 2006 Section Relations Head, Jonathan Harmon revealed that the Baltimore Fire Marshal threatened to close down the L'Arc concert due to what he attributes to a "group of crazy Japanese fangirls who bum-rushed security as soon as the doors were opened..." (Source Topic: Interesting Otakon Google Video links. (Requires registration)
Otakon 2005
Image:O 2005 logo sm.jpeg Otakon 2005 returned to the Baltimore Convention Center and went from Friday 19 August to Sunday 21 August. It was the first Otakon to be held in the middle of August, which had raised some complaints from prospective attendees due to conflicts with the beginning of the school year in many school districts and universities.
For the first time in Otakon's 12-year history, an attendance cap was instated as a precaution against overcrowding, partly out of concern that the number of attendees might have exceeded the building's maximum capacity according to fire regulations. In 2005, registration was limited to 22,000. One of the reasons for this cap is the Baltimore Convention Center's maximum occupancy rate, depending on precise layout and use, is somewhere between 23,000 and 25,000 (including all staff, guests, dealers, industry, and press); other related reasons are crowd control and public safety. Rather than run afoul of the fire marshall, Otakon's management opted for a number safely below the point at which the fire marshall might have ordered changes.
Otakon 2005 was also the first time attendees could only purchase a three-day pass for the convention. In previous years it was also possible to purchase individual day passes for either Friday, Saturday or Sunday, as well as a two-day pass for both Friday and Saturday, but not Sunday. The reason for only selling a three-day pass was to make it easier for Otakon's volunteers to make sure that anyone entering the BCC was permitted to do so. With the convention growing to over 20,000 attendees, it was believed that having several different methods of registration would either cause entry of attendees to the building to be very slow, or would permit people to enter on days they were not registered to do so, and in the end would create too much work for the volunteers.
Otakon 2005 saw the return of the Thursday Night Pre-Registration and was a huge success with hundreds if not thousands of people waiting to obtain their badges and convention materials.
Otakon 2005 saw the return of the Otakon Post Office that first debuted to huge success at Otakon 2004. Also, the layout was adjusted so that large Industry booths had a hall to themselves, though this meant sacrificing a video hall. The 35mm track shared time with simulcast main events, but also gained Dolby surround sound and theatre-style lighting, vastly improving the experience in such a large room.
On July 7th, 2005, Otakon announced its musical guests, the Indigo and Piano Squall. The selection of the Indigo drew controversy from attendees because the Indigo is relatively unknown among anime fans due to the only things they are attributed to is Ai Yori Aoshi and Someday's Dreamers, many attendees were hoping a big name musical act would've been chosen as had been done in 2003 and 2004. (This was despite warnings year-round from staff that Otakon would not be pursuing a similarly large name for 2005.) However, the band's American debut was greeted with much praise from all attendees. In fact, a total of six musical acts performed at Otakon 2005, excluding DJs. This was the first year that Otakon had a stage set up for local live acts. The other bands in attendance (by order of performance) were: Orin(www.orinmusic.com), Entertainment System(www.myspace.com/entertainmentsystem), and Pine*AM(www.myspace.com/pineam). On August 1st, 2005, Kumiko Kato(http://www.kumikokato.com/home.php) was added to the list of musical guests. A relative newcomer to the Japanese-pop scene, Kumiko Kato had been touring the convention scene when asked if she would perform at Otakon 2005. Kumiko gave two major performances, one Friday evening (an impromptu concert after the cancelation of Otaku Idol), and a second concert on Saturday before the Masquerade.
In accordance with their stated policy, refunds for Otakon 2005 are only extended in cases of accidental double payments and other technical glitches; refunds are not offered to those who couldn't make it for other reasons. Information about refunds for Otakon 2005
Otakon reached its attendance cap (22,000) early Saturday morning, and by mid-afternoon was fending off scalpers. Several badges were confiscated and memberships were revoked for scalping.
Also of note: The Baltimore Ravens had an exhibition game over the weekend, and the convention staff were forced to deal with a sudden influx of curious (and often inebriated) football fans at a time when the building was solidly at capacity. In turn, a miscommunication led to BCC staff turning away people at several entrances, including the Skywalk entrance, regardless of whether they had a badge.
Otakon was also covered fairly extensively this year by local press, especially local television stations. Usually such coverage is confined to gawking at the costumes, but the ongoing battle over whether the city would build a Baltimore Convention Center Hotel brought a new angle for reporting. As one of the few city-wide events, and one of the biggest and most reliable customers of the existing Convention Center, Baltimore risks losing millions of dollars in revenue if it cannot meet the demand for additional hotel and function space, and this was mentioned in several news stories. Puffy AmiYumi (who did not perform at Otakon 2005, but had time in their tour schedule to stop by the convention for a pannel discussion) also got a large article in the Baltimore Sun, continuing the tradition of significant coverage of Otakon's musical guests.
Otakon 2006
Image:Otakon2006logo.JPG Otakon 2006 will be August 4th, 5th, and 6th, 2006 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Pre-registration opened February 4th, and marked the debut of the integrated registration system, which allows attendees from 2005 to renew their memberships. The cost of membership has risen to $50 before July 4th ($60 until July 21st, or at the door). This is the first time Otakon has not offered group discounts or early-bird rates. In the announcement, these changes were attributed to several things, such as higher costs, member confusion about deadlines for early-bird rates, and people taking advantage of the group rate, which was originally designed to help Anime clubs. The attendance cap has been raised to 25,000, mostly thanks to the space freed up by moving Masquerade events into the First Mariner Arena on Saturday of the convention.
On February 5th, Otakon announced its first group of guests: Voice Actor and ADR Director Richard Epcar (GITS: Stand Alone Complex, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Lupin 3rd), Fred Gallagher of MegaTokyo webcomic fame, and of the Little Gamers webcomic fame Pontus Madsen and Christian Fundin.
On February 21st, 2006, Otakon launched an official RSS feed for its news. Otakon also announced information on how to advertise in the Otakon 2006 Program Book.
By early March, it had become clear that the hotel situation was grim -- nearly every hotel in the downtown area had sold through their Otakon blocks, and many had completely sold out.
On March 9th, 2006, Otakon announced 4 guests for Otakon 2006: Christine Auten (Lady Death, Fullmetal Alchemist), Caitlin Glass (Burst Angel, Fullmetal Alchemist), Kate Higgins (Zatch Bell, Naruto), and Patrick Seitz (Koi Kaze, Texhnolyze) bringing the current total of guests to 8. Otakon has also updated its site with bios and pictures of all the guests announced thusfar.
(NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT JUST REPOST ALL NEWS ITEMS FROM THE OTAKON WEBSITE.)
Otakon 2006 Artist Alley Controversy
Due to miscommunication and misunderstanding of a post in the Otakon forums (made by the Alley's department head), a great number of people were led to believe that Otakon would be banning all fan art at the convention. The change sparked a very vocal outcry from several artists, a few of whom had previously had very public issues with Otakon. The story was carried on several news services as well.
However, on Februrary 2nd, 2006, over the controversy on the issue, Otakon released an official statement on fanart (About those Artist Alley rumors) stating that:
"Otakon is NOT implementing, nor has it ever seriously considered, a total ban on fan art. Our initial posting on the subject clearly confused some people, and for that we apologize. However, despite repeated and widespread attempts to clarify the direction our policy revisions are expected to take, the rumor we are banning fan art is still being spread.
For the record: Otakon is not banning fan art."
On February 15th, 2006, Otakon released the rules for The Alley (renamed from Artist's Alley) and it reiterates that fanart is not banned at Otakon. There is a greater emphasis, however, on rules that support original artwork, and the rules clarify the rights of copyright owners.
The future of Otakon
In light of Otakon's consistent growth and the continuing popularity of anime in North America, it seems likely that Otakon will continue to be held for the foreseeable future. The Baltimore Convention Center is likely to remain the venue for Otakon in future years, mainly due to a lack of other venues of sufficient size in the area.
The possibility of once again holding a four-day convention, as in 1995, has been considered. With several years of experience and an established fan base, Otakorp is theoretically in a better position than ever to hold a longer convention. However, this suggestion seems to come mostly from younger members, and has almost no support among the people actually running the convention. Many dealers and industry participants have stated that an additional day would not bring in enough business to justify their expense, and the overwhelming majority of staff (many of whom vote on convention policy) are quite vocal in their objection to attempting a four-day convention, citing staff exhaustion and high turnover after the much smaller 1995 convention. All staffers are volunteers and already have to take a significant amount of time off from their jobs to set things up for and clean up after the convention. Thus possibilities for a future four-day convention are extremely slim.
Some Otakon staff members, notably Jonathan Harmon, have said that if Otakon outgrows the Baltimore Convention Center, the much larger D.C. Convention Center is under consideration as an alternative venue. On the Otakon BBS, Otakon 2005 con chair, Thomas McMullan stated in a post dated Sunday, September 4th, 2005, that the Baltimore Convention Center Hilton Hotel is under consideration for an alternative venue for certain events, and the additional capacity for rooms and function space would be a big factor in Otakon's future plans. Mr. McMullan stated: "In any event, there is no way the new hotel will be built for 2006 (We've been told to expect it to take two years to build once they break ground), although it will be one of the things we look at as we consider where to go in 2007 and beyond." Source Topic (Requires registration to view)
Several highly popular events have assumed a life of their own: Artists Alley has become one of the most successful in the country, boasting hundreds of participating artists; Video Gaming now occupies over 50,000 square feet (5,000 m²) of exhibit hall space and in 2005 featured over 125 game stations using broadcast-quality monitors and projection screens; and the Otakon Dance consistently attracts top quality DJs. However, these events are also suffering from the same lack of space for growth that plague the rest of the convention.
Recently on the Otakon BBS, the issue of Otakon moving to possibly the D.C. Convention Center came up again in a topic discussing the feasibility of Otakon having automated video rooms. Otakon 2006 con chair, Jim Vowles stated in a post dated Tuesday, November 29th, 2005, that currently there is no firm decision of moving Otakon to the D.C. Convention Center due to cost and logistics. However, Mr. Vowles stated that Otakon is talking with the Baltimore Convention Center regarding "the possibility of a move [to D.C]." But Mr. Vowles personally states in the post that "the move to DC would be a bigger challenge than some people think -- and the true cost is as yet unknown" and he also states that it would take "at least a year to plan any such move" and within that year "the new [Hilton] hotel next to the BCC will be well underway." He continues with that he's personally not convinced that Otakon "should expend all that effort only to move back when the new facility is built" and that if Otakon does indeed decide to move from Baltimore "it should be considered a more or less permanent move if at all possible." Mr. Vowles continues with: "Realistically, unless the BCC is leveled and rebuilt, it will not be a serious competitor with DC, but it may continue to suit our needs for quite a while. Eventually, we're either going to reach the plateau of our growth, or we're going to need to move, and at that point it's pretty much got to be DC. But Baltimore and the BCC have been our home base since 1999, and we put in two years in Hunt Valley before our big growth in the mid/late nineties. I don't see us casually tossing that history aside.
So in the meanwhile, we continue to investigate the options in ever greater detail. Real hard numbers are the next stage of the game." Source Topic (Requires registration to view)
Video game link
In 1998, video game publisher Konami released the game Metal Gear Solid, part of its Metal Gear franchise. The game contained a character named Hal Emmerich, who had the code name "Otacon", an alternate spelling for Otakon. Otakorp, Inc., the non-profit organization that runs Otakon and owns the rights to the name, gave permission to Konami to use the name "Otacon" in all Metal Gear Solid games. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004), which featured the same character, were released for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube, respectively. Otacon is also to be featured on Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the upcoming PlayStation 3 console.