A weekly look into American otaku culture

Got up all bright eyed and bushy tail to wait in a hot, humid room to get my badge. For this year, I had signed up to get a press badge since I knew that I would be covering this event in my blog like a news service. However, I don’t think they consider a blog to be a creditable news source, so I was denied the status and just had to get a normal badge with everyone else. And that room just got hotter and hotter the longer we had to wait for one. This is a necessary evil that everyone has to go through, so while I might feel pretty grumpy and annoyed at the moment, at least it is out of the way.

Though it’s a good thing that I got my badge on the first morning of the convention. You see, everyone is still relatively “clean” at the moment. Come Saturday, we will all be treated to the funky aroma of sub-cultured young Americans after a full day of walking, sweating, and generally not bathing. And then on Sunday…. (>_< ) But for now, I am thankful that there was definitely no funk in that badge room despite the heat in there.

There’s still an hour before the opening ceremonies, so I have time now to look at the schedule of events. There is a very nice selection of panels, both industry and non-industry. I’m particularly looking forward to the panel for the JET program (ESL Teaching in Japan) since I am planning on applying to it in a few months. But there will also be a discussion on Visual Novels, which I’m sure will just sing to my fanboy heart. As far as industry goes, it looks like Tokyopop and Media Blasters will have their announcement panels while ADV and FUNimation will do some sneak screenings of their upcoming releases. The one question I will ask them all this year will be in which direction anime will be having as the shift from DVD is approaching. Blu-Ray? HD-DVD? Downloads?

Another big plus is that so far Wi-Fi access within the convection is free. Last year, you had to pay to connect, so I wasn’t able to report back to this blog until the end of each day. But this year, I will be updating as much as I can. Sorry, Blog好き, but it looks like Scotty will be spamming you all weekend long.

However, so far I’m not getting a good feeling about the convention this year. You can tell that the budget has been greatly cut back. My biggest disappointment so far have been that the wonderful, colorful badges that I admired for the past two years are now replaced by a crudely done black-and-white sketch and a tacky sticker. The events seem to be more consolidated, with most of the action taking place in smaller rooms then the were last year. And while I’m not a big fan of cosplay, I am still a little sad that there aren’t too many cosplayers around here right now. This could just be because it’s still really early. I’ll be able to have a better judgement once the convention is in full swing.