Laptops are on all around me, curing boredom for a generation of folks who are growing more and more unfamiliar with life sans an Internet connection. The white noise of the overheard air conditioner is periodically punctuated by a blabbing child hidden somewhere behind me, shrieking every time our vehicle passes water in any form.
“Water!,” it cries out to a parent who, by now, is surely regretting not stocking up on Trojans half a decade ago. This is not an unshared wish.
Ahead of me, drab interstate highway and nondescript foliage represent the state of Maryland. Such imagery is mysteriously absent from state guidebooks and tourist brochures, which would have those hailing from the 49 other states that Maryland is home to little more than smiling lobsters and the Baltimore Orioles.
Yes, I am on my way to Otakon.
A vacant spot in a hotel room shared by my friends Lauren, John, and Andrew was offered to me by Lauren during the waning hours of Anime Boston earlier this year. Never having been to the country’s second-biggest anime convention (the biggest being California’s Anime EXPO), I jumped at the chance. Friends of mine from back home in Philadelphia had attended the convention a few years back and came back loaded with tales. Every convention they attended since has paled in comparison. From the way they made it sound, going to non-Otakon conventions was like riding the “Back to the Future” ride at Universal Studios and coming back to those “virtual reality” machines stuck in abandoned shopping mall hallways that resemble tire-lacking SUVs with Parkinson’s Disease.
Otakon will, for me, be the latest in a series of anime conventions that have been gradually increasing in size since January of this year. First came New Jersey’s Kotoricon, a small yet extensive convention held on the campus of Glassboro County College. Later on was Zenkaikon V, the defining anime convention of the Philadelphia area, held each year outside the city in Valley Forge. From there, it was off to the well-renowned New England area convention, Anime Boston, whose crowd sizes dwarfed those of Zenkaikon and squashed those of Kotoricon.
And now it’s Otakon, the San Diego Comic Con of the East Coast anime convention circuit.
I have heard stories galore about the wonders that take place during this annual summer weekend in Baltimore, Maryland. Larry Fury, who presented the panel “Conventions 101” at Zekaikon V, regaled the crowd with his experiences of hotel room sharing. At Otakon, room sharing goes beyond doubling up on beds, hoping that the person you don’t see too often (or have never met at all) isn’t a snorer or bed-wetter. For instance, bed TRIPLING is commonplace. Seventeen people in a room designed for one businessperson and his/her belongings is expected. Closets become beds. Bathtubs become beds.
Furry went on to detail what the segment of Baltimore surrounding the three-day event is like: “After Friday night, all of the ATMs within walking distance of the place are out of cash.”
Despite these tales (warnings?), I have no idea what to expect. And I like that.
Inochiblog 