First off, there was a lot that I missed at Otakon. There were many good panel discussions that I didn't attend (I'm still kicking myself for not going to the panel on the Cowboy Bebop series). There were plenty of great costumes that I missed because the camera was off or the costumer was headed in the other direction or I was too involved in messing with someone else. (Fred Schodt said he was very impressed with the costumes, and was delighted to meet the people behind the Totoro, Pikachu and Pokemon who got first prize in the masquerade.) I wish I had gotten to them all, but this event was big.

Going to Otakon was like attending the Indianapolis 500. No matter how high the seat, you can't see everything. The convention staff listed their estimated attendance at 4,500, a big increase over the 2,500 of 1999. Yet, Otakon didn't seem that crowded - because of the move to the Baltimore Convention Center. The large building swallowed crowds. The dealer's room had as much floor space as entire conventions. The main events hall was so big that it never was filled, even for the masquerade. The author arrived in mid-afternoon Friday to a long line for the dealer's room, but no lines at the registration desk, despite the size of the crowd. That crowd didn't want to leave on Saturday night: at 2 a.m. Sunday, there were more people on hand at Otakon than there had been at all of Tranquility Base in Cincinnati two weeks earlier.

Okay: everyone loves to read about what went wrong, so here's the list: fire alarms went off in the convention center four or five times during the convention; the denizens of the artists' alley complained that they couldn't sell stuff and that they were rousted from their tables on Sunday; someone stole a cash box from a big company in the dealer's room and there were dealer complaints about electricity and phone line charges, and room parties were broken up by the staffs of the neighboring Hyatt and Sheraton hotels. Irony of the year: one of the parties shut down was the Sunday night Otakon staff party in the Sheraton, held in the room that had been used for the con suite. Even bigger irony: the Sunday night fireworks display, which was set off moments after the party was broken up (and from which the hotel room had a perfect view) was much louder than the party ever had been. And, in turn, that wasn't as loud as the five-year-old kids had been in the room next door. Go figure.

And the less said about US Airways and their mishandling of the author's flight reservations, the better.

Nothing that went wrong at Otakon -and something goes wrong at every anime convention - can compare with the devastation that one deranged man caused during the weekend in the Midwest, uncomfortably close to the author's home. A man described as a white supremacist went on a shoooting spree from Illinois to Indiana, firing at African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Jews, killing two people (including former Northwestern Univ. basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong) and wounding several people before apparently killing himself.

While the author and thousands of people were enjoying a special fellowship based on international culture, one man destroyed lives because of hate - on the same weekend.

So much went right at Otakon: a talented group of costumers, tireless in their devotion to detail and tolerant in their acceptance of crazy people with cameras who stopped them to take pictures in the halls; dozens of staff volunteers who worked endless hours over the weekend, a convention chairman with the courage to walk into a meeting room, sit down and answer the gripes, alone; the air conditioning system in the convention center, which never wilted under the load of a large crowd and a hot and humid weekend (which is something not to be taken for granted); and an amazingly friendly and accessible group of guests, led by the graceful Mari Iijima and the enthusiastic Yoko Kanno. 

Iijima was lovely in her continuing comeback tour of anime conventions. She was even civil to the poor guy who made the mistake of going up to her just before her Saturday concert, handing her a Mini Disc, asking her to autograph it and saying he was going to record the concert on that disc. "Are you sure you have permission?" a quizzical but amazingly tolerant Iijima asked. You have to wish Iijima good luck with her album and the changes she will encounter in the next few months.

Kanno was astounding. She was like a schoolgirl on holiday, delighting at every inch of the convention, enjoying every sight, seemingly grateful at every bit of attention she received. The author's favorite Kanno moment was after her Friday night recital, when she stuck around for a few minutes and kept playing for photographers. She created a wonderful jazz improvisation in the style of Duke Ellington and Oscar Peterson, leaving the author yearning for more. Kanno has a reputation as a pop artist, but the author is convinced that there's a major jazz artist there as well.

One additional note: there had been rumors that Otakon could be held on the Independence Day holiday in 2000, on the same weekend as Anime Expo (which already has announced it will use that date for a four-day convention). Those in charge of Otakon have said that the 2000 event will be held in August, not July. Here's a word of thanks to Otakon's organizers for working to avoid the date conflict! That will give us a couple of weeks between cons to recharge our bank accounts, and keep us from needing to make the hard choice of which convention to attend and which one to miss.