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 | As the
author of this web site sat on the floor of the Southwest Airlines
terminal at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, a young man sat
next to the author. He took an Otakon membership badge out of his bag.
That person got up and a young woman took the space. She had an anime
background on her notebook PC, and a friend who walked up to speak to
her wore a Full Metal Panic T-shirt. Such was the impact of Otakon and the more than 20,000 fans who went to the Baltimore Convention center for the weekend. Downtown Baltimore motorists couldn't help but notice the crowds of colorfully-clothed people on the street. And the crowds grew when it was time for the weekend's big concert; lines of fans for that show wound one block south from the First Mariner Arena to the convention center. So many of them were new fans, attracted by anime on cable TV. The author made a brief appearance at the Animerica panel on Saturday; when he asked the audience how many had been to fewer than five conventions, most of the hands in the room were raised. A similar response came to the question of how many watched the Cartoon Network. And it was fascinating to hear ow many people said that Otakon either was their first convention, their first time wearing a costume at a convention, or both. Those fans were astonishingly kind to the author. Most amazing of all was the young woman, clad in a big foam tonberry costume, who insisted on stopping the author and handed him a small gift box. Inside was a hand-painted, three-dimensional version of the Fan's View mascot catgirl. The young woman said she had really wanted to catch up to the author and give him the figure, as a sign of thanks for this site's efforts over the years. It was an unsolicited sign of thanks, for which this writer has trouble finding the correct words of welcome. In 1999, when Otakon first moved to Baltimore, the Inner Harbor convention center seemed huge, capable of swallowing an infinite collection of fans. In 2004, there was chatter that Otakon's attendance might need to be limited in 2005 because the center wasn't large enough. In 2003, 17,000 fans attended Otakon. In 2004, 12,000 fans registered in advance, and the total was more than 20,000. Okay, it was 5,000 fewer than Anime Expo, but there's not much meaning in that difference. This point didn't sink in until the author started to change the past convention page on this site: in 1998, Otakon was the sixth anime convention of the year attended by the author. In 2004, it was the 16th. In seven months of 2004 anime conventions, this site has posted as many pictures - around 12,000 - as in all of 2003. Sure, the statistics don't say anything about the artistic quality of the pictures on this site, but the rise in numbers is part of the increase in conventions and anime fandom, along with the rising enthusiasm of fans who want to wear costumes. It's something not to be taken for granted, and it's a trend that shows no sign of slowing. In 1999, when Otakon first moved to Baltimore, the Inner Harbor convention center seemed huge, capable of swallowing an infinite collection of fans. In 2004, there was chatter that Otakon's attendance might need to be limited in 2005 because the center wasn't large enough. In 2003, 17,000 fans attended Otakon. In 2004, 12,000 fans registered in advance, and the total was more than 20,000. Okay, it was 5,000 fewer than Anime Expo, but there's not much meaning in that difference. The interesting comparison between conventions was in the dealers' rooms. Otakon's seemed larger, but Anime Expo had more of the oversized trade-show style booths. the weather also was different; Anime Expo had mild weather, while Otakon had hot and muggy weather, interrupted by two Sunday rainstorms. Otakon might have set a new record for the number of people holding up those silly "hug me" signs. It was all in fun and not annoying, except for the poor guy who got in the way of an escalator, trying to hug everyone who got off. With all of those people, was Otakon crowded? A couple of times on Friday, after the early registration rush, the third-level concourse was packed to rush-hour construction zone levels. The registration lines wrapped around the convention center's block - and the area has large city blocks - while the dealers' room line extended across most of the center's second level on Friday morning, wrapping back upon itself. By contrast, the convention center seemed empty on Saturday afternoon when it was time for the big concert. Matt Greenfield of ADV Films had what could turn out to be the most important comments, saying that major legal action against big fansubbing groups was on the way, with the action to be taken by Japanese companies tired of losing sales to piracy. Greenfield also said that ADV wanted to give free copies of Newtype USA to everyone, but couldn't clear that with Otakon. ADV had a series of Newtype USA giveaways in 2002 when they were trying to get the magazine off the ground. A technical point about the author's new Fuji FinePix S7000 camera; it has a technical feature that makes it a wonderfully suited camera for the sort of hall costuming pictures the author does. The flash shoe on the camera triggers a Sunpak 383 flash, which has more than enough power to completely illuminate a close-range target like a costumer. Venues such as the Baltimore Convention Center, with its acres of glass and mixed outdoor light, pose a challenge because costumers are usually backlit, with more light coming from the outside than the inside. Using a flash allows the photographer to control the lighting in a backlit situation ,but the trick to lighting control is the shutter speed. With a fairly powerful flash such as the Sunpak 383, a fast shutter speed locks out ambient light and makes sure the light comes from the flash - but the camera needs to have a fast "sync speed," where the camera's shutter stays open during the duration of the flash. The Fuji S7000 has a flash sync speed of at least 1/2000th of a second, which blocks out nearly all light except that produced by the flash. In most cases, that illuminates only the costumer while leaving the background dark, reducing the background clutter and leaving the costumer as the only figure in the frame. So many people say hello to the site's author that he feels like a campaigning politician, and in a sense, every convention trip means the author again has to prove the web site's concept anew. A lot of people again asked about the number of pictures taken at Otakon (more than 4,000) and posted on the site (over 1,400). Yeah, quality not quantity, but the author always gets messages after each convention from costumers asking why he didn't get their picture. Rushing in the wrong direction is the answer, and the suggestion is for costumers to stop the author, no matter what he's doing, and demand that he take their picture. That happened several times at Otakon, and it's not an interference, instead a compliment for the concept of the web site. Another compliment: the author didn't have a big sales effort for the site's cosplay book, but he packed four copies for the trip, just in case. "Just in case" happened four times on Friday, and four fans insisted on buying those copies. A few days before the convention, this site got an E-mail message: "I was searching for images of TM Revolution and stumbled upon your site. I was really happy to see concert images of him at Otakon. This year, Larc en ciel will be performing. Please, if you are going to Otakon, take pictures for many fans who are not able to go. >__< I know much will be appreciated!" That didn't happen, because the band's management didn't want it to happen. Four days before the concert came this message: "It has been decided by Sony that there will be no photography allowed of the L'arc~en~Ciel concert. However, you will receive an official photograph of the band for your publications." That wasn't the first time that sort of thing has happened, and it probably won't be the last time. So, rather than use up time at the concert, this site concentrated its efforts on other events - including the Angela concert, which had approachable performers and an audience that loved the show. The author heard a couple of points about that L'arc concert: the crowd went wild several times, and the biggest cheer happened when the lead guitarist got frustrated when his instrument's wiring went bad and smashed it against the stage. |
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