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Katsucon - Author's Notes - 2006 In February, this writer spent a lot of time looking at this site's pictures from the Japantown Anime Faire held two months earlier. Part of the reason was the story that had run on the San Francisco Chronicle's web site, telling how the Japan Center mall that hosted the convention was up for sale, and that sale had the potential of ending the mall's quirky character of having dozens of small mom-and-pop businesses. But another reason was that the pictures represented the writer's freedom, a freedom that seemed to have disappeared after two heart attacks and open-heart surgery in January. The chance of just deciding on the spur of the moment to travel cross-country to a small anime event seemed to have disappeared along with the strength and stamina needed to make that trip. That's why this writer's trip to Katsucon was so important. We weren't quite back to normal, but it was important to be able to get out of town and head to a convention, to test ourself and see what we could do after two hospitalizations and a month's recuperation. Long in advance, we had a plane ticket and hotel reservation for the Washington, D.C. trip, but it wasn't until Tuesday of the convention weekend that we got our doctor's permission to travel. At the convention, we cut our equipment load and spent more time sitting than standing. We carefully noted the location of each chair and couch, and tried to limit our minute-to-minute withdrawals from our limited pool of stamina and strength. Don't let the number of costuming pictures on this site suggest any year-to-year change in the number of Katsucon costumers (although we'll have more on that later); we just didn't - and couldn't - chase people as hard as we could a couple of months ago. We were astounded by fans' reaction to our presence. Permission to make the trip came so late that we weren't able to get the word out in advance, so it was a surprise to many that we were able to get to Katsucon, let alone be upright and walking - especially since barely one month had passed since surgery. It was wonderful to field the greetings and hugs from so many people who were delighted to see us at the convention. And we confess to shedding real tears when a group of costumers broke out a collection of "get well" signs and insisted that we pose with them. The kind wishes, prayers and hopes we encountered over the weekend was as positive as we've ever seen. It's great to know that people truly and sincerely care about this site and it's author. And a lot of people wanted to know if we're going to attend more conventions as the recovery continues. With any luck, we'll be able to get back to a standard schedule in the months to come, minus any complications or major medical bills that could get in the way. We hope that those people who were so wonderfully kind and helpful in our return to conventions don't forget the family of Jeff Thompson, who died in January, or the family of Robert and Emily DeJesus: Emily's uncle passed away a few days before the convention. We spent some time chatting with actor and dub director Michael Sintnikerslaas, who spoke about the work his NYAB Post studio has been doing on the dub of the latest Ah My Goddess series and on the Kappa Mikey series that we mentioned a few months ago during our Anime USA report. (Kappa Mikey was scheduled to make its Nicktoons cable TV premiere a few days after Katsucon). Sintnikerslaas also mentioned there would be a second season of Venture Brothers, the often-delayed but not-forgotten spoof of the 1960's Hanna-Barbera action-adventure cartoon series. And Mike's company, which has been based in New York, now has a Burbank, Calif. branch to take advantage of the deep West Coast talent pool. A few minutes later we spoke to artist Jan Scott-Frazier about her new project, an anti-war musical CD intended to raise money for charities that help disabled military veterans, among others. The album will feature music from two Chicago-area bands and vocals from anime dub actors you'll recognize who are based in Texas and California. That conversation took place in the lobby of the Omni Shoreham hotel, a place that was nearly deserted on Sunday evening after most of the fans had gone home, for most of the weekend the lobby had been full of people headed to Katsucon, in and out of costume, with and without cameras. To this author, the crowd meant the lobby of the 75-year-old hotel had been brought to life by the sort of magic energy that anime conventions bring, but to the Katsucon staff, the crowd was a problem - especially those people who insisted on attending the convention and those who dared bring cameras to the event and take pictures. In the long run, the situation that developed on Saturday raises some serious questions about what Katsucon's organizers really want from their event - how many people do they want to attend the convention, what do they want the attendees to wear, and what do they want the fans to do when they show up? Things started to get strange at mid-morning on the convention's Saturday. A group of Sailor Moon costumers had gathered in the hotel's lobby for pictures when, out of nowhere and without warning, a person who identified himself as a member of Katsucon's security staff tried to break up the event, saying it wasn't going to be allowed. What followed over the next few hours was a confusing and unfocused parade of Katsucon security people who would ocassionally parade into the lobby, inconsistently trying to control the places and numbers of people who took costuming pictures in the hotel's lobby, the largest open area of the facility. We may be wrong, but at one point we got the impression that the Katsucon staff wanted to completely clear the basketball-court-sized lobby of fans. One security staff member said there was supposed to be a special room set up for costuming pictures, but that staffer had no idea where that room was or how to find it. Later, we located the room, about 18'x25' across and full of chairs, a room that already was being used for hall costume judging. We checked that room a couple of times later in the day; it was empty as fans stayed in the lobby, having to deal with a handful of orange-vested Katsucon security types who would sometimes tell people where to go or where not to go. There was no advance warning that the convention was going to to get upset at its paying customers but that happened, for the second year in a row. And it happened at a hotel that was supposed to be roomier that the cramped facility in which security volunteers also got upset at people who tried to take pictures of people in costume. Considering the concerns raised on Saturday, Katsucon staff is going to have to make some major decisions: is the event helped or damaged by the attendance of so many people in costume, which has been one of the driving forces behind the growth of attendance at that event? From the reaction of the convention security people, the inference is that there are too many costumers and people with cameras. From that inference, it wouldn't be surprising to see Katsucon limit costumers or attendance in general at future events. Those limits will mean a more controllable event for those who see crowds as a risk, not a benefit, but it'll also mean a more limited convention. Vendors buy space in a dealers' room with the hope of reaching a certain number of fans, and cutting the attendance to maintain a quiet lobby will mean that fewer fans will be on hand to purchase from those vendors, which will mean fewer vendors. In any case, Saturday's security concerns clearly point the way toward a smaller, less colorful Katsucon in the years to come - except for the orange colors of the security staff's vests. Katsucon Main Page