Additional Otakon 2003 Pictures

I decided to write an entry to complement the lecture I wrote seeing as how there is some behind-the-scenes stuff I just could not talk about.

Note: I am not going to reveal any real names in this entry, and instead, I will go by aliases only. Also, I am only going to link each Anime Academy staffer to their staff profile the first time their alias is used.

While standing in Otakon 2003 pre-registration line
Random Lady: Excuse me, but can you tell me what this long line is for?
Kjeldoran: Spice Girls Reunion Party!

I am not sure who or what inspired those words from Kjeldoran, but it got quite a good laugh out of all of us. It is a line that I will never forget, and it was the beginning of four days of pure fun with people I had never physically met before. Still, even if I had not joined the Anime Academy staff, I would have gone to Otakon 2003 and taken these pictures. So, without further adieu...


Pictured: Griveton
Every picture may be worth a 1,000 words, but with a 10,000 character limit, there simply is not enough time without going into extra posts.

Anyways, Griveton flew all the way from Mexico to Baltimore, and since he has a pretty good sense of humor, he played into the whole Mexican stereotype by bringing along a sombrero and wearing it for most of the time. As far as the picture is concerned, we were waiting in the pre-registration line (Which was long) at this point, and we were busy chatting it up with one another and having some laughs. Griveton acted out another Mexican stereotype which would best be called "the Sleepy Mexican." It was worth a good laugh, and I was the only person to have my camera at the ready on a moment's notice. Also, you can see part of yotakafish (He is wearing the Akira shirt featuring Tetsuo) and Corpse on the left side. On the right is some random person who got caught in the picture or it could be someone who was with our group. My apologies if it is the latter.


Pictured: Jigenuck, Kjeldoran, Griveton, Gatts, and Mugs
If you look at the first picture in the Otakon 2002 lecture, you will see Kjeldoran and Jigenuck standing by a sign saying that only VIPs and handicapped people may use the elevator; since Anime Academy was allotted four press passes that are the equivalent of being a VIP, we are allowed to use the elevators instead of the stairs. It was a joke where people who had a press pass could rub it in the face of other people who did not possess one. Basically, they made Jigenuck use the stairs for the previous year.

However, this was taken at Otakon 2003, and Jigenuck was incredibly happy (Or was feigning joy) because he got to use the elevator. It was a good chuckle and a part of the fun of having press passes. You can only see part of Griveton's face, but everyone else is given a good mug shot. There is someone behind Mugs, but I cannot tell who they are (Perhaps vanisher?), and the kid and person next to him were just there. Now that I think about it, this was not the best picture seeing as how it can be confusing to those who have no clue what the people who I am talking about look like.

Just so I can clear up any confusion, Jigenuck is the person pointing at the elevator, Kjeldoran is sporting the red jacket with green tie (Both him and Jigenuck were cosplaying on that Friday as Lupin and Jigen, respectively), Griveton is mostly covered up by Kjeldoran and my bad angle, Gatts is wearing glasses and a light-blue plaid with red undershirt, and Mugs is the big Italian guy with a big grin on his face and what looks like two day passes (Actually, the horizontal rectangle one is a day pass while the vertical rectangle one is a press pass).


Pictured: Kjeldoran
Although there is a similar one included in the lecture that I wrote, this is another angle where Kjeldoran was slapping a woman's butt. Actually, she was asking people to slap her butt, and I believe that her goal was to have 100 people do that.

I always wondered about the kid leaning on the railing (Wearing a John Lennon shirt). He is just sort of there. He was talking to the woman before Kjeldoran slapped her butt, and then he leaned off to the side and just kept staring at her. He just seemed very out of place in the picture.


Pictured (Left to Right): Maruyama Masao, Nishimura Satoshi, and translator
My apologies for this very fuzzy picture, but the room was not very bright and my camera is not what I would call high quality. Anyways, this is a picture that I took when I attended the Madhouse Studios panel. At the opening ceremonies, I was surprised to find that Masao was actually quite small even for Japanese; I would guess that he is no taller than 58 inches. Still, he was pretty cool and Kain had gotten a picture of him with Kjeldoran and Jigenuck, but thanks to digital photography and a blunder on Kain's part, the picture was lost.

Surprisingly, the translator was a very fun guy. Not only could he translate quickly and accurately, but he also played (Before Masao and Satoshi arrived) the end theme song from His and Her Circumstances, Yume no Nakae, on the ukulele while singing it in Japanese. I thought that he did and sounded a good job, and if you look at the table, you can see his yellow ukulele.


Pictured (Left to Right): Kjeldoran and Jigenuck
Here is another picture featuring Jigenuck being incredibly joyful to have an opportunity to ride the escalator. This was done on a moment's notice; so quick, in fact, that Kjeldoran did not have a chance to turn around.


Pictured (Left to Right): Kain, Mugs, and Griveton
If you read the lecture I wrote, I wrote in the second paragraph for Day Two "Once again using the power of the press pass, we bypassed a long line leading to the Dealers Room and were the very first ones in at 10:00 am!" This picture was done on a moment's notice, and it was taken maybe ten seconds after we stepped into the Dealer's Room (Yes, we were the first ones in there) which also explains the bad angle. Once again, you can only see part of Griveton... but most of his sombrero. The picture was snapped while he was in the middle of giving Kain a high five. It also includes a decent side shot of Mugs sporting his Yankees shirt.

Although it is difficult to tell, the Dealer's Room is huge. Being the first people in felt great simply because we could check out anything and everything without the hassle of pushing through crowds. Actually, it felt good to walk around in there and check everything out without having to push people out of the way.


Pictured (Left to Right): Kjeldoran and Jigenuck
This is another picture from Saturday, and it is obvious because both Kjeldoran and Jigenuck changed from Lupin and Jigen, respectively, to two characters from Shaolin Soccer (A very good movie). I forget the names of their characters, but anyways, we tried for a few minutes to take a picture while the soccer ball was "floating" in midair (The trick was to throw it up and then snap the picture at the right moment), but that failed. Instead, Kjeldoran held the ball and Jigenuck gave him the evil stare.

Sadly, only a few people recognized who they were cosplaying as.


Pictured (Left to Right): Unknown
I take that back; Dr. Susan Napier was sitting second from the left. Anyways, this was taken at the Anime in Academia panel, and I still stick to saying that these people did not really know what the hell was going on. People were asking questions related to the application of anime to formal education, and with exception for Napier, everyone kept throwing out seemingly random answers; then again, Napier's comment about how Ghost in the Shell is an anime that defined anime did not make her look all that intelligent to me. The guy sitting in the center kept getting up every other minute only to run to the back of the room and take a boatload of pictures of the panelists. I have no clue what was going on with him.

Afterwards, I remember Kain saying that we could have done a better panel. I told him that we should do a panel next time, and all he said was "Way too much work." Oh well.

Otakon 2004 will be a blast and just as priceless.