Otakon has been one of those events that’s always been on my list to go to; however, it always fell near other events that I had planned that would eat up too much of my budget for me to attend. This year I made an effort to plan time to attend and try this convention out for myself.

Going first with the guests there were a lot of them. Many domestic actors from shows like Spy X Family, My Hero Academia and more. Sadly a couple did have to cancel for being unwell so I wish them the best in their recovery. The convention also had a wide array of talent from overseas who were key figures in shows like Death Note, I Got A Cheat Skill In Another World, and upcoming or new shows like My Unique Skill Makes me OP at Level 1 and Four Knights of the Apocalypse the sequel to Seven Deadly Sins. They even had the band behind the music of shows like Naruto, Fairytail and Record of Ragnarok.

Naturally given the popularity of overseas guests at anime cons I braced for a very challenging time meeting these individuals, and the reality is it was no challenge at all. The staff made it clear that lines would not start till 30 minutes before the autograph session and they even instructed people to leave who were camping out earlier than that to get a good spot in line. What this meant for me is when I arrived around 30 minutes early I was able to line up and get a very good spot in line to go in and meet everyone. It really took no effort and I loved every bit of it. I got to meet everyone on my list and I went into this convention thinking that was not going to happen.

The panels were interesting too but I didn’t do too many of them. While there was a beautiful variety of events there weren’t too many that caught my attention enough for me to attend over doing other stuff that the convention had to offer and they had a lot to offer. I did however, attend the Yaiba concert and got to listen to anime tracks performed live. It was an experience unlike any other and I splurged to sit near the front. I got goosebumps from how amazing the music sounded. The only real problem I had with the concert was how staff was very inconsistant of the rules behind photography. One staff just said no flash, one said none at all and a third person said no professional equipment. Now I can easily comply with any of these instructions just not the fact that I got all three of them in the span of a few minutes and had no clue which was right. It was sorted out rather quickly at least.

Then you have the vendors. As with most big events I went into this expecting a huge crowd and a very difficult experience getting to shop. That was as far from the case as possible. There were less vendors than I expected and far more space in between then than any other event I’ve been to. It was so easy to walk around and shop that I got a good look at all of the vendors there, plus there was a lot of amazing stuff to find. They had Man at Arms working on a weapon live and as a fan of the show Forged and Fire this entertained my inner weapons geek. I found other vendors I’m well familiar with like Otaku Joe and Loading Crew Crafts. I spent a lot of money at the vendors this year and it was all because I was able to take my time, look at everything and find anything that caught my eye. It was one of the most seemless shopping experiences I’ve ever had.

I also want to take a moment and give a shoutout to the staff for being awesome. Now I don’t know what the norm is for this event but this year they were super kind. Staff was more than happy to help me in several instances this weekend from how to be at the autograph sessions at the right time to general directions, because the convention center is a little confusing at first. Not only were they helpful but all over the place so information was easy to come by when you needed it and because they were nice if they didn’t have the answer they worked hard to find one. There was one staff member I wasn’t fond of but only because I wasn’t a fan of his demeanor in how he spoke to people as it sounded aggressive to me and to the voice actor I was talking to at the time. Though it was a minor instance that doesn’t ruin how awesome the staff was as a whole.

Overall Otakon really surprised me. I went into this thinking it was an event with lines that would take hours to just get into the building, little hope in getting all the autographs I wanted, crowded vendors, and a challenge to get around. What I got was almost no wait to enter the building, no issues walking around, plenty of space to shop and I managed to get everything I hoped to get out of this event and more. Since next year is the 30th anniversary I’m already highly considering going and I wish I went to this event sooner.