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The Voices Called for Me: Anime NYC 2025

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A spacious view of the Jacob Javits Center from the inside, with people walking and standing around. In the distance is a large banner that says "Anime NYC."

Anime NYC 2025, held from August 21 to 24, was the second time since the New York–based convention moved its dates to take place in the summer. The decision allows it to use more of the Jacob Javits Center, but comes at the cost of being stuck in a crowded con season, as well as the risk of unpleasant heat and humidity. Luck was in Anime NYC’s favor this year, however, as the weather was pretty much ideal despite the weeks prior being pretty dire.

As always, the convention is very concentrated on its Exhibit Hall and its events. There are plenty of panels featuring industry insights and announcements of upcoming plans, but they tend to be geared more towards promotion, with a few less business-focused gems here and there. For me, because Anime NYC has become a big event for VTubers, I’ve found myself dedicating more attention in that direction.

The Takahashi Yoko Concert

I don’t always attend the concerts at Anime NYC, which require an additional ticket purchase. But there was almost no price that would keep me from seeing Takahashi Yoko, the singer of the Neon Genesis Evangelion opening. The series has been such a part of my life over the course of decades that I jumped at the chance to hear her sing live. 

Curiously, her tickets didn’t sell out that quickly, and there were plenty still available even after a small group purchase. I could see people not making the connection between Takahashi and the evergreen “Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” or that we’ve hit a point where Evangelion is considered more history than anything else among newer generations of anime fans. More for people like me, I guess.

Takahashi performed songs found in Eva such as “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Soul Refrain,” but her set was not just limited to music from the franchise. She was also accompanied by two young backup dancers, who were quite impressive. A part of me hoped that Hakos Baelz, the hololive VTuber who specializes in dance and was in NYC at this time, was in the audience and could see them. Naturally, Takahashi capped off the concert “Cruel Angel’s Thesis.”

There were some issues with the audio that took time to resolve. The acoustics of the main event space aren’t ideal for concerts in the first place, and there was something about the setup that drowned out her voice to a degree. I brought ear plugs, but had to take them out at first because I couldn’t hear her well enough with them in. There was also a tech flub on one song that forced them to restart it. In spite of all that, Takahashi’s voice was simply sublime; it sounded even better in person. 

During the concert, Takahashi gave a speech in English, reading from some prepared notes. She talked about how she basically grew up with music and was going down the path of the classically trained, but various issues kept her working as a session musician. She was initially hired to sing one of the versions of “Fly Me to the Moon” for Evangelion, knowing nothing about it. At her first recording, she was accompanied by just one bespectacled man in a sweatshirt and sweatpants—Anno Hideaki. After this, she was asked to sing the opening as well.

Takahashi described her relationship with Evangelion as a complicated one, but also something she’s overall grateful for. It boxed her in, but without it, she would not have been able to achieve such success or have so many opportunities. She talked about how her favorite episode of Eva is actually 26 because of one scene in particular: In the “abstract sketch” space seen in the finale, Shinji is shown floating through an empty void with total freedom, but the lack of any boundaries makes it intimidating. He is then drawn a ground, limiting his freedom in one way. However, the boundary that exists now allows Shinji to do what he couldn’t before, which is walk and find a way. Takahashi basically feels the same way about Eva.

hololive 

The VTubers of hololive have become a staple of this event. Returning to the Exhibit Hall was the large booth featuring convention-exclusive panel streams, as was the hololive World Tour (more on that later). Curiously, while past Anime NYCs have also included a big hololive panel as well, that wasn’t the case this time around.

The Booth

One big change from previous years was that the panels were spaced further apart on the schedule, which I found very welcome. It gave me an opportunity to check out other things, and helped mitigate the potential fire hazard that forms with the enthusiastic crowds. I didn’t attend every panel, but every one I did see was fun in its own way.

Takane Lui, along with Shirakami Fubuki on the hololive booth screen. Fubuki is wearing a Yagoo mask and has two fake muscle arms flexing.

I’m a fan of all the holoX ladies, so I really wanted to see Takane Lui. She did not disappoint, especially when it came to karaoke, but the antics of her panel partner, Shirakami Fubuki, made it even better. The fox would bust out a 2D Yagoo mask and a pair of muscular arms on occasion, which culminated in their fitting presence during the song “Onegai Muscle” from the anime How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?

Mori Calliope and Koseki Bijou on screen. Above them is the question "Would you rather lick a subway pole for 30 seconds or drink a whole vat of hot dog water?"

The Tombstone panel, so named because Calliope Mori is a grim reaper and Koseki Bijou is a living gemstone, had them answering “Would you rather” questions related to New York City. The NYer heavy crowd naturally had a lot of opinions, and it was entertaining to hear the VTubers try to twist logic to suit their choices.

Airani Iofifteen performing karaoke on screen.

I also went out of my way to see the hololive Indonesia karaoke relay, which had Kobo Kanaeru, Airani Iofifteen, and then Pavolia Reine. You could tell that people really love Kobo’s singing because the normally boisterous crowd was almost pin-drop silent as she covered “Mayonaka no Door,” “Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” and other tunes. Kobo was going to sing “Dragostea Din Tei” too, but a technical mishap prevented her from finishing it. Iofi amazed me by singing “Do You Remember Love?” and I even got noticed by the camera when she was looking around for holo merch.

If I had any big complaints, it would be that standing on concrete for extended periods is really tough on my feet, even though I have good shoes. It’s possible to have better flooring for a booth, and I think Cover Corp can afford it.

The World Tour

Cardboard standees featuring the official art from hololive STAGE World Tour '25, featuring Nerissa Ravencroft, Kureiji Ollie, Mori Calliope, Momosuzu Nene, and IRyS.

Anime NYC was selected as one of the stops on the world tour, which is officially titled ‘hololive STAGE ‘25 World Tour -Synchronize.” This is not to be confused with the hololive EN 3rd Concert, All for One, which took place the same weekend. You can read my review of that here.

The different lineup from last year brought a different energy that was less “pop diva.” With Calliope Mori, IRyS, Nerissa Ravencroft, Momosuzu Nene, and Kureiji Ollie on stage, you had a combination of dedicated singers and all-out entertainers. Personal highlights included the covers of “Shijoshugi Adtruck” and “Don’t Say Lazy,” as well as the world tour official song, “Live It Loud!” which I think does a good job highlighting the strengths of each performer.

I do have a few complaints. The first two are ones I’ve already mentioned, namely the whole “standing on concrete for hours” thing like at the booth, and the iffy acoustics of the Main Events hall. The third is what I’d consider a very mild gripe: a good amount of the songs performed were also at Breaking Dimensions last year. However, I know I pay a great deal of attention to the musical performance side of hololive, and this is less of an issue for those who watch events less often.

Each stop includes two additional guests, and New York City’s were Natsuiro Matsuri and Haachama, aka Akai Haato. Matsuri is a nice middle point between singer and entertainer, and I’m a big, big fan of Haachama in general. I was a little sad that I couldn’t see the entirety of Haachama’s panel last year at Anime NYC, and I consider myself very fortunate that I managed to purchase a ticket to Synchronize. I even brought my Haaton wearable head towel so I could represent, and spotted other Haatons (i.e. Haachama fans) while waiting in line. For the concert, she performed her first original, “RED HEART,” and its simplicity is something that goes back to the very core of VTubing in a way I enjoy immensely.

The Stamp Rally and Other Merch

There was a great deal of hololive-related goods available at the con. They had very visible representation in the Artist Alley, and the official booth gave away a con-exclusive trading card featuring the participants of the world tour, as well as a card for a stamp rally. The prize for completing the rally was a sticker set with all the ambassadors from hololive MEET ‘25, the general umbrella for conventions and other events around the world. However, it required participants to make purchases at specific booths, and if you got there on later days like I did, it meant making more expensive purchases. This is exactly why I ended up caving and getting the Hakos Baelz hoodie from Ohmonah. I had been eyeing it since July, and the quality and comfort (on top of the stamp for the rally) was too much for me. It’s so good, man.

Other VTubers

Likely because of hololive’s presence every year now, Anime NYC has also become a focal point for VTubing on the east coast. Merch-wise, big names like Sameko Saba, Nimi Nightmare, Dooby3D, Mint Fantôme, Dokibird, and Shylily were all over the Artist Alley. Ironmouse and CDawgVA also had a panel promoting a new game. 

Additionally, the Exhibit Hall had a couple booths featuring Meet & Greets with smaller VTubers all weekend long. I used this opportunity to talk to Pillowdear, and complimented her for doing fun and creative ASMRs like her Easter stream. This was my second ever Meet & Greet, and I found it fascinating that you really get the gamut of participants. I saw someone who was clearly a dedicated fan of Pillow, but also people who literally had no idea about or even VTubing in general. I guess I fall somewhere in the middle.

A package of Ember Amane Custom Roast coffee, with a picture of Ember on it.

There was also a Phase Connect karaoke event that I ended up not attending, but I did finally buy coffee from their booth. I got the Ember Amane beans, and while I also wanted Dizzy Dokuro’s, I foolishly forgot to take into account that her blatantly shilling-oriented original song made it a hot commodity. (Expect an Ember coffee review at a later time.)

Other Panels

Tsuda Kenjiro and Yu-Gi-Oh! 25th Anniversary

I attended the Yu-Gi-Oh! 25th anniversary panel, which featured the Japanese voice of Kaiba Seto, Tsuda Kenjiro. These days, Tsuda is everywhere, but this was basically his first really big role. For those who grew up on the English dub, I still think it’s worth listening to his portrayal of Kaiba, because it gives a similar yet different flavor to the character. For the panel, he did a live reading of a scene from the Yu-Gi-Oh! movie The Dark Side of Dimensions.

There were a few stories Tsuda told that I found particularly interesting:

  • Back when Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters was airing, the voice of Yugi (Kazama Shunsuke) was still in high school, and he would sometimes come to the recording studio in his school uniform.
  • When Tsuda recorded a voice-over for a Yu-Gi-Oh! video game, he saw a lot of comments online about how “Kaiba sounds so old now.” This made Tsuda want to show that he could still voice the character, and when he was asked to come back for Dark Side of Dimensions, he relished the chance.
  • Tsuda talked about how unlike most other shounen series, where the characters get amped up and then calm down, Yu-GI-Oh! characters are basically dialed up to max at all times. It makes recording for other series way easier by comparison.

One-Punch Man and JAM Project

I could not attend the entire One-Punch Man panel due to having to leave for All for One, but I do want to make sure story in particular is told for posterity. The guests for the panel were the members of JAM PROJECT, who do the One-Punch Man openings. In recounting the creation of the first opening (“THE HERO!!”), leader Kageyama Hironobu recalls going to his bandmates and vaguely humming the lines of the first verse without any lyrics, including the part that would eventually go Nandatten da? Frustration!/Ore wa tomaranai!—which Kageyama recreated as a series of ambiguous squeals and yells. Apparently, the other members looked at him funny and basically replied, “Are you serious?”
I later found out that they played “SKILL” from Super Robot Wars in addition to One-Punch Man music. I wish I could have been there, but alas.

The Food Is Too Expensive

Like so many other convention centers, the Jacob Javits has never been cost friendly when it comes to food options. For anyone looking to save money, I never recommend anyone eat the con itself, and I do it because I see trying out different overpriced meals to be part of the experience—kind of like gambling in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. However, even I felt that the prices were getting beyond ridiculous this year. Things were close to if not exceeding $20 when they weren’t that way last year, and I will definitely bring food with me next year. Moreover, there were certain options available last year that weren’t present for 2025: Korilla and its Korean dishes were sorely missed, as was the Indian section in the food court area. 

A salmon bento, including salmon, rice, potato salad, shumai, pickled vegetables, a small omelet, string beans, and seaweed.

If I had to recommend one place, it would have been the BentOn stall in the Exhibit Hall. While the prices are still not great, the bento options (fish or fried chicken) are the best bet for getting a well-balanced meal at Anime NYC.

Cosplay

A cosplay of Kureiji Ollie in her Goddess of Death and Rebirth outfit.
A cosplay of Koganei Niko from hololive Flow Glow.
A cosplay of Cyber Akuma from the Street Fighter VS series.
A cosplay of Spike Spiegel pointing a gun.
A cosplay of Ouro Kronii in a maid outfit and a punk-rock Raora Panthera.
A cosplay of Boa Hancock from One Piece and Elias Ainsworth from The Ancient Magus's Bride.

Final Thoughts

Anime NYC has long been trying to be the Anime Expo of the east coast, and it has succeeded in essence. It gets big guests from Japan and around the world, has a major industry presence, and it looks and feels big. If you want to attend events and see things you wouldn’t be able to otherwise, this con is generally a good place to be. However, that comes at a price, in that it can sometimes feel overwhelming the same way one might get bombarded by neon signage. The difference is that Anime NYC is like a less extreme AX, where there are fewer good things (AX being on the west coast gets it a lot more opportunities for interesting guests) but also fewer bad things (Anime NYC almost never has the really bad crowding issues of AX).

I think this is why I’ve come to enjoy the VTuber side of Anime NYC so much. While it’s definitely part of the “corporate” presence due to hololive (and other VTuber companies to a lesser extent), that side still feels very fan driven. I would like to see some of that spirit and energy on the anime and manga side as well.

A Look at the April Mayhem of VTubing

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The past two months or so might be the most significant period in VTuber history since 2020 and the pandemic. During this time, we saw major changes in every corner of the scene.

  • Gawr Gura of hololive graduated
  • Murasaki Shion of hololive graduated
  • Nanashi Mumei of hololive graduated
  • hololive affiliate Amelia Watson made a guest appearance at Takanashi Kiara’s concert
  • hololive affiliate Sakamata Chloe made a guest appearance at Shion’s graduation 
  • Amagai Ruka debuted with her new group, Weather Planet
  • Nimi Nightmare revealed her full, non-chibi model
  • Regis Altare of Holostars returned after a long hiatus
  • Sinder was publicly called out by multiple peers for manipulating one of her artists and betraying her VTuber friends 
  • Fulgur Ovid of Nijisanji graduated
  • Ike Eveland of Nijisanji graduated abruptly, with all his content removed 
  • Matara Kan is no longer a part of VShojo
  • Michi Mochievee of VShojo celebrated her first anniversary with a 3D concert, alongside K9Kuro
  • Multiple members of V&U graduated
  • Roca Rourin of Idol Corp returned to social media after being hospitalized for months
  • Phase Connect debuted three new Phase Invaders: Clio Aite, Mari Mari, and Eepy Sleepy
  • The disastrous new tariff policies have made buying merch (including celebratory merch for graduations) devastatingly expensive for American fans

VTubers are leaving companies, reviving in new (yet oddly familiar) forms, making cameos in their old companies, and even sometimes getting dragged by their peers. So much has happened that it can be difficult to wrap one’s head around it all. The timing of it all might be coincidence or just the result of the Japanese fiscal year starting in April, but having it all hit at once magnifies the emotional impact. And this is without considering all the different big concerts or the departures and returns that occurred earlier this year!

Gawr Gura’s “Ash Again” came out basically on the same day as Michi and Kuro’s “Deja Vu.” Gura’s is an expression of the turmoil she felt while being in one of the top companies as one of the world’s most popular VTubers. Michi and Kuro’s seems to refer to their mutual pasts as part of another major VTuber company. The talk of pain and renewal from two or three different-yet-related perspectives feel as if they are engaged in a conversation, even if it isn’t intended that way. 

Shion and Mumei graduated within 48 hours of each other, and both went out singing songs named after themselves. Shion’s is new and the kind of sweet but tearful tune expected of graduations, while Mumei’s is older but is still a moving song that talks about fading into and out of memory. 

Gura and Mumei both had mini concerts instead of full ones, owing in part to the challenges faced by the hololive members who don’t live in Japan and therefore don’t have easy access to the company’s 3D studio.

With Matara Kan and the newest Phase Invaders, we see the exit of a member of a company that emphasizes independence, as well as the folding in of previously indie VTubers who largely hold onto their identity and don’t have to tiptoe around who they were before. The indie vs corporate line gets further blurred. 

Amidst all this, seeing Ame and Chloe, even if only for a moment, was like a breath of fresh air. It also made clear what affiliate status can accomplish in hololive, as there was some uncertainty what it meant versus as a normal graduation. While some fans and talents might prefer a clean break, others might appreciate the possibilities that come with staying connected to hololive. 

Meanwhile, Ruka and Nimi each showed off a model that was designed by an artist that has worked for hololive. The designs are different in many ways, not least of which are changes to the eyes and the subtle personality differences that are implied by those differences.

And while I’ve always wondered, given VTubing’s similarities to wrestling, what a VTuber heel would be like, I guess I’ve gotten my answer via the Sinder drama. Only, I wanted it more in the form of kayfabe and less in the form of backstage politicking.

Altogether, this feels like a reminder that VTubing is still a very young field of interest, realistically less than 10 years old. The most enduring people and groups might be gone tomorrow, and it might be better for fans to accept this possibility even if it hurts. But while it’s often said that fans should express their support for their faves because you never know when they might be gone, I think it’s important to show at least some moderation in terms of not letting an obsession turn into bitterness if things don’t happen the way you want. One should ideally emerge from this situation empowered by their time spent watching and cheering for talents, though I understand that’s not always possible, especially if the circumstances are extremely messy.

I have no idea what the future holds, but it might be good to step back and take a breath before moving ahead.

VTuber Music: The Current-Day Character Image Songs

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These days, I listen to a lot of VTuber music. They dominate my playlist, which might come across as an odd choice because while quite a few are wonderful singers, you’re not going to get professional-quality results all the time. Even so, there is something that makes VTuber music that feels special in current times: They remind me of anime character image songs.

In the 1990s and up through the 2000s, image songs were pretty common. Whether it was Ranma ½ or Suzumiya Haruhi, shows with large casts would have voice actors sing songs based on their characters, and often as their characters. This feels less prevalent in anime over the past decade and change, but with VTubers, it’s like practically every original song (and even covers to some extent) are just inherently image songs because they work off of the VTubers’ personas.

The “issues” with VTuber music are also reminiscent of complaints about image songs. “Why listen to people who can’t actually sing all that well?” But it’s just as much about connecting to the characters being portrayed as it is about the inherent musicality of a song. You’ll get some performers who are excellent at what they do, but real skill is a bonus rather than a requirement. Better yet, if there is improvement, you get to really see them come into their own rather than just starting as amazing. One of the best things is hearing someone perform one of their songs live and realize that they actually sound better than the studio recording they did back when they were still a little shaky.

To end off, I’m curious about if any readers are fond of any character songs, be they anime, VTuber, or maybe some other category.

So…do you have any favorites?

Tomoyo…The Time Has Come to Demonstrate Our Power: Otakon 2023

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At this point, Otakon is a given in my life. I have enough faith in the people who run the anime convention every summer that they will create a rewarding experience. But short of anything pertaining to Genshiken, Otakon 2023 ended up with a guest announcement straight out of my otaku wishlist: Iwao Junko, the voice of Daidouji Tomoyo in Cardcaptor Sakura.

And yet, somehow, Iwao was only the tip of the iceberg. Between Asamiya Kia (manga artist of Silent Mobius, Nadesico), Aramaki Shinji (mecha designer on Bubblegum Crisis, Magazine 23), Terada Takanobu (producer on Super Robot Wars), and even the sleeper hit that was Ikezawa Haruna (science fiction writer and the voice of Yoshino in Maria Watches Over Us), I feel like I three conventions’ worth of experiences.

Line Con No More

Otakon 2023 took place from July 28 to July 30, once again at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. It was coming off a previous year with record-breaking attendance, and two big questions were whether 2022 was a fluke caused in part by the US opening up again after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how Otakon would handle the flow of foot traffic if it wasn’t. Long story short: Otakon actually surpassed its record this year, and the lines got noticeably better. While there were still a few hiccups here and there (like an unusually long wait to get my panelist badge due to a change in how they handled that process), it’s no coincidence that multiple people in the post-con feedback session praised the staff for fixing most of the congestion issues in a single year.

Fixing the lines was of even more paramount importance due to the weather over that weekend. DC was blisteringly hot; including humidity, there were times the temperature was reported as feeling like 112 degrees. Otakon needed to make sure people could get into that convention center quickly and easily, and they succeeded. 

Lack of Masking Policy

I know it is incredibly difficult to put the genie back in the bottle, especially because “officially” COVID-19 is no longer a national emergency, but I really do wish Otakon would re-implement a mandatory masking policy. While I didn’t catch it at this convention, I was definitely in circles where the virus was present, and it would just allow more people to attend the con.

Industry

The guest list this year was truly packed, to the extent that I had to make some serious decisions as to what to spend time pursuing. Kawamori Shoji (creator of Macross) would have been near the top of the list any other year, but the fact that I had already gotten the chance to interview him in 2018 meant sacrifices had to be made. There were also a great number of manhwa artists at Otakon 2023, and as a general enjoyer of comics who is less familiar with Korean comics, this could have been a great opportunity to learn more. Alas, time was truly limited.

A good chunk of my time this year was thus spent on obtaining autographs because a lot of the guests are industry veterans, and some are getting up there in age. It may sound a bit morbid, but I’m worried that we’re going to lose more and more great figures in anime and manga, and I want the chance to see them and thank them before it’s too late. At the same time, I do worry that too much of my Otakon experience ends up being in autograph lines, and every year is a bit of a struggle in that for every wonderful thing you do, you know you’ll miss at least two other equally fantastic experiences.

Iwao Junko

One guest panel highlight for me was Iwao Junko’s, where she went over how she got into voice acting, her earliest days in the industry, and how she eventually made it into a full-time job. I have a detailed summary of the panel as its own post, and I also interviewed Iwao alongside her frequent music collaboration partner, Kawamura Ryu.

Mecha Guests

Another panel I was looking forward to featured multiple creators involved with mecha, including all the ones mentioned in the introduction. Just getting to hear them banter back and forth was entertaining, and you could tell that all of them would gladly talk your ear off if given the chance. One funny part of all this is the fact that Kawamori was clearly but somewhat surreptitiously drawing on his tablet in between answering questions—a fact that one panel attendee humorously called him out on (it turns out he was working on a project). 

I got to sit down with two of the guests and talk more in depth: mecha designer Aramaki Shinji and Super Robot Wars producer Terada Takanobu.

Ikezawa Haruna

But there was one guest who was possibly the sleeper hit of the entire con: Ikezawa Haruna.  While Ikezawa did her requisite panel about what it’s like to be a voice actor, she also did something incredibly rare for Japanese guests: run a panel entirely about one of her own personal interests. 

In this case, it was a panel all about Japanese SF as compared to Western SF. Not long after she started, it was crystal clear that her knowledge was encyclopedic, and that her passion for the subject was through the roof. She probably knew more about science fiction in that room than the entire audience combined, and she made some interesting points about the essence of regional science fiction. For example, in the context of Japanese SF, she mentioned how xenophobia has become a big topic because it’s a major subject right now in Japanese society. 

Ikezawa talked about how she actually prefers the term SF to “science fiction” because she thinks Japanese SF encompasses so much more—the abbreviation can stand for sukoshi fushigi (“a little mysterious”), speculative fiction, super fantasy, and so on. She also gave a variety of recommendations, including stories she’s written herself. These are Nova 2023 (an all-woman anthology), SF in 2084 (an anthology themed around stories that take place in 2084), the Naoki Prize–winning Maps and Fists by Ogawa Satoshi, Law Abiding Beast by Harukure Kouichi, and First, Let the Cow Be the Ball by Isukari Yuba. Unfortunately, all of them are in Japanese, but another story by Isukari, Yokohama Station SF is available in English.

Anime Screenings

While I was unable to attend the Discotek panel this year, I do think it’s worth mentioning the fact that they licensed all the Digimon Adventure movies, including both the original Japanese versions as well as the smashed-together film shown in US theaters. Not only is this the first time they’re all available in English, but Discotek did a special screening of them at Otakon. Sadly, I couldn’t attend that either, nor the showing of Macross Frontier: The False Songstress. That’s because I chose to watch the US premiere of The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes, which I’ve reviewed here.

VTuber Presence

While there were cosplayers and artists who were repping the VTubers, there wasn’t much of an official presence (in contrast to Anime Expo, where it was a major force). That said, the group Phase Connect had a booth. I visited and bought an acrylic stand of Dizzy Dokuro.

Panels

Due to everything else going on, I shamefully ended up not attending very many fan panels this year despite that being one of Otakon’s best features. And for the ones I did, I could only see them in part.

I do want to give a shout-out to Anime in the Philippines, as it definitely taught me new things, and gave a window into a culture and fandom that I was largely unfamiliar with. For example, now I know that Mechander Robo aired there, and I learned about this:

I did present on two panels this year myself, though: “Giant Train Robots of Anime and More” and “Densha Otoko: Train Man, Modern Myth, Internet Legend.” The theme of Otakon 2023 was trains, so I decided to play along.

Giant Train Robots was a joint project between myself and Patz from The Cockpit. We both love mecha, and I also relied on his greater knowledge of the tokusatsu side in bringing this together, and I think the result was a fun and breezy panel whose goal was to entertain, inform, and leave the audience appreciating trains that turn into robots. We got a good-sized attendance despite being at 1030am on Friday, and I hope everyone enjoyed it.

The Densha Otoko panel was all me, and I had actually started thinking about doing it since the end of Otakon 2022 when they had announced the train motif for the following year. Densha Otoko had been such a phenomenon in the mid-2000s, and I was curious to both look back on that era and to see what was its legacy today. I seemed to get mostly people who had already seen or knew about it, but that was just fine with me.

I think Giant Train Robots actually got more attendance than Densha Otoko, and I find that interesting because it used to be that the evening panels were better attended than the morning ones, and that mecha panels weren’t terribly popular, at least back in Baltimore. And this is on top of us actually being at the same time as a different giant robot panel! I wonder if there has been a generational shift or something that would explain this. 

Food

After many years, the convention center cafeteria was finally open, giving another option for those who want to get something to eat but don’t want to travel too far. I dropped in there once, and saw that there were three options: Japanese, pizza, and hot dogs/sausages. I went for the last option (which was pretty similar to what’s offered at Ben’s Chili Bowl) mainly because it had the shortest kind, and it was pretty decent. The Japanese food naturally had the longest line at an anime con, though I still remember Otakon staff claiming a long while back that the sushi was actually pretty decent.

But the best food in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center was still the Caribbean food stand, which was located at the far end of the Exhibit Hall. While all con food is inevitably overpriced, this place always feels like the best deal, and the meals feel well balanced in terms of taste and nutrition. I’ve had something from them pretty much every year, and they never disappoint.

Cosplay

Closing Thoughts

2023 was definitely a strong Otakon in spite of circumstantial issues like the weather. Most importantly, I got to meet Tomoyo.

That said, the amazing thing is that next year promises to be even bigger and more powerful because it’ll be Otakon’s 30th anniversary. I’m already brainstorming ideas for panels, and wildly speculating on potential guests. I feel like it would be the perfect time to get people who were big back in 1994, and I trust the staff running the show to bring in some big guns.