Ohayocon 2008 on DCM: January 19th, 2008

Report by TakagiNaoSama

I don't know what the convention year would be like without Ohayocon. It's become tradition to attend every year without a second thought. The staff let us set up our popular photo booth, which has also become an expected convention activity. We were delighted to get a prime spot right next to the main flow of traffic. This made for never a dull moment, as the number of cosplayers was sometimes overwhelming. The increase in variety of costumes was very exciting as well. We all hope the dark days of seeing nothing but a few choice series represented are in the past. It looks like anime fans have finally started to moved on.

We'd like to thank the convention staff for letting us set up our booth, and not giving us any trouble at all about it. That's not a courtesy we're granted at a lot of cons...

The Artist Alley was in the same location as last year, and had just as many, if not more, talented artists. The gamerooms were nicely separated into music and more physical games and another for traditional console games. I was glad to see an actual DDR machine. Tournaments were handled extremely well, as they were given their own room, a projection screen and plenty of seats for participants and fans alike to watch. The Ohayocon Dealer's Room continues to be impressive. They cram every last booth they can into the auditorium, and still leave more than enough space for shoppers to walk around. I noticed a little more variety this year; perhaps another welcome change is approaching.

This is the first convention in a long time that I personaly didn't watch the cosplay masquerade live. To be brutally honest I chose not to attend, as the past couple years have been painful disappointments. As of writing this though I've watched and edited DCM's recording of it, and I'm happy to say that I honestly thought this year was an extreme improvement over the past few (there's still too many Naruto skits though :P). There were a few choice favorites of mine, including the hilarious Tsubasa skit, which definitely was the best performance of them all IMHO. The tech crew wasn't perfect, but things ran smoothly for the most part, and of course Zach and Jim are geniouses in front of a crowd.

Overall the convention was a success. Unfortunately, it retains its reputation as the diseased con...I'm typing this while battling a painful sinus infection -_-

Good job Ohayocon, hope to see you again next year ^_^

Previous Ohayocon Reports

Dont want to be seen on this site? Read our photo usage policy for more details.