As we pulled up to the convention center, the line of people waiting extended around the block. There were a lot of cosplayers; many more than I thought would be there. People with multi-colored hair and a strange manner of dress… had a passerby not known what it was all for, it had to have been a hilarious sight to see. Hell, it was hilarious, otaku or not. Of course I plan to cosplay next time around.

We parked the car at the Hyatt and Brian checked in around 9:00 am. Then we went to the convention center and the back of the line. It stretched nearly all the way around the block, but moved relatively quickly after we got there. The three little girls in front of us reminded me of Sana from Kodomo no Omacha. They must've seen it. There was also a Gundam newbie I talked with about my website and some of the other Gundam series available. Jeff made a show of me by announcing I was the World's Greatest Otaku more than once.

Finally, we made it inside. Brian and I had already pre-registered. Jeff headed to the registration line (Shorter than the pre-registered line?!), but before we were halfway through the line, Jeff had registered and hopped into line with us. Jeff and I sang the Mazinger Z opening theme to pass the time, much to the displeasure of others around us given our lack of vocal ability. I got my name tag (the Cowboy Bebop one, seemingly the most popular choice at Otakon this year) and wrote "Lord_Satorious" on it. Most people know me as Lord_Satorious rather than Ron Ferrara anyway. As soon as I get out of the line, Jeff meets up with a retro mecha otaku who'd seen a lot of Gundam series not yet released in the US and plays Super Robot Wars. My goddess, so Jeff and I aren't the only ones (Sorry, couldn't resist the Belldandy joke). We talk with him for a little bit before departing on our own about 10:00 am.

We walked around a bit, Jeff looking for some girl he knows named Kim. I've never met her, but he had a Sailor Saturn wallscroll to give to her, so she must've been semi-important. We somehow ended up back at the hotel, probably to stow our stuff in our room. I don't remember. The first thing we decided to see was Otaku no Video at noon. We pretty much just loitered until that time, although we did meet Fanboy (cosplaying as Utena's Akio). He was 18 and had already been to 25 conventions! He described himself as being, "Steve Bennett's bitch," a very interesting individual. I wish I had started into the conventions as early as he did. Fanboy, if nothing else, had half-known who I was from Akadot and my Gundam website. Good to see that SOMEBODY recognized me.

Jeff, Brian and I (Tyson went to attend a panel of some kind) met up with some Jeff's friends from a previous Otakon. At 11:30 we all started looking for video room 7. We couldn't find it. We searched the entire convention center, even passed by what looked to be a black gospel singers' convention. Our group eventually found video room 7 in a far away location from the rest of convention, somewhere out in no man's land. Although it was quite a distance away, the room itself was HUGE. You could easily have fit a thousand people in the room, although not nearly that many attended.

We all found seats near the front. Overall, Otaku no Video was a lot of fun, despite its age. It pokes fun at the otaku community, and anyone with a good sense of humor will get a kick out of it. A good knowledge of older anime would help as well, since Otaku no Video is from the early to mid-eighties and references (read: makes fun of) anime previous to that.