I am back from Katsucon and I had a great time. It was simply the best Katsucon in the four years I have gone to and finally see that Katsucon can be a good time. I have gone for four years and usually have been underwhelmed. Let me give my report on this con.

Friday

-The Train was on time and pretty much full of people. I am glad that I bought a ticket ahead of time. The train ended up 10 minutes late into Union Station due to a slower train that was running late.
-I found out on the train that one set of roommates had found cheaper lodging and the other roommate never made it to the convention. That is not what I wanted money wise. I will use friends next year for roommates and not total strangers.
-I got to the convention, had dinner and got the Registration. Pre-registration took 30 minutes on Friday night for some reason and had about 50 people in the line. It seemed like there were only two computers for the convention pre-registration. I think it they needed a third person with a paper list to help make things flow better. I wonder if this will discourage people from Pre-Registering in the future.
-I saw parts of the Geek Comedy Tour 3000, which is a very funny group of gentlemen who are from the Metro DC area. They all have lives outside of being wannabe Stand Up comics. They don't just talk about anime in jokes, but Science Fiction, Fantasy and Comic Books in jokes.
-Also saw Anime Match Game, It is set up very much the way Kevin Standlee does it. The two major differences were the tables aren't tiered (they are in one straight line) and they don't use as much tech or any of the Match Game show's music. The guys who hosted are Rym and Scott from the Geeknights podcast. They are entertaining people in the room. It was a very interesting event, all in all.
-I also saw Late Night Katsucon, which is an attempt at a Late Night talk show. They had a late arriving guest and did not know how to deal with it. They started with the Steve Bennett interview and it was getting interesting when Greg Ayres (who was the first hour's guest) finally showed about 11:20 PM. They immediately switched to that interview. I think they should have finished the interview you do because you don't interrupt an interview with another interview. This was done by the same Geeknights podcasting crew as the earlier one. I was getting tired at that point, so I went to bed.

Saturday

-I got up and had breakfast. I must note that the Omni Shoreham did some very good things including having Buffets for under $20 to feed people. It was the first time the restaurant was open during the weekend. People were eating there and it seemed like they made some money over the weekend. They make a much better eggs than I ever can.
-After breakfast, I saw most the Anime Music Video contest. It was a pretty good contest. The best one I saw was a salute to great Anime couples to Nickelback's Far Away.
-About 10:30 AM, I went around for a bit taking pictures of Cosplayers, talking to fellow Convention Runners and browsing the Dealers room. I talked with Ramonthe of Zenkaikon and AMA's con runner Edward Fortner along with bunches of Anime USA folks. I really didn't see Mark Pope (Anime USA's con chair) at the convention. It seems small, but I must not have found you where you were hanging out.
-I then got into the line for Tiffany Grant's autograph. She is the voice Asuka in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Chocolate in Sorcerer Hunters. It started 20 minutes late because Tiffany was in another panel that probably ended late. I think it isn't a good idea to have a panel before an autograph session.
-Rested a little bit around 3 PM. I didn't take a nap, but just some quiet time with TV and a golf from the room.
-Janice Gelb has a best Button contest at Worldcon. I saw some great sayings from the bookmarks and flyers of Otakon. The saying Liked the most was, "If we moved to DC, Baltimore would cry." That is too true.
- I had dinner early and saw Challenger on Fire and was part of the game show. It was done by the Geeknights squad. I did well except when they started to get to the 15 plus year old stuff and it was a blood bath. I think I need to see more old school stuff to be as good as Newton Ewell was. Maybe, Geeknights should have shown more obscure modern stuff to make it a challenge. I hope they do it again at Katsucon next year.
-I saw the Masquerade in the overflow room. It was a good show with about 18 entries, but I think 8 or so of them were Master skits. It made for one of the better shows I had seen. It also disappoints me that there wasn't alot of Novice entries, unless they put all of the Novice entries at the beginning. It could say that new costumers aren't being encouraged to be on stage to perform. The best of the show was a skit celebrating the tenth anniversary of Cowboy Bebop, A Le Chevalier D'eon skit where they tell the story and break out in Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up" and a Death Note Death off where Light and Misa go into a death off about who can kill the most and end up killing each other.
-I also saw a panel about the process of Voice Acting. I did get some of the audition portion of the event taped that I hope to put on Youtube this weekend coming up. I didn't tape the main part of it, since it revealed spoilers of a movie that is licensed and not out here. It is Media Blasters co-production of "the Machine Girl". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSpCWJnnWVI is the link to the trailer. This is truly explotation films that you like.
-I saw the Anime Mid Atlantic preview panel. It was a good panel and at least got me thinking about making the trip to Virginia Beach for the convention. After that panel, I went to bed at about Midnight.

Sunday.

-I got up, got packed, got checked out and had a leisurely breakfast.
-I went to the Charity Auction. The charity that was being raised money for was the American Cancer Society. The auctioneer had three family members in the last year come down with Cancer and lost his Grandfather to cancer. That had to be hard on him because he is also Vice Con Chair of Katsucon Operations. I did win Hiroko and Hirohi Shot glasses (Otakon's Mascots), but got outbid on the Kimono's and Jewelry that I wanted to give to Mom. The auction raised $3,200. It was their best year ever. I hope next year they ask other conventions to donate things. They could get more if they asked some of the other cons for signed items or for Passes and hotel stays for their conventions.
-I had lunch and got some DVD's for me in the Dealers Room.
-I think anime conventions shouldn't do Opening or Closing Ceremonies. Worldcon seems to do a better opening or closing ceremony than almost any anime convention does. Closing Ceremonies had only two of the guests. You should have all of your major guests who aren't doing something at that point (the musical guests were performing at that time). Greg Ayres has just done his 104th straight convention without a single cancellation. That is amazing for anyone especially a voice actor. I have had to cancel attending a convention at least once.

I have some minor things that could be made better, but I will save those things for Katsucon boards. I think you see what fun I had this weekend and I can't wait for Anime Boston. I will talk more about that con in the next few weeks.