As I mentioned several times before there was a good amount of mecha panels this year. All but the most diehard mecha forums poster would have more than enough content to keep them happy. Kate and I did our best to experience the full range Otakon and for the most part, I think we did. In retrospect I actually went to more non-mecha panels then I did mecha panels which I think was an accomplishment. I did go to 6 mecha panels overall so I probably went to as many mecha panels as most attendees go to on a weekend so I hardly avoided robot related content. I think it just speaks to the amount of panel content there is at Otakon.

I will say listening to the Ani-Gamers podcast for the convention I dodged some real stinkers when it came to panel content. I did not love every panel I went to but I did not really go to anything that sorely disappointed me or angered me. I have to wonder if I have just gotten really good at picking panels or am I just very lucky.

If you looking for the shows I talked about at New Anime for Older Fans I have a complete list here.

As always, Otakon’s panel offerings are a major highlight of the convention. While I didn’t participate as a panelist this year, I saw many familiar faces among the presenters but also new blood here and there. Continue reading →

This year’s Otakon sported an expanded artist alley. Last year the space was paired with the autograph area, but this time around artist alley didn’t have to share. The extra wide aisles and a few empty tables showed there was plenty of room to grow for the alley as Otakon gets more used to its DC location.

I spent all my extra minutes and a lot of the con proper exploring the artist alley. I even made a little time to walk the art show this year. There was an amazing turn out of talent!

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