Press was allowed to set up in the first three rows; I wasn't fortunate enough to land a front row seat and had to sit on the edge of the second row and contort myself to use my tripod in the aisle without blocking anyone's view. The staff then informed us that we could only take photographs for the first three songs which is unfortunate as they changed costumes several times. Some people, who didn't even seem to be professionals judging by their equipment, were allowed to remain at the base of the stage and shoot during most of the concert. I'm not sure what that was about.

I was impressed quickly by the bands dancing which I expected to be no better than some generic American boy band. I was certainly wrong on that account, I don't remember the boy bands of the late 90s break dancing and doing back flips (though, I can't say I really watched those old acts, feel free to correct me). Not only were they better at dancing but the costumes blew any mainstream pop act I'd ever seen on MTV clear out of the water. The various outfits where mainly inspired by traditional Asian elements and, as I said, were stunning and flowed elegantly. They weren't up to Kagrra's high traditional costume standards, but then again, who is? (Kagrra is a Japanese rock band known for incorporating traditional Japanese instruments into their music and wearing stunning kimonos on stage.)

Well, I was aesthetically pleased but that isn't really what matters is it? I have to admit that I rarely enjoy pop music, in any market whether it's Boa in Korea or Britney Spears in America, I just don't listen. This band however featured a varied set list drawing from various styles of music and dance. Many pop groups feature rock influenced tracks but AAA featured a few tracks that were quite a bit harder than your average pop. Not only that, but the instrumentals didn't at all seem like an afterthought to the dancing and lyrics. It wouldn't have all seemed out of place if the band played instruments instead of danced during some songs. In fact I found out the group is in fact usually backed by a live band in concert, but the band couldn't make the trip.

Interestingly some songs didn't feature the entire group on stage at once, at certain points the men or women of the group would leave the stage. Not only did this make the music varied, but it made it so that that the transition between costumes was quick as they could change while off stage. The set itself lasted about an hour and featured an average sized three song encore. Every few songs the band would MC the audience with something Otakon related. Evidently a couple of the group members watch a lot of anime on TV as they talked about a lot of mainstream anime such as One Piece, Dragon Ball and Naruto. Also, Miyuki, who is also in the beginnings of an acting career, plugged the DVD release of The Grudge 2 in which she appears as Miyuki. Later on they had autograph sessions where a group of fans presented the group with them doing the dance to the AAA song "Champagne Gold" which the group joined. I found out that they recorded it for inclusion on a future DVD.

Afterwards I met back up with my group of gamers and we headed back up to the hotel room to test out our gaming goodies from the dealer room. The dealer room was the same as ever, large and hectic. Pandora's Cube, a store which Baltimore/Washington gamers may know for being caught by the feds selling modded Xbox units filled with pirate games, somehow was allowed into the dealer room after being thrown out of previous Otakons for the same offense. They still wanted to test the limits of Otakon's patience, selling technically illegal universal GameCube consoles.

The internet community presence was as strong as ever. Gaia Online had a massive booth in the dealer room with some sort of game show set up for users to win prizes. 4Chan was there as always, they had their notorious panel which due to the scheduling issues was only known to the 4Chan members (I found this out via an angry phone call from a 4Chan member). With 4Chan comes their less desirable members, who I fully expected to spoil the newest Harry Potter book (which came out during the middle day of Otakon). Thankfully I made it through the event spoiler free, I doubt everyone did.

Saturday night came around and I was still full of energy looking forward to the final day. Then all the wheels came off the Otakon bus for me. Unbeknownst to me, my ride home had taken the Light Rail down to the convention that day without bothering to check the schedule. Lucky (or so we thought) a late train showed up. As we boarded the conductor informed us that train was only going halfway to where we needed to be. I told everyone to get off and informed my absent minded friend that he would be paying for a taxi for all of us (his early teen sister and her two friends were with us). Unsurprisingly he refused to get off the train. I wasn't going to let three young girls get stranded in the middle of the city at 2 in the morning, so I stayed on the train mumbling to myself how stupid the situation was. We were booted of the train nowhere near where we needed to be at about 2:15 AM. We sat at what was little more than a bus stop in the middle of one of the roughest cities in Western civilization. I sat there with a look of contempt trying to find us a ride. At 4 AM I finally got home and did not have it in me to get up two hours later for the third straight day of the event. My Otakon experience was over.

Aside from the horrendous end my and the scheduling issues (I found out you could get a corrected schedule) I found this year to be one of most enjoyable Otakons. I was invited to formally take part in a panel discussion next year, and made a lot of new friends. My music involvement was boosted by meeting people with contacts to the industry, and people were interested in not only Defunct Games, but my young personal blog as well. I'll be running a minimum of two panels next year, if you're in the Baltimore area make sure and look out for me.