Zenkaikon 2011: A Very Late Blog

Zenkaikon 2011 (Zenkaikon V), what is there to say? It was the first convention where the alcohol was gone by Friday afternoon. I stayed at the Raddison, where they insisted on giving me Decaf coffee packets everyday. It mixed well with the Tequila, but I never quite got my caffeine fix the entire weekend. For some odd reason I dyed my hair black/purple Thursday night and turned a bunch of the hotel towels pink. That was a lot of fun. I went to the King of Prussia mall with the intention of eating at 5 guys, but didn't make it past one of the Chinese food stands.

Noodles in Black bean sauce, traditionally eaten by single people on
April 14th, Black Day. I shared these with a friend the Thursday
before the convention. By the end of the convention,
I could not look at an instant noodle/ramen packet.

I don't quite remember what went on on Friday. Open karaoke didn't start until 8pm, so I wandered around, and helped my friends Joey Dangerous,  and Ann Siri at their tables in the artist alley. I pretty much hung out at their table most of the convention talking to people passing by.

Loot from Friday: I bought a lot more stuff on Saturday
and Sunday. The big haul was that K-ON! bath towel!

The dealer's room was better than I expected. I did not expect to spend a lot of money, but this year's dealer's room/artist alley at Zenkaikon was on par with Otakon (just on a smaller scale). There was a little bit of everything, and I could have spend much more money than I did.

Friday night I hit up karaoke, which is run by the Anime Jam Session people, DJ. Ranma, and Kuro Usagi. They've been doing a good job of running the karaoke since I starting going to Zenkaikon. I ended up singing "All You Need is Love" from "Magic Night Rayearth." I found this cool You Tube Chanel, that has all the Saturday karaoke (Including me in the contest).

After karaoke, I got corralled into the 18+ line, and lead into a room with a Yuri panel. Honestly, I would have had more fan if it was a Yaoi panel (watching rabid fan girls gush over pretty boys making out with each other is much more entertaining to watch). Everyone basically talked about their favorite series that had Yuri overtones (but no actual Yuri). The panelist asked me for a series, I mentioned Kodomo no Jikan, and no one in the room knew what the hell I was talking about.

A Soul Eater cosplay group. Soul Eater and Pokemon were
among some of the most popular cosplays I saw.

On Saturday, I had a series of mishaps while making my way to the Anime Jam Session panel. I couldn't walk five feet without someone wanting a picture of me or running into someone who knew me from past Otakon conventions. I had to hit up a bathroom and didn't get to the panel until a half-hour later. Afterwards, I hit the dealer's room again, spent more money, and hung out with random people, including one of my classmates who was stalking various members of Rose Noire, who I missed out on even though they played two concerts.

After doing the karaoke contest, I tried to hunt down my friends to show off my shinny trophy, so I did a few victory laps, and ran into Joey and Ann. We went to gaming room, and played a table top game.

Schoolgirls vs. Predator: I bought this
raver wig on a whim; it is made out
Chinese finger traps. I couldn't stop playing
with it and getting my fingers stuck. 

The table top gaming room was really cool. There were a lot of donated games laying out that anyone could try out. Joey and Ann wanted to try out Witch's Brew, since they were considering buying it but wanted to try it out first, so we took like an hour time out to play. If Joey didn't have to work his table, he probably would have spent most of his time playing Magic Cards.

Eventually, I made my was to the fan parodies. There was a new one this year, made by the "This is Otakudom and STEAM the Movie people," called Fanboy Soze vs. The Reanimators of the Otakulypse. It was a high-quality parody of Akira. I highly recomend it, and I assume it will be showing at other conventions.

Saturday night, I ended up at a Hentai panel and at a Go Nagai panel. I ended up leaving the Hentai panel to go to the Go Nagai panel, which only had my friend, one other woman, and myself in attendance.

Sunday: I spent more money. Bought a pink cosplay wig. From that point on, I had a bunch of people taping me on the back asking me if I was a girl. I guess I kind of "passed" from behind... LOL.

Sunday: I added a wig to my piece-meal
non-specific schoolgirl crossplay.
The Mokona bag/plushies make the
costume.

Overall, it was the most fun I've had at an anime convention, since the last one I attended (Otakon 2010).