Otakon 2026
weeaboo weekend.
Otakon 2026 was so exhausting and so so good.
Panels:
Didn’t do many this year since a few longtime friends made their ways there and we spent our time catching up. Really great to be in the room when Discotek announced that they got the licenses for Penguindrum, Patlabor, and Toradora!
Artist’s Alley:
Was hoping to see that one mech artist for Dianna and Kihel charms but it looks like they didn’t make it in this year… Lovely to see so many Uma charms. A few even, of my favorite. This is where most of the Amedeji merch ended up, though I did see the manga at Kinokuniya’s booth.
Dealer’s Hall:
Retro Saikou always has the good stuff. Picked up the Turn A Gundam soundtrack CDs; was hoping for a Turn A Laserdisc to frame but there’s always next year. Notable sights: Shaddiq Zenelli charms 2$ (NOBODY WANTS HIM); Hidamari Sketch Honeycomb, Namaniku ATK, and Kanbaru Suruga artbooks; copies of the Higurashi shooting game and the Umineko fighting game; Madoka Movie premiere pamphlets. Their Type-Moon wall is always a delight, and this year there was a sealed first edition Tsukihime copy! The coolest thing on display was a laserdisc of the Daicon III and IV opening animations. Very happy to see the annual Watch Symphogear! sign with an And Umamusume Too!
Fragmented Nostalgia specializes in magical girls; I was particularly enchanted by the pair of Utena’s shoes they had on display. Apparently the Anthy pair already got snapped up. I would have bought them but that would have made me feel like Touga.
Akiba Anime Store’s prices are on the expensive side but having a big table of unsorted Umamusume merch to pick through created a natural meeting point and center of conversation for Uma fans and cosplayers as people announced what horsegirls they were seeking. So many people wanted TM Opera O! Right next to that they had some fanbooks and uma plushies and wall scrolls etc but the best thing there was a shelf of SK Japan Throughbred plushies, labeled only in katakana. I got to help people find their oshis! Didn’t find any 99gen (with the exception of Haru) though… I was really hoping for an Adobe1. Perhaps next year.
Gundam Planet wasn’t in the Dealer’s Hall but their Mecha Kaikan setup is so nice. Love to watch a panel on 60s and 70s mecha history while snipping out and assembling a little robot. A friend who flew in with me got to build her first gunpla!!! Thanks Gundam Planet. They saved a crate of Turn Xs and sold them for a very fair price; if they didn’t already have my loyalty as a customer that would have earned it for sure.
Encounters:
A Shiki Ryougi! And an Arcueid nearby who was visibly miffed I didn’t call her out for a picture. Sorry. If you wanted me to get a photo, you should have been cosplaying the better Type-Moon heroine.
Two Nakayamas Festa at a fancy self-shuffling mahjong table with an Agnes Tachyon and a Tomoko Kuroki. I’m pretty sure that was an episode of Akagi. or possibly Saki: Achiga-hen.
A Panty and a Stocking doing their nails on the train in.
Three of you, my loyal followers. Thanks for taking me out to lunch. :)
Quite a lot of Saiki K cosplayers who I kept mistaking for wearing Shadow Girls uniforms.
Three Anthies and their Utenas. A Saionji and a Touga. and one Juri, walking around with a Ruka.
A Paptimus Srirocco who, on being asked for a picture, walked up and wordlessly handed me a tiny plastic haro.
SO MANY UMAMUSUME. I was at the photoshoot, though I didn’t cosplay as an Uma. Here are some highlights:
A Tannhauser asked a Fukukitaru to bless her 10 roll. Fuku did the whole Woiya Happy! Haiya Lucky! chant, totally focused, hands moving over the phone… and Tannhauser got nothing whatsoever. Sorry Mambo. Your luck was character accurate. Actually, of the two Tannhausers, one lacked a hat and one lacked ears. Not by any fault of their own either… No wonder they were drawn to her enough to cosplay her.
A Curren Chan who did all the poses. #cutecurren #lovecurren #lookatcurren. #LookAtCurren.
One single Smart Falcon who went up alone in front of everybody and did all the ridiculous cutesy posing you would expect of Smart Falcon, to massive applause.
Six Symbolis Rudolf, one of whom was wearing a DILF hat. I met two early on, then three, then by the photoshoot time they had arrayed themselves in an orderly queue waiting to be called and passing the names of the next umas to be called along to the audience. They had perfect postures, upright ears, and immaculately-planned schedules.
Two Gentildonnas flexing their back muscles, a Brian who did the fist, and a Hishiama with the little gochisosama puppet who did the claws! And a Mayano Top Gun who ran up with her arms out like an airplane. Lovely.
Two Still In Loves who did a pose with one of them reaching out and one hiding her face.
4-5 TM Opera Os gently holding the arms of their Meishos Doto. Such a good couple’s cosplay. Also, a Vodka and Daiwa Scarlet who were clearly dating — right by all the Digitans. Honestly Digitan would be so fun… you could get a friend to ask for pictures and position yourself in the background with binoculars for all of them…
Seven or so Taikis Shuttles! Other horses in this category: Rice Shower, Tokai Teio, Stay Gold, Silence Suzuka.
The cutest little elementary schooler. Fusaichi Pandora. Nobody knew her so it took them towards the end to call her. But when Main Story 2 rolls around, people will see she was a true feminist all along.
Various Daitaku Helioses doing 6-7. Of course.
A KFC Collab Tachyon?! You had like what, a week to make that?????
A Bakushin who nailed the ridiculous laugh.
A Dream Journey doing the Dream Journey Victory Pose but with two fingers out and down. Like for. well. We know.
A Silence Suzuka driving a mobility device and another Suzuka who posed like she was running her over. Wow. That’s a lot. Suzukas can reclaim though, I think.
Most represented horses: Oguri, Golshi, Mcqueen, Tachyon, Cafe. Also a whole bunch of Trainers. It looks like BOANE and Cingrey are the entries American fandom likes the most. As for unreleased horses, people love Gentildonna and Stego + the entire Gold Clan.
And get this: THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE SPECIAL WEEK. Wild!
Jaxxes in maid outfits I guarantee you were not fooling anyone.
FANDOMS ASCENDANT: Amedigi, more recent Jojo parts, Panty and Stocking, Umamusume. more Lolitas. Kasane Teto.
FANDOMS TRIUMPHANT: Deltarune, Touhou (so many mokous), Final Fantasy, Vtubers, Pokemon (eevee and evolutions especially), Guilty Gear, Witch Hat Atelier. It feels like all the Vash and Wolfwood people went for Qifrey and Olruggio.
FANDOMS DECLINING: Genshin (though Honkai might have had something to do with this, splitting up the Hoyoverse cosplayers), Chainsaw Man, Studio Trigger Shows That Aren’t Panty And Stocking, Trigun: Stampede, Frieren
FANDOMS EVER-PRESENT: 07th Expansion, Soul Eater, DMMD. and of course I saw a Vriska.
look I have to get the database animal raving out of my system somehow. so you get to read this. thankfully for the dignity of all involved, this little rant won’t take up An Article Slot — I have one I’m working on for later this week.
‘Adobe’ being the horse version shortening of Admire Vega; the Umamusume gets ‘Ayabe’
Retro Saikou is truly love if one likes idol things. He was talking about taking down the Watch Symphogear at AX, which is heresy even if there is less and less merch for it every year...MOVIE WHEN?!
Anyways much adorable! Do you ever do west coast cons? Would totally want to be one of the fans inviting out to lunch if so!
That digimede is so cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mood up just seeing it!!