Katsucon 13 Preview

Now, you've got the basics: hall costume contest, cosplay, masquerade, dance, art show, video gaming room and the all-important merchant's room. Then you've got the guests -- probably the one element that differentiates one con from another. You're always bound to get the regulars -- english voice actors, doujinshi artists, etc. Hence, the ones you can assume will be there unless they have recording or another event that day. International guests, by no surprise, are announced closer to opening day. But over the years, Katsu has turned up great artists -- I've had the priviledge of meeting Range Murata (I even got to play Rock-Paper-Scissors with him and about a dozen others), Satoshi Shiki, and Tsukasa Kotobuki, for example. It's not a new concept, but more and more cons have j-pop/rock concerts as the main event. I've gotta say, this has made Katsu even more enjoyable these past couple of years. We've had Duel Jewel, Psycho le Cemu, Jack Takuro, Salia, and Funny Stones.

But the picture looks grim this year. Less than a month remains till Katsu 2007 and other than the appearance of 2 members from Duel Jewel, the line-up looks dry. You've got the basic VAs, blah blah blah. Still no Japanese artists. Peelander-Z, another con regular, has a concert -- not a group I'm aching to see...We're in the same hotel as last year, and in response to the photo dilemnas, photo areas have been designated all around the hotel. I just hope that it works out okay, I'd hate to miss out on a good photo simply because people didn't want to walk over to the right place to take a pic.

The con as it stands now, still has some allure - the merchant's room is at the top of my list and it would be interesting to see what the popular series of the year will be in cosplay-world. Hopefully, we'll have some good panels (the schedule is not up yet) as well and the anime rooms will have a good selection of subtitled works.

I don't mean to be long-winded and pessimistic, and I understand the logistics of scheduling guests and events, but my expectations were pretty high, since last year's con was pushing the envelope just a bit. I don't know if I'll have to find another con to attend from now on. There's still time till the con, but if things don't turn up, I'm sure that it'll prove to be enjoyable regardless.