Erika 「エりカ 」

Going to Otakuthon was quite an experience! My first international and technically also east-coast con! I’ve been delaying this report due to minor jet lag, usually I have more energy to write a lengthy con report a few days after but it’s been two weeks since the convention now. 

Though even as two weeks has gone by, I’m still reeling with emotion. 

{Day 0}

After a five hour flight I landed at the airport in the early morning, it was my first time really taking a night flight for a con, but considering the time difference I thought it was worth it. After getting through customs, I asked the staff where the uber dropoff was. One of them didn’t want to talk to me as they slowly inched away… probably since I spoke English okay rip. At least it didn’t take long until I had cafe staff tell me the address was correct. 

Once I got to the hotel, I was greeted by a fish pond and I was floored right there. Met up with the lovely

cynccino

At some point we decided to figure out where the convention was and good gosh it was right in front of our hotel. I’ve never been in such close proximity to a convention center before it was amazing! The inside itself was pretty nice as well with pianos, ping pong tables, and fancy chairs to sit in. 

Though as with all cons, there was line con. Apparently it was either for at-con registration or badge mailing complications/will call. Ended up just getting our swag bag which unfortunately I couldn’t take the actual bag home with me since I was afraid of customs checking it oops. 

We went back to our hotel and waited for Kurisumasu_Tapi  (Amai) to arrive so we can official check in to our hotel. It was a nice room, love soft pillows so much! Took a short nap before we all decided to La Banquista for another round of Poutine! Now that was amazing! I’m glad I managed to check this place out! 

After that we just settled into our hotel room and prepped for the first day of con!

{DAY 1}

Woke up around 7 and got my Eugeo cosplay ready, didn’t leave until 8, the line wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Though Amai reminded me once again that Otakuthon was a smaller con and not like crazy Anime Expo. So we wait in line until 11 when the con officially opens. I doodled once again to pass the time. Once we were officially in line to get into the exhibit hall, it was only a matter of time before we could get in. Though still a few people cut the lines so I was worried the exhibit hall would be crowded.

Once we got in, well dang. It wasn’t crowded at all? Cynpai and I managed to find the Jrock booth easily and sadly they had no Rica merch yet since she was still on her flight to Canada. I ended up buying a TM Revolution CD just in case I had the chance to get an autograph. 

We just explored the artist alley after that. I commissioned this Keiichi&Rika button and bought a Pikachu onigiri as well as some yujikiri goods from an artist I saw at AX. I split up with Cynpai and decided to line up to Marina Inoue’s line. Once again I thought I was  going to be in a pickle, but hey I managed to get an autograph on my Umineko drama CD after all and gave her a Jessica keychain as a gift. She told me that Umineko was very nostalgic for her.

I wandered back to Amai’s table and we basically had some Sushi Chef. I got the Sushirito. I went back with Cynpai to the hotel and changed out of my cosplay since it was getting super hot. We walked to Tim Hortons and I tried the ice cappuccino that amai recommended and man I could feel the caffeine rushing through me.

We walked back to con and I decided to get one last autograph before lining up for the TM Revolution concert - Hisashi Kagawa. Once I showed him the Movie 3 postcard, he kept saying how nostalgic for him it was. He signed a Sailor Moon poster and my postcard whilst also drawing a tiny Pikachu. 

Went in line around 6ish and just talked about random stuff like Pokemon Centers in Japan until it was time to go in. Amai, Cynpai, and I managed to get seats at the second row so we were lucky. Though by the start of the concert, people were piled up at the pit area. I remember Itou Kanako’s concert at AX which was a smaller venue and figured yeah the best place was sitting in the seats where it wasn’t cramped. 

The concert was lit! Loved that TMR decided to start with Heart of Sword! It’s such an iconic song, and man Kenshin days on Toonami were great! Also loved that he sung Resonance and Invoke from Soul Eater and Gundam Seed. It got pretty hyped and he had so much energy! Wasn’t expecting him at one point to just throw his jacket off like WhoA WHoA there! My feet hurt so much from jumping and swinging my penlight around. 

Once the concert ended lined up for merchandise line, which we were promised free goods, but ultimately it was futile. We ended up ditching the line for some dinner! Had some mackerel, ramen, and tiramisu! 

After that we went back to the hotel and chilled. At some point Rica tweeted that she arrived in Canada and I tweeted her that I couldn’t wait to see her! She surprised me once again by tweeting me back “me too”. It made me too excited to sleep right away, but also that thunder and lightning. I was shook in bed wondering what was going on, but everything seemed okay. I fell asleep thinking about getting to meet Rica again tomorrow. 

{DAY 2}

Decided to go as my real self today since I had a Rica shirt and wanted to see her reaction to me wearing it. Lined up around the same time as the day before and was surprised to get around the same spot. It really surprised me once again since it was Saturday and usually Saturdays for cons are the busiest. 

Once 10 rolled around, Cynpai and I went straight to the Jnorth booth and was surprised to see how little the Rica merch was. Though since Rica and her manager were asleep because they got in at 1am, they didn’t know the prices yet. They decided to take the merch and have it sold after the Q&A panel. 

Cynpai and I decided to start the line for the panel right after that because why not. It was great meeting people like GSotoVasquez in line and talking about our love for Rica. We also talked about Japan trips! Aaaaah I wanna go to a Pokemon Cafeee! 

The panel was delayed till like 12:45/50ish, but it was alright. All I had was Rica today. This article pretty much sums up her panel! Though parts I liked was how people told her to eat Poutine in Montreal, and how people talked about her first leading role as Jin Hyuga from Raijin Oh which I still need to finish! I died once she screamed out one of Jin’s lines, like aaaah, gosh it made my motivation to continue spike up.  

There was also a part where Rica said she’d be interested in collaborating with Jam Project again since it’s the 20th Anniversary next year. So you hear that Jam Project, hit her up~~ She wants to sing Soul Taker again! I reeled back from my chair from being so emotional once she started singing the first line and I tried singing back to her but I think my voice was too quiet. 

I knew some of her backstory beforehand, but man hearing it directly from her mouth was just oof. I know some of the songs she wrote were talking about her family. 

I asked her what are other roles in anime that she loved voicing and first of all she was happy to see me wearing Satoshi’s Kalos hat and then noticed my Rica shirt. She was so surprised and said: Thank you for wearing one of the clothes I helped design from my fanclub “Jolly Dog”!  She told me she loved all the characters she voiced and talked about this Japanese story about sea turtles coming out of eggs and crying out their way to be born in the world which is how she looks into every character she voices. That’s how she comes to love every one of the characters she voices. I was shaking so much after that since I was so happy to actually ask her something even if she told me a roundabout answer, but I guess she voiced a lot of characters that she can’t recall specifics. 

Once the panel ended, quite a number of us lined up for the merch. We were stationed at the front, but then they told us to line up at the back because of the next panel, but then once again they realize hey the next panel is another one of their guests - Marina Inoue oops! So they had to line us back at the front. Luckily I managed to get the merch I wanted. I was so happy to get more Rica merch that I didn’t have! 

I walked out of the room and went into the autograph room with Amai and Cynpai and good gosh. There were two separate lines - one for priority and one for raffle. Once we came in from the panel, I overheard this guy yelling at staff about us coming in and lining up and that ‘they lied to them’. There was so many people! Though, hey it clearly stated in the autograph policies that Rica line prioritized those with Rica merch from the booth or in our case the Q&A. I guess people didn’t read. 

Once it got to my turn, they announced that autographs would be finished in 5 minutes. When I went up to her, her eyes lit up so much and thanked me again for wearing the shirt but then I pointed to the Pikachu rosette and the two bags I had - the Satoshi itabag and one of the Jolly Dog bags and she kept saying SUGOI SUGOI SUGOI! She immediately wanted a picture of me and my merch! I wish I could have asked for a picture, but staff told us no pictures ourselves so rip. I handed her my RICA the Best CD and once again I hear how nostalgic it was for her to see it. I told her that I saw her at Anime Expo and she thanked me for coming to see her there. She handed it back to me and I give her my gift. Rica looks at it and then asks how old I was in English and I told her I was 28. She points at my drawing and asks if I drew it at my age and I was so embarrassed at her asking that but I nodded and said thank you before leaving for the TMR autograph line! 

Thankfully I managed to get an autograph from TMR! Staff kept running through all rows asking for people had bought specific things to line up as priority. This time they were only having TMR sign merch that we bought at the booth. First in priority was people that had t-shirts for him to sign. I almost got a t-shirt the day before but decided that having a CD was much better for me to have signed. Man once it got to my turn I told him that I really enjoyed the concert and he thanked me and shook my hand. I’ll never forget how warm his hand felt. Like WHOA those hands were holy??? 

After getting more autographs from Irie Yasuhiro, Shigefumi Shingaki, and Tomoyuki Shitaya, I met back up with Amai and Cynpai for dinner! We had noodles and those yakult drinks. Though after that we had Juliette & Chocolat for dessert. SO WORTH IT! It was so good~  We went back to our hotel after that and slept the rest of the night away. Another Rica day tomorrow~

{DAY 3}

Decided to go as Serena for the last day, the same cosplay I used to meet Rica at Anime Expo. This time I went alone since Amai and Cynpai wanted to sleep more. I just wanted to check to make sure where we were supposed to line up for the Rica showcase. The line was considerably shorter by the time I got there around the same time as the other days. I met up with one of the Rica fans I talked to yesterday and we just talked the time away before we went up at 10. There was a huge line for the exhibit hall so we just opted out and lined up for the autograph room for Junichi Hayama. We heard interesting stories from the staff about previous guests coming and how people tried to bribe young volunteers to hook them up with meeting those guests. Pretty scary.

After we got our autograph we decided to check the exhibit hall and check the animator booth. I went to get some breakfast from Amai at her booth. We decided to go back to the autograph line after looking at the rest of the booth and getting confirmation where the line would start for the Rica showcase. Though before that we had time to kill so we were the first to line up for Irie Yasuhiro. While we were waiting in line, kiwiipandan (Kris) came by to talk with us while we waited for him to arrive. It was great seeing her again

We both got Irie to draw Domon from G Gundam and he asked me how old I was when I watched G Gundam. I told him about middle school. I wasn’t sure since it was sooo long ago on Toonami. I rewatched it a few years ago during college and it was still as great as I remembered it. My favorite Gundam. 

Once we finished, we decided to start the showcase line at 12:30 and I messaged Amai and Cynpai to line up when they can since it started. Though what we didn’t know was it would turn into an eternal close to 4 hour wait. By the time the showcase was about to start, there was a line out the door and four lines inside the autograph room were filled. Though people left as time past by. Staff came by and told us there were sound issues and that Rica wanted to be at her best, but also that we wouldn’t all fit in the room, except that wasn’t true. People were leaving their place in line and going back just to shout and complain to the staff, Amai went up to them at one point and they flinched thinking she was going to shout at them, but were grateful that she asked calmly about the situation. Amazing that people here would yell at staff as if that would help. At some point we got people confronting us on being the front of the line asking how and why. Amai and Cynpai just pointed at me saying that I was basically in the autograph room from the room opening. 

The autograph line started while we were in line for the showcase. One of the guys just scoffed at us gloating that they were starting the line. That they weren’t going to be easy on us once we get out of the showcase. Like bro, chill we didn’t need your hostility.

Once 4PM rolled by we were allowed to go in, but there was almost a stampede since people didn’t want to go in line by line. I went straight to the front row in the middle. Almost had staff tell me to move since they wanted an organized room with no spaces, but Amai, Cynpai, and I just sat there not moving just giving them the vibe of “nope we’re staying” so the staff gave up and moved to other people. 

Now I brought two penlights out ready to jam out to Rica and show my support! Hell yeah I wasn’t going to let anyone ruin this experience for me even though I didn’t know what I was doing with my sticks! Oops! At the very least this time I was at the very front so I couldn’t see people staring at me like with Anime Expo. Now that I still remember vividly. 

Rica sang Alive a Life, Ikite Koso, and Mezase Pokemon Master! 

All three performances were so exciting~ I screamed so much and probably hurt the ears of people next to and that were behind me. Though with Ikite Koso, I felt so emotional while she was singing it and cried. Having to do the Ikite Koso moves myself and hearing other people besides myself singing “IKITE KOSO, IKITE KOSSOO” was just perfect. She was crying as well too! A person yelled out “NAKANAIDE!” after the song finished and now I can’t really listen to the original song the same way again. Listening to it live and having sung with other people, just the best. 

Things were iffy with Mezase though, the sound crew derped so hard, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rica was upset by the end of this, but managed to keep on going for her fans. Once they actually got Mezase to play, everyone was singing and dancing. It felt more lively than the Mezase performance at Anime Expo. Other people besides me used penlights as well so it really was like a real concert! Yay!

Once the concert ended, Cynpai and I rushed out to the autograph line immediately. Amai went back to her artist alley table. Luckily we made it in line before staff cut it. They also weeded out people asking about the merch at the table, but in the end they ended up selling the free postcards that were given out when buying merch. There was also this most absurd thing. I guess people complained so much about the day before that they had to add a new category besides the priority and raffle line. This category was called “picture people” - that being that if you were in a certain picture taken the day before you got priority. Man I’d love to see those people handle autographs at Anime Expo or any of the other big conventions. 

Jokes on that person from before the showcase started, I managed to get my shikishi signed by Rica. Though before I went up to her, people in line signed/drew a shikishi to give to Rica as a gift. I could have given it to her, but I was already afraid I would make a small blunder like yesterday. It was really nice getting to talk to other Rica fans. I cried a little bit in line while remembering how emotional it was getting to see Rica sing in person. 

When it got to my turn, I heard staff rushing me in like whoa, they really wanted me in and out. Although I couldn’t really blame them since the delay of the showcase really hindered the autograph session. So I go up to them and decide to try and talk Japanese to Rica. I gave her the shikishi and said “Hello!” She looked up at me and smiled before going back and signing her name. I took this time to tell her that I really enjoyed her live and that I cried a lot - in which she replied that she too cried herself. I told her that I was very happy and that Ikite Koso was such a great song. She thanked me once more and drew a Pikachu for me as per my request which was so great. I almost forgot to ask to ask her. Once she handed the shikishi back to me, she extended her hand for a handshake.

In that moment, I knew that if I stayed any longer I would just start ugly sobbing in front of her. I didn’t really see her shaking people’s hands so, to her to extend her hand to me, I just felt so happy and shocked. I could already feel the tears threatening to gush out as I shook her hand thanking her for everything. When I turned my back to her tears started flowing out immediately, I overheard people saying “omg she’s crying” as I left. I waited for Cynpai to get her autograph and we both left for the closing ceremonies with other Rica fans in line with us where we saw Rica talk about how happy she was that she was here and delivered her iconic line. “Otakuthon Getto Daze!”

We went back to our hotel and had our last dinner at a Shabu Shabu place with boba afterwards! Spent most of the night packing and just being happy that I got the chance to see Rica once more this year. 

{DAY 4 - Going home}

Woke up and went to a bakery. Bought some durian sweets because hello I want more durian foods. Still craving for more Durian Gelato, but eventually I’ll return and have it. Went back and checked out our hotel, but we had the staff hold our bags so we could eat and hang out before we had to leave our respective ways.

We had this delicious noodle soup. Just gosh it was amazing. The mild spice level was just right for me and the tea egg to add was great! Glad I added it on~ We walked around and lingered around the Notre Dame area and then Cynpai and I parted ways with Amai after we got back our bags.

We walked to the bus station in which I bought myself a Canada dry for laughs. Still nice after a good walk though. 

After relaxing a bit, I ubered back to the airport, bought souvenirs for people, and just sat in a chair relaxing and dozing off from time to time. There was a line for when we actually were about to go in the plane which just reminded me that linecon is forever~ 

I couldn’t sleep on the plane so I just watched three movies - The Kid Who Would Be King, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and Fantastic Beasts 2. It would have been better if there was complimentary food, but alas that was not the case. 

We stalled at the gate for a while, I got lost trying to find the baggage area, but eventually I found it and left for home around midnight. Family decided to get some INO since it was the only thing really open.

{Final Thoughts}

Well going to Canada was worth the trip.

I really got to meet with Rica Matsumoto this time. I managed to convey more of my feelings to her than at Anime Expo. I still got embarrassed with her asking about my age and my drawings. I was ready for her to say more things. 

Despite the mishaps during the con, it was pretty great! Autographs were super easy to get compared to other cons I’ve been too as I’ve said before. I wished I got photos with Rica though... Will she ever post photos they took of me I wonder. 

Getting to hear her live once more was amazing! Even better with more songs! Her Ikite Koso performance blew me away that I can listen to the original the same way. Ooops~

Otakuthon was a pretty chill con. I would love to return sometime, depending on the guests. It was a nice experience! Being my first international con! Maybe I’ll go for Comiket someday… Who knows~