Otakon 2012

Closing Ceremonies

The closing ceremonies were packed to capacity to end Otakon 2012. The Con Chair, Dar Bennett-White, came on stage and thanked the attendees, noting that, without them, there wouldn't be a convention. Rebecca Roach, department head of opening and closing ceremonies, then showed a slideshow of the winners and runners up for the costume contest held each day at the convention. Winners included cosplayers from D.Gray-man, Princess Tutu, Sailor Moon, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/stay night, and more. The slideshow also revealed the winners of the various model contests, the Make a Manga Tournament, the Anime Price is Right game show, the Seen It! Anime Edition game show, the video game tournaments, and winners from the Masquerade.

Roach then paid tribute to The Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Space Battleship Yamato director Noboru Ishiguro, who passed away earlier this year. Roach then presented a highlight reel of the weekend, which included footage from the VIXX concert, the dealer's room, fashion show, cosplayers, panelists and guests, and video game tournaments.

Next up Roach revealed the winners of the Anime Music Video contest. The first place winners' videos were also shown to the audience. In the "Trailer/Parody" category, kireblue's "another Destination" video featuring footage from the Another anime won second place. First place went to snapxynith's "Fanservicables 2" video, which featured footage from various anime such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.

In the "Serious/Drama" category, second place went to Shin's "Magic Eye" video featuring footage from Steins;Gate. First place went to RAWdangers' "The Ballad of a Dog" video featuring footage from Zero no Tsukaima.

In the "Action" category, irriadin's "Put Ya Guns On!" video featuring footage from the various Sengoku Basara anime won second place. BecauseImBored1's "Teenagerrrs!!" video featuring footage from Durarara!! won first place.

In the "Romance/Sentimental" category, Nipahcha's "Come Home" video featuring footage from Bunny Drop won second place, and EimiJ7's "Matchmaker" video featuring footage from Card Captor Sakura won first place.

In the "Dance/Upbeat" category, Jump Cut Production's "Shut Up and Ride" video featuring footage from Rideback won second place, and first place went to Pacotacoshell's "The Sunlit March" video featuring footage from various anime such as Card Captor Sakura, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, K-ON!, and tsuritama.

In the "Comedy" category, Parodic Productions' "Squid Girl is Metal" video featuring footage from Squid Girl and other various anime won second place, and first place went to l33tmeatwad's "Mother's Day Special" video featuring footage from Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.

The "Vic's pick" award went to Eternal Voice Studios' "Starcraft" video featuring footage from Card Captor Sakura.

Finally, the Best in Show Award went to VivifxAMV's "When Fandoms Collide" video featuring footage from Death Note and other various shows such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Ouran High School Host Club, and the My Little Pony: Frienedship is Magic cartoon.

Next Roach showed a video of the "Iron Editor" competition, where different anime music video editors had two hours to make an anime music video using footage from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Precure All-Stars DX3, The Legend of Korra, Tiger & Bunny, Gurren Lagann, and the secret source, which was My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The theme of this year's Iron Editor was Teamwork. The staff then showed the winner's entry, created by Shin.

The staff then noted that Studio Nasu is developing a video game featuring Otakon, the Baltimore Convention Center, Otakon's mascot, and other aspects of the convention. A member of Studio Nasu showed a clip from the game. He noted that in the game players can beat up cosplayers. Voice actors Johnny Yong Bosch, J. Michael Tatum, and Kyle Hebert will add their voices to the game, and music will be provided by Bosch's band Eyeshine.

Jim Vowles, Director of Programming, then came on stage and made two announcements regarding Otakon 2013, which will be the 20th anniversary of the event. The first announcement is that the folks from a popular past Otakon event "Mystery Anime Theater 3000" will return. For the second announcement, Otakon is partnering with the Japanese music company Lantis to launch a music festival. The festival will be held at the Rams Head Live venue in Baltimore on November 3, 2012. The event will feature JAM Project with special guests Faylan and Natsuko Aso. Vowles then showed a video from JAM Project, who noted they were excited to come back to Otakon. The group previously performed at Otakon in 2008.

The price for tickets to the event will be less than US$50. Otakon members will have access to purchasing tickets first, and to discounted tickets. VIP tickets will also be available for purchase with proceeds going to charity. More details will be made available in August. Vowles mentioned that if this festival works out it may be the first of many. Vowles noted that tickets will go on sale by September 1. And with that announcement the Closing Ceremonies ended.

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