As the music played in the background, both Godzillas slowly approached each other with fierce determination while the crowd eagerly anticipated a fight to the death. Finally, both of them stopped face to face and suddenly... romantic music started playing in the background and the two Godzillas started kissing passionately!!! An avalanche of laughter cascaded from the audience as both Godzillas continued to kiss. It was so hilarious I could not stop laughing! But after a few moments of passion Mecha-Godzilla's head fell off! Disappointed, Godzilla tramped off stage leaving an immobile and headless Mecha-Godzilla behind. A stagehand helped the headless-Mecha-Godzilla off the stage amidst the loud cheers.

I think the best costume I saw during the whole convention was the almost 8 foot Tallgeese costume (from Gundam Wing). Since Tallgeese was so huge it took a while before he could appear on stage via the side stairs. Although he was stuck for a while the TV cameras were all pointed at him and so the crowd started shouting "Tallgeese! , Tallgeese!, Tallgeese!" Slowly but surely Tallgeese in all his glory stepped onto the stage. Although flash photography was strictly banned nobody could resist taking photos of this Mobile Suit celebrity. Countless cameras started flashing while the crowd continued to cheer.

After everyone had strut their stuff the judges took time to tally the scores and choose the winners. During this time they screened the winning entries from the anime music video contest. There were about 5 or 6 categories, which included drama, action, comedy and sentimental. All the music videos were absolutely amazing. One that really struck a chord was the sentimental video entry. It was a music video featuring Miyazaki works such as Nausicaa, Kiki's Delivery Service, Totoro, Mononoke Hime and Laputa playing against the background Celtic music of Mummer's Dance sang by Loreena McKennitt. While the video played wonderful scenes of flight from Kiki's and Laputa and the majestic earth scenes from Nausicaa, Totoro and Mononoke Hime.

FINALLY

In the end the cosplay event was not only well worth the wait but also well worth the trip. I now understand now why this is pretty much the main feature of Otakon. The tremendous effort and dedication shown by the fans was clear not only in the cosplay but also in the amount of people who attended. No doubt Otakon will continue to be one of the biggest anime conventions around thanks to the fans and dedicated Otakon volunteers and staff who did a great job in making this event possible.

I was happy to have been able to attend this event and I am already planning on going again next year. Hey, if you are reading this report I hope to see you there!

Otakon Site