Washington DC's Edo Period

by Pres James

As you may recall, right around this time last year, I wrote a review of Anime USA 2012. After having such a great time, I happily decided to go back again, and I attended Anime USA this year on behalf of DC Geeks. Even after a year getting back into the con circuit, AUSA once again impressed me.

These Kingdom Hearts cosplayers caught everyone's attention.
(image from the AUSA 2013 Facebook page)

The staff of Anime USA has been consistently great, and they kept that up this year. Despite a few communications snafus, bound to happen at any large event, everyone I talked to was cheerful and happy to spend a few minutes answering questions. The staff was helpful, even to the point of reopening their press office after-hours on Friday to make sure I could get a badge. 

The attendees spoke and the staff listened, because last year’s major complaint of the parking was addressed. Obviously, they couldn’t magically create MORE. However, the staff let everyone know that it would probably be a problem, and printed up directions to the nearest reliably empty garages, as well as including metro accessibility information. Lots of attendees took advantage of that, and I didn’t hear ANY transportation grumblings. Big improvement!

One of the first things I noticed at this year’s AUSA was the integration of the con theme, Edo-era Japan. Honestly, whenever a con announces a theme, it’s a fair bet that you’ll see that theme in the art style of the con’s signs, a few nods to it in the guide book, maybe. But that will probably be all. Not this time. The staff set aside an entire panel track to talk history, era-appropriate crafts, cultural issues, and additional focused events. 

"Prince Hanzoku Terrorized by a Nine-tailed Fox"
(Public Domain via the Wikimedia Commons)

From what I could see, the themed panels were well-attended. Overall, I would love to see more cons go all-out with their themes. If you’re going to go through the effort of choosing a one, play it up! Squeeze something fun out of it! The bigger conventions could take a few lessons from Anime USA and even MarsCon. (Editor's note: Don't let the website fool you, MarsCon has hands-down the most elaborate themed decorations I've seen at any convention, bar none). Next year's dates and promo images have been released, but the theme remains a mystery.

Speaking of fun, two of AUSA’s main attractions, the Maid Cafe and Host Club, both reappeared for another year. As usual, both the servers and the clientele were having a wonderful time. If you come to this con with a group of friends, it’s definitely worth sitting down in there for a snack and a little time playing games. Who knows, you might even make a new friend!

The real gem of this year’s AUSA for me, though, was the Cosplay Burlesque showing. Artist Jessi Pascal of the Geeks Next Door webcomic convinced me to give it a shot, and it was well worth the time. It included stripteases from such favorites as Carmen Sandiego, Chip and Dale from the Rescue Rangers, and no less than three DIFFERENT versions of Loki, including one pretending to be Sailor Jupiter. Between the wonderful cognitive dissonance of familiar characters, the obvious chemistry of the performers, and the amusing, if slightly heavy-handed MCing by comedian Uncle Yo, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend seeing it to anyone I know (well, anyone who happens to be 18+ and mature enough to handle burlesque).

At night, of course, is when the video rooms and panels start to get a little… weirder. There’s no time like 1AM to watch sleep deprived Japanese men get chased around a gymnasium by people dressed all in black who want to do things like hit them with pies, or knock over their dinners.

Although given Japanese game shows, maybe not so weird.
(image originally found via Reddit)

I’m still not exactly sure what that was, but if I knew, I’d be watching more of it. I can’t even tell you why. 

The setup of the artist’s alley was different this year, and while I can’t tell you how the artists felt, I can definitely say that as an attendee it felt much brighter, less tucked away in the corner than it had been last year. Definitely a plus! Of course, from what I can tell the only reason it was changed was due to construction on the hotel, so whether it will continue next year is anyone’s guess.

As usual, cosplayers practically dominated the hotel for the weekend. While there was an unsurprisingly large representation of current anime, such as Attack on Titan, there was also quite a bit more throwback and retro costumes than usual, including one of the most impressive Lina Inverse cosplayers I’ve ever seen - the detail in the armor was astounding. In addition, the number of characters customized to fit a theme or character type was impressive. There was steampunk Sailor Moon (yet no steampunk Joss Whedon) and Magical Girl Kyuubei; all of which were great demonstrations of this community’s cleverness and imagination.

Steampunk ALL the characters!
(image by Marnie Joyce)

Even more so this year than in the past, Anime USA was a slickly run, well-attended weekend. If you enjoy anime and you’re in the area, this should be a part of your con rotation. No questions asked.