I managed to attend Anime USA for the first time in over 4 years, since they moved away from the Crystal City Hyatt to the Wardman Park Marriott in DC.
I didn’t get to see everything, but I did manage to get some photos, so enjoy!
Hello scary lady in the red cape…
The main atrium at the hotel was a hot spot for cosplay photography
One of my favorite web cartoonists, in his native habitat
Cosplayer on the go
A cosplayer, photographing another cosplayer
Hello scary lady now dressed in black instead of red, with horns…
Marvel-ous cosplayers
Cosplayers and photographers in the main lobby
Part of the restaurant was dedicated as a “maid cafe” during the day, and a “butler cafe” in the evening
Old school Batman
The AnimeUSA traditional torii gate, a staple of the convention every year
A very nice thing the actors did, they posed for pictures for the fans, including a group of cosplayers dressed as the characters from “Cowboy Bebop” that the actors provided voices for
Sharing Halloween candy with the scary lady dressed in black with horns
Cosplayers just seem to get younger every year
Maids stand ready to escort guests to their table, and entertain them with fun games while they eat
Mr. West, is that you?
The convention had many levels of activity
The AnimeUSA mascot, original version
The highlight of the convention, and the main reason I went, a panel with the voice actors who dubbed the “Cowboy Bebop” anime in English
Leave it to Japan to combine a catchy Gene Kelly tap-dance number from “Singing in the Rain” with a cute anime ghost girl, to create one of the sweetest, cutest anime shorts I’ve seen to date. A lot of the world seems to agree, since the YouTube video is now over 300,000 views, and the comments section is filled with all kinds of languages from fans.
The anime short starts off with a lonely, sad ghost girl, who happens to hear two haunted tap shoes singing and dancing to “Moses Supposes” from “Singing in the Rain.”
She’s hesitant at first, but soon she starts trying to dance with them, and as the song goes on she breaks into a tap-dance routine just like Gene Kelly’s. It’s kind of bittersweet, as the shoes lose their movement, but in the closing we see a shopkeeper (Named Mose!) watching the ghost girl looking at a sign in his window for “Singing in the Rain”, and the last scene shows them in a theater where she’s enjoying “Singing in the Rain” with the shopkeeper!
This is one to really enjoy!
(Update: I didn’t know this before but the other singer and dancer you hear is Donald O’Conner!)
So, in honor of “Throwback Thursday”, I present the opening and closing themes to one of my favorite anime from a few years back (12!), “Witch Hunter Robin”. The opening theme is called “Shell”:
and the closing theme is “Half Pain”, both songs by “Bana”:
So, I said I’d post some more Katsucon pics from last week, and here they are! There are a whole lot more on my portfolio site, if you want to see more. These are what I think are my best of the best, so enjoy!
I’ve uploaded all the Otakon 2013 photos now, they’re available on my photo site. If you want to see all the convention photos, you can go to my Conventions gallery, or if you just want to see cosplayers close-up, go to my Cosplay gallery. There will be more as I move them from this site to that one, but it will take some time.
