I must keep going in a forward direction. It is almost Monday which means stuff is almost due - things I haven't had a chance to touch since the five day countdown to OM 2. I must start it soon, however, so this is likely to be a short entry.
Otter Matsuri was amazing. Our two biggest things were Violinist and Chi no Tsuki. All said, we had about 80 people over the course of the day, which was more than we expected for in the middle of finals. We brought in people from as far north as San Francisco, and as far south as San Luis, which was decent reach for this year. Next year is going to be bigger, better, and planned a even earlier than this one was. Our goal: First Saturday in May will be Otter Matsuri 3. I may as well get that plan out in the open. We want at least 3 viewing rooms and 2 panel rooms for live programming, and hopefully can get a few industry people more from the manga end of things. We have every intention of doing more than just anime though. Here were our ideas to date:
- Japanese Sci-Fi room
- Hong Kong Cinema room
- Anime room
- Concept Themed room (like Samurai this year)
Note: for the above, we were thinking "Omake"...
How to draw Manga Workshop
- Subtitling Panel
- Cosplay Panel
- Club Collaboration Panel
- Guest Speaker Panels of some kind
Now, realistically, we are not sure how much of this is possible while keeping this one day festival FREE. Yes, you heard me right, FREE. One thing we intend to do with this event is always make it FREE as in costing people absolutely nothing but time. Not only do we see it as a May convention alternative (that doesn't cost money) but also as something that can help us reach our surrounding community. I know some Con-goers read this... what would you people want to see at a one-day festival that wasn't necessarily Anime? We are still in the "hey it would be cool if" stage, so any thoughts would be welcome! ^_^
In response to "Otter Matsuri Planning Ideas":