The line for the dealers room. Scott Frazier and Takagi Shinji

Held at the same Holiday Inn Executive Inn as the two previous years, Katsucon 3 kicked off on Friday, March 7th for the next three days. With the mutation of Anime East from an anime-dedicatied convention into the Far East Expo , Katsucon arguably seems to be the premiere East coast anime convention. Fans from up and down the "original" coast flocked to the event, with Katsucon having the reputation of being a fan party con probably the major draw. "For the fans, by the fans," all motto seen on numerous fansubs of yore, could've been applied to Katsucon 3 in earnest.

Openings and Guests

The Opening Ceremonies seemed a little hurried and disorganized, and since the dealer's room was already open, it was not as well-attended as it could have been. Convention Chairman Larry Drews presided over the event. The general attitude of the convention was "Let's get this thing started!" And the convention started rolling.
An unfortunate occurrence was a last-minute cancellation of two of the Guests of Honor, Yamazaki Kazuo and Takeuchi Atsushi. But the other invited guests made up for the deficit. A prominent figure at Production I.G. and here at EX, Scott Fraizer attended, as did another Production I.G. staff member, animation director Takagi Shinji. Currently promoting his work in the Ghost in the Shell Playstation game and the new PANZER DRAGOON OVA series, Takagi was eager to meet his American fans.
Stateside guests included John and Jason Waltrip of the "Robotech" comics for Eternity Comics and Academy Comics, Colleen Doran, Founder and President of Aria Press and many East Coast veterans: Robert DeJesus, Steve Bennett and Steve Pearl. Invited Fan Guest of Honor was Pablo "Doc" Fraga, who also was the MC for the Masquerade event.

Cel painting class. Go girls go!

Programming

Various panels, video showings and events filled the weekend. Three very popular events at every Katsucon are the Music Video Contest, Karaoke and Masquerade. And this year they didn't disappoint. All three events filled the exhibit room to capacity and then some. The Music Video Contest, a major staple of any East Coast event, played like a major headline event and delighted fans with its numerous entrants. Duane Johnson took the event's honors with his absolutely smashingly hilarious video, "Dare to be Stupid."
Karaoke is anothe fan-participant event that draws in the crowds and K3's event was not exception. An interesting arrangement for the event, however, were the placements of several plush couches around the ballroom, reminding this writer of the several karaoke parlours he frequented in his drunk and stupid youth. Not really a competition, all entrants were awarded something, graciously donated by emcee Richard "Pocky" Kim.
The Masquerade is the culmination of any good convention. K3's, while slightly short, had two things going for it: (1) it ran on time and on schedule and (2) had dazzling participants. Two notables were a battle-clad Tenchi and the DEVIL HUNTER YOKO girls. In fact, the YOKO girls were a little too good, as several members of the audience could be seen drooling, making work for the janitorial staff.

Shop Till You Drop

The dealer's room was again filled with businesses catering to the anime fan. A respectable size, the selection was mainly CDs, models, posters, cels and the catch-all category of "character goods." Laserdiscs seemed to be the non-attendee this year. Katsucon staff, namely John Franklin - Exhibitor Room Head, put the foot down when it came to the thorny issue of whether SM (Taiwan) CDs should be allowed to sell. They weren't, and some dealers were irked by that ruling. However, it was either later rescinded or just plain ignored because the thorn in any Exhibit Manager's side made its way back out on to the shelves.

No Need for Parties?!

Another notable fact about Katsucon weekend was the draconian policy of hotel management in regards of room parties. One out-of-hand party on Friday night resulted in the management putting down the iron fist on any and all future engagements. Informational gatherings for future events, anime fangroup parties and just friendly get-togethers were all shut down. Quite an unfortunate incident that threatened to put a damper on the convention's spirit. People did manage to be festive anyways, as the Otakon '97 informational party commenced, albeit very quietly, and an impromtu party of IRC #anime! regulars met in the hotel's bar for some raucous fun.
Despite all that, fans seemed to enjoy and have fun at Katsucon 3 to the fullest. With some attendees driving from as far as Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida, it certainly would seem that Katsucon 3 aimed to please and did.

Interview: Production I.G's Takagi Shinji