We woke up around 8 or 9:00 am. I checked my schedule and noticed that Hikaru Midorikawa had a panel at 10:00 am. Midorikawa-san! I had to go to that panel. It was essential as an otaku, not to mention Midorikawa is my favorite Japanese male seiyuu. I love almost every character he's done (Heero, Zelgadis, Tamahome, Faust). At 9:55 or so I left for panel room 3. The place was PACKED. I took a seat somewhere in the back. Midorikawa turned out to be a great guest. He was very entertaining; calling out guests by their costumes, "Hai, *points* Utena-san?"; making Gundam beam saber noises; imitating Amuro Ray, "Matilda-san!" doing the infamous Heero, "Omae wo korosu;" and having to turn down an offer for marriage!

At 11:45 I cut out of the panel early and headed to the dealer's room. I wanted to buy a Midorikawa character cel, but had to settle for a Zelgadis sketch cel. Still, far better than nothing at all. I thought that Midorikawa would be signing at 1:00, so after buying the sketch cel I went in search of the autograph area. Thankfully, I asked the information desk when Midorikawa was signing. They said 2:00 pm, saving me a lot of waiting. Finally, around 12:45 I headed to the signing room. There was a line already in place. After standing around for a while, I found out I was in the wrong line! I asked around and eventually found the right line.

Whew.

Everyone in the Midorikawa line was actually sitting down. I guess they'd been there a while. The signing would be at 2:00 pm (it was about 1:15), so I had some time to wait. The Midorikawa line grew and grew. Half the convention must have shown up for it. Finally, it was time for the signing. The line shifted into a more orderly arrangement. After waiting another 45 minutes, I finally got my Zelgadis sketch cel signed by Hikaru. I said a very polite "Arigatou gozaimasu," when he handed the sketch back to me. Coolness, this is so far the highlight of Otakon. Definitely framing when I get home. Not bad for 1 hour and 45 minutes of waiting.

Time to find my friends and do some shopping. I went to the dealer's room. Wow, was it ever HUGE! And I mean huge, there was more stuff there than I could possibly know what to do with. And believe me, I wanted a lot of it. After getting a hang of how the place was set up, I started to browse. I did have a small shopping list. I bought the entire Saber Marionette J series on DVD, the Magic Knight Rayearth DVD collection, an Otakon T-shirt, and a red Chinese suit (I got the last one!). The last thing I bought was the red Chinese suit, and after I bought it I remembered that I forget my Zelgadis sketch at the register after I left the dealer's room! I ran back into the dealer's room and all the to the back where I bought my suit. Thankfully, it was still there when I arrived. I suppose otaku are good people. Had it been anywhere else, it might have been stolen.

I dropped off all my stuff in the hotel room. The cosplay skits/show was going to begin soon. A few of my friends were already in line holding spots for the rest of us. I was going to go watch "Chibi Go Nagai World" from 4 to 5 pm, but I said to hell with it and waited in line with my friends. I took a lot of pictures while I waited. Jeff told me about a guy dressed as a Tallgeese from Gundam W(!). I immediately grabbed my camera and ran to the location. I grabbed a picture of him, as well as a picture of a Folken from Escaflowne. Jeff also told me about a Boss Robot and Dr. Hell from Mazinger Z. I nearly flipped out when I heard that, but they were not there when I went to go check. I did find Mike on the other hand, whom I hadn't seen since Friday morning.

After waiting for some time, I hear Jeff yell, "MAJIN GO!" and immediately know what he's referring to. I scramble to my feet and push people out of my way. What do I see before my eyes? It's Boss Robot and Dr. Hell! Jeff, Mark and I start singing the Mazinger Z. Naturally, we had the motions for "Rocketo Puncheee!" and "Breasto Fiyaaa!" Boss Robot did a "robot dance" as we sang. After the song, Jeff ran up and hugged Boss Robot. I nearly fell over laughing. I merely shook his hand, and thanked him for being original and keeping retro alive. Everyone watching in the background was laughing and clapping their hands. I remembered to grab a picture of the two characters as well. Now, THIS was the high point of my trip to Otakon.

The staff finally announced that we were allowed to head in, and that our section would be first. We got some really good seats. After some more booing and cheering at random events and Pokemon thrown about the crowd, the cosplay show finally started. The children's cosplay was up first. There were some pretty cute costumes, but it reminded me of a kindergarten recital. The main cosplay was up next. Some of the costumes really impressed me, others were kinda… blah. But you have to give these people credit, it takes a bit of courage to walk up on stage in front of a large audience and put on a show or display your costume-making ability. The cosplay show was over at 10:00 pm or so.