Katsucon 2024 Recap
Believe it or not, I attended Katsucon for the first time this year despite being local to the convention for as long as the convention has been running. Nonetheless, I had a blast and the 3-day convention went by in the blink of an eye. I had the pleasure of attending the convention with the same friends I enjoyed Dreamcon with as it was our first convention together since that joyous time we had together in July.
The general standard practice for weekend conventions is to arrive the day before so naturally I returned to my hometown on Thursday. I spent some time catching up with family before attending the convention for the next 3 days. Since my family is local to the convention center, I did not have to stay in a hotel this time around.
Katsucon Day 1
As I was a tad bit late securing my badge for the convention, my first task for Friday was to pick up my badge. I navigated my way through seas of cosplayers to the room where you could pay for or pick up your badge as well as obtain your wristband for 18+ events. Thankfully the line moved quite quickly, however, I’d recommend to anyone to screenshot their order confirmation email as the network connection was virtually nonexistent. However, the staff did have a way to look up your order if necessary.
Something I noticed about Katsucon that differed greatly from Dream Convention was that nearly everyone was in costume. Everywhere you looked, people were cosplaying as their favorite characters. There were also numerous group cosplayers with everything from friend groups to couples to families. Due to this, I was often asked to take pictures as well as asking other people to take photos. I think it was greatly due to the abundance of cosplayers that I did not attend nearly as many panels as I had initially planned to. There were so many meetups and unbelievable costumes to stop and gawk at that I only made it to 3 panels despite planning to attend over 10. I wouldn’t consider this a drawback at all, it simply means that there is more than enough to do at the convention.
On Friday I prioritized seeing the cosplay meetups of my favorite series: Dorohedoro, One Piece, and Sailor Moon. To my surprise, they also had a Sanrio character meetup, which I truly regret not coming in costume for. In the evening I met up with some friends and we attended a panel that highlighted the works of popular horror mangaka Junji Ito as well as a game show-themed panel before heading home for the evening.
Katsucon Day 2
Saturday was the day I was most excited for, mainly because my friends and I would be doing a group cosplay from one of our favorite shows, Soul Eater, but also because Saturday is the most popular day of the convention so the cosplays are often even more astounding than any other day. We had planned to attend the Masquerade, which is a popular cosplay contest that you can find at practically any convention, however, we did not make it in time. It wasn’t a total loss, because there were so many other amazing cosplays we were able to see just from being present in the convention center itself. It makes you wonder who was competing in the Masquerade when so many amazing cosplayers were walking around the venue and not in the competition.
The next thing on our agenda was to check out the merchandise in the vendor hall. I have a love-hate relationship with the dealers’ room because much of the merchandise is resold and overpriced, especially having been to Japan and knowing the true value of many of the items. It’s still worthwhile to check out because you never know what you’re going to see and what deals will be available. I also have some limited merchandise I’m searching for and it’s always a possibility that one of these vendors will be selling it. We had to stand in a long line to gain access to the vendor hall which I can appreciate for crowd control reasons and the line itself moved quite quickly. Once inside, it didn’t feel nearly as crowded as it looked like it would be.
We stayed in the merchant hall just wandering around and looking at merchandise for about an hour or so before heading off to a more secluded area of the convention center to shoot content in cosplay. After taking some fun transition videos and pictures, we stopped to get something to eat before one of my friends went home. Once 3 became 2, we attended one more panel before calling it a night. We went to a very strange 18+ game show-themed panel but needless to say, we left early after the content of the panel got too strange for our liking.
Katsucon Day 3
On Sunday I attended solo, meeting up with some of my mutual friends from social media. I spent most of my time in the merchant hall, buying the one thing that I always feel like is worth my money- mystery bags. I got a 15-item mystery item for $10 that was full of small items like keychains and miniature figures. I also convinced this kawaii booth to make me a Sanrio mystery bag in which I scored the Kuromi plushie I was already eyeing at their booth.
On Sundays the convention ends early, so I mosied around taking pictures of outstanding cosplayers before heading back to enjoy the remainder of the time I had with my family. Overall, I had a blast at Katsucon. The energy of the convention was so pleasant because nearly everyone was in cosplay. It was inspiring to see how many costumes were handmade and how creative and talented people are.
Even though we didn’t attend as many panels as planned, we still had fun at the ones we did attend. I could see myself attending this convention again in the future, especially since I can also visit my family in the process. I hope to stick to my schedule next time around and attend more panels as well as align some of my cosplays to the scheduled meetups if possible.
