Oni-Con 2007
Houston, Texas, USA. October 19th – 21th 2004. | ||
Reporter(s): Drake, Zoomi | ||
![]() Oni-Con 2007 marks my second Oni-Con attendance, my first being in their inaugural year of 2004. Right off the bat, the improvements of Oni-Con from their first year to their fourth were very evident. Everything was top notch in their new venue, the George R. Brown Convention Center, which was more than spacious enough for the task. However, while the improvements were amazing, there were also some major let-downs this time around. This review of Oni-Con 2007 will be primarily be based off of Day 2, since the Reporters and myself did not arrive on scene until late Friday night and departed early Sunday morning. |
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By Drake ![]() |
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By Zoomi ![]() |
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By Drake ![]() The AMV contest is one of my must-see events at a good anime convention, second only to Musical Guests and the Cosplay Contest. This year, I was fortunate to attend the contest with former Agent Zoomi, and I must say I was very impressed with the entries overall. Most of the time, I found myself either extremely impressed with the music to scene relation in a video on the ground laughing, or hyped by one of my favorite songs. Only one or two videos really seemed dull or uninteresting, and the contest didn’t feel too long or too short. I think I can speak for the audience when I say the AMV Contest was one of the few gems of this convention. |
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By Drake ![]() Wow. My first impression upon entering the Gaming Room Friday night, after a tiring drive from Louisiana to Texas, was its sheer size. Normally, video game rooms are a small room off to the side, but not at Oni-Con. It was enormous, and not just in regards to size. The normal gaming consoles were set up with video games ranging from titles like Dragon Ball Z Budokai to Capcom vs. Marvel and every fighting game in-between. The room’s biggest selling points, however, were the big screen plasma TV playing the newly-released Halo 3, the tournaments running throughout the day, and the arcade cabinets loaded with titles like KOF 4: Maximum Impact, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Capcom vs. SNK 2, The Punisher, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo.With all these great attractions, it was pretty hard to not lose yourself in this room all day. |
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By Drake ![]() I’ll be honest and just come out and say it. Before Oni-Con 07, I had no idea whatsoever that something called LARP (Live Action Role Playing) existed, so you can imagine my utter confusion when walking down the hallway I see none other than Batman and Robin locked in battle with weapons and all. I was intrigued by the performance and determined to find out what exactly was going on. It turns out I had entered the battle grounds, and man was that the name for it. The battles were pretty amusing, and if I had the time, I probably would’ve taken part. Alas, I did not, but I made many return visits periodically to watch the fights and saw many different types of battle including team battles, free-for-alls, and one-on-one. If you’re a fan of LARP, I’d definitely say to check it out next year, if it returns. |
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By Drake ![]() |
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By Drake ![]() Overall, Oni-Con had some significant downfalls in the organization of registration and the Dealer’s Room, but was rescued by pulling off great Cosplay and AMV Contests and structuring a great video game room. Now don’t get me wrong, this is a convention that I loved and was impressed by, but these three events do not completely cancel out the negatives of this year. Regardless, I recommend that anyone able to attend to do so. I, myself, plan to attend again if I’m able. So here is to a bigger and better Oni-Con 5! |