I apologize for taking forever to publish this as this was meant to be posted right after I attended Connooga (in February… Orz.), but dedicating my time finishing my cosplay projects before MTAC and JAMPcon covered this up along with my other plans. Without further to do, here it is!

Volunteers getting ready for Day 2 of Connooga

The 3rd annual Connooga was held in February 19th through the 21st in Chattanooga, TN. It is Chattanooga’s first Multi-fandom convention next to the SciFi only ChattaCon that has been around for more than a decade. Being a multi-fandom convention, it brings the best of both worlds: American Science Fiction and Japanese Animation; something that I couldn’t stand in the past.

I went down to check out Connooga on Saturday only to see what the convention was really about, and to overcome my fear of attending such conventions. After purchasing my pass, I headed to Pennsylvania Station for Connooga’s Anime Track, hosted by the guys of JAMPcon. When I arrived, everyone was still setting up for the second day of activities, though I got a chance to see how the volunteers made sure the Track is a success. In fact, I was almost a volunteer for Connooga, but I decided against it this year due to limited transportation and lodging (but it should not be a problem for next year).

Grell from Black Butler

Waiting for the convention to resume, I went down to the Dealers Room to check out what Anime goods they had… Not many to choose from, with the majority of exhibitors catering to pure Fantasy and SciFi series and lore merchandise, save the for Artist Alley on the other side of the room, featuring Dan Jolley, author of TokyoPop’s World of Warcraft: Death Knight OEL manga.

Being a Poster Otaku (having an addiction to posters and wallscrolls), I couldn’t help but buy a few from a dealer who frequents Connooga and several other conventions in the South. In my possession, two Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood posters and a Bleach poster featuring Hitsugaya.

Before heading out of the room, I stopped by the GaijinUSA booth to check out their selection of Mystery Boxes that sold for $10… well, it’s not much of a selection when they’re packaged in the same boxes. Inside the box is… a collection of Crying Freeman manga from Viz Media dating back to 1992! Along with the books were a few other goodies like a back of beads and a few pieces of Kasugai Gummy candy. That wasn’t a bad deal at all! ^_^

Back to Pennsylvania Station! The first panel was underway: “Dan Dan Japanese: Adverbs Better Than Kawaii”. Having previously remembered the past and present conditions and the dialects used in different parts of Japan, this panel refreshed my memory: for example: “taberu” (たべる): “to eat” / “tabeta” (たべた): “had eaten”. Then there is the most important part of speaking and writing Japanese… sentence structure: Subject->Object-Verb, compared to Subject-Verb-Object in English.

After the panel ended, I stayed around to help out with a friend with volunteer work: though I did not volunteer directly with the convention, I voluntarily helped to make sure visitors had their badges. I also got to hang out with her discussing all things K-Pop and watching an MV of B2ST‘s “Bad Girl” on my iPod Touch. ^o^

A couple of hours later, a friend from BBAMAJAM who is now a part of the Konoha Corner Naruto podcast, Jiraiya (my cosplay battle “rival” from MTAC and JAMPcon in 2010), held a panel on Cosplay Skits. He showed various videos of what to expect (including the audience) when acting out a skit. One of the videos shown was the popular Baccano!/Lucky Star skit from Fanimecon 2008 and the famous Narutard no Jutsu.

Storm Troopers ready for action!

I couldn't help but do a fangirl squeal when I saw these Oozaru (from Dragonball Z) cosplayers

A lucky fan gets her picture taken with Samantha Newark of 'JEM'.

A fan-made replica of R2-D2!

I met up with my friend again to check out the dealers room. She bought a TVXQ poster and a CD (under their Japanese name, Tohoshinki). I also found the previously mentioned FMA: Brotherhood posters; I wanted to buy the DBSK posters too…but I couldn’t decide which one..or all! And I have enough posters as it is. D;

We looked around the dealers room some more before heading back to Penn Station for the AMV Contest. But first, it was time for lunch.

I went to Silver Diner Pizza-that is located on a train! (nostalgia kicks in of Shinigami eating on the train back during JAMPcon 2008) I had a small pizza with pepperoni toppings, nothing special since I was on a budget-though I had a lot more to spend due to the minimum quantity of Anime merch found.

After lunch, the Anime Music Video contest was already underway. I missed a few couple of videos, but there were plenty to see. This was the first time watching a live AMV Contest (with the MVs already made, of course) at a convention before. The contest ran for 45 or so minutes: a lot of the AMVs featured Bleach, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Dino Crisis, and Lucky Star. Here are the AMVs that took home the Connooga 2010 awards.

“Sailor Girl” (Lucky Star) -- Best Overall

“I Believe in Yesterday” (Clannad) -- Best Overall Runner-Up

“Kingdom Bleach” (Bleach/Kingdom Hearts) -- Audience Choice for Drama/Romance

After the end of the AMVs, the rest of the day was shortened having to leave early due to attending the con at the last minute, with the lack of funds to stay for a night, but I still had a lot of fun! Before leaving, I checked out Zippy’s J-Drama panel and the Old School Anime panel hosted by a fan of the Rebel Alliance! ^^

There are many things I missed, including the costume contest: it was supposedly won by the Snuggie Warriors, which sparked a bit of a controversy as the though the costumes were not created from scratch as per the contest rules. Maybe it won for originality. Eh…

Attending Connooga has changed my view of going to multi-fandom conventions, but it will take a few more weekends (in days) worth to fully rid of my “phobia”. I’m just not a huge SciFi fan as everyone else, with the exception of Star Wars; maybe if it was a Gundam convention, I wouldn’t mind attending! ^_^

I will end the recap with a skit from the 2010 Connooga Skit Contest called “Jiraiya’s Dating Game” featuring Jiraiya of Konoha Corner, recorded by YouTuber and Shinra Chronicles creator, Byohazrd13.

Also check out additional photos in the gallery!