Otaku Rehab

February 16, 2010 by Nergene Arquelada 

Otaku Rehab is a new event created by the same group that created MikomiCon, an anime convention held on the campus of Cal State Northridge.  MikomiCon has been one of my favorite anime conventions over the past few years.  I’m not a huge fan of very large conventions.  I like the slower pace of smaller conventions and generally, they have a better atmosphere for socializing.  Also, being on college campus, MikomiCon has the best location of any convention in Southern California for taking photographs.  It has had its share of struggles.  It’s the smallest convention that I attend.  Attendance has remained steady at around the 1,000 mark.  It has a big problems with convention “ghosts”–people who come to the convention to cosplay, take photos, try to get freebies, etc., without purchasing a convention membership.  For large conventions, “ghosts” aren’t as damaging to convention’s income as they are to smaller conventions.  For the smaller conventions, every paid membership counts and if there aren’t enough paying customers, it could mean that the convention won’t survive for another year.

For 2010, the creators of MikomiCon decided to hold two different events.  The large convention would still be held at Cal State Northridge, but renamed as MikomiCore.  Otaku Rehab is the second event, consisting of two pre-events and a main event to be held in May.  The pre-events are basically a cosplay gathering and picnic held in the same park as the main event.  The main event would be a one-day mini convention, complete with a dance in the evening.  The first of the pre-events was held at the end of January at Borchard Community Park in the city of Newbury Park, CA.  There haven’t been very many anime related events held in Ventura County.  This was something new.  I went to this event and I really didn’t know what to expect, but I kept my expectations very low.  However, the turnout was surprisingly good for an event of this type.  About 30 people attended this event and to be quite honest, I didn’t expect more than 10-15 people.  This is good news for this struggling convention.  It shows that there is an interest in their events.  The event was definitely a small success.  In the end it seemed that everybody had a good time and enjoyed the picnic.  Hopefully, this is a good sign for MikomiCon.