The little convention with a big heart strikes again! With this year’s theme of “crime,” Kotoricon provided an arresting days entertainment. (insert quote)

This year Kotori changed it up a bit. Registration looped completely around the hallways RCGC’s business center. Which in turn, moved the arcade into the Eugene J. McCaffrey College Center back by the eating area. Games like Dance, Dance Revolution and different competitive driving games were available to all attendees. The rest of the cafeteria was taken up by the con’s Dealer’s Room.

The DR is the main shopping center. Different stands are set up for quite a few stores and brands. Right when you walked in there was a Stuffed Sushi stand where attendees could purchase plush sushi rolls with designs in the middle. Other available merchandise revolved around sushi needs like chopsticks and cutting boards.

On the immediate left was a snack stand where fans could purchase a variety of snacks. Chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Jelly Beans made an appearance as well as traditional snacks such as Pocky, Japanese candies, and so much more.

Other stands that were set up sold just about everything else- from comic books, to manga, to movies/anime, to plush characters, to cosplay affects, and even school supplies of your favorite anime. You name it, they had it.

Outside of the Dealer’s Room was Artist Alley. AA is where people set up their own booths and sell their own products. Needle Gnomes made another appearance this year selling their infamous knitted plush characters and clothing. (I bought myself a knitted Captain America). They also sell their products online so feel free to check out http://www.needlegnomes.com/

A lot of the stands sold handmade prints, or drawings the sellers made themselves. Form the Uncle Yo booth I purchased a Moana print for $15. Others booths had Steven Universe prints, Avatar prints, Pokémon prints, and the seller’s own character prints.

On top of that, other booths sold handmade jewelry, pins/buttons, scarves, dresses, headbands, cards, key chains, phone decorations, notebooks, etc. Any attendee would have been able to purchase anything they dreamed off.

In the college’s Fine Arts Center, the con’s main stage, Drexel University’s Dragon Jedis battled their time out with light sabers and betting (with monopoly money). Multiple fights took place before some from the group turned on their leader and fought against him. Watching their performance was quite interesting.

Noah Houlihan and Will Liam from +2 Comedy took the stage to entertain attendees after the Dragon Jedis. Lots of jokes about Hufflepuffs were made as well as trivial fights about whether waffles are bread (they are not; they are made from a batter not from a dough). Normal shows consist of talk about nerdy things like Star Wars, anime, Batman, Harry Potter, and other randomness.

The stage was then taken over by a Kung Fu class who performed some amazing tricks. They flipped, kicked, fought, and surprised guests with their age range. The youngest on stage was about 8 years old and she was able to do everything the leaders did. It was truly amazing to watch.

Later in the day the main stage held a couple game shows. The first one being Greggo’s Game Show: The Pokémon Game Show. His game show allowed four contestants to compete against each other for two free admission tickets for next year’s convention. The game had buzzers for each contestant and after Greggo asked a question, you would click your buzzer to answer. There are three rounds, each round eliminates one person until there is one person left. Then that person, who happened to be WTHS student Hailey Hoose ’17, would play the championship round. Hoose was the first person to win the championship in the past three years seeing as the opponent sets up traps all over the board. (Go Hailey!)

The final panel off the night before closing ceremonies was The Anime Dating Game hosted by +2 Comedy. This panel is 16+ and the most anticipated panel all day. Houlihan would select one bachelor (or bachelorette) to go on stage and be blindfolded. Then he would pick out four guests from the crowd as contestants. Once all four are selected and seated on stage the fun begins. Houlihan asks questions to the contestants and Liam stands by them so he can give them a microphone (and make comments on answers). What makes this panel so interesting is that as a contestant if you cosplayed you have to try to stay in character.

Fun fact: This year I got to be a contestant! It’s so much fun and I had to act as if I was an actual Hogwarts student.

To end the convention, the staff thank guests, volunteers, and everyone that performed and/or had panel for making Kotori enjoyable for all. After acknowledgements the theme for the next convention is announced. So look out because next year’s theme is “love and romance.”