Like AX, Otakon is going to have a few special things going on. No bonus concerts at panels or the dealers room though (that i know of, seriously)! Nothing that special, sorry to get your hopes up. Anyways…

HenDaNe (booth 111-115 in the dealers room) is having a raffle for some exclusive Yoshitoshi ABe goods! Two autographed sign-boards with sketches and two autographed doujinshi (photo above)! Aside from that, the artist supplied HenDaNe with a number of out of print doujinshi. That’s exciting considering you’d be hard pressed to find those books in Japan. Any purchase of $40 or more earns you a raffle ticket. Then just return to the booth Saturday at 4:30pm for the raffle. If you’re not in attendance, you miss your chance to win!

MangaGamer (booth 214) returns to Otakon, and they managed to bring a limited number of various goods from AX with them. Hardcopies of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Kira Kira! They  also have “less than two dozen” copies of Love+ available. Finally, like AX they are doing another 18+ panel. Sadly they probably can’t have the same surprise concert here, but there will be prizes! Look forward to the panel “Visual Novels: Drama, Moe and Everything in Between!!” in Panel 4 (Hilton Key Ballroom 11-12) at 12:30AM on Friday night. Hopefully, being a Key ballroom means there will be lots of AIR. Cosplayers and everyone else take note! I’ll settle for any Key representation.

I’m sure some more side notes will come down as the clock counts down. Of course it’ll probably be when we’re all traveling at this rate! So, pay attention to my twitter, misuzulive. There will be posts and updates as the convention goes on. And if you see a little blue convertible with several Vocaloid characters on the side as you’re headed up I-95, wave!

Update: No, I’m not implying there will be a Key related announcement by MangaGamer. I just want to see more Key cosplayers.