Our southern correspondent returns to find the Chief Planner of "Sailormoon," the creator of "Fushigi Yuugi," Professor Tomoe and a few other surprises!

The celebration and festivities for this event were cancelled after the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C.

Our southern correspondent found themselves hypnotically drawn to this anime convention held in North Carolina where "Sailormoon" and "Revolutionary Girl Utena" director Kunihiko Ikuhara would be in attendance. When did Raleigh become a hotbed of anime fandom?

We assigned some of our East Coast members to checkout the 1999 Otakon, held July 2-4 at the Baltimore Convention Center (BCC) in Baltimore, Maryland. Only six years old, Otakon has become one of the biggest anime conventions in the region. Over 4,500 in attendance hailed from either a New England, Mid-Atlantic or Southern state. Were you there too?

With Naoko Takeuchi not making any immediate return engagements, we converged upon the largest (and one of our favorite) anime conventions outside of Japan! But, were we in for a few surprises!

We dispatched two of our top reporters to that far away place known as Japan to investigate how they hold their conventions! Read of their shocking, true, harrowing ordeal through a trial of fire as they were subjected to being Guest Judges in a Cosplay from hell! (Okay, well it really wasn't all that bad--in fact, it was kinda nice and an honor!)

We prepared for the creator of "Sailor Moon" Naoko Takeuchi's appearance for months in advance! We put together a new biography, discussed presents, learned a little Japanese, got lectured on what not to bring up, proposed an Online Chat, made badges and finally went off to one of the most beautiful cities in America!

We were there! On the floor, at the panels, viewing the screenings, in the masquerade, behind the scenes and in the spotlight--working for you! No LD left unturned, each CD examined, every toy perused to give you the ultimate story of the number one anime event outside of Japan!