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    Ohayocon Review: Preview from Thursday Night

    Lines flooded the Greater Columbus Convention Center last night as anxious anime lovers lined up to get a head start at registering for Ohayocon 2009. This 3 day festival attracts anime junkies from all over the country to get a chance at full emergence into the anime world, their greatest passion, and for some, a way of life.

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    Ashley Isa, 23, drove all the way from Lincoln Park, Michigan to her hometown of Cleveland yesterday to pick up co-anime lovers, Marissa Latkovic, 17, and Latasha Walker, 19. The three girls have been best friends for years and decided to drive down to Columbus together, a night early to beat the lines and register early.

    Ohayocon staff members carefully monitored the lines to make sure everyone was in single file with confirmation emails and IDs in hand. They mainly raised their voices and yelled “Ohayocon” at the crowd enthusing them even more for the much anticipated upcoming events.

    Isa, Latkovic, and Walker were dressed in attire representing characters from the video game Final Fantasy, who Latkovic feels, “will never end.” “They are already on their like 14th edition,” added Isa.

    When asked what was most anticipated from this weekend, the girls had a lot to mention. Latkovic was most excited to “meet a lot of new people, buy things you normally couldn’t get a hold of because they are normally sold online, and see everybody dress up.” Among all these things Latkovic was most looking forward to just “fit in with everybody.”

    Isa’s other friend Eric Folletee (who she met in a yahoo anime chat), age 21, a native to West Virginia, commented that, “It doesn’t matter how weird you are, we all fit in here!”

    Isa was really excited to “get to meet voice actors.” All the girls agreed that Vic Mignogna from Full Metal Alchemist (FMA) was their favorite.

    All of a sudden the line began to move and they darted for the door, their last comments expressed excitement for the upcoming raves happening on Friday and Saturday night and a chance at real-life anime role-playing.

    “This is better than our New Years; it is the highlight of our year!” Latkovic yelled before she disappeared behind the registration doors leaving me with “Mars” from Sailor Moon who claimed her “Jupiter” was meeting her Friday.

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