Katsucon

Katsucon
The official Katsucon logo
Status	Active
Genre	Anime, Manga, Japanese pop culture
Venue	Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center
Location(s)	National Harbor, Maryland
Country	United States
Inaugurated	1995
Attendance	17,005 in 2016
Organized by	Katsucon Entertainment, Inc.
Website
http://www.katsucon.org/

Katsucon is an annual three-day anime convention held during February at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. It is traditionally held in February over Presidents Day weekend and was previously held in various locations around Virginia and Washington, D.C. The basis for the convention's name is unclear as "katsu" has several possible translations from Japanese (including breaded meat cutlet/pork.). That being said, the Kanji symbol they have chosen to use as part of their official logo would translate as one or all of the following: "lively", "resuscitation", "being helped" or "living".

The convention typically offers anime music video screenings, an art show, artist alley, charity auction, costume contests, cosplay chess, dealers room, game shows, formal ball, karaoke, a maid cafe, masquerade, musical performances, panels, rave, workshops, video gaming, and video screenings. Katsucon has Japanese Culture programming known as the Japanese Cultural Institute. The convention runs programming for 24 hours a day. Katsucons charity events in 2012 benefited the American Cancer Society, Anime Aid, and Cherry Tree Maintenance Endowment Fund.

Katsucon started in 1995 at the Holiday Inn Executive Center, and moved to locations around the Washington metropolitan area after its third year due to growth. In 2002 the convention had a membership cap of 7,000 people, unsuccessfully attempted to move to the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, and in 2003 returned to the Hyatt Regency Crystal City. Katsucon ran for extra days in 2003 due to hundreds of attendees being trapped by road closures during the North American blizzard of 2003. Guests and staff ran panels and opened video rooms. Due to growth, the convention in 2005 moved to the Marriott Crystal Gateway and Sheraton Crystal City from the Hyatt Regency Crystal City. The hotels were unconnected and one had construction ongoing, which caused problems including the first two floors of the hotel having no heat, long dealers room lines, and panels being held in larger hotel rooms. The convention from 2006-2008 was located at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, but in 2007 suffered crowd control and logistics problems. For 2009 the convention returned to the Hyatt Regency Crystal City and suffered from overcrowding, even with an attendance cap of 6,000. Katsucon 2009 had over 300 volunteers on staff.