Nekocon 2025 Summary!

 Hi everyone!

Nekocon was held 19.-20.7 in Kuopion Musiikkitalo as usual. Cosplay plans gave me a headache and I kinda sorta gave up on that. The heatwave was unbearable and working on any of my projects was out of the question, I just didn't have the energy to do anything. Needless to say the heatwave followed to the con as well. 

Our trip to Kuopio started on Friday when me and Don got off work. Don's step father was nice enough to lend us a car with full tank and all (and a working AC).

Nekocon ticket

I bought us the anime concert/convention ticket combo. The Anime concert was performed by Kuopion Kaupungin Orkesteri with the legendary Atso Salmila as conductor. The first anime symphony concert in Finland was in 2012 Animecon, Kuopio, or this is what this yle article said. I was at this con, but I don't think I saw the concert, which I do feel a little sad about, but back then I mainly wanted to hang out with friends instead of seeing any programs really. 

We woke up somewhat early, did our morning routines and headed to Nekocon. First program for me was "Guilty Gear - So epicly stupid you can't help, but to love it" -panel. 30% of the panel was about the games history and it's creator and the other 70% was about the characters, which really is GG's highlight along with it's music (seriously even if you don't play the games, give the soundtracks a listen!). The panel contained some mentions about the lore, but not a whole lot, which is totally understandable because it is a wild ride. I personally only remember some of the more meme'd events of GG games and manga, but that's it. I enjoyed the panel a lot, even though they talked about Tekken being the "lesser" game because it's characters or lore are/is not as "interesting". I thought that was a pointless take. You don't need to push one (a very different game mind you!) down to up the other. I love both games personally. Both games have good characters and nonsensical lore!

What more reasons do you need?

Daisuke Ishiwatari the GOAT.. though so is Katsuhiro Harada :3c 

I just really like Potemkin :3

We didn't really do much after the panel, just some shopping and gaming (and a lot of sweating). I don't remember much and I forgot to take pictures from the con, but for more please check out Shiro Samurai's and Firith's Summary. We at this point waited for the anime concert I think and just tried to kill time. This wasn't a problem for us, we spent probably most of our time playing fighting games, enjoying a nice and cool hall.

Saturday look.

The Anime concert was truly the highlight for me. The orchestra played songs from various animes and Ghibli-movies. I remember Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Demon Slayer and Princess Mononoke tracks the best (as those are my favorites). Seriously I love music programs so much! 

They had a slideshow of screenshots from the show/movie they played from.

Concert was a nice way to end the day. We headed to our Airbnb straight after to watch newest episodes of Dandadan. 

On Sunday we packed our stuff and cleaned our room up. I didn't cosplay that day either. The weather was scorching hot, as it has been all Summer. I am not built for these conditions.

Our garage had this VIP sign, made me feel important.

The high priority program for the day was Guilty Gear Strive and Tekken 8 tournaments. I love watching these and the gaming was even more intense this year! I can't remember who won and with what characters sadly, but there were some surprises with character choices! Like someone first playing Kazuya (the players main), but then changed to Jun Kazama (someone this player struggled with) and winning a round! Everyone questioned this choice, but it payed off in the end. I also really enjoyed some awesome Potemkin play and it seemed to be the crowds favorite. Then again how can you not like him? He's awesome!

"..so instead of reflecting themselves, they blamed the beasts."

Love this color palette on testament!

Yoshimitsu vs Jun Kazama!

I love this photo so much!

After the tournaments, we did our final shopping and left. It was another long drive home and I had work the next day. I always enjoy my time in Nekocon, and this year was not an exception. Even though the weather was unbearably hot, the concert hall and gaming room were nice and cool.

This post was definitely a nothing-burger, but my motivation to write has been low. I'm dropping the rest of the con Summaries little by little. Thanks for reading and until next time!

My favorite girl Elphelt for motivation!