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My love-hate relationship with anime conventions
On one hand, they're rather interesting, and pretty much the only place other than the internet, anime clubs, and the occasional hobby shop where I can enjoy a basically competent (or better, if I'm really lucky) conversation anything related to non-mainstream entertainment.
On the other hand...
What I've attended so far: Quinni-Con 2012, AnimeUSA 2012, Katsucon 2013
What I expected, in conversation:
"So...do you prefer the TV ending or End of Evangelion?"
"End Of, because it links up with the beginning of the recent remake. See, the ocean at the end of End Of is blood red, and the ocean at the beginning of 1.0 is blood red, unlike the..."
"Everyone's been talking about Madoka recently. I see you're a Madoka fan; why do you like it?"
"It's a deconstruction of the magical girl genre, by introducing the premise that..."
What I got, in conversation:
"Who would win in a fight, Goku or Superman?"
"Um...uh...I...really haven't thought much about this."
"What are you waiting to get autographed?"
"Panty and Stocking box set!"
"Panty and Stocking box set!"
"Kiddy Grade box set."
"Panty and Stocking box set!"
"Panty and Stocking box set! Hey, mine looks different from y'all's; it's missing the character on the front, and has sparkles instead!"
"[Naruto character name] is going to fuck your shit up!"
"O_o"
"You do know who I'm cosplaying as, right?"
"No."
"How can you not know [Naruto character name]?!"
----
What I expected, static visual merchandise:
What I got*, static visual merchandise:
What I expected, audio merchandise:
What I got*, audio merchandise:
* "got" as in experienced, not purchased. Displayed items are meant to be representative of style and/or content, and were not necessarily available for purchase.
----
What I expected, event programming:
| Anime Name that Tune | | History of Anime Music | | Copyright Law and Doujinshi |
| State of the Industry | | Sexism in Anime | | Anime and Western Animation |
What I got, event programming:
| Anime Name that Tune | | Taking Better Cosplay Photos | | My Little Panel: Friendship is Magic |
| Hetalia: Ask a Nation! | | Sexism in Anime | | The Homestuck Monologues |
----
What I expected, media showings:
| Scrapped Princess | | Squid Girl | | Moyashimon |
| Yokohama Shopping Log | | Smile Precure! | | Fullmetal Alchemist |
What I got, media showings:
| Is This a Zombie? | | Squid Girl | | Fate/stay night - Unlimited Blade Works |
| Oreimo | | GaoGaiGar | | Fullmetal Alchemist |
----
What I expected, timeframe:
What I got, timeframe:
What I expected, transportation: something like...
What I got, transportation: something like...
Edit: OH GOSH WHY WON'T YOU TABLES WORK RIGHT
Comments
Wait, do people take this theory seriously?
They should, since it was obviously done that way on purpose.
Not that that necessarily means that it means anything, of course.
Anyway yeah anime conventions are terrible unless you like internet memes and buying things you could easily buy elsewhere anyway.
I signed up to go to one with my friends/anime club, and it's too late to back out now.
I was apprehensive before but now...
This reminds me that I have an actual camera now, so if I go to anything, I can actually take decent pictures.
-activates photography nerd mode-
What kind?
Still debating whether I want to go to Anime Norththis year.
EY DON CHU TALK SHIT ON GAOGAIGAR MENG DAT SHITS DA BEST
Well, that's one more reason to never go to a con.
My theory: Both the last two episodes AND End are canon.
Remember while the Reis are destroying the world, there's not much from Shiji's point of view at all, except for a very last-two-episodes like scene as it's ending? My theory: the last two episodes are what Shiji is experiencing in EVA-01 while Instrumentality is happening. Since he was at the center of all of it, he was the first one to be Instrumentality-ed, and due to resolving his shit fairly quickly, also happened to be the first one out.
nonono
let's not do this
how about this
The true meaning of Jellyon is whatever you want it to mean ok
how about that
@ClockworkUniverse: Just my dad's old Coolpix L110.
I don't know; I haven't seen the remakes, and honestly, anything goes as far as Evangelion is concerned.
They're not completely terrible. Also, at my second con, I did score a $3 angela CD that is really awesome, as well as Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within for $3. And I don't think I would have bought that Nanoha figurine otherwise, though now that I have bought it, it's a bit on the useless side.
Incidentally, I was hoping to buy a Chihaya keychain from that vendor, who showed up again at Katsucon, and continued to disappoint. That said, Chihaya's pink stage clothing really doesn't match her dark blue hair well at all anyway. So the heck with that.
Actually, if you have friends to go with, it makes it significantly more fun. Because even if you can't connect to the other people at the con, at least you can chat with someone.
I should have added something to my OP saying that I went by myself for two of these cons. (Went with two friends to AUSA.) That's the first of three things I forgot to mention in the OP.
That's probably another good way to use one's time. Gives you a lot more interaction with your surroundings, what with the number of people cosplaying around you.
Speaking of which, I saw a Eureka (from Eureka Seven) cosplayer yesterday, as well as the trio of Magic Knights (from Magic Knight Rayearth). And a Squirtle Squad, though no one was the apparent leader as defined by black Kamina sunglasses. But no Precures; I saw Cure Black at AUSA, along with a ton of Homestuck characters.
Come to think of it, the panels and showings require a bit of explanation.
The panel names in "got" are actual panel names. Note that two of them are the same as "expected" -- I did get some of what I wanted, but a disappointingly large number of them are fandom-specific, and generally speaking not ones that I'm interested in. (More like, never.)
Actually, time to highlight the second of three things I missed in the OP:
Events I expected: Pretty Cure discussion, Idolmaster discussion, AKB48 discussion...in other words, all those things with mostly Japanese fandoms where it's hard to find other people interested in them. Plus all the analytical stuff, about topics like sexism, tropes, race, otakudom, etc..
Events I got: Hetalia discussion, Homestuck discussion, cosplaying discussion, [recently-dubbed series] panel, AMVs discussion, voice acting panel (where people inevitably ask the guests about how they got into the business and how they feel about it), and also some analytical discussion events.
Occasionally there's a discussion event with something very commercially-unrepresented in the U.S. -- such as a Vocaloid discussion yesterday morning (which I missed unfortunately). But that's the exception rather than the rule.
TL;DR, stuff with already large fandoms on the English-speaking parts of internet get overrepresented at cons, and stuff that's not already popular doesn't get represented (e.g. Precure, Idolmaster, etc.).
The thing with the showings is that I went to my MAL, looked in the plan-to-watch category for shows that I want to watch, and picked six with reasonable genre diversity. I guess you could say my complaint here boils down to "they aren't showing stuff I'm interested in, except occasionally". Besides, if my time is filled with great discussion events, I won't have time for showings anyway.
Anyhow, third point is a few thoughts I'd like to say about vendors.
Don't expect vendors at cons of roughly the same size, in the same geographic area, only a few months apart, to differ much. In fact, don't expect vendors to vary much unless you go to a totally different geographic area.
And don't expect vendors to have _that_ much interesting stuff. And don't expect it to be cheap (even if you might occasionally be lucky). The going price for t-shirts yesterday was $20 and up per shirt.
And don't expect vendors to have stuff you want, unless you (A) have tastes that are known to have a lot of consumers (such as model-building or sexually-suggestive figurines), or (B) know a specific vendor at the con who will have stuff you want.
You should check one or a few out, especially if you have a friend going with you.
If you're lucky you might find something really interesting in a discussion event. I had an intriguing discussion about music theory in J-pop and anime music with someone in the Symphonic Anime Orchestra. We agreed that there needs to be a forum or some other web-based communication between us music geeks who are also anime fans.
Some anime cons are fun. Some are excruciating.
I tend to frequent Youmacon, which can be either/or. Really depends on the panels and the merch they have-- this year had Team Four Star and Jon St. John, and it was fucking great. Helped that Furiko and a friend I do a podcast with were there with me, as well as some folks I know from school.
The only way I'd ever go nowadays is either as a volunteer to get an inside story on all the drama and having to pay less, or with a batch of bros who can appreciate the finer points of a cardboard box gundam.
edit: nvm
^^ Cardboard box gundam is a stylistic suck running joke anyway.
^ That was just an example of something I'm interested in. Though what is the kind of music that you're talking about? Just curious.