Thread: Conventions are unconventional? Discuss.

To start, I don't believe we've ever spoken about anime conventions on this board, and if we have I apologize for restarting the whole thing, but I had to know the common consensus on them. What are your opinions on anime conventions? They're everywhere, they're huge, and they're growing every year as new fans show up. Before you state your opinion, please give your past history concerning them. Have you been to any? How many? Which ones? Large or small conventions? What were your arrangements/how long did you stay?

Mine:
2 Conventions.
A-Kon (Large), 2 Days, inbetween shifts of work and going back home rather than staying at a hotel. Outlook: Had a boring time. My friends were ill equipped and without plans.
&
AnimeFest (Large), 3 Days, stayed the whole day, left to go home at night.
Outlook: Great. Somewhat planned, with a friend with some experience, plenty of things to do.


There are two outlooks you can take on them, a positive one and a negative one. I'll just come right out and say that orignally I was quite negative regarding them, and the first time I attended one was a total failure. The second time, and most recent, I had a blast, despite it being the smaller of the two conventions, with about half the events. Don't misunderstand me, it was still a large convention, with a lot of things going on, but not much compares to A-Kon, which is one of the larger conventions in the U.S. Originally I had a negative outlook because of stereotyping I had been exposed to, and then a negative outlook because of my own anti-social tendencies when it comes to large organized events. After A-kon I was dissatisfied with them because we had done nothing, come and left without seeing anything. Could a convention possibly be this boring? I found out later that my friends had simply not gone to any of the events besides the game room, the lan room, the dealers room, and the huge free room. In the game room we did nothing but play SSBM free games (we didn't even manage a tournament because our timing was bad).

Animefest was... a change of pace. I went with a friend who knew the ins and outs of these sorts of things and generally had an idea of everything he was going to do before the day even began. I met some friends of his, we hung out and attended different events, things went incredibly well. After going to a Question and Answer session being held by Shinichiro Watanabe, the man who directed and created Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, we went to a signing and had him sign some stuff of ours, we went back to the same room for what we thought was going to be a formal training session for what could only be described as a traditional japanese tea party, and ended up in a meeting for gothic lolita fans, which is not something you want to end up at, believe me. A lot of people came out of the woodwork. We left when we could, before either of us could have the regrettable memory of waking up the next morning hungover with a neko mimi hair clip on. Going to the game room was a bit different because there were other games being played, most importantly among them were some board games that I was surprised to see there, Risk, Risk 2040, and the Doom boardgame. And of course card games like Magic the gathering and so on. A lot of stuff went on, however there were still time lags.

Needless to say that after this, my position on these things changed. And this coming A-Kon, I look forward to attending with the same friend of mine, and another friend of mine and his girlfriend. I also know that I'll be taking a good look at the scheduler and filling in all the time gaps. We may never run out of things to do.

P.S. If any of you are going to A-Kon, and are interested in seeing the real Cold-NiTe, that can be arranged, but if you are coming under orders from the Corinthian, don't think I won't sense it. No attempts at digital photography to put my picture up here, please, thanks. It's been attempted before by others for other forums, even though they knew I was camera shy. The repercussions were... extensive.

I've never been to one mostly because I have never been given the opportunity to go to one. But if there would be one here then I'm going to go.


btw. I will have your head sooner or later Cold-NiTe. Just a matter of time.

You're in New York damnit, the largest Anime convention in the world is there, isn't it? And no, you aren't getting my head, or a photo of me or anything. If you were a little less abnormal, I probably wouldn't care, but you being you, I don't want to think about what you'd do to my picture.

Damnit. I've only been in New York for barely over a year. It's not as if I actively look out for these sort of things.

And I WILL get your picture. I will form an unholy alliance with the Madi-chan where she will take a headshot of you for SK mod-ship. And the delicious fun I will have once I have collected your picture... What fun indeed.

Your digressing, this threads congesting! Make it stop it's too depressing.

Dr. Seuss bullshit.







Anyone know of any anime conventions in NY?

Originally Posted by Digital_Eon

I haven't been to a con yet. I wanted to go to Otacon a few years ago... XD Never went. My friends went to Anime North recently, though, and are convincing me to go this year.

I'm Stereotypical Magical Anime Schoolgirl. The whole brightly-coloured uniform... the pet cat whose name grows longer every time I say it "My cat's named Nya-nya-nya-nya-nya-chan!"...the white shorts that say Panty Shot! in big pink letters on the back... XD Oh, how I want that costume.

So you're all for it then. Positive outlook without convention experience. Good for you. Hold on to that open mind, don't lose it as an adult.

Originally Posted by 1cor1313

Dr. Seuss bullshit.







Anyone know of any anime conventions in NY?

DON'T DISS THE MAN!

And; here.

Seriously though, there's always the New York's
Comic Con.

Heh. Comic con is actually pretty near. I think I'll go to that.

Originally Posted by 1cor1313

Heh. Comic con is actually pretty near. I think I'll go to that.

Plan it out with a friend or two. Don't make the same mistake as me. Or you might end up hating them unecessairily. Also, don't stay in the same place too long. If you use the event guides, you can keep a continuous pace of movement that will keep you from losing focus. Have fun at the con.

I live in the UK. Over here anime is stereotyped as either "just kids cartoons", "Japanophilia for nerds and internet junkies" and (to quote my brother) "...sick japanese anime porn" (i.e. some people think anime and manga is just hentai and nothing else).
I think there may be one or two conventions in London, but I've never been to them (I should realy research it).
Luckily, anime and manga is slowly (and I mean increadably slowly) becoming more mainstream, although that is mainly because of Yu-Gi-Oh, so you can see why its stereotyped as being kids cartoons.