I went to animecon2008 today, and I actually enjoyed it.
Especially the highlight of today's schedule, the cosplay group contest, was awesome. I haven't been so entertained by live performances in years.
I'm clearly not the only one who thinks that. Before the doors to the main hall (where the contest was held) opened, a queue of at least 200 meters formed (without the slightest exaggeration). The main entrance to the hall was on the second floor of the building, and the queue went from the door to the staircase down, through the main corridor to outside the building and continued there for at least 100 meters. When I realized what they were queuing, I joined the queue. Since the main hall was very big (something like 2000 seats), the queue advanced relatively fast after they opened the doors. However, the queue didn't seem to get any shorter while I was in it. When I go to the second floor, the end of the queue was still outside the building! The hall got pretty full (but AFAIK everyone got in). Now I know what popularity means.
The atmosphere during the competition was great. The performances were hilarious and the viewers were cheering and applauding.
In fact, the overall atmosphere in the animecon was great. Well over half of the people there were all wearing some types of costumes. The most popular themes seemed to be Naruto, Bleach, Kingdom Hearts and some kind of zombie anime I didn't recognize/know. Also pokemon seemed rather popular. Some of the costumes were very involved and well-made.
There was especially one thing there which was really positively surprising, and very rare nowadays: There's a relatively big park besides the building where the animecon was held, and the park was constantly full of young people, and I didn't see even one bottle of beer or alcohol. It really *is* possible to have good fun without alcohol. Many people diss anime fans badly, but IMO this kind of fun is a lot healthier than what you usually see the youth doing. I didn't feel at all like they were a big bunch of freaks, but just people having good healthy fun.
There were also tons of people giving free hugs to anyone who wanted. A rather peculiar modern phenomenon. Seemed nice (but I was too shy to even think about trying it).
It's curious the proportion of males to females. Usually extreme nerdy hobbies are very male-oriented, but at the animecon there seemed to be even more females than males. Seems like anime and the Japanese pop culture are pretty popular among western females.
The only thing I regret is that I didn't know about the animecon early enough. If I had known, I would have gone there yesterday as well (especially for the individuals cosplay contest, which I regret missing).
EDIT: Apparently that "zombie anime" I didn't recognize is Hellsing (many minus points to my nerd factor for not knowing, I suppose). Perhaps I should watch that anime too, as it seems to be popular.
I have a t-shirt with "FREE HUGS" written on it; one of my female friends gave it to me when I turned 18. I feel it completes my utterly bizarre persona.
Still, re: anime conventions. I've declared only to go to one if coerced by a suitably important girl.
I love conventions. Unfortunately I'm really limited to only 1, since there aren't many in my area, and all the others that do typically fall around early August, when I can never get off of work.
My wife likes to go too - we both cosplay. It took until the other day to finally find a pair of costumes that would work and go together. Especially since I don't want to do anything from Final Fantasy (always overdone) or Naruto (I hate the series, and it's also overdone).
You should have told me, I was present sunday as well. ;)
In my defense, I was boardgaming the whole day in the basement, so I really didn't get to see anything else than the related lectures held in the same space.
On a sidenote, the crowd leaving on sunday did certainly break the railway station ticket sales system and buying tickets on the Pendolino back to Helsinki got me some nasty remarks from the official.
"Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home."
( Pratchett & Gaiman: Good Omens )
Apparently that "zombie anime" I didn't recognize is Hellsing (many minus points to my nerd factor for not knowing, I suppose).
If it makes you feel any better, I had never seen a single episode of Hellsing until a couple of months ago. As an aside, it's one of the few anime series that were just a bit too painful to watch the English dub of. Oh well, we can't all be Cowboy Bebop.
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
I ended up going to Comicon for 2 of the 4 days that it ran. There is nothing more fun than disrupting cosplayers' days by drawing attention away from them.
That, and I got to see Eric Estrada and Will Riker in the same 30 minutes.
Joined: 4/30/2006
Posts: 480
Location: the secret cow level
I've been to Dragon*Con in Atlanta a few times. Friend of mine moved down there a few years ago, so I go hang out with him for a few days each year. I've seen some crazy stuff down there, especially since Turner Networks (and therefore Cartoon Network and Adult Swim) is right across town, so they send a ton of people each year. I even had a few drinks with Kari and Grant from the Mythbusters one time.
On all conventions I've been to, the general rule seemed to be "avoid anyone who came there for the convention".
superjupi wrote:
If it makes you feel any better, I had never seen a single episode of Hellsing until a couple of months ago. As an aside, it's one of the few anime series that were just a bit too painful to watch the English dub of. Oh well, we can't all be Cowboy Bebop.
Wow wow wow, wait a minute. You be saying Crispin Freeman is bad? That's a dangerous line to cross, mate.
There were also tons of people giving free hugs to anyone who wanted. A rather peculiar modern phenomenon. Seemed nice (but I was too shy to even think about trying it).
I really hate this. Stop violating my private space.
Seems like anime and the Japanese pop culture are pretty popular among western females.
Check out any fanfiction site. The wast majority of fanfic writers are female (and got a pretty unhealthy obsession with boys being homosexual).
Perhaps I should watch that anime too, as it seems to be popular.
Watch the newer series in that case. It actually got an animation budget.
Of course, it could be I'm just negative because I detest the abundant ignorance the general anime fan seems to possess. They also tend to be scrubs.
scrubs
noun updated millenium definition: guys who are not ambitious. They may have a job and a car but they are content with not climbing the corporate/career ladder. They are usually do not care about their physique/appearance/clothing. Basically, men who do not like to take care of themselves.
Rick was your typical scrub: always arriving at work 10 mins. late with his unkempt appearance and fastfood breakfast. #7
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
Scrubs?
But really, more cuteness is always a good thing ;)
People who dislike abuse of game mechanics to win a game. Sirling really covers it better then I ever could. All conventions I've been to, I've mostly been to to play fighters, so I get a bit annoyed when it's followed by hours of whining about "cheating" or "exploits" because I know how the play the game (even when it's a game I haven't played, and I simply find a for-the-moment overpowered tactic).
And I'm not sure "getting run down by guys trying to pose as girls that would make a bulldozer feel small" goes under the category of "cute".
And I'm not sure "getting run down by guys trying to pose as girls that would make a bulldozer feel small" goes under the category of "cute".
At least in Finland it seems that (ugly) guys trying to cosplay cute girls is a phenomenon within safe boundaries, i.e. practically non-existent.
But in a country the size of USA… anything that can happen, happens. And you know which ones get photographed and distributed across the globe hundreds of times at the speed of sound.
At least in Finland it seems that (ugly) guys trying to cosplay cute girls is a phenomenon within safe boundaries, i.e. practically non-existent.
But in a country the size of USA… anything that can happen, happens. And you know which ones get photographed and distributed across the globe hundreds of times at the speed of sound.
It's probably not as common as I'd make people think here in Sweden either, but on my first convention, the very first thing I saw were a at-least 400 pounds guy cosplaying Sakura from Naruto and saying "Kage bunshin no jutsu". It kinda skews my point of view a bit.
The reason I never go on various meetups and conventions (not just anime) is that for the most part, they are based on popular things that I don't like. Not because they're popular, but because of certain things that make it popular.
Zurreco wrote:
There is nothing more fun than disrupting cosplayers' days by drawing attention away from them.
This is a neat idea. How do you accomplish that?
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
There were also tons of people giving free hugs to anyone who wanted. A rather peculiar modern phenomenon. Seemed nice (but I was too shy to even think about trying it).
I really hate this. Stop violating my private space.
Emphasis mine...
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
There were also tons of people giving free hugs to anyone who wanted. A rather peculiar modern phenomenon. Seemed nice (but I was too shy to even think about trying it).
I really hate this. Stop violating my private space.
Emphasis mine...
Quite true. While there were lots of people with their "free hugs", "hug me", etc. signs, they never made any advances to anyone (except other people with similar signs). They always waited for others to ask. I never felt uncomfortable at all near them, which was nice. They do seem to respect people's space.
