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So I did end up going to Fanime yesterday. It was pretty fun, but not the greatest con ever. I think ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dreadite said it best when he called it "mellow". The McEnery Convention Center is just a wee bit too big for Fanime, so you end up feeling like there's a lot of empty space and not that many people. By about midday, the areas outside the convention halls were pretty packed -- and we were always walking against traffic, somehow -- but dealer's room, artist's colony, and gaming rooms dwarfed their occupants. Maybe that's a good thing -- it's certainly better than the crowding and jostling from a few years ago -- but I dunno.
I guess Fanime's biggest problem is programming. They just don't have very many good panels or guests. In some ways, it's nice because they have a lot of fannish panels, like web design, costume-making, fansubs, etc., some of which probably wouldn't fly at a con as industry-heavy as AX. [I'd wanted to go to the Fan Translation panel, which from the description sounded like it was about scanlations, but I passed it up for a chance to get into the AMVs room, which was showing drama at the time and whose projector broke soon after. By the time we checked back, they were on the fansub panel and were talking about timing and splitting lines, which was way too technical for me.] So in the end the only panel I went to was Greg Dean's, which was fun, but more of a friendly chat between him and fans than anything else. [But I guess that's how guest panels work?]
It's not that guests have ever been what draw me to a con, but I guess they do liven things up. I mean, thinking back to AX, seeing Seki Tomokazu was great, and so was Sakamoto Maaya's concert.
I guess I like going to cons to feel like part of a group of people who appreciate the same things. Experiences like watching comedy AMVs and catching all the jokes. Understanding the skits in the masquerade. Except I missed out on both of those this time, so maybe that's why it didn't feel the same. [Originally, my sister was going to meet with classmates to work on a group project last night, so we left before the masquerade started. We did walk by people lining up an hour early, plus I've generally been pretty pissed off with Fanime's handling of the masquerade, so it's probably better that I didn't stay anyway.]
I did have lots of fun in the artist's colony, though. I guess that's the part of my con experience that has expanded: looking at fanart and buying prints. [One of these days, I will actually remember to bring references, and get a commission.] The dealer's room was pretty boring in comparison. This was the year of Death Note and D.Gray-man, and I'm not well-versed in either of those series. But the artist's alley tends to have more carryover, and there's always one or two fanartists for more obscure series. I got some vector art Saiunkoku Monogatari bookmarks, and I found this awesome Tales of Destiny picture, too. And as always I can't resist well-drawn group pictures, so I now have some from Bleach, Ouran, and FFVII. [I wavered on the FFVII one, but dude, it has all of the AC characters happy! Do you know how mind-breaking it is to see Kadaj and Yazoo smiling in a non-evil/crazy/predatory way?]
Like the dealer's room, cosplay this year was dominated by Death Note and D.Gray-man -- with Bleach, Naruto, and Fullmetal Alchemist carryover, of course. [I guess I was thinking too recently in terms of series I know. I expected more, say, Code Geass or Darker than Black. But it's hard to get together a costume that quickly, I guess. In contrast, there was a bit of Code Geass fanart, and at least three artists with "Lelouch commands you to buy my stuff" signs.] There was a fair amount of Ouran, too, or at least of Nekozawa -- how much easier of a costume can you have than shrouding yourself in a black cloak and making a vaguely cat-shaped handpuppet? I was also too lazy for the most part to get pictures, but I'll probably put up the few I took eventually. I saw an awesome Yuuko from xxxHOLiC, for one.
Anyway, I think those are most of my disjointed thoughts from Fanime. It really was somewhat of a quiet and unexciting con, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. If I remembered the endless lines and sleep deprivation of AX better, I'd probably speak of such things more favorably.
dreadite said it best when he called it "mellow". The McEnery Convention Center is just a wee bit too big for Fanime, so you end up feeling like there's a lot of empty space and not that many people. By about midday, the areas outside the convention halls were pretty packed -- and we were always walking against traffic, somehow -- but dealer's room, artist's colony, and gaming rooms dwarfed their occupants. Maybe that's a good thing -- it's certainly better than the crowding and jostling from a few years ago -- but I dunno.I guess Fanime's biggest problem is programming. They just don't have very many good panels or guests. In some ways, it's nice because they have a lot of fannish panels, like web design, costume-making, fansubs, etc., some of which probably wouldn't fly at a con as industry-heavy as AX. [I'd wanted to go to the Fan Translation panel, which from the description sounded like it was about scanlations, but I passed it up for a chance to get into the AMVs room, which was showing drama at the time and whose projector broke soon after. By the time we checked back, they were on the fansub panel and were talking about timing and splitting lines, which was way too technical for me.] So in the end the only panel I went to was Greg Dean's, which was fun, but more of a friendly chat between him and fans than anything else. [But I guess that's how guest panels work?]
It's not that guests have ever been what draw me to a con, but I guess they do liven things up. I mean, thinking back to AX, seeing Seki Tomokazu was great, and so was Sakamoto Maaya's concert.
I guess I like going to cons to feel like part of a group of people who appreciate the same things. Experiences like watching comedy AMVs and catching all the jokes. Understanding the skits in the masquerade. Except I missed out on both of those this time, so maybe that's why it didn't feel the same. [Originally, my sister was going to meet with classmates to work on a group project last night, so we left before the masquerade started. We did walk by people lining up an hour early, plus I've generally been pretty pissed off with Fanime's handling of the masquerade, so it's probably better that I didn't stay anyway.]
I did have lots of fun in the artist's colony, though. I guess that's the part of my con experience that has expanded: looking at fanart and buying prints. [One of these days, I will actually remember to bring references, and get a commission.] The dealer's room was pretty boring in comparison. This was the year of Death Note and D.Gray-man, and I'm not well-versed in either of those series. But the artist's alley tends to have more carryover, and there's always one or two fanartists for more obscure series. I got some vector art Saiunkoku Monogatari bookmarks, and I found this awesome Tales of Destiny picture, too. And as always I can't resist well-drawn group pictures, so I now have some from Bleach, Ouran, and FFVII. [I wavered on the FFVII one, but dude, it has all of the AC characters happy! Do you know how mind-breaking it is to see Kadaj and Yazoo smiling in a non-evil/crazy/predatory way?]
Like the dealer's room, cosplay this year was dominated by Death Note and D.Gray-man -- with Bleach, Naruto, and Fullmetal Alchemist carryover, of course. [I guess I was thinking too recently in terms of series I know. I expected more, say, Code Geass or Darker than Black. But it's hard to get together a costume that quickly, I guess. In contrast, there was a bit of Code Geass fanart, and at least three artists with "Lelouch commands you to buy my stuff" signs.] There was a fair amount of Ouran, too, or at least of Nekozawa -- how much easier of a costume can you have than shrouding yourself in a black cloak and making a vaguely cat-shaped handpuppet? I was also too lazy for the most part to get pictures, but I'll probably put up the few I took eventually. I saw an awesome Yuuko from xxxHOLiC, for one.
Anyway, I think those are most of my disjointed thoughts from Fanime. It really was somewhat of a quiet and unexciting con, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. If I remembered the endless lines and sleep deprivation of AX better, I'd probably speak of such things more favorably.
