Reactions from the Con(vention)

Japanese animé conventions weird but fun events

July 17th , 2004

Off in a world where few people dare to venture, there is a place full of magic and excitement. It exists outside of our world yet inside it; it is both tangible and abstract. It is so exciting, yet at the same time so surreally awkward. For a first-time con(ventio)ner, the four-square-block area that Animé Expo convention took up was filled with so much wonder, keeping me enthralled to the world, yet at the same time, the madness and chaos that inevitably went with it almost made me wonder whether or not this thing called anim´was worth being so obsessed about.

Conventions are all about several different pieces, loosely related together, somehow smacked together all in one section. First off, you have all of the propaganda in the world at your disposal in the vendor's section. If it was animé-related in some way, shape, or form, you can bet they had it for sale, and they had it for sale (relatively) cheaply. You want a real katana to feel like you were in feudal Japan? Seventy dollars (U.S.) can make that happen. You want a shower curtain of your favourite animé girl staring at you while you shower? Twenty-something and it's yours. Manga and DVDs are everywhere too, the sellers behind the table eager to strike a deal with you. The amount of stuff you can buy there just floored me, and in some cases disturbed me; the most frightening thing being these gigantic paddles (like canoe oars) with the word "Yaoi" prominently written on both sides of it.

A subsection of this world are all the artists out there hoping to put their talents to the test to make a few dollars profit, usually, as I can quote one of the artists, "to feed my animé habit." Whether you're looking for a full-colour picture of a mech from Gundam Wing or sketch from a Final Fantasy game, artists are usually kind enough to try their hand at drawing anything with enough of a description to suit the picture.

My swag that I brought from the convention includes a couple manga from a few series that caught my eye while I was out there along with a manga caricature of myself, how I would appear were I in animé.

Then you have the cosplayers (and I'm sure you're all looking forward to me talking about it, seeing as how I actually cosplayed there). I almost have to feel sorry for the cosplayers at a con because their lives are filled with walk, walk, walk, poooooose, click, walk, walk, walk, pooooooose, click. Cosplayers tend to be some of the nicests people at cons because of their generous nature in getting their picture snapped, even if they have to be at a 12:30 workshop with only two minutes to get there. Somehow, unofficial character gatherings seem to randomly form as news of the information trickles around by word of mouth, the origin of the original decision, much less time, of the meeting lost to the winds. Of course, it's always a treat to find your favourite characters there and snap pictures with them, even if you know ahead of time you'll never see those people again in your entire lives.

Below you'll find some pictures from my cosplay experience as Cid from Final Fantasy VIII along with some of my personal favourites of the cosplayers. (Note: character costumes are created by their respective cosplayers.)

(Yes, that is me on the left.)

What part of an animé convention would be complete without workshops? Of course, that's one of the most amazing parts, where you can actually meet with people who are in the animé industry in various forms and speak geek with them in their field of expertise. Of particular notice (read: the ones my friends dragged me to) were the workshops on traditional Japanese dancing and English voice acting (with Krispin Freeman, if I have the name right). Don't forget the video rooms, too. Whether you're just feeling tired or if you're wanting to indulge the animé addiction more and more teenagers are catching, some of the most popular and newest animé episodes are always on display in five theatres in the hotel closeby, free of charge. Our favourite that we happened to find was one called Please Twins!, and despite the potential for that to be an R-rated title, it actually is a hilarious comedy of three kids meeting up many years later to discover that they have the same picture... of two of them in a swimming pool. Two of them are relatives and one is not, but no one knows who. It was very interesting.

So we've covered the good, the bad, and the ugly, but perhaps the one thing to combine them all are the special events with guest speakers. The speakers are phenomenal really, very powerful speakers and very enthusiastic about what they do. They're very fun to listen to, even when you have no idea what they actually do. (Read on...) Of course, the bad and the ugly is the vain attempt to try to get their autographs. The lines would extend for aeons, perhaps the people at the tail end experiencing upwards of a two hours' wait just for an unidentifiably kanji symbol on your flat surface of choice. SilverWind made me promise to get the autograph of Tomokazu Seki, a famous Japanese voice artist having done more animés that they could list in the text blurb they gave him; after fighting a pushing, shoving, and groping mob down two flights on escalator and then to the back of a hall, I waited an hour for the guy to show up and another half hour for him to get through the people who were more successful at shoving people out of their way than I was (and I'm good-sized guy).

All in all, going to AX2004 was a really enjoyable experience, but at the same time, as a first-timer, I sort of felt out of place and awkward in my environment. Animé conventions are all about die-hard fanatics of the genre, and I'm more of a off-and-on fan, going through small spurts of raw animé desire. If you've never been to a convention before, I would recommend it if you're interested in it any decent amount. Just be careful you don't wear red jackets (read: Cid) like the event staff; rather than getting questions of "can I take your picture?" you'll get questions of "can you tell me which way the registration line is?"

~ The Missing Link