FanimeCon 2009

Day 4

FanimeCon: Day 4*

Quotes of the Day

"You know, the dubs versus subs debate has been running since the 1960's..."

- Gilles Poitras
anime historian, talking about the history of subtitles in the west during "FanimeCon Iron Panelist"

"Thank you for coming to FanimeCon Artist's Alley. Now get the hell out."

- con staff
pretending to be Arnold Schwarzenegger on the PA system as the Artist's Alley closed

Before I spill my guts about my deep, innermost feelings for FanimeCon 2009, here's what the San Jose Mercury News had to say about the convention. I'm glad this article ignores the people in the hallway asking for hugs. Also: there are a few cosplay photos from the weekend at the end of this article. I hope the small number of photos can be made up for by the fact that one of the pictures is of a guy dressed as a giant ear of corn. You've never seen that before, right? Yeah, I thought so. You're welcome.

As the convention drew to a close...

While FanimeCon had pretty much wrapped by about 4PM on Monday, the last day had a pretty good amount of stuff going on. Dealers marked down prices, there were artists giving commissions out for free, and panels continued to roll until 2PM. Stage Zero had programming going for most of the day, while other fans created their own fun. In the Artist's Alley, a string duo hopped on the PA mic and played a short set of music that filled the hall as people shopped - a nice touch of class indeed.

Con Review

As simply as I can put it, FanimeCon was what it needed to be: a nice opportunity for anime and manga fans to gather in late Spring as school terms end. Back on Day 1, I talked about how this is a "local" convention, and that still holds true. The fact that everything is so close together but doesn't feel crowded gives me the impression that this could be the best convention to go to if you need to make more friends. Considering that the entire point of conventions is to have fans gather and mingle, I believe that's one of the strongest endorsements I can offer to FanimeCon.

As one might expect with a completely fan run convention, this one had a few problems here and there. The technical setups in a few programming rooms were left mostly unattended, so hopefully that is something that a bigger volunteer force can help handle in the future. The biggest criticism I can lob at this convention concerns the gaming area: while there was ample space for everything, there was a lot of empty, unused space. Perhaps this is something that space allocation (or more games) can take care of in the future, but in the meantime, it's not exactly the kind of thing that would ruin a convention for anyone.

All in all, it was a pretty fun weekend. I can't say that I'm impressed with the growing number of people that think it's okay to dance in a giant circle that blocks traffic, or the people who are covered in sweat and still try to glomp me as I pass by. Still, it's nice to know that there is actually a "big" convention out there that can still, in many respects, feel like a small one. While there are certainly areas that need work, Fanime is really running a lot smoother than it has in the past, and I look forward to returning in the future.

* - please pretend that there's a cool looking banner here. Thanks!

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