Anime Conventions?

I go to em every year, its a pain not knowing anyone to go with tho

Would love to go to one (Never been to one Q.Q)
I just don't have enough money and i would like to cosplay if i go...
I cry every night.

I'm trying to go to one in Anaheim.

Does Comicon count?

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I would love to go to one with a group of friends or meet up with internet friends there.

I went to one a long time back. Twas aight.

First thing you'll notice is the line. Unless you bought tickets in advance, it could take hours to get through the door. Keep in mind this was a small con; I can only imagine what it's like for the huge ones.

The convention complex was linked by a garden (via a pond and a bridge) to a hotel. It was honestly rather picturesque. Here I found people playing Magic, taking pictures of cosplays, and fighting with foam swords (Actual practice swords, mind you. I'd reckon most of us would get "decapitated" in an instant.) This was also where I took a picture of this one dude that happened to cosplay as somebody from an H.P. Lovecraft book. Looking back upon it, I can't help but wonder how he's doing in life.

Eventually you start noticing the bad cosplays. One of my favorites was the chubby-faced Filipino kid dressed up like Black Star from Soul Eater. Unless you're an asshole though, you're not gonna care. As long as they're having fun, what else oughta matter?

An essential piece of advice: Bring money. Lots of money. It's not that the food was particularly expensive (it wasn't), but there's so much awesome merch available on the floor that you'll kick yourself for not bringing more. Posters, T-shirts, wallscrolls, dakimakuras; miniature bookstores stuffed with manga and anime DVDs! For a small two-day con like AnimeNEXT I got by on a hundred-something, but I'd recommend bringing $300+ if you're a richfag like that.

The other notable part of a con (aside from trailers and other official productions) is the panels. Essentially: Voice actors, internet celebs, or even just really good cosplayers get together to talk to fans, answer questions, and crack jokes. I went to a rather entertaining one with Hetalia cosplayers, and another one with these people who made AMVs. My friends didn't enjoy the latter, but I found it funny.

Notably, there are also adult panels, usually held after dark. Seeing as I wasn't 18 or over at the time, I couldn't tell you much about 'em.

Among other things there was the Cosplay Contest, but there was also Cosplay Chess! It's exactly what it sounds like: Two players go head-to-head on a "small" board, while cosplayers (signifying the pieces) move accordingly about a "big" board. They do a little ditty when one piece takes another, which ranges anywhere from epic to downright hilarious, such as when I saw C-3PO punch out Alucard from Hellsing.

Soo... Yeah! That's pretty much my one and only convention experience. I'll leave out the parts where I got separated from my friends, and where I got treated like dog shit when I was with them. In retrospect, I can't help but wonder if it'd have been better to just go by myself.

I have been wanting to go to Anime Boston for 3 years now and everf time its close for some reason I just don't feel like going.

The only reason I would go to an anime con would be to see the VA panels and get to ask them some questions (possibly film them too) and to get stuff signed. Also to buy up a ton of merch, which costs a bunch of money that I know I don't have. Also I live in the part of the country that doesn't really get events like cons, well, that's starting to change, there are people trying to start cons in this area but they're very small and they're not taking off yet. Maybe someday they'll get bigger and worth going to.

CrispyFriedMan wrote

The only reason I would go to an anime con would be to see the VA panels and get to ask them some questions (possibly film them too) and to get stuff signed.  Also to buy up a ton of merch, which costs a bunch of money that I know I don't have.  Also I live in the part of the country that doesn't really get events like cons, well, that's starting to change, there are people trying to start cons in this area but they're very small and they're not taking off yet.  Maybe someday they'll get bigger and worth going to.

I mean, they ain't likely to get of the ground if people wait it out. You should check 'em out sometime!

Santiago is a VERY small city so you eventually get cons like every other sunday. The quality tho can go for absolutely epic (Super Japan Expo had Asian Kung-Fu Generation and Anna Tsuchiya) to meh (AEX who brought the dude who sang the Saint Seiya OP, JAM Project with half the members or Cesar Franco [Mexican VA and singer] to "school anime fairs" which have local anime cover bands and the same chums all over the place.
Making big cons is rather expensive, i used to host a couple of them in the past but they're not cost effective and for the amount of work, it's so little what you get for it.

Backlash wrote

CrispyFriedMan wrote

The only reason I would go to an anime con would be to see the VA panels and get to ask them some questions (possibly film them too) and to get stuff signed.  Also to buy up a ton of merch, which costs a bunch of money that I know I don't have.  Also I live in the part of the country that doesn't really get events like cons, well, that's starting to change, there are people trying to start cons in this area but they're very small and they're not taking off yet.  Maybe someday they'll get bigger and worth going to.

I mean, they ain't likely to get of the ground if people wait it out. You should check 'em out sometime!

Yeah I know, the last one that a friend of mine went to, I just wasn't that interested in, it was mostly about horror  movie stuff.  All I really want is to meet my fav anime VAs, buy some merch and get it signed.

I visited the Dokomi years ago. It was okay.

I haven't been to a convention of any kind. I had lingering thoughts of attending the Denver Comic-Con but then it passed by before I could really consider going.

I've been to a few cons which had a mix of western and eastern stuff but I try to hide my powerlevel. I'm not "out" yet, so to speak. Just discreetly looking at the cosplayers too.

I don't live in an area in which anime conventions are accessible, but I have been to a comic con before. The demographic was just awful, with far too high a density of the obnoxious, over-confident type. Most stalls seemed to be selling pointless tat, or counterfeits; with the exception of the plamo/gunpla stall and a few others. Anything of relevance to anime was of the hyper-mainstream shounen genre and western comic material was all marvel-esque. It also smelled quite dreadful; comparable to a changing room of 13 year olds (those of the age at which they require deodourant, yet haven't the sense to use it).

pixelwitch wrote

comparable to a changing room of 13 year olds (those of the age at which they require deodourant, yet haven't the sense to use it).

I'm not sure which is worse, the stage before they realise they need deodorant, or the stage where they think they need to use ALL the deodorant.

malmon wrote

pixelwitch wrote

comparable to a changing room of 13 year olds (those of the age at which they require deodourant, yet haven't the sense to use it).

I'm not sure which is worse, the stage before they realise they need deodorant, or the stage where they think they need to use ALL the deodorant.

I mean at least the cheap spray-on deodorant smells nice. I'd rather have that than the alternative.

On another note, I might finally attend a convention again next year!

Been to a bigger anime convention once before and it was ok. The crowd was mostly teenagers that were into mainstream shounen, which is not my demographic and not the kind of anime I watch. ^^

I didn't have that much money so I couldn't afford to buy any merch. However, I quite enjoyed the 9x9 Go tournament and actually made it quite far!