FanimeCon 2011 Report

Another year, another con. Fanime 2011 has successfully passed and seemed to have been one of those great cons where you just want more of it and 4 days isn't enough. I've had friends come to this con for their first time and had one of their best times in their lives. Some of my friends had the most embarrassing moments in their lives...memorable...but embarrassing...As for me, well, I'll start from day 1, on to the best of my abilities (since I'm coming out of hiatus) this is my Fanime report.

I arrived to the San Jose Convention Center with Alex sometime around the afternoon of the first day. When we looked in the at-the-door registration, it really wasn't that bad. It was just one line long. But when we went to the Pre-Reg line, it honestly seemed bigger, but it went faster. We got our badges, our hotel keys and check the con. That day was Friday, so supposedly, not as much people were here compared to Saturday, but it seemed like Friday's population of guests and cosplayers was pretty decent and had more than my last visit to Fanime (two years ago.) But compared to some of the other FanimeCons I've been to, it didn't feel like the cosplayers were really trying hard enough to really take out a really cool costume or do cool poses, etc. since I noticed this year I didn't have as much pictures as before.

When Saturday finally came around, it was a much more vibrant atmosphere. The at-the-door registration was filled to the rim and beyond. The halls were crowded as well as the dealer's room. Compared to some of the other dealer's rooms, I also saw Crunchyroll.com as well as Gpotato and Cosmic Break there (they are two MMORPG sites.) We eventually saw Sean and his Shredder costume (I believe on Friday,) as well as our other friends by time. The only panel I managed to see was the webcomic panel with Anthony. It had some fairly useful info for starting  webcomic writers and drawers for people who decided to want to make one for their own site. Things like The types of specific drawing pens they use, to drawing methods.

During Sunday, I unfortunately didn't get to experience much of the con as I wanted due to some misfortune of Anthony's (explained in a blog later...) but we managed to see the Valve gathering, one of the largest and longest gatherings in Fanime. Most of my time was taken any due to Anthony's misfortune til the night where he went to the masquerade and left us to do w/e. He said it was a really good masquerade except for a few skits, though most were really good apparently. There was also the 18 and over panels like the hentai panel. Be as it may seem, people love to troll it so it's not really an "adult" panel. Apparently it's a fun place to go to to get some laughs.

By the time Monday came around it was pretty much the con's way of saying "close-up." Not much really happens at this point of the con expect for sucking up the most of the con as you can, cosplaying, taking pictures, playing games, buying stuff, and whatever you can find. The vending area start their last minute deals and everyone had to check out of the rooms. I managed to get my prized 1/7 PVC. Unfortunately it's a "bit" too big for my roomspace, so next time I'm getting something a bit smaller...Anthony managed to talk to Wayne Kaa, face of American Cosplay Paradise/Experience/Snapshots (ACP/ACE/ACS.) We met him through a good friend of ours. We wanted to ask him about an internet interview, but we were all so dead tired that that had to wait.

As Fanime comes to a close and everyone leaves, people remember how fun (or bad) the con was, and hope that they will return again next year and make it a better experience.

Click here for more photos!
Click here for the Touhou Gathering's "Bad Apple!" Dance

- Nathan Maruyama