Sac Anime Summer 2011

When you know its your last time at a convention what exactly goes through your head? Maybe catching most of the events as you possibly can? Hang out with friends? Or just do whatever you feel at the time? For me for my last Sac Anime I am going to attend could possibly be summed up in a few words. Sac Anime needs to move...again. This was the most crowded Sac Anime I ever experienced and I have to say Sac Anime needs to move to a bigger place., but aside from that I did have fun with the events and activities I did go to.

Over the years Sac Anime has always had panels that were either interesting or something worth watching. For me for the very few panels I did attend to were entertaining. The "your anime sucks" and "we hate your anime" panels were funny and informative that I did enjoy listening to after a long day of walking around in the heat. Given this is a skewed vision of what this person believes which anime and which characters do really suck or lack better character development is anyone's opinion, but interesting to see what this person thinks of it all. The whats your line anime style panel was possibly the best panel I been to in a long time. The Voice Actors that were there for Sac Anime were in this panel and there were many funny moments to be made. Kudos for that idea and possibly something Sac Anime should do every year. The Super Quiz Time Show by our good friends at Artistic Alliance, that I took part in, was both exciting and enjoyable. I loved my time on the panel with the other guys and having fun with the audience as well answering questions for this game show panel we did at Sac Anime. The last panel I was able to catch was the closing ceremonies with the Voice Actors panel on Sunday. While I didn't mind to sit down and listen to everyone questions they had many of the voice actors were pretty chill about whatever question was thrown their way. Anything from naruto and garra love fanfics to how to break into the voice actor industry. The moderator of the panel was great in handling the whole panel as well as making side commentary with his buddy that was helping him out and the voice actors. Overall everyone was having fun even after sac anime was pretty much close to being done.

Image taken by www.viccosplay.com

The rave was well....it was okay. It didn't get good until DJ Caffe came on board and did some songs for us and that got everyone moving. Still like last year I do like that they open up the floor to have two rooms combined for one big room where everyone can have room to dance and not worry hitting someone accidentally when you didn't mean to. Gatherings were fine with the lack of many cosplayers that you see at other big anime conventions, gatherings here were more low key. A sense of relaxation when it came to these gatherings and about the average time for each varied but at most at least 20 minutes. Also there were a mix of good and bad cosplays at Sac Anime. Given yes some of these cosplayers you will see again at fanime and other big anime conventions but you saw your good share of very good cosplays to very last minute ones. I felt sorry for the ones that were completely covered head to toe in cosplay under this heat that was burning up everyone at Sac Anime.

The one interesting addition they added this year was the Matsuri event held in the same place where the band was playing during the night. I liked how Sac Anime tried to incorporate the Japanese culture into Sac Anime by putting a very small festival in it. I very like this idea but poorly executed. It would have to be in a bigger place with more vendors to get that vibe going. It was a good will attempted and I love the idea, but I just want to see this idea flourish more in the coming Sac Anime's.

picture by Team Love Hate http://teamlovehate.blogspot.com/

Like I said Sac Anime this year was the most crowded I have seen it. I wasn't kidding, the courtyard this year was active and packed but still able to move around in, the convention halls and vendors room was stuffed to the rim that it was hard just moving from one place to another in that building. It must of been hard for security and other staff to deal with this many at once, especially on Saturday. At one point because it was so crowded I needed to stay in my hotel room until Sac Anime was less crowded so I can move around better, plus having the sun and body heat from  everyone doesn't help any especially if you are in cosplay most of the day. The other room I checked out and thought it was a good addition to the convention was the sac anime lounge area. Basically it was in a big enough room to hold a lot of people in, for people who want to sit down, play games, talk, sing some karaoke, and have fun relaxing away from the chaos that was outside that room. I liked and enjoyed that room very much and should be a staple for Sac Anime for years to come. The artists alley was the same from last year though the only compliant i have is that its need to put in a bigger place because it far too small for the artist alley for more then 20 to 30 people to walk through and talk and get art from the artists.

The last place I was at and possibly the most time spent at was the gaming room at Sac Anime. It was divided into two rooms where one room a vendor was selling games and systems, along side some DDR machines in there while the other room held all the consoles. Problem is the console room even with two rooms connected was too small for the amount of people and tournaments they held in there. Getting in line to play one game of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was a hassle and during the tournaments it was crowded to the point where you had to stay in one spot in order to get ready for your next turn up. I will say when it was later in the day and it was me and couple of others just playing video games taking turns, it was a pretty relaxing atmosphere and loved it. Tournaments were fine and I enjoyed being in the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament. Even when I lost I stayed for the whole tournament and that was a lot of fun. Of course the only other problem I had in their aside from the small rooms was that it smelled so badly that your nose has to get used to the small to be in the game room. Just a bunch of a sweaty nerds playing video games, haha.

Well overall my last Sac Anime had its ups and downs. I enjoyed the times I was with my friends, and also the times where there was an air conditioned room during the panels. I do believe that Sac Anime as outgrown the Raddison hotel and needs to move to a bigger place for it's next Sac Anime. Possibly finally the Sacramento Convention Center in downtown Sacramento. Who knows, but I am sure its a good sign for Sac Anime that it had the most attendees this year breaking 5,000 plus. For Sac Anime to evolve into a better convention it needs better programing, more panels, a bigger place, and more events. I think it's time for Sac Anime to level up.

-Anthony Beanes