Mostly cloudy, with a few raindrops. Cruising at 80 MPH.
I had planned to go to this convention simply for fun, now it's for consolation, as Suba-chan's imminent and final fate weighed heavily on my mind. We had shared and discovered much together, that car and I... Ai-chan is ready for this, though.
Last year's AnimeUSA had shown promise. It was small, it was fun, and it was close to home. This year, it moved to the Holiday Inn in Rosslyn just minutes away from last year's site for bigger accomodations.
First the bad news:
After leaving work at the usual time, and stopping at a garage only to learn that any efforts to revive Suba-chan would be either in vain or too expensive or both, I arrive at home to snag my camcorder, pet my dog, check my email, and VERIFY THE LOCATION OF THE CONVENTION ITSELF. No repeats of last year's navigational tactics. Just to make sure, a nicely detailed road atlas of the DC area quickly finds it's way to Ai-chan.
Now for the good news:
Somewhere around 7 PM, I reach the hotel. First things first, registration! Eh, no, the bathroom first... Then registration! Ooh, got a choice of badges this year. In color, too. Glanced over the video schedule, then trotted over to the dealers room. The schedule says they close at 8, but they're starting to throw blankets over the goods for the night. Oh well. There's only a couple of things I want to get. I blow the remainder of my cash to get some plushies for Aeris, as she is unable to attend. There's always tomorrow, and an ATM near my home. The program book: Three pages folded to produce a 12 page booklet. Opening ceremonies last only a half an hour, and in a room that's waay more than enough for the 40 or so people in attendance.
This year, they're showing some really new stuff, and they're repeating it through the entire con. Missed it earlier in the day? Just wait, it'll come around again. That helped with the things I wanted to see before I got there. Up to 20 episodes of Love Hina, and a couple of the big-ticket movies that Otakon showed, like the Card Captor Sakura and the Utena movies. The Escaflowne movie was taken out due to legal requirements from Anime Village. First watched "Candidate for Goddess" which is very Eva-esque, and followed by Furi-kuri, aka FLCL. As an attendee sitting in front of me put it, "WTF!?" FLCL is quite arguably the strangest anime ever made. Best described as somewhere between Eva (the boy and his robot thing), Kare Kano (character design looks close), lain (general more-than-you-think-is-going-on situation), and Trigun (oversized appliances and toony goofiness), with some strong psychoactive drugs thrown in for good measure. After that's over, I bolt home, giggling the whole way about FLCL. Gainax to Pioneer: "We'll out-weird your Serial Experiments Lain, and add some comedy!"
Return to the convention!
Bah, I overslept. Am going to miss the first 6 episodes of Love Hina. But I think I'll live. On top of that, I don't escape from the house quick or early enough, so I have to run an errand. Get a lawnmower blade sharpened, then go to an anime convention. Happens all the time...
Aside from stop at a convenience store for a sandwich, the drive is uneventful. Perusing the dealers room with more time to spare, I get a closer look at the goodies available. Kinda slim pickings, but then again, Otakon was only a month ago, so naturally it looks small. I plan on picking up a couple CDs, but not going on a full spending spree. They planned on having t-shirts, but they couldn't be made in time, so pre-orders were in effect. Still less than a hundred people in any glance. The costumers are starting to come out, all 30 of them, so it's time to get out the camcorder.
The AnimeUSA dealers room: There is not a "No bootleg" policy here. There are dealers with legitimate goods, and those that have bootleg goods. It's good to have a mix of it, really. There are many instances where an official version of something is out of print, and a no bootleg policy would kill any hope of finding a copy. For next year, if there's a licensed version of something, then only the licensed version may be sold. If not, then anything goes. I kept that in mind when I picked up a cheap version of the Perfect Blue soundtrack, which was said to be out of print by numerous dealers.
Now we're rolling.
It's getting a bit more lively now, but after all the crowds at Otakon, this is nothing. Finally got to see some Love Hina. Cute show, really. Most of the video shown is not off of VHS or DVD, but from laptop computers playing AVI files.
After the Ironcat panel, they're getting ready for the Card Captor Sakura movie. The main events room is huge for this convention, four times bigger than the main room for last year's convention. I doubt attendance has matched it.
Lines? What are these 'lines' that you speak of?
The CCS movie was pretty good. Checked out the Con Suite, which also saw partial duty as Con Ops. Now I'm sitting here with Liz at the artist's table, as she sells Tsunami fan-zines. The Cosplay starts at 7, it's about 6:30, and there's no line waiting to get in... That's because people are just walking in and sitting down. "Line panic" doesn't exist here.
A better, shorter Cosplay
Got the cosplay on tape, all 45 minutes of it. Four young girls were quite happy to find out that I had it, and was willing to make copies of it for them. Looking around at the audience, there couldn't have been more than 150 watching the cosplay, in a room that could hold easily twice that much. I was probably the only one who recorded it. I guess what made this cosplay good, was that the cosplayers themselves didn't feel as pressured as they would be at a larger con, so they were able to perform their skits more confidently, and perhaps even on a personal level with the audience. It must have been easier with a hundred people watching than two thousand watching.
Hm...?
Being the only one with the cosplay on tape has raised the attention of high-end staffers, including the con-chair herself. They were concerned that I might charge an exorbitant fee for the copies, but I told them that the price would be media cost only, and postage if need be, much to their relief.
The dance went better than Otakon's according to popular opinion. The music played was more anime music, and there was more room for the dancers. Another day had come to a close for me, and it was time to shove off.
Good enough to the last drop.
Got off to another late start. Something about putting the lawnmower blade from yesterday back on the lawnmower itself. Put on a mower blade, then go to an anime convention. Happens all the time. I reach the hotel easily again. People are even fewer and farther between now. The dealers are packing up early, as there are maybe 2 or 3 potential buyers floating around. Anyone that's left is likely in the video theaters. Got here in time to watch the last episode of FLCL again, then caught a half-episode of Boys Be, very shoujo. After that was over... I officially watched "nothing" for an hour and a half. Not nothing, but "nothing".
All good things must come to an end.
Closing ceremonies. So soon, really. It was made clear that the handful of people there really enjoyed themselves, and there was praise for the staffers' friendliness and support. Even the guy that ran hotel security got applause, for being kind enough to let the con use another room for all-night usage. The only real gripe was about panel scheduling, or lack thereof. There were more praises than suggestions, overall. After that, it was time for me to go home to be put to immediate work in excising an old appliance from the house. Go to an anime convention, then move heavy appliances. Yep, happens all the time.
Estimated attendance: I'm guessing about 200. Might be higher, though.
High points:
Getting the entire Cosplay on one tape, from a good angle, without having
to sit in line for over an hour to get it
FLCL
No men dressed as Sailor Scouts
Lows:
Not able to get there early enough on all three days
Visit the AnimeUSA webpage.
Well, that's all for this report. Up next, Neko-con 3!