Animaritime Thoughts
Ah, anime conventions. Despite my interest in anime taking off nearly 15 years ago I don’t have much experience with conventions. Last weekend was the first real, multi-day anime con I’ve been to. Thankfully I’ve read enough about these things to know what I was getting in to. The attendees certainly rose to the challenge in terms of cosplaying; there were some genuinely good costumes to be seen. I wish I had recognized more of them. One person I hung out with was dressed as Madame Red from Black Butler, which meant I had to frequently step aside while people took her picture. While the costumes met my expectations I thankfully didn’t catch a wiff of someone’s nasty BO. That was one anime con stereotype I’m glad I didn’t encounter.
Animaritime is a smaller convention but they had a variety of panels and events to entertain people. Everything from information on manga licensing from Vertical’s Ed Chavez, classic anime discussions, gaming, and even an unexpected discussion on sexuality and gay rights (where I got to learn what the term “sounding” means. If you’re curious, try Urban Dictionary. Let’s just say it doesn’t sound like it would send me personally to the moon.) There was also a Masquerade Show where people got up on stage to show off their costumes, which was fine, but even I felt a little embarrassed when people yelled out their character’s catchphrase or performed confusing skits. I guess there are some levels of nerdom that even I won’t touch.
In addition to Chavez there was another notable guest at the con: Spike Spencer, the frickin’ genius voice actor himself (Shinji in the English version of Evangelion among other roles). He hosted three panels: “What happens at the con stays at the con…?â€, “How to Not Kill Your Date and Other Useful Cooking Tips†and “How to be A Frickin’ Genius Voice Actorâ€. The first panel was a discussion of the crazy nonsense Spencer has seen or heard about happening at conventions. For example, one story involved the meaning of one scantily clad girl’s “Hentai for $5†sign and another story detailed the medical emergency that resulted when an anime convention and a Baptist convention took place in the same hotel. The second panel involved romantic cooking advice and generally blue conversation. I didn’t get to attend the third panel, which is unfortunate, but then again the days when I fantasized about providing voiceovers for anime are waaaaay behind me.
Spike is a helluva public speaker. His commentary is not for the kiddies or faint of heart, but he can be savagely funny. He seems to genuinely enjoy interacting with fans and was surprisingly patient with a few select participants. I didn’t come away with stories that were any where near as good as his. The best I can do is mention one annoying fellow who wanted desperately to try his Joker voice out on Spike. He claimed it was a cross between Mark Hamil and Heath Ledger’s interpretations but sounded more appropriate for a cheesy movie from the 40’s when he gave my ears a sample.
Anime conventions are certainly a unique experience. Watching the bonds people have over their mutual interest in the anime artform is pretty cool. Even I made a small name for myself with a group of Soul Eater cosplayers by kicking a bit of ass at the Anime Jeopardy panel. While the median age of the attendees at Animaritime was a little on the young side, that didn’t stop me from seeing a 50-something woman sporting an “I Heart Yaoi†t-shirt. Too bad I didn’t bring a camera. Maybe next year.
July 5th, 2011 at 10:06 am
“Ah, anime conventions. Despite my interest in anime taking off nearly 15 years ago I don’t have much experience with conventions. Last weekend was the first real, multi-day anime con I’ve been to.”
Well I’ve been watching anime for about 13 years now and I’ve never been to one. To tell the truth I’ve never really thought about it, but they do sound kind of fun. Perhaps I will go eventually if there is one in my area.
July 6th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
I’ve got a question to ask you guys. Did you guys ever do any research on that manga I once asked about,”Baron Gong Battle,”the obsure manga that I noticed on Jason Thompson’s “House of a 1000 Manga?” How did that go? Did you run a search online? I’d really like to know. You can read my half-baked opinion of it in the “Broken Anime” section of this blog and then please find out for yourselves because I was wondering your opinion of it,huh?
July 7th, 2011 at 6:55 am
It’s worth Googling to see if there are any you can go to. I always assumed there weren’t any cons near me but apparently this one’s been around for several years, so they don’t always advertise that well. I don’t think I’ll ever be the type to travel to other parts of the country for conventions but Animaritime took place at a hotel that is less than a 10 minute walk from my apartment. There was no good excuse for me to not check it out.
July 7th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
Yeah I would happily go in an instant if I wasn’t working at the time and the place was that close to where I live
July 8th, 2011 at 5:15 am
Oh and Ghostwriter, I did check out Baron Gong Battle. Obscure is a good description of it. There is no animated series, and the manga is so unknown it doesn’t have a wikipedia entry.
Sounds somewhat like a combination of “Fist of the North” and “Cassharn: Robot Hunter”, both of which have been reviewed on AAW. All the reviews of BGB I’ve seen have been negative, so I doubt it’s something I’ll ever want to check out, since I generally don’t read much manga anyway.
July 8th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Well,thanks Chainclaw. That jibes with what little I found out about this series. I don’t mind someone attempting to do a tribute to Hollywood action movies or combining it with a genre like the shonen genre as long as it’s good. Heck,I won’t mind if someone had a harem manga or anime that is set in America as long as it’s well done.
Oh guys. I just heard a new anime! It’s called “Blood-C” and it’s been done by CLAMP. And you’re not going to believe this. They’re going to have Nana Suzuki,the woman who voices the lead character in the Japanese version is also going to voice the same character in English. Isn’t that incredible or what? I’d also hope that one day,CLAMP decides to have one of their manga set in America. I love to see what they do with that! What do you think?
July 8th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
I’ve never actually seen anything done by CLAMP, but I know they have a good reputation.
You seem to have a knack for finding anime shows none of us have heard of. Perhaps you should consider submitting your own reviews for some of them. It would alway be nice to have another reviewer onboard.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Thanks,Chainclaw! I might consider that. I just look up stuff on Anime News Network and things like that. I also hope you read my thing on “Durarara” in the “New Review:Fire Tripper” post. I’d love a response to it.