Convention Coverage

I know, such a open-ended title…but according to the A&G website/homepage (and screen-shot form if it is later edited/deleted), somethign went seriously wrong…

*Update*

After emailing Jason, the con chair of Animation and Gaming, this is the reply I was given explaining the post on the A&G front page:

There are many problems that occurred at A&G Ohio 2012. The root of the problem stemming from the host hotel. Our schedule had to be changed shortly after set up. This was due to inaccurate measurements given to us. There was also disciminatory treatment toward badge holders in general (not just those that were in cosplay). The hotel also tried to enforce outlandish rules throughout the event, which tied up all the upper staff who were trying to stop the hotel from said issues making any attendee issues that presented themselves… very hard to handle.  Shortly after the convention we learned of attendees that have been getting random fees tacked on to their rooms in upwards of $175-$5,000.

We have learned many things along the ride this year and want to sincerely apologize to our attendees! Our upper staff have an obligation to handle large problems, but attendees should not have to deal with these things.

Currently we are in the process of gathering information from attendees of the convention in order to access A&G Ohio and it’s attendees Legal options. This is why we were asking for people to email stories to: ConChair@AandGohio.com.

Anime Central is proud to announce that LM.C will be Guests of Honorand performing at Anime Central’s 15th Anniversary Celebration!  The Japanese visual kei “electrock” band will kick off their 2012 world tour with a guest appearance at Anime Central in Rosemont, IL April 27-29, 2012.  Aside from LM.C’s concert performance, members maya and Aiji will be available for Q&A and autograph sessions over the course of the celebration weekend.

LM.C debuted on October, 2006 as a rock unit made up of maya (Vocals) and Aiji (Guitar). Mixture, digi-rock, HIPHOP-like… their variety of pop and catchy sounds cannot be categorized easily and they do not confine themselves to the conventions of “visual-kei.”

The year of 2012, LM.C has already announced their new releases and the long-awaited world tour “LM.C LIVE TOUR 2012 –STRONG POP- world tour” starting in this coming spring. Surely, the band’s first original album release and first world tour in 2 years make their worldwide royal fans go crazy for LM.C again!!

Click here for more information about LM.C

Cosfu’s coverage of Ohaycon 2012 begins now!

All 12 skits and walk-on’s are now live, in high definition, on our YouTube page!

http://www.youtube.com/cosfudotorg

Coming soon, and I’m sure you’re all waiting for it, our official review of the cosplay competition for 2012!

Katsucon, an 18 year convention occuring in Feburary 17-19, 2012, just outside of Washington, DC, announced that it will be hosting the preliminary rounds for the US World Cosplay Summit.

A team of two will be chosen based on craftsmanship and performance to be sent to compete at the 10th World Cosplay Summit, held in Nagoya, Japan. Teams must submit a cosplay resume and perform a short skit at the Katsucon convention.

Resumes are accepted beginning November 2, 2011.

 Rules of the 2012 Prelims

World Cosplay Summit Homepage

Katsucon.org

This story comes to you via the Anime Detour website (http://animedetour.com/community/outreach).

Who is Greg Ayres?

Greg Ayres is a voice actor who is a part of Anime Detour’s close family. Since our second year, Greg has joined us and become an integral part of our convention. Many know him for his talent as a voice actor in our favorite series, his loud dances keeping people moving until dawn, or just his passion for making the anime industry successful. Greg has been a friend to all. Whoever has been to a convention he’s at, whoever has listened to him voice a character they love in an anime, and to whoever gets why he does it. Now is the time to help a friend.

Why you should help

When Greg Ayres was a younger man, he was the victim of an assault. This assault left his teeth broken, and it took costly dental work to even put together a temporary solution. Greg Ayres’ dental bridge has recently fallen out and that means that he cannot voice characters in anime. The necessary dental work is going to be expensive. The temporary solution is beyond repair, and only a complete rebuild of his dental bridge can fix the damage now. Voice actors don’t make a lot of money. We may all want to be one, but the harsh fact is they don’t bring in tons of cash. They do it out of love, for the fans, for the characters they voice, and because they may have been hit on the head a few too many times. Nonetheless, they help us.

Each year at Anime Detour we hear how anime has changed someone or helped them through the rough spots in their life by giving them something to laugh at or relate to. Without the actors to give those characters life, they would just be images that make no sense. Greg and his fellow actors help breathe life into these characters and make them funny or relatable. For that, they have our thanks and love.

 

Our Goal

$10,000.00

That is what we need to raise so that Greg can get back to doing what he does best: Voicing roles that have helped, healed, and changed us. We here at Anime Detour and our parent company, Anime Twin Cities, Inc., have set up this donation drive to help aid in Greg’s time of need. Anime Twin Cities, Inc. will be matching funds for the first $5,000 donated to our community fund, from which we will donate the money to Greg’s dental work. That means we only need donations up to $5,000 to make the funds Greg will need – but consider donating even if that goal is reached. Other members of our community will someday be in need, and we would like to grow this fund to be able to help whenever something endangers our community. Every dollar donated to this fund will go to help someone in our community – right now it’s Greg Ayres, but who knows who may need our help in the future? Please help. Share this with your friends; tell all who have loved anime about a person in need. And, most of all, donate.

 

As of the last update to the site (9/19), they have raised $1,185.00.

Feel free to donate if you feel the need to…OR EVEN BETTER, feel free to comment in the comments below letting us know how you feel!

Anime Expo 2011 has announced Tetsuro Araki, Masayoshi Tanaka and Kentaro Hashimoto of Madhouse Studios as Guests of Honor. The trio will be present for a special July 2nd screening of the acclaimed zombie apocalypse series “HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD” and will host a creator’s panel at Anime Expo, when it returns to the L.A. Convention Center from July 1 – 4, 2011.

Tetsuro Araki has engaged with a number of animated TV series, including “Di Gi Charat Nyo” and “GUNGRAVE,” as a Madhouse staff.  He makes a shocking directorial debut, with the animation adaptation of the comic series “DEATH NOTE.”  Since then he has directed the vampiric saga “Kurozuka” and adapted the zombie apocalypse “Highschool of the Dead.”  Mr. Araki is now working with Production I.G. on his new series “Guilty Crown.”

As an animator, Masayoshi Tanaka has worked on popular series such as ”X,” “CHOBITS,” “EUREKA 7,” “HONEY AND CLOVER” and many more. As character designer and chief animator, his most famous works include “TORADORA!,” the animated adaptation of the Shonen Jump series “REBORN!” and “HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD.”  He is currently working on “Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai” at A-1 Pictures.

Kentaro Hashimoto has produced mega-hit animated television series like “Death Note” and “Kurozuka”. Mr. Hashimoto has brought out new animated interpretation of the classic literature by Ango Sakaguchi in “Aoi Bungaku: In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom.” His newest series is the acclaimed zombie apocalypse action animated series “Highschool of the Dead.”

The roster of Anime Expo 2011 Guests of Honor includes Japanese pop trio Kalafina; singing sensation Maon Kurosaki; techno pop band Nirgilis; “LASTEXILE -Fam, The Silver Wing-“ production team Koichi Chigira, Makoto Kobayashi, Takaaki Suzuki and Hiroyuki Birukawa; Japanese TV Host and blogger Danny Choo; voice actress and singer Miyuki Sawashiro; voice actors Toshio Furukawa, Vic Mignogna, Toshiyuki Morikawa and Taliesin Jaffe; stars of the Power Rangers series and movies; video game developer Sohei Niikawa; Crypton Future Media CEO Hiroyuki Itoh and Producer Wataru Sasaki; Vocaloid songwriter Onyx Kobayashi; manga artists Izumi Matsumoto and Fred Gallagher and anime director Seiji Mizushima.  Anime Expo has also announced Hatsune Miku as its first ever Virtual Guest of Honor.  Themed the “Year of the Fan,” Anime Expo 2011 will fully immerse guests into the world of Japanese animation, manga (comic books), music and fashion. Anime Expo is a non-stop marathon of Japanese pop culture that’s been likened to Halloween in July.

Colossalcon provides a unique experience for the convention goer.  Colossalcon’s location, the Kalahari Resort, provides not only everything an attendee could need for the con itself–such as every room coming fully equipped with a mini fridge and microwave– but a relaxing vacation with an indoor and outdoor waterpark, a petting zoo, mini golf, an arcade, restaurants, a spa, ziplines, and did we mention there’s a baby tiger?  No?  There’s a baby tiger.  He’s ADORABLE.

That aside…

Colossalcon offered for the second year in a row a trip to Japan for the Best in Show  craftsmanship winner.  Last year, it seemed the contest hardly gained any interest outside of the general Ohio area, this year, however, the internet exploded when it was learned that a professional (loosely defined as someone who makes their living creating many costumes a year with industrial grade equipment) was entering the masquerade with the intention of winning the Japan prize.  The gap between Masters/Craftsman (the traditionally accepted highest level in cosplay craftsmanship competitions) and Professional is substantial, and the gap between Professional and Novice is even greater.  Many wrote that they felt that if a professional had entered they had no chance to win the Japan prize at all, and may as well not even enter the contest.  A few petitioned the convention to change the rules to keep it to a contest between amateurs only.  The con chair’s official stance came down that it was too late to change the rules despite the outcry, and that they were going to accept as entrants anyone who was a Colossalcon attendee, regardless of profession.  This led to Arda Wigs removing themselves as a sponsor, as they felt they should have more control over the contest and disagreed with Colossalcon’s stance.  Colossalcon took on the full prize support themselves.

Upon arrival, the location had typical convention problems.  The Artists’ Alley and autograph tables were both in the hallway, so traffic slowed to a halt at some points when guests of honor Lisa Ortiz or Vic Mignogna were out to sign for fans.  The lighting and crowding inside made it very difficult to get good photos. The outdoor waterpark and petting zoo provide more than adequate photoshoot opportunities! Something worth mentioning is that the Kalahari is expanding its convention space to over double of the current space, which Colossalcon will be utilizing for years to come, thus solving the crowding issue of this expanding convention. Colossalcon also had many panel rooms dedicated to various topics common in conventions and fan favorites. The video game room is also worth mentioning due to its two rooms, one dedicated to musical games such as Pop N’ Music and Rock Band and the other room for the more tourney-style gaming as well as indie games such as Touhou Project.

The Emcees for the Masquerade this year were Jess and Ben, dressed as Mai and Zuko from Avatar.  They played it up the entire time, including a small firebending spectacle and “Zuko” coming back from halftime dressed as the greatest enemy in Avatar… M. Night Shyamalan.

The performance judges, Robojing and Zoroko, had their hands full choosing between the ten  skits.  The first skit, featuring Devil May Cry, had some stage fighting and a Carameldansen with one of the largest props I’ve seen on a stage, yet they successfully avoided breaking any lights.  “Death of A Crime” followed L and Light as they were forced to run away together for the dire crime of stealing a balloon. “And Sewing is Half the Battle” presented a musical Rurouni Kenshin skit, “Master Knows Best,” that won them Best in Show. Yet the audience favorite (and Best Performance) was absolutely the fiddler Tiki presenting “Zero Requiem,” a live violin performance in a Zero (Code Geass) mask that very much played to the audience.

The halftime event was also a crowd favorite.  A Ninja master chose three people from each section of the audience to represent their “Clan”–Right, Middle, and Left.  They engaged in various activities, such as reading a phrase out loud very quickly and a ramen eating contest.  When one young contestant got nervous, the entire audience cheered him on, earning him the title of “Ninja Kid.”  One of the other “clans” attempted to bow out before Ninja Kid’s power, but the MC insisted he keep fighting.  Although no prizes were awarded, everyone had a lot of fun and was amused while the judges deliberated.

The craftsmanship judges, the Carefree Captain, Sugar, and Hikaruchan, had a lot of contestants to chose from.  While not everyone who participated in the Masquerade chose to compete or was eligible for the Japan trip, the room seemed to be unusually full with craftsmanship participants on Saturday evening.  The Masquerade had over 75 craftsmanship entrants, with four Juniors, five in Exhibition only, twenty five Novices, about the same amount of Journeyman and nine Masters participating in the walk ons.  Many talented people were awarded prizes (listed below.)

The Japan prize was the one all eyes were on.  Conveniently, perhaps, all listed ‘professionals’ had dropped out before the competition, leaving it an equal playing ground of amateurs only.  Cassie Dyson, the Japan liaison, was the one who ultimately picked the Japan prize winner, Katia Osadchuk, a young woman who had just graduated high school, for her Elementist costume from Granado Espada.  The ballgown was perfectly detailed and a lovely example of an award winning costume.  Ms. Osadchuk seemed overwhelmed as she stepped on stage to accept the prize.

Overall, the Kalahari experience is NOT to be missed.  We look forward to seeing what Colossalcon does next year with their masquerade, and what all the attendees bring to the table!

The Masquerade awards are as follows:

Junior Category

Honorable Mentions

Ichigo – (Tokyo Mew Mew)

Luna – (Sailor Moon)

Baby Mario

Performance – “How Not to Be Emo for Dummies” (Naruto)

Craftsmanship – “Demonic Duo” (Devil May Cry)

Performance

Robojing’s Judges’ Award – FML Productions “Death of A Crime” (Death Note)

Zoroko’s Judges’ Award – Great Saiyaman & Saiyagirl (Saiyaman)

Best Performance – the Fiddler Tiki “Zero Requiem” (Code Geass)

Best in Show – And Sewing is Half the Battle  “Master Knows Best” (Rurouni Kenshin)

Craftsmanship

Captain Carefree’s Judges’ Award – Natsumi & King Kazuma (Summer Wars)

Sugar’s Judges’ Award – Juto & Zelphie (Magna Carta II)

Hikaru-chan’s Judges’ Award – Ohla (Y’s)

Bobbi (Coordinator)’s Award – Link (Legend of Zelda)

Honorable Mentions

“Accessories to Die For” – Ryuk (Death Note)

“Best Silhouette” – Vanille (Final Fantasy XIII)

Colossalcon Staff Award – Rei & Asuka (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Novice

Honorable Mention – Lucario (Pokemon)

Honorable Mention – Terra (Final Fantasy VI)

Best Novice – Simon (Gurren Lagann)

Journeyman

Honorable Mention – Ciel Phantomhive (Kuroshitsuji)

Best Journeyman – Chocobo & Onion Knight (Final Fantasy)

Masters

Honorable Mention – Shimei Ryomou (Ikki Tousen)

Best Masters – Taokaka and Ragna  (Blazblue)

Best in Show Craftsmanship / Japan Prize Winner – The Elementalist (Granado Espada)

To check out more pictures and videos, please visit our youtube and flickr galleries.

ANIME EXPO 2011 ANNOUNCES ANIME DIRECTOR SEIJI MIZUSHIMA AS GUEST OF HONOR

Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime and manga celebration, has announced anime director Seiji Mizushima at its latest Guest of Honor, when it returns to the LA Convention Center from July 1 – 4, 2011.  Fans will have an opportunity to see and hear from Mr. Mizushima during a meet-and-greet, autograph signing and focus panel.

Seiji Mizushima began his directorial career with the “Generator Gawl” series, which debuted in 1998.  Since then he has gone on to direct hit anime series and movies including “Fullmetal Alchemist,” “Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie – Conqueror of Shamballa,” “Shaman King,” and “Slayers Next.”  In 2010 he directed the first all-new Gundam movie in 19 years, “Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie – A Wakening of the Trailblazer,” a sequel to the successful “Gundam 00″ TV series, which will be released by Bandai Entertainment this summer.

Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime and manga celebration, has announced Vocaloid songwriter Onyx Kobayashi as its latest Guest of Honor, when it returns to the LA Convention Center from July 1 – 4, 2011. In addition, Anime Expo has added Toshihiro Fukuoka, the editor of two popular Japanese anime publications, and J-Pop dance group DANCEROID as Industry Guests.

A multifaceted artist, Onyx Kobayashi is responsible for the lyrics, music, illustrations and video for the Vocaloid songs including his hit “Saihate,” which has been played more than 2 million times online.  He will participate in a meet-and-greet, autograph session and a focus panel where he will discuss his work as a composer, designer and writer.

Toshihiro Fukuoka is the Chief Executive Editor of “ASCII Weekly Magazine” and an Editor at “Tokyo Kawaii Magazine,” both from the ASCII Media Works publishing company.  Mr. Fukuoka has played an active role in introducing Japanese anime and pop trends in these magazines including publishing a major feature on Hatsune Miku in “Tokyo Kawaii Magazine.”  In addition, he is now writing “”World Otaku Report” with Danny Choo.  Mr. Fukuoka will moderate all the Vocaloid-related events during Anime Expo.

DANCEROID is a 5-girl dance group consisting of members I-Ku-Ra, Kozue Aikawa, Maam, COCO and Yuzuki. The group’s videos have been played a combined total of more than 50 million times online. They are most famous for “Odottemita” (I danced). DANCEROID members I-Ku-Ra and Kozue will dance at Anime Expo as a part of one of the Vocaloid panels.

In addition to these new guests, the roster of Anime Expo 2011 Guests of Honor includes Japanese pop trio Kalafina, singing sensation Maon Kurosaki, Japanese TV Host and blogger Danny Choo, voice actress and singer Miyuki Sawashiro, voice actor Vic Mignogna, video game developer Sohei Niikawa and Crypton Future Media CEO Hiroyuki Itoh and Producer Wataru Sasaki. Hatsune Miku will also be at Anime Expo, as the convention’s first ever Virtual Guest of Honor.  Themed the “Year of the Fan,” Anime Expo 2011 will fully immerse guests into the world of Japanese animation, manga (comic books), music and fashion. Anime Expo is a non-stop marathon of Japanese pop culture that’s been likened to Halloween in July.

Just a heads up, we will be livestreaming Colossalcon 2011′s masquerade, which also includes the announcement of the cosplayer who will win a trip to Japan! It’s looking to be an entertaining show.

USTREAM – We will be updating the event on ustream with the proper time.

Adding to its guest line-up of Danny Choo, Vic Mignona, Kalafina, and Miku Hatsune, Anime Expo announced on Saturday that the president and creative force behind Nippon Ichi Software, Sohei Niikawa, will be joining them at their July 1-4 event at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Nippon Ichi (literally, “Number One of Japan”) is probably best known for  the mega hit series Disgaea (and all the Prinny games, d00d!).  The rest of their many titles–Ar Tonelico, Atelier Iris, Makai Kingdom, Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure and many, many more–have all acquired devoted fanbases.

The North American branch has also acquired the licensing for and released several popular anime, such as Toradora!, Persona: Trinity Soul and Pandora Hearts.

For the Nippon Ichi Software US page, please click here!

To visit Anime Expo, click here!

This was just brought to my attention and I feel there is a need to pass this information around, as it seems a lot of people don’t understand this, and you got a week to fix it.

Acen is claiming that their panelist policy has been the same for months, that being :

A maximum of three (3) panelist badges may be granted per panel group (One for the head panelist and up to two (2) co-panelists). One badge will be granted for each hour of programming that a panelist is scheduled to conduct (up to three (3) hours of programming). Note: A popular panel may be scheduled to run multiple times throughout the duration of the conference.

Now, that is written in a horrible, horrible way that is extremely confusing.  What it really means is that for a 1-hour panel, only the panel-head will get a panelist badge.  Got co-panelists?

If you’re doing a panel at Acen, make sure you got everything planned out.  There is talk of people dropping entire panels because of this, and to be completely honest, I totally support that action.  For a convention that ranges in attendance from 17K to 20K, quite frankly, this is bullshit.

Hatsune Miku, a Japanese virtual pop idol whose computer-generated singing and holographic performances have sparked a new form of musical entertainment, will thrill U.S. audiences for the first time when she performs live in concert at Anime Expo, North America’s largest anime and manga celebration in Los Angeles from July 1 – 4, 2011.  In addition to her live concert, Hatsune Miku will be Anime Expo’s first Virtual Guest of Honor.

A digital diva famous worldwide for her ankle-length aqua-colored pigtails and distinctive voice, Hatsune Miku will light up the stage at Nokia Theatre on July 2nd in her U.S. live concert debut presented by The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, Crypton Future Media, Inc., SEGA Corporation, Tokyo Kawaii Magazine (ASCII Media Works) and Toyota Motor Sales, USA.

Created by Crypton Future Media, Inc. in 2007, Hatsune Miku’s voice is synthesized using Yamaha’s Vocaloid software application, to produce a fully synthetic voice with unprecedented quality and remarkable realism by typing in lyrics and setting a melody. To date, her voice has been featured in more than 100,000 songs and videos created and shared by fans worldwide. She has been sampled in CDs, DVDs, games, novels, and figures and her sell-out, computer-graphic-driven live performances have become legendary.  Attesting to her unique star power, Toyota selected Hatsune Miku to star in a U.S. ad campaign for the 2011 Corolla – which has been named the Official Car of her July 2 concert at Anime Expo.

“Fans in North America have been clamoring for Miku to perform here and we have listened,” said Marc Perez, Chairman and CEO of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, the non-profit that produces Anime Expo.  “We’re extremely excited to be able to present this 21st Century star at Anime Expo in what promises to be an unforgettable experience for all.”

The Anime Expo concert will be based on “39‘s Giving Day,” the first-ever solo concert by Hatsune Miku held in Japan on March 9, 2010, which was heralded by media worldwide.  Visuals for the July 2 concert are created by SEGA with Crypton Future Media supervising overall production.

Hatsune Miku will be Anime Expo’s first Virtual Guest of Honor and will join the line-up of Anime Expo 2011 Guests of Honor that includes the chart-topping Japanese pop trio Kalafina, Japanese TV Host and blogger Danny Choo and voice actor Vic Mignogna. Themed the “Year of the Fan,” Anime Expo 2011 will fully immerse guests into the world of Japanese animation, manga (comic books), music, fashion and games. Anime Expo is a non-stop marathon of Japanese pop culture that’s been likened to Halloween in July.

Anime Boston 2011, wherein Cosfu’s faith has been restored!

Anime Boston pride’s itself on being New England’s largest anime convention and having
pulled in just over 19,000 attendees this year has solidified that statement. Held in
downtown Boston at the Hynes Convention center, Anime Boston has been a staple of the
city for eight years, and having released future dates up until 2015, ensured the convention
is here to stay.

The last time I made the trek to Boston was in 2008 when they became infamous for
attendees, myself included, waiting six or more hours in line to pick up their badges. I
swore I would never return. At least that was what I thought until a couple friends changed
my mind and I am glad they did.

We arrived midday Thursday and had and easy check-in at our hotel. The staff of the
Marriot was friendly and courteous, better than I’ve had at other convention hotels. We
quickly settled in and waited for the rest of our group to arrive. Once we were all collected
we headed over to pick up our badges. From getting in line to having our badges in hand,
it took under fifteen minutes. Staff was efficient and knowledgeable; a remarkable change
from three years ago.

The next day I arrived at the con around 10am and took in the lay of the land. The layout
of the convention worked in Anime Boston’s favor. Although they hosted over 19,000
attendees, it hardly felt close to that number. There were only a few small hold ups at the
escalators, but were quickly taken care of by Hynes staff. Even the dealer’s room remained
open and comfortable to move around in. All rooms were clearly labeled and signage was
easily visible to tell you how to get from point A to B.

The one thing I did notice was the lack of security. When I arrived, I was able to walk
right through the convention doors and when the dealer’s room opened, I walked right
in without anyone ever checking my badge. The Hynes Convention staff barely gave the
congoers a second glance and I watched people without badges come and go as they
pleased.

While they may not have been checking badges at the doors, the actual AB staff was
checking badges for the main events. The Girugamesh concert on Friday night went off
without any noticeable problems and actually started on time, which I was honestly
surprised about. I had been used to going to conventions where the main events were
delayed not even by a couple minutes, but by up to an hour.

This was not the case and AB proved it was not a fluke when I arrived for the masquerade
the following day. When I arrived I showed my badge was instructed to go to the press
section. This is the one major issue I had with the convention. If they wanted coverage of
their main events from different press sources, they should not have put the section all the

way up front, on the right side of the stage. We were seated a horrible angle and when I
asked a staffer if I could sit in a back section so I could record the skits straight on, I was
told I had to sit in the press section if I was press. I have videos of the skits, but they are
useless since more than one required the use of the screen behind them.

Disregarding the poor seating position, I had a blast during the masq. It started on time and
MC was spot on. It was revealed after that he was a last minute stand in for the true MC,
though one would be hard-pressed to believe it. He kept the crowd entertained between
each skit, but did not wear out his welcome. I even heard people ask for him to MC next
year as I was leaving.

This was the first convention in a long while that I truly enjoyed from start to finish. There
was a laid back feel that is very much lacking at other cons. The cosplay was varied,
the staff was helpful and the attendees had fun. This time I can confidently say I will be
returning next year.

- Review by DevDom

- Masquerade coverage cane be found on our YouTube

- Editor’s Note : For those who are interested, we have indeed published 2 reviews of Anime Boston 2011.  We like to encourage people to write on their experiences from conventions and more than often, a single review isn’t enough to cover all areas of a single convention (as most of our reviews are written by a team of writers who attend the convention if possible).

Anime Punch is a sixth year anime convention in Ohio. Founded by Ohio State University’s anime club, they state their ideals on their main page as to “unite fandom, study animation, party hard, change the world.” The very wordy website emphasizes partying and anti-censorship ideals in several places, but this is not an 18+ convention. When reading the posts of staff who are actually talking about the convention proper on forums, and not defending against personal accusations, the cite their main emphasis as to be “different” from other conventions by focusing solely on anime.

When reading the webpage, as a cosplayer, it’s hard to really want to go to Anime Punch. They offer you reasons why you should chose Punch if you do feel indecision, http://www.animepunch.org/pages/ex_why.php which state “We kick ass” three times. They promise 25 areas of activities, “unique” programming, and promise not to “harsh your buzz.” Moving from this page to “A Word on Cosplay” it’s easy to understand where the bad reputation comes from with cosplayers. It directly asks you to not cosplay at this convention unless it is from an anime, because “anime cosplayers rarely get any attention,” implying in the rest of the paragraph that anime cosplay is simple and that video game cosplayers don’t put as much thought into choosing characters. This policy is reiterated again in the program book. Bear in mind, this is not for the cosplay contest. This is for simply wearing around the con. An addendum is added that there will be “no consequences for disregarding our request.” http://www.animepunch.org/pages/c_word.php

As for the cosplay contest itself, the rules become even stranger. http://www.animepunch.org/pages/cosplay.php There are four separate contests. A swimsuit contest, a skit competition, and an “interpretation” contest, and then the traditional craftsmanship. However, in the rules for Craftsmanship, it states that you did not have to have made your own costume—it says “do not be afraid to tell us if you did not make your costume”, nor does the creator have to be present. It also says that you must act as the character during your interview as your attitude is being judged as well.

For a con that is “against rules” and “heavy handed security” the website has more rules and words than any other website I have personally ever come across—and the program book as noted on arrival had over six pages of rules in tiny print. Most of these rules were ‘policies’ pertaining to how one should behave when drunk or with drunk friends—not to be “that guy” or to not creep on “hot” women who are “goodly enough to be topless.”

Knowing all that, with nothing else to do, we decided, why not? I’ll give any convention a chance. Cosplayers would still be present to be photographed, there was still a masquerade to be covered, weird rules or no, and despite the off putting website, it was only fair to check it out in person instead of judging it from a computer screen.

We drove down on Friday night, arriving around eleven. Our friend Cassie had been there all day, and had gotten our press passes for us. When we walked in, I was startled by how few people were there, even at the bar. On a Friday night at a convention that prides itself on partying hard–even a small con like AP– I was wondering where all the people were. Cassie  told us they were probably all in Main Events and we decided to check it out.

This was our first encounter with the supposedly “chill” AP staff, and it was not a very good one. The door to the event was open, and a cluster of people were standing around it. I assumed they were staff though I do not recall the armbands the program book states staff had, and everyone was wearing the pin on badges at hip level. A bespectacled woman got in my face as I pointed to my badge, ignoring it, and said “I know YOU don’t have one” with no explanation, and moved aside to let us in. I was rather bemused by this, as I had no idea what it was I didn’t have. Shouldn’t she be more concerned with what I did have, such as, a pass to this event? Was this an 18+ event, did she somehow “know” I didn’t have an ID? I was pretty sure I did as I’d just gotten a drink at the bar.

We stood by the wall. The acoustics were awful, and we could not hear what was going on onstage. There was a woman Mcing and she seemed to be calling people up. Then, a staffer came up to 4ng31 and tapped his camera (a sexy Canon 5 D), resting on his side, on the lens. “Does this have a lens cap?” he asked. I wasn’t sure what exactly was said in response, but I’m certain the answer was along the lines of what the fuck are you doing, don’t touch this, and no. The staffer hurriedly shuffled off.

The woman who had gotten in my face without explanation now walked up to 4ng31 and said “I would feel a lot more comfortable if that” (pointing at his camera) “was on a chair.” He politely (considering) told her she was out of her mind if she thought he was letting go of his $5,000 camera to set it on a chair, behind him, in a darkened room. She walked away.

A large man returned with her and informed 4ng31 that if his camera went to eye level, he was confiscating it. I again didn’t catch the response but I think he may have laughed. At that point Cassie mentioned to me that this was the infamous Hentai Olympics we were in, and pieces began to click. At no time had any of the staffers simply asked us not to take pictures, nor had they ID’d us upon entering, and the door was still wide open with a clear view of the stage, so I’d assumed that it was another event. I suggested we leave, since holding a very large camera that we clearly had no intention of using, despite never being warned to that point NOT to use it or even told what event was occurring in this room (or ID’d for it) was making them uncomfortable. As we left, all the women on stage bent over and lifted their skirts.

I read the program book description of the Hentai Olympics the next day, and it said that ID was required. Again, none of us were carded, and we were let in with a small group. It said nothing about no photography, no cameras, or no cel phones for that matter—EVERY phone in this day and age has a camera, and you’re fooling yourself if you think taking off your shirt in front of a crowd of 200+ in the digital age does not stand a good chance of a picture being snapped. Poor organization is one thing, but being rude to your press on Friday evening is really not the best way to kick off your con.

The next day, we headed over around noon. It didn’t take us long to finish the con circle of wandering. Cosplayers were not all from anime, seeming to be unaware of Anime Punch’s policy rather than flagrantly ignoring it. The Dealer’s room was a fair size for the attendance. There was a very large corset dealer, at least two sword merchants, some artists, a Japanese snack vendor, and the rest was filled with several generic anime merchandise dealers. It never got very crowded and was very easy to browse, though the temperature variations, the same as throughout most of the convention center, were horrific. The Artists’ Alley was tucked away into a corner circling past Main Events on the other side of Dealers. It too never seemed to be truly crowded, consisting of about ten tables. Very loud music was pumping from a corner in that hallway, though few people seemed to be dancing or appreciating it.

Downstairs was the Video Game & Tabletop gaming. Many of the TVs were dark, and a few controllers that were picked up had no reaction. However, they had a small concession stand selling snacks, energy drinks and slushies. This was one of two rooms—the other being Dealers—where the RFID tags seemed to be half heartedly scanned going in. Press passes were not equipped with this, causing a bit of confusion for the staff who eventually shrugged and let us in.

After walking the circuit a few times, and eating at the food court—where we had the joy of observing a Carameldansen congo line that may have consisted of about 1/5 of the people of the con… we waited. From the twenty one things promised to do on the website, there was a lot of bored people milling about.

The Cosplay Competition started at 6 PM. We went in for set up at 5:30, where we easily had front and center seats. There didn’t seem to be any staff direction or even set up going on. Around 5:40, a staffer came and asked us, as well as the fifteen other miscellaneous people, to go outside and stand in line. We politely told him we were press while the others said they were chaperones or those with medical difficulties. He seemed confused and left. We waited until after six for the line outside to be let in while the only staff in the room were talking at a side table, not the tech table. There was no discernible reason for the delay.

The MC was very well spoken and amusing, despite all the technical difficulties. The first skits’ sound was so quiet they had to start over, though the cosplayers and audience were good sports and sang the Pokemon theme while they waited. The masquerade had a very informal feeling. Marshmallows were thrown on stage, as well as a plush that bounced off a stage light. (anyone who has done any lighting work is aware of how hot these get.) The second skit had no planned music, and did not take place on the stage, just the floor in front of it, as two Castle Crashers cosplayers beat on each other (Editor note here – They were literally beating the shit out of each other…punching, kicking, etc..). Strange, how their rules explicitly insisted on no video game cosplay…

The fashion show had a nice idea. The projector showed the reference pictures on the wall beside the stage (there was no screen) of the cosplayers as they went on. The MC read out the real names and the characters of the cosplayers as they went on, and occasionally had to remind them to stop and take their time to pose, or to actually walk on the stage rather than in front of it.

It was with some sadness that the MC turned over the mike to the much less well spoken con chair, Mike Beuerlein, after the fashion show. He made a rather drawn out speech asking if everyone in the audience had attended almost every event—panels, video rooms, dealers, game room, and then began to hand out the six awards. Rather than certificates, they simply gave DVDs from a stack.

I still had seen no sign of any judges of any sort, so I’m not sure how they came to pick one person over another as a winner, especially with their unique rules. Awards given were “Best Prop”(Stocking), “Sweetest Couple,”(Zeion Officers), “Best Couple,” (Howl & Sophie), “Devil in the Details,” (Claymore), “Best Anime Hair” (Yu-Gi-Oh group), and “Best Tails” (Pokemon Gijinka).

We left right after the masquerade. There didn’t seem to be any point in staying.

Overall, I have to say the Anime Punch experience was everything I expected. It was a small con with attitude, and none of the originality, maturity, chillness or non stop, fun parties it promised. Call me a cynic, but I’ve come to believe anything that has to talk itself up so much can’t possibly deliver. Despite going with an open mind and the hope that just maybe every person who had gone and hated it was tainted by personal drama, I have to agree with them. This isn’t a con worth going to unless internet memes, a bare and gloomy bar scene, meaningless awards, and well, going for the sake of having a con to go to are indeed, your “thing.”

- Review by Feytaline.

- Photo coverage can be found here and here.

To explain the title: I wasn’t really planning on covering Anime Boston, mainly due to not having press passes, bringing the  proper equipment, and prior obligations as a chaperone for my alma mater’s anime club. So coverage is extremely limited, my apologies in advanced!

Anime Boston. What can I say about this convention? I’ve been attending it since 2003, it was the first convention I went to with my high school (I was a junior and the president of my anime club), and it holds a very special place in my heart. I’ve seen its transformation from a packed con in a tiny hotel, to a packed con in a big convention center. I’ve even survived Line Con 2008! But year after year, I keep coming back. Its now a tradition at my high school to attend Anime Boston, and while I’m an old lady and don’t get quite as excited about anime conventions as I used to, I gauge its success based on my kids’ reaction to it.

Needless to say, my 41 kids loved Anime Boston.

I enjoyed walking around the Dealer’s Room, seeing the kids I was chaperoning eagerly looking at all the manga, anime, plushies, and other merchandise, squealing in excitement and running around trying to take it all in at the same time. My jaded eyes saw the same merchandise from every seller, but these kids saw something new with each booth they passes, insisting on spending at least 10 minutes per booth. These kids would end up buying posters, umbrella, manga, DVDs (One particular kid was foaming at the mouth staring at his recently purchased Evangelion 2.22 Blu-Ray), etc. They would look at me and say, “You should buy something!” Now, I don’t think I’ve spent money on anime merchandise at a con in close to 3 years, but damn if they didn’t tempt me.

I looked at these kids and saw a reflection of myself back in 2003. And I got the warm fuzzies from it.

I’ll admit, I didn’t do much looking around the con aside from the masquerade, briefly watching Dragon Ball Z Kai, and checking out the video game room, so that’s what I’ll talk about. The video rooms, in particular room 210, was really spacious, with excellent sound systems that felt like I was in a movie theater, minus the theater seating. I’m a sucker for Dragon Ball, especially Kai since it condenses DBZ into a neat, watchable package. The projector system was pretty awesome, it had a very big screen that made it possible for everyone to enjoy the show no matter where you were seated.

The video game room was huge. Maybe a little bit too huge cause there was a lot of empty space in there, but it did have a cool variety of games. You have your staples (SSFIV, Brawl, FPS, etc) and fun, casual games like Rock Band, Dance Central and Michael Jackson Experience. Though, I’ll tell you know, it’s incredibly daunting to play Dance Central on a platform for everyone to watch how terribad you are at dancing. Believe me, I have personal experience.

Masquerade. I damn near spent my entire Saturday afternoon in here, and if it were for LeeLee’s incredible help with getting me in to film the masq, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get as great of seats as I did, so big ups to LeeLee! The Roadie, Master of Ceremonies, came in to fill as a MC last minute, and while he was incredibly annoying to me, I’ll admit that he kept the audience entertained especially without having sufficient time to prepare! But damn if he didn’t annoy me. Whatever, this isn’t an editorial! The skits were very entertaining, with different series, some obscure stuff and some not so obscure stuff.

Anyways, Anime Boston is always a good time, but I may be biased. Would’ve been better if I were actually PREPARED for it, but alas, all I have are masquerade videos.

COSFU’S MASQUERADE COVERAGE HO!

Pittsburgh’s premier anime convention—the founder of mini-cons Sangawa Project and Kurokiiro Festival—hosted its namesake on the last weekend of March. Tekkoshocon’s ninth convention was held on four days through March 31-April 3, in Pittsburgh’s second largest convention space– the newly renovated Wyndham Grand, just outside Point State Park and Market Square.

This space was a more than a bit of a downshift from Tekkoshocon’s previous home, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where the con had been housed since 2009. Tekkoshocon’s staff explained on their forums that the reason for the move was due to the third and fourth floor of the DLLCC being booked throughout Tekkoshocon’s target months, March and April as well as into May. The other convention center space the DLLCC offered on the lower floors did not suit the needs of the Tekkoshocon convention due to sizing and expense. They are hopeful to move back to the DLLCC at a later date.

The Wyndham Grand hotel was not entirely unfamiliar to Tekkoshocon attendees. To take advantage of booking at the con hotel rate, last year attendees were housed at the Wyndham Grand (formerly known as the Pittsburgh Hilton) and shuttled to the convention proper at the DLLCC. Few seemed aware at the time that the Wyndham Grand had a large convention space of its own, broken up into two floors. Main Events, Dealers, and Artists’ Alley were all on the second floor, and the panels and workshops were on the first.

The main issue of Tekkoshocon was the crowding, which was really felt in the elevators and the single staircase. While the lobby and hallways themselves had a decent amount of space to move, attendees trying to get upstairs to either other events or their rooms found a hard struggle. It wasn’t until Saturday night after a horrific crowd from the masquerade ending that the thin hall from the stairs to the second floor was cut down to one way traffic at a time guided by public safety staffers, reminiscent of Penn-DOT (The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation)’s never-ending road work…

Tekko prides itself on being a music based convention, featuring acts brought by Tainted Reality and Japanfiles. This year saw the debuts of rock group Rampant as well as Suicide Ali’s side project lix. Other musical acts were Capcom-licensed rapper Megaran, video-game cover group Battlecake, and New York’s maid idol sensation, Reni Mimura. Other unique events included a Gothic & Lolita fashion show on Friday, a J-pop & K-pop dance competition, and a “fireside chat” Q & A with the president of Tekkoshocon, INC where he answered questions about running conventions.

Every year, Tekkoshocon sponsors a charity, chosen to honor “someone we know” from the local community who has been affected by a disease or who points to a great local need. Previous charities have been the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and the American Heart Association. This year, it was chosen to be Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in honor of staff member Jason “Ranting Cid” Blankenship’s nephew, who was diagnosed at birth. However, the earthquakes that devastated Japan caused a second charity luncheon to be run. Donations from that were given to Gackt’s “Show Your Heart” charity. And separately from the staff’s convention planning, attendees worked  with the local food bank to get donor boxes set up.

Tekkoshocon’s cosplayers were out in force, dimmed only by the space limitations. This year’s masquerade was one of the best in Tekkoshocon history. Uncle Yo did a stellar job as MC, begining the show with a salute to Japan, and reading of their national anthem. He thanked everyone for being a nerd with him, and was an excellent and energetic host.

The Craftsmanship Competition (renamed from “Hall Cosplay”) was a large competition, though it lacked any Masters entries this year. The fashion show featured a wide variety of cosplayers to look at, including non craftsmanship entries, simply allowing those who signed up a chance to walk on stage. The skits outdid themselves to entertain. “Poke-face,” a Pokeman parody skit with Lady Gaga Mudkip designs, featured original vocals parody of “Pokerface” (obviously) was a fan favorite, a serious Fullmetal Alchemist skit took Best Performance, and The Best in Show winners–a troupe performing SHINee’s “Lucifer” were cheered on to perform an encore, which they did with enthusiasm.

Cosfu.org was proud to present the “Rising Talent” award, in this case, to a young cosplayer named Paige. Paige had handsewn her entire Vocaloid costume because she didn’t have a sewing machine… well, she does now! The award wasn’t just a certificate–a brand new Kenmore sewing machine, ruler, scissors, and Gutterman thread and thread rack were all included to help her along. We look forward to seeing what she brings next year!

Overall, Tekkoshocon IX went off very well, and we’re looking forward to Tekkoshocon, INC’s next show—Sangawa Project II on July 15-17, at the Best Western Greentree!

h.Naoto announced an open casting call on Friday, seeking amateur models for the annual Anime Central convention in Rosemont, IL. Online applications will be accepted through May 1, 2011 for the event, which takes place May 20-22 at the Hyatt Regency Rosemont.

The fashion event, taking place Saturday afternoon, traditionally showcases designs inspired by the Japanese avant-garde, especially gothic-lolita and DIY styles. h.Naoto’s presence brings the event full circle, with the cutting-edge East on display in the Midwest.

This year’s event also includes presentations by Japanese designers Sixh. and Anime Central’s home-grown fashion extravaganza, Khaotic Kouture.

Keeping with his line’s punk aesthetic, h.Naoto desires volunteer models from the community. Fans of Japanese culture already assisting the Khaotic Kouture event are welcome to apply.

h.Naoto will select the models personally. Prospective models must meet the following requirements:

• Complete the application here . You must include your 3 measurements and your shoe size.
• Submit head shots and body photos to acenfashion@gmail.com.
• Available the evening of Thursday, May 19 for fitting.
• Female models only.

Fifteen minutes of fame await! Submit the application for your chance.

Source – http://acen.org/content/casting-call

Become an official Anime Expo sponsor simply by donating items to our Prize Program. Help us reward the creative and hard-working individuals who enter our various competitions such as AX Idol, Masquerade and more!

Past prize sponsors have donated items such as: DVDs, manga, figurines, games, collectibles, card packs or decks, video games and gift certificates. Interested companies will need to fill out this intent form by June 15, 2011. Those selected to participate will receive an email confirmation on where to send their product(s).

What do you get in return?

·      A unique and FUN way to get your products into the hands and hearts of  attendees at the convention.

·      Logo recognition on Anime Expo website

·      Logo recognition on sponsor banner in Los Angeles Convention Center

·      Logo recognition in Program Guide

·      Mention as sponsor during events that use your donations as prizes

·      And of course, our never-ending gratitude!

Don’t miss out! Please direct any questions about product submission to: Kacie Chatfield at kacie.chatfield@spja.org.

Are you a rising talent of cosplay?

Compete at Tekko, and you might be!

Cosfu.org, a website dedicated to conventions and costuming, a will be sponsoring a special prize in the Tekkoshocon IX Craftsmanship Competition!  The “Rising Talent” award will be presented to an up-and-coming cosplayer who displays talent within their craft and overall presentation. It can be awarded to anyone of any skill level and is considered a special award, separate from the standard awards of “Best of Weekend” etc.

The recipient of the Rising Talent award will receive a secret but significant prize that will hopefully encourage and aide them in taking their love of high-quality craftsmanship in cosplay even further.

Due to this awesome news, we are extending online Craftsmanship Competition (and only Craftsmanship Competition) signups until the end of Wednesday, March 30th or until all spots are full. All left over available spots will be available at the convention.  Sign up now to be sure you get a chance to compete!

Rules & Sign-Ups can be found here – Here

See you all at Tekko!

I was going to write up a news story here, but I’d rather let vlogger acksonl explain it to you.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Anime Expo 2011 — North America’s largest anime and manga event — has announced Japanese pop culture sensation Danny Choo as an official Guest of Honor when it returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center and Nokia Theater from July 1 – 4, 2011.

Mr. Choo was invited to be a Guest of Honor on Anime Expo’s weekly webcast, AX Live, and has since formally accepted the invitation. As part of Anime Expo’s largest exhibition and program ever, Mr. Choo will participate in fan meet-and-greets, autograph sessions and attendee panels.

An accomplished writer, blogger, television personality and anime enthusiast, Danny Choo is the force behind Culture Japan, the TV show dedicated to bringing Japanese pop culture to the world.  Choo hosts and directs Culture Japan, which is broadcast weekly on Tokyo MX TV in Japan and across the whole of Asia on the Animax Network.  His website features his musings on all things anime, including Japanese and Otaku culture, cosplay and gaming.  One of the most popular bloggers of his time, his website records over 2 million unique users per month. His official YouTube page boasts an impressive 16+ million video views to date.

Known internationally for his antics as the “Tokyo Stormtrooper,” Danny Choo speaks at conferences and universities worldwide on Japanese pop culture and consumer-generated media.  His activities are regularly featured in web, print and broadcast media worldwide such as CNN, BBC, NHK and G4TV.

Danny Choo joins Anime Expo’s 2011 line-up along with voice actor Vic Mignogna. To stay updated on all of the latest Anime Expo 2011 news, follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook and check us out on YouTube.

Convention videographer Acksonl is back with his trusted rig and camera, and this time, he brings us Katsucon :

Also worth noting, a new entry into the video scene at conventions, TWreck Films :

The World Cosplay Summit Prelims move to a new home again—this time to a brand new convention as well, AM^2 (Animation, Manga, and Music to a Higher Power.) The convention, hosted in Anaheim’s Convention Center on July 1-3, boasts free admittance to the center but requires paid membership for various events, such as concerts and panels. The event is directly conflicting with Anime Expo, California’s long-running anime convention which recently announced its intent to give away over $10,000 in prizes to its cosplay winners.

The World Cosplay Summit is an event hosted annually in Nagoya, Japan, sponsored by TV Aichi. At least fifteen different countries from various parts of the world, such as Brazil, Italy, Korea, Spain, and Mexico send representatives to compete. The event lasts a few days during which participants travel around Nagoya. They participate in a Cosplay Parade as well as do promotional interviews, but the main event is the World Cosplay Championship, a skit competition judged not only by craftsmanship judges but also by celebrities such as manga-ka and animators. Notable guest judges have included Go Nagai and Leiji Matsumoto.

Preliminaries in the US have been hosted by Anime Expo in 2005-2006, by New York Anime Festival from 2008-2009, and by San Jose’s Fanime convention in 2010. The WCS preliminary judging is done as a separate event from the convention’s cosplay competition, but the time of the judging as well as the judges themselves are chosen by the hosting location. Competitors must enter in a team of two. They are judged based on the craftsmanship of their costumes and one skit. Costumes must be based on Japanese animation, manga or video games. The hosting event pays for the team to be flown to Japan to compete in the finals and may reimburse costs for the following costumes to be worn during the Summit itself.

Further rules have yet to be announced on the AM2 website or World Cosplay Summit Preliminaries facebook Event page.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Anime Expo  — North America’s largest anime and manga event — will present the highly-anticipated world premiere of “LASTEXILE -Fam, The Silver Wing-.”   Anime Expo returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 1 – 4, 2011 with the largest exhibition and program in its history.

“We are beyond thrilled to host the world premiere of a new chapter in the popular “LASTEXILE” series at Anime Expo 2011,” said Marc Perez, Chairman and CEO of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, the non-profit that produces the event. “GONZO, the production team behind the LASTEXILE saga, has long created amazing works of art and we’re excited to help share them with the world. We are certain that the news of this epic premiere will make our many attendees very, very happy.”

Themed the “Year of the Fan,” Anime Expo 2011 will fully immerse guests into the world of Japanese animation, manga (comic books), music and fashion.  Anime Expo is a non-stop marathon of Japanese pop culture that’s been likened to Halloween in July.

More information about the premiere will be announced in the coming weeks.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Anime Expo 2011 — North America’s largest anime and manga event — has announced popular anime voice actor and singer Vic Mignogna as an official Guest of Honor when it returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center and Nokia Theater from July 1 – 4, 2011.

As part of Anime Expo’s largest exhibition and program ever, Mr. Mignogna will participate in fan meet-and-greets, autograph sessions and attendee panels.  Fans will also have a chance to hear him perform his most famous songs and anime themes in a live concert.

An actor on stage and screen since the age of eight, Vic Mignogna began his career in anime about 10 years ago as Vega in “Streetfighter II.”  Since then he has been in more than a 150 shows and video games, known for such roles as Edward Elric in “Fullmetal Alchemist,” Tamaki Suou in “Ouran High School Host Club,” Fai in “Tsubasa Chronicle,” Dark in “DN Angel,” Ikkaku Madarame in “Bleach,” Obito in “Naruto”, Death Scythe in “Soul Eater” and many more. Currently Mignogna is playing Zero in “Vampire Knight,” and Yoshimori in Adult Swim’s “Kekkaishi.” Mignogna has also voiced roles in a large number of video games including “Soul Calibur,” “Disgaea,” “DBZ,” “Persona III,” “FMA” and more.

As a professional music composer, singer and producer, he has written and produced hundreds of songs for TV, radio and CD. He sings the theme songs for shows like “One Piece” and “DBGT,” and has produced several CDs of his own original music. Mignogna regularly writes, produces and directs video and film productions of all kinds.  Among his recent credits is the popular web series “Star Trek Phase II,” for which he serves as an actor and director.   He returns to Anime Expo 2011 after participating as a judge in the AX Idol competition in 2010.

LOS ANGELES (February 2, 2011) — Anime cosplayers: start your sewing machines engines now! It’s time to get stitching and rehearsing to have a chance to get your share of $25,000 in cash and prizes at Anime Expo 2011. Celebrating its 20th anniversary and themed “The Year of the Fan,” Anime Expo 2011 will award a spectacular $10,000 cash to the “Best of Show” winner in the wildly popular Masquerade, making it the richest anime costume competition in North America. Masquerade second and third place winners will receive $2,500 and $1,000 respectively, while winners of the Midnight Tea, Pop Shock Masquerade and other Anime Expo competitions will split close to $12,000 in cash and prizes.

Anime Expo — North America’s largest anime and manga event — returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center and L.A. Live from July 1 – 4, 20111 with the biggest exhibition and program in its history. A non-stop marathon of Japanese pop culture that’s been likened to Halloween in July, Anime Expo (AX) fully immerses guests into the world of Japanese animation, manga (comic books), music and fashion.

“The fans who work so hard on their costumes and performances all year long and who make Anime Expo so exciting will be well rewarded in 2011,” said Marc Perez, chairman and CEO of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, the non-profit that produces the event. “In addition to the large awards in the formal Anime Expo competitions, we’ll have a roving team of judges giving on-the-spot prizes like tickets to exclusive events and valuable collectibles to outstanding cosplayers they see anywhere throughout the Convention Center.”

Anime Expo gives fans the rare opportunity to meet and hear from some of the most famous anime, manga and musical artists from Japan and get into the action through everything from costume play, karaoke and video competitions to exclusive screenings, non-stop video gaming competitions and Masquerade, in which fans transform themselves into their favorite anime and manga characters through creative costuming, accessories and make-up and put on their own show before an audience of thousands. For the first time ever, Anime Expo will incorporate an authentic Japanese Street Fair that will take over Chick Hearn Plaza with music, martial arts demonstrations, games, food and much more.

Tickets

Ticket prices range from $45 for a one-day adult pass to $75 for a four-day adult pass. A one day for children ages 5 – 12 is $25. Children 1 – 4 are free. Admission to the AX Japanese Street Fair is free. To register for Anime Expo 2011, please visit www.anime-expo.org.

Hours Los Angeles Angeles Convention Center & Chick Hearn Plaza/L.A. Live

Thursday, July 1                                    9 a.m. – midnight*
Friday, July 2 & Saturday, July 3           9 a.m. – midnight*
Sunday, July 4                                       9 a.m. – 7 p.m.

*After hours gaming, videos, karaoke and dancing at the Westin Bonaventure and J.W. Marriott from midnight to 4:00 a.m.

Address

Los Angeles Convention Center
1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015

For more information, visit www.anime-expo.org or call 866-229-3691

About the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation

The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to popularize and educate the American public about anime and manga, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. This organization is more popularly known by its entertainment property, Anime Expo®. For more information, please visit www.spja.org.

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WOW, A+ way to bring in the cosplayers this year.

Ohayocon’s cosplay contest does not currently have a good reputation. When I mentioned that I was considering entering it this year, people either warned me off or laughed in my face. Personally, I’ll give almost anything a chance. I’m not one to spread rumors or complain about something in fandom without seeing or experiencing it myself. All I knew for sure about Ohayocon was what others had told me–that last year’s entire cosplay staff was either fired or had quit, and very few people had much faith that this year was going to be a good competition.

There was a little confusion with pre-registration for the contest, but really nothing major. The Google Doc was easy to fill out and the forum post was updated fairly frequently. My biggest pet peeve with it was when the final documents were sent. The appointment confirmation email was sent with all the email addresses of the contestants showing. BCC, do you know it? Overall, it was a regular pre-reg for a cosplay contest. Nothing to run screaming to the internet complaining about, as a few others were already doing. Maybe last year was a fluke. Right?

On Saturday afternoon, I headed down to the judging room in my Blinded maiden (Fatal Frame represent!) costume with my handler, Nobi. It was extremely crowded due to the Registration line all over the hallway. We found an Info Desk near the Cosplay Room. I asked the staffers there where cosplay check in was. One of them shrugged, the other told me to go directly into the room. He pointed to a set of double doors hidden behind the Registration line. I found that a little odd—I thought judging would be in its own, private room, especially for a con this big, but perhaps they had a screen or pipe and drape set up? Nobi and I fought our way through the registration line and walked through the door…. where we were promptly asked to please leave, private judging, from a voice far, far away across the room. I apologized and quickly left.

That was when I saw a handful of cosplayers standing a bit apart from the registration line, including one sitting in a chair. I asked if any of them were cosplay staff, and they all shook their heads. I asked if anyone knew where check-in was. Again, head shakes. No one had a clue where cosplay staff was. One of them smiled faintly and said they were all giving each other information about what was going on—no one had actually seen a staffer. I was told that we were currently on appointment 1:10—running about half an hour late, which was standard for cosplay competitions. Nobi and I settled in to wait.

My time was called. As I entered, I realized I was not mistaken—the voices asking me to leave HAD come from far, far away. Across the large room was about three six foot tables with a panel of five judges seated, two per table and one by herself, on the other side, like the Last Supper of Craftsmanship Judges. I almost expected to hear Gregorian chants… I walked across the extremely long and large room thinking that if this was my first time competing, I’d be scared half to death. I’ve done this several times before, but even so, I think every competitor gets a bit nervous with a panel of people staring at them—especially when it’s from the other side of a table. There are few things I hate more in a judging panel than a table separating the judges from the contestants. How can you see the details when you’ve got furniture in the way? You certainly aren’t going to be able to reach across and flip seams easily, and the bottom half of the costume is blocked from close ups.

When I reached the table I noted that only one of the judges was wearing an actual cosplay costume. The rest were in steampunk. This made me raise an eyebrow. I was not entering a steampunk contest—the steampunk contest had been done the night before. However, it didn’t really matter what they were wearing, as long as the observational skills and the ability to ask the right questions were there. I wasn’t going to judge them on their judging skills based solely on what they were wearing, but I can’t deny, it did raise the smallest of very biased flags in the back of my head.

I handed them my references and stood back. I waited for them to say anything. When nothing happened, I said, “So, you wanna ask questions, or do you want me to start telling you how I made it, or what?”

One of the judges kind of waved and said “Oh, you can tell us how you made it.” It was mid-Saturday afternoon, but somehow she seemed either unsure, or bored. So I began, top to bottom. I paused every so often waiting for questions. Instead, I got silence, or comments. When I mentioned I used a pattern from Folkwear, I heard a bland “Oh, Folkwear’s good.” When I talked about weathering down my yukata using sandpaper, one judge turned to the other and said “Oh, I like how she did the fraying” as though I wasn’t standing right in front of her. I waited for questions about how exactly I did the fraying, but received none. Another complimented how I faded down the painting, how it looked just like I’d be wearing it for hundreds of years. That’s quite flattering, I thought, but I’m not here for you to make me feel good about myself, or to hear your opinions on my costume. I’m here for you to ask questions about how my costume was made, to take notes on it, and to compare my costume privately with the others in my division. I received no comments of that sort, only a few odd observations.

During this entire time, I had to walk back and forth in front of the tables to try and get the judges to look at me. None of them leaned over to get a closer look except for the one who was in cosplay, who also was the only one who appeared to be taking notes. The rest had some very large numeric score sheets in front of them. When I finished describing how it was made, I asked again if anyone had any questions. The cosplaying judge raised her hand. “Can I touch it?” I handed her my sleeve, feeling like I’d had a major breakthrough as she flipped it inside out and checked the seam and did a close up look at the fraying. I offered it to the rest of the judges.

Rather than take her hint and look at the costume in depth at this point, the other judges simply… felt the material. I’m not quite sure what this accomplished. Were they judging by osmosis? Feeling that it was, indeed, fabric? One of them had the strangest disgusted look on her face as if I really was a decaying ghost and barely grazed it.

I asked a last time if anyone had any questions. No one had any. They simply took a picture, and I left. I was not offered a backstage pass or a sticker for Nobi as it stated on the webpage, and at that point I wasn’t sure I cared.

I went to Main a little bit before the appointed time, 5:30 PM, for the craftsmanship call and required fashion show. No one checked for the backstage sticker on myself or my handler. The line of doom, as my friends referred to it, was already starting for the Masquerade. Auditions and rehearsal for the Masquerade was not even halfway over—given that it started at 4:30, that isn’t surprising. I ended up wandering around and talking to a few of the contestants about their judging experiences. From their stories, I wasn’t the only one who was not touched by the judges or asked meaningful questions.

Rehearsal felt like it took forever. Personally, I just wanted to do my walk-on and get it over with. I was tired, hungry, and cranky, I admit it. We finally were lined up according to our divisions and moved upstairs. I don’t think anyone could complain that we didn’t have excellent seating for viewing the masquerade itself, and there was a bathroom just down the stairs. This was also the first time I saw staff other than the judges working with cosplayers, as they prevented a few novices from heckling the audience seating.

I pretty much stumbled across the stage without posing for my walk-on. All I could think about was food and a shower. On the other side, I ran into one of the steampunk judges, who told me to “walk to the lady with the bustle, she’ll tell you where to go next.” I assumed she meant she’d tell me how to get to the other balcony—after all, it was pretty dark. I informed the lady in the bustle of what the first woman had told me. Her response was “Oh, really? Huh. Um. Let me go talk to her.” She walked away and didn’t come back. I noticed a few people standing off to the side and realized they were segregating the winners. Pretty smart, considering those stairs… but, where did that leave me? Did I win or didn’t I? She hadn’t told me anything. Could I go and have delightful shower and food time? My friend Terranell, standing backstage and looking confused, decided for me. I decided to go chat with her and her boyfriend Andrew.

It was at this point that Sadira-pookie, the cosplaying judge, hurried over with cups of water which she and another staffer began passing out to all of us—myself, and the people I presumed were the winners. Someone brought over a tiny plate of trail mix consisting almost entirely of nuts—something that still bothers me as nuts are an extremely common allergen. Why would you give this to a group of strangers in a rather dark room? Also, why were only the winners getting snacks? There was plenty of room up on the balcony, and over by where we were lined up for the walk ons. I’m sure the rest of the contestants had been starving.

We could not hear anything backstage—a common occurrence with tech. Speakers are set up to project outwards, so behind them you get garbled nonsense. I understood they were calling up winners, but it wasn’t until a bunch of people backstage started yelling my name when I realized oh hey I guess I did win something. When I went on stage, no one was holding a certificate or anything. Good thing Blinded is, well, blind, so I assume I didn’t look like too much of an idiot as I shook Sadira’s hand (she was the only one holding it out that I could see) and stood by the other winners. It took me a while to find someone who’d heard I’d won the Judges’ Award for weathering my costume. I can deal with that.

The next day, I went to pick up my certificate. The Info Desk—separate from the one which told me to go directly into the Cosplay Room– was very helpful in guiding me to the correct room. One of the performance judges handed me The Certificate. And I have to say, this is pretty insulting. It was a piece of black and white copy paper. “name redacted is presented with an Award for Judges Award By Ohayocon Cosplay On 1/29/2011.” There were no judges’ signatures. That was it. A piece of extremely cheap, easily wrinkled, copy paper, and some amazing grammar.

Overall, I have to say that those who warned me off were right. If I had gone into this intending to compete, wanting to win, to be judged by an entire qualified panel– not just out of curiosity or to do a write-up, I’d probably be pretty upset. I know my friends who entered with the former attitude are—and those who experienced last year are just telling me “I told you so!”

I know what it’s like to fight an uphill battle with a contest, a convention, a website, with a bad reputation. Ohayocon has got a long way to go to repair itself. I entered this contest with an open mind, with no intentions on taking one side or the other on the rumor mill, simply to see what it was like. If they’d ran a great contest, I’d be writing about that. However, they didn’t. Some things were hiccups that could have happened at any contest. Some things were personal things that are relative to me—every cosplayer has things they won’t be pleased with. But some things were just plain inexcusable for a convention of this size. It is a pain to find an entire panel of cosplay judges who are willing to put the work into inspecting costumes, asking questions, and taking notes, but it is NOT impossible. It is not impossible to assign staff to the cosplay department exclusively to check in contestants or guide them on stage. And honestly, if much smaller cons with less than twenty entrants can use high quality certificate paper in a craftsmanship competition, Ohayocon, which boasts eighty entrants, certainly can as well.

A cosplay contest is about fun. And it’s not fun if it’s not fair. No one is going to have their entire life changed because they won Best Journeyman at Ohayocon 2010. However… it makes you feel pretty good when you know that qualified, experienced people who are in the same hobby, who have been where you are, are taking their time to listen to you, to examine your work, and to compare it to other people who have put just as much effort as you have into their costumes. When you don’t have these things, you may as well stay home and have your friends print off a piece of paper telling you “good job.” Maybe they’ll even splurge and use color ink for you.

This year will go down as a bad one for Ohayocon’s Craftsmanship Contest. But hey… if they listen to feedback, there’s a chance they can always learn and improve.

I’ve been in contact with a few people who have had their reservations changed, and this is what they are telling me is the *official* statement (was told the employee in charge is named Danielle, so if you still have questions, ask for her).

- 150 people are being moved to a different hotel.

- 4 floors are being renovated and they are pretty much bare concrete
right now.  There is no way to move anyone back.

They are giving people the following ‘perks’ (or whatever you want to
call them).  They will be sending this all in an e-mail soon.  Tomorrow
maybe.

- Saturday night is free.  They are paying for the room and the tax.

- The shuttle will be running from 8am until 4am.  (Different from
what is in the original e-mail.)  It is supposed to run at least every
15 minutes.  It will be continuous.

- If you don’t want to take the shuttle because of costumes and kids
(she mentioned these specifically), they will be giving parking
vouchers and such.  Details will be in the e-mail they are sending
out.  It only works for certain garages they have contact with.

- There will be a meeting room set up as a lounge with TV,
refreshments, and other things so you don’t have to go back to your
hotel to chill.

- There will be a ‘bag check’ where we can store anything (even
costumes were mentioned) we need to so we don’t have to frequently
trip back to the hotel.  It will be a ticket system. Like, pick up
your ticket and then bring it back to pick it up.

If we come across any new news, we’ll be sure to post it up ASAP.

With the sponsorship of Arda Wigs (http://kingdom-arts.org/arda-wigs.html) Colossalcon brings back its Japan Prize for cosplay competitors for the 2^nd year!  You now can compete to win a trip for 2 to Tokyo, Japan!

Details

For the second year in a row, we are awarding one Colossalcon cosplayer a trip to Japan!  Be sure to have your passports ready to spend Five (5) Fun Filled Days & Three (3) Nights in Tokyo Japan!  One Lucky Cosplay Masquerade Winner will receive round trip airfare from Cleveland to Tokyo, Japan for themselves and a guest.  The winner will be staying at deluxe hotel accommodations in the Akihabara neighborhood of Tokyo.  The hotel will be near the area of Akihabara Electric Town and Metropolitan Tokyo, Japan.  Many great attractions and shopping are within walking distance, so be sure to pack some sensible shoes.  Museum visits, such as The Mitaka Ghibli Museum, may require a reservation and additional funds to attend.  It is recommended that you plan your itinerary of what you wish to visit before you leave the States.

Rules/How to Apply

Costumes must be of Japanese or of East-Asian origin.  For example, Sailor Moon would be eligible since it is a Japanese Anime.  Snow White would not since it falls under American animation.  However, costumes not of East-Asian origin are welcome to be worn in the hallways and encouraged to be entered in the Friday cosplay!

Your costume must be made at least 70% by you or by heavily modifying existing parts.  The other 30% can be made up of existing articles with little customization (i.e., a pair of jeans or gloves).  Wigs that have been styled and modified are included in the 70%.  Costumes that have been bought or pre-made (such as from ebay or cosplay shops), commissioned, or rented costumes cannot be entered.  However you are welcome to wear these in Friday’s cosplay.  Commissioned or borrowed costumes are allowed if, and only if the costume creator(s) are present to answer any and all questions.  In this instance, the costume creator will receive the prize and person wearing the costume will be considered a model for their work.

The trip to Japan is offered to one cosplay craftsmanship winner during Saturday’s Masquerade.  All you need to do to enter is sign up, and have your costume judged as well as go on stage.  Pre-registration for the cosplay begins on March 1st 2011.  You can also pick from remaining slots at the convention.  However, pre-registering is strongly encouraged!

For more details please check out Colossalcon’s website @ http://www.colossalcon.com

It has come to the attention of the admin team here at Cosfu that the Hyatt Regency Columbus is forcibly altering some attendee’s hotel reservations, moving them instead to the Hyatt on Capitol Square.

The following image is what you can expect to see if you were moved :

Be sure to check your reservations, and make sure you are still alright in terms of rooming readers.  If you have a problem with your reservation, I would personally recommend called the Hyatt ASAP @ 614-463-1234

I love Pittsburgh.  Everything about this city just clicks for me.  Especially when it comes to the convention scene.

I’ve been going to various conventions around the country since way back in 2001.  Comic conventions, anime conventions, game conventions…you name it, I’ve been to at least one.  When I attended Tekkoshocon for the first time back in 2007, there was something about it that really made it stand out.

It wasn’t the quality of the costumes, nor was it an amazing masquerade.  It wasn’t a huge selection of panels or a massive dealers room.  It really didn’t have anything to do with the convention at all now that I think about it.  It was the atmosphere that made it special.  It was the way the attendee’s embraced their fandoms with such devotion.  It was the way the kids there really loved what was going on.  They had so much enthusiasm for their hobby…something I haven’t seen at any other convention to date.  As someone who has always been skeptic of this hobby, the drama associated with it and the people who monger it, seeing these kids having fun and how excited they were about everything really changed my outlook.  These were the type of kids I want to see at a convention.  Ones who didn’t have the greatest costumes, but god dammit, they were proud as all hell of what they made and knew how to have fun in those costumes.

Now all this brings me to KuroKiiro 2010.

I had known about Tekko 1/2 from the Tekko forums, but not really knowing many people in the Pittsburgh area, I always just avoided it.  With taking over this site, and the renaming of Tekko 1/2 to the KuroKiiro Festival, I figured it was a good time to finally check it out.

And I wasn’t let down.

As I mentioned above, I love the Pittsburgh scene.  It’s unlike any other community I have experienced in this hobby and KuroKiiro carried on the “tradition”, as I like to call it.

KuroKiiro was held at the Boyd Community Center in Pittsburgh, PA.  The Community Center, as described on the KuroKiiro website, “The Boyd Community center is a retired school house converted into a community center.  The location is complete with a gym.  The KuroKiiro Festival is using this to our advantage and creating an anime convention experience unlike any, a Japanese school festival.”

A very unique experience it was.

After arriving, Sonnya and I proceeded to the registration table to pick up our press passes.  A very quick process (amazing how a small gathering can be run so smoothly and yet every other convention out there still has problems with this) and then we were off.  Immediately after turning 90 degrees to the right, we noticed our first surprise – a dealers room.  Granted it was a small number (6), but there were still dealers there peddling off the typical toys, Japanese snacks and homemade crafts (Cthulhu hats and Katamari’s were some of the more memorable pieces for sale).

After leaving the dealers room, the next room down was the game room.  Now, for a “small event” (as it has been described by almost everyone I asked about it), having both a dealers room and a gaming room impressed me.  There were a total of about 6 TV’s with different gaming setup’s running simultaneously , including a laptop running English translations of every Touhou shmup released to date.  Not only was I impressed, now I was pretty excited as well (playing Touhou on a keyboard is a NIGHTMARE let me tell you).  If you remember what I wrote above about the Pittsburgh scene, this is a perfect example of exactly what I meant…my first sight upon entering the game room :

Seriously…how cool is that?

There were also a few guests at KuroKiiro – Stephanie Nadolny (the voice of Goku and Young Gohan) & Uncle Yo, who was doing an opening ceremony/introduction type of deal when we arrived.  It’s always a pleasure to see Uncle Yo perform…he’s a classy guy who knows exactly how to play to his crowd…so in other words, he was perfect for KuroKiiro!

The rest of Friday was spent doing general coverage and taking photos of the various cosplayers who were wandering the halls.  We went home that night pretty satisfied with what we got, but little did we know, the best was yet to come.

KuroKiiro doesn’t have a masquerade, or at least, that’s not what they call it.  They prefer the term “talent show”.  You would figure this would raise some brows in terms of the quality of “acts” that would be brought to the table.

O how wrong I was…

One of the hardest parts of doing convention coverage for a website that is heavily based in costuming is covering the masquerade.  Anyone who has been to one in recent history will probably all tell you the same thing – there’s always A TON of lousy skits/performances.  Not the case at KuroKiiro.  From the very beginning, when a single girl went on stage to sing (literally sing, not lip sync) the theme to her favorite anime, to an AMAZING tap dancing performance by two Naruto cosplayers, to a hilarious spoken word by a Batman costumer (in a perfect Christian Bale tone), we were left amazed.  Again, a “festival” with an estimated 500+ people put on a better show than any 20K+ convention I’ve been to.  Have I mentioned I love this city?

All in all, I was very impressed.  It was exactly what I thought it would be, and a lot more.  Sure, the average attendee’s age was probably a good 10 years younger than myself, but who cares.  They loved being there, and I can’t fault them for that.  KuroKiiro surpassed my expectations in every way possible and I’m very glad we made the choice to attend and do coverage.  It is now an event that I rank up there right next to Tekkoshocon…an event I will definitely return to.

Be sure to check out our coverage of the event at the official Cosfu Flickr page!

By Cassie “Kashiitan” Dyson

As Sugoicon had its 11th year, you’d feel a bit of calmness and ease because they have been around for so long. Sad to say, it was as hectic and had the same mistakes as a 1st or 2nd year con.

The Drawbridge Inn has been there home for a few years now. The charm of the Norse/Tudor feel is always a neat idea, however the rooms themselves were small and made you feel worried about bedbugs. Luckily is a 2 floor LARGE flat hotel so no elevators or waits of that sort. The favorite cheap Chaucer’s went out of business due to the hotel going through chapter 11 bankruptcy and they only have the hotel restaurant left, Josh’s. The food is TERRIBLE. Tastes like microwaved and frozen. However the bar was cheap and welcoming with its bookcase and fireplace, and giving you your booze in a to-go cup as you leave last call! The surrounding area had lots of grocery, food, and liquor stores to go to. Hotel staff were walking the halls and busting room parties left and right and questioned you walking down the hallway which is a little displeasing.

Guests were the same old buddies that they have had for the same years with the exception of Nabeshin and Ian Sinclair. Nothing that would make someone travel to see.

The events either started late, cancelled, or were disorganized at first. The concerts had little attendance despite having Japanese concerts. There were a lot of gaps in the schedule and basically the con was forced to shut down around 2-3am. The Noise room was nice to chill and listen to music and there was tons of area to just chill with your friends but all in all if you were between 14-18, you’d be bored out of your mind. Dance was alright but they shut it down so early that you couldn’t go in to enjoy the music.

The game room was TERRIBLE. 5-6 Flat panels with very little variety. The Rock Band Setup was just limited to pre-set stuff and metal music and wasn’t the new Rock Band 3 setup. The only other rhythm game was a DDR Machine that kept breaking. It also pushed a horrid smell out into the halls which was right into main. I luckily brought my own version of RB3 and played in my room.

The Dealers Room actually was a highlight. There was a good variety of vendors and you could buy anything from Imported games to costumes, etc. etc. I was pleasantly pleased with it.

The cosplay was separated. In the past (1999-2007) they just held an informal cosplay with craftsmanship ONLY. Growing demand specified that they have a skit competition. The skit competition was a mix of new cosplayers and old new cosplayers. There was nothing interesting to watch and nothing that would stand out. The craftsmanship division did have a few gems but nothing outstanding and fresh. Also the separation of the departments and awards were very confusing to the con goers. Also Main couldn’t facilitate the crowd who wanted to see the cosplay.

All in all, if you are going to just see a friend there, that’s fine. But as a con in itself I find that it’s at an exhausting point where they need to change some major things to be a successful convention for the old and new generation.

Please visit Sugoicon’s website for more information!

For  more pictures, please visit CosFU.org’s gallery.

Written by Hun Jae “Hunj” Lee and Sonnya “Soni” Paz

CosFU covered Youmacon, which was held on October 28-31, 2010 at Detroit Marriott at the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan. The new location was a 70-story conference center/hotel/mall, a friendlier distance for Canadian attendees located in downtown Detroit. It almost felt like a labyrinth from floor to floor, but the perks of this location was the indoor food court. By the way, don’t eat in 42 North, for the prices, we weren’t expecting something that tasted like it came out of a microwave. The Volt Bar in the lobby of the Marriot had better food, better prices, and good alcohol selection. If you are of age, this is the place to hang out. The elevators were in complete chaos. The RenCen, despite its size and beauty, is not a good location for anime conventions. It’s meant for big business conferences where everyone would go to one place. At an anime convention, we do things a little differently: attendees are all trying to get to several places at the same time, the dealer’s room, game room, panels, photoshoots, judging, etc.

RenCen from Detroit River side

The elevator situation is one of the points that Youmacon needs to address if they will continue at this location, either by employing staff in the elevators to ensure a smooth ride, or ask the hotel staff to do it – They tried, but soon gave up, and all hell broke loose. Either way, if you are going to ride the elevator, make sure you don’t ride it up to go down, and if you are in the first 5 floors, just take the escalator. There are many stories from attendees we’ve encountered over the weekend about their frustration with the elevator situation, and having waited for an elevator for over 40 minutes, we can attest to them. Walking down 42 flights of stairs three times is not something we look forward to. Imagine those on the 70^th floor.

There were several technical difficulties leading up to the masquerade, which caused it to delay for an hour, but that’s pretty standard for most conventions. But what was troubling was how the staff mishandled the event prior to the masquerade, a Vic Mignona autograph line. Many of those attendees were turned away for an autograph due to the awkward timing of holding an important event before another important event. Thankfully, the masquerade went without a hitch and was a very entertaining show and we managed to get some great shots that you can find here.

A nice change of pace was the Best Overall Craftsmanship winner, a novice cosplayer in a Megaman X costume of Zero. What makes this so unique is that best craftsmanship is generally given to someone in the Master’s category, so to see a novice win this award was exciting.

Youmacon’s gem in our eyes was the game room. Youmacon never fails when it comes to the quality of their game room. It had a little bit of everything to keep the masses content. Arcades, consoles, rhythm games, motion control games, PCs running RTS and MMOs, old-school and new-school. It was well-ventilated and spacious and open all night. The atmosphere in this room was very relaxed, just people trying to get their game on. If you were to come to Youmacon, you need to check out the game room.

The Dealer’s Room left much to be desired. One of the main attractions to any convention, you want to ensure that there is a variety in vendors. We know this isn’t strictly a Youmacon only occurrence, but there was a lack of variety. We feel as if the dealer’s room was about the same size of a dealer’s room at a convention with about half the attendees and the line showed for it.

All in all, despite the hype of the new location, we feel like it came up short, and the overall atmosphere of Youmacon suffered because of it. We still have high hopes for Youma, as evidenced by the jump in attendees to over 9,000, so we hope the staff will iron out the kinks and come back stronger than ever.

For more information on Youmacon, please visit their website.

To check out more pictures from the events, please visit CosFU.org’s gallery.

CosFu took on its first con coverage since the revamp at the dual convention of New York Comic Con and New York Anime Fest held on October 8-10, 2010 in New York City. With an estimated whopping 110,000 attendees for both conventions, it was by large one of the biggest conventions we’ve ever attended.

Our first overall assesement of the entire floor plan was:

1. There was A LOT of people.

2. NYCC clearly overtook NYAF.

As fans of both genres, it was nice to see the mix of both Eastern and Western culture. Because of the sheer wall of people at the main dealer’s hall, it was nigh impossible to really get a chance to view the different products on sale. The perks of the dealer’s hall, which pretty much made up 70% of the convention center, was the amount of actual dealers and industry guests. Different vendors ranging from small mom and pop comic shops to the two powerhouse comic book brands of Marvel and DC were in attendance, as well as your typical t-shirt, toy, and other variety of vendors.

There was a huge list of panels to as well that catered to both comic book, movie, music, anime fans with heavy industry and fan-based contribution. To say the least, there was always something to do at any given time before 10 PM.

As stated earlier, New York Comic Con clearly overshadowed New York Anime Fest, which had very few vendors in the main dealer’s room and a small corner downstairs of the Javits Center which was the main locale for the Anime Artists Alley. This may have to do in part with the unsuccessful attempt to bringing back an anime convention to the streets of New York, or simply due to the magnitude of the comic book industry in the United States as opposed to the smaller anime industry.  Either way, it was an interesting concept to bring both together as a way to re-establish bonds or form new ones.

The Artist Alley on the NYCC side was brimming with incredible talents in the world of comic books from Adam Hughes, Greg Horn, Arthur Suydam, Cheeks, and many more. The perks of this is a chance to have one-on-one interactions  (within reason) with these successful artists to pick at their brains. We spoke to Sean “Cheeks” Galloway, the main character designer to “The Spectacular Spider-Man” about the status of the show where he told us that due to Marvel Studios and Sony not seeing eye-to-eye with how the Spider-Man franchise was being handled, had to stop production. Shame too. But this sort of interaction with established artists in the industry is something you don’t see too often with anime conventions in the United States and something that maybe should be picked up so artists who are trying to get a break in the industry can have a chance to talk to those with more experience.

The Masquerade is one of the highlights to any anime convention, and with a trip to Japan as the grand prize to the winner of the Yume Cup, a lot was riding on this to be ran as smoothly as possible. But it wasn’t. The show started with a concert by Minori Chihara, singer and voice actress, most known as the voice of Yuki Nagato from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. She had a slew of fans cheering her spirited performance on, waving their glowsticks in unison to the beat and making her feel very welcomed. There was a deafening roar with the introduction for “Hare Hare Yukai”, with people dancing in the aisles alongside Chihara-san and her two backup dancers dressed up in Haruhi Suzumiya costumes. The masquerade soon began after the mini-concert, with what was told to the audience would be 10 minutes ended up being over 30 minutes, causing the audience to become a little restless when there was no music to really keep people entertained. Uncle Yo’s introduction was one for the record books, establishing that ongoing motif of East meets West and how people around the world dress up in a “costume” everyday, either for work, for their culture, or anything in general and that no matter what, cosplayers should continue to wear their costumes proudly. The reaction from the crowd was incredible. Good job, Uncle Yo. The masquerade itself really went on to a bizarre format: 3 skits, a few walk-ons, another 3 skits, more walk-ons, and so on. We believe that might’ve been done to extend the show to hide the fact of how few skits were on stage, which is awkward to say the least because the pool of possible winners for such a big prize like a trip to Japan was greatly reduced, especially considering that not all of the winners from the preliminary competitions from throughout the US didn’t perform. The general feel from the audience though was pretty much restless with this format and the lack of skits, and when the winners were announced, over half of the audience was gone by then. This is something that the organizers should consider for next year’s competition. By the way, the winners of the Yume Cup are a pair from Texas, who did a funny skit dressed up as Princess Zelda and Ganon from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Congratulations to them, we will try to grab an interview with them soon so they can share their comments with us.

Overall, there are things that should be changed to ensure the safety of attendees for both NYCC and NYAF, either extend the amount of space that the conventions cover or establish an attendance cap. The Yume Cup/NYAF Masquerade should consider accepting more skits to entertain the audience, because there are plenty of people out there who do want to entertain but not necessarily want a trip to Japan.

For more information on NYAF/NYCC, please visit their website.

To check out more pictures from the events, please visit CosFU.org’s gallery.

Moviegoers seeking early looks at Hollywood’s latest action and science-fiction franchise films or just a place to dress as their favorite member of the X-Men can continue to look forward to gathering in San Diego each summer. Comic-Con International, the collectibles convention that has grown into an annual must-attend event for the makers and consumers of fantasy entertainment and pop culture, said on Friday it will remain in San Diego through 2015, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.

The convention, which drew 300 attendees when it started in 1970 and now attracts  more than 130,000 people to the city and $163 million to the local economy each year, was set to have its contract with the San Diego Convention Center expire in 2012. Tourism officials in Anaheim and Los Angeles had been trying to steer the convention to their cities, amid concerns that it had outgrown the San Diego Convention Center and that local hotels were inflating their rates during their event. The Union Tribune said 64 San Diego hotels in the vicinity of the convention center had committed to discounted rates through 2015, and convention organizers were persuaded to remain in the city without the use of adamantium claws or optic blasts.

Source: NYT

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At least SDCC doesn’t have to change its name to something else, and now I have an extra 5 years to go to San Diego.

2011 will bring a 3-day con from July 1-3, 2011 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Anyone who knows anything about the history of Anime Expo knows that AX used to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, and generally held on July 4th weekend. Its pretty interesting that this convention would provide an alternative for that weekend instead of going to AX. I’m curious how this will unfold.

MAX, established in 2010, is a one (1) day event with no general attendee/badge purchase requirement and with no charge for admission to the general areas including the booth and gathering areas and is aspiring to be a key meeting place for fans that share a common interest with the event.

Nominal fees are charged for certain activities that attendees choose to participate in.  MAX 2010 will be held on July 1, 2010 at the world famous venue-Club Nokia in sunny Los Angeles, California.

Club2theMax