Anime USA 2006

By: quadrain | November 21, 2006 on 11:45 am | Category: Events | No Comments

November 17-19, 2006

Vienna, Virginia

Sheraton Premiere

 

After a year with the previous stunning Anime USA, it was time to see whether the con still had its funk. Some of the main events at Anime USA included another band by the name of Max, brought to you by Avex, an electronic band called PLID, and the return of Nen Daiko, a traditional Japanese drumming. Many of the convention”s process of running the convention stayed the same this year, including registration, the locations of event rooms, and the process of handling the lines for the main events. The cosplay environment has also changed since last year, with less of the domination of a series at the convention.

Many changes happened at Anime USA, including many events taken away and many added. First, the new band called Max, a jpop band from Avex performing Saturday night. During the practice, the band gave it all they had to get ready for the attendees. There was a time lapse during the schedule and the performance started an hour late. Aside from the delay, the attendees entered slowly and during the concert, the excitement was not there as for the Move concerting last year.

During the masquerade event, the room filled completely not allowing even press to enter the room, even though there were seats available (quadrain.com staff hiding in the balcony). During the performance the results of interest was half-and-half. People commenting on the Nintendo’s PictoChat reviewed each performance. One of the most entertaining skits was the Silent Hill dance, with full suspense in the beginning and adding pure fun for the rest of the skit. On the other half, the thought of “WTF?” showed during the event. Some of the skits looked like something put together that morning and only practiced during the preliminary masquerade. Some of the well thought skits was the (I believe) Kaleido Star. It was probably the most well planned and well-done skits during the night. Opposite analogy to steak for sure, as it was rare and good. Another good one was also the Soundwave from Transformers also dancing on stage, sounding like the break dance video by Mark Wilenkin and Gorgon Hagan.

Since this is an Anime Convention, many anime series played in the video rooms. This years Anime USA showed many new and good anime series. Very little of the licensed anime was shown and more of the good stuff including Rozen Maiden: Traumend, Welcome to the NHK, and a ton more. Hardcore anime fans sure do love their fansubbers. It is a good break from the usual United States licensed anime

The game rooms seemed too has stayed the same from last year, aside from the new games recently coming out. Unfortunately, there was no Playstation 3 (released the Thursday before AUSA) or Nintendo Wii (released Sunday of AUSA) available to play. One of the most anticipated games of the year, Gears of War was playable in the game room and Para-Para in another part of the room. Some of the usual games also presented in the game room including DDR and older systems.

Some events are also borrowed form other east coast conventions. The Iron Editor event was at Anime USA having two contestants create a video with a certain theme. The Manga Library (sounds like ANext) was also at the convention.

The human chess cosplay was a new event for Anime USA. This event compromised of cosplayers and two chess players at the table and the director directing the cosplayers on a huge board in the main events room. More than just moving humans were involved in the game, including attitude the players giving each other.

The dealers’ room was almost the same as last year with what looks like the same dealers from the east coast conventions and beyond. For some odd reason the far side of the first room had a bad odor smell, but luckily, it was only in that part of the room. This is another reason why people need to follow the convention rule by showering at least once a day. Just think of it as a computer once minimum twice recommended. There were some deals and steals, such as the six-dollar manga and maybe some deals on the doujin at some of the tables. A real annoyance also occurred with the “Yaoi Song” a dealer was singing from one of the tables. For some reason, including previous conventions, many of the good cosplayers tend to hang around the dealers room.

**Disclaimer: voicing my opinion ahead**

The dances both nights were sadly horrorific. Friday night is a HUGE “WHAT THE F***!” to the music playing during the dance. Ok time to be biased, out of the seven conventions quadrain.com have gone to, all the dances DJ by Ayres have SUCKED. I am not the only one, many people who walked into the dance immediately walked with an unhappy face on them. Katsucon, AMA, Sugoicon, Nekocon, AUSA, dear god! I was hoping to go to Sugoicon to get away from the hell but nope he was there too, gah! I guess it is time for me to head to Anime Expo next year to find a good dance at an anime convention. Saturday night was slightly better but again, where is a good anime con dance at these days? After interviewing a few Anime USA attendees, the few responses were, “It was a waste of glow sticks,” “Yeah, the music is crap.”

**end voicing opinion**

Of course, there is the convention and then there are the people who do sideline fun at the convention. Some of the elevator fun found at Anime USA included some GoH moving ice cream cake through the floors, this is the reason why people hate using the elevators at conventions; people mess around too much.

What is an anime convention without panels? Many fan-based panels exhibited at Anime USA providing a variety of themes. A handful of panels talked about different animes including One Piece, BECK, and more. Other panels included workshops to draw Chibis or Mechas, and other panels included the essentials of Group Cosplay and Group Planning. Something more increasingly showing up at anime conventions includes marketing your art via drawing or computer graphics. A couple of 18+ panels held during the weekend attracted a number of attendees including, What Not to Say to Women in Fandom, which turned around and constantly talked about the drama happening at past conventions. During the What Not to Say to Women in Fandom, both the audience and the hosts presented their stories and experience at past anime conventions including many “beer goggle” stories, many stalking stories, and all hell of drama from this year’s Anime USA. One of the few panels the admin attended called Cosplay Psychology talked about the reason why people, well, cosplay. It looked like the Cosplay Psychology was a serious panel explaining unknown mind of cosplayers filled with facts.

Downstairs stayed the same with the artist’s alley. There is always something going down there at all times even during the night when no one is around. Artists act as sellers advertising their art and hopefully to make some money while at it. All the artists in the artist’s alley seem to have some sort of skill to make any product available in the dealer’s room. From DVDs, posters, keychains, and down to the little pictures drawn on 3×5 cards sold in the artist’s alley.

Twice there was the Ninja vs. Pirates dance-off pounding away at the semi-circle and the spiral stairs down in the artist alley. With all the trash talk the ninjas give, the pirates won.

Overall Anime USA was another convention. The usual ingredients to make a convention good are the friends you are, mixed in with how you enjoy the activities at the convention.