Anime USA 2007 – Con Report

Another round of anime convention came through for the Washington, D.C area. This time Anime USA was held at the Hyatt at Reagan National Airport (also known as the con where Katsucon was held and soon to be Anime Mid Atlantic 2008) for some unknown reason. If the convention was over-crowded at the Sheraton, then the Hyatt was almost not a good decision because of Saturday. Thursday night was just checking in to the hotel, finding parking, absorbing the moment of getting an elevator within 20 minutes of pressing the button, hanging out with friends, and for some people, pre-gaming for the con.

At least at the Hyatt, parking was not really a problem. There were ample amount of space all around the hotel from the Airport ($9.00 / day), EPA Building ($15.00 / day), Valet ($23 / day), PMI, and a lot more. Even though the parking wasn’t bad, there were problems of dropping people off in front of the hotel, since the two assigned lanes were for valet and shuttle busses; people still used whatever lane to pickup and drop-off.

Friday morning was a good day to wander around the convention because of the amount of people arriving. Most of the con attendees were students still in school (like I was supposed to be).

The game room was a lot smaller than at the old Sheraton Anime USA was held at last year. There were the usual systems, but not as much due to the size of the room. DDR was not setup for the early Friday con but not many people were in the game room.

This year’s dealer’s room was either smaller or about the same size as it was at the Sheraton. Even before the opening of the dealer’s room, it looked quite cramp for the hundreds that would be in there at a time. During Saturday, the staff got really anal about photography. Many times have they gone up to people and told them to, “Turn off your camera.” This was really strange, especially with SLR cameras since they don’t really go into a person’s pocket. At one point I had an argument with one of the staffers about having the camera on (because someone knocked into me switching the camera on), I was quite annoyed because I was browsing a dealer’s merchandise. The staffer also threatened to take my camera away which I’m sure Anime USA does not have the right to do (Badge yes, items no).

Saturday was hell for photography, mainly because of the amount of people. It looked like twice as many people showed up for the con from Friday, making it hard to move around and take photos. In the dealer’s room, staff was getting really anal about the camera being on. People would think “taking photos” in the room would cause trouble, but more or less it was just having the camera on, around the back, and in a standby position would cause problems.

Speaking of staff, a handful of there would not be professional about their job. Even though it is an Anime Convention, any employee who has signed up for a job, either for volunteer or pay; should have a professional attitude as much as possible in any situation. This goes along with the hotel staff at the Hyatt. Some people would try to ask for help in finding a line or person, and in return the Anime USA staff would just respond in anger, “I’m busy get out of my way and get someone else to help you!” In a professional world, people would go, “I apologize I’m a bit preoccupied but I can show you where you can get help,” and walk with them for a few seconds to a security personal on standing around.

Saturday evening caused some hectic between the Hotel and Anime USA as the Masquerade line extended into the service hallway leading to the fire exit. The hotel staff was a attitude with the staff of Anime USA as they try to compromise on how the formed for the Masquerade. In fact some people do not believe the convention did a good job in forming lines through out the convention; with some of the problems being the layout of the hotel.

During the Saturday’s night Masquerade, there was quite a good amount of skits performed on stage. There are some people, who said there were a handful of yaoi joke skits, and yes there were a few; however, the majority was mainly satire. Some were parodies of anime and movies, an elevator satire, there always a musical performance, a load of dancing, and the usual satire of life using anime characters. Overall the skits were above average for a convention. Usually there would be some people on PictoChat blasting how bad the masquerade was; but, not this time.

Following the convention was a dilemma involving a Judge and the masquerade. Apparently one of the judges won an award for best overall that stirred the hive on Cosplay.com a little.

Many of the attendees came to Anime USA with at least the dances in mind. This year the convention offered a formal dance event for the attendees. Before the formal, the convention gave a crash course on how to do the Waltz for the formal. This was weird considering other forms of music were playing during the formal including the Rhumba and something else I couldn’t remember from the top of my head (I can only remember the beat).

At the formal, there were strict dress codes to follow from head to toe. Some people could not even get into the formal because of the shoes they wore. During the event, it was a change from cosplay to pretty much prom all over again.

The other dance that’s known as the rave was questionable. The music during the dances seem to start off well then slowly drown into the depths of the unknown. During Friday night, the dance was suppose to be a “mini rave” because of the time allocated after the formal dance; however, the music from what people said, lasted until the early morning. During the Friday night mini rave, the music went a little awkard when the DJ started to play the Mortal Combat theme straight up.

Saturday night like all cons had problems; however, at Anime USA this year there were a few con attendee problems. Once incident involved an ambulance coming to carry out a wasted con goer. Another problem that is still a question was the amount of Arlington police present.
Aside from the mediocre problems, one event seems to have gone underestimated. The AMV showing went quite well. With the total of 33 videos in 5 categories, it was surprisingly good. Some of the music drag as with all con AMVs; however, for the most part the artists did their thing quite well. The voting was the usual, except rather than selecting the best videos from each category, voters were to select the best 3 from all of the categories. The categories for this year’s AMV included “Action,” “Romance / Sentimental,” “Drama / Serious,” “Upbeat,” and “Comedy.”

Another well successful event that went on at Anime USA was the famed “Pirates vs. Ninja Dance off.” What started as an unofficial event at the past cons, now comes to Anime USA was it’s own event for the Friday evening. The battle raged in the room as the rowdy crowd, pirates, and ninjas taunted each other for enjoyment. From the dance off that went on for hours, in the end, the Pirates took home fame (what home?).

There were also some funnies that happened at the convention. In the bar lobby of the hotel, there was an older guy sitting by the window with a Dell laptop watching some videos. While he was watching the videos, he was trying to conceal what he was doing. Since he was sitting by the window, it was clear on what he was doing if people walked pass him from outside of the hotel. During the whole time he was sitting there, he was watching porn on his laptop.

Overall aside from the minor mishaps, the convention went extremely well. On a personal note, Monday topped it all off because of a court case that had been going on for 6 months was finally dismissed. Another thing that made the con a good one was the… well I’m not obliged to say…that made enjoying the con a guarantee. Man it feels great to feel young again for a few days.

Anime USA photos

Photos I’ve taken at the con are up here. Unfortunately halfway through Saturday my camera started to take damage and I had to limit myself taking photos of the convention and focused more on events. A report will be up later this week.

Anime USA 2007 – Thursday

It was Thursday Evening at the convention at well, and there’s not much going on. I don’t know if they even distributed passes tonight but oh well. Other than the usual walking around, there are some cosplay gatherings already, and a good amount of people hanging around. Also this is the night Anime USA was setting up the convention for all four floors of the convention are of the hotel.

Freeing – Kyon’s Sister (aka. Kyon no Imouto)

I kind of regret getting this one, but to be part of the group to finish the collection is something else. And I’m not selling it.

The next victim from Freeing is Kyon’s sister (who doesn’t officially have a name) to join the 1/4 bunny outfit series. This figure is about 5.5 inches tall and surprisingly light weight compared to the paper weight the 1/4 Haruhi was. It does not have the fish net stocking like the Mikuru or Haruhi; but it does have a changeable left hand. The figure does contain the same detail as the other 1/4 Freeing figures, such as a gloss clothing and ear finish; however, with this one, bunny tails are on the wrist and shoes for extra detail. I really don’t have much to say about this figure, mainly because it’s a bit too loli for my taste (why I kind of regret it).

Continue reading Freeing – Kyon’s Sister (aka. Kyon no Imouto)…

Freeing – Suzumiya Haruhi

A box was waiting for me when I arrived home from school and inside the box was something I’ve been waiting for months. In the past I was contemplating to even get this for a few reasons; including, price and the 1/4 size. One day at campus I was just surfing and talking about it with a friend (About how rare it is to find and such) and ended up ordering it. Well it’s finally in my possession with Hobby Link saying the figure is now “discontinued,” I guess it’s a good thing then.

The figure made by Freeing sits about 9 inches tall and is the heaviest figure in my collection. Like the Freeing Suzumiya Haruhi series, the figure is a bunny suit with the fishnet stockings. The body is made out of the regular PVC and a gloss finish for the outfit part. For the price this is one hell of a detailed figure, from head to toe.

After seeing a friend’s Freeing Mikuru I was afraid if any of the flaws from the Mikuru would show up on Haruhi. One major one my friend told me was there was a slight visible cut where the legs were assembled on Mikuru. After looking at Haruhi, the cuts were about the same, if not less, unless someone looked closely. While taking out the figure and removing all the plastic covers, I didn’t know the head could pop off until five minutes of trying to remove a plastic cover around the neck.

Front View

Continue reading Freeing – Suzumiya Haruhi…