Theories and Conjectures of a Unique Anime Fan Vol. 2AnimeNext - A review of the conventionby XanIn the anime, manga, and gaming fandom sub-culture, we have many unusual traditions. From 32-hour marathons to cosplaying to model kit buying, and even the illusive creation of fanzines, AMVs, and podcasts, the most notable of these traditions is the anime convention, or con. For those of you not in the know, a convention is an event or gathering of like-minded individuals with a focus on anime, manga, gaming, cosplay, and Japanese culture. Most times, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. Each convention features a wide variety of activities, ranging from interviews to open discussion panels. Anime conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which various studios, distributors, vendors, and publishers represent their anime-related releases, new and old. On June 12th to June 14th, I attended AnimeNext in New Jersey.
AnimeNext is a three-day convention that is held annually in the New York/New Jersey area. The first convention was held in Fall 2002 and has occurred yearly ever since. This year, it was held at the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset, New Jersey. According to the website, AnimeNext is “the largest independently organized anime convention in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area” and is the home of the infamous Manga Library, a collection of manga both new and old that you could browse at your leisure for hours on end.
For $35 dollars, you were able to attend all three days and see all the events and panels. The convention was spread out over three buildings. The major activities such as the dealer room, the main events, and the masquerade were held at the actual event center. The panels, artist alley, and video game rooms were at the Double Tree Hotel connected to the convention center. The 24-hour anime viewing rooms were in a large, adjacent building with five screens showing various anime. The room was so spacious, you could get lost there.
On June 12th, I arrived at the hotel and went straight to the convention from there. Since I had arrived a little late, I was unable to visit the Dealer Room, but I was able to walk around the Artist Alley as well as look at a few panels. For the most part, not many panels were occurring. This may be due to it being the first day of the convention and people were still arriving, but it was entertaining non-the-less. The most amusing thing I saw before 9pm was a group of cosplayers accurately dressed as the Castle Crashers.
At 9pm, there was the big event of the convention, the J-rock concert with musical guest Fake?., Fake? is an awesome band that has a techno/alternative rock sound with Japanese and English lyrics. The 2-hour concert was above and beyond what I expected. Being the first U.S. concert of the band ever, I was thrilled to be in attendance and it was worth every penny. Words cannot describe how intense the music was or how amazing the concert was overall. While it was not possible to hear an encore, the attendees of the concert received a coupon to get a picture with the band on Sunday. I picked up the coupon and ventured back into the convention. From there, I attended a few of the 18+ panels, where terms like shotacon, lolicon, futanari, inumimi, nekomimi and fudoshi were used heavily. Around 2 am, I wandered back to my hotel room and passed out.
June 13th I was up and ready to go at 8am. At this time, the convention did not officially start until 9am, so I wandered over to the building with the video rooms and watched Ghost in the Shell: Solid State. From there, I went immediately to the Dealer Room before attending various panels that ranged from the state of the medium to interviews with Tom Wayland and Fake?. They were entertaining and somewhat educational.
After the panels, I visited the video gaming rooms. The video game rooms were filled with various consoles, new and old. There were tournaments going on as well as demonstrations of upcoming games. Capcom vs Tatsunoko was one I wanted to play but there was a large hairy guy monopolizing it. Soon after, I walked around, took in a few sights and got out of there. I also visited the beautiful and immense Manga Library. With a large collection of manga, it was fun to sit down and read out of print manga for a while. Unfortunately, none of the ones I was missing was for sale, so I had to give them back when I was finished with them. From the Manga Library, it was off to the main event of the day
On Saturday, the main evening event was the Masquerade, where cosplayers would meet and show off their stuff. With cosplayers attire-mimicking favorites like Metal Gear Solid, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, and even Sailor Moon, no series was safe from the various cosplayers.
From the masquerade, there was a dance party—who knew that anime fans were ravers as well—along with more adult panels. Anime parliament 18+ was hysterical with a lot of funny quotes and unusual concepts being thrown around. Around 3am, I went back to the hotel and crashed.
June 14th was the final day and not much was going on. There was a small amount of panels and events on-going, but overall, nothing too fancy. The highlight of the day was the Human Chess Game. The game was a battle between anime cosplayers and videogame cosplayers and there were some complex costumes going on. On the anime side, you had such costumes as Winry, Envy and Gluttony from Full Metal Alchemist and Alucard from Hellsing. On the Gamers side, you had Phoenix Wright, Nights from Nights, Snake from Metal Gear Solid, and Cloud from Final Fantasy 7. It was a pretty intense but drawn out game. As a chess fan, there was a lot of moves where the game would have ended easily, however it would have not been as entertaining.
Following the Human Chess Game, I was off to the photo-op with Fake?. It was fun and worth the two-day wait. Unfortunately, I broke the rule about wearing a shirt with a picture of the band.
The last thing before the closing ceremonies was seeing Uncle Yo and visiting the Dealer Room and the Artist Alley one final time. Once the closing ceremonies were finished, back to the Xan lair to watch the anime I bought and to relax from the long weekend.
Pros about the convention:
For $35 dollars, you were able to attend all three days and see all the events and panels. The convention was spread out over three buildings. The major activities such as the dealer room, the main events, and the masquerade were held at the actual event center. The panels, artist alley, and video game rooms were at the Double Tree Hotel connected to the convention center. The 24-hour anime viewing rooms were in a large, adjacent building with five screens showing various anime. The room was so spacious, you could get lost there.
On June 12th, I arrived at the hotel and went straight to the convention from there. Since I had arrived a little late, I was unable to visit the Dealer Room, but I was able to walk around the Artist Alley as well as look at a few panels. For the most part, not many panels were occurring. This may be due to it being the first day of the convention and people were still arriving, but it was entertaining non-the-less. The most amusing thing I saw before 9pm was a group of cosplayers accurately dressed as the Castle Crashers.
At 9pm, there was the big event of the convention, the J-rock concert with musical guest Fake?., Fake? is an awesome band that has a techno/alternative rock sound with Japanese and English lyrics. The 2-hour concert was above and beyond what I expected. Being the first U.S. concert of the band ever, I was thrilled to be in attendance and it was worth every penny. Words cannot describe how intense the music was or how amazing the concert was overall. While it was not possible to hear an encore, the attendees of the concert received a coupon to get a picture with the band on Sunday. I picked up the coupon and ventured back into the convention. From there, I attended a few of the 18+ panels, where terms like shotacon, lolicon, futanari, inumimi, nekomimi and fudoshi were used heavily. Around 2 am, I wandered back to my hotel room and passed out.
June 13th I was up and ready to go at 8am. At this time, the convention did not officially start until 9am, so I wandered over to the building with the video rooms and watched Ghost in the Shell: Solid State. From there, I went immediately to the Dealer Room before attending various panels that ranged from the state of the medium to interviews with Tom Wayland and Fake?. They were entertaining and somewhat educational.
After the panels, I visited the video gaming rooms. The video game rooms were filled with various consoles, new and old. There were tournaments going on as well as demonstrations of upcoming games. Capcom vs Tatsunoko was one I wanted to play but there was a large hairy guy monopolizing it. Soon after, I walked around, took in a few sights and got out of there. I also visited the beautiful and immense Manga Library. With a large collection of manga, it was fun to sit down and read out of print manga for a while. Unfortunately, none of the ones I was missing was for sale, so I had to give them back when I was finished with them. From the Manga Library, it was off to the main event of the day
On Saturday, the main evening event was the Masquerade, where cosplayers would meet and show off their stuff. With cosplayers attire-mimicking favorites like Metal Gear Solid, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, and even Sailor Moon, no series was safe from the various cosplayers.
From the masquerade, there was a dance party—who knew that anime fans were ravers as well—along with more adult panels. Anime parliament 18+ was hysterical with a lot of funny quotes and unusual concepts being thrown around. Around 3am, I went back to the hotel and crashed.
June 14th was the final day and not much was going on. There was a small amount of panels and events on-going, but overall, nothing too fancy. The highlight of the day was the Human Chess Game. The game was a battle between anime cosplayers and videogame cosplayers and there were some complex costumes going on. On the anime side, you had such costumes as Winry, Envy and Gluttony from Full Metal Alchemist and Alucard from Hellsing. On the Gamers side, you had Phoenix Wright, Nights from Nights, Snake from Metal Gear Solid, and Cloud from Final Fantasy 7. It was a pretty intense but drawn out game. As a chess fan, there was a lot of moves where the game would have ended easily, however it would have not been as entertaining.
Following the Human Chess Game, I was off to the photo-op with Fake?. It was fun and worth the two-day wait. Unfortunately, I broke the rule about wearing a shirt with a picture of the band.
The last thing before the closing ceremonies was seeing Uncle Yo and visiting the Dealer Room and the Artist Alley one final time. Once the closing ceremonies were finished, back to the Xan lair to watch the anime I bought and to relax from the long weekend.
Pros about the convention:
- Many fun panels and discussion groups
- It was not too crowded but it was not empty
- The guests were polite and engaging with their audience
- The Dealer Room was well organized and represented something for everyone
- Anime Films and Shows were spread out and appealed to the various audiences
- Fake? Concert was the MVP of the Convention
- Certain Panels were good concepts but the people running it were inexperienced and could not control the room
- Some people gave into their otaku nature and did not bath
- People monopolizing games and/or panels and being annoying
- Food and drinks bought at the convention were overpriced
