Fans of Japanese anime, manga and culture gather for a three-day weekend to share their passion with others. There are panels, costumes, interactive demonstrations, videos and much more. A few of the larger ones are reviewed occasionally with photographs and videos. Visit our Conventions page for a complete schedule of upcoming conventions that I attend!
Another year, another Anime Evolution. Costumed fans of anime and manga gathered around the core of the University of British Columbia during a sweltering summer weekend. There was lots to see and do, along with plenty of awesome costume, but the convention wasn’t as great as anticipated.
Read the rest of this article…
Amazing cosplay, all day long!
Check out the ever-growing gallery from this year’s Anime Evolution out at the University of British Columbia! New pictures are being added every day in the late evening, so be sure to return each night.
If you don’t see yourself, track me down on Sunday — just look for the Naruto with the camera!
Halo's Master Chief and Guilty Gear's Faust at Anime Evolution 2008
It’s almost that time of the year for Lower Mainland anime fans! Anime Evolution is just around the corner, which means cosplayers are putting the finishing touches on their outfits and last minute guest announcements!
The convention will be returning to the University of British Columbia from August 13th to 15th, 2010. In 2009, Anime Evolution partied in the brand new west building of the Vancouver Convention Centre in downtown Vancouver.
This year, Anime Evolution will be hosting Johnny Yong Bosch, Martin Billany, Richard Ian Cox, Spike Spencer, Chris Smith, Marÿke Hendrikse, Sam Logan, Team Four Star, Sam Vincent, and Kristie Marsden among others. A complete listing of guests is available on the convention web site.
If you haven’t signed up yet, take advantage of the pre-registration prices before it ends on Wednesday, June 30th. After that, registration can be done at the door.
Naruto drinks Starbucks in Seattle
You’re out enjoying weekend crowds at Seattle’s Pike Place Market when you spy a few out-of-the-ordinary people from the corner of your eye. You don’t know what they are but you’re curious to find out since they’re dressed up and it’s not Halloween. Such is the case whenever I attend Sakura-Con downtown Seattle, where I get stopped on the street when walking between the Washington State Convention and Trade Center and my hotel or the Pike Place Market. So what is an anime convention, and why does (almost) everyone dress up? Read the rest of this article…
It’s been thirteen years since Anime Central, or ACen for short, first made its appearance in 1998, and being my third time here, it didn’t disappoint. ACen is one of the larger anime and manga conventions in the United States and rightly so, seeing as fans of Japanese culture come from all over (myself being from Vancouver, British Columbia). This year, ACen returned to the Hyatt Regency O’Hare and Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois for all things dark and mysterious about anime, seeing as this was the thirteenth ACen.
View from the Hyatt Regency O'Hare
As per my custom of booking a hotel room at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare (seeing as I don’t like to travel too and from conventions during the day and it makes things easier to stay in the same building), our group checked in to our room. We discovered, to our delight, that we got a balcony and one that faced the entrance over Bryn Mawr Avenue. This would make for a great location when people watching over the weekend.
But back to our group – which consisted of four people: myself (as Vyse from Skies of Arcadia), Soul Eater Evans (of Soul Eater fame), Ban Midou and Ginji Amano (both from Get Backers). Of course, we had the obligatory visitors stop by for some balcony fun and dinner.
Ginji and Ban from Get Backers
This was my first time debuting another costume that wasn’t Naruto Uzumaki, this time going as Vyse from Skies of Arcadia, after I commissioned it from my friend. We set out and began our first full adventure of the convention for 2010.
The artist’s alley was spectacular again, including the return of our friend SHADi and new-comer, Joey Blondewolf2. Lots of talent and many with amazing prints and sketches and other neat trinkets were available for sale. I just wish I had space back home to display all of it.
The exhibitor’s room was expansive as always which makes it easy to get lost in, but you’d always find yourself at a booth that sold something interesting, unique or a shrine to Shaq-Fu. At the FUNimation booth, they had copies of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and the third Soul Eater box set for sale before their scheduled retail date which was pretty neat; a kind of bonus for fans of the series at the convention.
I purchased a few shirts, some Naruto Shippuden figures, the Soul Eater box set two and the entire Higurashi no Naku Koro ni box set (the latter alone was a steal primarily because HMV in Canada sells the individual DVDs for $40 CAD where this box set at the FUNimation booth for the whole series was $40 USD).
We also took advantage of DeathCom Multimedia‘s photo booth in the Hyatt for a few professional photographs together. I’d never done this before, but seeing as the Ban and Ginji in our group had done it and had shown how well their pictures had come out, I had to give it a try. Getting your picture taken is free, but there was a fee if you wanted prints (8½ by 11 or 4 by 6). It was worth it though.
Legend of Zelda photo shoot
Later in the afternoon, I attended the Legend of Zelda and Soul Eater photo shoots. Both featured amazing costumes and a lively atmosphere as everyone in character posed for the cameras. Amusingly, during the Zelda poses, the wind had picked up, and neither Links from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker were able to tame the breeze. My friend, as Soul Eater, had a fun time at his namesake shoot, being abused by Maka and frightened when Excalibur appeared. I unfortunately missed the Naruto and Fire Emblem photo shoots though. Need to plan better for next year.
Kouki Uchiyama signs a Soul Eater wall scroll
On Saturday, we picked up postcards from the FUNimation booth that listed the autograph schedules for the Japanese voice cast of Soul Eater. The first session was at 11:30 am with Yumiko Kobayashi (Black Star) and Narumi Takahira (Patty Thompson), where we were able to get a few wall scrolls signed. We returned at 1:30 pm when the rest of the cast would be available to sign my friend’s Soul Eater jacket. While we waited in line, Vic Mignogna made a brief appearance from behind one of the curtains dividing the autograph booths. My friend, who knows Vic quite well personally, was able to speak with him shortly until Vic’s fan girls found him and began screaming. For those who have never attended an anime convention where Vic was a guest, his fans are loud — not the good kind of loud at a concert, but the kind of loud that’s reminiscent of nails being dragged down a chalkboard. That sound even frightened Vic which was pretty amusing. After the line started moving, we were able to get our wall scrolls and my friend’s jacket signed by Kouki Uchiyama (Soul Eater) and Kaori Nazuka (Tsubaki), along with the producer of the animated series, Masazumi Kato.
People watching at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare
Most of the ACen attendees know how much trouble the elevators at the Hyatt can be, especially during the afternoon and evenings. Me and a friend had gone down to pick up our pizza from the front desk and upon entering the elevator (which also had a few other people bringing back their own dinner), we found that we were over the weight limit. Usually, the elevator makes a loud buzzing noise and the doors don’t close to alert the occupants. In this case, the doors did close and the elevator moved a foot before stopping – and then dropped about a half a foot which freaked me out. So about ten minutes later after repeating the same dropping motion over, some of the people exited and we were on our way (being stuck in the elevator wouldn’t have been half bad seeing as we all had food and drinks).
My friends however, made a smarter decision, and took the stairs instead; responding to comments of the building reminiscing the ShinRa headquarters in Final Fantasy VII.
Shinichi Watanabe strikes a pose
I found the convention to be much more organized and the staff was really friendly and helpful. I know in previous years, IRT would use brightly coloured zap straps or ribbons on approved props, but this year, they marked the back of the badges with a red star stamp. ACen badges are pretty unique among convention goers, since the administration has gone through varying styles to create something different and forgery-proof each year. This time, the badges were actual plastic badges with a printed label containing the badge name, number and other information on it.
All in all, Anime Central this year was pretty amazing. Only disappointment was that Doug Walker of That Guy With The Glasses fame wasn’t around all that much. Seeing as he’s busy making hilarious videos and was a last minute unofficial guest, I can’t fault the convention for it. But overall, it was well planned and was a fun weekend. I can’t wait to return in 2011!
Photos are now available online in Gallery. Videos will be posted shortly.
Soul Eater photo shoot
As another Anime Central has come and gone; now it’s time now for the memories. Most of the pictures taken have been posted on Gallery, however the videos are still being processed. It’s been fun, and of course, there’s always next year!
A convention recap will be released shortly.
Cloud Strife in all his 32-bit glory
Fans of Japanese culture converged on Seattle’s Washington State Convention and Trade Center over the Easter weekend for Sakura-Con 2010 to celebrate all things related to anime, manga and gaming. Sakura-Con has been a mainstay in the Pacific Northwest for the past thirteen years, drawing in attendees from not only Washington, but Oregon, Idaho, California, Montana, British Columbia and Alberta.
The convention this year was well organized and had a variety of events, panels, exhibitors, artists and video rooms. Con-goers were treated to concerts and even an exclusive premiere of the latest Trigun movie, Badlands Rumble, which is scheduled for in Japan later this month. There was also the long line of respectable guests, including voice actors, artists, musicians and industry personnel.
One feature that I thought was pretty neat, was providing special wristbands to attendees who had booked rooms at con-approved hotels. These wristbands granted priority seating for concerts and additional privileges.
The trip into Seattle wasn’t eventful, thankfully. Our group arrived shortly after 8:30 pm on Thursday evening, giving us a half hour to park at the hotel and bolt for the convention centre to claim our pre-registration badges. Fortunately, we got in just as last few people were being admitted, so we were pretty lucky. We returned to the hotel to check in and unpack our costumes and prepare for Friday morning.
A family of Naruto fans!
I returned to the convention on Friday morning ahead of the rest of my friends who had elected to stay back and add some finishing touches to their outfits.
Unfortunately, one member of our group wasn’t able to pre-register online, and had to stand in line to get their badge. This turned out to be a five hour wait for him (which for a convention of Sakura-Con’s size, we hoped to have been much less).
While he stood in line, I wandered around for a bit, snapping photographs, having my picture taken, and running into other people that I’ve met at previous conventions (or work). There were lots of amazing costumes and it was great to see every one dressed up as their favourite characters. My friends arrived later; two of them dressed as Fire Nation Soldiers and as Toph, from Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender.
After a brief photo-shoot outside (in between the rain and light snow), we made our way indoors to one of the panels featuring a number of voice actors: Todd Haberkorn, Richard Epcar, Brina Palencia, Luci Christian, Kent Williams, Chris Patton and Wendy Powell. The group fielded all sorts of questions regarding the voice acting industry in North America, and even provided valuable tips and suggestions for those looking to get their foot in the door.
I checked out the exhibition hall later on, where there were rows upon rows of purveyors of anything and everything related to anime. Lots of booths with vendors hawking figures straight from Japan along with DVDs, books, doujinshi, manga, pillows, shirts, energy drinks, Pocky, katanas, kimonos and much, much more.
Various forms of Sora from Kingdom Hearts
After dinner and some rest, I returned to the convention centre to partake in some of the late night panels, particularly “Chris Patton Shares Too Much” at the suggestion of another friend. The name is pretty accurate, as voice actor Chris Patton, does indeed share too much, and it’s quite entertaining. However, like most late night panels, it is restricted to adults, and we were asked to produce identification upon entering.
My friends wandered off after Chris’ panel and checked out the Anime Swimsuit Contest and the Adult Anime Dating Game, but weren’t too impressed with the organization of both events.
Saturday was a good day, minus the schizophrenic weather. As per our tradition of visiting Sakura-Con, it’s not quite complete with a brief stop at the amazing Pike Street Market in costume (and venturing into the ever-so busy first Starbucks store).
Upon returning to the hotel to drop off my purchases, I encountered a full gathering of the Power Rangers, complete with Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd in the lobby. Pretty freakin’ epic, I must say.
Two Virals versus a bunch of Yokos
I knew there was a Naruto photo-shoot on Saturday at 2:30 pm (thanks to a fellow attendee staying in the same hotel), but wasn’t sure where it was being held (I’ve been to maybe one Naruto photo-shoot in all of the conventions I’ve attended – such luck). Since the weather had been fair for a few hours, everyone had massed outside in Freeway Park above the I-5 freeway where I caught the last remnants of the Naruto shoot as they were departing. I seem to run into almost every other photo-shoot except the ones I want to participate in, but maybe next time.
I made my way back in and rejoined my friends (who, ironically were amassing for an Avatar photo-shoot) after grabbing some shots from the Gurren Lagann and Bleach gatherings.
Yuusuke and Meg of HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR performing on stage
Later in the evening, a few of us made our way into the main stage for the concert featuring Dazzle Vision and HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR.
Dazzle Vision is an indie Japanese band, which is much harder than most J-rock bands, utilizing alternating vocals and heavier guitar playing. Dazzle Vision involves Maiko as the vocalist, Yu on guitars, Haru on drums and Takuro on bass.
J-rock band, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, is noted for their dual vocalists, Halca and Yuusuke, and their heavy sound. In addition to Halca and Yuusuke, Kazuto is on lead guitar, with Meg on the rhythm guitar, Mackaz on bass and Sassy on drums. HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR finished off their performance with the third opening to Bleach, Ichirin no Hana.
The concert was pretty intense, complete with crowd surfing and a mini mosh pit. I hadn’t seen anything like this since Black Label Society was at the Commodore Ballroom five years ago. It was a great experience to see these two bands from Japan live on stage.
Sunday was much quieter as con-goers packed up and prepared to head back home. All that was left was the Exhibitors, autograph sessions and a concert by Hsu-nami. Unfortunately, we didn’t stay too long on the last day since our group had to return to our individual homes before early evening.
Overall, Sakura-Con 2010 was pretty amazing and well done. Aside from a few missteps in the planning of some events, it was a great convention. I look forward to returning in 2011, when the convention is scheduled for the weekend of April 22nd – 24th.
Photographs from Sakura-Con 2010 are available on Gallery.
You know you want to be here!
If you’re in the Seattle area this Easter weekend, stop by Sakura-Con, the Pacific Northwest’s premiere anime, manga and Japanese cultural convention.
Japanese rock band, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, along with the indie group Dazzle Vision will perform for their fans for the first time in North America. Mai Kadowaki, Yutaka Minowa, Todd Haberkorn, Chris Patton, Satoshi Nishimura, are just some of the amazing guests lined up for the 13th incarnation of Sakura-con.
Of course, there will be plenty of interactive panels, video and game rooms, a large artist’s alley and exhibition hall and of course cosplay!
Sakura-Con runs from April 2nd to 4th at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in downtown Seattle.
Anime Evolution is sponsoring a one-day event called J-Fest on Saturday, January 23rd, 2010, at Douglas College in New Westminster. Registration for Anime Evolution 2010 will be available, along with cosplay tutorials, gaming, videos, panels, artists and more! J-Fest only costs $10 to enter and runs from 10:30 am PST until 7:30 pm PST. Douglas College is one block north of the New Westminster SkyTrain station.
Naruto Shippuden Jacket
For the Naruto fan, Hot Topic is now selling the Shippuden version of the blond ninja’s jacket.
Ripple Junction, manufacturer of tees based on anime, cartoons and movies, has faithfully recreated the jacket using a blend of black and orange cotton/polyester fabric. The familiar red spiral is embroidered on the back with another smaller gray spiral on the upper left sleeve. The smaller spiral has two vertical pieces of brown fabric on each side, with a stem of orange plastic on the right side. It looks a little strange, but when you glance at the actual jacket in the series, it makes sense (I have no clue what its purpose is for though).
Unlike the previous style that the younger Naruto wore, there are exterior pockets on both sides, but no MP3 player pocket on the inside.
The jacket is pretty comfortable, but not really warm when I put it to the test this morning. The cool Vancouver weather let me know to wear something warmer underneath.
All in all, it’s a really nice jacket. You can buy it in most Hot Topic stores or online.
