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What do you like best about Anime Cons?


Geano

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So this was bound to be asked sooner, or later right. I just wanted to talk a bit about what everyone likes best about anime cons in particular the ones you regularly go to. 

For me I like the room parties, panels, and just hanging out with new people. I have made a good amount of friends at cons throughout the years, and hoping to continue that trend. So what about you guys.

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17 minutes ago, Illusion of Terra said:

What exactly do you do at an anime con? I don't even think there are any here.

Well you do a lot of things just like at most types of conventions there are people selling anime, manga, and merchandise. A panel is a presentation someone, or a group puts on for a certain amount of people to attend. A lot of times there are cosplay contests too. There is of course plenty of food, and drink. Most of the time though you justt hangout with new people with like interests to yourself. Thats the main reason to go to cons really.

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1 hour ago, Illusion of Terra said:

What exactly do you do at an anime con? I don't even think there are any here.

An example panel may be titled, "Horror Anime Throughout the 90s" and literally only discuss Horror Anime during that time period and may end up being a list of titles, trailers, and opinion commentary with questions at the end.  Alternatively, it could be something like "The Rise of Isekai" and the panel originators might spend 20-30 minutes going over the history of Isekai (along with a definition of isekai), eary examples of Isekai and more recent Isekai and Isekai trends and then the last 30-90 minutes may end up being an outright discussion of the nuances of the genre, polling for favorite examples, an exploration of subgenres (trapped in a video game for instance) or even panel attendees and the panel originators debating over whether a particular anime qualifies for the genre (for instance, No Game No Life is Isekai but not Trapped in a Video Game (although it is sometimes mistaken for TiaVG)).  Panels can be a great source of information (for instance, a Reverse Harem panel that lists reverse harem titles and describes them may be great if you are getting into the genre and wanting to watch and collect...you'd want to take notes of titles to look up later if you were into it).  Then there are Industry Panels (Funimation, Sentai, and more may hold a Panel to discuss their new anime coming out that year and sometimes major announcements are made at these panels and even the option to purchase blurays before their release dates) and Voice Actor Panels (usually a Voice Actor will take questions from the audience attending about working VA in anime, how they started, their favorite anime, who've they've met through anime, etc).  Sometimes you have a let down panel from an ill-prepared presenter and you realize 5 minutes in that it's only going to be five minutes with no discussion and you could have used your time to attend or do something better....  Panels are usually a great way to spend the day, especially if you are at a Con and have nothing planned for a few hours and aren't planning on purchasing stuff for awhile.  You can sit in on a panel and learn something new.  The best thing is that everyone at the panels are just as excited about anime as you are.  Some panels are not suitable for children and may require confirmation that you are above a certain age limit to attend.

 

There are usually also Artist Galleries where artists can sell their own fan-made wears for money (usually prints of artwork they've created, plushies they've made, and other cool things, usually these people have an Etsy shop or something similar) and then a separate Vendor Market (for Industry and Commercial sellers who sell merchandise like blurays/dvds, shirts, action figures, toys, keychains, etc).

 

Some, probably most, also do showings of anime.  They might have blocks set aside in an attached theater to show really old anime movies, or the first four episodes of a popular new anime, or even preview episodes of an anime that is expected to come out soon but hasn't been released in the US yet.  Occasionally, they'll show English dubs but most of these tend to be subtitled.  Then you have autograph signings from Anime celebrity voice actors, animators, and more too.

 

There tends to also be Cosplay Contests, Dances, Music, Martial Arts demonstrations, classes on Japanese culture/language/how to make plushies/kanji/etc.  Believe me, if you've never been to a con before, you will probably be stunned and dazed from the experience.  When I took my best friend to her first con, she just kind of followed me around in a daze the entire weekend and was so happy I was there to plan everything out and guide her to the panels and activities.  There's always multiple things going on, throngs of people and cosplay to wade through, and if you don't really try to plan your schedule, you'll look back on it later with many regrets at all you missed. 

 

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As for me, I like the panels and the Artist Galleries.  I love a good anime discussion and I've learned a lot going to panels, even stuff I didn't know anything about before.  The quality of the panels can make or break a con experience for me.

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@Beocat The panel thing sounds just like the conferences in science and philosophy. Someone presenting something and then discussing it, with some panels being boring or way too complex to follow in a limited amount of time 😂

I'm kinda surprised that those cons are so diverse, with many different things to do. If I'm ever in the US I'll watch out for one!

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Don’t forget the raves! Haha some cons do have dance parties on the weekend nights. 

May favorite thing to do besides browse the shops and eat is to go to the historical performances. I also enjoyed cosplay chess, though it could have been done better. I wish I was able to sign up in time last tim I went. Not planing ahead can Really create missed opportunities.

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1 hour ago, Seshi said:

Don’t forget the raves! Haha some cons do have dance parties on the weekend nights. 

May favorite thing to do besides browse the shops and eat is to go to the historical performances. I also enjoyed cosplay chess, though it could have been done better. I wish I was able to sign up in time last tim I went. Not planing ahead can Really create missed opportunities.

I like the dealer room a lot too where you can get all the collectibles. I am one of those people that need the con suite, or free foos area though as I am to cheap to eat at restaurants most the time. Raves are so much fun I barely know how to dance, but then thats probably the case for most people dancing at them. Can't forget the room parties too with games drinks, and entertainment.

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Everything I’ve ever bought at the dealers room has been stolen 😅

Minus my anime sets.. I’ve managed to keep those hahaha

I bought a replica sword that was stolen from my cheap hotel room once.

I bought some practice swords that were stolen as well by some drunk people who I was entertaining 🤣🤣 my fault that time 

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2 hours ago, Seshi said:

Everything I’ve ever bought at the dealers room has been stolen 😅

Minus my anime sets.. I’ve managed to keep those hahaha

I bought a replica sword that was stolen from my cheap hotel room once.

I bought some practice swords that were stolen as well by some drunk people who I was entertaining 🤣🤣 my fault that time 

Dang thats to bad I always make sure to lock my hotel room if I am staying at the hotel. I often just ride in though as I live in a mettro area.

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16 minutes ago, Seshi said:

Pretty sure it was the hotel staff as they were the only ones with room access. 🤷🏼‍♀️ It was a crappy hotel though, should have known better 

Ahh one of those hotels. Yah best to stay away from that, or read a review on the overflow hotel your staying in. I have stayed in some pretty seedy hotels as well, but neve rhad anything to important jacked from me. In my case was for traveling not for a con, but for just general trip. 

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On 3/30/2019 at 9:29 AM, Kaga Koko said:

Artist corner i tend to buy their stuff,the contest being held especially the cosplay,battle of the bands and buying merch

Merch is always so tempting at pretty much any con. I know I spent way to much at my last con.

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On 4/4/2019 at 12:41 PM, ArchieKun said:

Merch is always so tempting at pretty much any con. I know I spent way to much at my last con.

I have mine limited so can only buy a few ones

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4 hours ago, Kaga Koko said:

I have mine limited so can only buy a few ones

That isn't a bad idea I should limit myself a bit better at the cons I attend. Though the last one was the big one aka my home con so I spent a bit more.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I love the atmosphere of cons the most. It's just like walking around like, "MY PEOPLEEEEE" lol.

I love to check out the booths and overspend at those too, as well as panels and getting to meet voice actors and things is nice.

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  • 2 years later...

I've been going to cons off and on for a bit(26 years and counting), I've made so many friends and I only get to see some of them a few times a year. Panels and some cons have very special events that I also enjoy. The atmosphere is amazing. Cosplay is wonderful. AMVs are just....yes, please!. In short...everything!!! LOL 

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I went to anime cons for about 9 years from 2002 onwards, I went for two main reasons.
1. For the video rooms where I had the opportunity to watch a couple of episodes of series I'd heard about but was unlikely to see because they weren't easily available.
2. For the dealer's room where I could get CDs, artbooks, models and badges etc which were generally hard to get anywhere else.

Why did I stop going? Three main reasons.
1. Family commitments and other such things.
2. The arrival of international credit card payments made it possible to buy anime merchandise direct from Japan.
3. Towards the end I realised that I was old enough to be the father of many of the other con-goers and I just didn't fit into their culture.

Overall, I enjoyed my 9 years as a con-goer I saw some good anime and spent serious money on lots of anime goodies in the dealer's room!!!

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  • 8 months later...

I loved seeing people's cosplays, even if I didn't recognize a third of them. It made me feel inspired to pick the hobby back up after several years of not doing it. With how strong the stigma towards anime and manga still is, it was nice to meet other people with the same interests! Sadly I was too nervous to say anything back to the people who approached me. Ah well, there's always next time.

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  • 1 year later...

Mostly just go to enjoy the cosplay and panels, it's a fun laid back atmosphere of other dorks (affectionately) like you.

I also do like buying stuff there. Taking pictures, participating in contests if they have any.

I've only been to genericon like 3 times in New York but it's a way smaller convention than most. I should be making it to Otakon 2024 this year however

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