Page 1:Whilethe last couple of conventions have sort of flown under the radar ofgame sites, Anime Expo 2009 got a bit of attention due to Capcom andAtlus, along with XSEED and NIS America showing off upcoming titles.Anime Expo is the self proclaimed largest Anime and Manga convention inNorth America, however, by the way it was run, you would be shockedthat it has ever lasted as long as it has.
AnimeExpo is currently held in the Los Angeles Convention Center, which isalso home to E3. Unlike E3 however, Anime Expo is a fan orientedconvention that the general public can pay to attend. The cost at thedoor has jumped over the years to $70, which is used to prompt earlybird sales of badges. Also like E3, Anime Expo uses most of theconvention center, minus the Kentia Hall downstairs. The realdifference is how it is used. Registration and main events occupy theentire West Hall. Which means that after getting your badge, the onlytime West Hall is used is once a day. This created a funnel of peopledown the Hallway towards the lobby outside the South Hall, where theexhibitors and artist alley were located. Video Rooms, Panel rooms,workshops, as well as the game room and the arcade were all on thesecond floor for the most part.
AnimeExpo 2009 was mired in a heap of problems this year. One of the firstissues was the timing of events. Many of the guests of honor panelswere held on Thursday, the hardest day for anyone to get time off for,it is also the first day of the convention. The layout was anotherproblem, Anime Expo was no longer able to afford the use of the NokiaTheater across the street from the Staples Center. This meant that allthose events took up the West Hall.This created a problem that if youwere not in the front two rows of one of the main events, you were notgoing to be able to see the stage as the room was nothing more then aflat concrete hanger with chairs. This also created a crowd controlproblem as now with the convention center basically being used foreverything, and half of that was only open once an evening, whichresulted in people naturally cramming towards South Hall. It is unclearif this was an accident or a sly move to make the convention appearmore crowded then it actually was. Another problem with this is thelogistics of it. Anime Expo loves to announce how it is the biggestconvention of its type, yet why can smaller fan conventions such asFanime make use of its classic theater across the street of the SanJose Convention Center and Anime Expo not afford the Nokia Theateranymore?
Ifyou were looking for some good gaming then you were in for a massivedisappointment. Capcom's booth was nothing more then six TV's withTatsunoko vs. Capcom and that's it. XSEED was just two TV stations inthe corner of the Crunchyroll booth. Atlus and Aksys seemed to try alittle harder, but again, almost all of the games on display wereeither just released, or released in Japan a long time ago. Anime Expohad a game room, located on the second floor between the video rooms.It was simply a meeting room with about 8-10 TVs and that is it. Therewere about three games to choose from, Brawl, Naruto on Wii, or StreetFighter 4. No check out desk, no huge selection of games to choosefrom. Just a tiny little room with a few games. This is beyondpathetic. Anime LA, which is held in January had a fantastic game room.Their game room was run by a very skilled individual, that brought withhim a plethora of games and systems to choose from. Sakura Con andFanime both had huge set ups, Sakura Con even went as far as to dividerooms up for different genres and consoles! It is really mind blowinghow these conventions which have less then half of the attendancenumbers are able to provide such larger and better game rooms. Thearcade in Anime Expo did fare a little better. It had a bigger room,and about as many machines as Fanime. But unlike other conventions itwas held at almost opposite ends of the convention center. The realkicker about the arcade was that they still required money to play.Sakura Con might not have had as many machines, but they did bring theessentials of DDR, Initial D 4, and Street Fighter 4. Whats more isSakura Con offered the machines on free play the whole weekend. Again,Anime Expo claims to be the biggest anime convention, how is Sakura Conable to offer an arcade room with less then half the people attendingand Anime Expo still requiring extra fees?
Oneof the most thrilling aspects of anime conventions tend to be theirnight life. Apparently the Los Angeles Convention Center was not goingto allow a 24 hour convention this year. Anime Expo decided to host thedance, Masquerade Ball, karaoke, and nightly video rooms in the WestinHotel. This was by all accounts a huge disaster. The first problem wasgetting there. Unlike any other convention center, Los AngelesConvention Center does not have adjoining hotels. To make up for this,Anime Expo was forced to create a shuttle system, this time downsizedto yellow school buses. If that wasn't enough, to add injury to insultAnime Expo charges any attendee not officially registered in the hotelroom block 20 more dollars to ride their buses. This is nothing morethen an outright scam on their attendees. At any convention, includingtheir own in the past, 24 hour video rooms and karaoke, as well as theMasquerade Ball and nightly dances are included in the cost of thebadge. By charging for the shuttle system, Anime Expo is in effectcharging extra fees onto the attendees who are not part of a selectblock of rooms. The alternative is to walk anywhere from half a mile toa full mile. This resulted in some attendees getting mugged on the wayback to their hotel. Of course this shouldn't be anything unexpectedfor Downtown LA, but the fact is, Anime Expo should not be holding itsconvention in an area that is going to put its own attendees at riskjust for walking back to their hotel. The dance itself was overlycrowded and was even shut down on the last night following a violentdisplay of public drunks being evicted from the Westin. Comic Con hashad a shuttle bus system for years, however Comic Con offers top of theline buses, has more then three bus routes, more stops, and shorterwait times between them. One could argue that Comic Con is a biggerconvention, but the prices of the badge are between $70 for Anime Expoand $75 for Comic Con. Don't expect to save any money on food either.The food stands inside the convention center charge 8 dollars for apersonal pizza, and the new eateries at LA Live are very upscalerestaurants far outside the normal anime convention attendee budget.
Helpingto host a panel was also a huge difference between Fanime and AnimeExpo. At Fanime, we were told to go to a panel office 30 min. beforeeach panel. There was a dedicated staff there to make sure all ourequipment needs were set up and that everything worked properly. AtAnime Expo it was a strain to even find an informed staff member.Almost all of them knew next to nothing other then the predesignatedline they were told to spout. Finally reaching Convention Operations,we were met with an apathetic reply to just show up ten minutes beforeour panel. At one point I even went to the info desk in the lobbyoutside South Hall, and not only could they not answer any questions,they wouldn't even bother to radio in someone who could. The panelluckily was a success and completely packed forcing some guests away.However, without ever saying one word to us, the people running thevideo projector in the back would yell out when the panel was over andforcibly shout at people to leave. Despite this, we were told by theguests that our panel was great and one of the best things to happen atthe convention.
Therewas a large feeling of the convention being scaled back during theweekend. There was a significant lack of panels, let alone ones thatseemed interesting. The hallways and walls lining the exhibitors hallwere packed with people sitting or sleeping, even in the middle of theday. Perhaps they were just trying to fit in with the local homeless,or maybe the reality was sinking in that there was very little to doduring the convention. The exhibitors hall was smaller this year, andeven shared its space this time with the artist alley tables. Viz,Tokyopop, and now Namco-Bandai were completely absent from the showfloor. All three of them will have a booth at comic con. This begs thequestion of how such a self proclaimed large scale convention loosesthem. Viz and Tokyopop in particular are entirely based in the animeand mange business. The fact that they are blatantly ignoring aconvention that is solely based upon those industries for a competitorconvention that is multi-media shows how little respect for Anime Expodistributors have.
Cosplayis a main spectacle of most anime conventions but there was asurprising low number of them in attendance this year. There was maybeonly 40% of people in cosplay at any given moment during theconvention, unlike Sakura Con which was easily 80% cosplayers. Thereason for this is likely due to a number of factors. There is a spacelimit on the shuttle buses, as well as a rule against large props. Thislimits the cosplayers to light and small cosplays. There is one closehotel which is still a bit of a walk and as anyone whose cosplayed cantell you, walking through downtown LA in the middle of summer in acostume is not a viable option.
Ifyour a gamer, an anime or manga fan, or just looking for something todo on the 4th of July weekend do yourself a favor and stay as far awayfrom Anime Expo as you can. The location is dangerous and poorly setup, the staff is ill informed, rude, and in some cases witnessed,hostile to attendees. The con is split at night, charging you extrafees that are not only free anywhere else, but conveniently locatedanywhere else. As a paying attendee you have far better options, notonly on the west coast, but even in Southern California. As a payingguest you deserve far better then this poorly run convention that seemsintent to drive itself into the ground faster then the industry itclaims to support. Stay away from Anime Expo.
Convention Report:
F
