Article: Sakura con 2002 report
Sakura con 2002 Anime, fansubs and sleep depravation
This year like every year I attended Sakura con. However this year three things where different. First it was in a different hotel than the other cons. Second I brought a friend along. Third unlike previous conventions I did not sleep during the convention.
I arrived quite late to Sakura-con, namely around 3:30 pm. I had to go to work that day and since it was a new job I couldn't ask for the day off. However I noticed one thing was very different than the previous year I attended. There was no line to get in. Lesson #1 Resist the urge to as my friend Brian says show up at the Ass crack of dawn. I suggest you sleep in as they never show the really cool anime right off the bat. The time you spend sleeping and getting there a bit late is made up by not having to wait in line and being to stay up that much later.
When I checked in the first thing I did was get my bearing of the place and check the schedule. Lesson #2 always check the schedule. That way you do not miss anything really cool. That way you can do other things like visit the dealers room, visit the video game rooms, eat or even (god forbid) sleep.
As it would turn out the first thing that I wanted to see is the Oh my goddess movie. It was pretty good however I will not be reviewing any titles in this article, I will be giving my opinion of what I saw at Sakura con in a companion article. Also while I did see the movie i lost sight of Brian, which Is bad since he has the keys to the car which has all the food in it. Lesson #3 It is a good idea to take food with you to a convention as a 12 of coke will always cost much less than buying it elsewhere. However I did meet up with him again at the Vampire Hunter D movie not too much later. Lesson #4 If you are in a group and split up always know what the other people in your group think is cool and then you always find them there.
After that movie let out It was midnight, however I could not let that stop me, there was much more anime to watch, namely three hours of really cool fansubs straight in a row. However they were showing in different theaters. This ultimately was a good thing. In anime conventions, unlike on TV they never show commercials so you always have time and then some to walk to the next show. Also walking helps keep you awake and staying awake is good. If you spend to much time in one place while you are tired you will pass out and that is bad.
After watching those three hours we went out for coffee and pie at the local Denny's and then came back to watch some more anime. Actually I watched some more anime and Brian pretty much locked himself in the game rooms for the rest of the convention. After a few more hours watching shows I decided to have a try the dancing games they have at the convention. I do not know if other conventions have them but if you like them you can get a lot games in for free if you go there at the right hour (read really late up until 8am or so). Then back to watching some more shows.
At 10 I went to see a kendo demonstration. It was rather cool, even though they didn't teach how to do that cool wind slash move that you see in some anime. There are quite a few panels in anime conventions that discuss anything even remotely anime related. Another one I went to was the ADV panel. Incase you know almost nothing about anime ADV is one of the companies that distribute anime in America. Companies like ADV use anime conventions to announce various series that they picked up. ADV said that they had the rights to Noir, Angelic Layer, Full Metal Panic and some other series that couldn't remember. You can also ask the companies questions. I learned that Rune soldiers I coming out late this year maybe early next year.
Then I went to see the Dealer's room. Another thing at anime conventions is a big room where a bunch of merchants peddle anime and anime related merchandise, also known as the dealer's room. Lesson #5 Often times there is a line to get in but it goes pretty fast so do not get intimidated by the line. However It is a good idea to go there only once or twice so you do no have to wait in line repeatedly. If you are not that confident about buying stuff over the Internet this is a great place to find stuff. Unfortunately since anime and Media in general is still in the transition between VHS cassette and DVD there were not the great deals on anime that I saw last year when most everything was on VHS. Ultimately I didn't get much at the dealer's room but anything you do not spend there you can save for your normal purchases.
After the dealer's room, getting a bite at jack in the box it was time to see the Music Video contest. If you do not know some people decide it would be a really cool idea if they put some anime clips to a song and show it to people. It is a cool idea and Brian decided that next year he would do it as well. If any of you are wondering why I haven't review the Cosplay show yet it is because they both of these events happened at the same time so I couldn't see them both. Lesson #6 there is a line to both the music video contest and the Cosplay contest. Unlike most lines in an anime convention if you want to see either of these events you do not want to avoid these lines as they are to events with limited seating. Get in line early Slog it out with a tankoban (those manga soft cover books) if you want a good seat.
After the music video contest I watch yet more anime and stayed up until I started to pass out. Yes there comes a time when no matter how hard you try you just can't stay up anymore and most anime plots start to become incomprehensible no matter how simple the show actually is. At that point I decided to go home. But ultimately I had a excellent time a plan to go back next year.