Fanime 2006
Hawkeye
So another year of Fanime, the anime convention that’s held in the San Jose convention center, has passed. Some things will always be the same at Fanime, the lines at registration, cosplayers, and room after room of anime.
But this year there were a few differences on the layout. The Electronic gamers had their very own hall and it even included PC gaming. This was a vast improvement over the previous years when the gamers spilled out in the main walk way and you could barely hear the music to the DDR machine. The PC gamers even had their very own LAN line so they could network games.
Artists Row was also moved to its own exhibit hall. At first I was weary about this change of location, as they got spectacular exposure where they were before. But it seemed to work out fine and people checked out all the cool art anyways. I know I certainly spent a good chunk of cash and made several trips in there.
The Dealers Room was the same place as always but it seemed to be even better this year. There were more venders and a lot of good stuff at great deals. I’ve noticed as the years go by the dealers get more and more in the swing of things and better at carrying the goods fans want. They’ve also known the key of giving discounts later on in the convention.
Cosplay this year was stellar. Of course there were the occasional bad costume but I didn’t run into a single man Faye or man Card Captor Sakura, though I may have just been very lucky. While I personally didn’t get a chance to attend the masquerade I hear the performances were amazing and hilarious and they even had trophies this year for the winners.
Music Fest was about the only thing that disappointed me horribly. Not just disappointed, down right made my brain leak out of my ears by its horribleness. To be fair I only stayed for the first two bands, Goofy Style and Miami, but god was it awful. Goofy style was like a bad Japanese version of KORN, apparently if you sleepily scream into a microphone and lazily walk across the stage that makes you a good singer. Miami was at least entertaining, it was two little girls singing in high pitched anime voices doing a two-man show while dancing around like maniacs and destroying the stage. I could never own a CD of it, but hey, I might buy a DVD to access property damage. After that I just couldn’t take it any more and bailed. I can only hope the show improved form there.
Over all I had a great time, the people are friendly, even the staff this year was helpful and the security silly but nice. I was actually treated like a human being there. A special thanks to Pam for taking good care of us Press people, and to the guests who’s interviews I’ll have posted shortly. I give Fanime 2006 a thumbs up and say thanks to the Fanime staff for managing to pull it off.
