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Saturday, 14 April 2007 |
Active Anime's Con Reporter, Jared Sage, who was at Sakura-Con last weekend, gives us a quick run down of his experience of the three-day event
Sakura-con is a three day convention celebrating not only anime and manga, but Japanese culture as a whole. Held in the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, Washington, Sakura-con was hustling and bustling with fans from all over the country. This year was the conventions 10th anniversary, and it has grown phenomenally since the year it was founded. At the opening ceremony, one of the convention heads mentioned that in its first year, Sakura-con had 300 people involved, staff and attendees, but in 2007, there were thousands of pre-registered attendees alone. I was lucky enough to be able to participate in the 10th anniversary festivities.
The only problem with Sakura-con is that there are so many exciting things going on at the same time, so one has to be choosy in what events one goes to. I chose to spend my Friday going to various North American Anime premieres and walking around the convention center, just checking out the various options. Several popular series, including Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, were aired with the added English dubs. After the airing of Tsubasa, several American voice actors were on hand to answer series about themselves and the series. I was very impressed with the friendliness of the voice actors, they seemed very aware of the wants of the fans. Between premieres I wandered through the convention center and found myself in the gaming rooms. I watched some people play some Nintendo and then decided to check out the theaters. After watching some more anime, I decided to head home and get some rest for day two.
On Saturday I returned to the convention, made my way through the crowds of cosplayers (only at a convention can you see Edward Elric, Spike Speigel, and Sailor Moon all in the same place). Saturday was the busiest day at the convention. The most popular events were the Hellsing and Trigun panel, with the Japanese authors of the respective mangas, and the Vic Mignogna autograph session. Saturday was also full of industry panels, with companies like Broccoli International and Geneon Entertainment. At their respective panels, FUNimation announced the acquisition of Hell Girl and Bandai Entertainment announced Zegapain. The last big even of Saturday was the Cosplay Contest, where various attendees perform skits dressed as their favorite characters!
Sunday was the slowest day at the convention, but yet the fans were still everywhere. I went to the Dark Horse and Bandai Visual panels. At the latter, there was a debate about the new pricing strategy for DVDs. After the panels I took some time to visit the dealer room. The dealer room was jam-packed with local vendors, national sellers, and industry booths. Everything from anime DVDs to cosplay accessories could be found for sale. While I was tempted to buy a million different things, I only bought a Gundam model kit. The dealer room is especially exciting on Sunday’s because there are many good deals to be found. After wandering around the convention center for a bit more, lamenting that I had to leave, I made my way to the parking garage and went home.
Overall, Sakura-con was great. Being one of the biggest anime conventions in the Pacific Northwest, it was quite successful. It was full of fans, all getting along, sharing their views and stories regarding various aspects of Japanese culture. It was three days of informative panels, anime viewing, and most importantly, fun. |
