The Dealers' Room

The dealers' room wasn't as impressive as it has been previous years, or so I'm told. The room was spacious enough, but it was only a little over half filled. The usual dealers of anime and related things were there, but the pickings were a bit slim compared to some other conventions. This didn't stop people from lining up an hour before the room opened each day. Unlike previous years, the dealers' room opened more or less on time.

Panels and Bad Smells

The panels, in contrast to the dealers' room, weren't a disappointment. Several of the panels dealt with retro or old-school anime, which I heartily approve of, while others tried to tie anime into the real world. All of them were well-presented and organized; just starting a panel on time is something of an accomplishment for most fan conventions.

The first panel I attended was "Fandom in the Before Time", hosted by a couple of genuine paleo-otaku (assuming that's a real term; if it's not, I'm going to dedicate my life to making it one). Stories of grainy third- and fourth-hand VHS tapes without dubbing or subtitles abounded, as did tales of ancient otaku fighting for respect at sci-fi conventions by cramming as many people as possible into a hotel room to watch. This was almost enough to make me wish I could travel through time back to those days of the early 80s with a bunch of DVDs and a player and rip a paradox in the fabric of the universe that would destroy everything. If only those guys back then knew the kind of thing they were starting.

“I Heart the 70s" was, despite the VH-1esque name, very similar. These are shows that are homaged, spoofed, and reimagined all the time, but I hadn't actually seen very much of them on-screen. After that, it was off to the “Mecha in Anime IRL" panel, which was more or less just a shouted discussion across the room as giant robot geeks tried to outdo one another. I managed to get a laugh when I explained the difference between robots and cyborgs as one having “squishy bits".

I ended up staying in the same room, since the next two panels I wanted to see, “Anime 1982" and “Spot the Reference" were there, too. All three of them were well-populated. Three hours in the same crowded, none-too-large room with some of the attendees having not bathed since AWA 2006, and with the air conditioning not turned on, was something less than pleasant. Even winning Pocky at “Spot the Reference" (I can't remember what question I answered) didn't help.

The Concert(s)

I'll let other people cover the concerts in more detail, but I'll give a short review from The Chef's perspective. I saw The Captains, they were very loud and nonsensical, and I'm an old man who hates everything but Matlock. Wait. Scratch that. They were awesome, even if my eardrums rang afterwards. I didn't stay for Peelander-Z or The Emeralds.

The Viewing Rooms

In the viewing rooms, most of the showings were subtitled, which tickles my dark little heart and confuses the illiterate heretics who watch anime dubbed into a language it was not meant to be in. One of the rooms was even dedicated to classic anime.

Contrary to popular assumptions, The Chef did not attend any of the hentai showings. Although I try to keep an open mind about such things, I have seen enough demonic tentacles, blushing really-we-swear-they're-not-underage schoolgirls, bondage rape scenes, and bodily fluids spraying where they shouldn't be to know that Japanese porn isn't my cup of tea. The Japanese are way ahead of us in many ways, and if my stupid gaijin brain can't yet grasp the future of erotica, that's the way it'll have to be.

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