This time last week I was in Downtown Memphis at Anime Blues Con 6. I only was able to go 1 day this year, and Saturday was that day. While it was only a week ago, it feels like longer than that since I was quite tired at the convention, and such fun events tend to just fly by in your memory. That being said, let’s get to a recap, shall we?
I’ve been going to Anime Blues Con since Anime Blues Con 2 back in June of 2012. This makes the 5th main ABC that I have gone to, and in that time I’ve seen the convention grow wildly. Attendance has grown over the years from 1000 to 2000 to 3000 and up, necessitating a change in venue to accommodate the larger attendance. Anime Blues Cons 4 and 5 were somewhat tight, even with this new space available, but Anime Blues Con 6 had increased space for the dealers room and game rooms, resulting in much less congestion than in prior years.
Panel selection, one of the main draws at conventions, wasn’t the best, as usual, but that’s due more to me and not because of the convention itself – my interests differ from the majority of attendees, so it would make sense for me not to be interested. No matter, I had 2 main goals that day: The Lolita panel (more on that in the near future) and to present my own panel on game collecting.
The Lolita panel was awesome, as always, and I got to do an impromptu film project while with them: that’s on YouTube now, but it will get it’s own article in the near future. Many of girls in that group are some of my best friends, so I naturally wanted to do the best I could to help promote something they love: wearing a rather unique clothing style from Japan. Seems silly, but if you watch the video, you will see what I mean. Again, more on that in the future, though.
The Cook Convention Center provides much more space than previous locations for Anime Blues Con
My own panel, however, was another story. I had to somewhat rush its production, and due to varying factors, I was incredibly tired when presenting it, resulting in it being a generally sub-par production. I doubt I will put it online, but you never know. People did enjoy it, though, so I guess it’s not a total loss. I did have fun, and so did the audience, so win win.
The best thing about going to Anime Blues Con, really, is always the chance to spend time with friends you don’t normally get to see, and also hopefully make new friends, and this year was no exception. I got to spend time with plenty of people and get to know newer friends better.
The dealers room was it’s own area, set apart from the rest of the con, allowing much more space!
The dealers room was quite a nice treat, with more vendors than before, along with much more space to navigate and check things out. That’s always a requirement for a sales area, space to actually shop!
There were people offering autographs, but none of them interested me. There were other random “celebrities” but again, none of them interested me. Not to say any of them were bad, per say, but I simply didn’t care. Again, that’s how I am. I keep things somewhat low key anyway.
The gaming room was also much better this year, with many Japanese music games in conjunction with more game systems than ever before available to play. All I focused on though, of course, were music games I hadn’t had a chance to play before, including my first chance ever to play JuBeat, a game I’ve been wanting to check out since 2008. Oh yes, it was a fun game!
Pop’N Music at the game room, one of many Japanese music games in the game room this year!
I really had a good time. I wish I could go into details, but conventions are really something you have to be there to experience. My one day there was better than any given day of the previous few years, and I’m quite excited to see what next year will bring. I don’t know if I will present a panel, but I do know I will try even harder to enjoy myself next year. I haven’t had this much fun in a good while, and maybe that’s because I have turned previous years conventions into work; work that I, ironically, would never get done, as video filmed at these cons has never really been used. It’s funny how that happens, sometimes.