2002 - Anime Conventions in Review
by Mikhail Koulikov,
Without a doubt, the anime con circuit will remember 2002 as a year marked first and foremost by growth and development. It was also a year in which several conventions explored new venues, while several others spent their final year in familiar settings and prepared to face new challenges and new possibilities. It was also a year of several misfires and "learning experiences", but that is only expected with so many events taking place all over North America now. Finally, it was the year that saw probably the most ambitious anime-themed event ever held in the US.
North America's two biggest conventions, Anime Expo on the West Coast and Otakon on the East, each saw attendance climb to almost mind-boggling numbers: respectively over 15,000 and over 12,000. Such growth has meant that AX is moving yet again, this time to the Anaheim Convention Center. Otakon, on the other hand, is still getting used to finally having the run of the entire Baltimore Convention Center, a huge structure stretching over several city blocks in downtown Baltimore, across the street from the Camden Yards baseball stadium. In either case, the best thing seems to be that there is nowhere to go but up and out: there no reason not to assume that in several more years, each of these two monster-cons will attract several dozen thousand attendees. And while a prospect like this is nothing short of horrifying to a con staffer, it also means that anime fandom is growing and developing like never before!
A trend which became evident in the last several years has become even clearer in 2002: the development of a sort of tier system of anime conventions. The "mega-cons": AX, Otakon, A-Kon, attract attendees from all over North America and many countries outside it, but over the last few years, a network of smaller, regional conventions has developed. Thus the Northeast has Anime Boston, the New York City/tri-state region is home to Anime Next, OhayoCon does the job for the Pennsylvania/Ohio market, and the Washington/Richmond/Tidewater conurbation hosts several conventions. The same pattern is repeated in other regions of the country, to the point where almost no major metropolitan area is now left without at least one anime convention per year to call its own.
However, 2002 also made it painfully clear that putting on a convention is still a risky affair, subject to way too many factors that can spin out of control. Katsucon's attempt to move into a just-built high-end venue in downtown Baltimore was widely viewed as an unsuccessful experiment. There was
tension between hotel employees, far more used to corporate events and power suits, and con attendees looking to enjoy themselves on their own terms. Several ugly cases of vandalism of hotel property, among other things, ensured that for 2003, Katsu will be back to its old stomping grounds in Arlington, Virginia. ShoujoCon, held in North Brunswick, NJ, ran into a problem of an entirely different sort. Staff and con-goers were harassed by rowdy, and sometimes drunken, attendees of a Volkswagen festival held in the area the same weekend.
The biggest story of the con year, though, was definitely Anime Expo New York/Big Apple Anime Fest. There is nothing to bring a tear to a fan's eye like standing in the Virgin Megastore, in Manhattan's Times Square, and being surrounded by nothing but anime playing on every one of the huge store's hundreds of TV monitors. And for all its failings and inadequacies, AXNY marks the current high point of organized anime fandom in North America.
What the future holds for anime cons is, as these things tend to be, unknown. But there is no reason to be anything but optimistic about it, to expect bigger and better things. And, occasionally, to remember to stop and thank all of those working behind the scenes, in fandom, the convention circuit and the industry, who make such a future possible.
- Mikhail Koulikov
North America's two biggest conventions, Anime Expo on the West Coast and Otakon on the East, each saw attendance climb to almost mind-boggling numbers: respectively over 15,000 and over 12,000. Such growth has meant that AX is moving yet again, this time to the Anaheim Convention Center. Otakon, on the other hand, is still getting used to finally having the run of the entire Baltimore Convention Center, a huge structure stretching over several city blocks in downtown Baltimore, across the street from the Camden Yards baseball stadium. In either case, the best thing seems to be that there is nowhere to go but up and out: there no reason not to assume that in several more years, each of these two monster-cons will attract several dozen thousand attendees. And while a prospect like this is nothing short of horrifying to a con staffer, it also means that anime fandom is growing and developing like never before!
A trend which became evident in the last several years has become even clearer in 2002: the development of a sort of tier system of anime conventions. The "mega-cons": AX, Otakon, A-Kon, attract attendees from all over North America and many countries outside it, but over the last few years, a network of smaller, regional conventions has developed. Thus the Northeast has Anime Boston, the New York City/tri-state region is home to Anime Next, OhayoCon does the job for the Pennsylvania/Ohio market, and the Washington/Richmond/Tidewater conurbation hosts several conventions. The same pattern is repeated in other regions of the country, to the point where almost no major metropolitan area is now left without at least one anime convention per year to call its own.
However, 2002 also made it painfully clear that putting on a convention is still a risky affair, subject to way too many factors that can spin out of control. Katsucon's attempt to move into a just-built high-end venue in downtown Baltimore was widely viewed as an unsuccessful experiment. There was
tension between hotel employees, far more used to corporate events and power suits, and con attendees looking to enjoy themselves on their own terms. Several ugly cases of vandalism of hotel property, among other things, ensured that for 2003, Katsu will be back to its old stomping grounds in Arlington, Virginia. ShoujoCon, held in North Brunswick, NJ, ran into a problem of an entirely different sort. Staff and con-goers were harassed by rowdy, and sometimes drunken, attendees of a Volkswagen festival held in the area the same weekend.
The biggest story of the con year, though, was definitely Anime Expo New York/Big Apple Anime Fest. There is nothing to bring a tear to a fan's eye like standing in the Virgin Megastore, in Manhattan's Times Square, and being surrounded by nothing but anime playing on every one of the huge store's hundreds of TV monitors. And for all its failings and inadequacies, AXNY marks the current high point of organized anime fandom in North America.
What the future holds for anime cons is, as these things tend to be, unknown. But there is no reason to be anything but optimistic about it, to expect bigger and better things. And, occasionally, to remember to stop and thank all of those working behind the scenes, in fandom, the convention circuit and the industry, who make such a future possible.
- Mikhail Koulikov
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