What do you want from an anime con?

[Nyxyin]

There was another topic about people wanting American voice actors and licensing companies at anime cons.  I personally go to hear the Japanese guests.  Just for fun, I wondered what everybody else goes to anime cons for.

[~~Loktera~~]

I would like there to be a few Doujinshi Circles that come from Japan and give them a panel that discusses their trade and whatnot, just to give us outsiders a view on how their work is done and a possible look into self publishing.

[Tuplica]

I have never, in my four years at Fanime, seen a guest on purpose.  I've happened to be on the elevator with one and seen a few pop up when they've been invited to things such as the Cosplay competition, but otherwise, I haven't bothered.  I guess I could say that doesn't matter to me much as far as the con goes, or at least, no one's arrived that I've been particularly interested in, japanese, american, or otherwise.

AMVs and Cosplay, on the other hand, are things I simply have to see when I go to a con.  Too good to pass up.  I'd love it if Fanime had an AMV editor panel... not 'how to edit', but more along the lines of 'Hey, meet these cool guys...'

[Noriko Ukai]

I want them all. Anime cons aren't about just one of those things, what makes them great is when they have it all.

[Spiritsnare]

How about all of the above? I'm surprised you haven't added an option for that.

edit hehe, there was this one time where I met Steve Bennett and I didn't even know it was him. He was wearing a Yatta! shirt, and I asked him where he got it.

Then I realized who I was talking to.

[Croquet]

I'm not big on meeting the creators or voice actors, no matter how cool that is sometimes. I go to conventions mostly for dealers, or for artist rows and fan art stuff. I like to see what fellow fans are coming up with, I think it's really neat.

[Nyxyin]

How about all of the above? I'm surprised you haven't added an option for that.

I had assumed that everybody wanted to see everything to a certain extent, but I thought putting in the word "most" would contradict an "all of the above" option.  I didn't manage to catch any of Joe's panels this year, but most years, I manage to hit every category.  I'm definitely a fan of AMV and cosplay too.  Life is full of tough choices.  :wink:

There are only 11 votes so far, but I'm surprised that nobody voted for the Japanese seiyuu yet.  In retrospect, I guess I should've separated the video rooms from the dealers.  

Having doujinshi circles at Fanime sounds like a neat idea, although didn't Higuri-san do doujinshi initially?

[Tuplica]

hehe, there was this one time where I met Steve Bennett and I didn't even know it was him. He was wearing a Yatta! shirt, and I asked him where he got it.

Then I realized who I was talking to.

Hahaha... I had a similar situation.  I was in the elevator with one of the guests of honor (to be quite honest, I don't know which one- it'd help if some of the pictures were actually photos) and had no idea who I was standing to until Brian (aka Dieter) ran up to the elevator and had a little talk with him. Since I'd just come from Der cosplay, my initial reaction was "OMFG IT'S DIETER!!" and then I realized he was praising this guy next to me like he was the coolest thing around.  

...I musta blacked out.  I don't remember what happened after that. XD

[Nyxyin]

it'd help if some of the pictures were actually photos

I did a web search.  For the ones without photos on http://www.fanime.com/guests/, here's some links to Fan's View with some old pictures of Steve Bennett, Gilles Poitras, and Jonathan Osborne.  I think Steve looked significantly better in person than he does in those photos, Jonathan looks mostly the same as his photos, and Gilles's photos don't look quite right to me for some reason -- did he have more or less hair at Fanime 2005 or something?

Also, while browsing around, I came across http://www.derangedcoder.net/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/entertainment/anime/fanime_2005_day_three.html, which has beautiful pictures of Yamamoto Maria and Yamaga Hiroyuki.