Fanime 2006-Feedback Thread

[RyuHayabusa]

Ok, here is the FanimeCon 2006 feed back thread for you people.Post your comments concerning what you liked and didn't like about the con. Please keep it civil, thank you. :D

[Karisma Black]

I didn't like the artist room. I seriously liked it much better when they were just on the second floor of the convention center. It allowed people just wandering to see the art and buy stuff as opposed to having to specifically go into a room to find it. I'm sure the artists got better sales last year, too.

[drallcome]

Having Hentai night every night was great this time!

Next time have it a 24 hour adult only room.. hehe

LOVED MUSICFEST this year.. Thank you so much YesJapan/Japanfiles/J-List for the lineup! Yea for sponsors! And no, I was not payed to say this..hehe

[di3m05]

The schedules were much harder to read this year. It was just too small and there wasn't enough contrast with the shaded boxes and black text. Maybe it would be better if they were printed landscape as opposed to portrait?

Also, I think it would be better if a schedule was included in the bag with the convention program as opposed to being in a stack on the tables in the registration area. I know I can't be the only person who totally didn't notice them and walked straight into the convention after getting my badge.

Having Artist's Alley in a separate room was a little weird. It made the convention floor seem awfully empty and the artist's room was kind of stuffy. It was uncomfortable to be in there for too long.

[serajwl]

this year was pretty much amazing. I really have no complaints, except about the masquerade.

SO MANY WALK ONS. I think that in upcoming years, if we have that many walk ons, we should have them all go on at the same time.... kind of like a pageant or something. Because I got bored.

[Green_Tea]

1. This was my first time going to the Masquerade and I was upset by all the people just going up there and showing off their costumes. By the time the second half started we were already wanting to leave. Even a small stupid skit would be better than just going up there, posing, and then walking of stage.

2. I liked the artists being in a room this year. Last year I COULDN'T even look at anything because the hallways were so crowded I'd get shoved out of the way. This time I could actually BUY SOMETHING!

3. People need to keep a better eye on the rave/dance. There were seriously three couples we caught having sex in there IN ONE NIGHT!

4. Stage 0 was an awesome idea! It was great just to be able to sit down and watch something or catch something going on while you're wandering around.

5. THE GIRL WITH THE PURPLE HAIR SHOULD NOT SPEAK AT THE "HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS PANEL!" She would not even let the other panelists speak and had no idea what she was talking about. In fact, we left 20 minutes in after we heard one of the three other panelists say "Don't worry he's not going to get to talk any ways" when the guy was on his cell phone AT THE PANEL TABLE!! On a side note though, the how to talk to boys panel was hilarious

6. Having all the games in one room was great, but gave us nothing to do until 12 on friday because nothing was open! Perhaps the game room can open up earlier next con while we're waiting.

That's mainly it and all in all my group had a great time. Fanime was a blast this year and you'll definitly see us all again in '07.

[darkstar]

I'll put up more later, but here's one that bit me a couple times...

I know you guys like to have a lot of different media formats, but you have to make sure that you have the machinery to work with it -- even if you get a bit submarined.  Happened to the room I wanted to watch Friday morning and again for Midnight Madness.

[Vanessa]

I loved Stage Zero. It kept things moving and really grabbed my attention, just when I thought there was nothing to do; Stage Zero was doing something random. Loooooooooooved it. Hope to see it again in the future!

Really liked how Artist Alley was in another room. It wasn't throw in the middle of the con floor like last year, where last year I had artists having a hard time hearing me and there wasn't much space to look around. This year with them being in the new room they had space to show off their goods. I felt like I missed out on alot of artists last year and this year I did over 25 sketch commisions.

The Swap Meet in the gaming room was just *_* THANK YOU. awesome.

And in the gaming room, the plushie machine, freakin' AWESOME. If that had more of those I would have easily spent all my cash on that.

More USA Musume, PLEASE.

AMV's the set up/presentation was PERFECT, but there should be some sort of rule where a anime can only be used once. I saw (to me) so many video's will Hellsing and FMA and Azumanga... Ugh. I would KILL for some old school anime being used.

What I didn't like? I'm all for Yaoi and I've been a fan of it since 97' but there was just SO MUCH OF IT. O_o. Ugh, it seems like everyone was selling yaoi doujinshi. I know it's popular so there really isn't much I can say about that. I'd easily pay TOP $ for a decent het doujinshi.

The Cosplay event. So many jokes about ninja's and such on. Not everyone likes ninja's. But again, what can I do? And the walk on's. LAME. Half of the time, they didn't come close to the stage and for someone sitting on the sidelines in the stands, I didn't see them.

J-list was really tame. I was expecting more. Alot more.

[Nina Star 9]

maybe have two seperate events for walk-ons and skits? i honestly do not like skits (though i did a performance myself... xD) and having the skits and walk-ons together makes it go really long and makes it borning, i think. :/ also, the announcer guy was obnoxious and made way too many jokes about the stage ninjas. >> (and not only did he stumble through my group name and costume, but he said my name, mispronounced, mind you, alsmot as a side note. he sounded really confused and he should have asked beforehand at least how to pronounce my name! >.<)

slo, i did not like the dance being in that room. it smelled really bad, and that was just friday night. i cannot imagine how it was on later nights. >.< (and the music was too loud for that small of a space, i think...)

but enough complaints. i think that the con this year went really well, despite a few flaws. :P


EDIT: there was also a serious lack of amano. :P:P:P *hinthint*

[Stormfalcon]

This year was definitely better.  It was better organized, and moving the artists over to their own room was a good idea in terms of flow-of-traffic (i.e. it was easier for people to get to where they were going).  Stage Zero was also a good idea and I'd like to see that remain a regular part of the con.  

Schedule layout and printing could've been better though.  Instead of cramming two pages of info into one page with an illegible typeface (was there a problem with fonts between the computer it was created on and the computer it was printed from?), it should've been a double-sided sheet for each day, one side with the day's morning schedule and the other side with the evening one.  

Tabletop gaming should get a bigger room as well.  That was way too small a room for that kind of thing, and I saw some of the gaming spill out onto other nearby areas as a result.

[Kazuko]

OMG IT WAS SOOO GEWD!!!
scheduals were hard to read obviously but thats ok :3, music fest was good tooooo~

KAMIJO OMG <333333333 I loooved the concert ^____^ and i got a hug from him heheee

the dance was a little too stuffy x: it would have been nice for some AC in there~

and it was a good idea to put that border for ID checking for the yaoi and hentai rooms :3

[happysky]

Exhibit Hall 3 got it goin' on. Nice choice to move E-Gaming and Swap Meet there.

Also, although I didn't stick around, Stage Zero was nice.

[mDuo13]

Thumbs Up:
-Artists' Alley Room. I was dubious at first, but it really allowed for artists to have space to show off, and a place to draw attention. Having each of the doors be two-directional was a huge factor in making successful, though, because then you could just wander through there on the way to your destination, no matter which direction you were going, as opposed to walking circles like for the dealer's room. It was also really nice to be able to avoid the artists tables, especially the artists who were aggressively advertising their wares with guilt trips and all. Oh, and having the autograph sessions in there was excellent, since there was always plenty of room for the long lines.

-Asian Film: The asian cinema rooms have become one of my favorite parts of Fanime Con, because I can walk in any time day or night, and find a great movie I've never seen - probably not even heard of - and enjoy it; better yet, there's no hentai so they're a great place to hang out for those of us who aren't into that sort of thing.

-E-Gaming Room: Putting the arcade, the consoles, and the LAN in that one huge room was ingenious. There was easily enough space for each event, tons of events going on simultaneously within seconds of each other, and it made the room a one-stop go for interactive entertainment, plus there was still room left over for extra things like the swap meet or "pikaball", and most of all, no rampant BO.

-Stage 1: The dance was much better in the small room, where crowds are possible, and having the J-rock bands playing at various times was also great because it gave people a chance to see some if they were busy during MusicFest, as well as being a nice place to stop off during downtime. The only problem was ventilation - that room was, unfortunately, blasting hot, and very stuffy - but compared to last year's dance, it was a small sacrifice.

-Centralized Panel Room: Having all the panels in a single consistent and central location was great - really easy; no time spent trying to locate the right one at the right time like I've done last year.

Do Better:

-Stage Zero: This is an idea with great potential. However, it's going to take a little refinement to make it truly good. Some problems with the stage: (1) it was usually hard to see the screen, between problems with pillars and ambient light, (2) the game shows, prize giveaways, and whatnot going on were consistently run by annoying announcers (sorry if I offend anyone); the only way to avoid this, though, is to tweak the programming layout for Stage Zero, and, speaking of which, (3) the vast majority of the programming for Stage Zero was easily forgettable.

-Tabletop Gaming: Last year's Tabletop was about the best ever at a Fanime. That room was conveniently-located, huge, and populated with great cushy chairs and big tables. This year's posed a stark contrast: out-of-the-way, miniscule (there were about 4 tables, it seemed), and devoid of interest. Last year, I was able to pop in and watch games or play a quick pick-up of Apples to Apples whenever I needed somewhere to go; this year, there basically wasn't room for pickup games, the room required a trek to reach in the first place, and the hostile white design of the room was very uninviting, too.

-Schedule: As usual, schedules were a problem. This time it wasn't availability, mostly, because when I got there Friday morning the Friday schedule was already printed, and the other three days the schedules came out in a pretty timely fashion, plus there were online copies for people with that much foresight. The problem was the tiny print - they should definitely have had half as much information per page, in a landscape-style printjob, as in previous years. Also, workshops - as opposed to panels - were pretty much missing from the schedule, so I never did find out when (or if) Cel Painting and whatnot happened.

-Program Guide: Blame it on the shakeup in the staff if you want, but the program guide had little worthwhile information in it; in previous years we've had comics, Japanese-language tips, and other advice. This year, it's missing some really key info, such as descriptions and/or images of the anime scheduled for showing - I know there's a lot, but at least pulling out a few key titles would be better than not mentioning the anime programming in any detail whatsoever in the book. Descriptions of panels and workshops too, might help attendance improve for good workshops.

-Miami: This is just personal taste, but from what I saw about Miami, they were not extremely talented, nor did they make music nearly as catchy as the booklet portrays them.

No Comment:
-Video Room programming choices
-Dealer's Room
-Hentai or Yaoi

[uzutake]

It was my very first CONVENTION overall so OMFG I HAD THE GREATEST TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

BAD THINGS::

Exhibit Hall 2(I think, the Dealer's Room?) why was the exit in from of the entrance? Even though I kept walking in and out of it like...a million times...I still got confused.

The Schedule...that was hard to read...I had to take off my glasses and stare at it for...25 seconds b4 my eyes could get used to it.

I had a 7-year-old with me...and some of the performances and stuff werent exactly rated PG...she's okay with yaoi and that(since I'm a die-hard fan) Great Idea for next year: put a rating next to the performances. Maybe like a sign or something :3

For the yaoi marathons and such...Gakuen Heaven and Gravitation arent rated R or anything...they're Shonen Ai, not Yaoi. Maybe have a Yaoi marathon for people 18+ then have a Shonen-ai one for people ages...13+? Ionno, but I'm pretty young and LOVE LOVE LOVE yaoi.

GOOD THINGS::

KAMIJO!!!!!!! He was soooooo cool and nice! He walked around all of Exhibit 3 and complimented the stands and everything! Then he'd pose for pictures and yeah...I've never met a star that was so willing like that. More people like him please!

The people were so nice!!! I dont know if that's a compliment to the convention or the people, but hey, it's a compliment alright!

I dont have any other specifics to comment on, but this convention just ROCKED! I dont know, use every other word out there that can easily be a compliment: FANTASTIC! AMAZING! COOL! SUGOI! FRIKIN AWESOME! RADICAL! SHWEEET! GREAT! THE BEST! ...etc...

I'm definately going back NEXT year!!! :D

[DayDreamerNessa]

Wow so many complaints about the masquerade

I personally really enjoyed it, and for those of you who are knocking down walk-on's or skits, is really poor taste i mean those people put so much time and effort into what they do and want to show it off.

I don't think you should bash them, just simply say your suggestion it gets your point across, and just keep comments like that to yourself and friends.

anyways here's my opinions!

goods

masquerade- i loved how you guys had me entertained the entire time, from the beginning videos from traveling valentine, to half-time performances, to the amv winners showings, as well as the awesome karoeke winner she had an awesome voice!
-from a stand-point in participating in the masquerade, it ran smoothly, and i liked that we could watch the masquerade as well!

dealers room- i LOVED how it was set-up this year, it seemed like there were more dealers this year too. PLUS i bought merchandise for the first time in like 3 years at a con, bcause there was some cool stuff there.

stage zero-i loved being in the game show and hope that it continues, it was entertaining to sit down for a bit.

baddies

artist row- plain and simple i like it outside in the convention center.

schedule- i agree with whoever else said they should put it in the registration bag, it just makes things easier.

rapping at stage zero- on saturday there was a group of rappers performing at fanime on stage zero, i don't care for that music and it totally didn't seem to fit in. and some of the lyrics weren't family friendly, and i hear that this is supposed to be family-friendly con? I'd like it if that wasn't there next year it was loud and obnoxious.

[NachoManLance]

I only had a couple things to mention, because everything else was fine with me.

I don't know if it was just me, but the Dealer's Room wasn't good this year. Most of the merchandise available was the same thing as the booth next door, so the only thing I could do in there was see if one booth was selling for cheaper. And, this is just my personal thing, but I found it annoying that most of the things I saw for sale were Naruto or Bleach. Since I'm not anything more than an occasional fan of the series', I was left with little else to purchase. Hopefully next year there will be more dealers to choose from.

I also got irked by the order of performance at MusicFest. I loved all the bands that played, but with all the jumping around and throwing of the horns, most of us seemed extremely tired by the time UP HOLD came up. Given their style of music, many would've expected to go as crazy as possible. Maybe if they (or bands like them) performed earlier, then the group can get the crazy jumping and horn-throwing they deserve.

Lastly, I wish that more people came to MusicFest. I know that at the Masquerade the seats are completely filled, but there's not as much love for the bands that traveled many hours just to perform that one night. It won't hurt to check it out one year, won't it?

[Mew]

The Good
- I loved the two seiyuu guests! I didn't know much about them but they were really fun. Sanada san was EXTREMELY nice and Mizushima san was special because he remembered me the entire con and I got to have a little convo with him. X.3 I'm sad that I didn't realize he was in Daiz with Kishio Daisuke san until now. (I had heard about Daizu a lot but was only familiar with Kishio san so I didn't really remember Mizushima san. .T_T)
- Free wireless!! It was really useful.


The Not So Good
- It was hard to get through when something big was going on at Stage Zero. While I think Stage Zero is a cool idea, I think its location should be reconsidered since it really does block traffic when everyone's in the area.
- More odor removers near tabletop gaming please? It didn't smell as bad today (Monday) but it sucked having to go to the bathroom the other days and passing by the room. .x_x Soap is your friend!! How 'bout Glade plugins or something?
- People who shout out stuff during events/anime trying to be funny or just pointing out people's mistakes, whatever. Who cares? BE. QUIET.
- Not the con's fault, but the dealer's room was quiet meh this year. I only bought two things and they were so I could get them signed by guests.
- Schedules. It'd be nice to have the schedules in on time so they could be included in the bags when picking up our badge. Schedules have been late for the pat 2 or 3 years. Also, that one copy of the schedule where the text was all squished and difficult to read was horrible. I'm glad it was replaced by a more legible one but I don't think attendees should have to get 3 different copies of schedules.


Suggestions
- Seems like this was thought of at the closing ceremony, but yeah, definitely switch the Video Room #1 and Stage One rooms. It's nice having the video rooms together so we don't have to walk across the con center.


That's all I can think of right. Sorry for having more complaints than priases but overall, this year was much better than last year's and I'm really looking forward to 2007!

[Nina Star 9]

Wow so many complaints about the masquerade

I personally really enjoyed it, and for those of you who are knocking down walk-on's or skits, is really poor taste i mean those people put so much time and effort into what they do and want to show it off.

I don't think you should bash them, just simply say your suggestion it gets your point across, and just keep comments like that to yourself and friends.

i think i need to clairfy what i was saying, whether or not this was directed at me.

i was not bashing skits. i know how much work goes into them and i think that it is great that people can get up on stage and do this. i simply do not like them because the majority of them are jammed full of anime/video game/internet jokes that i do not get because i do not like anime, video games, and those typical internet jokes all that much. i also know that a lot of people do not like walk ons becasue they are "boring" or whatever their excuse is. i think that to solve the problem of people complaining about one or the other is to have two seperate events that are both part of the masquerade- the walk-on portion that everyone has to be in just to show off their costume, and the performance section. this way, people can see the costumes but not the skits or see the skits and not the walk-ons. plus, the participants and the audience will not be thinking by the end "okay, when will this thing be over? i'm tired!".

while it may be harder to coordinate, i think that it will make the masquerade better. the average otaku doe snot have a very long attention span, you know, and having two seperate events will also keep people's atention better. :P

[serajwl]

If the point of walk ons is to see people's craftsmanship, I think that it should be held somewhere where people can get a good up-close look at the costumes, because in most cases a really well-made cosplay looks the same as a not so well made cosplay at the distance that the audience is at.

[DayDreamerNessa]

If the point of walk ons is to see people's craftsmanship, I think that it should be held somewhere where people can get a good up-close look at the costumes, because in most cases a really well-made cosplay looks the same as a not so well made cosplay at the distance that the audience is at.

they do do that it's craftsmanship judging and they do it prior to the masquerade, but they ask those who are going for craftsmanship to go onstage even if they don't have a skit planned and do a simple walk-on.

And not everyone who does walk-ons goes for craftsmanship as well =)