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Is there a trend among anime conventions, Fanime included, to deemphasize anime in favor of other activities--cosplay, gaming, panels, special guests, dealers--that can only occur at a con? Years ago, when I started going to cons, they were the only way you could see anime, but now, it's widely available to stream or download, so it looks like at least some cons are phasing it out or way down.

I was in the second booking window (starting 10:00) today. Around 9:45, I started checking availability for the Marriott and the Hilton, which was good. Then, starting around 9:56, availability of various types of rooms started disappearing. Strange, because you'd expect people in the earlier window to book as soon as possible, not at the very end. At 9:59, only one type of room at the Marriott and none at the Hilton had availability. OK, great, I got into the Marriott. But then around 10:10, out of curiosity, I checked again, and there were many types of rooms at both hotels available that had been unavailable at 10:00. This is not the first year I've seen this. Does anyone have any idea what's going on here?

I've seen several posts on Facebook about various activities that are returning to Fanime this year. Not mentioned so far: video programming. I assume that there is quite a bit of lead time in arranging the programming, and that by now a decision on whether or not to include it this year must have been made. The lack of an announcement makes me think the answer is "no." Does anyone know? Thanks very much.

As this chain indicates, there was no video programming at 2022 Fanime as a consequence of the covid policy then in effect. For 2023, Fanime has a similar covid policy. Does anyone know if things have changed or there is some work-around that would permit video programming to be resumed at this year's Fanime?

Thank you, HunterZero, for by far the most credible and articulate explanation I have heard about this. Hopefully, by next year the pandemic will be under control or behind us, but even if not, maybe the Convention Center would be satisfied with the vaccination wristband (free) for access to the screening rooms then, rather than a paid badge.

There wasn't the standard video programming this year, and I heard various unrelated explanations for that (video is now easily streamed; rooms lack ventilation required during a pandemic, etc.). Can anyone say definitively what the reason was? Will video programming return to future Fanimes?

Thanks! I had missed that point.

I greatly enjoyed the con, but there were recurring technical issues with videos, affecting most of the videos I watched. Let's start with some examples. For The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, the technician tried to call it up but got an error message that it required access to premium content. She/he went to the streaming account, which said there was already access to premium content. This process was repeated many times for at least 20 minutes, after which I walked out because either the end would be cut off (which apparently was the case for the Love Live movie) or I would miss the start of the next item on my schedule. There was also a significant delay for Gotobun no Hanayome. Why? The tech couldn't find it, because he/she was searching under the Japanese name, but the streaming service listed it only under the English name, Quintessential Quintuplets. ReLIFE started OK, but the tech selected the final episodes, rather than the first. Alice and Zoroku got off to a late start because the tech was streaming episode 6 of Knight's Magic rather than starting Alice. There were several more glitches, but you get the idea. Somewhere along the line, one of the techs figured out that the cache and other items had to be cleared before the streaming service would work properly. There were also some issues with sound levels, and in many cases, the techs had to go with English dub because they could not make Japanese with subtitles (seemingly preferred by the vast majority of the audience) work.

I can't help feeling that all this could have been avoided, and it would have been a much smoother experience, if the tech team had practiced queuing up all the videos beforehand. Most of these kinks could probably have been identified and worked out. Certainly, the experience with Gotobun no Hanayome is evidence that this was not done.

I love this con, and look forward to coming back to it for many years. Please take these comments not as complaints, but an effort to help you make it better.

The fundamental problem is that there is just not enough housing to go around.  According to Wikipedia, when Fanime first moved to San Jose in 2004, there were a little over 6,000 attendees.  By 2013 (last reported data), there were over 25,000 attendees.  I doubt that the Con has shrunk since then.  It sounds like it may have outgrown its venue, so that there is simply no way to provide housing fairly to everyone who wants it.  Does anyone know if a large number of people either can't attend, or pay exorbitant hotel rates, because they can't get the Con rates?  Is there some alternative Bay Area venue that could affordably accommodate this event?