Messages

Makoto Shinkai! *_*

[separate]

At least you get free admission included with your Fanime ticket.  I agree that it feels like Fanime is a ghost of its former self, I still enjoy it.  I suppose that by them running two cons, there's a little bit of something for everyone to enjoy.

I mean, I feel like this is part of the problem. It's not necessarily "free admission," because you're paying for it with your Fanime registration. When you go to register for Clockwork, it takes you to the Fanime reg page. So this means they're using your money from Fanime reg to run Clockwork. I understand the advantages of having "a little bit for everyone," but that really shouldn't mean a whole different con being run alongside Fanime. This is also a problem for people who are fans of both things, because they would not be able to do all the things they want to at both cons. There might be wonderful panels and events that take place at the same time at both cons, and people would have the stress of just not being able to make it to them.

Ultimately, I just don't think it's fair for everyone, fans of one thing and also for fans of both.

From what we been told in the days after Fanime was over in the feedback chaos,  is that Clockwork has it's own staff. And that Fanime's problems was of its own lack of staff/in for seen problems. Fanime only helped in advertising Clockwork.  So we been told.

Of course that may or may not be true. But that was the story they told us at the feedback panel and in the feedback forums.

If they say so, I guess there's really not much we can do to about it. If that is truly the case, as they say, then the main issue is still the money they're using for it. Also, it's more than them just being advertised by Fanime. Their registration is the same, so they're definitely being run together by Fanime itself.

I'll admit, this thread makes me curious about how much reg money goes to Clockwork. It's probably not a simple split since both cons share some resources (housing, shuttle, webspace, etc).

I know not EVERY dollar I spend on reg goes towards something I personally take part in, but when there's a whole other con under the same financial umbrella... eh...

Yeah, you're right that I also don't do every thing I pay for at Fanime, but that's simply due to not every person being involved in every aspect of the anime/Japanese media/culture spectrum. However, I'm just concerned that the money that should be going towards making Fanime a great experience every year, is being divided for a completely unrelated con. I don't believe it's a 50% split, but any amount is too much.

TLDR; If they want a steampunk con, they should have a steampunk con. But it should have separate registration.

[full website launch,]

I feel like there are a lot of problems with the conventions being the same weekend. Fanime trying to run TWO cons at once seems like a waste of resources that, ultimately, affect Fanime itself. Ever since management shifted, and they started doing two cons, Fanime has been much more disappointing to me. I've been attending since 2004, and the con was always amazing those first handful of years I went. But now things have changed dramatically.

Heck, Clockwork Alchemy already has a full website launch, and has since January. Now we're three months away and still no Fanime site launch or any projected date yet. I feel that with trying to create a successful steam punk con every year, both cons are not getting the attention and resources they deserve.

Personally, I feel that if the cons were different weekends, organizers could focus more on each separate con and things would run more smoothly.

The worst of it is that I am paying good money for Fanime. I'm paying for an anime convention, and don't appreciate my money being used for another con I am not interested in. I realize that many people are fans of both, and I myself used to like steam punk quite a lot, but it seems extremely unfair to attendee's to get divided resources.

Is there anyone at Fanime who can address these issues?

I've been considering the idea of putting together a Free! panel for Fanime 2014 -



I feel the popularity of the series would make it in-demand, although I'd love some suggestions and such from fellow fans ^^

What I *don't* want to make is an "Ask a Character" panel with various cosplayers playing the characters. I think it'd be more fun as a media panel with discussions on season 1, Japanese events, videos, games, and speculation for season 2!

Any comments or suggestions?

The site was crazy this year. I was fortunate to be able to book through the site, but it took furious refreshing and typing. However, I am constantly sickened by the people who boast about having booked 3-10 rooms for their own agenda's. Hoarders not only scalp rooms later on, but use them as a "business" and rent them out at various prices to minors and others. I saw some guy advertising this exact service on cosplay.com in past years. He said he got all of the rooms because he had a "source" working in one of the joining hotels who would book all the rooms for him every year. I think he said he had 15?

TLDR; room limits should be implemented and strictly enforced. Maximum of one-two rooms under a name at a time. If you have a large group, assign various people to book the rooms. I feel as though this should especially be used since the convention is growing larger every year.

Anyone from the Yugioh franchise, but most of all:

Kenjirou Tsuda (VA)

[Pros:]

Pros:

-Water available in many locations
-Artist Alley looked great this year, but that's thanks to the great artists who came!
-Pocket guides! Thanks goodness those are back. They are amazing.

cons:

-Guests of Honor...Fanime seemed to really fall short on guests this year. Not to offend guests who were invited, but with such a good track record, Fanime really let me down this year big time. Also, the extremely late confirming of all the guests. It seemed that the GoH team was very unorganized and waited too long to try and get guests to come at all.  

-I know I don't need to say it, but registration. This is the first year this has ever been a problem, but I hope it doesn't happen again next year.

-No music playing throughout the concourse this year

---

I don't have much else to point out, but this year really let me down. I'm sorry Fanime, I still had fun, but I really hope you step up your game and win us back over next year. Otherwise, I'm going to keep my money and start going down to AX instead.

Happy to have you! Can't wait to meet up! :D

I have, check yours too :3

[Day:]

Day: Saturday
Time: 10PM


We will be hosting a Yugioh fan panel Saturday night at 10PM!

The panel will talk about everything that makes the Yugioh fandom as unique and diverse as it is, but also showcase the Japanese Yugioh fandom on NicoNicoDouga compared to the Western fandom on youtube, popular videos from both sides, a fun trivia challenge with great Yugioh prizes, non-card collector's items you don't want to miss, Duel Network, news, cosplay, art, and much more that can't be put into words!

Join four mega-fan panelists: Slifer, Malindachan, Yushimi, Futsukushii-chan, and Little Kuriboh, as we laugh and cry about the series that changed all our lives.

Questions? Feel free to ask! Suggestions? We welcome them!

See you May 26th!

[really]

It seems odd that there is suddenly an influx of guest announcements. Not that I'm complaining, but it seems like Fanime purposely waited until now to announce them? I find it hard to believe that's it's all just coincidental that the contracts/planning all came together at the same time for all different guests. Not that I care anymore, since LK will be attending at least, but it is really weird and unlike the past eight years I've attended. Is Fanime under new management or something?

I don't believe I posted here yet, but I will be going as Rolling Girl Miku ^^ as long as the meet doesn't conflict with something "OMGHJKSHLF MUST GO" then I'll be there :> can't wait!

Sigh...I feel it's not worth mentioning how anxious this situation is, as I'm sure Fanime is well aware of the date. Things happen, sure, and it can't be easy to deal with all of the complaints while there's a convention to be happening in a month's time. But I do share the extremely high anxiety the rest of the people in this thread seem to be dealing with =_= it's very disappointing to still have no word of anything. I know Fanime is still working very hard though, so I'm trying to remain optimistic. I hope this delay does mean that, in fact, a very big guest is coming ><

[Sekihan.]

I think I forgot to mention him in a post before, but dude....Sekihan. [赤飯] Sekihan is a famous niconico singer who gained stardom from his covers of popular vocaloid songs. But, he's also an established solo artist, with many original songs as well. But I've never seen a guy give such a entertaining live performance XDDDD EVER. He cracks me up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kzk52LVMDU&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLAEBA91B362D3F351

He's a "trap" singer too...he naturally has a deep Visual Kei voice, but can also sing in a very convincing female voice (1:38 above). He also switches between his VK voice and an amazing upbeat tenor voice---> (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rScxgpPyf6Q&list=LL2_8L_xLyKi8xm3HCsS1Gbw&index=21&feature=plpp_video), and can also do opera (2:46 in the first link) XD he's hilarious!

*notices maid video clicking on nearby links.* What did I just watch? lol

LOL, oh my gosh that song...he's a genius xD I don't know of any American singer who would even consider prancing in a maid outfit on stage lol. But he definitely does it wonderfully.

What really gets me is when he is singing all cutesy and happily in his girl voice, in the maid outfit, but then suddenly switches to super screamo at 1:45; and then back to cute at 2:04 in a snap.

[Sekihan.]

I think I forgot to mention him in a post before, but dude....Sekihan. [赤飯] Sekihan is a famous niconico singer who gained stardom from his covers of popular vocaloid songs. But, he's also an established solo artist, with many original songs as well. But I've never seen a guy give such a entertaining live performance XDDDD EVER. He cracks me up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kzk52LVMDU&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLAEBA91B362D3F351

He's a "trap" singer too...he naturally has a deep Visual Kei voice, but can also sing in a very convincing female voice (1:38 above). He also switches between his VK voice and an amazing upbeat tenor voice---> (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rScxgpPyf6Q&list=LL2_8L_xLyKi8xm3HCsS1Gbw&index=21&feature=plpp_video), and can also do opera (2:46 in the first link) XD he's hilarious!

THAT SUBWAY. The new Subway they opened right across the street (next to the Saint Claire, and just outside the Marriott exit) was a lifesaver last year. I'm sure they made bank too during the convention; the place always had a line to the door every time we went. We went their every day for lunch, and got a full and healthy meal. I know I could get Subway anytime anywhere, but during the con..somehow it became 10x more delicious, and suddenly seemed 10x more affordable too. We were able to walk back to the con with our sandwiches and sit somewhere for a bit of relaxation, while still being able to enjoy the general con ambiance too.

Got a room at the Saint Claire! I was considering trying the Hilton or Marriott this year just for something new, but they were gone by the time I logged on, so it's the Saint Clare again this year ^^ I'm pretty happy about it though--I stayed there last year and they were amazing.

[over 104,000 views]

Just wanted to add a few more people, but also mention Little Kuriboh again. He's always really awesome about promoting cons he's invited to, and has already made two youtube videos promoting Kami-con next month. The first gained over 104,000 views in just one week. [edit: Another 6,000 since this post, and going up every day :D ]

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smFoW0JbH6E&context=C32f212bADOEgsToPDskKbe3UcBKHaqbxj--37saFW)
Star power: he has it. With him in mind, bringing Shadyvox (Blake Swift) would also be awesome.

Others:

Anyone from Crypton Future Media (Geniuses behind Vocaloid/Hatsune Miku). It's a long shot, but thought I'd throw it out there xD

Mamoru Miyano (VA-Light Yagami, Tamaki Suoh, Zero Kiryu, etc)

Kazuki Takahashi (Yugioh.)

Yana Toboso (Manga-ka, who's probably too busy with Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji, but..)

And those are all my dream people xD thank you!

[Ikimono Gakari.]

Ikimono Gakari.

I've watched their youtube performances live, and they are beyond brilliant. Their vocalist is amazing, and has that naturally amazing voice without any need for fancy editing work (or editing at all really). They also did the OP for Naruto Shippuden, "Blue Bird." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-rwfMvgaLs]  --the singing starts at around 2:00--the intro is just really epic.

[Hotel:]

Hotel: St. Claire

Would you book next year: Yes!

Pros: QUIET (ridiculously so, actually. It was so nice), friendly and helpful staff, mini fridge, futon available, staff let us check-in early, and they were able to bring our car back for us just to get something out that was forgotten.

Cons: Room was a little small I guess, but really nothing that was inconvenient. It was cozy. People have said that the walls are paper thin, but I didn't notice anything the entire weekend o.o

Special Notes to Share: Being disconnected from the con center is very relaxing! The elevators didn't back up at all, and the walk is only about 10 feet (lol). So you got your fresh air every morning, and felt ready to take on the day's craziness. It's also on the panel/video room side of the convention center (across the street, but you get what I mean), so you can go back and forth in just a few minutes.