Anime theme rule

[Erik_anderson]

To address a few posts:

I will try to be transparent as possible around the logic I am using and how it plays out.  I would like to move this to a different thread though. 

Background :

The rules currently stand at:

6.   All entries must be based on the following requirements:
       •   Asian film, such as characters from 13 Assassins (Japan) or The Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate (China),  47 Ronin
       •   Asian animation, such as the Japanese animation Naruto, the Korean animation Wonderful Days, Asian inspired anime like Big Hero 6.
       •   Asian comics, such as the Japanese Fairy Tail, Korean Breaker, or Chinese Story of the Tao, or
       •   Asian-origin video game, such as Final Fantasy or Ragnarok Online, or Street fighter
       •   Asian music stars (such as Girls' Generation). 
       •   Asian-inspired sources; including your own inspiration, such as an Avatar.
       •   The rule of thumb is: if the series and/or character originated anywhere else than the Pacific, it doesn't qualify. If you aren't sure, ask [email protected]

KuriQueenofFeels

I'm also concerned about the "grey area" of the masquerade. I have a few video game characters, 2/3 are of Asian descent, the other is american. But since they're altogether in one skit, I think It'll be fine. Any Thoughts?

The race of the characters is less of a concern as the origin or feel of the work.  Aforementioned Full Metal Alchemist as an example. in recent years most anime comming out of Japan and Korea seems to have predominantly american looking characters, but are clearly works created from or to these markets. 

A good grey area is Big hero 6, it is a american franchise, based off (in very small part) a Marvel property, but its a clearly Asia themed source.  My view is I would include it, its not a avengers / Star Trek or Matrix with an undertone of a western prospective and style, its a, often comically, styled anime motion picture. 

Ok, so I wasn't going to bring this issue up, considering it actually would make me and my friend disqualified, but. When the heck has the Asian only media rule ever actually been put into place? I know for a fact over the years there has been non asian inspired cosplays entered in the masquerade, and they have won major awards at that. I could understand it as a 'preference' to have asian only, but having it restricted to only that does seem a little crazy with how the actual convention seems to go with cosplays/ media and such.

I think the clear understanding is that if a cosplay is an exception to a rule it needs to be discussed and approved. Perhaps I should be more clear on this, but in general folks ask.  I am limited to what I can talk about this year, because I just ethically can't talk about someones cosplay before they have a chance to show it, however one of them is from a clear US game property that had a very much Asia themed elements and even a clear desire to embrace it.  Ensuring this is clear in the presentation is enough for me to quality the performance. Examples of other rules which exceptions are made for: Time limits, music requirements, and number of people on the stage.

A ten plus years ago there was no question if you brought a cosplay to an anime convention it was 99% likely related to an anime theme.  However as the rise in popularity of cosplay and conventions in general has grown the blending and in some cases the over saturation of general or popular media has caused people to want to push back and preserve more of the anime feel.

On the flip side I understand where you are coming from, the vast majority of my cosplays are not anime focused because frankly there are very few stocky white guy characters in the current crop of titles. I also complete at ComicCons, Dr who conventions and the like, so I see first hand some of the amazing cosplays out there that don't qualify.

Enkai

It doesn't have to be planned before Fanime, though it could be, but I dunno, something like how it was before.  When we checked in on Friday or Saturday, we said what our preference was as to when we wanted to perform (my group at the time usually liked to be between groups 5-12 or so), and preference was given to whoever checked in first.  While that order might get shifted in rehearsal when discoveries were made about how costumes/routines interacted in the schedule (I remember a Black Lady cosplay moving her skit when she discovered she was preceded by another Black Lady cosplay at rehearsal), those were the exceptions not the rule.

I don't see any issue with your preference and how we are planning on scheduling the run book.  There are tweaks I do make to balance out long running skits, to many back to back tends to make them forgettable and also the audience impatient.  You already brought up the duplicate franchise issue, but there is also how much room to stage a large group.  Its much more efficient to not have 4 8 person groups back to back.  So some discretion is used, but it in no way means that compromises can not be made.

Lets continue