FanimeCon 2013
By Karen Wang
27 May 2013
27 May 2013
Today marks the conclusion of another successful FanimeCon! This has been my fourth time attending Fanime, which is held in downtown San Jose every Memorial Day weekend. For those of you who are wondering, Fanime is a mix of the words “fan” and “anime”, and its aptly-chosen slogan is “By fans, for fans.” This year’s Fanime was slightly different from previous years because the San Jose McEnery Convention Center is currently undergoing construction. Much to the dismay of many cosplayers and cosplay photographers, the usual beautiful backdrop that the Convention Center provides was replaced by construction fences and a lack of open space for photographing. In addition, many vital functions such as Registration and Artist Alley were moved to nearby venues such as the Fairmont hotel and South Hall building, making it more difficult for con-goers to get to these places.
Nevertheless, the turnout of cosplayers was impressive as usual. Due to release of new anime titles in the past year, new appearances included Shingeki no Kyojin and K Project cosplays. Older series such as D.Gray-Man and Bleach saw less cosplay appearances compared to previous years, while the most popular ones such as One Piece and Legend of Korra continue to see dedicated cosplayers year after year. In addition to fantastic cosplays, this year’s Fanime featured Japanese rock bands 7!! (pronounced “seven-woops”) and ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D, who performed at the Music Fest held on Saturday evening at the Civic Center.
Fanime also boasts a huge variety of fan-hosted panels. Highlights this year included How to Make EVA Foam Armor (EVA foam is used to make those cool, incredibly complex armor cosplays you might have seen before), Female Characters in Anime, and the Evolution of K-pop. Speaking of K-pop, this year’s Fanime Stage Zero programming included lots of K-pop music videos, as well as multiple cosplayer sightings of Psy, the Korean singer known for his “Oppan Gangnam Style” music video. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the conclusion of the Sailor Moon anime series. In celebration, Fanime held a 10-hour marathon of the entire Sailor Moon series on Sunday night and Monday morning. Also on Sunday night was the Black and White Ball held at Parkside Hall, where con attendees dressed in their finest black and white formal-wear or cosplay and danced the night away.
As usual, some of my favorite parts of attending FanimeCon were the small things, like standing in an elevator with Princess Peach or seeing a crowd of cosplayers crossing the street to get Psycho Donuts. In addition, from my experiences this year, I also learned a lot more about how to make the most out of a convention trip and cosplay project, which I will incorporate into the guides on CosPlayGround.
Until next year, FanimeCon!