CJ and Rakuen rocked Columbus! Well, CJ only rocked Friday night, but she made the most of what time she had there with the first ever Borderline Hikikomori Aniblogging Panel. After her and Rakuen babbled their way through that, there was lots of time for Brawl, the dealers’ room, crazy fangirls in Artist Alley and… Caramelldansening with Rakuen’s hijacked cell phone. Yes, we did get a group Caramelldansen going. And yes, CJ looked like an idiot.
Even after the beloved admin’s departure, though, there was plenty left for Rakuen to do. Between panels and gaming and tons of other stuff, Matsuricon was a blast all three days. It continues to rival larger cons’ quality, especially with its atmosphere and teen-friendliness.
CJ
My third year at Matsuricon opened smoothly, with my Lou Fa (D.Gray-man) cosplay working fine and the registration line being rather short. Despite a pair of hiccups while registering (lack of clear registration directions and the badge being more expensive than I though) Rakuen and I got me checked in and headed off to run around AA before the panel started.
Unfortunately, the panel began with a hiccup too: the projector was giving us grief. Sigh. But a nice con tech guy came in and fixed it for us quickly enough (thank you! <3) and we got started once people showed up around 5:15. That’s the only problem with going to a small con and having a Friday timeslot: your panel room might be empty for the first 5-15 minutes. Consider yourselves warned, future M-con panelists. :)
Still, once the panel got started, we had lots of fun with the guys from Ending B and a couple other people, and got some fabulous feedback. Since things went so well, we do plan on doing the panel (and perhaps a more in-depth, advanced ’sequel’) at Ohayocon this year!
Afterwards, I cranked up the Caramelldansen on my cell phone (which eventually died, so then stuffed the memory card in Rakuen’s phone and used IT) and ran around AA and the game room before getting tranquilized by Rakuen distracted by the shiny objects in the dealer’s room. There was slightly better swag in there than last year, though not enough Soul Eater stuff. Still, I got a “WEAPON” t-shirt with the Soul Eater logo on it (partly thanks to mooching off Rakuen) and some other cool stuff, which I may review later. <3
Then I got distracted by more shiny objects Higurashi cosplayers! And then there were MORE awesome cosplayers! So I stopped shopping and took some pictures, like any sensible fangirl.
AND THEN THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD HAPPENED. I started it. Therefore I WIN. (Can you tell my arms were already quite exhausted? XD)
All in all, a great night with lots of fun people met. Aside from the aforementioned minor issues and a small cosplay hiccup (I got mistaken for Emma from Phoenix Wright… understandably so, but still XD) everything went FABULOUS. (and even getting mistaken for Emma was really fun. <3) Matsuricon continues to be a stunner of a small con, though it won’t be small much longer – Rakuen noted that almost 900 badges were sold, not including staff and dealers. A very minor- and parent-friendly con with a friendly enough atmosphere that even if you can’t find programming to attend, you can always just chill and make new friends. Convention score: 8 out of 10.
Rakuen:
Well, Matsuricon has come and passed, so I guess it’s time for a bit of reflection on it. Overall, I think this year is much improved over last and I’m hoping for good things in the coming years from the convention.
I arrived pretty early on Friday, just after 1 PM, and attended the Sailor Moon fan panel. I thought it was pretty informative, and even managed to stay relevant with more updated information, not something you’d expect from a series that’s been finished for a dozen years. After that was a bit of idling around until the Aniblogging 101 panel I ran with CJ at 5. Not many people showed up, unfortunately, the timeslot obviously isn’t the greatest, but I’m pleased that some did attend and I think it was a good first run for it. The next few hours was spent pretty much socializing until the late night Whose Line show, which I think went well given it was our first time officially running it.
Saturday started at 9:30, mostly because the people in the room I stayed in couldn’t keep quiet. At noon I went to the Voice Actor Roundtable, I was pretty pleased with it overall. The guests seemed to be having a good time, and the room was surprisingly full, I’ve been used to seeing the room pretty empty for this kind of event. That immediately went into Whose Line is it Anime, which again, went well. I had a bit of downtime between that and the Masquerade. Since this is still and young and small convention, the Masquerade wasn’t tremendously large, however, it was extremely well attended. Some good friends of mine managed to bring home Best Journeyman, Best Performance, and Best in Show, so I was pretty excited about all that. The rave was also well attended, and while I didn’t spend much time in there, several friends of mine assured me it was good, so I’ll take their word for it.
Now for some general points on the convention and its performance. First of all, I was pretty impressed with the guest list. Matsuricon managed to bring in a lot of guests that aren’t normally seen in this area, which is always a plus in attracting attendees. They also had a pretty ambitious advertising campaign, partnering off with about a half dozen conventions. This must have paid off somewhere, because paid attendance was at almost 900 this year. The game room was pretty decent given the size of the room available for it. The Dealer’s Room was almost exactly the same as it was last year, from what I can remember, which isn’t really a bad thing. I believe the Artist’s Alley, on the other hand, had several more participants this year, which is always good. A new panel room was added, further expanding the programming available.
The two gripes I personally had with the convention were brought up at the feedback session, and they assured us that they’re working on it for next year, so I’m pleased with the way things are progressing. Hopefully, next year will be even better. Convention score: 8 out of 10.
