Well, the third Anime Central has some and gone, so it's time for my report
on the convention.
Thursday, May 11. "Traveling Man"
I know that Thursday was not part of the convention, but I did my traveling
on this day. I was on vacation that week, so I figured that I could leave
early for the convention. Got into Arlington Heights (suburb of Chicago)
about eight PM, and got myself set at the Ucchan's. They showed the CDS
fanparody "Koko Wa Otaku," as well as a video of the back-masked song
"Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads, with interpretive words (at least
it sounded right).
Friday, May 12 "So Much Convention, So Little Time"
Well, after some breakfast, I went to the Sheraton Arlington Park. (This was
not the first convention that I have been to at this hotel. Some years and
one name change ago I attended a miniature gaming convention named Little
Wars, held at that hotel.) I got into a rather long line for con
registration, only to find out that it wasn't for those who had
pre-registered. That line was only six people long at the time. Now the
line for the opening ceremonies was kinda long, as there were some technical
problems in the Main Events room. Still not bad, all things concerned.
The dealer's rooms were different. (Yes, that's right. Two rooms for the
dealers.) First, more dealers came to ACen, and since there was not enough
space in one room outside of the ballroom that was the Main Events center,
they just split the dealers up into two large areas. My first trip netted me
the first half of Slayers Next subbed tapes, two volumes of Urusei Yatsura,
and two soundtracks (Fancy Lala Best and Urusei Yatsura TV themes), as well
as a CD from KareKano (turns out it's not really a soundtrack but an image CD
by the voice actress of the three Miyazawa sisters).
And then I found the Studio Ironcat table. Now I actually like these guys,
especially Steve Bennett, who's a big fan of Urusei Yatsura from having
worked on the series for a short time way back when. I got a Lum T-shirt and
a UY figurine set (both from Japan). I later got Steve to draw an image of
Lum on the shirt.
In the afternoon, I got in line for the 3 PM autograph session for Taniguchi,
Saito, and Ikuhara at the hotel's outside pavilion. Most of the crowd were
for Chiho Saito and Kunihiko Ikuhara (a lot of Utena fans at this year's
convention), but I got Tomoko Taniguchi's signature in a Call Me Princess GN
that I brought with me. The only problem was the nasty thunderstorm that
struck just before the session. The staff wised up and moved the rest of the
autograph sessions inside the hotel. I did manage to squeeze in a visit to
the art room and put in bids for two items: a Lum pencil piece and a Shampoo
print.
That evening we had the FFML dinner at a nearby Denny's. Rode over with Ravi
Duvvuri (friend of mine), as well as Richard Lawson, Arwen Tyler, and Adam
Rajski. A good time was had by all, except for the crew at the Denny's
(short staff due to turnover, and we were the second large group to come into
that Denny's.) Well, turns out that Ravi and Arwen hang out on the
Improfanfic chat area on the net, and they want to write an Improfanfic at
ACen. And I was the first volunteer (victim) to add to the start of it.
Hope that who came next could improve on my meager contribution. The
discussion at our table was about what fanfics and writers we liked (Travis
Butler, a fellow UY fan) and didn't (Fred Herriot and his UY:TSY series).
Also, nice to meet the Redneck Gaijin, Kris Overstreet, as well as saying hi
to Gary Kleppe. After dinner, Ucchan, Natsu-chan, Nightman, and I watched a
bit of Utena (Ucchan has the rest of the series), along with a bit of
fan-parody stuff, then went to bed.
Saturday, May 13 "I Went to the Convention, and All I Got Was a T-shirt"
Well, I watched another episode of Utena with Nightman, then went to the
hotel. Lots of things in the dealer's rooms, but nothing I wanted to buy
since I was saving up for Sunday. I did get a T-shirt from the Planet Anime
people since I had put my name in for their drawings (and mailing list). At
least it was free.
I did make it for the fanfic panel, but I missed the first half of the
session as I was finishing my contribution to Ravi's Impro fanfic. I would
have liked to follow the panel's discussion, but with the self-imposed
deadline...
I ended up back at the Ucchan for lunch with our hosts, as well as Gary
Kleppe, Ken Arromede, Nightman, Nick Leifker, and Zoogs. Well, it was my
first time for okonomiyaki, and I have to say that it was rather good.
Thanks for the experience, Ucchan, as well as the fanparodies after lunch.
We broke up after that, and I went over to Mitsuwa Marketplace. Well, it
seems that since last ACen, Yaohan had a name change. Still the same great
place to visit for an anime fan. I did pick up two manga books in the
bookstore, and some snacks in the main grocery store. I still recommend
visiting this place when in the Chicago area.
After a dinner of Gino's East pizza with Nightman, I got in line for the
Cosplay back at the hotel. Now this was a line. And they were only about
twenty minutes late getting people into the ballroom. Now I must say that I
saw some rather impressive costumes around the hotel, and the Cosplay was
only better. As for the award winners, I can't remember them all, but I do
know some. The return on Sailor Bubba, this year dressed as Lime from SMJ,
netted him best staff award. Lisa Ortiz gave her award to a group dressed as
the Slayers group (including Xelloss). The best group was seven people
dressed as the seishi and Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi. A special award was
given to four children dressed as three magical girls and Kerberos (very
cute). And since the couple who had won the best of show the last two years
weren't at the con, they had a new winner, who came as Godzilla. I did have
some problems with the cosplay, including some American political references
(we got a new candidate for president) and two references to the WWF. Why?
If you really want to see some of the costumes, go to
http://www.fansview.com. They just posted all of the pictures from ACen. I
was really impressed by all of the costumes there this year, despite Bubba
Lime.
I checked out the Super Bomberman tournament afterwards, and I got creamed.
Well, it was only the second time that I had played the game, and it showed.
I then met up with Nightman, and we went back to the Ucchan's for some Sailor
Goon (fanparody) and some bed.
Sunday, May 14 "Aaaaannnd, They're Off!"
Well, I had a rather eventful day for the closing of the convention. I did
hit the dealer rooms hard, coming up with the Slayers: Dragon Slave OVA tape,
a pin set from Card Captor Sakura, and plenty of business cards for future
business, especially since I'd like to order the Cowboy Bebop and Utena DVDs,
as well as some other items. I finished up with a trip to the art room and
found out that I got the Shampoo print. I was outbid for the Lum piece, and
since there were only two bids, it wouldn't go to auction. Oh well.
I actually had a good time. My major complaint about the convention was the
ConSuite. It seemed like there wasn't one. Or at least they had a poor one.
Bad hours mainly.
Well, thanks to Ucchan and Natsu-chan for being gracious hosts, and thanks to
Nightman for being good company.
James Holzhauer (aka Tobimaro [Ton-chan])
---next stop, Anime Iowa 2000