Hi
As most people who were at AWA this year know the conference
was at a different hotel than previous years. It was probably a good
move, because the hotel that had been used before only had, if my
memory serves correctly, two elevators. Which hardly accomodates hundreds
of people who all want to go down it for the cosplay.
At the hotel AWA was at this year there were six elevators which meant
that things could go more smoothly when potted plants got shoved into the
them. The rooms were very nice and had all of the accomidations one
would expect from a large hotel except for a tiny black and white television
in the bathroom that only plays the weather channel. (Seriously, no hotel
should
go without one)
I'm sure that the Gwinnett Marriott will welcome AWA back next year. I'm
basing this assumption on the natural conclusion that they enjoy the
poroceeds brought into the hotel and the fact that they're masochists.
The opening ceremonies began with a man whose name I've forgotten talking
about Kimba the White Lion and how he was going to make a video game out of
it. And then there was the introduction of all the guests which always seems
to take a really long time. A birthday cake was given to Stephanie Grant
which was ascribed to Asuka. A fan sitting in the audience shouted out 'I
love you Madame President' thus sealing the great mystery as to why some
actors have unlisted phone numbers. Also stepping forward at the ceremonies
were Peter Fernandez who during the whole conference never answered the
question that more than a few people wanted an answer to: Why didn't Speed
check the trunk before he went driving? Other people stepped forward such as
the voice actor for Gai from Nadesico, the author of Japan Edge and some
other people whose credintials I remember, but names unfortunately allude
me.
Now, of course no AWA conference would be complete without two things:
Bludgeoning the audience with candy and the burning of the magic card. After
gouging out the crowds eyes with old Bazooka Joes Mr. Merril produced an
'anonymous' video which portrayed the destruction of several Magic
Cards.When the Magic card was finally burned at the show many in the masses
demanded the destruction of a Pokemon card. This was not the only
Anti-Pokemon sentiment to be seen at the conference. There were the numerous
post its that indicated that you had to 'Retch 'em all' and also a man who
wore a sign that declared that Pokemon were evil. "Eighty percent of the
kids who watch Pokemon will only watch that show. Fifteen percent will only
watch some other crappy anime on tv. And five percent will actually get into
anime and those are the kids we can train for the next generation of anime
viewers," a friend of mine had told me which by the looks of it is probably
the way it will turn out.
The panels at AWA were probably very interesting and were probably worth
going to which in hindsight probably should have done. The Anime Music
Videos this year were done in a little more organized matter thus cutting
down on the time. Some of the highlights were 'La Resistance', which had the
everyone cheering as the Fushigi Yugi characters sang 'Uncle Fucker', and of
course the Dueling Banjos video set to Dragon Ball Z.
The art show this year presented talented craftsmen with the chance to
practice their skill of copying drawings from manga. The models showed the
signs of hours of hard work and an understanding of the subtleties of the
craft. Especially the Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots model.
The video game room changed this year in that there were only five games
that were played for the entire weekend. Of course one of those games was
Soul Calibur. Any place in the hotel that had a Dreamcast had to have a
group of people standing in line waiting to play Soul Calibur. Its appeal is
very obvious, you hit the other guy enough times and he dies. How much more
appealing can you get than that?
The animation being played around the clock was sometimes interesting,
sometimes funny and sometimes ludicrously boring. Kodoma No Omacha was
surprisingly funny and contained the same kenetic energy as seen in The Ping
Pong Club. Except that the characters don't take off all their clothes for
no reason every five seconds. Black Jack proved to be a rather interesting
anime as all of the medical scenes really disturbed me, although the
accuracy of the medical pracitices in Black Jack are questionable. ('Ovarian
cancer is one of the RAREST and most fatal forms of cancer in women')
The dealers rooms proved to be the most fun as you could walk around in
circles for hours looking at stuff that you might buy, but won't. And then
when they say you have five minutes left you end up buying twelve foot
statue of Pikachu and you attempt to tell yourself that mortgaging your
house for it was the best decision in the end.
And then there were the meager amount of fanfiction authors there. The
panel, if I'm right, must have been flooded with brilliant questions like:
What's the FFML? What's a lemon? and How do I post to RAAC? I wouldn't know
if it did because I missed it like all the other panels. (This wasn't a very
well thought out journal was it?)
The best part of the convention was of course cosplay. No, wait... that was
the
worst part. For over three hours hundreds of people dressed as Squall and
Team Rocket stood in the main convention hall trying to look good while
sweating all of their bodily fluids. Even stranger was that one of the video
rooms was used for the viewing of the cosplay. And there were just as many
people sweating their bodily fluids there as well.
When the last day of AWA came everyone packed their bags up with
complimentary glasses, blankets, towels and television sets from their hotel
rooms and left. While others still tried to put themselves further into debt
in the
dealers room. This convention proved to be a bit different than last year's,
and in some ways not as fulfilling, but in the end it still amounted to a
fun experience that I will treasure until the next convention. Than I'll
forget all about it.
Bye