Photos by: Tim PeterFanime is a unique convention where the focus is not so much on the Guests of Honor, or the Movie Premiers (of which it also has plenty) but on the fans and the creative talent they bring forth every year. Fanime is located in the San Jose State Convention Center and is held Memorial Day weeked for four days every year.
Artist Alley
The artist alley is usually an area reserved for budding painters, sketchers, and craftsmen to display and sell their wares. At most conventions the artist alley is usually tucked away in a small room, off to the side, in a square of tables outside the registration or dealers hall, or maybe along the hallways. Artist Alley attendees can oftentime be treated as second class citizens as they dont bring the revenue or rental space reservered for retailers. At Fanime that is a different story. "The Artist Alley was treated as a second exhibit hall at Fanime, there was just as much space, and more then 200 artists in there." Said Barrie Young, Photographer for Zentendo and Artist. "The registration could have gone better, but everyone who attended was probably in there at least once." The location of artist alley was right behind the front lobby entrance of the San Jose Convention Center. "There was a huge variety of things being sold in there. Anime and Comic style artwork, buttons, plushies, animal ears/tails, jewelry, accessories, handbags, hats, scarves, and loads of other types of merchandise." While it is true the opening of the artist alley was a bit delayed, it was still a great place to wander and view the myrid of different pieces of art on display. Sometimes even better then official artwork.
Late Night and Jumping.
Lots of conventions like to pretend they are running 24 hours a day, Fanime is one of the few to actually prove it. The game room, which is the same size as the dealers hall and artist alley, is open all day and night. The starbucks inside the San Jose Convention Center is open all day and night. The video and kareokee rooms are open 24 hours, and some feature adult content for the truly brave. There is a dance held every night at Fanime, and it is open till 4 in the morning unlike most other conventions which hold their dances till 1 or 2. There was also a quiet experiment at Fanime this year which was an 18 and older only adult lounge/club. It was good idea, especially for those who dont want to dance with a 15 year old and will hopefully be greatly expanded next year. Also in the center of the main hallway there is a stage set up that has non-stop programming running the entire convention. From announcements, to presentations, to game tournaments, the stage is always showing something. In the early hours of the morning the screen on the stage would play classic gaming speed runs of titles such as "Super Mario 64" and "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time".
Shall We Dance?
Beside the very modern style dances held every night, Fanime also plays host to a more formal type of ballroom dancing with the "Black and White Ball". Like many other conventions, the black and white ball has a enforced dress code. While I still do not agree with this policy, Fanime has the excuse of even with the dress code, the ball was still overflowing with attendees, forcing latecomers to wait for people to exit. Inside the ballroom there is a screen on the back wall that displays the current song playing as well as the type of dance that accomodates it. It also lists the upcoming songs as well to prepare dancers ahead of time. This is a great feature for those who actually know multiple dance routines, but sadly embarresing for people like me who don't know any dances.
Cosplay Spectacular
Typically one of the most poorly run events of a convention is the masquerade. A marathon of miniture length skits designed to show off particularly hard costumes as well as entertain the audience. Well that is the plan at least and it usually fails. Part of this is due to the fact that contestants record and edit their own dialouge ahead of time and its anyones guess how the venues speakers will output them. Also contestants fail to chereograph properly most of the time. Fanime avoids most of these hurdles by hosting the event in an actual stage theatre across the street of the convention center. It also helps having better on hand technicians. Fanime also spices up the event with multiple martial arts demonstrations on stage before hand, Displaying the walk-on entreates first, and having a really good Master of Ceremonies. Fanime also somehow manages to start on time which is also highly unusual of other conventions. This year there was a noticable jump in craftsmenship, as some skits involved moving backdrops and really clever and detailed props. It can still be pretty boring, with most of the entertainment still coming from Ric Meyers (the MC). Thankfully there was a much better selection of skits this year then the 5 Haruhi, 4 lucky star, and three caramelldansen skits from last year.
A Panel for Everyone.
Fanime has become famous for its unique content brought forth by fans. From a fandub of the "Escaflowne" movie, to a movie created from the cutscenes and gameplay vides of the unreleased "Cowboy Bebop" video game. Fanime has become famous for panels done by and for fans. I was able to co-host two panels with TSA where we debued the Zelda documentary in english subtitles to a packed audience, as well as a journalism panel the next day. Fanime was hugely accomdating for us, both scheduling the panels, and making sure we had everything provided for us. Looking at the list of the rest of the day there was a whole spectrum of different kinds of fandoms being represented. From showing, to teaching, to discussing, and debating, Fanime provided a wealth of different panels for attendees to go to. There was something for just about anybody.
Real Stand Out Guests of Honor.
Last year Fanime brought out fan favorite voice actor of Albert Wesker, Richard Waugh. Richard was a delight to have and spent a lot of time even outside his scheduled panels to meet and talk with his fans. This year Fanime brough out the Motion Capture actor for Wesker in "Resident Evil 5", Ken Lally. As well as the mo-cap actor for Chris, Reuben Langdon. Also at the convention was the voice of Jill, Patricia Ja Lee, and the mo-cap and voice of Sheva, Karen Dyer. While there was a contest to win a dinner with all of the guests of honor, on the last night Ken, Reuben, Patricia, Karen, with Martial Arts Master, Writer, Editor, Teacher, and MC extraordinaire Ric Meyers could be found mingling with the fans. Not content to simply run off to their hotel rooms, these guests showed a real genuine interest in not only meeting their fans but also having a good time with them as well. I can not express how impressed I was with all of them, they have literally put every other guest of honor, at every convention I have ever attended to absolute shame. It really struck a chord with not only how great the guests were, but how well Fanime picked them wether intentional or not.
Overall.
If you want to feel like a random entity wandering blank crowd of people, then there is plenty of conventions you could attend. At Fanime, there is always something to do, and more importantly, there is probably something for you to do or see. The location is great, being just a few blocks away from the state university and featuring plenty of places to eat. The hotels are big, elegant, but most importantly fairly priced for convention goers. This is the perfect weekend getaway location for fans of all things gaming, anime, sci fi, and costuming. Highly recomended.
Convention Rating: A+ 
