I’ve been going to conventions my whole life, first as a science-fiction fan to science-fiction conventions, and then later to anime conventions.
Somehow, in all these years of convention-going, I’ve managed to stay well. But this time, I got hit with food poisoning just before I left home. Meaning, my trip had a slow start, as I was still recovering. But I rallied and managed to have a good convention anyway. On the plus side, I saved a ton of money on my food bill, as I could only eat bananas and soda crackers and drink Gatorade. ;-)
I had Industry Registration this time, as a translation rewriter/editor. As I was still sick when I arrived, it really saved me, as industry registration is a quick process. In my condition I really don’t think I could’ve stood in the hot sun for three hours in the regular registration line, like I remember doing in previous Fanimes.
In any event, I had a slow start. And so did the convention, as far as I could tell. Friday, the first official day of the convention, looked like this:
Of course, it’s a school/work day, and these photos aren’t representative of the entire convention. I could only be on my feet for limited periods of time that day, so I know I missed a lot. Still, I did have the impression that the con’s attendance was lower this year than the last time I went in 2023.
The San Jose Convention Center is near San Jose State. The university purchased part of the Signia Hilton hotel to use as student housing, which I think was a brilliant idea.
Like San Francisco, San Jose’s downtown area suffered in the pandemic. It was truly a ghost town in 2023. It looked a bit livelier to me this year.
I finished off Friday by watching the 2020/2021 AnimeMusicVideo.org winners. One especially stood out to me. It was the comedy winner for its year.
Video: Context Concerto
Creator: KisanziVNS
Saturday was a full day for me. I’d recovered enough that I could go out and do everything I felt like doing.
I came in on the last few minutes of the Modern Hearts: Love in Anime panel.
Again, I think most people had left already as it was the tail end of the panel, so I hope I’m not mischaracterizing the attendance with this photo. Also, they had the unlucky “first panel of the morning” slot, which is usually not super well-attended anyway. From the few minutes I was there, the panel was interesting. The panelists were from the Nakama Podcast.
Then I went into the Artists Alley.
That’s... a heavy schedule, isn’t it? I recall reading something recently about the long hours expected for artists to be present at their booths as being too much at these conventions.
It was packed inside. I actually had a mission - to find an artist to do the cover art for a short series of books I plan to write. When you have a specific idea, a specific look in mind, it makes it easier. You can rule out a lot of wonderful art that just doesn’t fit with your vision.
For example: chibi art, sword and sorcery art with dark foreboding backgrounds, hyperstylized character art… all great in their own way, but not what I was looking for.
I found one artist that looked like she might fit my needs. The artist’s sister was at the booth and she gave me her sister’s contact information. I’ll follow up soon. In general, for my self-published books, I do my own cover art, but this new series will require a more professional look. We’ll see what happens.
Stage Zero in midday:
While taking a break outside the Marriott café/gift shop, I met a woman and we began talking. Like me, she was an older fan at Fanime for herself, as well as bringing her anime fan son with her to the convention. We exchanged contact info and I hope we will stay in touch.
I went into the Dealers Hall.
One thing I like about Fanime’s Dealers Hall is that they have Japanese food booths set up inside, along with numerous tables and chairs. I don’t think I’ve seen that at any other anime convention.
I went back to the hotel to rest for a bit, then came back. On the way, I encountered an exhibit of queer art.
Years ago, during the AIDS crisis, I was a volunteer at a local AIDS hotline. Every Saturday afternoon I answered questions over the phone, alongside other volunteers, mostly gay men. All too often there was a missing person, someone who’d been in the chair last week. The deaths came too quickly and sometimes shockingly out of the blue. Someone would be looking well, and then be dead by the next week.
I went in and spoke with Ken Yeager, the director, and viewed the art. If you get a chance, I recommend visiting this center. They’re located at 240 South Market in San Jose, and their website is: Queer Silicon Valley.
Here’s the obligatory shot of the front of the convention center...
... as well as a big cosplay shoot. If you’re curious what one of these shoots looks like from the cosplayers’ perspective, I also took photos from behind the cosplayers.
The panels are really what make a convention for me. Since it’s fan-run, Fanime has a wide variety of panels. A sample of panel titles: “Your Favorite Anime is Trash,” “Horrifying Childhood Favorites,” and “Extremely Hard Anime Quiz.”
I came in at the tail end of “A Therapist’s Guide to Anime.”
(I cropped out the line of people waiting to ask questions on the left side of the above photo, for privacy reasons.) I had stood in line to get into the panel earlier, but it was full. I went away for a bit and returned towards the end, so I was able to get in then.
I’m glad I made the effort. The therapist, Saige Ferko, did a slideshow of anime characters with analyses of their particular personalities. For example, Death Note’s Light Yagami is clearly a narcissistic personality, while Attack on Titan’s Eren Yeager is a borderline personality. If she ever does this panel again, I’ll definitely make the effort to see the whole thing.
Next, it was Nick Redman’s panel on PBS: The Secret Anime Channel. You might remember that Nick did the fun panel on Cup Noodle back at Fanime 2023. This time, he spoke on KTEH, San Jose’s local PBS station, and its history of airing anime programming back in the early days. It was interesting to hear that anime had an earlier breakthrough in Northern California than in Southern California, though it doesn’t surprise me given the more concentrated Asian influences in the Bay Area. It was a fascinating look at how anime was received early on in the U.S.
Finally, I was feeling energetic enough to stay for one more panel: “Real or (Fan) Fiction?”
This was a panel where they put quotes up on the screen from either published romance books or fan fiction, and you had to guess which it was. I got a lot of them wrong, i.e., what sounded like obvious fan fiction turned out to be from published novels and vice-versa. The audience was really into it and it was a lot of fun.
I left the convention and found a big party in the park. The photos don’t do it justice, as you have to imagine a green space that is about 2-3 blocks long, and filled with people, music playing, food carts, etc. It was a nice way to end the convention for me.
This was the daytime view from my hotel room.
I left on Sunday to avoid the Monday Memorial Day travel rush, so I did miss the last day or so of the convention. Still, I enjoyed myself and am already thinking about next year.
This was my fourth time at Fanime, if I’m recalling correctly. It’s still the anime convention I’m most drawn to and most fond of.
At one of my first Fanimes, I remember meeting a woman while sitting outside in this area of the Convention Center.
We had a brief encounter, one of those odd moments where two strangers meet and one says something the other remembers forever. She was middle-aged, as was I then, and she said something like, “Are you here (at Fanime) for your kid?”
And my response was, “No, I’m the kid.”
I’ve always remembered that. I’ve never needed a reminder that I was already middle-aged when I became an anime fan around 2005 or so. And here I still am, now looking like someone’s Japanese-American grandma who came along to make sure her grandkids are okay at the convention. Only, I’m still the kid. Maybe I shouldn’t be proud of that, exactly, but I’m certainly not ashamed of it. There are no age limits on what you love. So maybe I’ll see you all again at Fanime next year. :-) We’ll see!
