To sum up, it was a fantastic trip, and it fell into three distinct parts - AX Tokyo, Megatokyo research in Tokyo, and Warmth research in Sendai. I suppose that i should lead into this by talking about my trip. The idea of cultures connecting thru some sort of commonalty is corny as hell, but there is some real validity to this. I think that American fans (well, what i should say is 'english speaking fans' - Anime Fandom outside of Japan is more than just the states) are a large, growing, active and eager community, and we want to make our contributions to the Anime/Manga world. If you manage to get a really savvy mix of what makes successful Japanese events work and what makes American cons work so well, I think it can make for a very interesting event.
I have some thoughts about what worked, and what didn't about AX Tokyo, and why i think that this idea could really be something. Just being an anime fan isn't that big a deal - it's like saying you like sports. In Japan, fangroupings are more aligned with specific genres and sub-genres. Here in the states, fans share a real sense of commonality by being an 'anime/manga fan'. More on that later.įan culture is also, i think, a little different there. For example, a 'dealers room' in a Japanese show just isn't going to have the focus and draw one in an American con has - especially with an Animate store across the street with 7 floors of stuff and an event floor, never mind the multi-story Gamers store and Toranoana around the corner.
For starters, Anime and Manga are an easily accessible commodity in Japan, unlike here in the states. Anyways, I might as well take a stab at it, and i'll try to include some pictures to add some vague interest to the thing.Īs you know, Anime Expo Tokyo did me the honor of inviting me to come to this first attempt to have an American-style Anime convention in Japan. So much happens on trips like these that it's hard to hit just the high points, when in truth its usually the little things that are the most interesting. So, here i sit, a week and a half after returning home from my trip, trying to figure out where to start. Finally, a week or so later, you've moved on, and the trip was something that happened, well, weeks ago, and you have other things to talk about. Then, when you arrive home, all the stuff you should have been doing attacks you and the trip itself gets pushed to the back of your mind. For starters, the last thing you end up doing while actually on a trip is sit around for a few hours to write a rant. I've done a lot of traveling related to Megatokyo in the past few years, but in many cases I never do a big write-up about the trip I just arrived home from. One of the things that i've learned over time is that for some reason, It's really hard to write rants about trips.
0 kommentar(er)
