Formerly known as Kakkoi Con, now M.A.C. (Minneapolis Anime Convention), was held at Double Tree Hotel in Minneapolis this past weekend. I love convention. Beside the activities like gaming, panels, and cosplay, I think it’s the sheer energy from fans that gets me excited. And having two cons in Minneapolis this year is just pure ecstasy. However, I do have a few complains about this con:

1) With all good intention, they do need better organizing skills. You have a screening room with no projection screen. C’mon people, you’re in a hotel. A blank white bed sheet would have worked magic. But instead, you got wall paper and lines running through the projection. Plus, someone could have raised the brightness of the projector. I do have to say that the volunteers for the con have been doing a good job checking in with the machine, updating the anime. And since cons are mostly run by volunteers, we got to give them the credits. And so the blame must fall somewhere else.  And another thing, having a list of what anime will be shown would have attract more people or give the con goers a better idea when to go in to sample anime. One room that was jammed with people at Anime Detour was the AMV room. Why isn’t there one?

2) With the entire first day, there wasn’t a list on the door to tell you what panel is being held and at what time. Let me tell you, even though con goers got the schedule, it’s always good to have a list outside, so that they don’t have to check with their map every time.

3)What’s up with that schedule list? It’s listed in alphabetical order instead of classifying the events in day and time. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to flip pages back and forth to re-read what I just marked down and rechecking the time. And if you have an artist alley, do indicate that on the list for respect.

Now the good parts:

1) Content. Although this con is relatively small in comparison with Anime Detour, it does have some great panels going. Chris Ayres and Tiffany Grant’s panels on directing and voice acting were very informative and very entertaining. Tiffany sure did her research when she presented the case against bootlegging and piracy. And with that being said, everyone should stop pirating. It is killing the industry. Companies like Geneon and Funimation are closing because of this. Piracy doesn’t just affect the US companies but Japan as well. Less and less anime are being made because they cannot export them to the US. As the Japan industry shrinks, voice actors will have less work, licensing companies will import less and jack up their prices to survive. While the pirating sites might still able to get some manga to scan and anime to sub, they would eventually get less and less as the Japan industry slows down. In the end, fans like us who support the industry for so long will be the one who cause it to fall and we will be the one who suffer.

2) Unlike other big cons, the smaller turned out was adantageous for the fans. No long line up for any panels and dance party, and a more intimate setting for Q&A. The variety show (Who’s line is it anyway?)  by some of the guests was hilarious. They have done a great job. I still can’t get over how Kid Dynamite interpretation of one line got filtered down to Richard Townsend. My stomach hurt.

3) Nice location. It has accessibility to other things like food and movies (right across the street). Friendly staff and plenty of parking space. Although I am not so sure for those who use public transportation. But with where it is at, it is definitely safe for the under-dress cosplay fans for sure. Normal humans just don’t really get it, ya know.

Here are some pics:

Believe it or not, that’s Inuyasha in the front. Where’s you hair?

I missed most of the cosplay competition, but I did caught the tail end of the award ceremony. Some great costume for sure.

There was one panel at the end of Anime Detour that was very interesting. And that is the feed back from the con goers what to improve with the organization. There is an awesome idea with the organization to broaden out the con not just as an event but a year round supportive system. I hope people who are interested in the anime manga culture will go to their site and give ideas to them. The industry doesn’t lack enthusiasts like us, nor do these organizations lack money. Ideas would generate a much bigger and prosperous community if we all do our share and participate.

Missing 3 days for the con got one of my cat very angry. She was totally ready to do her Vader thing as soon as I got home.