Memorial weekend arrives in San Jose, so that means that Fanime has arrived. The usual sights and sounds of cosplay and merch are about, but also the looming shadow of staff exodus that occurred earlier (from gaming and cosplay gathering departments).
First things first, there were metal detectors used for the entrances this time around. Unlike other conventions, the detectors were very focused on what they were looking for. Which passing through much faster, and didn’t even require attendees to open their bags.
In addition to these policy changes, Fanime has finally gotten rid of the mandatory mask policy.
As for convention programming, Fanime has moved the video rooms entirely to the Oasis location (formerly known as Silver Island, and located at the Doubletree Hotel). I still think it’s too much to have a programming location five miles away from the main location, but I will give the shuttle service credit for being on schedule.
When it comes to new programming the area over at the Signia location was made into the J-fashion programming. Which included a market, panels/work shops and fashion shows revolving around Japanese style fashion. This was an interesting addition and adds more diversity to the ever growing tastes of attendees.
Now as for things scaled back, the gaming room really suffered from the exodus of staffers. There was no big stage streaming game tournaments online, gaming hours dialed back to closing at 10:00 pm (instead of 1:00 am) and the official presence of game companies absent. The same essence was felt on the cosplay gatherings, as there was no official photographers. Instead, Fanime relied on attendees uploading their own pics to an app that would go to Fanime’s possession.
Now when it comes to more fan driven elements, it progressed as always. There were plenty of panels covering many areas of interests and providing entertainment. Such as plenty of comedy shows and the most of niche subjects being discussed. A long with this, the unofficial event known as Parkcon has begun to expand. This is an intriguing occurrence since this non-convention party taking part in the park keeps seeing success.
So that was the lowdown on how Fanime went. Plenty of highs and lows, but always interesting things happening. Let’s hope matters with the Failed By Fanime can be resolved, and the convention can progress. Until next year.
About the author: Glitch is
a digital demon from planet Fanboy, and is here to teach us humans a
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