Articles
Report: Anime Evolution 2006 part 1 - 12/12/06
By: Jesse Betteridge
It was quite unfortunate that Anime Evolution 2006 did not carry a lot of positive fanfare along with it this year. For one thing, those who set the initial schedule for the con a year in advance lacked the foresight to notice that people would still be taking exams at Simon Fraser University (the con's long-standing and, evidently, reliable venue) right up until Friday, August 18th. The result? The entire con was pushed back from its usual Friday-Sunday scheme to an extremely awkward Saturday-Monday setup. This means that, unlike what has been the norm at every other con I've been at, Friday was badge pick-up night rather than Thursday, and Saturday was the first day of the con rather than Friday. Please forgive me if I this discrepancy causes me massive confusion throughout the course of this article.
The second detractor was a doozy. The people running the con had made quite a splash over the fact that, as if in compensation for the lack of professional entertainment over the past three years, AE 2006 would boast not one, but two Japanese performers distributed through major corporate sponsors: the band ZZ, and Kumiko Kato. Both performers were expected to be an enormous draw and were used heavily in print, online, and even televised ads. This was even sensational enough to provoke the AE staff to actually do something astonishingly logical and actually utilize SFU's marvellous outdoor stage this year with a full sound system. That sure would've been nice last year. They even put a giant banner specifically naming both guests over the stupendously decked out stage.
Unfortunately, only one of those performers actually made it to the con. Not a week before the festivities began, it was announced that for undisclosed reasons, Kumiko Kato would not be attending. A collective groan could be heard spreading across lower mainland British Columbia as this news was posted, and I was already sorting through a varied backstock of scathing remarks I could conveniently draw from whilst writing a report for what would no doubt be a disorganized, loosely scheduled travesty of a con. However, I never got to use any of those, since Anime Evolution 2006 turned out to be one of the funnest, most well-organized and eventful conventions I've had the pleasure of attending. Although if that hadn't been the case, rest assured that this report would've been up a hell of a lot faster.
When I arrived at SFU on
Grim tidings.
Things weren't looking much better when I became completely and utterly confused as to where, exactly, the registration table was. The location used last year was perfect, as it was nicely lit, easy to find, and right near the entrance. Unfortunately, this violated some kind of fire hazard, so the entire thing was moved one side of the quadrangle, which was basically right in the middle of the school. There was almost no clear signage informing people of where this booth was located, and the disorganized set up only yielded a massive line-up which went on for a good half hour before things got organized.
After a somewhat ridiculous wait, things get underway.
Thankfully, I once again managed to get a press pass, so I was able to by-pass this process. I'm glad to say that clearing the red tape to obtain the press badge took far less time this year. I was also delighted to see that the committee hadn't given into those twerps complaining about not liking the character on the badge they got last year and used the same general idea for the badge design from the previous con with custom fonts and character fan art on the different types of badges. They looked great, so hopefully they'll keep that up!
So in record time, I was set to catch my bus home and... whoa whoa, wait...
What the bloody hell?
OK, let's just ignore the contents of the con grab bags this year. They are entirely unnoteworthy, at least in comparison to the absurd inner area of the con bags they were distributing them inside of. I guess they got two or three complaints about the flimsy, cheap plastic C&L bags we've been stuck with for the past two years, so they decided to compensate... a little too much. As you can see above, the thing was absolutely massive! I honestly have to question the logistics that went behind the designs of these bags, because they seemed to be bigger than half the attendees at the con. (And I'm not talking about kids - I mean many of the adults!) I'm 6'2" and I wasn't even able to hold my arm straight down without generating massive sparks along the concrete while dragging this humongous sack around. I swear to god, you could've stuffed a dead body inside one of these things for the entire weekend, and nobody would've even had a clue. I mean, yes, they were very durable, but this was a bit much!
If that wasn't enough, the bags were supplied by Tokyopop, who seemed insistent on slapping massive ads for their long-since defunct Rave Master franchise along the side. Come on guys, give it up. That thing was dead before it even started.
ZZ preparing to shock and amaze you.
After folding up the bag several times so I could carry it under my arm, I headed out to the bus with, at best, an uneasy feeling about what was to come that weekend. But as I exited, I was delighted to pass by the con's lone saviours of proficient spectacle, ZZ, testing out the stage for their show the next night. I'm certainly glad that that excitement did, ultimately, pass over to the next day.
But before the day was done, I went to see Snakes on a Plane. Amazing stuff.