First and foremost I apologize for the delay of this post, I'v had some health issues and a Death in my family. So I'm sorry for the delays, my priorities have been shifting to keep myself alive and kicking. In short I just have not had the time, strength and energy to produce content. Okay with that out of the way I wanted to share my feelings about Anime Southwest.
Anime Southwest formally Sukoshi con is an independently run convention that shared it’s brand with AnimeLand Wasabi last year has returned for 2016. Let us get this out of the way right now, this convention went through hell and back with regards to it’s convention space. There was change in venue at the last moment and this injected chaos into the mix for Southwest. There are swirling reasons as to why this occurred some claim it was a missed payment to the hotel, others say that Anime Southwest lost it’s space due to a misunderstanding with hotel management regarding the Rave. Which ever theory you believe is up to you, honestly I’m leaning toward issues with hotel management and insurance requirements for the event. That said this change in location really through a wrench into the gears of guests, attendees and staff. It is actually a miracle this event found another hotel willing to take them on such short notice. Anime Southwest also was booking guests and vendors up till the very last moment, and honestly I’m surprised they kept the train on the rails.
Okay with that covered I can talk about my experience of the convention. Riding on the heels of Animeland Wasabi, at the same hotel Anime Southwest managed to do it’s own thing. The layout of the convention was very much the same layout as Wasabi with some shifts and a much bigger dealers room. Honestly this was the strong point of anime Southwest the dealers room, it was great.
I shot some photos around the convention, did a photo shoot group and checked out the events through out the weekend. Friday was very dead overall, I think the weather really put a damper on attendance. Friday panels were very dry, in many cases empty. The game room closed early and the dealers room was not open at all. Friday was pretty much just a small meet and greet with some convention content but again very limited. Saturday was much better, We attended about 6 panels, 3 main events and enjoyed the dealers room. I do have to nit pick some of the events were poorly executed with no staff running the sound boards, missing equipment and some events running very late. As it was this felt very frustrating at times and I found myself getting board waiting for people to get the show rolling. I think if Anime Southwest comes back next year they really need to work on this, focus on staff and panelists, and hold people accountable for no showing or just plain not doing their job. The same problems that plagued Saturday were in full force on Sunday. Panelist just never showed up, staff failed to setup rooms for the panelists that did show up and nearly all the events on Sunday started late. In several instances animeroot helped panelist setup chairs, projectors, mics, ect. We are press, not staff, but we are willing to help when we see someone who needs help. Again if Anime Southwest makes a return for 2017 we will attend and I theorize that staff and panels will run better. 2016 was rough for many reasons, I hope for improvement in years to come. All that aside we did have some fun, the C&C was okay, the concert was good and the gaming rooms\areas were good. We loved the dealers room and the artist ally, and as a sum of it’s parts Anime Southwest was okay for a convention of it’s size and considering all it went through to arrive at what it was I give it a passing score C+ for effort. We hope to see a stronger Anime Southwest next year, we believe you can do it.
Around the Convention Photos
Naruto Formal Shoot
Custom Figures from Artist John Medeiros Jr.
Area DMG filmed the Cosplay contest, I arrived late to this event so I missed out on shooting it. There are some audio issue with the video due to Youtube being Youtube. A big thanks to Area DMG for filming this event. I thought the cosplay contest was okay, but the layout was rough and the flow was bad at times. With some polish I think this event could be stronger.
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