With the next cycle of anime/manga conventions coming up, I’ve spent the last couple days budgeting out my plans for 2010. I’ve always wanted to travel more and conventions feel like a great starting point – lots of different places, lots of different people and a safety net of shared interest and fun new experiences.
But there are so many conventions to choose from! Last year I had the pleasure of attending San Diego Comic Con, and while it was a great experience, I’m sitting it out this year in place of several smaller events.
So with the help of friends, co-workers and fans much more traveled than I, I’ve put together my confirmed list of anime/manga conventions for 2010:
Animinitime Halifax (April 25)
Anime North (May 28 – 30)
Animinitime Moncton (July 17)
New York Anime Fest/NYCC (October 8 – 10)
Both Animinitime events are local to my area (and admittedly I’m staff at them but it still counts, right?) and Anime North has been a long-time Canadian anime tradition that I’ve yet to indulge in. As for New York, I’ve always wanted to visit America’s ‘Big Apple’ and there’re way too many fantastic people attending this year for me to ignore!
But what about you? Have some conventions you know you’ll be attending this year or have hopes to? Any you’d recommend or have enjoyed in the past? Let me know – I’d love to hear about your experiences and con-choices! Who knows, I may even be able to sneak another con into my schedule (aka, budget) this year and would love to meet up with people at those I already know I’ll be attending :)
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Otakon (Baltimore) is also a great show. It's big but not as "cold" feeling as Anime Expo (Los Angeles). Anime Expo also didn't seem to have as many fan-run panels, but had more exhibitor presence.
Anime Weekend Atlanta had a lot of artist interaction. The artist ally there is right in the middle of the con, so there is a lot of love for fan artists.
The only other con I've been to is Kumoricon (Portland, OR), which is small but has a lot of love poured into it. (Although if you have no reason to be in the Portland area at that time, I wouldn't recommend traveling out of your way to get there; as much as I love the con, it's tiny, almost completely fan-run, which is great but not exactly something to go that far out of your way for).