Ayacon 2009 - Reflections

Ah yes, this time last weekend... it was fantastic! I am, of course, on about Ayacon, an anime convention that I attended with my cousin a few friends. For those of you that don't know what it's all about, here's a quick rundown (those of you that do know, skip the next paragraph.)

Ayacon is a celebration of all things anime (the Japanese cartoons), and is held every two years at Warrick University, lasting for three days, from the Friday till the Sunday. Of course, it's expanded it's horizons and also celebrates other elements of Japanese culture, including; video games, music, the fashion, Japanese traditions, etc. There's a number of events and panels relating to all these elements, some being interactive and heavily involving con-goers. Another tradition at these conventions is cosplay (short for 'costume play'), where con-goers basically dress up as characters from anime/video games/etc. It's all good fun!

Anyway, now that you know (or already knew) what Ayacon is all about, onward to my tale...

Thursday 13th August

After a brief coach journey to Coventry, which was delayed by 30 mins, we made it to our hotel; 'The Hylands Hotel'. First tip for you folks still new to conventions; always get to your accommodation they day before the con if you can, it makes things a hell of a lot easier. I have to say, it was a pretty nice hotel too! Very cosy and relaxing, plus for £20 each a night (£40 per room), it felt like a total steal! We ran into a few other con-goers there too and had a few chats with them, a friendly bunch of people!

A few of our friends had opted for staying on-site at the uni itself, so we caught a taxi up there, as it would have been quite a trek. An issue soon became apparent, the taxi fare was £10 each way, which didn't change for the entirety of the weekend, making our stay even more expensive. It was preferable to walking for miles though! Anyway, we met up with our friends and had food at the uni itself, which was a tad bland, plus the menu was quite limited. Plus a certain staff member was a bit dim, and walked past our table with one of our orders numerous times before we had to interveen in order to get the food at all. Afterwards we chilled and partied with out friends at the uni, plus there was more booze! A lot later on, we caught our taxi back to the hotel, talked to the peeps we met earlier on in the day, before getting some well needed sleep.

Friday 14th August

First day of the Convention proper. My cousin and I got up quite early to see if we could hire a car, as he was 22 and had passed his driving test. However, no luck happened with this, as the minimum age to hire was 23 (and they wouldn't even let him off, as it was his birthday on the Sunday!) The journey was still worthwhile though; we found a ton of shops for supplies, and a pub called 'The Tudor Rose.' I highly recommend it, cheap costing but great tasting food, fantastic staff and good service! After a wander, we headed back to the hotel and changed into our cosplays. I decided on dressing up as Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 2, with my cousin as Wesker from RE4. After the others got into thier cosplays, we taxied it to the uni.

We registered, met with friends, and went to the bar (after seeing a totally awesome Ada cosplay, from Resident Evil 4, and getting a pic with her.) That's pretty much where we stayed all day. As far as first days at conventions go, it was really slow and there wasn't much to do. There were plenty of panels on, but none intersted us. It was still fun though, and the games room, which housed around 10 consoles set up with different party/multiplayer games and 2 DDR machines, opened later on. A few of us attempted a Momoi Haruko (a Japanese Pop singer) concert, but didn't last long, with only one of us staying. She wasn't bad, but her singing was too squeaky and cutesy for my liking, I just wasn't in the mood for that kind of thing that night. We went back to out hotel not too long after that.

Saturday 15th August

We took quick shopping trip round Coventry and, after getting some food from a Cafe, we got ready at the hotel and headed to the uni again. Today I was cosplaying Spirit from Soul Eater. Saturday wasn't a slow day, fortunately, and proved to be quite an interesting day. There were some interesting cosplays and people around, plus the dealers room, selling various items of anime merchandise, was open for buisness. A few of us also went to a Yuri Panel. What's Yuri I hear some of you ask? Well, the word 'Yuri' literally translates to 'Lily' and is a genre of anime that focuses on the love between two women (or more.) This can either be in a romatic or... sexual context. Look, I was just interested, alright? :p Plus there were some interesting facts, Q&A's and a funny comedy skit at the end.

After a quick break, we went to the masquarade, basically a catwalk for the awesome cosplayers, which makes for good photo opportunities. I have to say, there were some amazing cosplays, some of the best I've actually ever seen! Even guest Matt Mercer, co-creator of a web series called 'There Will be Brawl' (http://www.therewillbebrawl.com) and video game voice actor, said that most rivaled the ones seen at conventions in America. I also have to say, Matt Mercer is a legend, he was hilarious! Oh, and there were two breaks during the masqurade. During one, Momoi Haruko showed up again and performed a few songs, though I thought she sounded better during this short set. The second break was a performance from a Taiko Drumming group (more info on that here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiko), and they were absolutely amazing!

After getting (some rather bland) food from the uni bar, and having an awesome lengthy discussion about video games with a friend, we headed to the party. This was no normal party though, the upstairs room hosted Japanese Rock music, with downstairs playing Japanese Pop. Naturally, we all opted for the upstairs room, this was deffinitely a highlight off the convention for me! It's not often you get to go clubbing to Japanese music. Unfortunately, the J-Rock ended early, and everything went a tad trancey and Eurobeat. Not that I have anything against all that, I just prefer my J-Rock! Anyways, after a long day, we headed back to the hotel for rest.

Sunday 16th August

The last day of the con, and I opted for a cosplay I'd kept secret; John Freeman (from popular Half-Life parody 'Half-Life: Full-Life Consequences'.) Anyone who actually recognised it liked it a lot, so it went down quite well! Not bad, considering i sorted it all last minute.

First up, a few of us went to a 'Stage Clear' recording. I hadn't heard of this before the convention, but it's a video games based podcast and they had a panel involving the audience. I have to say, it was a brilliant panel, and they're worth checking out. Check them at http://www.stage-clear.co.uk/. This was deffinitely another highlight, with witty, insightful and interesting banter. My cousin went for a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament not long after this, although he didn't win, but did quite well!

The final panel(s) started later in the evening, which turned out to be the highlight of the entire convention; Sunday Night Live, where con-goers had prepared a few skits, be it musical, or stand up comedy. The Taiko drummers opened the night again, and put on yet another brilliant performance! Skits included a song about poisoning cat girls, singing, including one from our friend Emy, which was absolutely stunning, and many more. There was one that totally stole the show though. Every year, 'That Man' and a group calling themselves 'Team Giblets' put on a skit which is always spine-breakingly funny. This year was no exception, with the unveiling of 'Resident Fantasy: Aries Rising'. Seriously, you can't make this shit up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW5Re7WSKhs, it was fucking awesome!

Anyway, the con was drawing to a close, so we chowed down on some chinese food pretty hastily, and headed to the last part of the end of con party. It didn't go out with a bang like I thought it would though, but it was ok enough. I also discovered a new flavour of Kopparberg I've never seen or heard of before; Elderflower and Lime. I must remember to hunt that down. We crashed at the uni for a bit for more alcohol consumption and partying before parting ways with our friends and saying our goodbyes.

The next day just involved packing and returning home, so it's not worth noting that down.

Overall, the con was pretty good, I had a great time. Although the lack of J-Rock was dissapointing, plus the interesting events were too spread out. Everything seemed to happen on the last day too, although at least it got peeps in the party mood! Next year will be Amecon again in Leicster (Ayacon and Amecon take it in turns), and I'm deffinitely going to that! Roll on next years convention!! ^^

Oh, I'd also like to thank the comitee and Gophers at Ayacon, and my awesome friends for making this such a fun convention. You guys rock!! ^^