Bethel Park Anime #20--Conventions

So, we know all about what happens at conventions thanks to Tekko 5 and Tekko 6, but Tekkoshocon isn't the only convention out there. Say you're on vacation this summer, and you're bored out of your mind. Your folks want to go to the beach, or look at some boring landscape or other tourist-y thing. And you're thinking, "boy, I wish there was some kind of anime thing around here".

Well, your wish may come true. I have here, thanks to wikipedia, a wonderful list of anime conventions all around the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_anime_conventions

Of these, Anime Expo is by far the largest American anime convention, with more than 40,000 attendees last year! This year's current AX is being held at this very moment in Los Angeles, California! AX takes place on the July 4th weekend, and runs 4 days.

It's a fairly self-explanatory entry this week, so I'll leave it at that. Have a good holiday weekend everyone!

Reviews #2--Dramacon

Dramacon by Svetlana Chmakova.










A three-shot about a fictional North American anime convention. Chriss is a writer attending her first (and later second and third) convention, Yattacon. Tales of artist alley tables, hotel rooms, cute older boys, and crazy glomping cosplayers accurately portray the experience of a convention.

Volume 1
The three-shot begins. Chriss is being dragged to her first anime convention by her boyfriend who also happens to be her artist. Together, they write a comic that they're trying to sell in artist's alley. Derek, the boyfriend, is a complete jerk. He flirts with some girls and Chriss runs off crying to some random cute college guy that she happens to see. Shojo, anyone? Well, cute college guy tells her that boyfriend shouldn't be making her feel bad. But Chriss goes back to the jerk anyways. It's all quite frustrating, especially since all I care about is the convention. By this point it's quite obvious to me that the point of this manga is to get away from jerk boyfriend (I don't even care about his name anymore) and get to Matt, aka cute college guy. Through a series of extremely stupid actions on the boyfriend's part, Matt nearly beats him up, and Chriss winds up staying with Matt (and his friends and sister, and thankfully Matt takes the floor so I don't have to put up with any more fooling around in this volume)
Eh... it certainly wasn't my favorite. Matt's my favorite character for this volume, with Chriss a not-so-close 4th or 5th. Matt's sister, and probably the other girl at their table would beat her for likability.

Volume 2
Chriss is back for a second year of Yattacon, this time with a new artist. Matt is also back, with a new girlfriend. Chriss in understandably upset by this, but I still don't care that much. Beth, the artist, definitely was my favorite character. Also, we get to see a little more of Lida, the artist that everyone adores. (except for some obnoxious kid who I did not appreciate--why on earth would a kid wearing an alternate reality yuugiou shirt be so picky about manga? It's not like anyone who's a fan of something dubbed by 4kids is going to know much about anime) Masquerade is still not shown, but we get to see a little of the dance. So far, all of the details coincide with my con expereince. (except of course for the jerk boyfriend and the random college guy) Yes, it is PACKED in the dance/rave, and yes, people glowstick. (and wear ridiculous outfits!)

Volume 3
The end of the trilogy. Chriss and Beth stay friends with Raj and the cat girls, and they all stay together this year. More drama with Matt and Chriss, only now there's nothing holding them back except their own--mostly Chriss's--stupidity. Beth and Raj become the cat girl's OTP, and we meet Beth's family. Her mom is even crazier than they made her out to be, but her aunt and cousins are cool. (quoth her aunt's son "I want to be a ninja when I grow up!")
By this point, I'm really sick of Matt and Chriss because a) they start making out all over the room with absolutely no control over themselves (quote Chriss "we were soooo far gone") Sorry if I don't find that romantic. Then, Matt's a sardonic, sarcastic, funny-in-a-mean way kind of guy. We've known that since the beginning. So why does Chriss NOW have such a problem with it? Then, I totally agreed with Matt when he clawed the wall and demanded that she stop playing games. What's her problem? She was the one drooling over him the last two volumes--suddenly she gets mad at him when he says they're going out? Didn't like it one bit.
Beth and Raj on the other hand, were very cute. Beth just totally kicks Chriss's butt in every way a character can.

Overall, I'd recommend it just for the accurate portrayal of conventions and the cute and/or funny bits. The artwork was good and clear, especially backgrounds, which is always nice in a shojo. I'd give it a solid C. I've read better, and I've read worse. More better than worse.