Anime Central 2011

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It’s hard to believe another weekend of partying in Rosemont is over. As usual, I had a blast at Anime Central, with this being my fourth year attending. However, this convention wasn’t without its ups and downs – some stuff that carries over from previous years, along with the new. Anime Central 2011 took place at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare and Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, just on the edge of Chicago. As always, photographs are available on Gallery.

A quarter of the fun of Anime Central is getting there. Normally, I fly out of Vancouver to Chicago’s O’Hare airport, but after seeing the original price, I opted for a cheaper flight out of Seattle. This meant I had to leave for Seattle very early for my flight east on Thursday, and crossing the Canada/United States border early in the morning didn’t draw any suspicious glances from the border guards, which made for a relatively hassle-free commute to the Emerald City. The flight to Chicago was uneventful, save for a brief mechanical delay with the aircraft which was quickly addressed.

Our neighbours
Our neighbours

Checking in at the hotel was fairly easy too – I’ve always stayed at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare primarily because it’s right in the centre of the action and just a continuous party. Last year, my group got a room with a balcony facing right over the front entrance to the hotel, which was pretty amazing. Because one of our friends wasn’t able to make it to Anime Central this year due to a last minute transportation snafu, I asked during check in if we could get a room with a balcony this time. Amazingly enough, we did! While the room didn’t face the front like last time, we still got it facing Bryn Mawr Avenue; just with a view south-facing east. One of my friends, who had pre-registered, wasn’t able to get his badge mailed, so he spent 4 hours in line to pick it up. Apparently, the pre-registration badges were brought in late, and then totally out of order which added to the confusion and delay. I love Anime Central’s option to mail badges out ahead of time, but if you miss the cut-off date, you’re screwed and have to queue up.

Once the sun had set, we decided on doing some small photoshoots with two of my friends dressed up: one as Street Fighter’s Poison and the malicious Akabane from GetBackers. Armed with my Nikon D5000 and portable tripod, we roamed the street for some pictures.

When the sun rose on Friday morning, it was up and into cosplay. I’d sworn that I would never bring two outfits again to Anime Central just because having such a huge suitcase for a convention plus time in following the week is a logistical nightmare with all those extra airline fees (under most normal circumstances, I would spend an extra week in Chicago with friends to take in the city, a Cubs game, dinner, shopping, and other touristy stuff, but not this time sadly). I managed to convince myself to bring both Vyse from Skies of Arcadia and Naruto from Naruto Shippuden this year. Upon transitioning into Vyse, I realized that I had forgotten some key elements to the ensemble, namely the belt and the eyepatch, and then I’d neglected to don the red scarf. Whoops.

Paul demands payment
Paul demands payment

Now it was out and about to enjoy the first full day of the convention and snap some pictures. There was quite a few well done outfits, including a real violin-playing Sebastian Michaelis from Kuroshitsuji out in the entrance hall to the convention centre. In Artists Alley, we caught up with the ToonTwins again, and learned that this was their first Anime Central. We had a small chat about the convention along with Sakura-con (where I last met them) along with their aspirations on what they expected from the event.

Anime Central has a massive selection of artists and vendors to choose from, which fills two thirds of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center’s northern side. The remaining third is for registration, which was crammed full of people this year trying to get in (see above). While the selection is great, it does lead to over saturation, a recurring complaint I’ve picked up on from various artists over the past years.

Meandering through the Exhibitors Hall, we found Ejen Chuang, the photographer behind the book Cosplay in America. Through out the convention, we would return to visit his booth at Epic Cosplay to chat about cosplay along with past and future events. I ended up getting a few Kingdom Hearts shirts along with some figures.

After my friend told me that Japanese rock band, FLOW, would be attending Anime Central, I made it my mission to go see them perform. The line to see the concert was the longest I’ve ever seen here –  and I thought the lineup to see the cosplay competition a few years back was pretty long. People snaked along the sidewalk from the entrance to the grand ballroom, outside to the driveway, along the sidewalk, through the barricades into a side parking lot, and out back behind the hotel. We both feared that we wouldn’t be able to go in as we had arrived with about 30 minutes prior to doors opening. Those fears were unfounded as once the line started moving, we got in. While trudging in, the Incident Response Team (IRT) members had barked that no cameras or bags would be allowed into ballroom, yet a number of people seemed to flaunt this. Inside, my concert going instinct told me to head for the standing area. The room had a number of seats laid out for those who just wanted to relax and the the show. Four giant screens were setup with two on each side of the stage to make sure everyone could catch the action. Around the edge of the room, giant water coolers and cups sat to make sure everyone stayed hydrated – a nice touch. After the emcee had again announced that cameras would not be permitted to take pictures or video of the concert, local band SWEK roared onto stage for a gig of cover songs from various series.
Following a brief intermission of hilarious cat antics projected on the giant screens, FLOW broke into Re:member, one of the openings for Naruto. When IRT announced that recording the performance would not be tolerated, they meant it. IRT would routinely sweep through the floor and drag anyone out who was trying to photograph the band. If the band or record label says no recording, the decision should be respected. Why? It will hurt the convention in future attempts at bringing similar bands over if people defy the request and record anyway. Halfway through the concert, Kohshi gave a heartfelt speech about the earthquake that devastated north-eastern Japan back in March and the support his country has received from the international community. This drew a thunderous applause from the crowd. It wasn’t long before everyone started singing along to GO!!! with Keigo pumping the crowd up.
Upon leaving the concert, we stopped at a table outside and picked up FLOW’s Anime Best CD, which includes a number of songs that were featured as anime series opening or closing credits. I picked it up fro $27 USD, which also came with a free sticker and a raffle ticket for an autographed poster.

Dante on a motorbike
Dante on a motorbike

Upon returning to our room to rest, it was back downstairs to the lobby to make a decision for dinner. We loitered around the entrance waiting for our final friend, who had just flew in. Then it was a mile march south along River Road towards Denny’s for a late dinner. The restaurant was packed with other congoers, which was broken up by a few girls who had decided to stop off for a bite to eat after their prom. They looked a little nervous being surrounded by strange costumes outside of Halloween.

It’s not Anime Central without seeing the police, paramedics, or rarely enough a fire truck. On our way back to the Hyatt, between five-to-six cop cars shot down River Road and screeched to a halt in front of the Embassy Suites Hotel. Not wanting to stick around, we all called it a night.

So many Yokos
So many Yokos

Saturday is always the busier day at a convention – school is out, most people don’t have to work. It was looking to be an alright day, so I jumped into my Naruto outfit and took the stairs down to the tree patch by the Hyatt’s driveway. A crowd had gathered, with the dark-cloaked Akatsuki posing first. Another of my friends, dressed as Kiba, had her dog there as Akamaru which made for a cute pose when she climbed onto another Kiba’s back. Then it was my turn to pose with the other Narutos and Sakuras. So as a twist, I made the suggestion of having Naruto pick up and hold Sakura – except I was the only one holding her.

Right after the Naruto photoshoot, my friend and I darted across the street for breakfast at the Great Expoteria restaurant. I had forgotten how pricey they were as breakfast turned out to be $21.26 USD ($6.00 for 2 eggs with hashbrowns and toast, $8.00 for 2 eggs with sausage, hashbrowns and toast, $1.95 for a juice, $3.25 for a bottle of Tropicana and then $2.06 in tax). Needless to say, that was the only time I would eat there during the weekend.

The Zelda cosplayers started to gather around meaning it would be time for their group to take over the greenery for pictures. While we were all busy snapping away, another character appeared, hiding behind the Links who were serenading the photographers, was a cardboard box: the one and only Solid Snake.

Yuffie feels a little sick
Yuffie feels a little sick

Saturday turned out to be composed completely of photoshoots for myself, appearing at the ones for InuYasha, Metal Gear Solid, Fate/Stay Night, Gurren Lagann and GetBackers. The latter turned out to be much larger than anticipated – after commandeering the dome at the Hyatt, we ventured outside to finish off with some hilarious shots with the no parking signs (considering that Ban’s and Ginji’s Subaru 360 is continuously towed for illegal parking throughout the series).

In the lower lobby of the Hyatt, a section of the floor is cordoned off with a set of tables featuring hot dogs, burgers, sandwiches and fruit plates. I’ve never given a thought to trying it out in previous years, but I found that it was fairly reasonable ($6.00 USD for a burger or hot dog or deep dish pizza, and $1.00 USD for drinks), despite being cash only. The topping and condiment selection had a wide selection too with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, pickles, peppers, ketchup, mustard and more.

Catching some downtime in our room, we decided to hang out on the balcony and found other neighbours enjoying the view, a drink or in Honey’s case, a slice of cake. A visiting friend of ours decided to take one of the signs we had for “free hugs”, and proceeded to wave it around on the balcony. Within minutes there were cheers and bangs from the rooms in the circular tower next to us. It didn’t take long for them to find our room and take us up on the offer. Gotta love free hugs!

FLOW meeting with their fans
FLOW meeting with their fans

I dislike Sundays at conventions because everything is winding down, and getting ready to go back to their jobs, school and other “normal” activities. As we made our last rounds through the Exhibitors Hall, we strolled past FLOW, not realizing they were headed towards a booth to announce the winners of the raffle. Because of the no recording policy at the concert, this was the only time I would be able to catch the band. The benefits of being tall and the D5000’s flexible screen allowed me to grab a few stills of FLOW as they waved to their fans who’d gathered around.

In previous years, we’d stay late on Sunday, right up until closing time, usually 4:00 pm. As both myself and a friend had to catch a flight, we left the grounds taking the shuttle to the airport around 2:00 pm to give us enough time to check in and go through security. Unfortunately, the flight back to Seattle was anything but fun. The massive storm system which spawned the deadly tornado that devastated the town of Joplin, Missouri ended up delaying my flight for several hours. I only found this out while watching CNN in the terminal and seeing the footage of the destruction.

I like Anime Central; it’s a giant party for me and I know so many people from the area, which makes it so much fun. Plenty of people cosplay which make for some fantastic pictures. The convention brings over some really cool international and local guests, for which is pretty awesome. However, I’ve stopped going to panels because it’s become confusing with the schedules and there’s not much signage or directions, with the usual “check the forums” response for any venue changes. Then there’s the line ups that my friends have to endure – I’ve yet to experience that and I hope that’s fixed for the future, because I don’t like seeing my friends disappear for hours at a time where they’re not doing something enjoyable. That and the Hyatt elevators. I’ve effectively given up taking the elevators unless there’s no crowd trying to push in at the lobby, instead taking the stairways in the circular towers because it’s far quicker and much better for my health in the long run (I can’t believe I just typed that).

 

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