Fanime 2015: Robbie's Report (Part 2: Sun-Mon)

Now then, before I can begin my report on the latest con, I still have a bit more of Fanime to finish reporting on. So, onwards to Sunday!

This isn't from the gathering, we just ran into them later.

While normally Saturday is the busiest day of Fanime for me, this year Sunday proved to be the most hectic. My first gathering of the day was another take for the Rumiko Takahashi series gathering, so that those who were busy Saturday could attend. It had a good mix of attendees from Saturday’s gathering and those who couldn’t make it, and I was once more there as Ryoga. 

Following that gathering, I had planned to go to the Sailor Moon gathering, but it fell too close to the Rumik series, and the armor for Endymion takes some time to get in and out of. It would have been nice to be able to get to that gathering as well, but that tends to happen with Fanime gatherings.

A battle royale in the Cosplay Battles

Instead, I had more time to explore the convention before preparing for the weekend’s final Cosplay Battles. This one fell right after the League of Legends gathering, in the same location, which was a double-edged sword. On one hand, we managed to get a few more people to join in from the gathering, which was good. On the other hand, nobody would bloody listen when I asked them to clear the area so we could get the battles started; even the gathering organizer chimed in to tell people to clear the area for the next gathering, but there were still crowds of people just hanging around the exact spot we were trying to get started to chat or get pictures of LoL cosplayers that were still there. I don't think even repeating into a megaphone that they needed to clear the space for the next gathering was doing any good.

A three-on-three battle

Still, as annoying as that moment was, the battles went well. There was a better turnout than Saturday’s, and although it still felt a little short, some good matches were had, and it seemed a good note to end it on.

Shortly after that I had another group to prepare for. A friend was organizing a Teen Titans pool group, but we soon found that the Fairmont had closed off its pool to all photographers, an unexpected development that left us somewhat stranded. While I understand that pool parties have been something of a nuisance for the hotels in the past, it was still an unexpected stumbling block for many a photoshoot.

Fortunately, there were fountains that people could run through outside the hotel that, in spite of the drought, remained on throughout the weekend, so we managed to have our shoot there instead. So trouble was averted.

Team Rocket grunt and Magikarp

As soon as that was over, I had another friend’s photoshoot to get to, joining a Hunter X Hunter group as Phinks of the Phantom Troupe. Though the shoot went well into the night, I had to leave early for the last big event of the weekend: the Black and White Ball.

The Fanime ball is a more formal event, with a sometimes strictly-enforced dress code (depending on who’s checking at the time), and dance lessons to teach attendees the proper form. The music sometimes betrayed that, though, given the fact that they played “Uptown Funk” twice in a row. On the other hand, they also played a waltz version of the Sailor Moon theme song, which was quite appropriate for my girlfriend and me, since we were there as Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion, respectively. And in spite of my occasional complaints about the music choices (and my own inability to dance properly, which is no one’s fault but my own), the night came to a satisfactory conclusion. 

A group of Miyazaki cosplayers hanging out at the Catbus

Which brings us to Monday, the final day of Fanime. There were no gatherings to prepare for, though I did plan to meet with a few friends for Big Hero 6 cosplay. The hot weather ensured I wouldn’t be wearing the full Yokai outfit for long, though, so instead I explored the artist alley and the dealer’s hall for anything I may have missed in my previous searches.

X-Force

Hotel rooms were packed up and attendees were running out of energy, so Fanime was nearing its end. It was a good convention; not the best Fanime ever, but certainly not the worst either. The convention has done well to resolve some of the issues that it’s had in previous years, although there are still more that need to be addressed (particularly regarding booking rooms). My own complaints are more related to the low turnout of my own events and panel, which I can’t blame the convention for, so all in all, I’d say it went well enough.