Matthew's FanimeCon 2019 Report: Part 7 - Epilogue

This year kind of felt odd. Maybe it was because I was returning to another FanimeCon without waiting a year, maybe it was because this was a huge milestone for the convention and that we were all "taking in the moment," or maybe it was because the convention calender for this stretch was different because SacAnime was right around the corner to beat out the start of renovations (which luckily will be the last June convention at least on the calendar for the time being).

I had aspirations for what this convention would of been after seeing the back of the 2018 program guide that said "save the date" and the logo of the Silver Anniversary. But then again, I think all of us go into the convention with high expections, then it wasn't as great as we imagined and think about what we could of have done better. And of course there are parts of the convention that could of been improved but overall I had such a fun time covering something that I love and cherish.

I love the analogy of what FanimeCon has become: a giant gathering of friends and family in a casual setting with everyone bringing something to the potluck table. Then I look at the big kings of conventions like Anime Expo and San Diego Comic Con, which I feel has lost its old-school roots as it morphs into a trade convention, and notice how this gathering gets lost in the sea of advertisments and waiting in line for five hours plus. For the longest time, people wanted FanimeCon to become Anime Expo but if that happened, then the "By Fans, For Fans" tagline and the overall appeal of this convention would be lost. And just recently attendees were imagining a world where Crunchyroll Expo is during FanimeCon's timeslot and FanimeCon is during Crunchyroll Expo's timeslot but if that happend we basically have another major four day anime trade convention. In short, FanimeCon seems to be on the "decline." Personally I don't think there's a decline but there seems to be some sort of stagnation that is starting to get noticed.

As we slide into 2020, there's a lot to consider as the blog keeps chugging along. The press team for FanimeCon may look drastically different than 2019 as well as 2021 - a milstone that we hope to reach. There's Sakura-Con and newly discovered Kumoricon to consider as well as Hatsune Miku and FLOW concerts sandwiched in between. But no matter what, we will continue to push foward and cover this convention the best way we can.

私のレポートを 読むためにありがとう。
Thank you for reading my report.

- FanimeCon 2019 Report End -