In a way, this was both the only bad thing and one of the best things. We got to stay a few blocks over in the Marriott Residence Inn, which was my first time staying in such a place. This was basically a massive apartment (with stairs inside the room!) for people who come to stay for an extended period for something work related or such and need a more "home" feel for things. The hotel's not something a lot of people really stay on about and this place wasn't exactly primed for having anime fans there, but outside of the suite I had at Anime Boston this year, this is the best place I've ever stayed. Even better was the City Steam multi-level restaurant attached to it. Great food, great service. These two pieces really made the entire convention feel much better and I have to note them.
The new convention center is certainly fantastic. My previous experiences have been with the Baltimore Convention Center, which I feel is just too expansive at times and difficult to deal with in terms of layout especially for registration, as well as the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, which was our first time checking out this year. As they stuck to just one level for the convention there and had registration upstairs, it felt like it flowed really nice and I liked it but I'm hesitant to say too much after just one year since there are growing pains involved. I've been to Baltimore's many times so it's easier to have an opinion. Based on the first year of the Connecticut Convention Center, it's not as big as either of those overall but I like the feel and flow of it and on the opening day, the staff were all definitely helpful and friendly, though unsure about what they hell they were seeing.
The layout of the convention made it easy to hang around in a particular area of interest while keeping the main events and dealers room at the main entrance since that's the focus of a lot of people. Connecticon this year expanded their anime focus and it's noticeable since there are some very different tracks than at other anime conventions. Coming more as webcomics/gaming background, each of those interests had practically half of the convention center to themselves. Upwards of fifty artists were there and they had some prime estate and one wing to their own panels and discussions and half of the dealers room. The gaming – tabletop/rpg and video-gaming, is also well represented here and helped to flesh out that end of the center. The other section was reserved for the three anime panel rooms and the three video screening rooms. So unless it was in the dealer rooms, the two sides didn't really meet much unless they wanted to.
While the rooms were filled with activities, Connecticon still hasn't reached in my opinion the critical mass that it needs to be in the Convention Center. Some of this may come from advertising, from the time it's held since it's in the midst of three of the biggest conventions each year (Anime Expo, San Diego Comic Con and Otakon). It doesn't have direct competition with SDCC on the same weekend since there are differences in what people come for, but with the other two you end up with a lot of fans who are limited in just how many things they can do in a given month or summer, both in terms of time and funds.
In terms of anime, there were a number of fun panels to attend and the guests and the fans made it all worthwhile. For the voice actors, there were a couple of scheduled panels so people attending particular days would still get a chance to see them. Friday saw Tiffany Grant holding a voice actor panel and with her long list of titles and varied roles and overall knowledge of the industry it was an interesting and educational session for many. It was replicated on Saturday with the addition of voice actor Daniel Kevin Harrison (known as playing the only straight guy in Gravitation as well as Muryou in Shingu) and he brought some interesting perspective to it as a tv/film/stage actor whose had a few roles in the last year or two and is getting more involved as well as having the New York angle on things. Both of them had numerous amusing stories and fans had plenty of good questions to ask. I've typically not done many voice actor panels since the ones I've been near have been so male heavy (which means fangirls screaming "I want to have your baby Crispin!") but these were a lot of fun.
A "state of the industry" panel was listed for both days but this was essentially an industry/ADV Films panel that was hosted by David Williams of ADV Films and ably assisted by Tiffany Grant. Also included for his first convention appearance was Chris Johnson, an editor for NewType USA. The three of them had plenty to talk about each panel and each of those panels had very different questions and focuses. Friday's had more focus on fansubs after awhile and Saturday's was more varied. What's interesting, and something that a lot of online fans really need to understand more, is the kinds of questions that you get especially at these smaller conventions. Big cons like Expo and even Anime Boston is more filled with the hardcore fans and those who are up on things. Smaller cons like this tend to attract the more casual fans, those who see it on the news (Connecticon got excellent TV coverage) or just hear about it by word of mouth.
These are the fans who ask questions and aren't sure what studio has what title. They're the ones who hear the basic talk about how fansubs are gray market or wholly approved by the Japanese. Cosplay is new to them. They ask interesting questions that a lot of people (especially around these parts) take for granted. They're not visiting websites but picking up titles at a local library, renting at Blockbuster and wouldn't set foot inside an anime club. Listening to them and really listening to their questions, it's a bit eye-opening and reminds you where you once came from as well. While no new news was presented at the panel, it was stressed rather emphatically that if you're a satellite owner, right now is a critical time to express to your provider that you want The Anime Network picked up.
One panel that focused on this was the Anime 101 panel that was run by a woman who is a librarian. She goes over some of the basics of the anime field (which was difficult as her slideshow couldn't be used due to technical issues) so it was a bit dry in that regard and as it took questions along the way it deviated from the original intent, but it's something that should be at every convention I think in a more formal manner. With as many varied things as there are out there with the overall "industry", I think it's reached a level where an actual educational series of courses is now really necessary so that those new to things can find out the basics and then find a focus for themselves.
Walking around the convention, there was a lot of people over the days that were cosplaying, more on Saturday than Friday, and they were having a lot of fun. Guests were very happy and engaged with anyone who came up to them, fans were talkative and buying up all sorts of things in the dealers room and the overall vibe was very positive and fun. One thing that Connecticon really took advantage of was the fact that this weekend was the release weekend for the new Harry Potter novel. One video room was dedicated to panels and discussions about the overall Potter universe and had a release book party and "reading time" scheduled. That was well followed up by similar properties such as Labyrinth and other Henson shows that fall into the same genre. The cross-pollination of genres isn't surprising in the slightest but giving it such prominence was, and I think it really worked to their advantage.
Connecticon 2005 was a lot of fun, and a lot of what makes it fun is the friends you go with and meet up with and this was no different for me. In between the panels and other events, I managed to meet up with some folks, talk to a few new people and just hang out and soak in the atmosphere of the great looking convention center. I even managed to handle the Anime Boston table for a few minutes and took some photographic evidence you can see below of when it was left unstaffed and some of the things you do when there's nothing going on. Plushie porn isn't wrong is it? Terriermon really gets around. You should see the pictures that I can't publish!
Based on this years performance, I'm looking forward to attending again next year and hoping to see more growth and more varied tracks for the anime/manga side. I don't think they're quite ready for the Convention Center yet but they're close and it's definitely a great place to use.
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