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Shoujocon - Full Report

Shoujocon is an odd con for me to be writing a report about. Its insanely
hard to be objective about it - I staffed it for two years, so I'm able to see
aspects of it that the average con go-er does not. But then again, don't press
usually. Anyways, this Shoujocon was certainly an experience. A gamut of
experiences!

I am Late:

Friday afternoon, and I was nowhere near the con. This was the first year
Shoujocon really expanded to Friday to make it a three day con. (There had
been a few events late Friday last year.) It was still something of a half day
- with things typically not starting till the afternoon. But I had a 2 pm
panel I was supposed to be on, and thanks to a paycheck mishap and other
things, I was late late late. Who knew that flower shops located in
Port Authority Bus Terminal were meant to buy last minute roses for a friend's
costume?

I am Press? :

This was also the first year Shoujocon had press attendance, so there was a
bit of confusion, since we had to register and get approved in advance, then
pay our reduced fee at the door, but get our badges and info upstairs,
where they had no attendee bags with the con paperwork . . . So by this point
I was even more late to the panel. And program book less. But I would prevail.

I am a Panelist:

So late, lugging baggage, I get to History of Shoujo. Apparently my
appearance served as an excuse to get back on topic. It wasn't a large panel,
being at such an early time during the con, but the attendees had some good
questions, as did the moderator. (There were two other panelists - forgive me,
I failed to write down any names.) One panelist spent at least part of her
childhood in Japan, which gave for an interesting insight into how shoujo has
changed, and how its market differs. Pretty much all agreed that it was artist
like Moto Hagio, who are responsible for a lot of what shoujo is today, since
she and her contemporaries turned the industry upside down, incorporating
themes that had been more typical to boy's comics (like science fiction), not
always using female protagonists and of course, the introduction of shounen-ai
stories. All were encouraged to read the few works of hers translated into
English. You are too - go buy A A'.

I am a Volunteer? :

After that it was a matter of stowing my bags, which meant finding
roommates, who were almost all staffers. Though I did run into Justin Sevakis
of CPM who gave news that was not happy - for them. They had no product,
something had gone wrong with the order and it was going to arrive at the
hotel - Tuesday. About four tables in the Dealer's Room - and all they had
were a few graphic novels. Eeks. I also proved to be something of a moron for
forgetting where con-ops was, despite the fact it was in the same room as last
year.

Upon finding it, and Angela (head of art show and one of my roommates) I
found myself helping with balloons for the Opening Ceremonies. I had to
chuckle. It seems I can't entirely escape from working at this convention.

If I did something between then and missing the AMV contest, then waiting
for the very very delayed Opening Ceremonies, I remember not. I know I hit the
dealer's room and said hi to the folks from Media Blasters.

I am Press - for real:

The Opening Ceremonies ended up being very very delayed, due to the AMV
contest being very very delayed. So not surprisingly, they were sparsely
attended. Though the room that housed them looked nice with a runway-type set
up for the stage. The people who did stay up for them were in good spirits -
several of them having just come over from an impromptu Para-para session
outside!

Both the con chair and co-chair had a few words for the faithful, and with
the help of Shoujocon's live action mascot, Toby, the voice acting guests were
introduced. A moment was taken to explain that despite what it said in the
program book - guest Jamie McGonnigal was not working with Vanessa Williams at
the moment. Though, she of course, wants to. Heh. I felt a little bad for
guest Liam O'Brian. While every voice role listed off for him was shoujo - and
not small roles either, none had been released yet in the US! The ceremony
ended with a ceremonial destruction of a Pikachu piņata. Really, what did the
little mouse ever do? It wasn't like he was Relena Peacecraft - who had just
finished getting killed next door - for the third year in row!

I am tired :

But sleep did not come quickly - prizes were strewn about our room as final
preparations for the big events tomorrow were wrapping up. Happy news? Reikun
(Andrew) called to say he'd be able to come to the con for one day! YAY!! My
reporting buddy!!!

I am insane :

What the heck was I thinking agreeing to do a panel that was at 11 am? And
with no breakfast even. But it was Shoujo in the US - and whatdoyouknow - I
kinda run a page about that. And more importantly Rei arrived!!! So I got to
drag him along as my audience. This was an odd panel, as most of my
co-panelists were very into the "American Doujin" scene, so talk turned to
that and often.

And since when I'm on a panel I forget everything, we'll let Rei take over
the story at this point. (With commentary from me)

Rei's Tale of Shoujo

Wow, my second con in the month of July. Shoujo Con is nestled in
northern New Jersey, and since I was visiting family for a few days I
decided why not take in a few hours at Shoujocon as well. So I rented a car
and headed off.

I got to the Hilton (the hotel Anime East was held at during its brief
tenure) in East Brunswick at around 10:30 AM and headed for the registration
line. There was absolutely no wait. After getting out of the registration
line, and heading to the lobby I met up with one of my fellow AOD AX
reporters, Sapphire. After quickly going to the dealer's room and checking
up with Justin of CPM, we headed to the Shoujo in the US panel, which
Sapphire was a panelist on!

Sapphire was joined by May, Emily and Dillon to represent what was going
on in Shoujo in the US. The focus actually began with US doujinishi, which
is starting to build up here. Apparently some US based doujinshi group is
already selling their work in the US for $1.50.

Next up, they moved to how shoujo in Japan is different from the US. They
believe that it didn't diverge very much in Japan in terms of the art style,
while in the US it does. Also, in Japan, they noted how the assistants who
worked on Kenshin and Dragonball moved on to make such shoujo titles as One
Piece and Shaman King.

Tokyopop made the topic list next and how they are trying to change the
way manga is presented and sold in the US. The other manga companies are
closely watching the situation, but are letting TokyoPop take the risk. If
any other companies follow suit, it'll be in one to two years to check
whether TokyoPop is still financially sound.

A little bit of history into US comics went next. There were a lot of
female comic book artist in the 50s and early 60s doing comics that did deal
with romance and sexuality. But then, the Comic Code came around and it
basically killed female artists. It was at this time that the super hero
genre of comics also took off.

The problems of marketing shoujo also came up. "Girls will watch boy's
shows, but boys won't watch girls show" was the phrase that permeates
marketing circles. Of course, if those marketing folks visited Shoujo Con,
they would have discovered that a lot of guys do like Shoujo.

{Mariela : Wow, we said all that?}

Afterwards, we headed back to registration so that I could get a little
yellow band attached to my wrist, indicating I was over 18. Certain parts of
the dealer's room (hentai!) and the art show are restricted to those
underage.

{M : The bizarre side effect of this is the ability to tell really fast
if people are legal. Not sure if this is for good or for ill though. Oh, the
bands are also used for adult screenings in the video rooms. Not that we
really spent time in those}

Then we headed to a party suite and met up with the ShoujoArts party.
Shoujo Arts is now the parent organization behind Shoujocon, and I found it
really interesting to meet up with those who run clubs on the east due to my
being a staffer back in my local staff club. We exchanged ideas on how to
attract club goers, and about running cons. An idea I brought up, which
worked well for the club I'm part of was aligning yourself with you local
independent theater. We leave flyers with them, and cross promote them in
our newsletters. Since the theater would show titles such as Princess
Mononoke, Jin-roh, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, they understood about
the anime community in the area.

{M : Pretzels lured me in. But it is interesting to get a bunch of club
runners together. Some problems are very local. And some seem to crop up
everywhere. Cons are good chances to get these people together and I thought
this con did a nice job of it}

One of the funniest parts of ShoujoCon was up next, the Whack-a-Thon!
Whack-a-Thon basically involved a piņata being set up for con goers to
whack. And which character did we see smashed? Nakago, from Fushigi Yuugi.
That was hilarious, especially after he was decapitated.

{M: This was the first year I hadn't worked to make the piņatas. And BOY
WAS I GLAD. For once I didn't have to wince and cry and think of all the
hard work that went into something that people seemed to live to DESTROY.
And once that candy starts spilling - if you aren't ready to fight - Get.
Out. Of. The. Way. Those cute little kids will hurt you.}

Next up, we met up with Frank of CPM explored the rest of Shoujo Con. I'm
used to going to a lot bigger cons than Shoujo Con, so it was a very
different experience. Everything is close together and everyone on the staff
seems to know everyone else. We checked out video rooms, and then the art
show. After leaving the Adult section of the art show, Sapphire, Frank, and
I noticed how tame the section was and we wondered why there even an adult
section. All I remember is the words those of the ShoujoCon staffer guarding
the adult section, "Men draw smut, women draw erotica" :)

{M: Truly one of the great moments of the con.}

We wandered back to the dealer's room to check up with Justin. Poor CPM,
their merchandise never made it to the con, so all they had was 5 different
manga titles for sale. I picked up the Lodoss War: Deedlit's Tale graphic
novel though that I wanted. I must give a heads up to the Shoujo Con
dealer's room staff here as they gave CPM a refund for their dealer's room
fee. This was just very well done, and gracious. Sapphire and I also met up
with Meredith from Media Blasters to say hi.

{M: The con offering to refund the dealer's fee was a great show of good
will - as the con wasn't responsible. But, knowing they did want CPM back
(with merchandise) I thought this was a good decision on their part. Oh to
have my dream of getting at least three companies at a Shoujocon so there
can be a proper Industry Panel. *swoon*}

At 3:00 PM, Sapphire had another panel, Obscure Shoujo. She and two other
panelists went over a lot of titles. I was very much out of my element, as I
had never heard of at least 90% of the titles. She did plug the Lodoss War:
Deedlit's Tale though :)

{M : I admit - I was out of my league at this panel. Sure I read things
that seem obscure but . . . they just aren't. Well, maybe in the US they
are. Memo to self. Bring visual aids, and be on X-ing over next year. That's
the panel about shounen manga that is popular with females. Silly me, I
thought it was something else . . .}

There was another Whack-a-Thon at 4:00 PM featuring Gushoushin. After 20
minutes though, we gave up after a very well built piņata could just not be
broken. We headed back to the dealer's room and did a through exploration.
Too many goodies, but I resisted again. I did end up spending more in the
Shoujo Con dealer's room then I did at AX, though I only bought one item at
each place.

{M: And yet you resisted eX-Driver each time. Tsk tsk tsk.}

After getting kicked out of the dealer's room when it closed at 6:00 PM.
There was gonna be a bbq at Meredith's, but Sapphire had another panel
(What's new in Shoujo?) at 7 and I needed to head back at 7. After watching
cosplayers for while, I headed back out on the road.

I am in a panic :

All these bad bad bad people told me to ditch my panel and go to dinner.
But no, I was Responsible Panelist. I would not. I also ran into the moderator
in the bathroom. But I was told to call after the panel to see if I could get
a ride to the BBQ. So after hugging Rei bye (realizing that we would see each
other in about 4 days at Otakon) I headed to What's New in Shoujo. Where I was
the only panelists. PANIC! Oh thank the gods I'd just finished my AX report
about the shoujo panel there and hence could babble on about the current crop
of shoujo in Japan (Full Moon, Mirumo, Myuu-Myuu, 12 Countries) and some
recentish and now licensed ones like Fruits Basket and X. Visual Aids Mariela,
Visual Aids.

I am lucky :

After the panel, I called Frank from CPM to see about getting a ride to
said BBQ . And by one of those lovely miracles, one appeared in the form of
Steve from AnimeNext. (If I messed up your name, I grovel before you.) So off
I went, leaving the hotel (yay!) to watch snippets of Shaolin Soccer, and talk
about anime, the industry, cons, Vespas, Five Star Stories, voice acting,
voice directing and pretty much anything else with a very cool group of
people. Thank you for the food Meredith!!!!!!!!!

I am staff - for while :

Returning to the hotel, where the cosplay was ending and the dance was
beginning, we came back to - well, near chaos. Though that wasn't on the part
of the staffers. A situation with a group of people from a different
convention who were staying at the hotel had been escalating for a while,
starting with the parking lot, but eventually spreading into the hotel. The
combination of people who've been drinking who don't get this con and a lot of
underage con-goers could have gotten bad. So I (and some other ex-staffers)
ended up pitching in, so other staffers could be freed up to work security or
help out in other areas. The real result was this sense of everyone being on
edge - and a reminder that cons aren't a totally closed environment like some
fans think they are. While the situation wasn't quite as dangerous as people
were saying, it was certainly a good idea to travel in groups. But anyone who
lived in the South Bronx like me is somewhat used to "Hey Baby" "Ooh girls,
wanna do something something" Kinda sad when it happens at a con though.

Because the Art Show and the Artist Alley had ended up combining rooms, it
was actually not closing till about midnight. After which there was making
sure there was someone to watch it till Hotel Security came to lock it, then
getting things upstairs, then making sure people had either rides home, or a
place to crash if the situation had stranded them at the hotel, etc. etc.

As a result I ended up staying up, first waiting for people to check in,
but the n discussing Gundam, especially Zeta and ZZ and Farscape. Not quite
what you picture when you think of Shoujocon I'm sure, but it was probably the
most amusing synopsis of those Gundam series I will ever hear.

I am kinda bored:

The need to check out of the hotel room, and do favors for some nice people
mean t that despite the late night, it was necessary to get up early. And my
last panel was at 3 pm ;_; So after checking in with several people, popping
my head into some rooms, I ended up back in the dealer's room, where I
reasoned, that having been such a good girl and having bought nothing on days
1 and 2, I could buy a Witch Hunter Robin AP card and a HOLY pin from Scryed.
Yeah, totally not shoujo. I'm a Sunrise kinda girl sometimes.

After running into the guys from CPM one more time I ended up talking to
Meredith some more. She was manning the adult section of MBs table and I'd
sorta been standing to the side, when she offered me a seat. Seeing as I had
nothing else better to do, I ended up taking it - which resulted in . . .

I am a dealer :

There is just something bizarrely fun about helping to run a hentai
section. Even for a little bit, even if its mostly to give the prices. ^___^ 
Things you learn. Girls buy hentai. And not just Level C (which did sell out.)
And are many times less shy about it than guys. Thanks to John and everyone at
MB for letting me hang around. Its always interesting to shift the viewpoint.

I am alone - again :

And for the last panel - one near and dear to my heart - Shoujo anime vs.
Shoujo manga - I was once again to sole panelists. *clings to moderator for
dear life* And boy did this panel get off topic. Not that most people minded.
The issue of changes made to a manga when animated segued into how TV itself
works, both here and in Japan. The role of advertisers, the birth of the
"short episode" series, the changes with cable's prominence. It was a quite a
lively discussion!

I am at the end :

And as the panel came to a close, it was time to find people, pitch into
the packing effort and head to closing ceremonies. Which were much better
attended than the opening ones! Not surprisingly - the first order of business
was clearing up the confusion about everything that had gone on the night
before, trying to kill the already growing rumors, a hard and unenviable job
for any con, but especially for a young one like this one.

The rest of closing was spent covering the winners of various events, like
the Toby Fan Art contest, recapping the Karaoke winners (it had preceded the
ceremonies), announcing the hall costume winners (many of which, like the
Lodoss group, were quite shocked to have won) and announcing the AMV winners.
I was quite happy to see that the White Pretear cosplayer had won a prize -
not only was it a nifty outfit, she also had a normal Himeno one. It was very
apparent as the AMV awards were being said that there had been a clear
favorite (as everyone said "the LAST one") and it did take the top prize.
(That would be Shuchi's Question, set to music from the Nightmare Before
Christmas, with footage from many many many series.) I only got to see the
contest several hours later - and yeah, it was gonna win. But Paranoia Rebirth
should have come in second. Even if it was to a Linkin Park song.

Concluding :

Shoujocon is an odd duck of a con. Choosing to concentrate on something
that isn't so much a genre, as a marketing term, with its own neglected but
growing fandom would indicate a small con. Its location in a region which
until recently had a dearth of cons helped guarantee attendance for two years.
And it was very much a case of if you build it they will come. There are a lot
of first time con goers at every Shoujocon, and some people who have only been
to Shoujocons. (And tend to get rather upset at closing that its all over!)
This year, with Otakon moving up its date resulted in some noticeable changes
in attendance. While they pretty much equaled the year before, it was now over
three days, making for a more lightly attended con overall. The lack of summer
con time is something many cons have to consider these days. But it can't be
denied, for the majority of people who went, they certainly enjoyed
themselves. Maybe its because so much of this fandom already talk on line and
seem to know each other when they get there. Maybe its because shoujo fans are
just happy to have a con where the things they like to talk about thrive and
aren't relegated to a panel and a few showings.

It will be interesting how the con will adapt in the coming
years - especially with more companies taking notice every year.