Otaku Weekly

[older_gohan]

Well me and Celibi87 have started the newsletter. It will contain newletters with interviews and articles concerning anime and such. What I'm posting is a article that will appear in the very first issue of the newletter. There will be a web site and we might start a mailing list. Here's the first srticle, tell me what you think.

To Con or Not to Con

Whenever one of you hears about an anime convention or contest what do you think? Do you imagine tons of otaku’s gathering together on one day. Do you see hundreds of Naruto’s crowding around each other like they haven’t seen each other in years? Can you visualize the Kagome and Inuyasha look a like standing for a picture in the most adorable pose ever?

I am sure most of us have been in, near bye, or possibly crashed an anime convention. There are tons of them. We have seen our share of Goku’s. Our fill of fan-dubbed anime’s and possibly to many of those people who can never seem to get the hint, you don’t want to talk about how Sailor moon has a more physical body than Rei Ayamei. Either way we all have to bear through these wonderful experiences to get to the main thing we really want to see. The contests and the merchandise.

Sure we love to stand in line to meet the guy who played the voice for soldier number two in the fourth episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. But do we have to bear with the guy beside you talking to his friend on how the exact mechanics of prosthetic eyes work? I would hope not! So here we have our own little guide on how to survive your very own Anime Convention. Whether it’s your first or fiftieth convention, I know you want one of these spiffy guides to making it through with your life and possibly your sanity still intact.

Otaku Weekly’s Guide to surviving Anime Conventions:

Step 1: Go with friends! You never want to attend one of these alone! The worst problem is you’ll find the one person who’ll love to sit and talk with you for five minutes about favorite anime’s, but then they’ll follow you around, insisting that they join you in every little endeavor you take. Make sure you have a friend along. That way when they ask you for further companion ship you can say
“I’m sorry me and my friend were planning to do this together.” They will feel bad and you will escape with your insanity intact.

Step 2: Plan out every part of your day. The worst part about going to an anime convention unprepared is the fact you might not see everything you want to. There’s a lot to see and want at one of these wonderful cons. But if you go without having an idea of what you want to see, you might stand in line all day for that semi-rare yu-gi-oh card that is signed by the person who thought of it. So please for your own sake and the sake of not wasting gas on a purposeless trip, have a plan.
(Back up plan’s help as well)

Step 3: Make sure you carry only a bit of money and know where you’re going to spend it. An otaku’s worst enemy is an open wallet, and an anime store. We all know what happens when we get a fresh paycheck and find ourselves in the anime section of Sam Goody. You end up begging dad for the money to pay for your cell phone bill and putting off paying for your late fees at blockbuster. We definitely don’t want that to happen (I’m not paying your cell phone bill!). So make sure you take a small amount of money and plan on what you’re going to spend it on.

Step 4: If you make a costume make sure it’s different and original. Oh I know you love to dress up as Naruto and show everyone your mad ninja skills. But unfortunately for a lot of otaku’s, seeing ten Sephiroths walking down the hall together can have a bad affect on us and may warp our minds. So please get something original. This is how you win one of those great contests. They love to see something never done before. And if you’re dressing up just to be Naruto, the psychiatric ward in the Hospital probably isn’t to far away. But for those wanting to win a contest, do something fun and out of the ordinary. I am sure you will be winner for sure if you do that.

Step 5: The final step to surviving your very own anime convention. Have fun! I am sure you know this already but if you miss you opportunity to limited edition episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion where they all go to the prom, don’t fret. There are plenty of other things to indulge in. Whether it be the many Excel Excel look a likes, to the wonderful full sized statue of Mugen; there are plenty of things to see and take in. So make sure you get everything else in why you can.

There is your survival guide to the anime convention. I hope by following this we might experience more sane people at our wonderful conventions and less mock fights between Spike and Vicious.

~Otaku Weekly~
Reporter: Otaku Ben

[KingSchwill]

Good article, I've never been to a convention so's it's good to get a heads up on what I could possibly face. If you do the mailling list sign me up www.kingschwill@aol.com