G-Anime convention was held in Gatineau, Quebec. It was relatively close to the Quebec-Ontario border and Ottawa, which was why I was able to attend. The event was held on February 6 and 7, 2010.
First impressions:
After seeing the opening ceremony, I wasn't quite sure if this event was very well planned. Although I did not understand much of French (which was the main language there), I heard a bit of stuttering. But, people were laughing from time to time, so it might just be myself whos paranoid. The event turned out to be much like the conventions in Toronto, (ie. Anime North). Only smaller. But that was expected. There were quite a lot of people, considering it was only their 2nd time hosting this convention.
What was there:
There was your standard dealers room, game room, panels, showings, masquerade, dancing, karaoke, and something I hadn't seen before, Manga Library. To much of no surprise, the panels and showings were of otaku things (manga, cosplay, anime, doujin games).
What surprised me:
There were a few things. There was a negative one though. Starting with the negative, I got sold some fake nendoroid petite! That was disappointing. I should have known... well I didn't. It was the nendoroid petite for vocaloid, (this link here).
The positive surprise at this convention was the popularity of Touhou. (Not very, mind you) But still more than Anime North! In any case, there was a panel dedicated to talking about Touhou! Too bad it was in French, so I didn't attend. There were also merchandise of Touhou (just keychains and pins and wallpapers though).
Another nice surprise was their gaming room. They had an ATARI... HOLY SMOKES! ATARI?! They had other old consoles too, such as Super Nintendo and Game Cube. I few more, I forgot without looking back, so I won't bother posting. Of course, newer consoles were available too. (For further details, please refer to photos).
What I did there:
Well, to my dismay, I did not do much. I took pictures and videos of cosplayers, of the environment, of the events. I bought some things. Typical stuff.
I did however visit panels I was somewhat interested in. ie. Doujin games and 4chan.
Doujin Games panel was talking about how they crossed over from Japan. Atleast that was the intention. However the English lady talked mainly about how its not just men who plays visual novels. She also mentioned several titles and briefly talked about them. But nothing about actually how the games crossed over from Japan. ie. the politcal aspects, or what kind of restrictions were applied to make this game distributable. Since we all know the western audience here and the Asian audience are completely different. Most people would call us freaks if we said we have dolls of anime girls in our cabinets. But unfortunately, the part I wanted to know most, wasn't included in the presentation.
I may have been well informed in the news about Japan and their anime/otaku section, because I read up on it regularly at kotaku and sankakucomplex (NSFW). But at the panel, she also mentioned something interesting. She mentioned the ban on rape games in Japan which started with Amazon caught selling the game on their website. I already knew about the whole ordeal but I'm sure it was a nice informational session for the other people who may not know.
But all in all, I found that panel to be pretty useless. Probably more useful if I walked in without any knowledge on doujin games. Looks like a wrong choice for me.
I also walked into the 4chan one. That panel was just some spontaneous question and answer. Nothing much was planned and it was just the audience asking about memes and the host would explain where they came from. Somewhat useful, except I've never heard any of the memes before. I wasn't very educated in 4chan when I walked in. After I went to the panel, I'm still not very educated in 4chan. LOL!
Conclusion:
All in all, the convention was worth going. The people were friendly. I got alot of photos/videos taken. I got to try new games. I got to buy some Touhou stuff (That doesn't exit in Anime North). There were things to do. Its just that I didn't participate in alot of them, since I didn't know French.
For the second time being hosted, I believe this convention would be considered a success.
Here are the links for photos and videos (Videos will be removed when space is needed to upload more photos).
Read more!
A job well done.. is what I would like to say. It has been alot of work. Since I have had tons to do in the past little while. But I'm glad I'm done. It does look better than before too!
