Con Survival Series: Tickets and Transportation
December 29, 2008
So now you know which convention your going to and where you are going to stay. The next thing you have to think about is how are you going to get there. And obviously make sure you can get in the door at the convention. If you’re lucky and the convention takes place in your neighborhood, you probably already know how to get there. If it’s any further away you will need some logistical planning to get where you need to go. Depending on what form of transportation your are taking determines how long in advance you should start making plans.
Traveling is the most tiring and stressful part of any trip. On your way you are anxious to get there and on the way back you are so tired you just want to go home. And it also takes the most preparations and planning. A good way to start is try learning something about the place you are going if it is unfamiliar territory. You can do this any number of ways including asking people on the convention forums, checking the city website, or just pick up a map of the area. This will help you get a feel of your surroundings, see how close the convention center is to your hotel, and how close all the available transportation is as well. After you’ve picked a mode of transport, and paid for it, you can probably put money down on a ticket for the convention since you’ve made your big commitment at that point.
Just about any convention today will let you buy tickets online and many times, the sooner the better. If you pre-order your ticket there will usually be a discount. Some cons will give you a flat rate pre-order discount. Others will have a tiered rate if you order your ticket before a date or before a certain number of people have registered. In the case of the tiered system, the earlier you order the cheaper it is. Also if you are going with any posse over 10 people you should look into the conventions group discount. If the convention does not list its group ticket policy, shoot them a friendly email and you can usually work something out. This is fairly easy to get with anime clubs or if you just happen to be popular. Without a doubt the greatest benefit to pre-ordering your tickets is once your get to the convention you will almost always spend less time in line.
I always have the odd feeling that if I buy my ticket too soon something is going to come up and stop me from attending. One of the things I dislike about most anime conventions is that they require you to register with a name and bring ID to pick up your ticket effectively stopping you from handing over your unused ticket to someone else. So while ordering your ticket well in advance can save you some bucks, it is a decision you have to be sure about. However, I always recommend pre-registering, it will probably save you at least a couple of minutes in line if things are going correctly at a convention. Though I have been in attendance where the pre-reg line was out the door because everyone did it but if you bought tickets there you could just walk right in.
Plane tickets are now the most expensive part of any trip so our general recommendation is avoid flying unless time, distance, or circumstances prevent you from doing otherwise. If you can’t avoid flying then there are several options to keep your ticket price as low as possible. Your first is to hop on Expedia/Travelocity/Hotwire and see what the prices are looking like. Then check all the websites of specific airlines, the prices can sometimes differ. You can also see if your hotel offers some sort of room rate/plane ticket discount. Some hotels have deals with airlines that can get you discount rates on both prices if you ask. Also if your going very far or overseas you might want to talk to a travel agent because they also can get you combination deals on room rate/plane tickets as well. And travel agents make their money from companies you stay with so it is free to use them. Once again, plane travel can be steep so order far in advance to get better rates. Also keep an eye on prices after you order, if they drop significantly sometimes you can get a little refund by talking to the airline.
I have traveled to conventions most often by bus and I don’t have any real horror stories from doing it whereas I feel like others do. One year coming back from Otakon it did take about 6 hours to get home though, that was a real mess. Anyhow it is usually the cheapest way to go. There are a number of places depending on where you live, the most obvious being Greyhound and one you might not know about called Mega Bus. Mega Bus has a unique pricing system and also is way cheaper than other bus options. I only recently found out about it myself so I have not used it yet, however I have heard good things. One thing to remember about bus transportation is first come first served. You aren’t always guaranteed a seat on the bus you want to be on even if you order your ticket in advance. If it is full it is full and there is nothing you can do about it. You will notice this when coming back from a convention more often that going there. This is being done away with slowly. So be sure to get to the bus station at a decent time! Of course the downside to a bus is that it takes a little longer to get where you are going. But seriously we are anime fans, right, we have plenty to do! Plan your convention stuff, work on a panel, read manga, play video games, etc. we are never bored!
Trains are sort of the in between of taking a plane and taking a bus. Trains are faster than the bus but cheaper than a plane. As far as I can tell Amtrak is the the biggest interstate train system because all the discount travel sites dump you right to their website. In general any advice that applies for buses also applies for the train.
Personally, I like driving to a convention. You get to arrive when you want, leave when you want, take as much luggage as you want, play your music loud, etc. This also allows you to get a hotel further from the convention, and possibly cheaper, if you want. The only city I don’t recommend this for is New York City. Most other places, including Chicago and Baltimore, have decent priced parking garages. If you are going to drive though, you should be comfortable with the interstate and/or driving for long periods of time. If you have a couple of friends who drive you can switch off to make it easier. Driving can be expensive though if you don’t have a full car to split the gas and tolls with. Tolls will get you, so plan your route ahead of time and look up the tolls you will probably be incurring. Driving gives you the most freedom to come and go as you please.
When you finally get to the city you have to get from where you are staying to the convention. Unless you are within walking distance or have a car you have two options you can take a taxi or your can take public transportation. If the con takes place in New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, or Washington D.C. your best bet is to use Hopstop. You just put the address of where you are staying and where you are going and Hopstop tell you the quickest directions by public transportation and also how far you have to walk. If you are attending a convention outside of these cities your best bet is either use the website for the local department of transportation, call your hotel, or ask on the forums.
Taxis are always the last resort, use them sparingly. They are over-priced, period. But some hotels don’t offer shuttle services and in that case a taxi may be necessary. Before you consider one, make sure you aren’t within walking distance of where you need to go, this is an easy mistake if you are unfamiliar with the lay of the land. Also if you know it advance that you will need to take a taxi, it is best to print out directions or a map of where you need to go. Though this is good advice for anything not just taxi taking!
My only parting piece of advice is to always assume everything is going to go absolutely wrong. If you can swing it, try to get to out of state conventions the night before the con and give yourself the day off afterward. If life does not afford you that luxury, atleast try to get to the con 2 hours before any event you want to see and get home at least 4 hours before your minimum bedtime. You will always run into canceled, delayed, and rerouted planes and trains or bumper to bumper traffic when you absolutely cannot be late. It’s also when your leave yourself no leeway when you find yourself getting lost. So assume the worst and you will never be disappointed. Other than that may the road rise to meet you and may the wind be always at your back.
Ongoing Investigations: Case #025
December 26, 2008
Hitohira is an really enjoyable ongoing manga series by Izumi Kirihara. I read book one and two and third comes out in February. Mugi is an ultra-shy, high school freshman who gets roped into joining the drama club which is in desperate need of new members to remain active. The drama club president sees hidden potential in Mugi and her powerful, beautiful voice despite her having no interest in acting. She is technically joining the drama research club because there is already an active rival drama club at the school. Mugi has to struggle with her self-doubt which makes her want to leave the club against verses her want to be friends with the members. There is also a blossoming romance between Mugi and Kai, the other freshman club member. The comedy, the drama, and the romance are all low-key which makes the series quite realistic. Even the wacky characters are mostly within the bounds of realistically wacky. I might have liked the series a little more simply due to the fact that I can see a good deal of myself in Mugi. I have found myself saying many of the things she says. Word for word. Either I am a flat human being or Mugi is a well-written character. This manga is proof that something good can come out of Comic High!. Luckily there are previews for the first and second books online. Oh, there is also a 12 episode anime by Xebec M2 which I have yet to see.
I finished I Shall Never Return, a short 5 book BL series. Ken is, among other things, selling his body to anyone who’ll take him at the beginning of the story which stems from his desperate longing for childhood friend Ritsuro. Ritsuro is a good student, a considerate son and brother, and a good-looking guy. Their relationship as more than friends starts off rather oddly as we find out Ken is continually stealing Ritsuro’s girlfriends just to get his attention. However, the story quickly moves to them fully exploring their feelings for each other and the many bumps in road of Ken’s bad past, Ritsuro’s insecurities, and deciding on their futures. The amount of sex is frequent, though less so in later volumes, and semi-graphic but no full-monty to be seen. The art is well done, however people will note the early 90′s style of it. It isn’t a distraction and at most gives you a chuckle from time to time about certain characters’ clothing choices. I Shall Never Return plants itself firmly in the melodramatic romance sector early on with the classic bad boy/good girl (or in this case, guy) scenario. And while we know the idea is that a good guy can change a bad boy, it isn’t left up to interpretation as Risturo boldly declares aloud he will change Ken! The first two volumes are more shallow drama to lead to sex but it becomes increasingly more engaging after that. We get to really see the hardships of growing up, letting go, and attempting to understand another person. This all does lead us to happy and hopeful for the future ending. Take a look for yourself as Aurora publishing puts of previews of each volume (1,2,3,4,5).
I had seen the Shikabane Hime anime and had found it very plain but Ask John kept saying how much more he liked the manga it was based on. I felt that the concept had potential and so I started to read the manga to see if it was different enough for me to get into it. I read the first 5 chapters and I have to say that John was quite correct. The anime and the manga are two very different animals that are only the same in premise and starting points of the characters. Makina is sort of the stereotypical action girl but an enjoyable one so far. She is obviously the protagonist in the manga with her taking down corpses with duel machine guns frequently. Keisei, the priest, shows up fairly often. Keisei’s younger brother, Ougi, so far has been nothing more than a minor character but it has been hinted he will be more important as the series goes on. The anime seems to try to make Ougi a more main character from the beginning which diminished Makina awesomeness in what I saw of the anime.
I watched Strait Jacket which reminded me greatly of 90′s OVAs. This was just fine by me since I was basically going in wanting some violence and explosions and not much else. Though it actually didn’t have enough action as I would have thought it would. They give us a brief rundown at the beginning of how tactical sorcerers came to be and the state of the current world with demons and terrorism. Leiot is a rogue tactical sorcerer on the wrong side of the law and completely infamous for it. When a dangerous situation threatens the city Tristan asks him to intervene despite his status. She then proceeds to become a thorn in his side for the rest of the show. He also has a weird side kick and a rival tactical sorcerer who of course he has to team up with at some point. The show is nothing spectacular but certainly not anything to moan over.
They have finally gotten back to putting Kara no Kyoukai on DVD. Movie number four is Void Shrine and mostly acts as a transitory piece between the past and the present of Kara no Kyoukai. It begins just a few minutes after the end of the second movie. We see how Shiki deals with the loss of her other personality and how she comes into the employ of Toko Aozaki. The movie is as well-animated and directed as the other three so far. Being a transitory piece it feels a little lighter than the others but it was still enjoyable. It continues the slow building up to the major fight scene at the end while having little action before hand. If this were not seven movies long I was be 100% sure some one would license it in the U.S. Anime companies usually like flashy theatrical movies with a philosophical bent while still containing supernatural action. Will the Type Moon price tag keep this from getting licensed in this harsh economic time?
Finished The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I liked it. It was good.
Tis the season so that is why this is the pic of the week:
All we want for Christmas!
December 25, 2008
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…
Twelve Galaxy Angels!
Eleven Sailor Senshi!
Ten Giant Robots!
Nine Straw-hat Pirates!
Eight Rose-bride Duelists!
Seven Bouncing Haros!
Six Daring Thieves!
Five Golden-haired Bishies!
Four Gundam Meisters!
Three Tachikomas!
Two Claymore Swords!
and Cha-ar’s Custom Zaku!
Your mother is a Fujoshi!
December 22, 2008
So the internet is a mysterious, fun, and sometimes scary place. I have observed many strange statements and maybe that is the way of the internet but really. When I hear arguments that reverse harem, BL, and ren’ai games are smart or incredibly artistic, I have to wonder if we are seeing the same things. Of course these genres have examples of greatness, but could anyone really believe that an entire genre of anything is all good? I have even seen people claim that these types of genres are the way to combat an alleged boys only attitude in fandom. It seems like a similarly elitist attitude that plagues everything.
Before we begin I would like everyone to be on the same page. So I begin with a definition. What exactly is a fujoshi? We have mentioned them in the past but I have never really talked in depth about them before now. The simple definition of fujoshi is a female otaku who focuses on BL/yaoi and BL/yaoi related material. I have seen a trend to try to label any female otaku as a fujoshi but I think this is a grave mistake. Fujoshi have very specific tastes that warrant them having their own sub-classification. All fujoshi are female otaku but not all female otaku are fujoshi.
Something strange is happening. And while it certainly isn’t just these genres, it seems to be quite prevalent. Some girls actually think that BL, reverse harems, and girl-oriented dating sims are automatically deep. I get that girls want to have their own sub-genres that are specifically created for their enjoyment, that speaks to their fantasies, but why go putting meaning in things that have none? I feel the same way about anyone who actually believes moe is the be all end all of high art. It is becoming quite apparent to me that there are some fujoshis who are a whole different class of women in denial.
You unruly cad! Are you implying that Fushigi Yugi, Fake, and Angelique are not the pinnacles of visual literature whether it be in the pantheon of Eastern or Western civilization? Next you are going to tell me that Fate/Stay Night, Strawberry Panic!, and Negima! aren’t high literature! All kidding aside, no one sane that I know has ever attempted to even imply that Night Shift Nurses or F-Force has a grand amount of subtlety and deep insight into society. They are animated porn for men to masturbate to. Any social insight gleaned from them is ancillary to the actual “narrative.” And I use narrative in the loosest sense of the word. Porn is porn and titillation is titillation no matter if it is made for men or for women. I will bet good money that 75% of all BL, reverse harems, and girl-oriented dating sims are as shallow as shows made for men. They may be entertaining and enjoyable but they are almost always about as far from deep as Naruto is far from the actual practices of ninjas. I’m not saying it’s all pop culture junk food but it is certainly the dominant percentage.
Yaoi is to manga what romance novels are to literature. Not all books containing romance go into the romance novel section, but you can bet on what you are going to find in that section. Sure some of it has some semblance of plot but that isn’t why the reader is reading it. That is not a bad thing! Read for your own enjoyment but don’t try to tell me that it is saving the world. To ascertain that BL is the answer to the “male dominated world” of anime and manga is not only wildly exaggeratory, it is insulting. That seems to imply that women are only superficially interested in these mediums. As if they could only possibly care about pretty faces and boys touching each other. I mean no woman actually wants a plot line or character development, right? Aren’t these kinds of statements ghettoizing females and making them seem even more remote in a fandom that has a great number of men?
I think that the real problem is horribly vocal crusader fujoshi. They then assume their fellow female fans are just as shallow as they are. I think that female anime fans can be similar to their male counterparts but I don’t think that one gender is filled with nothing but intellectual pursuits where as the other group only wants shallow fan-service. I think that anime containing a wide variety of genres including genres aimed at females of all ages that are often written by women makes it appealing to women.
It is true that much of geek culture has a large gap in the male to female ratio. However, I frankly think it has quite a lot to do with women more than men trying to keep girls out. Women keep women out. And this has a whole lot to do with society and many outside factors that have nothing to do with geekdom which I could go on and on about. But I won’t, not right now. Geek pride is on the rise and with the growth of online communities, one not even need to leave their house in order to interact with their chosen fandom. I’ve mostly found a female opinion welcomed.
I think that most geek guys would give their eye for more women to be into their chosen hobbies. One problem is that most geeky guys lack the interpersonal skills to easily draw more women to their groups. I will also admit that a certain percentage of any geeky community will have a no girls allowed attitude but I think they are in the definite minority. Plus, they mostly have that attitude due to bitterness of the small numbers of women actively in the community. Women stay out of geeky hobbies because they think they don’t have a place in geek fandom or it holds any interest for them. Why this happens is another debate beyond the scope of this article and perhaps even this blog. The main point is I don’t think there is a cabal of men trying to keep women out of anime and only though the diligence of Light x L and Kyo x Yuki doujinshi authors are girls watching anime.
What about that shojo manga? Manga written for young women has been a popular genre since the 1970′s (though obviously appeared much earlier) so I think it is safe to say it has plenty of influence on why women/girls like anime and manga. And shojo manga sells quite well here these days, some have even made it on to the best-seller list. What about Sailor Moon? She was a phenomenon! Half the girls I know my age remember her fondly and can credit her, atleast partially, to their thrust into fandom. Yes, there has been an influx of girls in fandom as of late but there is more than one reason for this. I just think they are overlooking huge things just to make their given preferences important.
More girls start watching anime and reading manga due to non-sexual reasons. You usually have to hook girls on the shojo and the shonen before they go out and start reading the BL and doujinshi. It’s an outgrowth of their interest in the medium. Women don’t primarily come to anime for any one reason. There is the universal appeal of Studio Ghibli films. There is the wish fulfillment magical girls. There is the simple pure-hearted romance of young girls’ shojo. There is the drama and excitement of older girl’s romance, fantasy, and adventure shojo. There is the more mature look at love and life in josei manga. Many shonen shows have had almost as many female fans as they have male fans. Do some girls just watch these shows as fodder for their BL doujinshi? Sure. Are some girls only reading Fruits Basket because they want to be surrounded by the handsome men of the Sohma family? This is an undeniable fact. I just feel that the appeal of anime and manga is stronger than that. I have always loved the attitude of certain fujoshi that their favorite pairings are not just in their heads but actually a secret between them and the author. They also usually have the feeling that anyone who does not realize this is a plain idiot.
Everyone isn’t just here watching, reading, (blogging) for purely aesthetic, superficial reasons. We all know that anime offers both things to its fans. We can have over-the-top, shallow, or silly stories and we can turn around and move on to deep, thought provoking, or endearing tales. Nothing dominates bringing female fans in as far as I can tell. It is just the vocal minority on the internet that gives this weird illusion. And don’t get me started on the obsession with non-canon relationships that do not exist. Please don’t imply that all women are that delusional. Do I read doujinshi? Yes. Do I read about characters that will never be in a relationship? Yes. Do I insist that it is real? No.
I just want to make it clear that I don’t mind fujoshi in general. Everyone is entitled to like what they like. Women should be able to indulge themselves and be catered to with all the gusto that any male would. I feel fujoshi are no better or worse than moe fans, mecha fans, hentai fans, classic anime fans, or sports anime fans. I would even go as far as to claim that American fujoshi make the U.S. market more robust and healthy. What I don’t like is fujoshi running around with a superiority complex. Even moe fans don’t claim to be the saviors of fandom.
Top 5 non-canon couples
5. Spike and Faye (Cowboy Bebop)
4. Allelujah and Sumeragi (Gundam 00)
3. Allen and Lavi (D.Gray Man)
2. Kanda and Lenalee (D.Gray Man)
1. Zoro and Nami (One Piece)
