I’m not sure if AnimeNEXT is just getting better at coaxing their guests into showing how interesting they are, Japanese guests are learning to have a little more showmanship in front of American audiences, or if it is a combination of the two. I’m guess it is a bit of both but no matter what the cause the last two years have meant that the guests at AnimeNEXT have done a lot more than just flatly answer questions. Sayo Yamamoto and Hiroshi Shimizu did a lot to make their panels pop last year. Between drawing storyboards and sketching of Lupin live there was always something going on while they answered questions. It helped the panels seem more vibrant than a simple interview. This year while the Studio Trigger artists did not show off their artistic chops in the same way they did wow the audience just as much.

Last year I also said that I hoped that Japanese guests would be more popular than they have been in the past. I was not expecting them to have to turn people away in droves but maybe they could fill over half of the panel rooms they were placed in. It was a dream but I did not see it more than that. Low and behold this year people waited the sun to get into the Kill la Kill panel with Studio Trigger and many people just could not get in. There was not a free seat in the house. That is crazy. And it was not like Hiromi Wakabayashi and Shigeto Koyama are huge names like Hayao Miyazaki or even Gen Urobuchi. They are talented guys but they are not names that roll off the average fan’s name alongside a resume of what they have done. But the people came and were hungry for knowledge.

The question is why. Sure Kill la Kill is megapopular. But I have seen the director of Fullmetal Alchemist at Otakon sitting in a room that was barely 1/4th filled while that show was at the pinnacle of its popularity. It is not like Fullmetal Alchemist has a smaller fanbase. Has fandom radially changed since then? It has changed but that is not the reason they had to turn people away from the Kill la Kill panel this year. It was the fact that they has the anime itself be the headliner. It was called the “Kill la Kill panel with Studio Trigger” panel and not the “Hiromi Wakabayashi and Shigeto Koyama” panel. I’m sure that the “Hiromi Wakabayashi and Shigeto Koyama” panel would have been in a room with only a fourth of the seats being taken up. When the title says that your going to learn the secrets of the hit show of the season from who people who worked on it the fans will climb over each other to get into the room. If you just say two Japanese guys will be answering questions in a room it is only bloggers, press, and superfans.

I mean at Otakon 2013 Kaoru Kurosaki filled a room. People were not in the panel because they were fluent in Japanese and loved her work as a novelist. I’m sure if you asked ten people who went to that panel before it started who she was maybe one would know she was the wife of the author of Rurouni Kenshin. Maybe. I don’t even think Nobuhiro Watsuki could have filled the room with his name alone. The Real Life of a Manga-ka: Behind The Scenes of Rurouni Kenshin on the other hand was a packed room. People know Rurouni Kenshin even years after its release. People know Kill la Kill. If you want attendees to go to events with the creators then sell them what they know. If you say that the panel is Naoko Takeuchi you will get a decent turn out. If you say the panel is “The Creator of Sailor Moon” you will have to hold Thunderdome to determine who gets into the room.

If you are reading this and you are staff at a convention you should take this lesson to heart. People will go to Japanese guests panels. You just have to sell them properly.

 What he said.

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 Hello, AnimeNEXT, I missed you! My last AnimeNEXT was 2011 so it was great to return to a convention that I have attended since it was still in its toddler phase.

Not only has there been attendance growth during my absence but also some expansive of the panel space. Despite both these things, AnimeNEXT remains an intimate and more relaxed con experience which I have always considered one of its best features.

Though we were so busy that we didn’t end up having time to record a podcast during the event!

I think listening to the most recent Ani-Gamers podcast about FanimeCon 2014 made me realize how atypical my con experience can be. The standard stereotype is that it is the younger con goers spend all their days hanging out, engaging in debauchery, go the occasional event like the masquerade, and maybe randomly popping into a panel more out of a desire to break up their lazy schedule than any interest in content. While that is hardly a totally unfounded concept it is also clearly a stereotype. First of all as the podcast shows it is not only the teen attendees that make that the whole of their convention experience. Secondly if the content is strong and can sell itself then the people will come.

I feel like that has always been AnimeNEXT’s strengths. They stay fairly on focus when it comes to having programming that is anime, manga, or at least Japanese culture related. They go out of their way to attract presenters who deliver good material. Most of all the go out of their way to attract creative Japanese guests in a way that even some of the bigger conventions don’t bother to do. In a way I think that creates a positive feedback loop. The increased high level Japanese guests draws a higher level of panelists which in turns brings attendees that are more interested in both. These attendees then go on to run their own quality panels and ask for Japanese guests. In fact AnimeNEXT continued that trend by having even more featured panelists and bringing over Japanese guests who actually packed the biggest panel rooms.

That does not make every attendee have the same experience as I do but it does make the convention somewhere I love to attend every year. This year is no exception. The only thing that made it better was having Kate with me again. I can have a good time without her as a traveling companion but I always have more fun when she is there.

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