So, to round off my posts related to Anime Matsuri 2022, I'll talk about the convention as a whole and a few of the panels I went to. There will be a mix of good and bad, largely leaning on good. I didn't do that many different panels this time around, and most of my time was spent hanging around with random people. All the pictures I'll be posting in this thread will be pictures of the cosplay I saw around the convention.
And looking back now.... most of the panels I planned to go to I didn't even make it to because I kept getting sidetracked by people I met from last year, getting pictures or getting my picture taken, and just milling about with the random group I talked about earlier. There are only two things worth noting, and the first is the Cosplay Dating Game (18+). Dating game panels are always hit and miss based on who gets called up on stage. This one was pretty good, and the whole thing was funny. It didn't have that golden moment like last year's Gaston killing it, but it was an overall good beginning to end. I have the same issue I did with it last year though, and that is the people in the crowd are so over-eager to get up there you have people standing up on chairs and blocking the view, or people coming in groups trying to direct attention specifically to people who came with them at the expense of anyone who happens to be around them, and it would be nice for the presenters to maintain a bit more control over the shenanigans.
The other one worth talking about was 'Your Gay ship is Gay Bingo', and this was... not good. The first problem is it's just a game of Bingo, and Bingo is not fun. However there were cash prizes, so you are now paying more attention to whether you win at bingo than the jokes of the presenter. That said, it may have been for the best because there were a lot of repeated jokes about the gay ships that came up, and also a lot of 'If you know you know' nods in part because the panel wasn't 18+, so they couldn't get away with a lot of the jokes they wanted to make. If you sat there and listened to the presenter rather than focused on your bingo cards, you were in for a long and bumpy ride. That said, the two up there could be funny. If they work on having more material and just make it an 18+ panel like they clearly wanted, you would still be there playing Bingo but at least you could have some fun with joking about fan ships.
The final thing to talk about is not so much an issue with just Matsuri, but an issue with anime conventions as a whole. You are hosting a four-day convention with this many guests, and despite this, the convention is still being run using volunteers. I won't name the staff member here, but at one point for one Panel he had to take care of something, and because I'd gotten to know him a bit he asked me to help at the door while he took care of it. I do not blame him, and I have absolutely no issues with giving them a hand. The problem is he, and the entire staff running the event, aren't professionals. They are inexperienced and untrained, and yet somehow are expected to do a job that I wouldn't want to do for minimum wage, and do it for very little compensation as a result. Of course, there are issues with lines, keeping things organized, and making sure all panels are provided with what they need to run. It's no wonder there are numerous and notable issues at every major convention people run, it's inevitable. This isn't the fault of the volunteers, it's the fault of conventions continuing to rely solely on volunteer support to operate, even conventions that act as a business. At a certain size, this just stops being a viable option.
I know this will not sound ideal for a lot of people, but if you booked one less band would it have made a difference? I don't feel the difference in size from last year to this is that great, yet they spent more on musical acts this year. I understand it's necessary to book big guests to make your money back for running a convention, but you also want things to run smoothly. This was much better than last year, but I don't know if I have ever heard of an Anime Convention of larger size running without a fair share of nonsense. Yeah, it was nowhere near the shit-show that was Anime Expo, but things could be so much better to let some actual professionals run the floor.
The only other thing is Anime Matsuri continues to have a fairly unimpressive Artist Alley. I am not saying they didn't have legit complaints about their poor sales last year in regards to both the sudden move of the Alley itself to the third floor and how poorly it was communicated that would be happening to both guests and artists, as well as some probably inflated guest numbers. That said, I have been to smaller conventions with a better variety in the artist alley. There was just very little there that looked good when compared to the Dealers room, which did include many art pieces as well. I loved my pendant and Calicifer pins, but on a whole, I just left unsatisfied with it. Poor performance in the Alley is not entirely on Anime Matsuri organizers is all I'm saying.
Overall though I loved it this year. I do wish I took a bit more time to see some more panels so I could give this a more accurate look, but I am still excited to go back next year where I am already beginning to make plans.
