FanimeCon

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FanimeCon
Status	active
Venue	San Jose Convention Center
Location	San Jose, California
Country	United States
Years in existence	1994 to present
Attendance	10000 paid attendees in 2006 (estimated)[1]
Official Website

FanimeCon (also known as simply "Fanime") is an annual anime convention run by the Anime Resource Group (ARG) and is one of the ten largest anime conventions in North America.^[1] Originally conceived by Aaron Pilgrim as a gathering of local anime clubs in Northern California, the first one was held at California State University, Hayward. The anime clubs at that first Fanime were Beefbowl Anime, Chabot Anime, Foothill Anime and No-Name Anime.

Later, it was held at the Foothill College campus in Los Altos Hills. It then moved to the Santa Clara Convention Center. It is currently held at the San Jose Convention Center on Memorial Day weekend.

FanimeCon has hosted a variety of industry guests, and Hiroyuki Yamaga of Gainax and Steve Bennett of International Comics & Entertainment attend regularly. The convention also features a masquerade ("Der Cosplay"), AMV contest, swap meet, game show, karaoke, video gaming, tabletop gaming, dances, musical performances, etc.

In recent years, one of the most popular attractions at FanimeCon has been its Asian Film Room. The room, which showcases East Asian Cinema from Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, is one of the most exceptional additions to Fanime, providing a slice of video programming that is usually not seen at other anime conventions. Its popularity has also expanded the convention's programming to include Asian TV Dramas.

[edit] History

[edit] FanimeCon 1994, June 19, Cal State Hayward

The first Fanime was a one-day event held at California State University, Hayward.^[2] Four clubs were present: Foothill Anime, No Name Anime, Cal Animage Alpha, and Beefbowl Anime. The event was organized in weeks by then-chairman Aaron Pilgrim and drew approximately 200 Bay Area fans.^[3] There were three viewing rooms, and the big new video right then was Tenchi Muyo, Mihoshi Space Adventure.^[4]

[edit] FanimeCon 1995, February 25, Cal State Hayward

There were three video rooms, two dealers rooms, a snack bar, and two Guests of Honor: Fred Schodt and Carl Horn. Color badges and T-shirts were introduced, and both items sold out. There were about 350 attendees.^[4]

[edit] FanimeCon 1996, March 2, Foothill College

In March 1996, the third Fanime was held at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. This was the first convention under longtime chairman Michael Wright. At this time, Fanime moved away from being a club gathering to having its own institutional identity. It was at this time that Fanime's parent corporation, the Anime Resource Group (ARG) was formed.^[3] There were 775 registered attendees, five primary video rooms, a single large dealers room, workshops, and guest panels. The registration fee was introduced; it was $7.^[4]

[edit] FanimeCon 1997, March 8, Foothill College

The first Japanese Guest of Honor was Hiroyuki Yamaga of Gainax. The programming was expanded to include an art show, a cosplay show, an anime game show, and live music. The membership registration had grown to 1200 fans.^[4]

[edit] FanimeCon 1998, February 14-15, Foothill College

1998 was the first and only two-day Fanime, and it used the Sheraton Four Points hotel in Sunnyvale for nighttime activities such as a dance and game show. There were 1700 fans and staff.^[4] This was the first year for "Midnight Madness", an all-night nonstop marathon of mistranslation taken to intentionally ridiculous extremes.

[edit] FanimeCon 1999, March 19-21, San Jose Wyndham Hotel

In 1999, the seventh FanimeCon moved away from Foothill to become the first event held in a hotel. In March of that year, the San Jose Wyndham Hotel was host to over 2000 fans and guests. (Information copied from "All About Fanime Con" by James Matsuzaki, Fanime 2001 Program Guide, page 2)

Guests of Honor included Mari Iijima, Hiroyuki Yamaga, Ippongi Bang, Shinpei Itoh, Kuni Kimura, Sachiko Uchida, Miyo Odagi, Reijiro Kato, Studio Ironcat (Steve Bennett, Kevin Bennett, and Mark Hofmann), Fred Schodt, Allen Hastings, and Gilles Poitras. (Information from Fanime 1999 Program Guide)

[edit] FanimeCon 2000, February 24-27, Santa Clara Convention Center

In 2000, the hotel was moved from the Wyndham to the Westin, and the attendance was up to 2300 fans.^[4]

Guests of Honor included Mari Iijima, Takami Akai, Hiroyuki Yamaga, Mark Koch, Fred Patten, Steve Bennett, Mark Hoffman, Gilles Poitras, Fred Schodt, Stan Sakai, and Allen Hastings. (Information from Fanime 2000 Program Guide)

[edit] FanimeCon 2001, March 30 - April 1, Santa Clara Convention Center

Fanime 2001 introduced many firsts. Brian Doan, better known as "Dieter", took the stage of the Masquerade and transformed it into the first "DerCosplay". The first Fanime karaoke competition was this year, as well as the first swap meet. The R&R website lists this as the first appearance of Ramen and Rice at Fanime. Thousands of fans also made this their first Fanime, as Fanime had grown to 3750 fans and overflowed into the Hilton across the street.^[4]

[edit] FanimeCon 2002, April 26-28, Santa Clara Convention Center

Guests of Honor included Hiroyuki Yamaga, Jonathan Klein, Takami Akai, Angora Deb, Keith Burgess, Tiffany Grant, Taliesin Jaffe, Mari Iijima, Sue Ulu, Jonathan Osborne, Carl Gustav Horn, Amy Seeley, Kunihiko Ikuhara, Gilles Poitras, Kevin Bennett, Matt Miller, Kei Blue, Steve Bennett, Sachiko Uchida, Amanda Winn Lee, Jason Lee, Crispin Freeman, Allison Keith, Umashika Sporty Cosplay Troupe, Miya, Saku Kanari, Milk, Bradley Kane, Mike Ross, and Spike Spencer. (Information from Fanime 2002 Program Guide)

[edit] FanimeCon 2003, June 20-22, Santa Clara Convention Center

In honor of its 10th anniversary, Fanime introduced a concert called GakuFest with live performances by BLOOD, B!Machine, Kristine Sa, Natalise, Secret Secret, and Echoing Green. Tickets were supposed to have cost $20 per person. Guests included Akitaroh Daichi and Reiko Yasuhara, Maria Kawamura, Takahiro Yoshimatsu, Kunihiko Ikuhara, GAINAX (Hiroyuki Yamaga, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Takami Akai, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Hiroki Sato, Yasuhiro Takeda), Rebecca Forstadt, Matt K Miller, Laura Bailey, Allen Hastings, Steve Bennett, Jonathan Osborne, and Gilles Poitras. (Information from Fanime 2003 Program Guide)

[edit] FanimeCon 2004, May 28-31, San Jose Convention Center

Fanime 2004 introduced the Karaoke Write Your Own Lyrics Mini-Contest and was the first time the music concert was called "MusicFest". There were about 5700 paid fans. (Information from Fanime BBoard.) The Hentai room returned, but things went sour after they showed Princess 69...sickening many people.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] FanimeCon 2005, May 27-30, San Jose Convention Center

MusicFest guests included ZZ, Kumiko Kato, Ramen and Rice. Other Guests of Honor included Hiroyuki Yamaga, Maria Yamamoto, Steve Bennett, Gilles Poitras, Richard Myers, and Jonathan Osborne. In addition to the standard events, Fanime 2005 also introduced a Stamp Rally that encouraged con attendees to visit various art galleries in the downtown San Jose area. (Information from Fanime 2005 Program Guide)

[edit] FanimeCon 2006, May 26-29, San Jose Convention Center

Guests of Honor include Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax), Kazuhiro Takamura (Gainax - Character Designer), Ryoichi Koga (manga-ka), Takahiro Mizushima (seiyuu), Asami Sanada (seiyuu), Gilles Poitras (anime librarian), Jonathan Osborne (voice actor), and Ric Meyers (asian film). FanimeCon 2006 is introducing Stage Zero, a new way to bring the convention to the attendee. Also introducing this year is Three Minute Video, a way for aspiring film directors to get their stuff shown. (Information from Fanime website). Fanime 2006 also marks the creation of Antagonite, Fanime's first fashion show, featuring models dressed in trendy clothing derived from Japanese cultures. The musical "guests of honor" were Swinging Popsicle, mothercoat, UP HOLD, GOOFY STYLE, Kamijo, Poplar, Miami.

[edit] Guests of Honor

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• FanimeCon web site
• FanimeCon Messageboard
• San Jose Convention Center web site
• Foothill Anime
• No-Name Anime

[edit] Convention reports

• FanimeCon 2004: You Comics Maniac! -- But you have to go home sometime," LatinoLA.com, June 2004