During the weekend of March 29th to the 31st. A convention decided to hold the biggest meet up of anime and Japanese culture fans in Downtown Houston. This was something that Houston hasn't seen in years and yet they were attempting to hold such a thing. They had people from Marvel, Funimation, and representatives from the World Cosplay Summit. What was the name of this convention?
Anime Matsuri 2013.
Did Anime Matsuri live up to the hype? Did the new location help? Was there One Piece? Just sit back and read as we look back on Anime Matsuri 2013!
Anime Matsuri and One Piece
I have to admit that the One Piece love was a bit lacking this year. That isn't bad but I was hoping to see a lot of One Piece cosplay. Though, the cosplay that we did have was pretty great. Law was a popular choice as I saw a lot of them throughout the weekend. Most of them were pre-timeskip but there was one that tried out a post-timeskip version.
There was a great Sniperking cosplay that gave me goosebumps and excited for our next round of DVDs from Funimation. Another great cosplay was Nami. She has many different outfits and usually you see the popular ones but this one had just some normal outfit that Nami wore for a few episodes. That was cool to see that a cosplayer actually made one of her designer shirts. It is great to see people still cosplaying old Straw Hats because that is where many of our One Piece memories reside.
Speaking of Funimation, they had a good amount of panels including a One Piece Voice Actor Panel. It was a shame that only two people who works on One Piece were at the panel compare to last year's. It at least had the two people there were maybe the most important pieces to the current episodes being released on DVD. That was ADR Director, Mike MacFarland and Stephanie Young, the voice of Nico Robin.
Here are little tidbits from the panel:
- Mike is a leg guy and loved the outfit that Robin wore during Water Seven/Enies Lobby.
- Robin's flashback is very close to Stephanie's heart.
- Mike has had email communication with Oda to ask questions that only Oda can answer. This happens VERY RARE.
- There are going to be a lot of Marines on the credits for Enies Lobby.
That being said, she does know about Robin's backstory thanks to a manga volume that was given to her by the very fan who is writing this review. She claims that Young Robin slays her while Robin makes her curl up into a ball after the flashback. I am pretty sure we all felt like this after getting though that flashback.
Mike did not go into detail concerning what he asked Oda. Some people on Twitter asked me to inquire about it but based on Mike's tone when answering the question. This sounded like something that he would not disclose. All we can take from this is that Mike is trying his best to not screw up the dubbing and put them in a bad position in the future.
Questions about Strong World were brought up. One of the most popular ones was when will Strong World be release. All Mike had to say about this was that he doesn't know the status of Strong World. After that he gave the crowd a wink. It sounds like they haven't started but it looks as if they are in the beginning parts of the project. Just keep your eyes peeled for anything happening on the Strong World front.
During Stephanie's Vixen Panel, she did accidentally hinted on where they are in the dubbing and production of Season 5. This came from a question concerning music for the series and if she would be interest in singing for One Piece again. I can't say where but we are in a good spot to guess. I will just leave you with that.
From the Funimation Panel, Justin Rojas reminded people to watch One Piece Official for new episodes. He also went ahead and showed us the trailer for One Piece: Season 4, Voyage 5. That is an amazing trailer! I had goosebumps running down my arm while I watch it for the first time. Funimation did a really good job in capturing the spirit of comradeship between the Straw Hats. If you haven't seen it then you need to.
Other things dropped at the Funimation Panel concerning One Piece was confirmation that Season 5: Enies Lobby will be release this summer and that Strong World is coming this year. There was no date on when Strong World will be release.
Con Overall
One of the biggest things about this year's Anime Matsuri was the change of location to the Downtown Houston. Downtown is where you want to have your con if you are in Houston. The Hyatt Regency Houston was no George R. Brown Convention Center but it was a good substitute. The convention was spread out though six floors with the main bulk of the con being on the first four floors with table top and video room taking up the last two. That was a pretty good layout.
With that said, this location wasn't perfect. Some of the most common complains was having the extension of the Artist Alley being in one of the hallways. This made the hallway even more narrow and traveling down it harder. You were having people going both ways down it and then dealing with people stopping to look at merchandise at the artist's booth. If the con stays in this location for next year then it will be best not have the extension of the Artist Alley in this hallway and to put it elsewhere.
Another issue concerning the hotel was how small the Main Events Hall. This problem carry over to the rest of the floor when it came to the bigger concerts. People had to stand in the back and there was still a line to let people in once the Cosplay Contest started. Every seat was filled and if you wanted to go out then do not expect to be allowed in. It felt as if the amount of people that the Main Events Hall could hold was not proportional to the amount of people in attendance for the convention.Then for the main concert, they had to stop people from going to the third floor due to how many people were on it.
This problem didn't carry over to the panel rooms as the seating for all of those were enough to handle their audiences. Even at the max, there was only a few people standing.
Overall, The Hyatt was a good fit for Anime Matsuri this year. The hotel is in Downtown so it is perfect driving distance for everybody in Houston. The only real concern is that Main Events Hall. It is fine for this year but if Anime Matsuri continues to grow and host events as big as the World Cosplay Summit then this will become a problem. The Main Events Hall for the Hyatt may not be able to handle the growth of the popularity of Anime Matsuri and it's main events. If they wishes to expand the number of panel rooms then they can easily put them in the upper levels of the convention but there is no clear solution for the Main Events Hall. The basement which held the Dealers Room doesn't have a high enough ceiling to support having a stage nor looks to be fit to hold a concert. If they do come back to the Hyatt next year, that would be good but the Main Events Hall will most likely continue to be a problem.
Now time for the good things about the convention.
Anime Matsuri went full out on pushing cosplay. They went beyond anything they have ever done by inviting cosplay guests, host the World Cosplay Summit, having cosplay related panels and having SyFy there recording for a cosplay related show. They even had more in-depth panels for cosplay.
It was always clear that Anime Matsuri was trying to create a cosplay niche for themselves and this year it was prominent. I like this because it gives the con focus on what it wants to be which is something that most cons needs these days. The way that Anime Matsuri is doing this is great as it not only trying to help educate con-goers about anime and Japanese culture but also cosplay culture. I am sure that in a couple of years, Anime Matsuri would flourish if they continue to make cosplay as part of their identity.
The World Cosplay Summit was interesting to watch. It was much different compare to a cosplay contest. Instead of walk-ons, there were full skits that help show how much the cosplayer knew about the character. It was a treat to watch and every constant there look as if they could have won a cosplay contest.
Anime Matsuri is a growing con that will only get bigger. It has found a location to make it a true Houston anime convention. While it is not perfect, this location is a good step to help allow the con grow. One Piece was a bit low in quantity but high in quality.
I guess I can't have everything but seeing a convention that I love grow is fine with me.
Stay tune as an interview with Stephanie Young and her involvement in the Water 7 and Enies Lobby arc is coming!
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