Anime & Manga, Photos

Connichi 2008

I know, it´s already Wednesday, but there has to be a Connichi report, of course. I did not visit Germany´s so-called biggest Anime & Manga convention in 2006 and 2007, so I guess it´s time for a comparison. I´ve learned a lot about the community of today during my stay, a lot of things changed, but not in a good way. But let me start from the beginning.

Saturday, 13/09/08:
The trip to Kassel was my very first long car ride all by myself, so I felt a bit miserable when starting in the late morning. Fortunately there wasn´t too much traffic, therefore I was able to arrive in Kassel after less than 2 hours, hurray. T-T
The first thing that happened after my long-lasting search for a parking lot was that… I lost my tail. Yes, I had cosplayed Grumpy Bear from the „Care Bears“ and so totally lost my lovable little tail (stuffed with tissues, hell yeah!!). Not the best beginning, but fortunately a group of visus (stuffed with…fixing pins? It appeared like that.) helped me out.
My big problem was – I had no ticket to visit the con. Therefore Mey and the others persuaded me to get up to a bit of no good by…well, it had to do with a lot of fake tears and shaky hands. Nevermind, I got my ticket (for all three days, woot!). XD
When running around at the con, I noticed some things:
– Naruto cosplay is popular as ever, but I had the feeling that all the old series had a kind of cosplay revival. I was really pleased to see characters from Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon or Disney movies. <3
– At the same time, those cosplayers got a lot less attention than mainstream cosplayers. Just take a look at the Animexx photo galleries: Thousands of shots feature one and the same lame Naruto or Kingdom Hearts cosplayers, but (almost) no shots of other really good costumes.
– According to this: The Connichi is one big clique meeting. People cling to their groups, only take photographs of their buddies and don´t let anybody else in. It felt like being on an election´s festivity – people stand around in the circle of their comrades, coldly shake some hands with the other party´s members and then talking about them when they´re gone. Conclusion: Only go there with a big group of friends if you want some attention/photos.
– Workshops and shows are strictly in professional hands. I´m just waiting for the next years´ conventions when people will have to pay for sitting around and watching a Powerpoint presentation.
– The biggest trend among cosplayers: It doesn´t matter if you don´t speak a single word in English („Batt ju woss mai frennd!! Ju do not masst du sis!“). It doesn´t matter if your singing makes other people squeal in pain. Just do it because it´s cool.
– Positive: Getting some food in the city hall is now very easy because of several catering services. <3 Yay for cutlet sandwiches and curry sausages!
– There are just too many people. WAY too many people. Even if most of them sat in the gardens or in front of the hall, it was breathtaking full anyway.

Well, in the evening, Mey, Nat, Anu and me drove to our accomodation, which belonged to Mey´s sister´s boyfriend and had no warm water nor leak-proof windows. But it had a working cooker on which I made my supper – instant noodles (Mey, you TOTALLY have to tell me the name of these – I loved them! <3<3).
The four of us sat together then, writing conhon entries and drawing floo penises with three hairs on them… I shouldn´t be saying that, should I? @__@~~ Well, I guess it was already too late for us. XD (By the way, which one of you girls took that sheet with her?XD)

Sunday, 14/09/08:
When I woke up after a simply terrible night (no pillow, cold floor, thin mattress) I felt miserable, just miserable. To cheer me up I went shopping in the merchants´ room…at least I tried, but there were too many people so I recieved more bruises than an overview on the offerings. Just frustrating.
After Anu and Nat had gone, Mey and me just waited for her parents to come and then left the con as well.

What I got from the con:
– Ranma 1/2 OVA complete DVD for 10EUR
– present for Mark (jostled a girl with rabbit ears for it – c´mon, she deserved it.)
– a cold
– that´s it.

To put this all to a conclusion: I´m not sure whether I want to visit the Connichi again or not. The con has changed, the fans have changed, I have changed and I don´t feel comfortable there anymore. Maybe I should do it like most of the other visitors: Get a huge group of friends and don´t expect anything special to happen.

Anyway, you can look at my photos here: ANIMEXX PHOTO GALLERY
But there are also some other shots I took, here are they ^^:

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2 Comments

  • Flick 4. Juli 2009 at 2:51

    Oh dear… is it really quite unfriendly? I’m planning to go this year as BACK-ON will be performing (and it’s their European debut) and will be travelling all by myself from the UK to Kassel. It’s going to be my first anime convention and cosplaying has never excited me too much… what will Connichi be like for non-German speaking, non-cosplaying newbies like myself?

  • Noi 4. Juli 2009 at 12:40

    Greetings to the UK!^^
    Since it´s going to be your first convention at all, I guess you won´t be disappointed. Maybe it´ll be a bit hard for you since almost all of the programme points are being presented in German (Anime videos with German subtitles, show moderation, etc.), but actually most people there can speak English. I would recommend you just try and speak to someone. :3
    Have fun!

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