Anime conventions are a rare enigma where you
can see herds of wild otaku migrate from the safety of their own homes to a designated
spot in order to socialize,
interact, and sometimes even breed with their own kind.
[It] can sometimes be intimidating for outsiders looking at the strange lifestyles
seen at these gatherings.
But as I've been to many cons this year and with cons season almost over
what is the real experience, I think,
both new and seasoned con-goers should be aware of?
♪~
Before deciding to go to a convention, know they can cost a fair bit of money.
So budgeting is a very important skill to have.
One commonly suggested budgeting technique
is to take your entire life savings add the maximum limit to your credit card and -
[...]
Now a combination can be expensive
but you can get around this by rooming with some friends.
If you don't have any real-life friends to room with then the next best
thing is to find online friends.
so lonely = [
They're like real-life friends except
you're more familiar with them as a disembodied avatar on your computer screen
Just be careful as you shouldn't be surprised
if that one person who appeared all right the two times you talk to them on discord
suddenly becomes an annoying twat who has seemingly
never taught any manners by their parents.
The typical estimate on how many people you should share
accommodation with goes by taking the width and length of a standard hotel room
calculating the area then dividing that by the number of average human bodies
that can lay in it side by side.
Once you arrive at the con,
the first challenge you'll have to handle is picking up your badge.
This is a fairly simple procedure for small conventions, but for any larger ones
you'll need to be ready.
Most cons allow you to pick it up the day before the convention starts.
As if you show up on the opening day,
you'll be expected to wait in line for approximately
half the life expectancy of an average human being
while also being subjugated to walk past least 10 fuckers you measure
the life worth on how many high-fives they can collect -
- and once you get past that -
you can finally start enjoying the convention!
If this is your first time, it may be a surreal experience
hearing words like kawaii or sugoi or Jojo's reference
casually being thrown out in public and some people take this
as a sign that they've just entered a separate dimension of reality,
detached from any and all social norms.
Surprisingly, this is not actually the case
so be sure to keep in mind that all actions,
that can make you seem creepy, or rude,
or downright criminally harassing, in the real world still do apply here.
Cosplayers are one of the most well-known things about conventions
and you may get excited seeing some of your favorite characters or even your waifu.
Though, be wary.
Is not a widely known fact that cosplayers have personalities emotions, insecurities,
morals, and lives outside of their costumes.
So they are almost just like human beings.
If you want to take a picture the correct social etiquette are:
go up to the cosplayer ask politely if you can take a picture
then awkwardly tried to figure out where you're supposed to put your hands.
If you're thinking about cosplaying yourself,
however, then don't forget at the end of every convention
you will be put in a death tournament against everyone else who cosplayed your character
as only one is allowed to walk out alive.
don't go as deadpool
Spending the entire day at the convention can be draining so it's recommended
you bring some kind of bag with all the provisions you need.
If you want to be prepared, a rough list of things you'll need is your
con book, schedule, snacks camera, phone charger, hand sanitizer, spare batteries, poster tubes, camping gear, first-aid kits, zombie survival pack, pepper spray, machetes
extra bullets for good luck and most importantly enough liquids to make it through a nuclear winter.
Despite all this, however, there will always be one resource that is in short supply.
This is body spray.
It is a device that can be applied on the body which can temporarily mask out odor and is very commonly mistaken for a shower.
This is not a shower
I repeat.
THIS IS NOT A SHOWER.
It is, however, used to freshen yourself up when taking care of your personal hygiene.
A secret technique known only to the chosen few
who attend on their arduous journey of internally gagging every fifth person they pass.
Be especially careful of any tightly packed gaming room
as such spaces can be prone to their own independent climate with increased humidity,
comparable to tropical rain forests.
Now that you're all ready to enjoy the convention,
let's see what's going on.
The most obvious is the dealer's room which scientifically functions as a black hole for your wallet.
This is usually the busiest place at the convention so add a big
con you can expect the walking speed to average out at about one millimeter per hour
if you do ever find yourself in this kind of situation,
it's the perfect time to just stand around in a large group doing nothing, as it's sure to inconvenient and annoy
absolutely no one ever.
You may notice when in the hall, the environment conditions you to bypass your logical brain in order to make as
many irrational purchases as possible.
This phenomenon is known as Con Buyers High
and once infected, it can only be stopped when the individual looks at their wallets and eventually
realizes that they aren't going to be able to pay the next three months of rent.
Panels are also a massive part of conventions.
There will be many different panels running.
But if there is a popular panel you want to attend, make sure you set up camp at least seven months before the panel starts.
But be wary that the line will still probably be over capacity just before your turn.
They can range from many different topics and shows and a lot of them allow you to ask questions,
if you ever wanted more insight.
Once the panel was nearing its end, it's not any time for the quickfire questions to get through as many people as they can.
Unfortunately, even if you have a burning insightful question nobody has asked yet,
this is the time which guarantees the next person will take up 15 minutes asking the panelists,
what brand of shampoo they use that morning?
Other important areas you can check out is,
the artists' alley where you'll buy quality trinkets you'll lose in a day,
the gaming room, where you'll get your ass kicked by at least 10 different people more practiced than you,
and the main lobby where you can hang out and crowd watch
and definitely not judge the 50 people walking past you who shouts our dead memes.
As you'll be having so much fun and wanting to spend as much time at the con as possible,
normal living habits may become somewhat of a nuisance
that takes time away from things you want to do.
Case in point, food.
Food will turn from part of your daily routine to something you'll have to consciously consider.
Where you'll be surviving the weekend on a standard dietary recommendation of
pizza, burger, instant ramen, and chips.
Now though, this is the recommended diet.
You'll find that often times you have to make an important choice between going to that one events you plan to and eating.
One is a panel of sweaty nerds talking about cartoons,
and the other is your normal daily routine that every human needs in order to get energy
and survive.
So now that you've gone two days without eating a meal
you may feel your body shutting down and you need to find a place to eat.
This could be the right time to venture further outside the convention to find the proper restaurants.
Be warned, however.
As the further away you venture from the venue, the closer you are to normal society again.
Which can be deadly for any con-goer.
Luckily, this is something you can calculate as if you open up google maps and mark off the area around the convention,
the Weeb density is inversely proportionate
to the distance traveled away from the convention in miles.
This is known as the Weeb-Boltzmann Law,
and this area marked off right here is the safe zone.
Unless, of course, your city has an area with a high concentration
of Japanese or Korean restaurants.
In which case, they become temporary embassies for weebs in times of trouble.
As you'll likely be going in a group, it's improbable that you'll be able to convince everyone
to go for a healthy meal option.
So, if you want to eat healthy during the convention then my best advice to you is -
you're fucked.
On some rare occasions, the convention may be held at the hotel or venue
when normal people are staying.
Which can end up becoming one of those unintentionally amusing things
watching them trying to figure out exactly what new planet they've just woken up on.
If this happens, don't be afraid to show them that we are JUST normal people.
Say hi.
Ask them what they do for a living, what they're here for,
and which one of the monogatari girls they'd prefer to have sit on them.
If you want a packet in early, note that, there are probably
activities still going on after hours.
Many conventions hold raves.
A place where you either get to see
a large group of awkward anime fans bouncing around and clapping,
or people who are confident enough to try dancing by attempting to waterbend.
This is not to be confused with idol shows,
which is the only place in universe
you'll be able to see a concert hall full of anime nerds go absolutely fucking mental.
For many others, however,
after-hours activities will just boil down to finding a place to consume enough alcohol
to poison a fucking elephant.
Once you've gone through all that, congratulations.
You have survived and hopefully enjoyed your anime convention now comes the hardest part, the post-con.
You know that story you always hear about people waking up from their hangovers
after a hard night of drinking and feeling like death when they see the sunlight?
Well, It's a bit like that.
Except the hangover is your post-con blues and the sunlight
is the crippling depression you feel when you realize
that you're back in normal society.
You can't shout out memes casually.
Everyone's wearing boring normal clothes and nobody wants your free hugs anymore.
Actually, maybe no one ever wanted your free hugs.
Stop trying to give me free hugs.
I don't want free hugs.
GET OUT OF MY PERSONAL SPA -
That's the typical con experience after a long weekend of anime
you may find it takes some time to rehabilitate yourself back into society.
But once you do, you will realize that despite all the possible
shortcomings you had an absolutely fantastic time and you want to go to as many
conventions as possible only to forget that your wallet
had already put out a hit on you as you don't have any money to pay
next month's rent because of that figurine you bought.
You stupid anime trash fu-
♪~
Sorry, it's been a while since I uploaded but I do have a reason I swear to God. So last month
I must have hit my head or something
And I thought it would be a good idea to work on two - yes
- two anime minutes episodes at once both, which take a fuck ton of time by themselves and of course
I couldn't have picked a worse time
Since I just got hit by the not-advertiser-friendly train and a lot of my videos are demonetized so um
[awkward laughs]
Yeah, that's uh a good. I'm not panicking though as with all your continued support and patreon
I should be able to make it through this so if you are
Interested in supporting my channel you click on the button below or the links in the description
But aside from that I have no further updates
I've been Gigguk and I'll see you all next time