So it is that time of the year again where I get to take time off and spend it at an anime convention. That is always a lot of fun for me. This year was a bit on the rough side since I no longer live where I used to. That was so nice, it was just a short walk to the convention center and I did not have to worry about much other than getting there. This year was the year of driving and a good burn out for me. About 110 minutes to get there since I was avoiding parking downtown. Anyway, it was still okay, it is not like I am going to see much else going on. Sadly the convention itself felt rather lacking.

Maybe it is just my old age but it seems like there are less and less interesting panels to attend. I never used to have to really kill a lot of time like I do now. Normally I would be running between panels just hoping that I would get a seat in some of them. I guess that is just the shift in the interests of the people. I mean there were a lot of question and answer panels. There were also a lot of modeling panels. I guess I could have gone to those. Still I am much more of a fan of the ones where we obsess about anime. Oh well, maybe next year will change it is hard to tell I kind of forget how long I have been doing this.

Another annoying thing about this convention was the fact that no one put the Japanime games tournaments on the schedule. This year I had to go to the card playing room and actually look up the times there. I mean there were events, but they were not on the schedule. I guess that I got lucky that my friend and I were going to play because we managed to meet some new people and do some teaching of the game which was an interesting challenge. Whether it be Heart of Crown or Dynamite Nurse or Barbarosa it was a nice challenge to get down and try and explain things to people in a quick way so they could learn the game. The only annoying part was the fact that my friend and I would start up a random game and then get two learners which really kills teaching them since random games are really hard.

This year though I managed to find two movies that I need to try and look up or something. That was a nice change of pace. Normally when it comes to watching anime at conventions I have seen... well all of it. To see these new movies that had slipped through my radar was really nice for a change. Now I just need to figure out how to get them and that will be something that I can do later I guess. It is always nice to find new anime and even better when they take a new twist on classic and loved genres. So that is a nice thing that happens. I guess I did miss the Fist of the North-star premier but I could not justify going to that because I would have had a hard time reading.

Oh yeah there were a few new arcade games that were there as well. My friend brought up a really good point that someone in downtown must have these arcades. There are too many people who are too good at these games for them to just be doing this once a year. I mean I guess if they only play those games the entire time that is one thing but overall that is just something that I cannot believe. I guess I had better look around to see if I can find these arcades. It would be nice to have an arcade to go too.

So yeah that is about my wrap for Sakura con. I guess that I do not need to mention how disappointed I was with the buying of stuff, but I was happy to see that now they are making new smaller wallscrolls. Too bad most of them are not appropriate for work. I would really like that so I can put one up in my cube, but alas that is just not going to happen. Maybe next year I should figure out better living arrangements.